''Salty's Lighthouse'' is an animated television series for preschoolers, produced by Sunbow Entertainment in association with the Bank Street College of Education in New York. Debuting in syndication in late 1997, and picked up by

Discovery Communications Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1982, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Cha ...

for U.S. broadcast that December, it aired from March 30 to June 26, 1998 on

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

's '' Ready Set Learn!'' block. The show centers on a young boy named Salty, as he plays and learns with his friends in a magical lighthouse. As well as the animated adventures of Salty and his friends, the series uses live-action footage from the British children's television series '' Tugs'' for various segments. 40 episodes were produced in the series.

Premise

Salty is a young redheaded boy who loves using his imagination. Each day, he goes to the lighthouse near his home to play with his seaside friends: Ocho, the octopus; Claude, the hermit crab; Sophie and Sadie, the twin seagulls; a group of small clams; Aurora, the light that shines over the ocean; and lighthouse owner Aunt Chovie. Through their adventures in each episode, they learn good lessons that help them overcome their problems. Tied into each story are other segments, told through live-action footage: * Through the eyes of Seymour (a walking pair of binoculars), the characters look out beyond the lighthouse to see what the tugboats in the harbour are doing. Their stories relate to the situations of the main characters. The tugboat footage consists of live model animation, taken from the British television series '' Tugs'' (see below for more information). * Some episodes include a segment called 'Salty's Song Time' introduced by the lighthouse clock. These consist of original songs, which relate the lesson of the episode. The songs are set to an arrangement of footage, mainly from archival libraries and silent films including

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

, Commando Cody & specially added animation for some scenes in the songs.

Voice cast

* Rhys Huber as Salty * Kathleen Barr as Ocho and Aunt Chovie * Andrea Libman as Claude * Janyse Jaud as **Sophie **Sadie **and Sally Seaplane *

Lenore Zann Lenore Zann (born November 22, 1959) is a Canadian actress and politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Cumberland—Colchester in the House of Commons of Canada as a member of the Liberal Party. Before ent ...

as **Aurora **Sunshine **Captain Star **Lillie Lightship **and Little Ditcher * Ian James Corlett as **Ten Cents **Otis **Zeebee **Zip **Lord Stinker **Frank **Eddie **and Lighthouse Clock * Paul Dobson as **Big Stack **Hercules **Captain Zero **Izzy Gomez **Sea Rogue **Billy Shoepack **Mr. Boffo **Mr. Socko **Cappy **Tramper **Old Rusty **Scoop **O. Krappenschmitt **Stoney **and Chooch * French Tickner as **Top Hat **Warrior **Grampus **Steamer **and Scuttlebutt Pete *

Scott McNeil Scott McNeil is an Australian actor based in Canada, known for his live-action work as well as his roles in animation. His voice roles include Ace the Bat-Hound in '' Krypto the Superdog'', Voltar in '' League of Super Evil'', Jetfire, Backstop ...

as **Zorran **Zak **Zug **Bluenose **Boomer **and the Fultan Ferry

Episodes

Home Video releases

United States

In 1999, Interactive Learning Group (under license from Sunbow and Sony Wonder) released three VHS tapes containing two episodes each (1 full episode) for their Video Buddy Interactive System. In 2012, episodes were available online on Kidobi, a video streaming site for preschool content.

United Kingdom

In November 2000, Maverick released a VHS tape of the series containing six episodes (3 full episodes). In 2005, Metrodome Distribution (a distributor owned by Sunbow's then-parent

TV-Loonland AG TV-Loonland AG was a German branding and management company that specialized in the production of children's programmes. The company's offices were located in Europe (Paris, Munich and London). The company's mascot is a sheep on a blue dome. His ...

) released a compilation VHS/DVD called "Toddler Time!", which included the two episodes 'Taking Off' and 'Let's Party' (making one full episode).

Comparisons with ''Tugs''

The segments featuring the tugboats in the harbour used footage from the British television series '' Tugs'', the sister series to '' Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends'' produced in 1989 by

Britt Allcroft Britt Allcroft (born Hilary Mary Allcroft Coote; 14 December 1943 - 25 December 2024) was an English screenwriter, producer, director, and voice actress. She adapted Wilbert Awdry's ''The Railway Series'' in the form of the children's television ...

, Robert D. Cardona and David Mitton. Whilst Allcroft drove the Thomas series to popularity among North American audiences (through the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

