Salty's Lighthouse

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Salty's Lighthouse
Salty's Lighthouse title card.jpg
Opening screen
Genre Animated
Fantasy
Children's
Created byNina I. Hahn (show concept)
Robert D. Cardona (original Tugs footage and Tugs characters)
David Mitton (original Tugs characters; uncredited)
Developed byNina I. Hahn
Ellen Schecter
Written by Barry Harman (Salty/Tugs segments/lyrics)
Ricky Harman (Salty segments)
Donna Harman (Salty segments)
Steve Edelman (Salty segments)
Scott Guy (Salty segments)
Mark Stratton (Salty segments)
David Bucs (Salty segments)
George Arthur Bloom (Tugs segments)
Brian Meehl (Tugs segments)
Noel MacNeal (Tugs segments)
Ronnie Krauss (Tugs segments)
Directed by David Mitton (TUGS segments; uncredited)
Chris Tulloch (TUGS segments; uncredited)
David Bucs (animation art)
Bill Hutten (animation/timing)
Jeff Hall (animation/timing)
Dora Case (animation)
Sue Peters (animation)
Carole Beers (animation/timing)
Terry Klassen (voice)
Gail Fabrey (assistant)
Charles J.K. Choi (supervising)
Chris Cho (technology)
Oon Heung Yo (B.G.)
Voices of Kathleen Barr
Ian James Corlett
Paul Dobson
Rhys Huber
Janyse Jaud
Andrea Libman
Scott McNeil
French Tickner
Lenore Zann
Theme music composerChase Rucker
Country of originUnited States
Canada
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes40
Production
Executive producersJoe Bacal
Tom Griffin
C.J. Kettler
Carole Weitzman
ProducerMark Stratton
Running time11 minutes (segments)
22 minutes (episodes)
Production company Sunbow Entertainment
Original release
Network
ReleaseOctober 3, 1997 (1997-10-3) –
June 26, 1998 (1998-6-26)
Related
Tugs

Salty's Lighthouse is an animated television series for preschoolers, produced by Sunbow Entertainment in association with the Bank Street College of Education in New York. Debuting in syndication in late 1997, [1] and picked up by Discovery Communications for U.S. broadcast that December, [2] it aired from March 30 [3] to June 26, 1998[ citation needed ] on TLC's Ready Set Learn! block. [4]

Contents

The show centers on a young boy named Salty, as he plays and learns with his friends in a magical lighthouse. [5] As well as the animated adventures of Salty and his friends, the series uses live-action footage from the British children's television series Tugs for various segments. 40 episodes were produced in the series.

Premise

Salty is a young redheaded boy who loves using his imagination. Each day, he goes to the lighthouse near his home to play with his seaside friends: Ocho, the octopus; Claude, the hermit crab; Sophie and Sadie, the twin seagulls; a group of small clams; Aurora, the light that shines over the ocean; and lighthouse owner Aunt Chovie. Through their adventures in each episode, they learn good lessons that help them overcome their problems. Tied into each story are other segments, told through live-action footage:

Voice cast

Episodes

NºTitle Original air date
1"Mixed Signals!"October 3, 1997 (1997-10-3)
2"Too Young to Be Included!"October 10, 1997 (1997-10-10)
3"Taking Off!"October 17, 1997 (1997-10-17)
4"Let's Party!"October 24, 1997 (1997-10-24)
5"Blackout"October 31, 1997 (1997-10-31)
6"Eight Is Too Much"November 7, 1997 (1997-11-7)
7"One Bad Day"November 14, 1997 (1997-11-14)
8"Hands Off!"November 21, 1997 (1997-11-21)
9"Salty, Come Lately!"November 28, 1997 (1997-11-28)
10"It's Magic"Error: Value is not a valid month (help)
11"Count on Me"December 12, 1997 (1997-12-12)
12"Knot So Nice"December 19, 1997 (1997-12-19)
13"Taking My Turn"December 26, 1997 (1997-12-26)
14"Backwards Day"January 2, 1998 (1998-1-2)
15"Banana Splits"January 9, 1998 (1998-1-9)
16"Clear the Decks"January 16, 1998 (1998-1-16)
17"Claude in Charge"January 23, 1998 (1998-1-23)
18"The Favorite"January 30, 1998 (1998-1-30)
19"Strike Up the Band"February 6, 1998 (1998-2-6)
20"Blankety Blank"February 13, 1998 (1998-2-13)
21"The Last of the Red Hot Seagulls"February 20, 1998 (1998-2-20)
22"Farley Frog"February 27, 1998 (1998-2-27)
23"Boss Man"March 6, 1998 (1998-3-6)
24"Sophie, Come Home!"March 13, 1998 (1998-3-13)
25"Who Took My Crayons?"March 20, 1998 (1998-3-20)
26"High Spirits!"March 27, 1998 (1998-3-27)
27"Some Guys Have All the Luck!"April 3, 1998 (1998-4-3)
28"Dream On!"April 10, 1998 (1998-4-10)
28"Sound Off"April 17, 1998 (1998-4-17)
29"Treasure Hunt"April 24, 1998 (1998-4-24)
30"Who Turned Off the Lights?"May 1, 1998 (1998-5-1)
30"If the Clue Fits, Wear It!"May 8, 1998 (1998-5-8)
33"Desperately Seeking Sadie"May 14, 1998 (1998-5-14)
34"Colossal Crab"May 15, 1998 (1998-5-15)
35"The Big Birthday Splash"May 22, 1998 (1998-5-22)
36"Stop the Music!"May 29, 1998 (1998-5-29)
37"Let's Wing It!"June 5, 1998 (1998-6-5)
38"No Strings Attached!"June 12, 1998 (1998-6-12)
39"Guilty Gull"June 19, 1998 (1998-6-19)
40"Bivalve Blues"June 26, 1998 (1998-6-26)

Home Video releases

United States

In 1999, Interactive Learning Group (under license from Sunbow and Sony Wonder) released three VHS tapes containing two episodes each (1 full episode) for their Video Buddy Interactive System.

