Rubbadubbers is a British stop-motion animated children's television series produced by HIT Entertainment, with animation production by Hot Animation. It was broadcast in the UK on BBC2 and CBeebies from 15 January 2003 to 14 February 2005. Created by Peter Curtis, it focuses on seven friendly, sentient bath toys as they find themselves in their dreams of imaginary worlds outside of the bathroom they live in – the ringleader in the series being a pink toy frog named Tubb. In the US, the series was broadcast on Nickelodeon, Noggin and PBS Kids Sprout.

The series was originally announced under the working title "Plugg" (an early name for the character of Tubb). Hasbro licensed Rubbadubbers for producing a toy line to promote the series. The series concluded production on 14 February 2005 after 52 episodes.

Premise

Seven anthropomorphic bath toys called the Rubbadubbers live a peaceful life in the bathroom of a house somewhere in England. The toys belong to two children who live at the house named Benjie and Sis (however, they are never seen or heard by viewers). Whenever the children or anyone else is not in the bathroom, the Rubbadubbers come to life and usually begin a fun activity.

However, in every episode, one of the toys (excluding Winona) become frustrated with the way a certain activity or situation goes. They then wish for it to go as planned by beginning the wish with "If only-". Suddenly, they begin dreaming about an alternate reality where the wish comes true. When they immediately realize this, they are surprised and say, "I said, if only!". Some of the other Rubbadubbers appear in their dream world as well, where they play different versions of their regular selves in order to either assist or hinder the character that made the wish.

It always turns out that the chosen Rubbadubber's wish never goes the way that they planned, much to their disappointment. They then complain again with another "If only-," wish, which automatically ends the dream. When the dream disappears, the Rubbadubber says "Oh, I'm back!" or "Oh, I'm back in the bathroom!" and they learn to be careful with what they wish for, and then decide that instead of changing the real-world situation to their will, they should simply leave it as it was and find a way to deal with it or even have fun with it. All the Rubbadubbers are then happy again. Every episode ends with Reg the robot, one of the Rubbadubbers, announcing to the others that Benjie and Sis are arriving in the bathroom for a bath. The toys then excitedly prepare themselves for it, ending the episode.

Characters

thumb|The main characters from the show excluding Winona. From left to right: Sploshy, Terence, Reg, Tubb, Amelia, and Finbar.|left

Rubbadubbers

  • Tubb (voiced by John Gordon Sinclair) is a toy frog who is the ringleader of the Rubbadubbers. He is admired by everyone for his cool attitude, but can sometimes get in over his head. He enjoys cleaning anything with his cotton bud and floating on a green lily pad.
  • Sploshy (voiced by Maria Darling) is a toy starfish. She speaks with a childish English accent and is known to have a hot and short temper.
  • Finbar (voiced by Sean Hughes) is a toy shark with an arrogant and self-centered attitude; he often refers to himself in third-person and enjoys playing games that involve pretend hunting and scaring. He is less of a menace than he lets on, being just as willing to play in games with the others. In the dream worlds, he usually plays the role of rivals or villains.
  • Terence (voiced by John Gordon Sinclair) is a toy crocodile who is Amelia's closest friend. He can blow bubbles through his nostrils and dislikes getting splashed, often avoiding liquids and water altogether.
  • Winona the Whale (vocal effects performed by Maria Darling) is a toy whale. She communicates by making squeaking sounds rather than speaking. She can also squirt water from her small blowhole.
  • Reg (voiced by John Gordon Sinclair) is a toy robot who speaks with a distinctive stammer. Just like Terence, he avoids water, as simply getting splashed makes him short-circuit. He plays with the others but is always on the lookout for Benjie and Sis' presence in order to make the Rubbadubbers prepare themselves for bath time.
  • Amelia (voiced by Maria Darling) is a toy submarine with retractable wings. Likely named after Amelia Earhart, she and the Rubbadubbers often call her 'the flying submarine'. She is very energetic (like Sploshy), rarely seen with a frown, loves to try new things, and takes great pleasure in flying around the bathroom and performing tricks.

Other

  • Lawrence (voiced by John Gordon Sinclair) is Terence's imaginary friend in the episode "Terence's Double Trouble". He is exactly identical to Terence, only he has two teeth and a blue tie.
  • Benjie and Sis are the two young owners of the Rubbadubbers. They are not seen or heard on-screen.

Episodes

Series 1 (2002)

Series 2 (2003)

Series 3 (2004)

Series 4 (2005)

Mini Adventures (2003)

A series of twenty-six shorts, dubbed as Mini Adventures for DVD releases, were produced for North/Latin American broadcasts. While they never aired on television in the United Kingdom, twelve of the shorts were released on DVD.

Release

Home media

United Kingdom

HIT Entertainment released three DVD and VHS releases of the series. "Here Come the Rubbadubbers" was released on 12 May 2003. "Splish! Splash! Splosh!" was released on 1 September 2003 and "Bathtime Scramble" was released on 23 February 2004. Each release contains four episodes, with the first two releases also containing some of the shorts. The three DVDs were reissued as part of a boxset on 12 March 2007, while an additional release, "Swimmin'", was released as a Carry Case DVD on 9 April 2007.

United States

HIT Entertainment released four DVD and VHS releases of the series, titled "Here Come the Rubbadubbers" on 27 January 2004, "Tubb's Pirate Treasure" on 16 March 2004, "High Noon in the Bathroom" on 13 July 2004 and "Finbar, the Mighty Movie Star" on 12 October 2004. Each release contained five episodes.

References

  • Rubbadubbers page at NickJr.com (archived)