Steampunk pre-school TV show from Weta
Pedro sez, "The WotWots is a pre-schooler's TV show with an elaborate steampunk aesthetic. The two main characters travel in beautifully rendered spaceship that is steampunk inside and out - apart from the pink and blue shagpile mattress on their oval brass bed. The show is made in New Zealand at the Weta Workshop - responsible for the special effects in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies. According to their website, Richard Taylor, the creative lead at Weta, has received five Oscars, four Baftas and numerous other awards."
The Wotwots (Thanks, Pedro!)
the latest
latest episodes
The steam powered egg/spaceship/helicopter thing really is cool.
Charming except for the loathsome sex stereotyping. Why on earth lard it with this? Twin brother Spotty Wot is boisterous and adventurous; Twin sister Dotty Wot, identical in shape, is differentiated by having the job of keeping her brother in line. He's the mechanic, she's the captain -- nice, except that flying the ship seems to consist of pushing pretty colored keys, and they both tool around in their own (very cool) flying chairs. Oh, and the captain's job description includes making breakfast. Really -- couldn't these filmmakers have extended their imaginations a bit further? How cliched can you get?
looks cute, but as a product of the internet 'what what in the butt' kept playing in my head XD
MMm, well, I still think it's lovely.
Apparently five Oscars, four Baftas and numerous other awards lead you to re-imagine the Teletubbies.
Be honest, it's the "steampunk" rather than the educational aspect that attracted you to this one.
All they need is a smiling child sun to round out the same same but different dreariness.
Seriously, read a book to your kids rather than sit them down in front of this. I hear there's a great author that writes intelligent kidult fiction, i think his name is Doctorow something.
Pink for girls. Blue for boys. DO NOT DEVIATE FROM YOUR DESIGNATION!
"pretty pink" and "boisterous blue" is kind of a bummer, too. kids get so much of this encoded message i'd love to see us all move away from it.
I like how a lot of kiddie show characters act like people on acid. XD
Kids. Feh. When I was a kid we only had a kids show with a Stonepunk aesthetic and that was good enough for us.
Took me years to figure out the giant sail that knocked over Fred's car was a bunch of brontosaurus ribs.
pause at 41 seconds for a very dodgy frame drawn by the male character.
so many negative comments, before criticizing it too much, watch some episodes. it's an endeering program with a lot of humour over the heads of kids. makes it enjoyable to watch for the parents. i watched some episodes in a theatre where the kids were in histerics the entire time.
it's a far cry from that disturbing show telle tubbies.
My two-year-old loves this. Each episode is only about 10 minutes long and it's on just before he has to go to playcentre, which distracts him enough so my wife can finish packing up his stuff before they go...
Yeah, shame about the tired gender stuff. For a fine steampunk kids show ship, try Lavender Castle!
Not being a child, and not having children, I don't have too much to say about this, except that I like how Muppety they look.
Jim Henson's influence lives on.
when's the autopsy episode airing?
Is this on any channel in the US?
Do they have battles with the yep-yep aliens from Sesame Street? On the streets of Lazytown? That would be hella cool.
I see girl pink and boy blue Bart Simpsons with antennae. The props are cool, though.
Something I always bear in mind when looking at and/or criticising something like this:
IT'S NOT FOR YOU.
This is a kid's show. Whether they look a little like Bart Simpson is neither here nor there, because small children are not going to care whether or not they look like Bart Simpson (besides the fact that they really don't...). They also are nothing like the Teletubbies, except that they're friendly characters aimed at small children.
Again, IT'S NOT FOR YOU.
I don't think the sexual stereotyping is quite as bad as some people are making out, either, but I agree that it's there, which is a shame.
Hey! They look like Steampunk versions of Sesame Street's "Yip Yips" !
@pretty much every post
The establishment of gender roles....loathsome? Really?
My wife hates it. We have two children (3 and 4), and apart from the pretty colours, they get very little out of it. The worst thing is the inane vocabulary: "wot wot wotwotwotwoooot". They could easily have *talked* and therefore added some value to learning. Instead they are just a pretty screen saver...
I also feel it condescending (and insulting) to a child's mind when a cartoon decides to do without verbal communication.
Sad to say, my main complaint is the fact that the announcer mispronounces the word "mischievous" as miss-CHEE-vee-us. I know this is a popular mispronunciation, but come on...this is a kids show. Let's not add to their stupidity. What's next? Supposebly? Should of? Actually that last one is more of a written mistake, but you get my meaning.
Reading your comments was hilarious. Has there ever been a truer group for forum whinging Yank stereotypes? When are you going to break out of your designated rolls of office jockey cynical know-it-alls.
Like carbon copies of Comic Book Guy from the Simpson's.
WYLKYN: The narrator is British. He's pronunciation of mischievous was around about 400 years before some Idaho bumpkin spat it out your version with a mouth full of potato.
MARCO: Guess who else is without so much verbal communication? The show's demographic: Toddler's. I hope you don't alienate your poor kids the same way you do fictional cartoon characters that have more educational value than 90% of the crap on prime time NBC, ABC or CBS.
Not everyone's kids can sign in 4 languages before they could walk. Counting in prime #s in their grey jumpsuits while meditating in baby yoga class. Staying sterile and clean in their non-threatening gender neutral playpens.
Great work WETA! I, at least, can see past the surface to the team of really talented people who probably worked for years to try and raise the bar of children's programing for this age group and have succeeded in bringing two lovable colourful and hilarious characters to life.
Amazing job. I couldn't do it but I'm glad you have. Blue and Pink aren't stereotypes to a 2 year old. They are just colours. Get a grip.