''Jay Jay the Jet Plane'' is an American live-action/CGI-animated musical children's television series which aired on The Learning Channel, PBS Kids, TBN and Smile. The series aired for a total of 4 seasons and has 62 episodes. The series is centered on a group of aircraft that live in the city of Tarrytown, New York and takes place at the Tarrytown Airport. The episodes were commonly distributed in 25-minute-long (without commercials) pairs, with one header sequence and one end credit for each pair. Each episode contains one or more songs. The theme song and many of the other songs were written by well-known children's singer/songwriter Stephen Michael Schwartz and sung by his popular musical group, Parachute Express. The series was created by David and Deborah Michel and was intended to be educational to teach life and moral lessons to children.

History

Original Series

Early episodes using physical models ('Pilot Series')

In late 1994, a short live-action series was produced at AMS Production Company in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

, with real model plane characters, and handcrafted human characters; they had the same personalities as in the later series. This original series was narrated similarly to the first twelve seasons of ''

Thomas & Friends ''Thomas & Friends'' (originally known as ''Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'' and later ''Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!'') is a British children's television series that aired across 24 series from 1984 to 2021. Based on ''The ...

'', or '' Theodore Tugboat''. Three videos were released: ''Jay Jay's First Flight'' in December 1994, ''Old Oscar Leads the Parade'' in February 1995, and ''Tracy's Handy Hideout'' in October 1996. This original series was narrated by and features the voices of John William Galt. These three were known as the "pilot series".

CGI and live-action-based episodes

On November 2, 1998, the CGI-animated/live-action series premiered on The Learning Channel as part of the Ready Set Learn block. Voice actress

Mary Kay Bergman Mary Kay Bergman (June 5, 1961 – November 11, 1999), also credited as Shannen Cassidy, was an American voice actress and voice-over teacher. She was the lead female voice actress on ''South Park'' from the show's 1997 debut until her death. Thr ...

provided the original voice of Jay Jay, Herky, Savannah, and Revvin' Evan. After her death, Debi Derryberry and Donna Cherry replaced her. In 2005, new episodes were produced featuring additional characters, including the red 4-year-old Latina monoplane Lina. Each episode begins featuring a ''Jay Jay's Mysteries'' segment in which Jay Jay and Lina explore things that may be mysteries to the intended age group, such as how planes fly, and how the five senses are used. The mysteries segment is followed by a story that comes from the third season episodes of the series, so in effect, the new series repackages previously broadcast content on the subchannel networks Qubo and Smile. It aired on Channel 5 and Tiny Pop in the UK. In 2019, Yippee TV became the exclusive streaming service of ''Jay Jay the Jet Plane''.

Reboot

A new reboot of the series titled ''The New Adventures of Jay Jay the Jet Plane'' (originally titled ''The New World of Jay Jay the Jet Plane'') has been confirmed through Trilogy Animation Group's website. Unlike the original series, the characters' faces are completely redesigned, and made to look more cartoony, and like the original series, it will be CGI-animated. The first trailer for the show was released in July 2022.

Production

The series was produced by Venice, California-based production company Modern Cartoons at their soundstage in Oxnard, California, United States. Unlike ''

'', this series used a variety of cutting edge animation techniques: * The backgrounds were miniature sets (usually built on two sheets of plywood). * The humans, including Brenda Blue, are live-action people and shot in front of a green screen. * The planes were computer models created in

PowerAnimator PowerAnimator and Animator, also referred to simply as "Alias", the precursor to what is now Maya and StudioTools, is a highly integrated industrial 3D modeling, animation, and visual effects suite. It had a relatively long track record, starting ...

in Seasons 1-2 and Maya in Season 3 and ''Jay Jay's Mysteries''. Models from the pilot series were made for reference. * The movement of the planes was recorded by playing out the scene with wood models equipped with magnetic position sensors. The planes had a switch to aid landing and

taxiing Taxiing (rarely spelled taxying) is the movement of an aircraft on the ground, under its own power, in contrast to towing or pushback where the aircraft is moved by a tug. The aircraft usually moves on wheels, but the term also includes aircr ...

