Franklin

Hey, it's Franklin - a cartoon series that began as books by Paulette Bourgeois and Brenda Clark in the 1980s and was animated by Nelvana beginning in 1996. Beginning last year, they began airing a CGI series called Franklin and Friends and it's pretty much as good as the original, continuing the same basic format and themes, just in CGI.

I'm not ashamed to say that I'm a huge fan of this series and it's really my favorite animated show. There really aren't any episodes that I dislike and there's some really engaging animation and great character moments. To boot, the show also has four film releases associated with it, each of them special in their own way. Unfortunately, due to various No Export for You issues, much of the best Franklin stuff is available only in Canada, or costs a pretty penny to import to the United States. Canada also often gets new material much sooner than U.S.

I vaguely recall watching this with my sister on Nick Jr. in the late 90s-early 2000s. I remember thinking even then, though I was like 11, that Franklin, Little Bear, Rupert, and some of the others didn't seem to talk down to kids as much as some other kiddie toons do.

I used to watch the series, and I'll admit to enjoying it.

I didn't like this show very much, mainly because I thought Franklin had a terrible taste in friends. Especially Beaver. God, was she a bitch.

Oh, this. Can we just get this out of the way? Beaver wasn't a bitch, alright, though she could be rather bad Depending on the Writer. But she truly cared about her friends, and nowhere was this more evident than in "Franklin's Puppet Play," when she turned into a Prima Donna Director, but then realized the wrongness of her behavior and reformed. Besides, Franklin's not the type to leave someone out just because they act a bit haughty every once in a while. Anyway, I'm not going to try to argue any further than that, because it would probably be a waste of time, but anyone who's seen the full series would know that Beaver was not a bitch. A bitch never would have apologized, nor would have admitted to being wrong.

In any case, Beaver wasn't really Franklin's best friend anyway, he just played with her every once in a while. His best friends were Bear and Snail.

edited 31st Dec '12 4:43:59 PM by JMQwilleran

Oh hey. That's right. I almost forgot about Franklin.

...

What was Beaver's problem? Good show, though. Don't watch it anymore.

The sad part is she was the only girl he could hang out with after Otter moved away.

That's right. Dang. I can never remember these things... I think I recall watching that episode once when I was 9 or 10...

Actually, that's not really true either. There was still Goose and Skunk, and he hung out with them a fair bit, though perhaps Goose more than Skunk.

Beaver's problem? Being a smart girl, and having a tendency to let it to go to her head. And also having a somewhat controlling nature, though her friends could be a moderating influence. She may have had an Inferiority Superiority Complex, though it's hard to say for sure.

edited 1st Jan '13 12:43:08 PM by JMQwilleran

Huh. Okay.

Was this the show where they always said that he could "tie his shoes and count to two"?

What shoes? He's a tortoise.

Ah, then I must be thinking of a different show.

Nope, you got it right. This is the one. "Franklin could count by twos and tie his shoes." But don't blame the show-writers— this one comes straight from the original books, in which he often did wear shoes. I think they included this as a comic gag on the TV show, because he was usually barefoot on the show, though when it was snowy, he and his family were the only ones who wore winter boots.

edited 2nd Jan '13 6:58:22 AM by JMQwilleran

So it's like the narrator was saying, "Franklin even retained the knowledge of how to fasten articles of clothing he never bothered wearing."

Yeah. I suppose they felt it was nice to know that he could if he wanted to. Sometimes they added that he could zip zippers and button buttons, though he usually (though not always) only wore a hat and scarf. Oh, and all of this was dropped in the later films and the CGI series release.

hahaha woah man did you major in franklin or something

maybe i'm just not looking at this the right way

/all lowercase letters mode off

Well, didn't I say that it's my favorite animated show? I've seen every episode of both the original and the CGI series, more than once.