Beat Bugs

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Beat Bugs is an Australian-Canadian animated children's television series, created by Josh Wakely, and produced by Grace: A Storytelling Company and Thunderbird Entertainment for Netflix. The series is centered around five young bugs who live in an overgrown suburban backyard and learn life lessons while having adventures. Wakely acquired worldwide rights from Sony/ATV Music Publishing to a catalogue of music by the Beatles to feature in the series. The program features versions of songs by the popular rock group, performed by contemporary recording artists and interwoven into the narrative.

Beat Bugs was produced in association with Beyond Entertainment, Atomic Cartoons and the Seven Network, an investor of the program. The series was first made available worldwide on Netflix on August 3, 2016 after premiering in Australia exclusively on 7TWO on July 25, 2016.

The program received an AWGIE Award in animation for an episode script in 2016, an AACTA Award for Best Children's Television Series and a Daytime Emmy Award in 2017. The second season premiered in November 2016 on Netflix and 7TWO, and was followed by a 48-minute special in November 2017.

Video Beat Bugs

Plot

Beat Bugs is a series aimed at five to seven year olds, set in an overgrown suburban backyard, which serves as an environment that five young bug friends regularly explore. To the bugs, the backyard is known as "Village Green". Songs by the Beatles, such as "Come Together" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", are interwoven into the narrative of the episodes. These versions are performed by popular recording artists such as Pink and Sia. The songs often influence the life lessons that the young bugs learn.

Wakely described the series as "about teaching kids, but with a bit of humour and not in a patronising way." He stated that the message of the song "All You Need is Love" was the main idea he wanted to portray.

Maps Beat Bugs

Characters

The series revolves around five young bugs, known as the "Beat Bugs", who are all friends and live in the backyard together.

Main

Jay (Ashleigh Ball; singing Andy Bull) is a curious, ambitious and impulsive beetle. He often desires to try out new things, and his mischievous interest in the world frequently leads him into trouble.

Crick (Lili Beaudoin; singing SULLIVAN and Martha Marlow), a cricket, is an inventor who is very intelligent and creative. His inventive mind helps him create devices which help the group out, however sometimes he struggles to see the value in his work.

Walter Walrus (Charles Demers; singing iOTA and Daniel Johns) is a slug with a big heart and exceptional storytelling skills. He is very theatrical and loves performing, although he can be highly emotional and sometimes his fear and self-absorption can get in his way.

Buzz (Rebecca Husain; singing Gossling), a fruit fly, is the youngest of the bugs and is very optimistic and enthusiastic. However, sometimes she is easily scared or experiences sadness, and does not always think for herself.

Kumi (Erin Mathews; singing Lisa Mitchell) is an imaginative ladybug with a zest for life who is very protective of her friends. She is confident and the natural leader of the group, and has developed her own dance-involved variety of martial arts.

Recurring

The series features other bugs and creatures who inhabit the backyard and make occasional recurring appearances.

Postman Bee (Brian Drummond; singing Wesley Schultz) is a bee who, as his name implies, works as a postal worker. He is never late and always gets his deliveries right, unless he is feeling sad about something. He cares a great deal for his grandmother, Granny Bee (Nicole Oliver) who was once a famous tv chef known for her honey pie.

Doris the Spider (Gwynyth Walsh) is an elderly arachnid who is always filling her garden with beautiful art pieces that are made from her webbing and various other objects found in the backyard. She teaches the bugs to see the beauty in everyhting.

Geoff the Cockroach (Peter Kelamis) is an opportunistic roach who acts like a sleazy business man. He typically sells homes to the residents in the backyard, implying that he is a realtor. He gets along with Alex the Stinkbug.

Alex the Stinkbug (Fred Ewanuick) is a jokey bug that is always farting. His farts are powerful enough to power machines built by Crick. He can be uncouth, but is very friendly. He gets along with Geoff the Cockroach.

Dr. Robert (Ian Hanlin) is a mantis in the medical profession. He is very friendly and has perfect bedside manners. He always seems to know the perfect treatment for certain ailments.