In 2012, episodes are available online on Kidobi, a video streaming site for preschool content. [6]

United Kingdom

In November 2000, Maverick released a VHS tape of the series containing six episodes (3 full episodes). [7]

In 2005, Metrodome Distribution (a distributor owned by Sunbow's then-parent TV-Loonland AG) released a compilation VHS/DVD called "Toddler Time!", which included the two episodes 'Taking Off' and 'Let's Party' (making one full episode).

Comparisons with Tugs

The segments featuring the tugboats in the harbour used footage from the British television series Tugs , the sister series to Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends produced in 1989 by Britt Allcroft, Robert D. Cardona and David Mitton. Whilst Allcroft drove the Thomas series to popularity among North American audiences (through the PBS series Shining Time Station ), Tugs did not spread far beyond its country of origin, lasting one season of 13 episodes due to the bankruptcy of its distributor, TVS Television (although it was aired and merchandised in the Japanese and Australian markets).

As a result of this, Sunbow saw fit to use the series' animation as a part of Salty's Lighthouse, licensing the use of the footage from Cardona. However, they repurposed the footage drastically to suit the needs of the show's pre-school audience. (Cardona was not involved in the show's production; however, he was credited as the creator of the model footage.)

The original episodes of Tugs centered on two rival fleets of tugboats, working in 'Bigg City Port' in the 1920s, with its plotlines involving action and drama intended for an audience of older children. Due to the difference in the intended demographic, the original plotlines (as well as the premise of rival tug fleets) were not used. Instead, the producers of Salty's Lighthouse wrote entirely new stories of the boats in 'Snugboat Harbor', relating to the theme of the main animated segment, with footage from the series edited and re-dubbed to tell these stories.

(This creates an interesting comparison to the Thomas segments of Shining Time Station; as Britt Allcroft intended to introduce Thomas to North America through that series, so the UK terms used in that series (i.e. trucks) were modified to reflect the U.S. terms, but the episodes were still faithful to their source. In the case of Salty's Lighthouse, the show was completely repurposed for a new market, instead of attempting to create a faithful 'equivalent' of Tugs.)

Along with the newly created stories, various changes were made to the characters featured in them. The characters of Sunshine, Captain Star (the narrator), and Little Ditcher were made female, presumably to appeal to a wider audience. (Sunshine was referred to in some episodes as fellow switcher Ten Cents' sister.)

The U.S. accents of the new voiceover replaced a range of British accents from the original characters (for example, the Glaswegian Scottish of Big Mac, or the Cockney accents of Ten Cents and Zorran).

Some character names were also changed, mostly to avoid confusion with others of the same name: Of the main characters, Big Mac became 'Big Stack' (possibly to avoid legal trouble from McDonald's over the name of their well-known burger).; O.J. became 'Otis' (possibly to avoid confusion with O. J. Simpson or the fact that O.J. can stand for the orange juice drink).; while Zebedee became 'Zeebee' (his original nameplate is left uncensored which indicates his name may have been consistently mispronounced).

Izzy Gomez had an American accent instead of a Mexican one, despite sporting a sombrero.

The Fultan Ferry was given a voice (despite not having a visible face or megaphone), and was confirmed as a male character. He also went under the name 'Fultan' by Grampus.

Excluding the human characters, most of the faceless characters (such as Little Ditcher, Scuttlebutt Pete, and Puffa) do not speak through their visible megaphones (with the exception of Tramper (Nantucket) in "Salty Come Lately").

Many supporting and incidental characters were also repurposed, to fit particular Salty's Lighthouse stories:

Some of the other characters (such as the Fire Tug, Big Mickey, Mighty Mo, Pearl, the Shrimpers, and the Buoys) do make several appearances, but have no dialogue, whilst others, such as Sea Rogue's Uncle and the Pirates (a.k.a. The Green-Eyed Things) never made any appearances (although Sea Rogue's Uncle did make a cameo appearance in the episode "Who Took My Crayons?", and one of the Pirates was shown in the place of Sea Rogue when he covered Lillie Lightship and a bell buoy with a blanket in the episode "Dream On").

See also

Notes

    References

    1. ↑ Schlosser, Joe (July 28, 1997). "Syndication's FCC learning curve" . Broadcasting & Cable . Vol. 127, no. 31. pp. 44–46. ISSN   1068-6827 . Retrieved September 16, 2024– via ProQuest.
    2. ↑ "Discovery nabs 'Lighthouse'". Variety. December 17, 1997. Archived from the original on October 5, 2015.
    3. ↑ Lenburg, Jeff (2009). "Salty's Lighthouse". The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons (3rd ed.). Checkmark Books (Facts on File). p. 614. ISBN   978-0-8160-6599-8 . Retrieved September 16, 2024– via Archive.org.
    4. ↑ "Sony Wonder Acquires Sunbow Entertainment" . Entertainment Wire (Business Wire). April 27, 1998. Retrieved September 16, 2024– via ProQuest.
    5. ↑ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 707. ISBN   978-1476665993.
    6. ↑ http://www.kidobi.com/videos-for-kids/Mixed-Signals-Too-Young-To-Be-Included/57246946-10b5-4de5-bd3e-783830ef20dc [ dead link ]
    7. ↑ "Salty's Lighthouse-Mixed Signals". Amazon UK. November 6, 2000.
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