Franklin (TV series)

Franklin is a Canadian children's animated television series, based on the Franklin the Turtle books by Brenda Clark and Paulette Bourgeois. It was produced by Nelvana, and aired on Treehouse TV in Canada and on Nickelodeon in the United States from 1997-2009. It's unknown if it's off the air and replaced with a new adaptation, Franklin and Friends. Re-runs of the original series continue to air in Israel on the channel "Hop!".

Development
The development design of Franklin the Turtle for the animated TV series character, was the achievement of Canadian Animation artist and Illustrator Kurt Lehner, which he worked on during his time at Nelvana Studios in 1997. These designs were studies taken directly from the Franklin the Turtle book series itself. Though Lehner didn't continue to work with the "series" design team which was hired after the development process, at that time he's given the privilege of also designing Beaver, Rabbit and Skunk as well.

In May 2004, new episodes of the series began airing on the Canadian network, Treehouse TV. Franklin and many of his friends had new voice actors in these new adventures, but many of the show's strongest writers and staff-members remained on board. These new stories saw Franklin facing a flood, worries about the old treehouse, and earning a badge in a group called the Woodland Trailblazers. For the sixth season Funbag and other animation studios joined in the development of Franklin. The most recent movie in the series is Franklin and the Turtle Lake Treasure. The film was written by John van Bruggen and directed by Dominique Monféry. The 76 minute long film premiered in theatres in 2006 and had its debut on Noggin on New Year's Eve, 2007, as part of a celebration of the network's conversion to a 24/7 format.

Format
Franklin is traditionally animated with some computer aid, especially in the later seasons[citation needed]. Franklin is closed-captioned. The series focuses on the eponymous growing young turtle who, as his television stories and books always begin, "could count by twos and tie his shoes". He goes to school, lives in a small village called Woodland with his friends, and has many adventures playing and learning in the world around him, sometimes with the helping hand of an adult or his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Turtle. Franklin likes swimming, arts and crafts (especially drawing), and loves shoofly pie. He's been known to be afraid of the dark and of thunderstorms. Franklin has a best friend named Bear, as well as a blue blanket and a blue stuffed dog named Sam. In earlier seasons, he sleeps with his blanket and Sam. During the thunder storms when Franklin is scared, Sam and his blue blanket help keep him calm.

Franklin almost always aired with two 11-minute stories, except on Canada's CBC, which splits the stories apart and shows one at a time. The Franklin DVD and video releases include individual stories grouped together as part of a theme, rather than complete episodes. Unlike many animated children's programs, Franklin has no interstitial segments or end-tags featuring the characters. The scenes shown in the cartoon opening introduction were changed after the show's first season. Many of these scenes featured Otter, a character who left the series early in the first season and was only seen once more in later seasons.

Differences in the colouring of the cartoon can be spotted from season-to-season. The more recent feature films, most noticeably Back to School with Franklin have a somewhat different look from the television series. The film Franklin and the Turtle Lake Treasure had considerably higher production values, with more colour differentiation between the various turtles, higher quality animation, an overall brighter look, and beautifully painted backgrounds.

Episodes
Main article: List of Franklin episodes

Trivia

 * The episode Franklin's Music Lessons contained not one but two egregrious errors; 1. As Franklin plays the C /G C / G pattern on the piano, the G key plays a C note and vice versa. 2. Franklin sits on the right of Ms. Panda during the Row Row Row Your Boat duet, but he plays the lower notes, and Ms. Panda (on the left) plays the higher notes. A piano is designed with the lower notes at the left of the keyboard, and vice versa.
 * In the UK, the series is shown on Five with the voices dubbed over with British actors, though the episodes shown on Tiny Pop are shown with the original soundtrack.
 * In the original French language books, all of the characters have non-species-related names: Benjamin (Franklin), Henrietta (Harriet), Martin (Bear), Basile (Rabbit), Lili (Beaver), Raffin (Fox), Béatrice (Goose), Arnaud (Snail), Aurélie (Otter), Eloise (Skunk), Ludo (Moose), Hubert (Eagle), Vermillon (Goldie), and Jacques (Jack).