321 Peguins

"3-2-1 Penguins" is a computer animated home video show that debuted in November 2000, produced by BigIdea Productions, which is the company behind great shows like.... VeggieTales!? Yes, the studio which made that awesome Christian show also worked on this one. Also, for note at the time, Big Idea Inc. (as it was called) was in partnership with Lyrick Studios. 

Anyway, the premise of the show was that two children (Jason T. & Michelle Conrad) during their vacation at their grandmother’s house. whenever they have a struggle or issue with morality, a toy rocket space ship with four delicate penguin figures would come to life and abduct… I mean, shrink the kids down to size to ender space. The figures would also be alive, (or the kids are day dreaming) and go on adventures to really weird places in the galaxy. The children’s turns with the birds would often rotate (starting with Jason in the pilot “Trouble on Planet Wait-Your-turn!) with an odd-&-even order to help tell who would be with the penguins in an episode… although the last video broke that rule. However, an actual series on television would predominantly have them together on an adventure.  The episodes are extremely fun and teach excellently.  Also, for those who have not seen the show, there are cameos from VeggieTales character within some moments. The first one if fragrantly obvious, but another one is really hard to spot.

The penguin team of federation cowboys included…

Captain Zidgel: The leader of the Rockhopper who is bold yet conceded with his appearance.

Midgel: The short Australian pilot & engineer of the ship. He often yells “BANZAI” before taking off, and clips something off of an object next to him (for example, a tiny bonsai tree in the first episode)

Dr. Fidgel: the science professor of the crew, who has odd but useful inventions. For some reason, he resembles the kids’ diseased grandfather.  In fact, a lot of the characters have some connections to the real world (like Zidgel’s voice being almost exact to the voice of the kids’ father)

And… KEVIIIIIIIIIN!: Kevin… well… he really has no job or role, except cleaning perhaps. However, he always helps when an extra hand is needed. Plus, he is so and maybe the most likeable and saying his name is fun. I feel trampled inside when I type “Kevin” into the search engine… I always get results related to the “Up” character.

For the art, I placed the four main characters in the center, with the other characters to each corner, and an iconic feature of… wait… wait.. WAIT! Is it just me, or have I done this type of setup with the same formula before?.... Well… maaaaaaybe..  Naaaah, probably not! Anyway, it’s good, like everything else I have done… not to pat myself.

Big Idea Entertainment LLC. 
Art by Noah / :