Tupu

Tupu (Toupou)
Advertising logo: Tupu appears different from her normal appearance in the show
Created by	Pepper Sue Elastik Jane
Directed by	Xavier Giacometti
Starring	Lynda Harchoui
Opening theme	"Tupu! Tupu! Always on the run"
Country of origin	France Canada
No. of episodes	26
Production
Executive producer(s)	Marc du Pontavice
Producer(s)	Marc du Pontavice
Running time	23 minutes
Production company(s)	Xilam
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television
Release
Original network	France 3, Gulli (France) Rai 3 (Italy)
Original release	2004 – 2012
External links
Website

Tupu is a two-dimensional animated television series co-produced by France and Canada, developed by the French animation studio Xilam, directed by Xavier Giacometti, featuring the adventures of the fictional New York mayor's son, Norton, with a redheaded girl named Tupu in New York, focusing in Central Park. One series was produced, consisting of twenty-six episodes. The series had great success in numerous countries, being dubbed into languages such as Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish, Russian, German, Dutch, and many others.

The show now is quite rare, and many countries no longer hold rights to the show. ABC in Australia currently has no plans to re-purchase the rights to the series, and only ran the show four times, not in order. In France, Gulli cancelled it only last year, ending on episode 14.

On the 29/03/13, the children's TV channel, KiKa (from ZDF), finished airing the series. They also concluded on episode 14.

No country other than the Netherlands has had DVDs released. No further plans have been made for DVD releases in other countries. There is an online petition to get Tupu released on DVD. ABC no longer holds rights to release DVDs.

An official Facebook website was created for Tupu on the 28th of May 2013. No information has been posted related to broadcast or DVDs.

Overview

The series revolves around a semi-wild girl in a similar, although she retains manners and a basic understanding of English. Tupu lives with her friend, Whatzup, a squirrel, and also spends a lot of time with Norton. Tupu also had befriended all of the animals in the Central Park zoo. Norton lives with his father and has a privileged life, being chauffeured around town, especially to Central Park in a stretch limousine. Tupu is incessantly chased by the Central Park guard, Shoobert Shoobz, who makes every endeavor to prove her existence. Yet he keeps failing in catching her. His unconfirmed claim that a wild girl hides in the park has led people to perceive him as deranged.^[1]

Characters

Tupu

A barefoot wild girl who has been raised in Central Park and lives in the big oak tree. She gets along well with Norton and can speak to animals as well as understand them. She is often hunted by Shoobz, but always manages to elude capture. Tupu dislikes anyone who mistreats animals and nature. She is often accompanied by her squirrel friend, Whatzup. She isn't known by anyone other than Shoobz or Norton. To everyone else she is just a normal girl from New York, only Norton really knows where she lives.

Norton

Norton's father is the mayor of New York City, and is best friends with Tupu. He is one of the few who know Tupu's secret. Norton wants to become an adventurer like his father and mother.

Whatzup

Whatzup is Tupu's closest animal friend, is always seen with her, and comes to her aid when she is in trouble. Sometimes Tupu also has to help rescue Whatzup, but what are friends for? Whatzup sometimes isn't with Tupu, when she is usually looking for food. Tupu and Whatzup share the same tree. Although he lives in Central Park, Whatzup is a ruddy European squirrel.

Shoobz

Shoobz is the caretaker of Central Park, and has made it his life goal to capture and prove the existence of Tupu. He lives with his overbearing mother.

Cast

Character	English	French
Tupu	Bailey Stocker	Lynda Harchaoui
Schubert Shoobz		Gérard Surugue
Norton		Pierre Casanova
Norton's mother	Sonja Ball	Véronique Augereau
Miss Milleborne		Cathy Cerda
Malcolm		Maël Davan-Soulas
Mayor Bordon		Pierre-François Pistorio
John		Brigitte Lecordier
Benny		Christophe Lemoine
Eddy		Christophe Lemoine

