November 2, 1998(1998-11-02)– November 25, 2005(2005-11-25)
Jay Jay the Jet Plane is an American live-action/CGI-animated musical children's television series created by David and Deborah Michel and first aired on TLC and later moved to PBS Kids, with reruns on Qubo and TBN's Smile.[2] The series aired for a total of 4 seasons and has 62 episodes.
The series is centered on a group of anthropomorphic aircraft that live in the city of Tarrytown, taking place at the Tarrytown Airport. The episodes were commonly distributed in 25-minute-long (without commercials) pairs, with one header sequence and one end credit for each pair. Each episode contains one or more songs.
The series was intended to be educational to teach moral and life lessons to young-aged children.
Music
The theme song and all of the other songs were written by the famous children's singer/songwriter Stephen Michael Schwartz and sung by his popular musical group, Parachute Express. The end credits music during the original airings of seasons 1-3 was a reprise of "Gee, How I Love to Fly", which was changed to a new instrumental tune for repeats from late 2001 onwards.
History
Original series
Early episodes using physical models (as "Pilot Series")
In late 1994, a short live-action series was produced at AMS Production Company in Dallas, Texas, with real model plane characters and handcrafted human characters; they had the same personalities as in the later series. This original series was narrated similarly to the first twelve seasons of the original Thomas & Friends, or Theodore Tugboat. Three videos were released: Jay Jay's First Flight in December 1994, Old Oscar Leads the Parade in February 1995, and Tracy's Handy Hideout in early October of that same year. This original series was narrated by and features the voices of John William Galt. These three were known as the "pilot series".
In 2005, new episodes were produced featuring additional characters, including the red Latina monoplane Lina. Each episode begins with a Jay Jay's Mysteries segment in which Jay Jay and Lina explore things that might be mysteries to the intended age group, such as how planes fly, and how the five senses are used. The "Mysteries" segment is followed by a story that comes from the third season episodes of the series, so in effect, the new season's repackages previously broadcast content on two subchannel networks Qubo and Smile, which were both shut down.
Revival
Promotional announcement image, depicting the new design of Jay Jay.
A new revival of the series, titled The New Adventures of Jay Jay the Jet Plane[4] (originally titled The New World of Jay Jay the Jet Plane) has been confirmed through Trilogy Animation Group's website. The first trailer for the show was released in July 2022. Until the day of launching, it is still currently in development and in production.[5] The characters' were fully redesigned, and made to look more cartoony, newer, and like the original series, it will be CGI-animated.[6]
In the CGI-animated/live-action television series, the planes and ground vehicles are CGI characters, while the humans are live-action actors.
Relationship words for the airplane characters refer to being in loco parentis for purposes of upbringing, and education, not to biological parenthood. The story says that (some of) the airplane characters were made in factories.
Some of the stories describe characters as doing actions off-screen that would need foldaway arms (e.g. Big Jake digging holes); however, those arms are never seen on-screen.
Young planes
Jay Jay (voiced by Mary Kay Bergman in the first to second seasons, Debi Derryberry in the third season, and Donna Cherry in Jay Jay's Mysteries) is a small brown, now blue 6-year-old jet plane and the titular main protagonist of the series.
Tracy (voiced by Gina Ribisi in the first to second seasons and Sandy Fox in the third season and Jay Jay's Mysteries) is a small purple, later pink 6-year-old Trinidadian jet plane who is Jay Jay's twin sister and best friend. She has normal hearing, but understands American Sign Language pretty well.
Snuffy (voiced by Gina Ribisi in the first to second seasons and Sandy Fox in the third season, and Jay Jay's Mysteries) is a small lime green propeller-driven 4-year-old monoplane who is good friends with Jay Jay and Tracy. He is equipped for skywriting. In episode consistency, one episode says that he has not flown further away from Tarrytown than Lightning Bug Lake, but other episodes show him flying much further. In "Grumpy O'Malley", Snuffy has still not gotten rid of his initial shyness, but in many other episodes, he no longer shows any sign of shyness.
Herky (voiced by Mary Kay Bergman in the first to second seasons, Debi Derryberry in the third season, and Donna Cherry in Jay Jay's Mysteries) is a small fluent Mexican yellow 5-year-old Italian-accented, later German-accented helicopter. In the pilot series, he spoke with a stutter, while in the CGI series, he rolls his "R"s whenever he speaks, and often pronounces stressed "er" as long vocalic "r" ([ɹ̩]), e.g. "I'm Herky" as [aɪmhɹ̩ːˈkǐ], with a strong high-rising pitch accent on the last "-y". Herky has skids, and is the only member of the group to be shown as incapable of taxiing on the ground.
