Chuggington - The locomotives are on the loose!

Television series
German title	Chuggington - The locomotives are on the loose!
Original title	Chuggington
Country of production	United Kingdom
original language	English
Year (s)	2008-2015
length	about 10 minutes
Episodes	118+ in 5+ seasons 46+ in 2+ seasons (rallies)
production	Sarah Ball
music	Chris McHale
First broadcast	September 27, 2008 on CBeebies
German-language first broadcast	January 1st, 2009 on SUPER RTL
synchronization

Chuggington - The locomotives are on the loose! (Original title: Chuggington ) is a computer-animated television series about the fictional city of Chuggington and its living features. The show has been produced by Ludorum and the BBC since 2008 . Each episode tells a story about the three main characters Wilson, Bastian and Koko. The series is aimed at children between the ages of three and five.

content

Chuggington is a place where trains are the only form of transportation. The locomotives are living and equal members of society in this world. They can think and talk and don't need a train driver. All types of locomotives live together in the Chuggington locomotive depot, which is located in the heart of the city: diesel, electric and steam locomotives, express trains, shunting and freight locomotives. Every platform in the country is accessible from Chuggington. The depot has platforms, repair shops, petrol stations, roundhouse and practice areas. Four different colored tunnels lead out of the depot into the wide world.

The series is about the training days of Wilson, Bastian and Koko, three young locomotives in training who have to learn how to find their way on the tracks. They reflect the experiences that every preschooler has to make when they take their first independent steps in the world. The children are carefully guided and supported by Fee, the loudspeaker and signal announcer of the depot, and by Daniel, a shunting locomotive, who teaches and trains the three of them how to handle wagons.

main characters

• Koko is a fearless, streamlined high-speed locomotive based on the Shinkansen class 0 . In contrast to Wilson and Bastian, Koko is completely electric and gets its energy directly from the rails. She is a troublemaker and loves to annoy the boys and incite them to nonsense. She often challenges her to races, knowing that no one is faster than her. Koko loves to race through the countryside and drive away from the others, which also leads to some problems. Koko is very self-confident, but still has her heart in the right place and deeply regrets it if she brought her friends into trouble with her kind.

• Wilson is a lively, multi-function diesel locomotive based on the EMD F-series . However, because of his zeal, he often does not listen properly and gets into trouble. He is also known to have a very short memory and an even shorter attention span. Sometimes Wilson gets frustrated that he's not as strong as Bastian or as fast as Koko. He does not recognize his own abilities, has great self-confidence in the familiar everyday environment and is very insecure about new and unknown things.

• Bastian (Brewster) is a large and massive diesel-electric locomotive for heavy loads. It is based on a BR class 55 , but in contrast to the real locomotive such as B. Koko and Wilson only have a driver's cab that forms the face and a car crossing at the other end. He's not fully in control of his own strength at times, which makes him seem a little awkward and clumsy. Bastian is more serious and disciplined than the other two. When Koko and Wilson are fooling around with the instructions, however, he asks a lot of questions. Others are sometimes frustrated by this, but more often it is helpful to be careful. He is very reliable and you can always count on him if you have problems.

• Leon and Lea (Hoot and Toot) are twins. They are almost always seen back to back, but in the last few episodes they finally try to cope on their own. Lea is green and has blue eyes. Leon is blue and has green eyes. He also has red-green poor eyesight .

• Betty (Piper) is a small two year old oil steam locomotive. In her first episode, Grandpa Pete mentions that she even runs on vegetable oil. Sometimes she can be very mischievous.

Minor characters

• Fee (Vee) is the loudspeaker and signal announcer in the depot. She assigns the locomotives their tasks and tells them which tunnel to drive through. Fee is very helpful and also has to admonish the little locomotives. It is never other than to be seen as a loudspeaker, so you don't know whether it is human or possibly an independently thinking system like the locomotives.

• Daniel (Dunbar) is a shunter who teaches the little locomotives. However, he always has a lot to do, especially in the training hours. Then the little locomotives usually start something or want to continue training on their own, which often goes wrong. It is based on an electro-motive diesel locomotive like the EMD GP38-2 . After a while (in season 3) he leaves Chuggington for a "little break" and is replaced by the crane engine Sascha.

Railpower GG20B, model for Sascha (Skylar)

• Sascha (Skylar) is a large crane engine that has just come from the training academy. His crane ends in a 2-finger claw. He can use his crane or his side jib to turn himself up and around or to put himself on another track. It is reminiscent of a GG20B Green Goat locomotive, modified by a crane.

• Lukas (Emery) is an S-Bahn based on the American model (e.g. Urban Transportation Development Corporation , Intermediate-Capacity-Transit-System-Scarborough-RT -type E-Lok). He is usually on his own elevated railway line or, like Kelly, underground in order to be able to transport his passengers faster. He likes to play tricks on the other locomotives. It is one of the few locomotives that can always be seen with a wagon. He rarely uncouples it in order to be faster.

• Sophie (Zephie) is a young lift company . In contrast to the other locomotives, it can turn around and, when excited, lift its superstructure. She is a jumpy, goofy, and funny teenager. Usually it is used for smaller delivery trips and special deliveries or brings individuals quickly to their destination.

