Have no fear, Archibald is here!
Archibald the Koala is a 13 minute 52-episode British cartoon that aired from September 1998 to July 2000, produced by Millimages and HIT Entertainment. It was originally a series of children's books written and illustrated by French artist Paul Cox in the early 1990s and was known as "The Adventures of Archibald the Koala on Rastepappe Island". Actor Richard Griffiths voices the title character.
The show takes place on a secluded island called "Rastepappe", which is populated by anthropomorphic koalas and badgers. Its city, Koalaville, is filled with colorful characters including a nervous mayor, a hopeless inventor, a lazy fisherman, a short-tempered chef, and a bossy painter. Because of the strange things happening on the island, the citizens rely on Detective Archibald to solve the cases.
The show originally aired in the United Kingdom on ITV's children's block, CITV. In the United States, it aired on Cartoon Network's preschool block Small World, then reran again on Sprout a year after the channel was formed until Comcast took over and removed all shows from HiT Entertainment, PBS, and Sesame Workshop.
Archibald the Koala provides examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptation Title Change: The original book series was called "The Adventures of Archibald the Koala on Rastepappe Island", but the cartoon was simplified to just the title character.
- The Bet:
- "The Heatwave" has Edison and Miss Julie betting on what the weather forecast for the week is on the island.
- "Stop That Train!" has Archduke and Soufflé betting on the new railway system being a success after the chef complains that the train doesn't stop at his restaurant. Archduke lost the bet as the accidents on the railway were caused by Archduke's own mishap on making the train whistle at the highest pitch. However, Archibald tells the mayor that he won't have to scrap the railway as he suggests adding a buffet car for the train so Soufflé can have a job to cook.
- Big Eater: Archduke likes to eat a lot of food. It's often either his wife Jozette or the chef Soufflé to keep him in place.
- Camping Episode: "A Detective Goes Camping" has the title character going out camping in the woods for a week to find new footprints for his book.
- Cool Bike: Archibald uses a bike as his main transport around the island. The main cast wanted to upgrade it as a birthday gift in "A Hapless Birthday", but this fell through as the upgrades Edison made didn't last.
- Dresses the Same: The conflict of "The Misunderstanding" has both Giovanni and Sullivan dressing up in the same costume for the ball (they both dressed up as Zorro). This causes a lot of mishaps as the attendees are confused about which person is which.
- Forgotten Birthday: "A Hapless Birthday" is about Archibald celebrating his birthday, but nobody wants to celebrate with him. This is because the island is planning a big surprise party for him. The gift everyone wants to give to Archibald is to upgrade his bicycle, but he soon finds out it's missing and has to find it.
- French Jerk: Rastepappe's chef Soufflé is French and because of how he takes pride in his dishes is very haughty. However, this is only on his worst days.
- Great Detective: Archibald is the best and only detective that can help solve the mysteries of what is happening on the island.
- Happily Married: The show has a total of 4 couples that are happily married to each other; Archibald and Agatha, Archduke and Jozette, Sullivan, and Gazette, and John and Iris Dory.
- Haunted House: "The Haunted House" has Archduke wanting to destroy an old mansion for a new museum. But when he alongside Archibald, Marie, and Sullivan went to investigate the mansion before demolishing it, they were spooked by ghostly moans. Archibald finds out that it was Miss Julie who was trying to scare people off as she wanted to preserve the old mansion. Archibald convinces the mayor to just turn the mansion itself into a museum, to which the two parties agree.
- Hat of Authority: Both Archduke and his wife Jozette wear crowns to show they run the island.
- Heat Wave: "The Heatwave" has Archduke being miserable that it's gonna rain again the next day as he wants to put out his parade, so Edison creates a machine that can suck up the rain clouds for the next day. Edison bets Miss Julie that it won't rain for a whole week and his machine makes the whole island in a heatwave.
- Impact Silhouette:
- After Archduke was spooked by the ghostly moans, he crashes through the basement door leaving a silhouette hole in "The Haunted House".
- When Edison was trying to upgrade Archibald's bike in "A Hapless Birthday", he was hanging on one of the ropes until he crashed through the wall of his shed, leaving a silhouette hole.
- Informed Species: The badgers in the show don't look like the creatures they represent, as they lack noses and the stripes on their faces are cut off from the eyes. If anything, they look more like zebras.
- Instrumental Theme Tune: The theme tune is completely instrumental except for Archibald's catchphrase at the end.
- Iris Out: Every episode ends this way.
- Laid-Back Koala: Archibald is very active, but in terms of personality is the most sane character in the cast.
- Masquerade Ball: "The Misunderstanding" has the island getting ready for a costume party and Archibald is picked as the judge.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Archibald's wife Agatha is named after Agatha Christie. Like the writer herself, she likes to write novels.
- Negative Continuity: All of the episodes are self-contained and can be watched in any order.
- No Full Name Given: The only characters that have full names are the couple John and Iris Dory. Miss Julie's first name is never given out and the rest of the named characters only have one name.
- Obligatory Swearing: The series is made for preschool-age children, but the only swear used was hell in "The New Restaurant", though John Dory used the word to describe what his work was like after he and his wife opened their restaurant.
- Only Six Faces: All of the koalas and badgers share the same body types. The only difference is the clothing they wear.
- Pimp Duds: Giovanni wears a green jacket, a monocle, and a trilby hat that has a feather.
- Protagonist Title: The titular Archibald the Koala is the show's protagonist.
- Rambunctious Italian: Giovanni is Italian and is very over the top and dramatic.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: Characters who wear glasses indicate that they are smart at something. Edison is an inventor, Miss Julie is the island's school teacher and astrologer, and Marie is an architect and painter.
- Sleepwalking: "The Very Greedy Sleepwalker" has Archduke sleepwalking and eating Soufflé's cake, which causes him to lose his appetite.
- Stage Magician: "The Flower and the Magician" has Giovanni performing a magic act.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Most of the female characters would have swirly antenna types of hairs to show they are females. The only exceptions are Agatha and Jozette.
- Vague Age: None of the characters have actual ages, though the named characters are at least adults.
- Valentine's Day Episode: "The Fake Necklace" is about Jozette giving her husband Valentine's gift of a portrait of herself with the Marahajaduke. But because she accidentally slipped it in the fish bowl, Jozette panics as if she wasn't meant to take it. Agatha puts a fake necklace in the safe until they can find the real one.
- The Watson: Giovanni is often paired up a lot with Archibald in some of the investigations. He'll often try to help out with what is going on.
- World Limited to the Plot: The whole setting takes place on the island of Rastepappe and doesn't show any other places aside from the ocean.
- World of Mammals: All the characters are anthropomorphic badgers and koalas, with no other species to be seen.
