Cirrus@Austlit

Flipper & Lopaka is an animated children's series loosely based on the original 1964 Flipper TV series. In this variant, Flipper saves a young boy, Lopaka, from drowning, and the two of them become friends.

In series one, Flipper and Lopaka defeat the schemes of Dexter, an evil octopus who seeks control of Flipper's underwater city of Quetzo. In series two, Quetzo is discovered by scientist Dr Troy, who threatens its very existence. And in series three, Flipper and Lopaka have to stop modern-day pirates from stealing an underwater treasure, Neptune's Statue, and thereby unleashing an ancient curse.

Animated adaptation of Blinky Bill, an original Australian bush (koala) character conceived by Dorothy Wall. Though often considered the second series of The Adventures of Blinky Bill, this series was televised with the title Blinky Bill's Extraordinary Excursion.

'The second series tells of Blinky Bill and his animal friends becoming lost while on a school excursion in the Australian Bush, and their adventures while finding their way home. In the tropical north, they take on some bird smugglers and help a sensitive crocodile get back with his family. On the coast, they settle a dispute between penguins and sea birds over a lighthouse. They also liberate some animals from an automated farm, gatecrash an exclusive holiday resort, help run a cinema, join a circus and visit the city. And despite being lost themselves, they never hesitate to help out other animals in need.'

Source: Yoram Gross Films website.

'Dot's latest romp takes her literally out of this world when she decides to rescue Whyka, the Russian space dog who is circling Earth trapped in a broken-down satellite. Trading places with Buster, the space monkey, Dot boards the American rocket, Atlanta, and is launched into orbit. She manages to save Whyka but then crash lands on the fantastic planet Pie-Arr-Squared which is ruled by a pompous dictator named Papa Drop. Dot overthrows Papa Drop and brings peace and democracy to Pie-Arr-Squared. Dot and Whyka return to Earth to a hero's welcome.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 11/4/2014)

Animated adaptation of Blinky Bill, an original Australian bush (koala) character conceived by Dorothy Wall.

'The series tells of Blinky Bill and his friends' efforts to rebuild the village in Greenpatch following its destruction by humans. The main characters, Blinky Bill, Nutsy, Splodge, Flap and Marcia are reunited after the destruction of their village, have chosen a site for their new home and are cautiously settling in. But the story is about more than rebuilding their demolished homes. It is also about how these animals re-establish themselves as a community and how they come to terms with their new neighbours, the Dingoes.'

Source: Yoram Gross Films website.

Animated adaptation of Blinky Bill, an original Australian bush (koala) character conceived by Dorothy Wall.

'The film tells the story of Blinky Bill's childhood with his animal friends in the bush. The peace and charm of their existence is shattered by the destruction of their homes by humans. Blinky Bill rallies his friends and, in a series of exciting adventures, rescues his mother from captivity. The film contains specially composed songs and is delightfully animated on beautiful hand-painted bush backgrounds.'

Source: Yoram Gross Films website.

In this animated film from Yoram Gross, a young girl must solve a magic riddle in order to gain her inheritance from her grandfather, who has constructed the riddle to protect the inheritance from the girl's wicked stepmother.

As the closing credits make explicit, the film draws inspiration from classic folktales and 'the original fairy stories of Hans Christian Andersen, Carlo Lorenzini, and The Brothers Grimm.' The film is explicitly and self-consciously book-oriented, beginning with a montage of a grandmother reading to her young grandmother before fading into 'Once upon a time ...' before the film proper begins.

When Dot's koala friend develops an eye disease that is devastating the koala population, Dot takes to Hollywood in an effort to raise the funds needed for an operation to cure him.

'A circus owner tries to capture a bunyip but Dot and her bushland friends foil his plans. When Dot discovers that the circus owner is running a wildlife smuggling operation, she goes on the warpath.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 21/5/2014)

'In a desperate bid to rescue a whale stranded on a beach, Dot and Neptune, the dolphin, hunt the ocean depths searching for a wise old octopus called The Oracle who knows how to save whales.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 21/5/2014)

'Dot's good deeds in rescuing a mosquito and a dragonfly from a spider's web pay off after she accidentally eats a magic root that shrinks her to insect-size.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 21/5/2014)

Two children caught in a massive flood are rescued and raised by a family of dingoes. When they come of age, however, the children are sent out into the world to collect the 'secrets of life', before they can return to be crowned king and queen of the dingoes.

When the building of a massive dam is announced, the local farm animals believe that it will catapult their small country town into the twenty-first century. However, when Bruce the koala tells Dot that the dam will actually destroy their environment, she sets about trying to help her native animal friends. With both sides fighting for what they believe is right, Dot's plans to wipe out the dam are jeopardised by the local detectives Sherlock Bones and his offsider Watson the cat.

Yoram Gross's original story (based on the characters from Edith Pedley's classic Australian children's story and adapted for the screen by John Palmer) continues the adventures of Dot and her native animal friends.

When Dot ventures out into the bush determined to finally locate the little lost joey and reunite him with his mother, she meets a silly rabbit who tries to convince her that he is the joey she is looking for. Dot is delighted by his antics and names her new companion Funny Bunny. Together, they continue the search for the joey. On the way, Dot learns that Funny Bunny is really a very lonely rabbit. His family were killed by hunters, and he has been on his own ever since. They find the mother kangaroo, and though she has not yet found her joey, when she sees the lonely bunny, she realises she has found someone else to look after.

'In 1920 young Ali and his grandfather set sail from Arabia with six camels and are hired as camel drivers for an expedition across the Great Victorian Desert.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 22/5/2014)

Written around an original story by Yoram Gross, with the characters based on Edith Pedley's classic children's tale about a young girl and her friend, a large female kangaroo. In this sequel to the 1977 film Dot and the Kangaroo, Dot joins up with Santa Claus in order to help her friend the kangaroo find her lost joey. The pair take off into the air in Santa's sleigh (pulled by two kangaroos) and travel the world searching for the zoo where the joey has been sent.

This animated feature tells the story of a convict child, Toby Nelson, who has been transported to Australia. The narrative begins in the present when an artist, who has failed to sell any of his paintings at a funfair, begins to tell his granddaughter about the origins of his paintings. The story is then told from the past, beginning with Toby's time aboard the British convict ship taking him and his fellow prisoners to New South Wales. Among the group of convicts we meet are Polly Nelson (Toby's older sister), 'Dipper' Davey (an old pick-pocket), Big George (a blacksmith), Jack Doolan (a highwayman), and 'Silly Billy' (a village idiot).

After arriving in the colony, the five men are selected to do hard labour for the military under the supervision of Sergeant 'Bully' Langden and Corporal 'Weasel' Wesley, while Polly (secretly in love with Big George) is sent to work as a servant girl at the governor's home. In the meantime, Toby saves a baby koala, after Bully and Weasel kill its mother while hunting, and keeps it as a pet, naming it Yo-Yo. When Bully's continuing abuse of the convicts ends in old Dipper's death, Jack Doolan escapes and Big George is thrown in jail for helping him. Left with only Yo-Yo to keep him company, Toby sets out to find Jack Doolan in order to free Big George. Along the way, he meets an Indigenous Australian boy named Whooranga, who has a strange power over animals. Together with Jack Doolan, they plan a daring rescue attempt for Big George.