Spot is a children's book series by English author and illustrator Eric Hill. The success of Hill's books about Spot led to other media productions, including television and home video titles, music albums, and CD-ROM titles.

History

First published in 1980, Where's Spot? was inspired while Hill was working in creative marketing; he noticed that his three-year-old son was fascinated by the process of lifting up a paper, on a design that he was creating. Captivated by this thought, Hill created a story about a puppy which incorporated the flap design.

Over time, the book was translated into more than sixty languages. The U.S. edition of the sound books were somewhat different from the UK editions of the book. The text in these editions is slightly altered, and in some cases, the title is changed as well. They are produced and published by Publications International.

Book design

The books are set in the typeface Century Schoolbook Infant, a very rare, single-story version of Century Schoolbook.

Television

With the success of the books, the BBC commissioned an animated series, which first appeared on 9 April 1987; with Paul Nicholas providing the narration, and re-narrated in 2000 by Jane Horrocks. The series aired on television networks across the world, including RTÉ in Ireland, with the series dubbed into Irish Gaelic with the title Echtrai Bhrain. A DVD version was released in Japan in 2005 with Japanese, English and instrumental audio tracks. The DVDs used the same name for Spot as the books in Japan, that being コロちゃん (Korochan). The series aired on Playhouse Disney and CBeebies.

In February 2024, it was announced a new animated series is currently in production from Guru Studio, which marks a revival.

The Adventures of Spot: series 1 (1987)

The first series of The Adventures of Spot, which was animated and produced by King Rollo Films, aired on the BBC between 9 April and 17 July 1987. It consisted of 13 episodes, each 5 minutes long. The episodes were narrated by Paul Nicholas (original version) and the music was composed by Duncan Lamont (original version).

Episodes in this series:

  1. "Spot's Surprise Parcel" (9 April 1987)
  2. "Spot's Lost Bone" (16 April 1987)
  3. "Spot's First Walk" (23 April 1987)
  4. "Spot in the Woods" (30 April 1987)
  5. "Spot's Birthday Party" (7 May 1987)
  6. "Where's Spot?" (14 May 1987)
  7. "Sweet Dreams, Spot" (21 May 1987)
  8. "Spot Goes to School" (28 May 1987)
  9. "Spot Goes to the Circus" (4 June 1987)
  10. "Spot Follows His Nose" (11 June 1987)
  11. "Spot Goes Splash" (18 June 1987)
  12. "Spot's Windy Day" (16 July 1987)
  13. "Spot Goes to the Beach" (17 July 1987)

The Adventures of Spot: series 2 (1993)

The second series of The Adventures of Spot aired between 6 September and 20 December 1993, and, like the first series, consisted of 13 5-minute episodes. Once again, the episodes were produced by King Rollo Films. Paul Nicholas (original version) returned as the voices and Duncan Lamont (original version) returned as composer of the music.

Episodes in this series:

  1. "Spot Goes to the Farm" (6 September 1993)
  2. "Spot Sleeps Over" (9 September 1993)
  3. "Spot Makes a Cake" (13 September 1993)
  4. "Spot Goes to the Park" (16 September 1993)
  5. "Spot Finds a Key" (20 September 1993)
  6. "Spot in the Garden" (23 September 1993)
  7. "Spot Goes to a Party" (27 September 1993)
  8. "Spot's Winter Sports" (15 November 1993)
  9. "Spot Goes to the Fair" (22 November 1993)
  10. "Spot's Favorite Toy" (29 November 1993)
  11. "Spot's First Picnic" (6 December 1993)
  12. "Spot at the Playground" (13 December 1993)
  13. "Storytime with Spot" (20 December 1993)

Spot's Musical Adventures (2000)

Spot's Musical Adventures, similar to The Adventures of Spot, aired between 25 October and 10 November 2000. Like The Adventures of Spot, this series consisted of thirteen episodes, but this time, with a short song in them. The format of the series reverted to the narration format used prior to the specials. For these episodes, however, comedian Jane Horrocks was given the role of the narrator and voices, instead of Paul Nicholas. The episodes and the songs were all written by Andrew Brenner, and the songs were performed by American London-based actor Dan Russell. The music was also composed by Kick Production.

Episodes:

  1. "Spot's Show" (25 October 2000)
  2. "Spot's Treehouse" (26 October 2000)
  3. "Spot's Breakfast" (27 October 2000)
  4. "Spot's Horse" (released in the U.S. as "Spot's Hobby Horse") (30 October 2000)
  5. "Spot's Grandpa" (31 October 2000)
  6. "Spot's Umbrella" (1 November 2000)
  7. "Spot's Band" (2 November 2000)
  8. "Spot's Bath" (3 November 2000)
  9. "Spot's Tent" (6 November 2000)
  10. "Spot Tidies Up" (released in the U.S. as "Spot Cleans Up") (7 November 2000)
  11. "Spot Helps Grandma" (8 November 2000)
  12. "Spot's School Trip" (9 November 2000)
  13. "Hide and Seek" (released in the U.S. as "Spot Plays Hide and Seek") (10 November 2000)

New adaptation

In March 2024, it was announced that Guru Studio had optioned the television rights and was reportedly working on a new television adaptation.