Katter (Britt McKillip; singing Frances) is a pretty caterpillar who later transforms into a butterfly. She is soft-spoken and shy, but is very friendly with everyone. She is best friends with Morgs and Millie.

Morgs (David Paul Grove; singing James Corden) is a very nervous and self conscious stick bug. He has trouble standing up for himself and wishes that he wasn't "just a stick". He is best friends with Katter and Millie.

Millie Pede (Maryke Hendrikse; singing Tori Kelly) is a multifooted millipede who is kind and reserved. She is unsure of her dancing ability, but with help from her friends learns to do so effectively. She is best friends with Morgs and Katter.

Mr. Sun (Michael Caton; singing Robbie Williams and Yusuf Islam / Cat Stevens) is the large all seeing star during the daytime. Despite his largeness, he can speak directly to the bugs and has even sent and received letters from them. In All Together Now, Mr. Sun now has a beard.

Mr. Moonlight (Robert Alexander) is Mr. Sun's nighttime counterpart. He can be playful with the bugs, but sometimes feels that they like Mr. Sun more than him.

Dr. Robot (Peter Kelamis; singing Ev Jones) is a special robot that Crick built to help his friends while Dr. Robert was on vacation. Despite a few kinks here and there he has proven to be efficient. When Dr. Robert returned, Dr. Robot became Crick's assistant for his experiments.

Blackbird (Bethany Brown; singing Sia, Regina Spektor and Jennifer Hudson) is a bird that always has her head in the clouds, both figuratively and literally. The bugs helped her damaged wing and in return, she stuck around to help them in anyway she could.

Mr. Mudwasp (Andrew Hansen; singing Daniel Johns), a wasp, and working man who lives in a hive that he is constantly renovating. He is always trying to speak in foreign terms. He has numerous wasp children with his constantly pregnant wife, Mrs. Mudwasp (Ashleigh Ball). They were once identified as the Hendersons. Mr. Mudwasp has also been identified as Baz.

The Ants (Kyle Rideout) are the colony workers of the backyard. They all think uniformly as one and thus have a hard time acting as separate people. They all live in one ant hill and become lost if anything happened to it.

Glowies are glow bugs that act as a full light source for all the bugs. They always seem to be angry or annoyed at everyone, possibly because they are constantly used all the time and are treated more like objects. Nevertheless, they do their job effectively.

Octopus (Jay Brazeau) is an anthropomorphic sprinkler toy that resembles a purple octopus. He only communicates with the bugs and provides comfort to everyone by spraying water. However, he is only capable of doing so when the hose he is connected to is on.

Bulldog (Colin Murdock; singing James Bay) is a big friendly slobbering dog. He initially had no home or way to communicate with the bugs, but Crick builds a translator and is adopted by the humans.

Me-ow is a cat that is owned by the humans. He roams about the yard and, while not necessarily mean, is shown to be rather dangerous to the bugs as it tends to attack and play with them.

Gigants (JR Bourne and Erin Mathews) Gigants are what the bugs refer to humans, whom the bugs are fascinated by. They live in the "Big House" at the edge of the backyard. They have a daughter named Julia, and have a second daughter in All Together Now.

• Julia (Rebecca Husain) is the first born daughter of the humans who live in the "Big House". Jay seems to relate to her. As of All Together Now, Julia becomes a big sister after her mom has a baby girl.

Guests

These are single episode characters, though occasionally they will make cameos in later episodes.

Lucy (Rebecca Husain; singing P!nk), a dragonfly, is a sleep doctor who helped Buzz get to sleep by helping her visualize calming images. She is known for her wings resembling diamonds and her kaleidoscopic eyes.

Boris the Frog (Doron Bell Jr.; singing Aloe Blacc) is a friendly amphibian who loves to play in the rain and mud. He helps the bugs appreciate the weather and shows them they can still have fun.

Jasper (Colin Murdock; singing Eddie Vedder) a showman-like grasshopper who planned to take the bugs on a Magical Mystery Tour. Unfortunately, he is completely incapable or rather ignorant of what exactly he has done and is shown to be way in over his head.

