The Fox Cubhouse is an American preschool children's television series that aired weekday mornings on Fox Kids from 1994 through 1996. It ran for 234 episodes within two seasons. The show was an anthology series comprising several children's series. Initially starting with only Jim Henson's Animal Show, Johnson and Friends, and Rimba's Island, a different series was shown every day of the week.
Programs Jim Henson's Animal Show - 39 episodes, Jim Henson Productions (1994–1996) - broadcast on Mondays and Fridays Johnson and Friends - 78 episodes, Film Australia (US dub) (1994–1996) - broadcast on Tuesdays and Thursdays Rimba's Island - 52 episodes, DIC Productions, L.P. (1994–1996) - broadcast on Wednesdays Britt Allcroft's Magic Adventures of Mumfie - 13 episodes, The Britt Allcroft Company (1995–1996) broadcast on Tuesdays with Johnson and Friends Budgie the Little Helicopter - 26 episodes, Fred Wolf Films (1995–1996) - broadcast on Thursdays with Johnson and Friends
Production history In 1992, Jay Rayvid and Donna Mitroff of WQED in Pittsburgh (the PBS member station known for producing Mister Rogers' Neighborhood) entered into an agreement with Film Australia to attempt to get Johnson and Friends onto television in the United States, specifically PBS. Unfortunately, they were not able to secure funding from PBS to produce a pilot due to the sheer traffic and number of submissions, despite their interest. In 1994, though, FOX began to show interest in Johnson and Friends. At this stage, 26 episodes (the first two series) had been produced and the latter 26 episodes (series three) were in post-production - all 52 episodes were available to WQED for distribution. FOX Children's Network committed to Johnson and Friends, thus The Fox Cubhouse was created.
WQED and Fox teamed up and implemented Johnson and Friends, Rimba's Island, and Jim Henson's Animal Show into this concept. The latter two series were specifically produced for the Cubhouse, but were also shown independently in many other countries. In addition, the Fox Cubhouse itself was shot at WQED.
The series featured a woman named Rosie (played by Nancy Mura), who with several puppet animal characters, introduced and served as the exit for the programs within.
Johnson and Friends was heavily revised for the Cubhouse series, the voices were redubbed for the most part, but Peter Browne was retained as Alfred's voice actor; due to master recording issues, however, all of his dialogue had to be rerecorded. Several additional songs and music tracks were written by Chris Neal and his son Braedy, who had previously composed all of the music for the original version of Johnson and Friends, as FOX felt that some of the earlier episodes were "too quiet" and did not fit the atmosphere they wanted for the series. Instrumental versions of pre-existing Johnson songs were also used. As the series was broadcast as a segment rather than a standalone program, the credits were featured at the end of the Cubhouse itself, and each Johnson episode ended with the final chorus of "Toys, Toys, Wonderful Toys" from the Johnson album, re-recorded by the US cast. Minor cuts were also occasionally made, along with adjustments to John Patterson's scripts, by WQED executive Casey Brown, to remove Australian terminology and slang. These changes are generally frowned upon by many of the original Johnson and Cubhouse crew, as well as people who grew up with the series.
The Fox Cubhouse became a short-lived success, and FOX commissioned an additional season of 26 episodes of Johnson and Friends for the Cubhouse's second season. Series director Ian Munro maintained a level of creative control over the American version of the program and was involved with voice direction for this run of episodes. These episodes were also shown in Australia, dubbed by the original voice cast and marketed as the fourth series of the program, two years after production, in 1997. David Flick, who had provided the American voice of Diesel, was replaced by Doug Scroope, Diesel's original voice, and several episodes of the first season of Cubhouse were also revised with Doug Scroope as Diesel, this change was actually present in late reruns of the first season of Cubhouse. New episodes of Jim Henson's Animal Show and Rimba's Island were also present in this second season, as well as repeats of the old episodes. However, the second season was a complete revamp and the characters, setting, and the entire premise were changed. Only the programs within the Cubhouse remained the same. Two new shows, Magic Adventures of Mumfie and Budgie the Little Helicopter were also added to the series. While previous Cubhouse episodes featured two episodes of Johnson and Friends, the second season sometimes paired a single episode with an episode of Budgie the Little Helicopter or Magic Adventures of Mumfie (because all three programs had a running time of 10 minutes). Some episodes, however, still featured two Johnson episodes.
