Kaeloo is a French animated series. The first season, comprising 52 episodes, each seven minutes long, was dubbed into English. The second and third seasons have not been dubbed into English yet. The series is a CGI cartoon by Rémi Chapotot and Jean-François Henry and produced by Cube Creative associated with Blue Spirit. The series has been airing from June 6, 2010 on Canal+ Family, Canal+ and Télétoon+, and also started airing from September 2017 on C8.[1] In Canada, it first aired on Teletoon (Canada) on 10 August 2014, but it was then removed on 1 May 2016.
Characters
Kaeloo: The main character, whom the show is named after. She is a sweet and imaginative but emotionally unstable frog who's always looking for games to play with her "buddies". With provocation, Kaeloo enters an intense rage that transforms her into the hulking "Bad Kaeloo". Throughout the series, it is heavily implied that Kaeloo may have a crush on Mr. Cat, who also happens to have a crush on her. She is female in most of the dubs of the series; however, the Italian, Serbian and Hindi dubs, as well as the first 10 episodes in the English dub have her re-written as male, with the former three dubs editing out any suggestive scene between her and Mr. Cat.
Stumpy: Uneducated and immature, Stumpy the squirrel loves anything that is dangerous. He has little to no sense of reality and is not very intelligent. He is fascinated by adventure, explosions, superpowers, intergalactic wars and the like. Stumpy aspires to be like his idol, comic book hero Mr. Coolskin. He hates books without pictures, being made fun of, other people touching his things, and washing. Whenever he doesn't understand something (which is often), is afraid or otherwise agitated, he spouts gibberish as his neck spasms erratically.
Quack-Quack: Whilst still in his egg, his parents were killed by a hunter. He was taken into a laboratory as a duckling and repeatedly experimented on. He was made indestructible, intelligent, extremely lucky and addicted to yogurt. He is afraid of three things: doctors, never finding his creator and expired yogurt. He is incapable of speech, only able to say "quack", and is Mr. Cat's favorite punching bag.
Mr. Cat: A proud, macho, perverted, alcoholic, sadomasochistic, selfish, cruel, greedy cat who always wants to win, whatever the means and is even willing to cheat to do so. His inflated ego and overall foul attitude attract negative attention from the others. He especially enjoys torturing Quack-Quack, which upsets Kaeloo and is the usual cause of her transformation into Bad Kaeloo. Despite (or perhaps because of) Kaeloo's transformations, he seems to have developed a crush on her; the feeling may or may not be reciprocated. As a result, he occasionally tries to make romantic advances towards her, which she rejects; in cases where Kaeloo makes advances on him, he also rejects her for unknown reasons. It is implied in several episodes that he had an extremely difficult past and had terrible relationships with his family, especially his brothers. Over the course of the series, however, he does become much nicer while still retaining his greedy self.
Bad Kaeloo: The hulking, massive toad into which Kaeloo transforms when angry or threatened. While Kaeloo has stated in an early episode that the transformations must be triggered by anger, she has been seen in several episodes deliberately taking this form to cheat at games that require a level of physical prowess or to intimidate others. The transformations seem to be accompanied by a profound drop in intellectual capacity and reasoning, later followed by remorse once she returns to her "normal" form. This implies that Bad Kaeloo's actions are usually beyond her conscious control. It is hinted at in one episode that this personality will become the dominant one later in her life.
The second season of the show, which aired in France but was not yet dubbed into English, introduced a few secondary characters:
Pretty: A narcissistic, selfish and annoying female rabbit who is obsessed with fashion and all things stereotypically "girly". Pretty has a crush on Mr. Cat, but the feeling is not reciprocated.
Eugly: Pretty's fraternal twin sister, who is the opposite of her. She is fat and ugly, but she is extremely kind. Eugly is very emotional, and will burst into tears at even the slightest insult. She eventually becomes Quack Quack's girlfriend.
Olaf: An emperor penguin whose goal in life is to rule the world and cover it in ice. He is "married" to an ice cube, named Olga, and he owns a robot named Serguei. He used to live with many other emperor penguins, who ostracized him for wishing to marry an ice cube.
Episodes
Kaeloo was originally a three-minute short film animation created in 2007, titled Red Light, Green Light, 1, 2, 3[2] and presented to the MIP TV in the same year. It is widely considered the pilot of the series.
The episode Let's Play the Quest for the Wholly Gruel (La Quête du Greul) was released to the Annecy Animation Festival 2010 in 3D.[3]
Season 1
Let's Play Prison-Ball: The buddies are playing prison-ball, with Kaeloo and Quack Quack in one team and Mr. Cat and Stumpy in the other. Kaeloo turns out to be really good at catching the ball, and Stumpy takes the term “prison” in “prison ball” too literally.
