Magma Eye

Magma Eye is a Kuboian animated television series, and the fourth television series produced by Kubokartoonz. The show focuses on Magma Eye, an alien creature, as he assists his friends in their daily lives.

Unlike other programmes produced by Kubokartoonz, Magma Eye was targeted at an older audience, and dealt with more mature topics, particularly multiple different forms of discrimination. It was broadcast on Vision 1 during its initial run, but never aired on its KT children's strand. The show has since gained a cult following, with fans finding appeal towards the show's large group of characters and social commentary.

Although the show ended in 2000, it has since continued as a franchise consisting of television specials, music, video games and feature-length films.

Premise
Magma Eye is an alien creature whose entire body consists of a floating white eye with a black pupil and red iris. He chose to live on Earth with hopes to improve the behaviour of humans, who his alien brethren (who are never seen onscreen) considered a flawed race.

Taking place in Shadyden, a fictional area in North Kuboia, Magma Eye, or Magma as he call by most of the characters, spends his life living in a storage container with his best friend Rocket, an artificial intelligent robot who wishes to have the same rights as a human being. Together, the two go around Shadyden and try to help their friends and acquaintances with their daily lives and any problems that they are currently facing. A lot of the show's characters have nicknames that they are often referred to, which relates to a personality trait they either have or are mistaken for having.

The format of Magma Eye shifts slightly over the course of its five series. The second series introduces Gunner, a police officer who wants to kill Magma and regularly meddles with his friends' business. The third series puts less focus on Magma, with several episodes focusing mostly on Rocket and/or the duo's other friends. However, both Magma and Rocket appear in and have at least one line of dialogue in every episode.

Many episodes of Magma Eye focused on different forms of discrimination. including racism, sexism, ageism and also disapproval of those of lower social classes. Sometimes other social issues played roles in episodes, including bullying, addiction, vandalism and homelessness.

Format and runtime
The opening and credits sequence for Magma Eye last forty seconds each, with the main part of the episode usually lasting exactly eighteen minutes. This means each episode runs for nineteen minutes and twenty seconds in total. However, some episodes last slightly longer. The show's opening and credits theme is a fast-paced art rock composition.

Production
As Kubokartoonz' previous television series had all been made for younger children, Ashley Maverick wanted to make a series for older children in order for it to stand out.

Development on Magma Eye began in mid 1994. Maverick was unsure what to make for the premise, and had ultimately came up with roughly twenty different premises for the new show, initially going under the title Shady Street. Maverick took inspiration from the American animated sitcom The Simpsons, as she noticed that there were "a lot of unique characters with their own quirks". She decided that it would be fun to do that with a more serious setting, thus she decided to merge most of the premises she came up with.

Maverick drew the character of Magma Eye when coming up with ideas for the show. She drew a round white circle with a large eye in the centre, and ultimately chose to make him the main character due to his "appealingly simplistic" design. The name Magma Eye was chosen due to the character's red iris. Originally, Magma was going to be an alien who planned to take over Earth in order to make a new home for his dying species. However, Maverick thought the idea was too unoriginal. Lake Caters suggested making Magma a heroic character in order to "combat alien stereotypes". The two ultimately decided that his main goal would be to help the human race with their problems.

When creating ideas for the show, the production team ultimately decided that the show would be dark and cynical but that they would "not go too far". Some of Maverick's original ideas, such as Ramp being a reluctant drug dealer and Gunner being overly obsessed with guns, were ultimately shelved. Beijing's voice actor, Charlie Karma, originally voiced her character by speaking in a fake Chinese accent. However, on request by the voice casting team, she ended up using her normal voice for the character over concerns that her accent may be deemed offensive.

Music
The show's soundtrack incorporates elements from a variety of different genres, including acid jazz, alterantive rock and hip hop, dub, funk, eurodance, neo soul and trip hop.

Felix Olajide released a single in 1998 titled "Everything I Need". It interpolates the Starbright song of the same name in addition to newly written lyrics, as well as containing a sample of "Need You Tonight" by INXS. The song was written for the show's soundtrack, and appears in some episodes of series three and four. An extended play was also released around the same time.

Emily Merletta and Enny Emery, who voiced Webbie and Nitasha, formed a short-lived girl group called Shady Sisters, who wrote and performed two songs for the show's soundtrack. They went on to release one studio album before disbanding.

Series overview
A few countries structure each of the five series in different manners. For exmaple, in the United States, series 2 and 3 are often combined into a single series, as are series 4 and 5, meaning the show is classified as having three seires instead of five.

Reception
Magma Eye received critical acclaim during its original run, with critics praising the show's large cast of unique but relatable characters, as well as its social commentary. Celebrating the show's twentieth anniversary in 2017, a BBC article noted that the show had aged well despite the "hilariously mid-90s music and setting", and is still remembered fondly by millennials. The show had proven popular on CBBC, with millions of viewers tuning in for new episodes. In Kuboia, the second and third series was one of the most watched television series in the country in 1998.

Controversy and criticism
During its first run on CBBC in the United Kingdom, Magma Eye hit news headlines due to complaints, mostly from parents, that the show encouraged bullying, discrimination and other forms of abuse in children. Ashley Maverick responded by stating those who complained were "missing the point". Some critics defended Maverick, and noted that the show clearly discourages said behaviour.

