ZooMoo crew to glue you to new viewing

The ZooMoo crew. Photo: Peter McIntosh
The ZooMoo crew. Photo: Peter McIntosh
A Dunedin-made puppet TV show bringing conservation to kids will have a more uniquely New Zealand feel as it teams up with a new online platform.

ZooMoo, created by Dunedin-based NHNZ, will from Monday be available on new TVNZ online platform Heihei.

It has licensed 340 episodes, which include about 70 specifically made for the platform.

ZooMoo's content usually has a more worldwide focus to cater to its hundreds of millions of viewers in 40 countries.

However, ZooMoo creative director Ian McGee said the new episodes focused on New Zealand animals, and all episodes were overdubbed with new narration by Dunedin man Komene Cassidy and interspersed with Te Reo.

''That's the exciting thing about it. Suddenly even the international shows sound like pure New Zealand.''

It would also feature New Zealand children, including some MacAndrew Bay School pupils.

The show features a cast of furry characters with a love for wildlife.

It was previously largely unavailable to New Zealand audiences, except for a brief stint on Lightbox.

The 70 new episodes were made in about two to three months, he said.

''We've learnt in [the] past four or five years how to make a lot of content. How to be lean and mean.''

TVNZ says the New Zealand on Air-funded platform is a reaction to children ''falling out of free-to-air TV''.

It will feature children's shows interspersed with games.

The new platform was ''great for New Zealand kids'' as parents could leave them with a tablet and know they would be watching good content, Mr McGee said.

The jobs of about 20 ZooMoo staff had been left in limbo earlier this year when NHNZ changed to a new funding structure.

The company was heading into development of new shows and hoped to renew these contracts soon, Mr McGee said.

jono.edwards@odt.co.nz

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