Let's Play Doctors and Nurses: When Stumpy catches the flu, Kaeloo and Mr. Cat neglect him and take care of Quack Quack, who is perfectly healthy.
Let's Play Red-Light, Green Light: The buddies are playing Red Light, Green Light, but Mr. Cat keeps tormenting Quack Quack as usual when Kaeloo's back is turned.
Let's Play At Reading Books: The buddies decide to read books. Stumpy searches for Mr. Coolskin comics at the library, and Quack Quack and Mr. Cat fight over a book with pictures of pin-up girls.
Let's Play Magicians: The buddies put on a magic show, and Stumpy is devastated to find out that magic isn't real.
Let's Play Hopscotch: When Quack Quack goes to Heaven after playing a game of hopscotch, Kaeloo and Stumpy want to go as well, but they are unable to.
Let's Play Trap-Trap: Quack Quack must go for one hour without eating yogurt, but this causes him to experience withdrawal symptoms ad behave like a zombie.
Let's Play Teachers: Kaeloo forces Stumpy to play a game where she is the teacher and he and Quack Quack are students. Stumpy tries to get sent out of the school.
Let's Play Cops and Robbers: Quack Quack's yogurt is stolen, so Mr. Cat decides to launch an investigation to find out who stole them. Unfortunately, everyone else believes that he himself was the culprit.
Let's Play Simon Says!: Kaeloo decides to play Simon Says to get her friends to clean up a huge mess they made. Chaos ensues when Mr. Cat decides to play Simon.
Let's Play Happy Rotter (parody of Harry Potter): Kaeloo and her friends decide to role-play as the characters from a book known as “Happy Rotter” (a parody of Harry Potter).
Let's Play TV News: Kaeloo starts a TV news channel, and Mr. Cat is annoyed by the predictability of the news. He then invents a device to measure the viewers' satisfaction.
Let's Play Hide N' Hunt: Mr. Cat comes up with a violent version of Hide and Seek, where he turns Smileyland into a first person shooter-type labyrinth and the others, each with two clones of themselves, must escape from him while he chases them with a bazooka.
Let's Play Ecologists: Kaeloo attempts to educate her friends on ecology, but takes it a bit too far.
Let's Play Prince Charming: Quack Quack is Prince Charming, who must rescue Princess Stumpy. The so-called “princess”, meanwhile, is searching for a girlfriend on Fakebook (a parody of Facebook).
Let's Play Danger Island Survivor: The buddies try to recreate a game show they saw on TV, and each day a competitor is eliminated. To their annoyance, Kaeloo sets up mundane tasks and asks them to pretend it's dangerous.
Let's Play Peace, Man!: After Mr. Cat and Stumpy decide to play “war”, Kaeloo teaches them a different game, which consists of remaining calm and not getting angry.
Let's Play Market Vendors: Kaeloo sets up a market stall to sell apples. Stumpy sets up a rival stall and steals Kaeloo's apples to sell them.
Let's Play House: The buddies are playing house: Kaeloo is the mother, Mr. Cat is the father, Stumpy is the son and Quack Quack is the daughter. The “family” is far from perfect.
Let's Play Scaredy-Cat: Stumpy raises the dead on Halloween night, and Mr. Cat must fight the zombies by himself.
Let's Play Baby-Sitting: Stumpy sets Kaeloo and Mr. Cat up on a date in the hopes that Kaeloo will get pregnant, and he can babysit her baby to make money. In the meantime, he practices by babysitting Quack Quack.
Let's Play Spies: Kaeloo, Mr. Cat and Stumpy are spies who must stop Quack Quack, a terrorist who specializes in explosive yogurts. Stumpy, wanting to be the bad guy for once, does everything he can to betray his teammates.
Let's Play Air Pockets: Kaeloo forces Stumpy to take a trip on an airplane despite his acrophobia.
Let's Play the Quest for the Wholly Gruel: In a parody of Indiana Jones, Quack Quack, an explorer, and Mr. Cat, an evil Nazi, go on a quest for the Wholly Gruel, a legendary artifact.
Let's Play Golf: Kaeloo realizes that her friends are all better than her at golf, so she resorts to cheating.
Let's Play Catch the Mailman: Kaeloo receives a letter from somebody claiming to be a fan of the series, complaining that she is boring.
Let's Play Treasure Hunt!: Kaeloo sets up a treasure hunt, but Mr. Cat changes all the clues.
Let's Play Cowboys and Indians: Kaeloo is on her way to make a speech with Quack Quack, a cowboy. Mr. Cat kidnaps Kaeloo to lure Quack Quack into a trap.
