Teletubbies

Teletubbies is a British BBC children's television series targeted at pre-school viewers and produced from 31 March 1997 to 5 January 2001 by Ragdoll Productions. It was created by Ragdoll's creative director Anne Wood CBE and Andrew Davenport, who wrote each of the show's 365 episodes. The programme's original narrator was Tim Whitnall. Teletubbies was also aired internationally in the United States on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) public television on 6 April 1998 and aired until 19 June 2005. It would continue to air reruns until 29 August 2008, when it was pulled from the schedule along with Mister Rogers Neighborhood, Reading Rainbow and Boohbah.^[1] In 2002, production was cancelled and it was announced that no new episodes would be produced, with the last episode being aired on 5 January 2001. However, a total of 365 episodes had been produced – enough for a full year.^[2]

Teletubbies, particularly notable for its high production values, rapidly became a critical and commercial success in Britain and abroad and won a BAFTA in 1998.^[3] Teletubbies Everywhere was awarded "Best Pre-school Live Action Series" at the 2002 Children's BAFTA Awards.^[4]
Although the programme is aimed at children between the ages of one and four, it had a substantial cult following with older generations, mainly university and college students.^[5] The mixture of bright colours, unusual designs, repetitive non-verbal dialogue, ritualistic format, and the occasional forays into physical comedy appealed to many who perceived the programme as having psychedelic qualities. Teletubbies was controversial for this reason. Other critics felt the show was insufficiently educational.^[3]
The programme was also at the centre of a controversy when American televangelist and conservative pundit Jerry Falwell claimed in 1999 that Tinky Winky, one of the Teletubbies, was a homosexual role model for children. Falwell based this conclusion on the character's purple colour and triangular antenna; both the colour purple and the triangle are sometimes used as symbols of the Gay Pride movement.^[6] 'Teletubbies say "Eh-oh!"', a single based on the show's theme song, reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in December 1997 and remained in the Top 75 for 32 weeks, selling over a million copies.

Overview

The programme focuses on four odd, multi-coloured toddlers of a mythological species known as "Teletubbies," named for the television screens implanted in the abdomens of the characters. Recognised throughout popular culture for the uniquely shaped antenna protruding from the head of each being, their respective names and signature colours, the four Teletubbies depicted in this programme include Laa-Laa, Po, Dipsy, and Tinky Winky. Communicating through infantile gibberish or babbling, the Teletubbies were designed to bear resemblance to actual toddlers dwelling within a beautiful, grassy floral landscape that is also populated by rabbits with bird calls audible in the background. The main shelter of the four is a grassy dome (known as the "Tubbytronic Superdome," though the name of the residence is not mentioned at all during the entire course of the programme) implanted in the ground accessed through sliding down a hole at the top. The creatures co-exist in Teletubbyland (the name of their home environment) with a number of odd contraptions such as Noo-noo, the group's anthropomorphic blue vacuum cleaner with the tendency to suck up the Teletubbies' possessions and the voice trumpets, devices resembling periscopes that rise from the ground and interact with the Teletubbies, serving as either supervisors for the beings who often arise to engage in games with them. The show is noted for its colourful, psychedelic setting designed specifically by the creators to appeal to the attention spans of infants or unlock different sections of the mind while also educating young children and toddlers of transitions that can be expected in life.
Throughout the course of every episode, an assortment of rituals are performed that are sometimes revamped differently each time, such as the playful interactions between the Teletubbies and the voice trumpets, the mishaps caused by Noo-noo, the footage of live children displayed on the screens in the creatures' stomachs, and, particularly, the "magical event" that occurs once per episode. The event differs each time and is often caused inexplicably, and is frequently psychedelic and strange, yet whimsical. Often the Teletubbies engage in games with one another, with Noo-noo, or the voice trumpets in many episode segments, and the episode is closed by the narrator and voice trumpets to the disappointed, reluctant, but eventually obedient Teletubbies, who bid the viewer farewell as they disappear into the Tubbytronic Superdome yet again.