Mr. Bean (animated TV series)
Mr. Bean is a British animated sitcom produced by Tiger Aspect Productions in association with Richard Purdum Productions, Varga Holdings and Sunwoo Entertainment. Based on the 1990–1995 British live-action television sitcom of the same name created by Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson, the series centers on Mr. Bean, Teddy, Irma Gobb and the Reliant Regal's mysterious driver, with the addition of new characters such as Bean's landlady Mrs. Wicket and her disobedient cat Scrapper. The episode is mainly based on in Mr Bean's apartment called “Daffodil” apartment showing his parked car in the foreground. In February 2001, the series was officially announced, with it premiering shortly afterwards.
Debut
Debuting on 5 January 2002 and originally ending on 2 June 2004, three series and 52 episodes were broadcast, each consisting of two 11-minute segments. The first two series were originally broadcast on ITV1 at a prime time Saturday night slot. In May 2004, the series left ITV1 and the third and final series was instead broadcast daily on CITV due to the series's popularity with younger audiences. However, the series is still being aired on ITV1 during Scrambled!In January 2014, CITV announced a revival of the series with Rowan Atkinson returning as the voice of Mr. Bean, along with other cast members reprising their roles. The revival featured 78 new episodes; the new episodes began airing from 16 February 2015. The revival contained more actual dialogue than in the original series, which mostly featured little sound effects and mumbling. Knowledge Kids will get reruns of it in January 2021.
Characters
Main
- Mr. Bean – The title character and main protagonist, a childish buffoon who brings various unusual schemes and contrivances to everyday tasks. He is almost always seen in his trademark tweed jacket and a skinny red tie. He also usually wears a watch. Mr. Bean rarely speaks, and when he does, it is generally only a few mumbled words which are in a comically low-pitched voice. His first name and profession, if any, are never mentioned. Atkinson has acknowledged that Bean "has a slightly alien aspect to him". In the episode "Double Trouble", the alien aspect of him was used in a storyline in which he is taken inside a spacecraft with aliens who look exactly like him and even have their own plushy toys. Towards the end, the aliens send him back home in a beam of light and music similar to the opening of the original live action series. Whether Bean is an extraterrestrial is not made clear.
- Teddy – Mr. Bean's teddy bear and lifelong best friend. Despite being an inanimate object, Bean pretends that Teddy is alive, much like in the original live action series.
- Mrs. Wicket – Mr. Bean's mean-spirited and elderly landlady who often despises Bean, though she occasionally is friendly towards him. As a running gag, she screams out loud during bad situations, which often scares the birds outside the apartment. She also enjoys wrestling on television with her friend that occasionally drops by for tea.
- Scrapper – Mrs. Wicket's mischievous one-eyed pet cat who despises Mr. Bean, much like his owner.
- Irma Gobb – Mr. Bean's long-suffering girlfriend, just like she is in the live action series. From series 4 onwards, Irma is frequently seen working at the library. Matilda Ziegler was also the actor for Irma Gobb in the original live action series.
- 1977 British Leyland Mini 1000 Mark 4 – Mr. Bean's vehicle, a citron-green mini with a matte black bonnet. In the animated series, the registration number is "STE 952R" when in the original live action series the registration number is "SLW 287R". Throughout the sitcom, Bean keeps it locked with a bolt-latch and padlock rather than the lock fitted to the car, just like the running gag in the original live action series.
- 1972 Reliant Regal Supervan III– A light-blue, three-wheeled car that is always getting turned over or crashed out of its parking space by Mr. Bean in his mini, who is usually oblivious to the results just like the running gag in the original live action series. In the animated series, the registration number is "DUW 742" when in the original live action series the registration number is "GRA 26K".
Supporting
- The Burglars – A duo of unnamed thieves who frequently commit crimes while in various disguises, but are nevertheless frequently defeated and arrested by the police, mainly when Mr. Bean is their victim or witness.
- The Bruisers – Mr. Bean and Mrs. Wicket's initially unnamed neighbours, a working class overweight family consisting of a father, mother, three spoiled children and a dog. While they do appear as a whole family in the episodes "Neighbourly Bean", "Scaredy Bean" and "Super Spy", the Bruisers appear as father and son in most episodes.
- Queen Elizabeth II – The queen regnant of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, of whom Mr. Bean is a fan.
- The Traffic Warden – An unnamed parking enforcement officer who appeared previously in the original live action series episode "The Trouble with Mr. Bean". True to her name, she does her job of locating and ticketing illegally-parked cars across London. Due to Mr. Bean habitually parking his Mini illegally, she promptly gets in his way, which puts Bean at odds with her. She is very committed at her duty, up to the point of even ticketing a police officer once.
- The Librarian – He is the co-worker of Irma Gob who also works at the library, seen from series 4-6 onwards.
- Lottie – Irma Gobbs's teddy bear who looks identical to Teddy except she has eyelashes, a red bow and a skirt. She is portrayed as Teddy's girlfriend, but Mr. Bean disapproves of this relationship.
- Harry – A gluttonous man who was Mr. Bean's old friend and kindergarten classmate.
- Mrs. Wicket's Nephew - He is the nephew of Mrs Wicket, who is sometimes seen at Mrs Wicket's apartment playing video games under Mrs. Wicket's care, who is seen from Season 4 onwards.
- Mr. Pod – A man who is identical to Mr. Bean. Instead of having a Teddy, he has a toy penguin called Pengy. He also has a citron-green mini with a matte black bonnet. However, the registration number is "POD XT1" and the car is not locked with a bolt-latch and padlock attached to the door. He only appears in the episode "Double Trouble". Mr. Pod is not the only doppelgänger of Bean to appear in the episode; in it, Bean boards a spaceship and the inhabitants of the ship all look exactly like him.
Episodes
Reception
The show was met with mostly positive reviews from television critics and audiences much like the original live action series; it holds a 7.8/10 rating on TV.com, a 6.8/10 rating on IMDb and an 84% rating from Google users. Common Sense Media, an education and advocacy group that promotes safe technology and media for children, gave the show 3 stars and wrote "UK slapstick cartoon geared toward older kids, adults."Home media
Mr. Bean: The Animated Series has been released on DVD by A&E Home Video in Region 1, and by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment in Regions 2 and 4. In the United States, the first three series of the series were released entirely on six volumes while in the United Kingdom and Australia, the six volumes only contained 47 of the 52 episodes, to which the last five episodes instead appeared each as extra features on DVDs of the original live action series.The reason for this was that when the five episodes were classified by the British Board of Film Classification in the United Kingdom, they were each given a PG certificate instead of a U certificate, unlike the other episodes. It was decided that all the DVDs of the series should have a U certificate each, resulting in the five PG-rated episodes not being included.
In Region 4, the DVD Mr. Bean: The Animated Series: Season 2, Volume 3 – Racing Adventures was an exclusive product for Big W; nowadays, it is no longer available.
Video games
A third-person platform video game based on the series and titled Mr. Bean's Wacky World was released on 14 December 2009 on PAL for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii.Two apps also based on the series have been released such as Mr. Bean: Around the World and Mr. Bean: Flying Teddy, which are both available globally on iOS, Android and Amazon mobile devices.
International Broadcast
:BBC Kids, Knowledge Kids
Asia: Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, Boomerang
United States:
Qubo
United Kingdom: CITV, ITV