History WesternAnimation / Numberjacks

The Numberjacks were animated characters (the numbers 0 to 9) who live in an ordinary sofa and solve problems outside; each episode has the same structure. At the beginning of the episode, some of the Numberjacks would be engaged in an activity, that would have relevance to the problem that was later discovered - then, an "agent" (who was a live-action child) would call in and describe the problem that is occurring. One (or two) of the Numberjacks would go out into the real world to solve the problem while the remaining Numberjacks stayed in the sofa and watched their progress on a screen. As soon as the problem was understood, Five would imagine what else could go wrong if it wasn't solved (often wondering what would happen to the Dancing Cow, who never actually made any physical appearance in the real world).

Once outside, the Numberjacks were shown in a live-action setting (although themselves still animated); they diagnosed their problems by examination and with additional ideas from the agents, who called into the base. The problem could be caused either by one of the Meanies, a group of five villains who enjoy causing issues for people, or by one of the younger Numberjacks (Zero, One or Two) escaping from the sofa and inadvertently making things go wrong. The Numberjacks solved their problems by using "Brain Gain," a magical force of power activated by a machine in the sofa and transferred to the Numberjack.

Once the problem was solved, the Numberjacks would return to their base, replay the preceding events on a screen and then challenge the viewer to think about a related problem and "call the Numberjacks"; the problems encountered were all based upon simple mathematical concepts, and the programme was intended to stimulate young children's interest in mathematics. On satellite, digital, and cable TV, a link to ''Numberjacks'' often appeared in the corner of the screen and sometimes on (for example) gardening programmes as a way of helping people with basic numeracy.

* CatchPhrase:

** Whenever Five imagines something, she usually says "if [meanie/little Numberjack keeps causing the problem], anything could happen."
** In some episodes, Four says "I'm not sure" when he's nervous about going on a mission, or sometimes doing advanced jumps in the gym.
* CastOfSnowflakes: Obviously, all the Numberjacks have unique bodies and colours, but this also applies to the Agents; none of them look remotely similar.

** Played straight with the Spooky Spoon, who is all pink, and has a gold necklace and teal eyeshadow. [[note]] Whether or not plastic kitchen utensils even ''have'' genders is another story. [[/note]]

Once outside, the Numberjacks were shown in a live-action setting (although themselves still animated); they diagnosed their problems by examination and with additional ideas from the agents, who called into the base. The problem could be caused either by one of the villains, or by one of the younger Numberjacks (Zero, One or Two) escaping from the sofa and inadvertently making things go wrong. The Numberjacks solved their problems by using "Brain Gain," a magical force of power activated by a machine in the sofa and transferred to the Numberjack.

* BigBrotherInstinct: Four, Five and Six are like this with Three, sometimes a little ''over''protective as she just wants to help on a mission, but was often deemed "too small a number" in the earlier episodes.

* MsImagination: Five is always the one who imagines the worst-case scenario.

* SurroundedByIdiots: The Numberjacks live in a city populated nealy entirely by people who often forget kindergarten-level maths and often don't notice when these taking numbers or any of their crazy villains are about.