Nickelodeon UK Dives Into Guru Studio's Big Blue
Toronto, CA (October 5, 2021) – Guru Studio today announced a new broadcast deal with Nickelodeon UK for their newest animated series, Big Blue.
The 52 x 11 min underwater adventure comedy was commissioned by CBC Kids and Radio-Canada and is set to premiere in Canada later this year, and on Nicktoons in the UK and Ireland in January 2022. Previously announced broadcasters already on board include ABC Me in Australia, CTC Kids in Russia, and NRK in Norway.
Update (29/11) - Nicktoons will be airing a sneak peek of Big Blue throughout December, starting Monday 6th December 2021 at 8:30am!
Update (21/12) - Nicktoons will premiere Big Blue on Monday 3rd January 2022, airing weekdays at 8:00am, 6:00pm and 3:00am!
Big Blue follows sibling underwater adventurers Lettie and Lemo who lead a quirky submarine crew with a magical ocean fairy stowaway named Bacon Berry. Together, they just might unravel the mysterious secrets of their underwater universe!
"Nickelodeon is the perfect home for this hilarious series that the whole family can enjoy,” said Jonathan Abraham, Vice President (VP) of Sales and Business Development at Guru Studio. “Viewers in the UK are going to love this creator-driven series that's packed with comedy and high-stakes adventure."
Louise Bucknole, VP Kids Programming, ViacomCBS Networks UK & Ireland added: “We have no doubt Big Blue will be the perfect addition to our Nicktoons line-up as we explore their comic underwater world. We’re looking forward to introducing these fresh characters and sharing their many adventures with the viewers around the UK.”
The series is created by Ghanaian Canadian Gyimah Gariba, a multi-faceted artist whose work has gained him international attention, and who was praised by Forbes Magazine as one of 15 Young African Creatives Rebranding Africa.
Guru Studio's work can be seen on Nick Jr.'s hit CG-animated preschool series
PAW Patrol and
Abby Hatcher, as well as
True and the Rainbow Kingdom for Netflix,
Pikwik Pack for Disney Junior and Treehouse,
Justin Time, and
Ever After High.
Update (4/11) - Official CBC press release:
GRAMMY-WINNING MUSIC PRODUCER AND BEATCLUB FOUNDER TIMBALAND DIVES INTO NEW CBC KIDS ANIMATED SERIES, BIG BLUE
Nov 03, 2021
From animation powerhouse Guru Studio comes a new sci-fi comedy about caring for our planet and each other
Created by Gyimah Gariba, named one of Animation Magazine's 2020 Rising Stars of Animation, the animated series will make its world premiere December 4 on CBC Kids
Guru Studio, a leader in children’s entertainment, is pleased to announce today it has teamed up with Grammy-winning music producer Timbaland and his Beatclub team to produce the theme song for its newest animated property, Big Blue. The series was created by Guru Studio designer Gyimah Gariba, who has built a massive online following for his distinct illustrative style, and developed with CBC Kids. Gyimah was named one of Animation Magazine's 2020 Rising Stars of Animation and one of “15 Young African Creatives Rebranding Africa” by Forbes. The animated series will make its world premiere on CBC Kids beginning Saturday, December 4.
The imaginative series for kids 5-9 follows sibling underwater adventurers Lettie and Lemo who lead a quirky submarine crew with a magical ocean fairy stowaway named Bacon Berry. Together, they just might unravel the mysterious secrets of their underwater universe! The series drops young viewers deep into a wacky world of comic adventure, while helping to redefine what a family means and how caring for one another is the most important thing of all.
“Trying something different is what it’s all about and being a part of a kids show that’s so unique is as different as it gets for me,” said Timbaland. “I’m looking forward to speaking to the next generation and helping to make a difference.”
Big Blue is produced by Guru Studio, the powerhouse animation studio behind the global phenomenon PAW Patrol, the Netflix Original series True and the Rainbow Kingdom, and new series Pikwik Pack on Disney Junior and Hulu. The series will premiere exclusively in Canada on CBC Kids and will be available to stream on CBC Gem, CBC’s streaming service. Additional international broadcasters on board include Nickelodeon in the UK, ABC Me in Australia, CTC Kids in Russia, and NRK in Norway.
Timbaland is currently developing a brand new creative enterprise called Beatclub, a music marketplace and creator club which is a place for A-list producers to sell beats, sound packs and loops online. The new company aims to be the creative hub of the music industry.