Episodes

Series 1

Episode #	Title	ABC1 air date (fourth-run)
1	"Members Only"	February 24, 2008
Norton, trying to fit in with the 'cool' kids at school, asks Tupu to assist him in completing the initiation process. However, Norton gets mad at Tupu and chooses to take the final test to find the silver yoyo alone.
2	"Old Dogs, New Tricks"	March 23, 2008
Who Tupu and Norton call The pigeon lady has gone, however they find her living in a retirement village with Norton's uncle. Tupu does not understand why people retire and takes the residents on a exiting adventure, hoping to cheer them up.
3	"It's a Hard Rock Life"	February 17, 2008
Tupu is woken up by loud noise and soon finds the sky lit up in yellow lights, crowds of people and music played by the singer Zyzo Pozzy. Norton explains it was a concert, however Tupu does not grasp the idea well.
4	"V.I.P."	TBA
5	"First Steps on Stage"	TBA
6	"One for All, All for One"	TBA
Norton has to video tape a gymnastics team to get credit for PE, but the team captain is very bossy.
7	"The Kangaroo"	March 2, 2008
Tupu accidentally wrecks the decorations Norton made for the school Open Day. Hoping to patch things up with Norton, she sends her friend's pet female kangaroo to perform, however the animal escapes.
8	"Straight Down the Metal"	TBA
Norton gets a metal detector but gets into an argument with Tupu about how valuable the things they find are. Later Norton finds out that one of the things Tupu had was valuable, and he has to get it back.
9	"Monkey Business"	March 16, 2008
A circus monkey, Tycoon, becomes lost in Central Park. He soon befriends Tupu and Norton, when he uses his ability of mimicing people in Norton's limo, he is driven to City Hall where Norton was to give a speech.
10	"The Hunt for Tupu"	TBA
Norton gets to help out a famous hunter, but has second thoughts when he finds out what he's hunting for.
11	"Baby John"	March 9, 2008
Norton tries babysitting to earn extra pocket money, however with Baby John's continuous crying, Norton takes him to Tupu for help, however she suggests an assorted range of activities which Norton thinks of being too dangerous.
12	"Treetop Adventures"	TBA
Shoobz tries to get the new treetop course built around the area where Tupu lives. Norton tries to stop it from happening, but then his dad wants him to participate in the course.
13	"The Right Number"	TBA
Norton volunteers to do a documentary about the number of animals in Central Park to impress his teacher. Shoobz thinks there are too many animals and tries to interfere.
14	"Tupu's New Friend"	TBA
Norton and Tupu realize that they are very different from each other, so Norton takes Tupu to the circus to help her find a new best friend who is just like her.
15	"Home Sweet Home"	TBA
Shoobz is going to spray the park overnight to get rid of the worms so Tupu has to stay at Norton's school overnight.
16	"Tupu on Vacation"	TBA
Norton goes on vacation but everyone seems to leave him on his own. Tupu also tries to have a vacation, but she has a hard time dealing with the park by herself.
17	"Norton's Birthday"	TBA
Everyone forgets about Norton's birthday, so he goes out to celebrate it with Tupu instead. When they realise he is missing, everyone goes to search for him.
18	"Don't Judge a Book By Its' Cover"	TBA
Norton has to tutor a bully named John, however he finds John is not as bad as he seems.
19	"Trick or Treat"	TBA
Norton gets invited to a party for Halloween, but he has already agreed to go trick or treating with Tupu. He doesn't want to go to the party with Tupu since he thinks that she will embarrass him.
20	"Beware of Gorilla"	TBA
21	"The End"	TBA
Norton thinks he's getting taken away to a very selective boarding school. Since he doesn't want to be separated from Tupu, he starts acting badly in school.
22	"The Best Christmas Ever"	TBA
23	"Paparazzi Alert!"	TBA
Tupu has a bad toothache, so Norton tries to get her to a dentist. A journalist who wants to get his press pass wants to write a story about him since he is the Mayor's son, and he tries to figure out who he is meeting with.
24	"Jungle Jam in Central Park"	TBA
Norton joins a battle of the bands, and he gets assigned to play a tuba, however he is not very good at it.
25	"The Hat Thief"	TBA
Tupu makes a hat and when it gets praised as a piece of art at school, Norton pretends that he made it and it gets entered into a fashion show. When Tupu needs it back, he pretends it was stolen by a hat thief.
26	"Let's Break the Ice"	TBA
Norton signs up to participate in a charity hockey game, but he doesn't know how to ice skate.

Note: The Australian Broadcasting Company did not broadcast the episodes in order; this order is descended from the original French list, however the 2012 re-run of Tupu was ordered accordingly to the original French list. ABC repeated some episodes more than others, the 3 missing episodes to Tupu were only on once.

DVD release and petition

Tupu has been released on DVD in the Netherlands on three volumes. The first two DVDs consisting of four episodes, and the third containing five (half of the series). The only available language track is Dutch. One of the episodes has the wrong episode audio track, belonging to that of the first episode again. The DVDs were released by Bright vision Entertainment and licensed by ZDF.

Online there is a petition to get Tupu released on DVD. There is a need of 10,000 signatures. it is unsure if the number is reached that Xilam will release the entire series or any DVDs at all.

International broadcasts

Country	Channel	Year
France	France 3[2]	2004–2005
France	Gulli[2]	2004–2012
France	Disney Channel France[2]	2005–2006
Canada	Super Écran	2005–2007
Australia	ABC Kids[3]	2005–2008 (incl. repeats) The Australian Broadcasting Company has since lost rights to the show.
Great Britain	POP!	2006–2007
Germany	ZDF[2]	2006–present (last seen the 19.3.13 but scheduling is being made)
Germany	KiKa[2]	2006–Present
Israel	Logi	2008–Present
Italy	Rai 3[2]	2006
Netherlands	Z@PP	2006 - Tupu was released on DVD in this language and country in Region 2. Only the first 12 (Skipping episode 7 due to an error with dubbing wrong episode)

References

1. Toupou "Tupu Information (In French)" Check |url= value (help). Jeunesse.com. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
2. "Tupu at Xilam". Xilam. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
3. "Tupu-Tupu's New Friend". Australian Broadcasting Company. Retrieved 16 August 2010.