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Series 6

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The sixth series of Fireman Sam was first released on the DVD The New Hero Next Door on 24 November 2008 in the UK in the English language, sometime in 2008 in the UK in the Welsh language on Cyw,[1] February 2009 in the UK in the English language on Cartoonito, and August 2014 and March 2015 in the US on Amazon Prime.

Production[]

On 22 March 2007, S4C announced they had sold their 50% share in Fireman Sam to HIT Entertainment. On the same day, the broadcaster announced that that development for a sixth series was underway with a DVD special and a 60-minute special, the latter of which would be sold for a 2009 delivery. Despite the sellout, S4C would continue to remain on board as an executive producer for the new series and would retain all Welsh-language rights to the property.[2] On 7 September, it was announced that Series 6 would be animated in CGI animation and in high-definition, with HIT announcing Hibbert Ralph Animation as producer and Chinese-based Xing-Xing outsourcing the animation. The production of the new series would be scheduled for a May 2008 delivery, with production occurring until January 2009.[3] On 25 October, HIT announced that the first CGI series would be produced as two series, making up Series 6 and 7. Cartoonito also acquired UK pay-TV rights to both, alongside Series 5, while Five acquired the rights to the first four series, along with Snow Business for Christmas and Series 5.[4]

The first five episodes of Series 6 were first released direct-to-DVD in November 2008 as an introduction to the new series, with Series 6's TV debut on Cartoonito occurring in February 2009.[5] The British Terrestrial rights to Series 6 and 7 were purchased by CITV & GMTV in July 2009 for airing in the Autumn on the stand's The Fluffy Club block.[6]

The CGI transition brought along a complete revamp of the series, with Pontypandy becoming a seaside fishing village instead of a village set deep in the hills, though the main locations remained in the same places. The season also saw the introduction of three new characters - the parents of Sarah and James - new-age mother Bronwyn, and fisherman father Charlie, who is Sam's brother, and Derek Price, Norman's cousin. New animals introduced were Lion, a cat owned by Charlie and Bronwyn, Radar, a rescue dog from the Fire Station, and Nipper, an energetic dog who belongs to Bronwyn's sister that the former looks after. The voice cast from Series 5 was also replaced, with the new voice actors for the series being Steven Kynman, Tegwen Tucker, David Carling and Su Douglas.

A new location - the 'Whole Fish Café' was added, which functions similarly to Bella's cafe from past series and is run by Charlie and Bronwyn, also functioning as their home. The Fire Station is refreshed with a double-door design, allowing for Jupiter and Venus to exit at the same time, as well as it becoming multi-floored. Dilys' shop was also turned from a simple corner store into a 7-Eleven-esque convenience store called the "Cut-Price-Supermarket".

New vehicles introduced were Neptune, a lifeboat which is normally piloted by Penny, and a green work van owned by Mike Flood. Some vehicles also received makeovers as well: Jupiter was updated with a front end taken from a Volvo FL6 and a yellow stripe was added to the front of the engine. Venus gains a water nozzle on its roof, and Trevor's bus was updated to be more modern with angled headlights.

The character's outfits were updated throughout the series (except for Norman Price), which included an update to the firefighter's outfits which added reflective stripes and extra badges to their tunics. Existing characters have had makeovers as well, Penny gains an extra bow and is now a qualified Coast Guard, normally piloting Neptune in ocean emergencies, and Dilys Price received a large makeover which saw her getting makeup, glasses, black hair, a necklace and an updated outfit. Bella Lasagne was removed from the series, although her Cafe is still seen opposite Dilys' shop. Rosa (Bella Lasagne's cat) was also removed, alongside Dusty the dog.

