History Literature / MayatheBee

** The 2018 German exclusive album ''Biene Maja - Liederalbum Sing mit uns!'' is mainly performed by the characters from the series. Such as "1-2-3-4, hier marschieren wir!" sung by The Ant Army, "Hühüpf hurra" performed by both, Willy and Flip, and "Wir lernen Fliegen" performed by Maya. In addition, Karel Gott and Juliet created new songs exclusive to the album ("Es ist schön (Heut in die Schule zu gehen)" by Juliet, and "Maja, fang den Sonnenschein" by Karel Gott).

* AdaptationDyeJob: Kurt had a blue elytron and a brown stomach in the anime. In the CGI series, he's green.

A new Maya cartoon with 3D rendered graphics aired in 2012 for 143 episodes of 13 minutes each, with Creator/AndreaLibman in the title role. [[http://www.studio100animation.net/series/maye-the-bee/ Another season]] consisting of 52 episodes began airing in France March 2017. The English dub of season 2 began airing in the UK September 2017.

On October 2016, Studio 100 created a musical based on the CGI series called "Maya en de Pollenbollen" (''Maya and the Pollen Bulbs'') starring Maya, Willy, Flip, Beatrice, and Thekla. The musical involved Maya, Flip, and Beatrice planning a surprised birthday party for Willy. However, the musical was only shown in the Flemish regions of Belgium. The same musical later had its second run in the Fall of 2017.

** The 1st season of the anime ends with Maya returning to the hive and becoming a teacher. The 2nd series has her living in the meadow again with no explanation why. And since she visits the hive in a few episodes, it shows that it's connected to the 1st season, and that Miss Cassandra knows full well where she's living and doesn't mind. [[spoiler:Maya is called back to the hive in the final episode to take Miss Cassandra's place, but is soon allowed to return to the meadow, since it's obvious she's not happy living in the hive.]] The queen seen in the 2nd series is also different to the one from the 1st, but it is also left unexplained.

The animated ''The Adventures of Maya the Honeybee'' is probably the best-known incarnation. It was originally created by Creator/NipponAnimation (formerly Zuiyo Eizo) in Japan between 1975 and 1980[[note]]Although the second season didn't air in Japan until 1982-83[[/note]] with a total of 104 episodes over two series with 52 episodes each. There are two English dubs of the series, the first made in [[TheEighties the early '80s]] in South Africa and aired in Canada on Creator/{{CBC}}, and the second, of Canadian origin, made by Creator/SabanEntertainment in 1989 and aired on Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} in the U.S. and Creator/{{YTV}} in Canada. Saban's dub includes only [[NoExportForYou 55 of the 104 episodes]] (40 from the first series and 10 from the second). The French dub has also aired in Quebec on the provincial public TV network, Radio-Quebec (now Télé-Québec), as well as on the pay cable network Premier Choix (now known as Super Écran, the French-Canadian equivalent of what is now Creator/{{Crave}}).

** Willy and Flip weren't in the original book, but became part of the main cast in nearly all the cartoons / merchandise. On the flip side, Alexander the mouse wasn't in the 1975 anime.

** The Japanese theme was also used in the Arabic dub.

** Willy and Flip weren't in the original book, but became part of the main cast in nearly all the cartoons / merchandise.

* VagueAge: While Maya and Willy are stated to be babies or children, they have the appearance of a young adult or a preteen child. Doesn't help that in Germany, Maya is voiced by a young girl in every incarnation of the series, while Willy is voiced by a grown male. Gulli's's website says that [[https://www.gulli.fr/Chaine-TV/Dessins-animes/Maya-l-Abeille/Personnages#Maya Maya is 8]], but this has never been stated in the series, so whether it's true or not is hard to say. The fact that they are insects who may avert HumanlikeAnimalAging further complicates the case.

* HumansAreCthulhu: How most of insects and animals view humans as a whole. Maya later learns that there are some humans that are good, as seen in the episode where she meets a fairy.

* CanadaEh: Saban's English dub was recorded in Montreal, and it shows in the voice actors' accents. The same voice actor stable was used for other series such as ''Anime/SamuraiPizzaCats'', ''Anime/AdventuresOfTheLittleKoala'', ''Anime/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'', ''WesternAnimation/TheWorldOfDavidTheGnome'', and ''Anime/TheLittlBits''.