Melvin (Peter Kelamis; singing The Shins) is a stalk eyed fly who is rather nerdy and makes complicated games. He is socially inept as he keeps the bugs trapped in his watermelon home. However, they teach him how to be a better friend.

Mr. Kite (Michael Dobson) is Julia's favorite kite with a clown face. He is over dramatic and takes pride in his ability to fly. Nevertheless, he finds a kinship with the bugs and accepts their help to help him fly again after he gets cut loose. In All Together Now, his appearance is slightly altered as he no longer has a clown face, but instead has a pilot's headgear.

Sergeant Pepper (Charles Demers; singing Rod Stewart) is a circus bug who travels from town to town, or rather yard to yard, to show his amazing circus the Lonely Hearts Club Band. Among his performers are the acrobatic Fleas lead by Billy Shears. He understands Walter the most due to their shared love of performance.

Warren (James R. Baylis) is an earthworm who lives in a hole by himself. He is blind and focuses on his other senses to know where he is going. The bugs were afraid of him and thought he was the Nowhere Man, but learn to know him after seeing that he is friendly.

Dee-Structor (Fred Ewanuick; singing Chris Cornell), or Dee for short, is a remote control car that is purchased by Julia's father. He has no control over his functions until the bugs remove his antennae allowing him to ride at his own pace and free will.

Mildew and Skolly (Charles Demers and Ashleigh Ball; singing Of Monsters and Men) A pair of film making bugs who are searching for the elusive Eleanor Rigby. Their names are parodies of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully from The X-Files and they even utter the phrase "The truth is out there."

Freda (Shannon Chan-Kent; singing Kate Miller-Heidke) is Walter's long lost twin sister. The two were separated by a gust of wind, but during the events of All Together Now, they reunited and she has been welcomed into the yard with the rest of the bugs. She is named after the Beatles secretary, Freda Kelly.

Teddy (Charles Demers) is a friendly teddy bear that is owned by Julia. He is very friendly, albeit odd, as he always wants to offer hugs even though nobody really needs one at the time.

Salvador Rat (Giles Panton) is a rat that the bugs encounter in All Together Now. He speaks with a Spanish accent and considers himself an artist, taking garbage he finds and creating sculptures.

Queen Bee (Ashleigh Ball) a famous singer that is always winning The Bug Factor in All Together Now. She is revealed to be corrupt, stepping on those she considers below her and even steals Freda's backup band. However, the bugs put her in her place.

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Production

Conception

Beat Bugs was created by Josh Wakely who in 2014, under his US-Australian production company Grace, acquired worldwide rights from Sony/ATV Music Publishing to a catalogue of music by the Beatles. The music was to be used for a children's animated series in development to be entitled Beat Bugs, which would tell the story of young bugs learning life lessons set to songs by the popular rock group. The publishers liked Wakely's vision of bringing the classic songs to a new audience of children with original stories written around them. Managing director of Sony/ATV Damian Trotter stated, "the idea of opening up the single greatest music catalogue of the 20th Century to the next generation is something we are particularly excited about". The music acquired was the Lennon-McCartney "Northern Songs" catalogue. The deal reportedly cost an estimated $10 million.

Wakely, an Australian writer and producer who grew up as a fan of the Beatles, stated that he never considered using any other artist's music for the series. He said, "people in years to come will talk about the Beatles like we talk about Shakespeare." Wakely spent three years originally working on the show before acquiring the rights to the Beatles' music, and by this time, he had already conceived all of the episodes and characters. Of the characters, he said, "They have lived in my head for so long that I don't have their date of conception". Wakely sold the project to Netflix as a global distribution partner. The Seven Network in Australia was also an investor of the production.

Daniel Johns, former singer of Silverchair, arranged and produced the music for the series as musical director. He stated, "It's a dream job to go into the studio and dissect all of the Beatles' music". Johns and Wakely had previously worked together on a musical short film which Wakely wrote and directed. Wakely was closely involved in the production, arranging and mixing of the music.

