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Koba Entertainment is a producer of original musical theatre based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. [1] To date, they have produced numerous Canadian and U.S. tours for such famous children's properties as Bubble Guppies, [2] Max & Ruby, Toopy & Binoo, [3] The Backyardigans, The Big Comfy Couch, Caillou, The Doodlebops, Franklin the Turtle, and Maurice Sendak’s Little Bear.
Koba was founded in 2004, and is part of the Paquin Entertainment Group, with offices in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Toronto, Ontario. The Executive Producer is Gilles Paquin, and artistic director is Patti Caplette.
The Backyardigans is a 3-D CGI-animated children's TV series, created by Janice Burgess. It is a co-production of Nick Jr. and the Canadian animation studio Nelvana. It can currently be seen on Treehouse TV in Canada and Nick Jr. in the US.
The Backyardigans: Quest for the Extra Ordinary Aliens was the first of two live stage shows produced by Koba Entertainment. It originally toured across Canada in January 2008, and again in early 2009.
The Backyardigans: Quest for the Extra Ordinary Aliens was directed and choreographed by Patti Caplette, Artistic Director for KOBA Family Entertainment. An award-winning choreographer, performer and theatrical producer, Patti co-wrote Quest for the Extra Ordinary Aliens with New York-based television writer, Rodney Stringfellow, a contributing writer to the hit TV show. Original tunes from the TV show, composed by musician/composer Evan Lurie (The Lounge Lizards) figure prominently in the stage show.
The Backyardigans: Sea Deep in Adventure was developed and first toured in 2009. [4] The Director/Choreographer was Patti Caplette, who also co-wrote the show with one of the TV shows' writers Rodney Stringfellow. The shows also feature the original music from the TV show, which was written by Evan Lurie.
The show saw Pablo, Tyrone, Tasha, Uniqua and Austin exploring underwater coral reefs, playing in an octopus's garden, and joining a jellyfish ballet.
In 2007, a live theatrical production of The Big Comfy Couch entitled Molly's Fool Moon Festival toured in Canada. The show included Loonette the Clown, Molly, Granny Garbanzo, Major Bedhead and others.
The production was produced by Koba Entertainment, and presented by Paquin Entertainment Group.
The Doodlebops is a Canadian television show for children. Beginning its TV broadcasting run in 2004, the series, produced by Cookie Jar Entertainment airs on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in Canada in the CBC Kids morning program schedule, on the Disney Channel in the USA as part of the Playhouse Disney Morning programming schedule and on Playhouse Disney (UK) in the UK.
A live theatrical show entitled The Doodlebops: Together Forever Tour has been developed and toured Canada in early 2009. The show includes musical performances of signature favorites as well as new songs. The live version incorporates giant screens and original sets and costumes.
The show was produced by Koba Entertainment, and presented by Paquin Entertainment.
Franklin the Turtle is a Canadian/American children's television series, based on a series of books by Brenda Clark (illustrator) and Paulette Bourgeois (writer). The television series was named after its main character, Franklin the Turtle. In the Canadian French version, the cartoon shorts are presented with the title character of Benjamin and a similar theme song.
Franklin's Family Christmas Concert originally toured Canada in 2006, and again in 2008. This live musical production featured Franklin, Fox, Bear, Beaver and others as they throw a Christmas party celebrating the season.
The show was produced by Koba Entertainment, and was presented by Paquin Entertainment.
Franklin & the Noble Knights was developed and toured Europe in 2009. It will be touring in Canada in early 2010. The show sees Franklin on a quest to recover sister Harriet’s stolen golden necklace. He is joined by his friends Bear, Snail, Beaver, Fox, and Rabbit.
The show was produced by Koba Entertainment and presented by Paquin Entertainment.
Franklin's Carnival of Animals was a live production featuring Franklin and his friends as they are taken on an outing to visit a Symphony Orchestra. The show featured a chamber orchestra, playing such pieces as The Teddy Bears' Picnic , The Flight of the Bumblebee and the Comedians' Galop.