series '' Shining Time Station''), ''Tugs'' did not spread far beyond its country of origin, lasting one season of 13 episodes due to the bankruptcy of its distributor, TVS Television (although it was aired and merchandised in the Japanese and Australian markets). As a result of this, Sunbow saw fit to use the series' animation as a part of ''Salty's Lighthouse'', licensing the use of the footage from Cardona. However, they repurposed the footage drastically to suit the needs of the show's pre-school audience. (Cardona was not involved in the show's production; however, he was credited as the creator of the model footage.) The original episodes of ''Tugs'' centered on two rival fleets of tugboats, working in 'Bigg City Port' in the 1920s, with its plotlines involving action and drama intended for an audience of older children. Due to the difference in the intended demographic, the original plotlines (as well as the premise of rival tug fleets) were not used. Instead, the producers of ''Salty's Lighthouse'' wrote entirely new stories of the boats in 'Snugboat Harbor', relating to the theme of the main animated segment, with footage from the series edited and re-dubbed to tell these stories. (This creates an interesting comparison to the ''Thomas'' segments of ''Shining Time Station''; as Britt Allcroft intended to introduce ''Thomas'' to North America through that series, so the UK terms used in that series (i.e. trucks) were modified to reflect the U.S. terms, but the episodes were still faithful to their source. In the case of ''Salty's Lighthouse'', the show was completely repurposed for a new market, instead of attempting to create a faithful 'equivalent' of ''Tugs''.) Along with the newly created stories, various changes were made to the characters featured in them. The characters of Sunshine, Captain Star (the narrator), and Little Ditcher were made female, presumably to appeal to a wider audience. (Sunshine was referred to in some episodes as fellow switcher Ten Cents' sister.) The U.S. accents of the new voiceover replaced a range of British accents from the original characters (for example, the Glaswegian Scottish of

Big Mac The Big Mac is a brand of hamburger sold by the international fast food restaurant chain McDonald's. It was introduced by a Greater Pittsburgh Region, Greater Pittsburgh area Franchising, franchisee in 1967 and expanded nationwide in 1968, and ...

, or the

Cockney Cockney is a dialect of the English language, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by Londoners with working-class and lower middle class roots. The term ''Cockney'' is also used as a demonym for a person from the East End, ...

accents of Ten Cents and Zorran). Some character names were also changed, mostly to avoid confusion with others of the same name: Of the main characters,

became “Big Stack”, possibly to avoid legal trouble from

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

over the name of their well-known burger, O.J. became “Otis” to avoid association with

O. J. Simpson Orenthal James Simpson (July 9, 1947 – April 10, 2024), also known by his nickname "the Juice", was an American professional American football, football player, actor, and media personality who played in the National Football League (NFL) ...

or the fact that O.J. are the initials for

orange juice Orange juice is a liquid extract of the orange (fruit), orange tree fruit, produced by squeezing or reaming oranges. It comes in several different varieties, including blood orange, navel oranges, valencia orange, clementine, and tangerine. As ...

. Zebedee became 'Zeebee' although his original nameplate is left uncensored possibly from mispronouncing it. Izzy Gomez had an American accent instead of a Mexican one, despite sporting a sombrero. This was to avoid offensive stereotypes. The Fultan Ferry was given a voice (despite not having a visible face ''or'' megaphone), and was confirmed as a male character. He also went under the name 'Fultan' by Grampus. Excluding the human characters, most of the faceless characters (such as Little Ditcher, Scuttlebutt Pete, and Puffa) do not speak through their visible megaphones (with the exception of Tramper (Nantucket) in "Salty Come Lately"). Many supporting and incidental characters were also repurposed, to fit particular ''Salty's Lighthouse'' stories: * Johnny Cuba (a smuggler) was written as 'Steamer', a friendly character. * Sea Rogue was used as a villain, stealing cargo and only appearing in a dream of Top Hat's. *Two different characters (

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

and the Coast Guard's Messenger) were merged into a single character named 'Cappy'. * Puffa became "The Train" or "Chooch". * Jack the Grappler became 'Scoop'. *The scrap dealers ( Burke and Blair) became movie producers named 'Mr. Boffo' and 'Mr. Socko'. *

Nantucket Nantucket () is an island in the state of Massachusetts in the United States, about south of the Cape Cod peninsula. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck Island, Tuckernuck and Muskeget Island, Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and Co ...

went under the name 'Tramper', and also became a friendly character. Sometimes he appeared in speaking parts, and sometimes only communicated through a foghorn. * The Quarry Master gained the name 'Stoney'. Some of the other characters (such as the Fire Tug, Big Mickey, Mighty Mo, Pearl, the Shrimpers, and the Buoys) do make several appearances, but have no dialogue, whilst others, such as Sea Rogue's Uncle and the Pirates (a.k.a. The Green-Eyed Things) never made any appearances (although Sea Rogue's Uncle did make a cameo appearance in the episode "Who Took My Crayons?", and one of the Pirates was shown in the place of Sea Rogue when he covered Lillie Lightship and a bell buoy with a blanket in the episode "Dream On").

Notes

References

External links

* {{Former PBS Kids shows 1990s American animated television series 1990s American children's television series 1997 American animated television series debuts 1998 American television series endings American children's animated adventure television series American children's animated fantasy 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 Canadian animated television series 1990s Canadian children's television series 1997 Canadian television series debuts 1998 Canadian television series endings Canadian children's animated adventure television series Canadian children's animated fantasy television series Canadian preschool education television series Canadian television series with live action and animation 1990s preschool education television series Television series by Sunbow Entertainment Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television series set in lighthouses First-run syndicated animated television series TLC (TV network) original programming CBC Television original programming American English-language television shows