Direct-to-video specials

A number of specials produced for release on VHS were created:

It's Fun to Learn with Spot – Phase 1 (1990)

The first phase of It's Fun to Learn With Spot was produced by Spitfire Television and Living Doll Productions and released on VHS. It consisted of four episodes, each approximately fifteen minutes in length, and narrated by Peter Hawkins and produced by Living Doll Productions (who later produced The Beano Video). The theme song used in The Adventures of Spot was licensed from King Rollo Films, so the familiar tune by Duncan Lamont was heard at the beginning and end of each episode. However, music on the show was kept to a minimum, with the exception of "Spot's Alphabet", which ends with a rendition of "The ABC Song".

  1. "Spot's Alphabet"
  2. "Spot's Busy Year"
  3. "Spot Learns to Count"
  4. "Spot Tells the Time"

It's Fun to Learn with Spot – Phase 2 (1994)

The second phase of It's Fun to Learn With Spot, like the first VHS, consisted of four fifteen-minute episodes. However the episodes were produced by King Rollo Films and retained the talents of Paul Nicholas and Duncan Lamont in the UK.

Episodes in this series:

  1. "Spot Looks at Opposites"
  2. "Spot's First Word Game"
  3. "Spot Looks at Colours"
  4. "Spot Looks at Shapes"

Note: The two phases of It's Fun to Learn with Spot are often listed as one series, even on Penguin Television's website. However, as noted, the two phases were produced four years apart by two different companies and are very different in design.

Standalone Specials

Spot's Magical Christmas was released in 1995 and Spot and his Grandparents Go to the Carnival in 1997. These two specials, which are both thirty minutes long, have some notable differences from the normal series. First off, they have no narration, and each character is voiced distinctly. The characters' mouths also move to speech, in comparison to the other episodes, in which the characters' mouths remain static and the entire episode is narrated as a story. There are also several songs in the specials, as there were in It's Fun to Learn With Spot.

Voices

  • Calum Neilsen – Spot (Spot's Magical Christmas)
  • Tom Fletcher – Spot (Spot and his Grandparents Go to the Carnival)
  • Josie Lawrence – Sally/Helen
  • Paul Nicholas – Sam (Spot's Magical Christmas)
  • Philip Pope – Tom
  • Steve Steen – Sam (Spot and his Grandparents Go to the Carnival)/Steve
  • Steve Frost – Reindeer #1
  • Lee Cornes – Reindeer #2
  • Andy Paresi – Santa Claus
  • Carol MacReady – Grandma
  • Rob Inglis – Grandpa

American cast

From 1989 to 2002, The Disney Channel aired the two The Adventures of Spot series as part of its half-hour Lunch Box series, and later as post-show interstitials. For the program's home video releases in the United States, Walt Disney Home Video re-dubbed the series with character voices rather than a singular narrator. The Disney Channel also aired the two re-dubbed specials but continued to air The Adventures of Spot in its original British version.

  • Corey Burton – Narrator, Sam, Tom, Steve, Spot's Grandpa, additional voices
  • Linda Gary (until 1995) – Sally, Miss Bear, Betsy, Helen, Clare, Tina, Sybil, additional voices
  • Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Ryan O'Donohue and Haley Joel Osment – Spot
  • Shaun Fleming – Spot (singing voice)
  • Tress MacNeille (since 1995) – Helen, Sally, Female Reindeer, Spot's Grandma, additional voices
  • Jim Cummings – Male Reindeer, Santa Claus

Other media

Music albums

A number of companies have released a number of CDs featuring mainly nursery rhymes, under the name of "The Spot".

  • Spot in the Park with the Flowerpot Gang – Released in Australia by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in the early 2000s, this CD consists of 26 nursery rhymes. Apparently, it is now out of print.
  • Spot's First Play Songs – Published by Genius Entertainment, this CD is also available in a box set titled Spot's Favorite Toddler Tunes (although in this edition, The Alphabet Song is excluded).
  • Spot's Farmyard Friends – This CD has also been published by Genius Entertainment and is also available in the Spot's Favorite Toddler Tunes box set.
  • Spot's Classics for Growing Minds – Jumping on the success of the controversial Mozart Effect, this CD contains twelve classical numbers from various classical composers. Also published by Genius Entertainment, this album was also included in the Spot's Favorite Toddler Tunes box set.

CD-ROMs

Two Spot CD-ROM titles were published by Europress and Hasbro Interactive in 2000. Both titles run on both Microsoft Windows (Windows 95 or NT4 up to Windows ME) and Apple Macintosh (OS 8 up to Mac OS X Leopard) computers. These games were titled Spot and his Friends and Spot's Busy Day, respectively.

References

  • Fun with Spot official website