The show was produced by Koba Entertainment and presented by Paquin Entertainment.
Little Bear is a children's television series. Originally produced by Nelvana for Nickelodeon, it currently airs on Treehouse TV in Canada and Nick Jr. in the United States.
It is based on the Little Bear series of books which were written by Else Holmelund Minarik, and illustrated by Maurice Sendak.
Little Bear: Winter Tails is a live theatrical production, starring Little Bear and his friends as they explore the magical merriment of the Winter Season. All of his friends join him on stage, including Emily, Duck, Cat, Owl and Hen. The show first toured in 2007, and returns in the winter of 2009.
The show is produced by Koba Entertainment, and presented by Paquin Entertainment.
The company continues to create new live theatrical shows for children.
Nelvana Limited is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment production company owned by Corus Entertainment since 2000. Founded in July 1971 by Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert, and Clive A. Smith, it was named after Nelvana of the Northern Lights, the first Canadian national superhero, who was created by Adrian Dingle. The company's production logo is a polar bear looking at Polaris, the North Star.
Franklin is an animated preschool educational children's television series, based on the Franklin the Turtle books by Brenda Clark and Paulette Bourgeois, and co-produced by Nelvana Limited. It was followed up by a CGI adaptation, Franklin and Friends.
Care Bears are multi-colored bears, painted in 1981 by artist Elena Kucharik to be used on greeting cards from American Greetings. They were turned into plush teddy bears and featured in The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings (1983) and The Care Bears Battle the Freeze Machine (1984) before headlining their own television series called Care Bears from 1985 to 1988. They also had multiple feature films including: The Care Bears Movie (1985), Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation (1986), and The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland (1987).
The Care Bears Movie is a 1985 animated musical fantasy film directed by Arna Selznick from a screenplay by Peter Sauder. It was the second feature film from the Canadian animation studio Nelvana after the 1983 film Rock & Rule, in addition to being one of the first films based directly on a toy line and the first based on Care Bears. It introduced the Care Bears characters and their companions, the Care Bear Cousins. The voice cast includes Mickey Rooney, Georgia Engel, Jackie Burroughs and Cree Summer. In the film, an orphanage owner tells a story about the Care Bears, who live in a cloud-filled land called Care-a-Lot. While traveling across Earth, the Bears help two lonely children named Kim and Jason, who lost their parents in a car accident, and also save Nicholas, a young magician's apprentice, from an evil spirit's influence. Deep within a place called the Forest of Feelings, Kim, Jason and their friends soon meet another group of creatures known as the Care Bear Cousins.
Care Bears is an animated fantasy adventure television series based on the franchise of the same name. After two specials in 1983, the main series began in 1985. The series was produced by DIC Audiovisuel's American branch DIC Enterprises and aired on syndication a while after the theatrical release of the first movie in the series.
The Big Comfy Couch is a Canadian children's prop comedy television series which is about a clown named Loonette and her doll Molly who solve everyday problems on their eponymous couch. It was produced by Cheryl Wagner and Robert Mills, directed by Wayne Moss, Robert Mills and Steve Wright. It premiered on March 2, 1993, in Canada and on January 9, 1995, in the United States on public television stations across the country, airing its' final episode on December 29, 2006. The program was also broadcast on Treehouse TV from 1997 to 2011.
Patrick Loubert is one of the founders of the Canadian animation studio, Nelvana Limited, along with Clive A. Smith and Michael Hirsh. He has produced, and executive-produced, much of the company's most memorable fare.
