BB3B
 |
| BB3B | |
|---|---|
| Starring | Teresa Gallagher, Stefan Ashton Frank, Gary Martin |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 13 episodes (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 20 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC,ABC |
| Release | 1 January, 2005 |
BB3B is an animated UK children's television series produced by TellTale Productions in 2005. The entire series consists of thirteen episodes of twenty minutes each. It is shown on CBBC in the UK and ABC in australia . Since it first went on air in early 2005 it has never been off, and has been voted the best section of 'Dick'n'Dom in da Bungalow' and 'Smile' by viewers in two separate polls.
It was created by Iain Lauchlan and Will Brenton, who also created and produced 'The Tweenies' 'Boo' 'Fun Song Factory' and 'Jim Jam and Sunny'.
Plot
The series centres on the life of twin children, a brother and sister, Lucy and Louie, and their fears about their new baby brother, Billy Bob. BB3B actually stands for Billy Bob Third Baby. The plot generally involves a circumstance where the twins suspect the brother as usual of being an extraterrestrial, and they go on a wild adventure trying to prove it and stop him from launching an invasion. The twins are babysat by Chubba, a teenage boy with a fondness for pizza. Chubba often goes along with the idea of an alien brother, sometimes very seriously, and at one point he cracks and tells the parents of the twins plans to build a time machine. The show is set in the fictional American city of Sunnyfield, which is shown as having a central urban area and outer suburban area, the latter being the home of the family portrayed. The twin's grandmother lives in a trailer in the house's front garden.
Details
Each episode begins with the local postman attempting to deliver a piece of mail to the family mailbox. This ends in him being disfigured or attacked somehow by some strange force within the box, for instance being turned into a fish. He reappears sometimes later in the episode. The first time he appears is followed by the opening credits.
The series is set in America, where, according to the plot, the father's mother moved from England. The children's aunt has affections for the man who lives across the street, Mister Wineberger. This is a running gag, in that his face is never visible, just a silhouette or the back of his head.
The Sprogs are baby like creatures who emit green foul smelling gas. The series never features a real invasion, though it does go across the threshold of science fiction from reality when the postman appears during the episode and at the end the Sprogs always appear to be coming towards the Earth, however generally the theories of the twins are disproved.
The song played by Bis is played again during the end credits rather than the opening theme.
Characters
Louis & Lucy
Louis and Lucy are the two eldest children in the jenkins family and are twins. The twins seem to be of around five or six years old and have a obscure fascination of science fiction and fighting aliens. Throughout the show the twins have been seen playing games which to them they are fighting to defend the earth but in fact are not and are really playing like a kid would. They make it their mission throughout the show to try and defeat the evil sprog alien trying to take over the earth. the sprog in question being their little brother. When not wearing a costume or going to bed Lucy's clothes are a yellow shirt with some sort of science fiction planet with spikes coming out of it and short pink skirt. Louis wears a blue shirt with a picture of a planet with rings around it, and he wears blue shorts. They both have brown curly hair.
Billy Bob
Billy bob is the newly born baby brother of louie and lucy. Billy bob is a normal baby but in louie and lucy's eyes they see him as a mind controlling sprog alien whos means are to enslave earth. billy bob is simply know as sprog or BB3B to the kids and is called billy bob mostly by their mum but she sometimes calls him BB3B. Billy bob is always seen wearing a striped green shirt and diaper.
Jazz & Simon(parents)
Jazz and Simon are the parents of lucy, louis and billy bob and are often seen tired most of the time having to run around keeping track of the kids and keeping them out of trouble.Their mum appears to have no sign of a job but is very creative. She is said to be the glue that holds the family together. simon the dad is an architect whos plans never seem very practical nor work. The kids think that their parents are now zombies controlled by billy bob because of their slow mobility due to tiredness. Their mum wears a green long sleeve turtle neck and purple polka-dot skirt and their dad wears a striped red shirt with brown pants.
Nana
Nana is the mum of simon who lives in a trailer in the front yeard of the Jenkins house. Explained in the shows starting theme she moved from England to america. She is a relativley large woman who has an apparent love for a Mr wienburger and has gone to extreme measures to get to him. She also has a western set of clothes and loves country music.
Mr Wienburger
Mr Wienburger lives across the road from the Jenkins and is a msyterious man who we never see the face of. He appears to have an important job as people seem to know him. He is afraid of nana and constantly hides from her.
Chubba
Chubba is the teen baby sitter of the jenkins kids. He is a teenager of around 15 years old. His interests are science fiction shows/movies (anything on the television for that matter), eating pizza, watching old B movies, listening to punk music and hanging out with the kids. Chubba is a laidback kind of person who goes strange after too long without tv. He gives the kids information on whatever they ask even if he has no clue.
Bis
The catchy theme song of the series was performed by Scottish rock band Bis. Members Steven Clark (Sci-fi Steven), John Clark (John Disco), and Amanda MacKinnon (Manda Rin), along with their fictional drummer, appear at some point in all bar the first episode performing a song relating to the plot (which would be heard again during the credits). They turned up to sing in a variety of strange places during the series' run: the roof of a toy store, the back of a truck travelling along the street, the roof of the Jenkins' home, and even in a large tank at the local aquarium (though how they were able to perform whilst underwater is anyone's guess!). However, Bis played no part whatsoever in the storylines; they never interacted with the show's characters, and the characters never seemed to see and/or hear them either – which is a bit of a shame, as knowing Nana, she would probably have enjoyed bopping along to the songs. Perhaps it's just as well, as the Jenkins family's lives were complicated enough without them wondering why a rock band was constantly appearing in the neighbourhood, performing a very catchy number in the strangest of locations, and then disappearing as mysteriously as they had arrived!