When released on DVD in the United Kingdom, some episodes were censored so they can be released with a PG classification. Following complaints from fans, the DVDs were eventually re-released in "uncut" forms, with these versions receiving a 12 certificate by the BBFC.

The show has faced criticism over its depiction of overweight adults, who are almost always greedy, lazy and dimwitted. This includes Munch, a prominent character on the show, though he is given a more fleshed out personality later on. Several over obese adults appear in later episodes, with their stupidity and misfortune frequently being played for laughs.

Beijing, Feng and Xin, characters of Chinese origin, are all voiced by either lightskinned Kuboian actors or actors of English-heritage. Ashley Maverick faced criticism by some sources in the mid-2010s over her casting decisions. Charlie Karma was also the forefront of criticism in mid-2021 when she said she would continue voicing Beijing in any further media based on the show.

VHS releases
All Magma Eye VHS releases listed below were released in Region 2.
 * The Best of Series 1 - released September 1999
 * The Best of Series 2 - released April 2000
 * Christmas with Magma Eye - released November 2000
 * Shadyden Crime Cases - released March 2001
 * Spring Fever - released March 2001
 * The Adventures of Munch and Mr. Teddy - released September 2001
 * The Best of Beijing - released February 2002
 * The Best of Ramp - released February 2002
 * The Best of Rocket - released February 2002

DVD releases
As with the VHS releases, all DVD releases were released in Region 2. They were usually released in Region 1 several months later.
 * The Complete First Series - released November 2004
 * The Complete Second Series - released April 2005
 * The Complete Third Series - released September 2005
 * The Complete Fourth Series - released April 2006
 * The Complete Fifth Series - released September 2006

Internet availability
The YouTube channel JangleNet! began uploading episodes of Magma Eye in January 2018, with new episodes being uploaded on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Currently, all thirty-five episodes are available on the channel. Ashley Maverick has notably taken time to write a bit about the development of each episode in their respective comment sections. Maverick has also released behind the scenes recordings and interviews with the cast and production team on her personal YouTube channel.

Broadcast history
From 1997 to 2000, Vision 1 aired new episodes of Magma Eye on Saturday evenings, with repeats showing on Sunday and Wednesday nights. It also aired on reruns on Nickelodeon Kuboia starting in 1999, later being moved to its Nicktoons Network programming block in 2004 until 2010.

International broadcast
In El Kadsre, the show aired on Banushen Television from 1997 to 2004 and on ETVKK from 2004 to 2014. In Gau, it currently airs on GBC Kids. In Tasanala, it aired on Boomerang until its closure in 2020. In Stevia, it aired on YTV from 1997 to 2018, Biggs from 2010 to 2014 and on Teletoon since 2014.

In the United States, Magma Eye first aired on Noggin from February 1999. Reruns were later aired on The N from September 2002 to December 2007. In Canada, the show had a very long and successful run on YTV, premiering on the channel in 1997 and continuing to air in reruns until January 2011.

In Italy, Magma Eye aired on Italia 1 from 1997 to 2002, with reruns showing on Boing from 2004 to 2010. In Germany, it aired on Super RTL from 1998 until 2008, with reruns also airing on Disney Channel around the same time. The show aired on Nederland 3 in the Netherlands until 2003.

United Kingdom airings
After premiering on CBBC in October 1997, Magma Eye became one of its most popular shows. It also began to air on Nickelodeon in 1999. After the show stopped airing on CBBC in mid-2004, it was later picked up by Trouble. During the mid-2000s, Nickelodeon would air older series and Trouble would air the later series. It aired on Trouble until its closure in 2009, and last aired on Nickelodeon on its TeenNick programming block in April 2010.

According to the BBC, Magma Eye would often pull in millions of viewers when new episodes aired on CBBC.

Video games
A large selection of video games based off Magma Eye have been released, which have been handled by several different developers and publishers. Ashley Maverick ordered more games based on the show to be produced even after it ended its run since "there are so many characters and settings, the potential for different types of games are endless". The games have generally received mixed reviews, with some criticisng Kubokartoonz as milking the franchise.
 * 1997: Journey in Shadyden
 * 1998: Planet Magma
 * 2001: Shadyden Tour
 * 2004: Shadyden Arena

Games starring Rocket

 * 2001: Adventures of Rocket the Robot
 * 2002: Rocket's Rec Room
 * 2006: Rocket's Rec Room Deluxe

Games starring Beijing

 * 2000: Beijing's World
 * 2003: Beijing's World 2
 * 2006: Beijing's World 3

Other games

 * 2000: The Adventures of Munch and Mr. Teddy
 * 2002: Nitasha's Fun House

PC games

 * 1998: Interactive Shadyden
 * 1999: Story Studio
 * 1999: Shadyden Adventure

Other merchandise
A cereal brand, Magma Eyes, has been produced since 1998. Coming in two different flavours, chocolate and vanilla, it has been compared to the Nesquik cereal. Some other food products used branding based on the show for limited durations in the late 1990s and 2000s.