, due to some minor fluctuations in the magnetic positioning data. * The planes' faces and lip-syncing were done by face tracking, a technique where reflective spots are put on a voice actor's face. The voice track is digitally recorded along with the spot data. Then the face is rendered using a form of parametric animation. * Head movement and other effects were done by

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

s. The complex mathematical and CGI issues were solved by Frank Ford Little, Ph.D. Several proprietary software systems were used: * Data/audio recording and smoothing were done on a Windows machine. * Daily cuts were done on "

Compaq Compaq Computer Corporation (sometimes abbreviated to CQ prior to a 2007 rebranding) was an American information technology company founded in 1982 that developed, sold, and supported computers and related products and services. Compaq produced ...

Alpha" computers running a 64-bit version of Windows NT 4.0.

Characters

Starting in the pilot series, every character and model plane is voiced by John William Galt. The planes and road vehicles are CGI characters, while the humans are live-action actors. Relationship words for the airplane characters refer to being '' in loco parentis'' for purposes of upbringing, and education, not for biological parenthood. The story says that (some of) the airplane characters were made in factories. Some of the stories describe characters as doing actions offscreen that would need foldaway arms (e.g. Big Jake digging holes), but those arms are never seen onscreen.

Aircraft

Young planes

* Jay Jay (voiced originally by

in Seasons 1-2, then later by Debi Derryberry in Season 3 and the reboot after Bergman's death and Donna Cherry in ''Jay Jay's Mysteries'' in the CGI/live-action series) is a small blue 6-year-old (originally brown in some of the pilot series) jet plane who acts as a twin brother figure. He is the titular character and main protagonist of the series. His catchphrases are "That's me!" in the opening sequence, "Yipeeee!", "Wheeeee!" and "Wingariffic!" His basis is greatly based on a heavily modified

Airbus A318 Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

. * Tracy (voiced by Gina Ribisi in Seasons 1-2, and later by Sandy Fox in Season 3 and the reboot ''Jay Jay's Mysteries'' in the CGI/live-action series) is a small pink 6-year-old jet plane who is Jay Jay's twin sister and best friend. She has normal hearing but understands

American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is expre ...

. Her catchphrases are "Zoomariffic!", "Terrific!" and "Yay!" Like Jay Jay, Tracy's basis is greatly based on a heavily modified Airbus A318. * Snuffy (voiced by Gina Ribisi in Seasons 1-2, and later by Sandy Fox in Season 3 and the reboot ''Jay Jay's Mysteries'' in the CGI/live-action series) is a small green, later yellow propeller-driven 4-year-old

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

who is a good friend of Jay Jay and Tracy. He is equipped for skywriting. In episode consistency (which depends on the order), one episode says that he has not flown further away from Tarrytown than Lightning Bug Lake, but other episodes show him flying much further; in "Grumpy O'Malley", Snuffy still has not gotten rid of his initial shyness, but in many other episodes, he shows no sign of shyness. His catchphrases are "Oh, neat!" and "Oh, goody, goody, goody!" * Herky (originally voiced by Mary Kay Bergman in Seasons 1-2, and later by Debi Derryberry in Season 3 and the reboot after Bergman's death and Donna Cherry in ''Jay Jay's Mysteries'' in the CGI/live-action series) is a small (originally in some of the pilot series) yellow 5-year-old

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...

who is Jay Jay's friend. In the pilot series, he spoke in a fluent Italian accent with a

stutter Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the ...

(like famous

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series '' Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation. ...

character Porky Pig), provided by John William Galt, who voiced all the other characters. In the CGI/live-action series, he spoke in a fluent German accent and rolls his "R"s whenever he speaks. He has skids instead of wheels, and cannot taxi on the ground. His catchphrase is "All r-r-right!" He is based on the MD-902 Explorer. * Ricky Rescue (voiced by Josh Keaton) is a yellow and red helicopter who acts as a teenage brother figure. He is known for his rescue duties. He is Herky's twin brother. Like Herky, Ricky has skids and cannot taxi on the ground.