Shortly after the broadcast of the final second-season episodes in 1996, The Fox Cubhouse was taken off the air, and the American localisation has not been seen since. Many of the master tapes of the US version are thought to have been wiped, but several master copies are known to exist.
The Fox Cubhouse was also shown in the US overseas territory Guam on KTGM.
Characters Season one Rosie (Nancy Mura) Cammy the Fox (Melissa Polakovic) Silbert the Dinosaur (Don Kinney) Fogel the Bird (Dreux Priore) Mailvin the Mailbox (Bill Schiffbauer)
Season two Sunny (Ellaraino Edwards) Freddie the Fox (Wendy Polland) Bill the Sunflower
List of episodes
Season one 101 - The Race (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 102 - Friends (No. 1) (Johnson and Friends) 103 - Fruit Punch (Rimba's Island) 104 - Together, We Can Do Anything (No. 1) (Johnson and Friends) 105 - Cammyflage (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 106 - The Letter (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 107 - Taking Turns (Johnson and Friends) 108 - Snoring (Rimba's Island) 109 - Big Trouble (Johnson and Friends) 110 - Let's Get Some Sleep (No. 1) (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 111 - We Are Animals Too (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 112 - I Need a Little Help (Johnson and Friends) 113 - Tea Party (Rimba's Island) 114 - Clean Up (Johnson and Friends) 115 - Cows (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 116 - Painting (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 117 - Home is Where You Live (Johnson and Friends) 118 - I'm Learning Every Day (Rimba's Island) 119 - Hurt Teddy (Johnson and Friends) 120 - The North Star (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 121 - Camping Trip (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 122 - Mailvin Raps (Johnson and Friends) 123 - Fogel's Music (Rimba's Island) 124 - Make Believe (No. 1) (Johnson and Friends) 125 - Hop, Swim, Fly (No. 1) (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 126 - We’re Different (No. 1) (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 127 - Sherlock Silbert (Johnson and Friends) 128 - Tears (Rimba's Island) 129 - The Band (Johnson and Friends) 130 - Gadzooky (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 131 - Yummy Food (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 132 - It's Your Birthday (Johnson and Friends) 133 - Kings and Queens (Rimba's Island) 134 - The Ghost (Johnson and Friends) 135 - Abra Can Cram (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 136 - Friends (No. 2) (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 137 - Castle (Johnson and Friends) 138 - Safety (Rimba's Island) 139 - Nature Scout (Johnson and Friends) 140 - Listen to the Animals (No. 1) (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 141 - So Sorry (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 142 - Make Believe (No. 2) (Johnson and Friends) 143 - Lost (Rimba's Island) 144 - Mail Order (Johnson and Friends) 145 - Home is the Place to Be (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 146 - Cock-a-Doodle-Doo (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 147 - We’re Different (No. 2) (Johnson and Friends) 148 - Checkers (Rimba's Island) 149 - Share, Share, Share (No. 1) (Johnson and Friends) 150 - The Seashell (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 151 - Yummy Food (No. 2) (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 152 - We Are All the Colors of the Rainbow (Johnson and Friends) 153 - Why? (Rimba's Island) 154 - Complicated (Johnson and Friends) 155 - Be Careful (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 156 - Twinkle, Twinkle (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 157 - Let's Get Some Sleep (No. 2) (Johnson and Friends) 