* CanadaEh: Saban's English dub was recorded in Montreal, ironic considering that the French dub was a staple of pay and public television in Quebec through the '80s and '90s.

** For the second season of the anime, Nippon Animation contracted animation production out to another studio, Wako Production, which along with a change in character designers resulted in a marked decline in animation quality and some noticeable differences, particularly regarding Maya's design. For example: Maya's head shape started as a circle in Season 1, then became oval shaped in Season 2 of the original anime series. Also in Season 2, whenever Maya would get very upset or angry, she would express with eyebrows, compared to the earlier episodes where she would show expressions with her pupils. Wako also made Maya's facial expressions - particularly in the shape of her mouth while speaking - look more typically "anime-like" than in the first series.

* DolledUpInstallment: ''Maya the Bee & Her Friends'' for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor was originally going to be released as a ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' game. Development for the latter was complete and ready to be [[UsefulNotes/BetaTest released to manufacturing]], complete with magazine ads and all, but days before it was going to be sent to Nintendo for approval, series creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker pulled the plug on the release as they felt that a ''South Park'' game for a platform owned mostly by children would be [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids crossing the line]]. The ''South Park'' / ''Maya'' codebase would later be reused in ''[[Creator/MaryKateAndAshleyOlsen The New Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley]]''.

** The anime isn't too shabby either, especially the first series. Art director Masahiro Ioka was also known for his work on ''Anime/HeidiGirlOfTheAlps'' and ''Anime/SwissFamilyRobinson''.

* LullDestruction: Saban's English dub has a habit of filling in silent moments with dialogue.
* {{Malaproper}}: One of Willy's character traits in the anime is his tendency to misquote proverbs. One example from Saban's English dub: "Never judge a bug by its cover."[[note]]Maya: "Oh Willy, that's 'book,' not 'bug'!" [laughs] [[/note]]

* PluckyGirl: Maya.

** For the second season of the anime, Nippon Animation contracted animation production out to another studio, Wako Production, which resulted in a marked decline in animation quality and some character design shifts. For example: Maya's head shape started as a circle in Season 1, then became oval shaped in Season 2 of the original anime series. Also in Season 2, whenever Maya would get very upset or angry, she would express with eyebrows, compared to the earlier episodes where she would show expressions with her pupils.

** The Karel Gott theme present in every version of the anime except the America, Italian, Arabic, and Japanese versions. The Arabic version uses a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMWtRU0r3qo shorter version of the song in old promotional material on VHS tapes.]]

** For the second season of the anime, Zuiyo Eizo/Nippon Animation (which animated the first season in-house) contracted animation production out to another studio, Wako Production, which resulted in a slight decline in animation quality and some character design shifts. For example: Maya's head shape started as a circle in Season 1, then became oval shaped in Season 2 of the original anime series. Also in Season 2, whenever Maya would get very upset or angry, she would express with eyebrows, compared to the earlier episodes where she would show expressions with her pupils.

In late 2019, Studio 100 created a web series called "De Liedjestuin" ("Le Jardin des Refrains" in Walloon) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyCoKgOCRQ0 featuring Maya (in live-action)]], alongside Mega Mindy, Piet Piraat, and Plop (Klus/Bric in the Walloon/French version) singing and dancing to children's songs (mainly Dutch songs and lullabies) and nursery rhymes. More videos featuring Maya and other Studio 100 characters were posted on March 28, 2020.

In late 2019, Studio 100 created a web series called "De Liedjestuin" ("Le Jardin des Refrains" in Walloon) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyCoKgOCRQ0 featuring Maya (in live-action)]], alongside Mega Mindy, Piet Piraat, and Plop (Klus in the Walloon/French version) singing and dancing to children's songs and nursery rhymes. More videos featuring Maya and other Studio 100 characters were posted on March 28, 2020.

In the Summer of 2019, [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUYGuM8OXuVMi_lXRdbbKuw/videos "Pitchounet" was created geared towards their younger demographic]]. The channel posts web exclusive videos featuring Maya the Bee alongside ''Arthur and the Invisibles'' (Arthur and the Minimoys in non-anglophones regions) and ''WesternAnimation/MiaAndMe''.