Adult planes

* Big Jake (voiced by Chuck Morgan in Seasons 1-2, then later by

Michael Donovan Michael Donovan is a Canadian voice actor and director known for his roles as Suikotsu in ''Inuyasha'' and Zoken Mato in ''Fate/stay night''. He has also directed many animated series and feature films. Roles Animation * ''3-2-1 Penguins!''K ...

in Season 3 in the CGI/live-action series and James Mathis III in the full CGI reboot) is a silver, later green propeller-driven Lockheed Super Constellation

cargo carrier A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

and Lockheed Model 10 Electra mix who acts as a father figure to the young planes. In the pilot series, he seem to be based on a

Boeing C-97 The Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter was a long-range heavy military cargo aircraft developed from the B-29 and B-50 bombers. Design work began in 1942, the first of three prototype XC-97s flew on 9 November 1944 (none saw combat), and the first of s ...

or a

Douglas DC-7C The Douglas DC-7 is an American transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1953 to 1958. A derivative of the DC-6, it was the last major piston engine-powered transport made by Douglas, being developed shortly after the earl ...

. * Savannah (voiced by Mary Kay Bergman in Seasons 1-2, then later by Debi Derryberry in Season 3 after Bergman's death in the CGI/live-action series and Ozioma Akagha in the full CGI reboot) is a silver

supersonic airliner A supersonic transport (SST) or a supersonic airliner is a civilian supersonic aircraft designed to transport passengers at speeds greater than the speed of sound. To date, the only SSTs to see regular service have been Concorde and the Tup ...

who acts as a mother figure. She was made at

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

, hence her name and Southern Belle accent. She somewhat resembles the

Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France an ...

supersonic jet. She is based on a Tupolev 444 and

Tupolev 154 The Tupolev Tu-154 (russian: Tyполев Ту-154; NATO reporting name: "Careless") is a three-engined, medium-range, narrow-body airliner designed in the mid-1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. A workhorse of Soviet and (subsequently) Russian ...

. * Old Oscar (voiced by Chuck Morgan in Seasons 1-2, and later by Michael Donovan in Season 3 and the reboot ''Jay Jay's Mysteries'' in the CGI/live-action series) is an old green (gray in the pilot series)

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a ...

who knows all sorts of flying tricks and acts as a grandfather figure. His catchphrases are "Well, by golly gosh!" and "Eh-hee-hee-hee!"

Road vehicles

* Revvin' Evan (originally voiced by Mary Kay Bergman in Seasons 1-2, and later by Debi Derryberry in Season 3 and the reboot after Bergman's death and Donna Cherry in ''Jay Jay's Mysteries'') is a 6/7-year-old

fire engine A fire engine (also known in some places as a fire truck or fire lorry) is a road vehicle (usually a truck) that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to a ...

and is the

cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

of Tuffy. His catchphrase is "I'm revvin', I'm Evan! I'm revvin', Revvin' Evan!" He is based on a

Tatra 815 The Tatra 815 is a truck family, produced by Czech company Tatra. It uses the traditional tatra concept of rigid backbone tube and swinging half-axles giving independent suspension. The vehicles are available in 4x4, 6x6, 8x8, 10x8, 10x10, 1 ...

. * Tuffy (voiced by Sandy Fox) is a confidential 3-year-old tow truck and is the cousin of Revvin' Evan; has a speech impediment. Her catchphrases are "I n-n-n-n-never give up!" and "Just let me try it one more time!"

Humans

* Brenda Blue (portrayed by Eve Whittle in the US version, Vanessa Stacey in the UK version of the CGI/live-action series, and later voiced by Stephanie Southerland in the full CGI reboot) is a woman in a blue jumpsuit and usually wears a red cap or a blue cap, as well as a pair of red high top Converse. She is in charge of the airport and is the airplane

mechanic A mechanic is an artisan, skilled tradesperson, or technician who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially cars. Duties Most mechanics specialize in a particular field, such as auto body mechanics, air conditioning an ...