More than 1000 people were involved in the production of the show, including a worldwide team of writers and animators in Australia, Los Angeles and Vancouver. Wakely described the process as a full-time job lasting three years. Vancouver's Atomic Cartoons created the 3D animation for the series. By the show's premiere, Wakely had spent six years working on the program from its conception. It wasn't originally planned to produce Beat Bugs in Australia until Beyond Entertainment allowed Wakely to do so.

Release

The initial order of 52 segments (26 half-hour episodes) was split into two 13-episode seasons for distribution. The episodes were a given a provisional classification of C (children's) in Australia over 2014-15.

All episodes from Season 1 became available on Netflix on August 3, 2016. Prior to its premiere, on July 27, 2016, the series was renewed for a second season to debut later in the year. The first season premiered exclusively in Australia on 7TWO on July 25, 2016. Season 2 was released through Netflix on November 18, 2016. The second season also debuted on 7TWO on November 16, 2016.

Beat Bugs received a 2016 AWGIE Award in animation for the episode script of "Yellow Submarine", written by Wakely. The episodes "Hey Bulldog", written by Kate Mulvany, and "Ticket to Ride", by Erica Harrison, were also nominated. The program also won an AACTA Award for Best Children's Television Series. Beat Bugs was also nominated for five 2017 Daytime Emmy Awards in 2017, and won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Preschool Animated Program.

A 48-minute special entitled Beat Bugs: All Together Now, premiered on Netflix on November 21, 2017.

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Episodes

Series overview

List of episodes

Season 1 (2016)

Season 2 (2016)

Special (2017)

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Reception

Beat Bugs generally received favourable reviews. Critics praised the concept of reimagining Beatles songs for a young audience. Reporting for Common Sense Media, Emily Ashby said "this unique series borrows some of rock-and-roll's most recognizable lyrics to help tell its gentle stories and teach excellent life lessons", commending it as a series for parents and children to watch together. David Knox of TV Tonight praised the music for "bursting with optimism and exuberance", while describing the animation as "an alluring, inviting feast". A reviewer for the Daily Telegraph applauded how the series presents children with "an influence that lasts beyond the screen time".

Ivan Radford of VODzilla.co noted that the program as a whole "is something closer to a visual album than a series", and stated that the show's theme song of "All You Need is Love" provides "an upbeat sentiment that gives an overall theme and identity to this strange universe". However, Radford expressed that the main characters are not always fully developed.

The series also received some negative comments. Jordan Runtagh of Decider disliked the character of Jay, stating "I find the lack of comeuppance for his behavior distressing". He stated the music of the series is "forgettable, but inoffensive", however added that the songs are incorporated into the episode narratives "with grace and skill". Decider''s Jessica Jernigan of described the series as "disheartening and dull because there's so little art in the transformation of Beatles lyrics into stories", suggesting that the songs were already appropriate for children "without visual or narrative contextualization."

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Release

Broadcast

The first season was added to the Australian Netflix library on February 28, 2017. In Australia, Beat Bugs premiered on pay-TV channel Nick Jr. in May 2017. The free-to-air broadcasting of the series moved to 7flix in 2017 to continue airing repeats.

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Other media

Soundtracks

The first soundtrack to the show, "Beat Bugs: The Complete Season One" was released on online music-streaming service Apple Music on August 3, 2016. The release featured all of the songs performed by the guest artists in the first season, compiled on one soundtrack. It was only available exclusively on Apple Music until November 4, 2016. The record was released by Republic Records and Universal Music. Melodia Music was formed by the show's production to release music from Beat Bugs and other related productions.

A new compilation album, "Beat Bugs: The Best of Seasons 1 & 2" was released physically and digitally on November 4, 2016. This was the first time a selection of the music from the first season was available for purchase, and included songs from the second season ahead of its premiere. "Beat Bugs: The Complete Season One" was also made available on iTunes for the first time.

"Beat Bugs: The Complete Season Two" was made available on iTunes on November 18, 2016 at the same time as its Netflix premiere.

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Awards and nominations

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References

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External links

• Official website
• Beat Bugs on IMDb

Source of article : Wikipedia