About Guru Studio
Guru Studio is a creative-driven entertainment company renowned for creating, developing and producing internationally acclaimed and highly successful shows including its Emmy nominated Netflix Original series, True and the Rainbow Kingdom; PAW Patrol™ and Abby Hatcher produced in collaboration with Spin Master and Nick Jr.; Mattel’s Ever After High; and its own two-time Emmy Award nominated preschool series Justin Time in association with Disney Junior. The company is currently producing original comedy-adventure series Big Blue with the CBC, and its newest preschool series Pikwik Pack airing on Disney Junior US. Guru Studio also contributed visual development on the Academy Award nominated animated feature The Breadwinner, which brought the rich ‘story world’ sequences to life. Led by President and Executive Creative Director Frank Falcone, Guru Studio is an industry leader in animated storytelling for kids of all ages.
www.gurustudio.com
About CBC Kids
About CBC/Radio-Canada
CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada’s national public broadcaster. Through our mandate to inform, enlighten and entertain, we play a central role in strengthening Canadian culture. As Canada’s trusted news source, we offer a uniquely Canadian perspective on news, current affairs and world affairs. Our distinctively homegrown entertainment programming draws audiences from across the country. Deeply rooted in communities, CBC/Radio-Canada offers diverse content in English, French and eight Indigenous languages. We also deliver content in Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Punjabi and Tagalog, as well as both official languages, through Radio Canada International (RCI). We are leading the transformation to meet the needs of Canadians in a digital world.
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Gyimah Gariba dives into the Big Blue
The illustrator and character designer wants his underwater adventure series to reflect the diversity of families and children on screen.
Illustrator and animator Gyimah Gariba was watching David Attenborough’s nature documentary Desert Seas when he came up with the idea for his new 2D-animated series Big Blue—premiering on CBC Kids December 4.
“No one’s been to the bottom of the ocean,” says Gariba. “We’ve been to the moon, but we haven’t really looked into the mysteries of the underwater world.”
The Ghana-born artist worked on a collection of preliminary drawings inspired by the mystique and vast nature of the deep, and eventually brought them to life in this 52 x 11-minute sci-fi comedy series for kids ages five and up. Developed with CBC Kids and produced by Toronto-based Guru Studio (True and the Rainbow Kingdom), Big Blue follows along as two siblings and their quirky submarine crew unlock the secrets of their oceanic world.
Gariba needed more than just a passion for deep-sea exploration to get his show on solid ground, though. Working for Guru as a character design lead at the time, he responded to an internal call for pitches in 2015 and presented his concept to VP of creative development Rachel Marcus. Gariba collaborated with the studio’s development team to establish a story structure and then pitched Big Blue to CBC Kids at Kidscreen Summit 2016. Just a few months later, the project went into development with the pubcaster, and it has since been picked up by Australia’s ABC Kids and Nickelodeon UK, where it will air in January.
Just 29 years old, Gariba has already had a full career. He got his start as an intern at Titmouse, where he worked on the design team for Black Dynamite. He did stints as a character designer on Craig of the Creek and Carmen Sandiego, and then led the character design process for Steven Universe and Guru’s Justin Time. He has even written a comic book called Navel Gazing about self-discovery and introspection.
For his first TV project, it was important for Gariba to fill a gap from his own childhood. He found it hard as a Black kid in Canada to find his place in imaginary worlds. He recalls playing Dragon Ball Z with friends, and not wanting to be stuck playing one of the few Black characters.
“I watched a lot of cartoons growing up, and I always found myself being drawn to things that had a really rich lore I could escape into,” he says. “But there wasn’t anything that had any Black people, so it was difficult to pretend that I was in it.”
Gariba’s feelings are validated by recent research from Toronto-based Ryerson University’s Children’s Media Lab, which earlier this year released findings that only 14% of animated characters on screen are Black, compared to white characters at 52%.
He hopes that Big Blue gives Black kids a chance to see themselves in an animated fantasy world, and find their place more easily among its characters. But while the show’s leads are Black, Gariba does not want that to be the main focus; he just wants to demonstrate family love in all its many forms. Featuring a variety of mismatched characters (like a turtle cousin and dolphin aunt), Gariba hopes kids will understand that there are many different types of families. The show’s brother/sister protagonists, meanwhile, are a tribute to his own siblings and the love that exists between them.
“Companies should be open to exploring how to depict new and different kinds of relationships to better reflect and educate today’s viewers,” says Gariba. “I’ve never seen two families that are exactly alike, and I think the media we watch should have as much diversity as our real lives.”
Looking ahead, Gariba hopes Big Blue will get renewed because he plans to tell more culturally specific stories in the next season—though he’s keeping the details close to his chest for now. In the meantime, he’s fittingly working to support clean beach and anti-littering initiatives in Ghana whenever he’s able to visit. At the end of the day, Gariba just wants to make the world a better place, and he’s not picky about how does it.
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Originally published: October 6, 2021.