Lina (voiced by Ashley Whittaker) is a red propeller-driven monoplane who is Jay Jay's Spanish-speakingLatina friend and Old Oscar's niece from Mexico. She serves as the supporting character of the Jay Jay's Mysteries segments and is exclusively in CGI.
Ricky Rescue (voiced by Josh Keaton) is a yellow and red helicopter who appears in the upcoming revival and acts as an older brother figure. He is Herky's twin brother.
Adult planes
Big Jake (voiced by Chuck Morgan in the first to second seasons and Michael Donovan in the third season) is a dark gray propeller-driven transport plane who acts as a fatherly role model to the young planes. He is the biggest, strongest and second-oldest plane in the fleet.
Savannah (voiced by Mary Kay Bergman in the first to second seasons and Debi Derryberry in the third season) is a silver Southern-accented supersonic jet who acts as a motherly role model to the young planes. She was made at Savannah, Georgia, hence her name.
Old Oscar (voiced by Chuck Morgan in the first to second seasons and Michael Donovan in the third season, and Jay Jay's Mystreries) is an old gray, later emerald biplane who acts as a grandfather figure. He is the oldest plane in the fleet.
Montana (voiced by Donna Cherry) is a purple propeller-driven safari plane who is exclusively in CGI.
Ground vehicles
Both of these ground vehicle characters are exclusively in CGI.
Revvin' Evan (voiced by Mary Kay Bergman in the first to second seasons, Debi Derryberry in the third season, and Donna Cherry in Jay Jay's Mysteries) is a red 6-7-year-old fire engine and is the cousin of Tuffy.
Tuffy (voiced by Sandy Fox) is the cousin of Revvin' Evan who is a confidential blue and orange tow truck. She has a speech impediment.
Humans
Brenda Blue (played by Eve Whittle in the US version and Vanessa Stacey in the UK version) is a woman in blue clothing and usually wears either a red or a blue cap, as well as a pair of red high top Converse. She is in charge of the airport and is the airplane mechanic. She does not use the airport's control tower but communicates with the planes by a portable two-way radio from the ground.
Miss Lee is a deaf and silent librarian at Tarrytown Library who knows American Sign Language.
E.Z. O'Malley (played by Brian Nahas) is the founder of E.Z. Airlines, and his cousins are Grumpy O'Malley, Pierre O'Malley, and Tex O'Malley. (Note: here the letter 'Z' is pronounced 'zee', not 'zed'.)
Mrs. Blue is Brenda Blue's mother, who sometimes visits Tarrytown Airport.
Broadcast and home media
Jay Jay the Jet Plane premiered on The Learning Channel as part of the Ready Set Learn block. Later, it aired on PBS Kids beginning June 11, 2001, with reruns until May 31, 2009. It aired on PBS Kids Sprout (now Universal Kids) from September 26, 2005 until September 2, 2008.
In 2012 until 2014, it aired in Spanish on Telemundo as part of "MiTelemundo". In 2021, it also aired on Qubo for a short time until Scripps' closure and is currently airing on Smile until its closure on January 12, 2025. Outside of the series' home country, It aired on Channel 5, Discovery Kids, Tiny Pop and S4C's Cyw block in the UK, Canal+ and Piwi in France, Discovery Kids in Latin America, TV Cultura in Brazil and Nickelodeon in the Middle East.
In the early-mid 2000s, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment) released the series on both VHS and DVD. Later, it released two of Jay Jay's Mysteries episodes by Paramount in 2007 as part of PBS Kids' DVDs.
Religious-based Tommy Nelson also released the series with a new dub on both VHS and DVD.
In 2019, Yippee TV became the exclusive streaming service of Jay Jay the Jet Plane.[7]
Reception
Common Sense Media gave the series a four out of five stars, saying, "Parents need to know that this series offers young fans life lessons such as valuing friends, overcoming shyness, and learning to like yourself. Kids will enjoy the often funny antics of 6-year-old Jay Jay and his friends. Don't be surprised if you catch your preschooler singing along with the show's simple songs."[8]
Retrospective viewers have noted that the character designs for the show often fall into the uncanny valley, and the show is often the subject of ironic memes.[9][10]
↑ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nded.). McFarland & Co. pp.442–443. ISBN978-1476665993.
All programs were distributed by PBS unless noted.
1 Aired on select public television stations via American Public Television (APT) or another program distributor.
2 Instructional program.
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