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Series: Bananas In Pyjamas

Pyjamas make the Bananas.

"Bananas in pyjamas are coming down the stairs..."

Bananas In Pyjamas is a beloved Australian children's television series that originally ran on The ABC in its suitmation incarnation from 1992 to 2002, before undergoing an extensive Re Tool when it was revived in 2011 as an All-CGI Cartoon.

Like the other breakout Australian children's franchise of the 1990s, you would be incredibly hard-pressed to find an Australian child of Generation Y or later who's never even seen the show let alone one who didn't love it as a child, based on the the ubiquitous merchandising and instantly recognisable Theme Song. All this for a show where the episodes originally only ran for five minutes each.

The idea for the show came from the song of the same name, which later became the show's Title Theme Tune. The song was written in 1967 by British composer Carey Blyton, nephew of Enid Blyton who wrote many children's classics such as Noddy and The Famous Five. The Australian version of Play School soon incorporated the song into its catalogue, and in 1979 an animated short film of the song

was created to be screened during the show. This film and a Banana toy that subsequently joined the show's "toy cast" formed the physical basis of B1 and B2.

The show made its debut in July 1992, featuring a cast of two bananas in pyjamas (B1 and B2), three teddies (Amy, Morgan and Lulu) and a sometimes-conniving-if-actually-rather-nice corner shop owner in Rat in the Hat, who all lived in the cul-de-sac of Cuddles Avenue. The show soon proved to be immensely popular among the toddler crowd and the show was exported to many overseas territories including the United States, where three episodes would often be broadcasted together in a fifteen-minute block.

In the original incarnation's last season broadcast in 2002, some new barnyard characters were added, including two chickens called "Gregory" and "Peck", Dolly the sheep, Camembert the cow, Pedro the pig and Flash the fish. The series then went on an indefinite hiatus before it was announced in 2009 that a new CGI version of the show was in the works. The CGI version premiered in 2011 to at best mixed reviews and vocal disappointment from the show's former fanbase. However, the episodes from the original incarnation are freely available to watch on YouTube and purchase on DVD.

Tropes:

Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: Lulu often pronunces "Bananas" as "BA-na-nas".
Adaptation Distillation: The song doesn't specify how many bananas and teddies there are, but the 1979 short film and the series of picture books published in The Eighties make it clear that there's a whole army of both species. The 90s live-action series whittles the cast down to a few key members, possibly due to The ABC's notoriously small budget.
Adaptation Expansion: The new series introduces new locations and new characters, including Topsy the kangaroo, Charlie the monkey and Bernard the dog.
All-CGI Cartoon: The original series was transformed into one of these in 2011, with mixed results.
Always Identical Twins: B1 and B2 are canonically twin brothers.
Amazing Technicolor Population: Applies to both incarnations of the series.
Animated Adaptation
Animated Credits Opening: Possibly a nod to the 1979 film.
Anthropomorphic Food: The Bananas, of course.
Art Evolution: The main characters' appearaces (particularly the Bananas') changed practically every season.
The Artifact: The Bananas' teddy-chasing was the main point of the song it was based on, but in the series (the live-action one at least) teddy-chasing is rare, and is mainly confined to the early episodes of the series.
Catchphrase:
(BOING)
B2: Are you thinking what I'm thinking B1?
B1: I think I am, B2!
Both: IT'S ____ TIME!
Rat in a Hat: I'm a rat, I'm a rat, I'm a clever clever rat...
Rat in a Hat: CHEESE AND WHISKERS!
Rat in a Hat: Trust me, I'm a Rat.
Cash Cow Franchise: Even in its CGI incarnation, the show's merchandising pulls in the big bucks.
Clothes Make the Legend: Seriously, could you imagine the Bananas wearing anything but their blue-and-white striped pyjamas?
Cool Car: Not in the straight sense (the only thing going for it is the fact it's the only car in Cuddles Avenue) but Rat's Ratmobile does certainly look pretty cool.
Cultural Translation: When the series was exported to the US, the show's title card had to be spelt as "Bananas in Pajamas".
Deadpan Snarker: Morgan displayed this trait at times, most notably in "Lulu's Magic".
Early Installment Weirdness: Early the show's first season, B1 and Amy had different voice actors, and in the case of the Bananas the voice actors were also inside the suits (though this practice was changed by the next season). The boing sound used when the Bananas get an idea was also completely different, there was no Rat, and Amy was missing her now-trademark bow as well as wearing the tutu that would eventually become a trademark of Lulu's.
Everybody Laughs Ending
Final Season Casting: The barnyard animals in the live-action show's final season.
Hey, It's That Voice!: The narrator of the original series, Karina Kelly, was the host of The ABC's science magazine show Catalyst.
- Monica Trapaga, a prominent Australian Play School presenter in the 90s, sings the show's theme song. You can hear her corpse slightly during the opening titles.
- Jeremy Scrivener, who played Nik in Part 2 of The Girl From Tomorrow and was also a Play School presenter in the 90s, did the voice of Morgan.
- Though it's not really recognisable, Taylor Owynns, who did the voice of Lulu, went on to be the female announcer for CityRail in Sydney. Yes Sydneysiders, that's Lulu's voice you hear when your train is pulling into the station.
- Shane McNarama, who played the original Rat, went on to play the Camp Gay hairdresser Gino Esposito on Neighbours. Similarly, Nicholas Opolski, who played B2, played Evan Hancock in that show from 2000-2002.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The Rat in the Hat, originally. The 2011 incarnation makes him out to be more of a jerkass.
Limited Wardrobe: Save for a couple of slight modifications here and there, all the characters on the show wore the same clothes in every episode.
Long Runner: The show has now been running for a total of twelve years, not counting the hiatus or its earlier incarnations as a song or thirty-second animated interstitial. It has been around for twenty years.
Naked Bananas Are Funny: The episode "Bananas Without Pyjamas". Oh yes, the ABC let that one through.
- Also note use of SceneryCensor.
Never Trust a Trailer: Back in the mid-2000s, ABC1 transmitted a trailer for the show which featured footage hinting at a possible shipping between one of the Bananas and Lulu. Suffice to say, apart from the Romance Arc between the turtles Tolstoy and Thomasina (who ended up getting married in the 1999 season), there's no shipping between the main characters in the show. (Well, no intentional shipping on the creators' part anyway.)
Nice Hat: The rat's hat (of course), the Bananas' Beach Patrol visors and Morgan's legionnaire hat. The characters also wear many other nice hats which depend upon the context of the story.
No Antagonist: Subverted. Though the Bananas and Teddies considered Rat in a Hat to be their friend, he often cheated them whenever he found a chance to, at least until one of the protagonists called him out on it.
The Other Darrin: After Season 1, Ken Radley replaced Duncan Wass as B1 and Mary-Ann Henshaw replaced Sandie Lillingston as Amy.
Pajama Clad Hero
Parental Bonus: The parental bonuses abound, resulting in the Periphery Demographic that watched the show in the Nineties. A good half of the names of all the barnyard animals count (here's the reason why Dolly the Sheep may have tickled some parent's funny bones) and there's also a turtle called... wait for it... Tolstoy.
Pilot: "Pink Mug".
Rearrange the Song: The theme song was given an oh-so-90s dance makeover and its very own music video.
Re Tool: The 2011 series changes a lot, and it's not just the CGI rendering. For one, the slew of new characters means the gang live in Cuddlestown instead of just Cuddles Avenue, many characters speak perfectly, the characters have new voice actors, Rat in a Hat is now the main antagonist and there's even a new song, "Banana Time", that's being eased into the series as a possible replacement for the trademark theme song.
Sick Episode: "Atchoo!" (where Morgan falls ill and the Bananas tend to him), "Sniffles" (where Rat has the sniffles) and "Lost Voice" (where Amy has a sore throat and cannot talk).
Single Episode Handicap: Amy's lost voice in "Lost Voice".
Slapstick: Inherent in the show's humour.
Slice of Life
Story Arc: Sometimes the live-action series would feature five-day-long story arcs which, when put together, would make a 25-minute episode. These include "Banana's Birthday" in 1992 and the five episodes chronicling the creation of a song and video ("Getting Rhythm", "Musical Stairs", "Swamp Lake", "Take One" and "Video Clip") in 1993.
Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: In "Singing Bananas" (where the Bananas act as singing telegrams):
"Here's the things the teddies need, first a tin of chicken soup"
Suddenly Voiced: The barnyard characters in the new series, who previously communicated exclusively in bleats, grunts or clucks, are now capable of speaking perfect English.
Talking Animal: The Teddies and the Rat in the original series, and pretty much everybody in the reboot.
Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: The female Teddies have bows.
Title Theme Tune
The Trickster: Maggie the magpie (though she can't really help it, seeing as she is a magpie), and, to a slightly lesser extent, Rat.
Totally Radical: One week-long Story Arc in the 90s featured the Bananas and Teddies writing their own song before filming a music video for it. In one of the episodes Morgan is dressed in very M.C Hammer-like get-up and goes around saying "Cool, man! Cool!"
What The Hell Is That Accent: Lulu, through her name, verbal tics and love of ballet is implied to be French, but her accent sounds closer to that of a Greek one.
Widget Series: There is simply no explanation as to why Australian children are so fond of giant anthropomorphic bananas. They just are.