. She does not use the airport's

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...

but communicates with the planes by a portable two-way radio from the ground. * Miss Lee Jones is the

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time ...

who works at the Tarrytown Public Library. She is deaf and cannot speak, as she uses sign language to do so. Tracy and Brenda are able to translate her. Despite the library being shown in some episodes, Miss Lee Jones only appeared in two episodes. * E.Z. O'Malley (portrayed by Brian Nahas in the CGI/live-action series) is the founder of E.Z. Airlines, with cousins ''Grumpy O'Malley'' (who lives at Dewdrop Farm), ''Pierre O'Malley'' (lives in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

), and ''Tex O'Malley'' (lives in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

). (Note: here the letter 'Z' is pronounced 'zee', not 'zed'.) * Mrs. Blue is Brenda Blue's mother, who sometimes visits Tarrytown Airport. She only appears in the CGI/live-action series episode "Brenda's Mother's Day".

Animals

* Billy Bee and Bobby Bee, as their names suggest, are two

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfami ...

s found on Big Jake and Herky's head in "Catch the Buzz". * The lightning bugs at Lightning Bug Lake. * Breezy is a

monarch butterfly The monarch butterfly or simply monarch (''Danaus plexippus'') is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown. ...

who is good friends with Jay Jay. His only appearance is "Jay Jay's Butterfly Adventure". * The

blue whale The blue whale (''Balaenoptera musculus'') is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of and weighing up to , it is the largest animal known to have ever existed. The blue whale's long and slender body can ...

in the ocean.

''Jay Jay's Mysteries''

Aircraft

* Lina (voiced by Ashley Whittaker) is a red propeller-driven 4-year-old monoplane and Old Oscar's niece from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

. * Montana (voiced by Donna Cherry) is a purple and green propeller-driven safari plane. She only appears in "The Mystery of Weather" and "The Mystery of Size and Shape". * Captain Bob is a firefighting plane. * Solar is a yellow solar-powered monoplane with 6 propellers and long, wide wings covered by

solar panels A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a photo ...

on the tops of the wings.

Road vehicles

* Peter Petey is a semi-trailer truck, makes funny jokes to his friends. * Truckee is a

dump truck A dump truck, known also as a dumping truck, dump trailer, dumper trailer, dump lorry or dumper lorry or a dumper for short, is used for transporting materials (such as dirt, gravel, or demolition waste) for construction as well as coal. A t ...

Places

* Tarrytown is a small

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

in a hilly area with enough rain to keep the land green, and frost and snow sometimes in the winter; forested mountains and a desert are nearby. * Tarrytown Airport is the

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

where Jay Jay and his friends live, and Brenda Blue works. It is also run by a small firm called E.Z. Airlines consist of the following structures: ** Main Hangar ** Kids' Hangar ** Revvin' Evan's Firehouse ** Herky's Hangar ** Observation Tower ** Old Oscar's Barn * Tarrytown National Park * Smiling Meadow * Sandy Landing has a waterfront area. * Pangabula Island * Tarrytown Quarry * Sunshine Desert * Tippy Toppy Peak * Frosty Pines * Whistlin' Pines * Echo Canyon * Cherry Tree Lake * Crystal Cave * Lightning Bug Lake * Michael O'Tarry School * Andy's Donut Shop * Farmer Dale's Ranch * Rocky Peak Sometimes, the planes

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choic ...

on the town streets.

Episodes

Reception

Common Sense Media gave the series a four out of five stars, saying, "Parents need to know that this series offers young fans life lessons such as valuing friends, overcoming shyness, and learning to like yourself. Kids will enjoy the often funny antics of 6-year-old Jay Jay and his friends. Don't be surprised if you catch your preschooler singing along with the show's simple songs."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jay Jay The Jet Plane 1990s American animated television series 1994 American television series debuts 1996 American television series endings 1998 American television series debuts 2000s American animated television series 2005 American television series endings American children's animated adventure television series American children's animated fantasy television series American children's animated musical television series American computer-animated television series American preschool education television series American television series with live action and animation Animated television series about children Animated preschool education television series 1990s preschool education television series 2000s preschool education television series Aviation television series English-language television shows Fictional aircraft PBS Kids shows PBS original programming Treehouse TV original programming TLC (TV network) original programming American television series revived after cancellation Qubo