The animated ''The Adventures of Maya the Honeybee'' is probably the best-known incarnation. It was originally created by Creator/NipponAnimation (formerly Zuiyo Eizo) in Japan between 1975 and 1980[[note]]Although the second season didn't air in Japan until 1982-83[[/note]] with a total of 104 episodes over two series with 52 episodes each. There are two English dubs of the series, the first made in [[TheEighties the early '80s]] in South Africa and aired in Canada on Creator/{{CBC}}, and the second, of Canadian origin, made by Creator/SabanEntertainment in 1989 and aired on Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} in the U.S. and Creator/{{YTV}} in Canada. Saban's dub includes only [[NoExportForYou 55 of the 104 episodes]] (40 from the first series and 10 from the second). The French dub has also aired on pay cable and public television in Quebec.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: In the final episode of the 1979 anime, the Queen summons Maya back to the hive to replace Miss Cassandra, who has taken ill from exhaustion. Except for Willy, all of Maya's friends, including Flip and Alexander, decide to move away, since living in the meadow is no longer any fun without Maya, who is equally miserable separated from her friends. Eventually she gets to return to the meadow, and her friends all return as well.

* PromotionToOpeningTitles: The 1975 anime opening only featured Maya. For the CGI series, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnKmN4ESYM4 the opening is animated as a shot-for-shot remake of the original]], but with Willy and Flip added to some scenes.

** The 1st season of the anime ends with Maya returning to the hive and becoming a teacher. The 2nd series has her living in the meadow again with no explanation why. And since she visits the hive in a few episodes, it shows that it's connected to the 1st season, and that Miss Cassandra knows full well where she's living and doesn't mind. The queen seen in the 2nd series is also different to the one from the 1st, but it is also left unexplained.

** Being a German creation, her name is really supposed to be spelled "Maja." The South African English dub of the anime actually refers to her by this spelling. The same spelling is used in the Polish version.

The animated ''The Adventures of Maya the Honeybee'' is probably the best-known incarnation. It was originally created by Creator/NipponAnimation (formerly Zuiyo Eizo) in Japan between 1975 and 1980 with a total of 104 episodes over two series with 52 episodes each. There are two English dubs of the series, the first made in [[TheEighties the early '80s]] in South Africa and aired in Canada on Creator/{{CBC}}, and the second, of Canadian origin, made by Creator/SabanEntertainment in 1989 and aired on Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} in the U.S. and Creator/{{YTV}} in Canada. Saban's dub includes only [[NoExportForYou 55 of the 104 episodes]] (40 from the first series and 10 from the second). The French dub has also aired on pay cable and public television in Quebec.

The animated ''The Adventures of Maya the Honeybee'' is probably the best-known incarnation. It was originally created in Japan between 1975 and 1980 with a total of 104 episodes over two series with 52 episodes each, but [[NoExportForYou only 55]] of these were ever broadcast in North America during its run in the early [[TheNineties 90s]] (with 45 of the episodes in the dub from the first series and 10 from the second). The series itself has been dubbed into over 40 languages all around the world and has even spawned a number of video games.

* AdaptationNameChange: In the 2nd movie "The Honey Games," Maya's Queen is revealed to be called Beatrice. However, in the CGI series, according to the episode "Love Struck," she is called Christine. This change is probably to follow the OneSteveLimit as there is already a Beatrice in the CGI series.

** Maya's head shape started as a circle in Season 1, then became oval shaped in Season 2 of the original anime series. Also in Season 2, whenever Maya would get very upset or angry, she would express with eyebrows, compared to the earlier episodes where she would show expressions with her pupils.

* InNameOnly: The 2014 movie and the book embrace the exact opposite themes. The movie has an [[ControlFreak order obsessed villain]] in place of of having Maya learn conformity, parodies militarism instead of glorifying it and the main theme is about opposing speciesism and embracing open borders as opposed to promoting racist ideals.

The British dub[[note]]As opposed to Saban's original U.S. dub[[/note]] can now be seen on Amazon Instant Video in the U.S. All of the shows episodes are available. [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwQyoTjGiCPvQuREgcSgX_JDmOC3_yIaP The episodes can also be viewed here.]]

* NowWhichOneWasThatVoice: The voice actor's names for the British dub are unknown as they were never listed in the credits.

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: An example without an accent, but Willy's British voice actor briefly drops his SimpletonVoice while trying to make Willy sound strained as he struggles to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acljy3NcJYQ&t=1143 lift a weight.]]

** Willy has this in the German, Latino, and British versions of the anime.

** Being a German creation, her name is really supposed to be spelled "Maja." The British dub of the anime actually refers to her by this spelling. The same spelling is used in the Polish version.