''Berry Bees'' is an

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

developed for the

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...

that premiered on

9Go! 9Go! is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Nine Network on 9 August 2009, replacing Nine Guide. It is a youthful channel that offers a mix of comedy, reality, general entertainment, movies, anima ...

in Australia on 5 October 2019. The series is based on the Italian book series of the same name by Cat Le Blanc. The series is produced by Atlantyca Entertainment,

SLR Productions SLR Productions is an Australian company, specialising in the development and production of children's content. It was established in 2000 by Founder and CEO, Suzanne Ryan. NZ based company South Pacific Pictures bought out Ryans's stake in ...

, Telegael and Cosmos-Maya Production. The entire series is available to stream on Stan. The show centers around three young girls who carry out spy missions.

Plot

Bobby, Lola, and Juliette are three extraordinary 10-year-old girls who live a seemingly normal life. However the trio work undercover as the "Berry Bees" for the Bee Intelligence Agency (B.I.A. for short), a secret agency that selected them to carry out special spy missions. The girls, all codenamed after a type of berry, are given gadgets each episode by the head of the agency, Ms. Berry. Usually the girls have to foil the evil plans of recurring villains such as Tara Bytes, Mirage, and the Greenthumbs. At the end of each episode, the villain escapes the confusion to fight the girls another day while things return to normal.

Characters

Main

* Bobby – An expert in technology and a nerd. Her codename is Raspberry. * Lola – A skilled contortionist and acrobat. Her codename is Strawberry. * Juliette – A talented actress and mentalist. Her codename is Blueberry. * Ms. Berry – The head of the B.I.A.

Villains

* Tara Bytes – A corrupt tech mogul. Her plots usually focus on advanced technology. * Aaron Mirage – A thief who can assume the identity of anyone. * Cosmo and Fauna Greenthumb – A bickering old couple who wish to make the environment better for animals.

Production

On 16 October 2018, it was announced that an animated series based on the '' Berry Bees'' book series was being produced. The series is produced by Atlantyca Entertainment in Italy, SLR Productions in Australia, Telegael in Ireland, and Cosmos-Maya Production in India. The show's visual team found their inspiration in ''

Mission Impossible ''Mission: Impossible'' is an American multimedia franchise based on a fictional secret espionage agency known as the Impossible Missions Force (IMF). The 1966 TV series ran for seven seasons and was revived in 1988 for two seasons. It inspired ...

'' and

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

movies. The director, Niccolò Sacchi also singled out ''

The Incredibles ''The Incredibles'' is a 2004 American animated superhero film written and directed by Brad Bird. Produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, the film stars the voices of Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Spencer ...

'' for its character and action scenes. He looked at ''

Kim Possible ''Kim Possible'' is an American animated Action comedy TV series, action comedy television series created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle for Disney Channel. The Kim Possible (character), title character is a teenage girl tasked with saving ...

'' all the time, "because of the show’s fantastic direction and staging of the shots." The team's reference for design was ''

Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure ''Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure'' (known as ''Tangled: The Series'' in its first season) is an American animated television series developed by Chris Sonnenburg and Shane Prigmore, and produced by Disney Television Animation. It premiered on Disne ...

''. " ewanted to have the same feel for the characters with no outline and where shadows were used to give depth to the characters' skin and expressions."

Episodes

The first season consists of 52 11-minute episodes.

Broadcast

''Berry Bees'' first premiered on

in Australia on 5 October 2019. By the 7th episode, premieres suddenly moved from Saturdays to Sundays starting 27 October. In Italy, the series premiered on

Rai Gulp Rai Gulp is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI. It is the company's television channel for older children and teenagers, and is known for its programming for children between the a ...

on 16 December with episodes 2 and 10. Since two segments are combined into one in the Australian broadcast of the series, the

cold open A cold open (also called a teaser sequence) is a narrative technique used in television and films. It is the practice of jumping directly into a story at the beginning of the show before the title sequence or opening credits are shown. In North ...

in every second episode that airs is cut, but is retained in the Italian broadcast due to the segments being separately aired.

Awards

On 12 July 2019, the episode "Hypnotic Hair Don't Care" was nominated in the 52nd Annual

AWGIE Awards The AWGIE Awards are annual awards given by the Australian Writers' Guild (AWG), for excellence in screen, television, stage, and radio writing. History The AWGIE awards were conceived in 1967, with the first event being held in 1968. Bettina ...

in the "Animation" category, with writer Joel Slack-Smith as a recipient, before the series premiered in Australia. It lost to an episode of ''

Beat Bugs ''Beat Bugs'' is an CGI animated children's television series, created by Josh Wakely, and produced for Netflix by Grace: A Storytelling Company and Thunderbird Entertainment since 2016. The series is centred around five young anthropomorphi ...

''.

References

External links

* * on

RaiPlay RaiPlay is an Italian Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service owned by RAI. The service primarily distributes films and television series produc ...

* on Stan {{Portal bar, Australia, Italy, Republic of Ireland, Singapore, India, Television 2010s Australian animated television series 2020s Australian animated television series 2010s Italian animated television series 2020s Italian animated television series 2019 Australian television series debuts 2019 Irish television series debuts 2019 Italian television series debuts 2019 Indian television series debuts Australian children's animated action television series Australian children's animated adventure television series Australian children's animated comedy television series Italian children's animated action television series Italian children's animated adventure television series Italian children's animated comedy television series Australian flash animated television series Australian English-language television shows Australian television shows based on children's books Singaporean animated television series Espionage television series Animated television series about children Fictional trios Italian spy television series Indian espionage television series Australian spy television series