Rocket Monkeys | |
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Also known as | The Rocket Monkeys |
Genre | Science fiction comedy[1] |
Created by |
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Developed by |
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Directed by | J Falconer |
Creative director | Mark Evestaff |
Voices of |
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Opening theme | "Rocket Monkeys" performed by Tony Daniels |
Ending theme | "Rocket Monkeys" performed by David Berni (as YAY-OK) |
Composers |
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Country of origin | Canada |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 3 |
No. of episodes | 65 (130 segments) (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Producer | Mark Evestaff |
Running time | 22 minutes (11 minutes per segment) |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Network | Teletoon |
Release | January 10, 2013 November 23, 2016 | –
Rocket Monkeys is a Canadian animated television series created by Dan Abdo and Jason Patterson for Teletoon. It premiered in Canada on January 10, 2013,[2] and aired its last new episode on November 23, 2016, before entering reruns. The series is produced by Breakthrough Entertainment in association with Hornet Films and Atomic Cartoons. 65 episodes were produced.[3]
The series won several Canadian Screen Awards,[4] including Best Animated Program in both 2015 and 2016.
Two anthropomorphic monkey astronauts named Gus and Wally, work at the GASI Headquarters. They're not the brightest or coolest astronauts, but since they are the only ones around, they are called upon to go into space and carry out different kinds of important missions—including battling rogue black holes and vengeful aliens. Other members of the brothers' crew include bossy astrophysicist Dr. Chimpsky, who gives the monkeys their assignments; YAY-OK, a devoted robot that is slightly outdated and is the brothers' only hope to help keep them on course; and Inky, a space octopus and artist who communicates through his ink drawings.
The development of the series begins in 2006. The two protagonist monkeys, Gus and Wally, are inspired by the complicity of the two creators of the series, Dan Abdo and Jason Patterson,[7] friends since high school. Jason and Dan did some animation tests and sketches which they showed Michael Feder. Feder, a partner of Hornet Inc, then helped in the development of Rocket Monkeys, under the label of Hornet Films. In 2007, the animation division of their studio closed. 4Kids Entertainment then volunteered to take care of the pre-production of the series from spring 2008.[8][9][10]
At the beginning of 2012, production was completed and the animation was taken over by Atomic Cartoons in Vancouver.[11]
Main article: List of Rocket Monkeys episodes |
Season | Episodes | Original airdate | |||
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First aired | Last aired | ||||
1 | 26 (52 segments) | January 10, 2013 | April 2, 2014 | ||
2 | 13 (26 segments) | November 5, 2014 | February 26, 2015 | ||
Special | October 25, 2015 | ||||
3 | 26 (52 segments) | March 1, 2016 | November 23, 2016 |
Rocket Monkeys had been broadcast in Canada on its original channel, Teletoon, since January 10, 2013.[12] The series is available for digital per-episode purchase in Canada, and cannot be purchased in the U.S. in that manner. As of 2021, the series (with the exception of some episodes), can be seen on the completely free streaming service, Tubi.
On February 21, 2013, Nickelodeon announced that they had acquired the broadcast rights to the series, including for the U.S., though its history on that network was marked with several shifts. It premiered on March 4, 2013, but then shifted over to sister network Nicktoons due to low ratings and waning promotion on Nickelodeon, before that network dropped it entirely in May 2014, leaving it off US airwaves for just over three years.[13] The second season finally premiered in the U.S. on July 3, 2017 as part of the over-the-air KidsClick syndicated children's block and has aired until the block shut down in 2019.[14] In the United Kingdom, it premiered on Nicktoons in 2013 and ended sometime in 2017, but repeats aired from December 2017 to 28 January 2018, and it also aired on CITV. In Southeast Asia and Poland, it aired on Disney XD.