Michael Hirsh (born April 7, 1948) is a Belgian-born Canadian producer, TV executive, entrepreneur, and author. He has been attributed to building from the ground up the Canadian animation industry and, more specifically, award-winning children's programming since the 1980s. He co-founded Nelvana Limited, a Canadian based animation and entertainment studio in 1971 with partners Patrick Loubert and Clive A. Smith producing numerous cartoons that established Nelvana Limited as a leader in the industry including Little Bear, Franklin, Babar, Max & Ruby, The Magic School Bus, Care Bears, The Adventures of Tintin, Inspector Gadget, Droids and Ewoks, among many, many others. After Corus Entertainment's acquisition of Nelvana Limited, Hirsh became the CEO of Cookie Jar Entertainment, which created numerous highly popular children's shows, among them Arthur, Johnny Test, Caillou and Strawberry Shortcake. When Cookie Jar was acquired by DHX Media Hirsh became the Executive Chairman of the company, the largest supplier of kids programming to online streaming services as well as a leader in production and licensing and merchandising for children. Three years after the acquisition by DHX Media, Hirsh left the company to serve as CEO and chairman of WOW! Unlimited Media from 2015 to December 2023.
The Backyardigans is an animated musical children's television series created by Janice Burgess for Nickelodeon. The series was written and recorded at Nickelodeon Animation Studio. It centers on five anthropomorphic animal neighbors who imagine themselves on fantastic adventures in their backyard. The show's title is a portmanteau of "backyard" and "cardigan". Each episode is set to a different musical genre and features four songs, composed by Evan Lurie with lyrics by McPaul Smith. The Backyardigans' adventures span many different genres and settings. The show's writers took inspiration from action-adventure films, and many episodes are parodies of films.
The Doodlebops is a Canadian live action musical-comedy children's television series produced by Cookie Jar Entertainment for CBC Television in Canada, although the series aired in the United States on Disney Channel's Playhouse Disney from April 11, 2005 to November 17, 2007. The series combines music, choreography, humour, and skits to teach social lessons. It included scenes from a concert in front of preschool audiences being participated actively.
6teen is a Canadian traditionally animated teen comedy drama television series created by Jennifer Pertsch and Tom McGillis which originally aired for four seasons and 93 episodes on Teletoon from November 7, 2004 until February 11, 2010.
Little Bear may refer to:
Franklin and the Turtle Lake Treasure is a children's animated adventure drama film which was released on September 6, 2006 direct-to-video, based on the TV series Franklin. The first Franklin film shown in theaters in Canada and France, it was the last production in the Franklin series to be traditionally animated.
Warner Bros. Family Entertainment was the family division label of Warner Bros. Entertainment. It released numerous theatrical and direct-to-video family-oriented films and television shows.
Little Bear, also known as Maurice Sendak's Little Bear, is a Canadian children's animated television series co-produced by Nelvana Limited in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is based on the Little Bear series of books, which were written by Else Holmelund Minarik and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. In the United States, the show premiered on Nickelodeon as part of the Nick Jr. block on November 6, 1995, until the final episode aired on June 1, 2001. The show also aired on CBS on Saturday mornings from September 16, 2000, until September 15, 2001.
The Berenstain Bears is a preschool children's animated educational television series based on the children's book series of the same name by Stan and Jan Berenstain, which centers on the lives of a family of anthropomorphic bears who learn a moral or safety-related lesson during the course of each episode. The series functions as a revival of the 1985–1987 cartoon series of the same name, and is co-produced by Nelvana Limited and Agogo Entertainment, produced in association with Treehouse TV (Canada) and PBS.
Franklin and Friends is a CGI children's television series produced by Nelvana. The second adaptation and spin-off of the classic characters from the Franklin the Turtle series of children's books written by Paulette Bourgeois and illustrated by Brenda Clark (the first being Franklin, which was also co-produced by Nelvana Limited, the series was announced by Nelvana Limited on September 28, 2010. The series also serves as a reboot of the 1997 animated television series. The series premiered on Treehouse TV on March 4, 2011. The series’ theme song is a revamped version of the original series theme, "Hey It's Franklin".
Cheryl Wagner, is a Canadian puppeteer, producer, director and writer, who is the creator of the TV series The Big Comfy Couch, is a Gemini Award and Emmy award- winning Canadian children's television writer, showrunner and producer who began her career as a performer in both theatre and on the screen. Her Halifax-based touring Merrytime Clown and Puppet Company in which Wagner worked as a clown and puppeteer from 1977 to 1980 provided a fertile ground for her later work as a producer and writer in children's entertainment.