Let's Play Time Travel: The buddies travel back in time to find a serial killer.
Let's Play Grown-Ups: Kaeloo, Stumpy and Quack Quack use a machine to turn themselves into adults. Mr. Cat has to return them back to normal.
Let's Play Me-Me-Nopoly: The buddies play “Me-Me-Nopoly”, a parody of Monopoly, to see who gets ownership of the sofa.
Let's Play Art Class: The buddies are making art, and Stumpy turns out to be a great artist.
Let's Play Circuses: The circus has come to Smileyland, with artistes like Stumpy the clown and Quack Quack the acrobat.
Let's Play Goodbye, Mr. Cat!: When Mr. Cat becomes a teenager, he finds out that teenagers aren’t allowed in Smileyland. The others attempt to help him find his inner child so that he can stay with them.
Let's Play Courtroom Drama: When Quack Quack is found cut up into pieces, Kaeloo accuses Mr. Cat of being the culprit. Mr. Cat demands a trial in court to prove his innocence.
Let's Play Musical Chairs: Kaeloo decides to play Musical Chairs with her buddies despite their clear lack of enthusiasm, and Stumpy decides to “befriend” Smileyland's chairs.
Let's Play Paranormal Stuff: Kaeloo predicts a series of misfortunes in Mr. Cat's future, which he refuses to believe. The buddies then hold a séance to see if they can communicate with spirits.
Let's Play Driver's License: Stumpy and Quack Quack try to get their driver's licenses.
Let's Play Super-Powers: The grand prize for eating 712 yogurts is a pack of Mr. Coolskin cards that grant the user superpowers. Stumpy gets Quack Quack to eat the yogurt for him, and the buddies play with the cards.
Let's Play Astronauts: The buddies find a parallel planet Smileyland on the other side of the galaxy, where Mr. Cat eats yogurt, Quack Quack torments him, and Stumpy is intelligent.
Let's Play Justice Masters: Mr. Cat's doctor tells him that he needs to relax, as he is extremely stressed. The others try to help him out, but they end up stressing him out even more.
Let's Play Detectives: Kaeloo and Mr. Cat compete to see who can find Stumpy's missing sister first.
Let's Play Streetball: The buddies play basketball, and Kaeloo is determined not to get angry because she does not want to go to Hell.
Let's Play The Thing From Outer Space: A strange object falls out of the sky. Kaeloo and Quack Quack want to keep it, but Mr. Cat and Stumpy try to get rid of it because they think it might be dangerous.
Let's Play Hot – Cold: Stumpy tries to impress his girlfriend, Ursula.
Let's Play Once Upon A Time: Kaeloo tries telling her buddies a bedtime story, but things turn chaotic when Stumpy decides to take over the narration.
Let's Play Tennis: Kaeloo and Stumpy, with help from Mr. Cat, play tennis against Quack Quack. Mr. Cat decides to help his team win by cheating.
Let's Play Figurines: The buddies receive figurines of themselves. Stumpy wants to play “war” with the others’ figurines, but they refuse to give them to him.
Let's Play Gangster Poker: The buddies play Poker with a pretend deck of cards (since Stumpy misplaced the actual deck), and decide to use pretend money as well.
Let's Play Guess Who!: The buddies play Guess Who, and Mr. Cat decides to use Quack Quack to re-enact some of history's most violent moments.
Let's Play Tea Party: Kaeloo is holding a tea party. Quack Quack is irreproachable, but Mr. Cat and Stumpy are being rude and sloppy.
Let's Play Bye-Bye Yoghurt: The buddies hold a funeral for an expired yogurt.
As of 2019[update], this season has yet to be aired in Italy.
Season 2
A second season was made and aired in France, but it has not yet been dubbed into English.
Season 3
The third season was released in France on September 4, 2017. It has not yet been dubbed in English.
Season 4
The fourth season of the show will premiere on January 6, 2020.
Mignolo: Martino Garavaglia (1^voice) / Andrea Moroni (2^voice)
Mr. Gatto: Davide Maugeri
Dissemination and reception
The launch of the series was made June 6, 2010 in the show on Cartoon + in Canal+ Family. The show is also broadcast on Canal+. Kaeloo is also distributed outside the show on Canal+ Family. The series has received good reviews from TéléramaTV 2 Weeks and Télérama considering it "hilarious" and TV two weeks as "a fast-paced cartoon and humor pest, which accomplishes the feat to entertain young and old".
DVD release
Kaeloo: Hide and Hunt was released on Region 4 DVD by Beyond Home Entertainment on 1 December 2011.[4] It contains the first 13 episodes of Series 1.
