Image Alt: | The ZingZillas Logo |
Runtime: | 22 minutes (series 1 & 2), 11 minutes (series 3 & 4) |
Developer: | CBeebies in association with BBC Studios |
Director: | Tom Poole Richard Bradley Helen Scott Dominic Macdonald Michael Towner Iwan Watson |
Executive Producer: | David Collier Dominic Macdonald Tony Reed |
Music: | Banks & Wag |
Country: | United Kingdom |
Language: | English |
Num Series: | 4 |
Num Episodes: | 104 |
Network: | CBeebies |
ZingZillas is a British television programme aimed at young children, broadcast on the BBC pre-school channel CBeebies, which ran from 5 April 2010 to 11 June 2012.
ZingZillas is a music show aimed at children ages six and under.It is set on a ape-shaped tropical island where everyone joins in to create music magic. They use musical influences from all over the globe from rock to soul, jazz to samba, big band to orchestra.
A yellow submarine is sometimes seen in the sea near the island. One episode contains what appears to be a view from the submarine through its periscope. In a recently started five-minute version called Zingzillas Zingbop, the submarine goes very near the viewpoint, showing children inside the submarine through its portholes; those children later take part in the programme's singing and dancing session, as if (in the world of the story) the submarine is the usual transport for guests to and from the island.
The main characters are primates: Zak, Tang, Panzee and Drum. They are mentored by music guru DJ Loose and they create their unique ZingZilla sound just in time for their daily performance which is called 'The Big Zing'. A coconut clock counts down the time to the island's fireworks eruption that signals the start of the Big Zing and breaks each programme into four parts.
In every episode from series 3, they wake up and ask Todd for an idea for the day's song. Todd uses his ideas machine but it always breaks down, or other things happen. They are visited by a different musical guest. The ZingZillas always discover their musical guests in a 'glade' in the jungle and they take inspiration from these guests, incorporating them and their sounds into The Big Zing, where they wear a cool cape, a feather boa, a groovy hat and wings.
Original music for the series has been composed by Banks & Wag.
On Monday, 30 August 2010, "Do You Didgeridoo?" was released on an EP, alongside the "ZingZillas Theme Tune" and "Bhangra Beat", reaching #1 in the iTunes Children's Chart.
On Monday 4 October 2010, "ZingZillas: The Album" was released on CD and as a digital download, reaching #1 in the iTunes Children's Chart on the first day. The recording features guest tracks by musical luminaries who have appeared on the show including cellist Julian Lloyd Webber flautist James Galway and jazz vocalist Cleo Laine.
On 28 February 2011 CBeebies began broadcasting a 20 part series of five-minute spinoff programmes entitled "Zingzillas Zingbop" which is hosted by DJ Loose, where a small group of children (known as Zingboppers) go to Zingzilla Island and are taught to dance to a Zingzillas song. The Zingboppers then participate in the final Zingbop. Every Zingbop performed is of course "the best Zingbop ever".
On 11 June 2012, ZingZillas aired its last-ever episode "Picnic Day" before ceasing operations for good.
Each ZingZilla has their own personality:[1]
No. overall | No. in series | Title | Director | Writer(s) | Original air date[4] |
---|
Release name | UK release date | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|
Welcome to the Island | Monday 4 October 2010 | Despite being filmed in HD no Blu-ray release | |
World Music Tour | Monday 15 November 2010 | Despite being filmed in HD no Blu-ray release |
This DVD contains five episodes[5] (note that it's not the first five of the series, although there's a lot of overlap):
Extras: Musical instrument game and character profile.
This DVD contains five episodes:[6]
Extras: Interactive game