158 - The King (Rimba's Island) 159 - Tuxedo (Johnson and Friends) 160 - Mail (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 161 - Listen to the Animals (No. 2) (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 162 - The Hop (Johnson and Friends) 163 - Hugs (Rimba's Island) 164 - Together, We Can Do Anything (No. 2) (Johnson and Friends) 165 - Colors (Jim Henson's Animal Show) 166 - Hop, Swim, Fly (No. 2) (Rimba's Island) 167 - Exit All (Rimba's Island) 168 - Three (Rimba's Island) 169 - Friends (No. 2) (Rimba's Island) 170 - Lunchtime (Rimba's Island) 171 - Bugs (Rimba's Island) 172 - The club (Rimba's Island) 173 - Share (Rimba's Island) 174 - Food (Rimba's Island) 175 - Silbert's Dinner (Rimba's Island) 176 - I Need a Little Help (No. 2) (Rimba's Island) 177 - Secret Plot (Rimba's Island) 178 - Alone (Rimba's Island)
Season two (incomplete) 201 - No Pouncing in the House 202 - Small Packages 203 - Go Fly a Kite 204 - A Worm in the Hand 205 - Fearless Freddie and the Fruit Bat 206 - Up a Tree 207 - Nor a Borrower Be 208 - Tummy Trouble 209 - Tongue in Cheek 210 - To Share or Not to Share 211 - Beat the Heat 212 - My Brilliant Disguise 213 - A Nice Piece of Fruit 214 - Waiting for Sunny 215 - Sssizzzling Sssnakes! 216 - Migration 217 - Crying Wolf/Being Good 218 - Hurricane Freddie 219 - Finishing What You Start 220 - Froggy Do, Froggy Be 221 - Where Rhinos Fear to Tread 222 - Silly Sharing 223 - A Fine Day for Croquet 224 - Eyes Are the Windows 225 - Spice of Life 226 - Dinosaur Tracks/Melissa's Dinosaur 227 - If it Quacks Like a Duck 228 - A Tree in the House 229 - Remembering 230 - A Tattle Tale 231 - Ferocious 232 - Masquerade/Charade 233 - The Big Win 234 - A Song for Babs 235 - The Groups We Live In 236 - A Letter a Day 237 - Good-Bye Dolly 238 - If I Were a Fish 239 - Beauty and the Beasts 240 - Playing and Creating 241 - A Cake for Freddie 242 - Waiting for a Friend 243 - Sleepy Dreamy 244 - Dessert in the Desert 245 - Hard to Wait 246 - A Tiki Tea for Three 247 - Iron Freddie 248 - Houses for Foxes 249 - The Baby-Sitters Club 250 - How I Love Ya’, Sunny 251 - Freddie's Mess 252 - Heads or Tails 253 - Playing Pretend 254 - Right and Left 255 - Try, Try and Try Again 256 - Freddie Needs a Nap 257 - Every Part's Important 258 - Food for Mel 259 - The Purple is Always Greener 260 - Share 261 - Getting Along 262 - Scaredy Cat 263 - Piles o’ Paper 264 - Rimba's Day 265 - Bill Needs a Vacation 266 - Imagine 267 - We Are Family 268 - Where's Bill? 269 - The Big Surprise/Finders Keepers 270 - Diesel's Taxi/The Train Conductor 271 - The Burning Bundt 272 - Runaway Rubadub 273 - Telephone 274 - Holey Pockets, Batman 275 - Be a Clown 276 - And the Leader is... 277 - Fracula 278 - The Big Scoop 279 - Rock and Roll Freddie 280 - Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? 281 - Life is Like an Ice Cream Bar 282 - The Balloonatic 283 - Sail Away 284 - The Swap 285 - Grape-Berry Picnic 286 - The Thinker 287 - Billy the Kid 288 - Cry Wolf 289 - Hot and Colder 290 - Chicken Pox 291 - Digging for the Truth 292 - The Tin Star 293 - Apple Pie 294 - Fore! 295 - Message in a Bottle 296 - Hypnotic 297 - Froudini 298 - Babaloo Bongos 299 - Moondance 2100 - Treasure Hunt 2101 - Bugs and Boats on the Bottom 2102 - I Found It 2103 - No Drum Roll, Please 2104 - Baby Blues 2105 - Mr. Pillow 2106 - Merry Christmas 2107 - Footnotes 2108 - Auld Lang Freddie 2109 - Garden Gifts 2110 - Freddie the Flop 2111 - I Can See Clearly 2112 - Start to Finish 2113 - The Secret 2114 - Birthday Party 2115 - Case of the Chopped Greens 2116 - Dental Appointment 2117 - Fun is Where the Fox is 2118 - Strong Man Freddie 2119 - Something in the Way He Moves 2120 - Superfox 2121 - The Actor's Life 2122 - All the Marbles 2123 - For Art's Sake 2124 - Behind the Fence 2125 - Our Friend, the Wind