• Kelly (Calley) is the rescue engine and is called whenever anyone in Chuggington has an accident. In order to get to the scene of the accident more quickly, she has an underground wagon shed with several tracks and a variety of ambulance vehicles (such as a fire extinguishing wagon or a tank wagon).

• Hodge (built from a whole hodge-podge - English = hodge-podge - of parts) is a six-wheeled diesel locomotive that normally works with the human being Eddie. It's a bit like a pick-up truck and is often asked to bring the garbage to the recycling center. With his “I've seen it all” mindset, it's hard to upset him.

• Erwin (Irving) is the recycling locomotive in Chuggington. He's not strict, but he takes great care that everything is perfect. Erwin runs the local recycling center, where he sorts all waste.

• Grandfather Pete (Old Puffer Pete) is the oldest steam locomotive in Chuggington. Pete loves to pass on his wisdom to the three offspring Wilson, Koko and Bastian. However, he drives her crazy every now and then with his endless stories and can never remember their names, although he is very fond of all three of them.

• Frostini is the ice cream locomotive and has built in a special device for serving ice cream creations. The model for him was the Pioneer Zephyr . He also works in the ice cream factory, where he also combines new types of ice cream. Frostini speaks in an Italian accent.

• Almut (Olwin) is a LNER class A4 steam locomotive . She is very caring towards all locomotives, but always pays great attention to her appearance. Therefore, she tries to delegate the dirty work to others with success.

• Christian (Chatsworth) is a slightly older, eloquently speaking locomotive that mostly does the same tasks as Harry. It is based on the "Baldwin Sharknose".

UP M-10003/6 (second from left), prototype for Harrison

• Harrison , called Harry, is a large blue locomotive, similar to the UP M-10003 to M-10006 , and is considered one of the fastest locomotives in Chuggington.

• Speedy (full name Speedy McAllister) is a fast steam locomotive based on the CNW Class E-4 . Speedy is always a bit grumpy, but means well and helps where he can. He prefers the more industrial jobs. His hoot is the deepest and loudest in Chuggington.

• M'tambo is the safari park locomotive and works around the safari park. He makes tours with the visitors and also takes care of the garbage. He speaks with an African accent and has seen a lot in the world.

• SuperLok (ActionChugger) has engines similar to a jet plane and thus the ability to fly. He is the movie star and savior in need. If someone has problems, SuperLok is indicated by a red flashing light on his nose and he then always leaves everything to rush to help.

• Dana (Decka) is pretty colorful, but rarely seen. Like Lukas, it is a passenger train, but a double-decker that is built for heavy loads or people. It has a display with which you can e.g. B. can display party signs or the like and a huge personality.

Main human characters

• Moritz (Morgan) is a mechanic in the depot. He lives in what looks like a service car in the middle of Chuggington.

• Eddie is the depot handyman who does all the work, including the repair of rails and signals, etc. At the moment he lives in a "trailer" that looks similar to Moritz's house. Before that he lived with his parents and always had to take the train (Lukas) to work. He was often late, so the workshop team built the trailer for him, which is now near Chuggington.

• Lara (Lori) is Moritz's employee and was occasionally commissioned to wash the locomotives before the locomotive washer came. She seems to be doing an apprenticeship with Moritz and from time to time to attend vocational school.

• Vicky is the safari park ranger. Together with M'tambo, she takes care of the animals.

• Dr. Gosling is the zoo veterinarian.

• Dr. Ling is the scientist. She researches and invents things.

Production and publication

The series is produced by British studio Ludorum and the BBC and directed by Sarah Ball, who is also a producer. The music was composed by Chris McHale and the editing is done by Jane Hicks and Jill Garrett. Ben Turner is the artistic director. The 3D models and animation were created using the Maya software from Autodesk . Of the 10-minute episodes, 78 have been produced so far. In addition, short sequences of four minutes each were created in which the young locomotives try to win various awards.

Since September 27, 2008, the series has been shown by the CBeebies channel . The German premiere took place on January 1, 2009 on SUPER RTL . The series has also been shown in Norway, Australia and France. The series was released on DVD in Great Britain, the USA and Germany (Universal).

Episodes

Synchronizations

In contrast to the original, the broadcast is dubbed in the United States.

role	Original speaker	Dubbing (USA)
Koko	Imogen Bailey	Brigid Harrington
Wilson	Morgan Overton	Tony Terraciano
Bastian	Charlie George	Miles J. Harvey

Merchandise

Various merchandising products went on sale for the series, in particular the company RC2 has been selling toys for Chuggington since 2010 . These include models of trains with stored sentences and the ability to recognize one another, or trains for a wooden train .

Web links

• Chuggington - The locomotives are on the loose! in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Official website
• fernsehserien.de about the series

Individual evidence

1. ^ Samuel Bennett: The Virtual World of Chuggington: A First Time Director's Post-Mortem . LOGIN Conference, May 13, 2009.
2. ↑ CBeebies Programs - Chuggington: Badge Quest . BBC.
3. ↑ Ronnie Dungan: RC2 signs Chuggington deal ( Memento of the original from July 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , ToyNews, Jan. 7, 2009