With the revamp and going onwards to this day, many of the characters also had aspects of their personalities made more apparent. Norman Price is far more mischievous and inconsiderate than in Series 5 where his pranks were often planned out and his accidents were due to badly planned ideas instead of outrageous schemes. For example, in the episode "Pontypandy Extreme", Norman gets trapped down a wishing well after attempting to climb down in order to retrieve the coins from the bottom. Other examples are Station Officer Steele's strictness and maturity and Elvis's decrease in general competence. For example, in one episode where a first aid training exercise is taking place, Elvis is told off by Steele for dancing with the dummy that is being used. At the same time, Steele is not afraid to unleash the child within him, showing an interest in kite flying and paper planes. He also occasionally causes emergencies himself and often gasps when an emergency comes in. Also, Station Officer Basil Steele's name has changed to Station Officer Norris Steele.

Episodes[]

  1. Paper Plane Down
  2. Hot and Cold Running Sniffer Dog
  3. Hearts on Fire
  4. Perilous Path
  5. The New Hero Next Door
  6. Santa Overboard
  7. Best Foot Forward
  8. Baa Baa Baby
  9. Mother's Helper
  10. Cat Magic
  11. Seeing Red
  12. Going Out With a Bang
  13. The Wrong Smell
  14. No Nurse Like You
  15. The One That Got Away
  16. Dinosaur Hunt
  17. Floating Kart
  18. A Sticky Situation
  19. Cry Wolf
  20. Sheep on the Road
  21. Mam's Day
  22. Alarm on the Beach
  23. Hot Air
  24. Towering Inferno
  25. Danger by the Double
  26. When Fools Rush In

Characters[]

Characters Introduced[]

Vehicles[]

Vehicles Introduced[]

Cast[]

UK[]

US[]

Trivia[]

  • This is the first series of many things:
    • The first series to use CGI animation.
    • The first series to not have Elvis in every episode.
    • The first series to feature Dilys' shop as a supermarket called the Cut Price Store.
    • The first series to not be distributed by the BBC.
    • The first series to be dubbed in the US.
    • The first series to have music composed by David Pickvance.
    • The first series where Sarah and James' parents are physically seen/shown.
    • The first series in which the episode order is consistent between both the Welsh and English dubs.
    • The first series to air on KiKA in Germany.
    • The first series where Geraint Todd and Ceri Mill are part of the Welsh voice cast.
    • The first series not dubbed into Swiss German.
    • The first series in which Bella Lasagne, Rosa and Dusty do not appear. However, Bella later returns in Series 10.
    • The first series to feature Steven Kynman, David Carling, Su Douglas and Tegwen Tucker in the cast.
    • The first series to not feature John Sparkes, Sarah Hadland and Joanna Ruiz since, Series 5.
    • The first series to be dubbed into Bulgarian.
    • The first series dubbed into Vietnamese.
  • The firefighters still have their axe and torch from Series 5 in the promotional shots, but were removed for the episodes for ease of animation.
  • From this series onwards, Bella Lasagne, Rosa and Dusty do not appear in any more episodes. However, Bella's Café can still be seen throughout the series and Bella later returns in Series 10.
    • Dusty was meant to be in the CGI Series, but was replaced by Radar, due to Dusty not being a Dalmatian.
  • This series still uses the intro (but only shortened to 30 seconds) and logo from Series 5.
  • This is the only series to have Andrew Brenner as the head writer.
  • The last series to be fully dubbed into Korean, although some episodes of season 7 were also dubbed.
  • The title card of the Greek dub used in the opening theme (also used until series 9) has a photo of Fireman Sam's series 5 appearance above the titles.

Title Card Gallery[]

References[]

  1. ↑ YouTube
  2. ↑ https://www.s4c.cymru/en/press/post/27652/s4c-announces-sale-of-fireman-sam-to-hit-entertainment/
  3. ↑ https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/fireman-sam-to-return-in-hd/121632.article
  4. ↑ https://www.awn.com/news/fireman-sam-gets-new-partners
  5. ↑ https://www.awn.com/news/fireman-sam-gets-new-website
  6. ↑ https://www.c21media.net/news/cgi-sam-to-make-uk-terrestrial-debut/
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