Marsupilami (2000 TV series)

The first season of the French animated series Marsupilami premiered on March 18, 2000,[1][2][3] and ran for 26 episodes[4] on the French television channel Canal J. Produced by Cactus Animation, Marathon Production and Marsu Productions. Marathon's series is far more faithful to the original Marsupilami comic series than the previous Marsupilami animated works made by Disney (featured in the 1992 series Raw Toonage and the 1993 series Marsupilami).

In this first season, Marsupilami went on adventures alone or with his family (his wife Marsupilamie and their three young, Bibi, Bibu and Bobo). For example, in one episode he saved a group of circus animals, got them back to the city and saved the circus from closing. In another, he had to go to the city again to save one of his young, captured by their constant enemy, the hunter Bring M. Backalive.

In the 15 episode[5] second season, called Mon ami Marsupilami (translated as My friend Marsupilami), Marsupilami and his family become best friends with a human family, the Du Jardin, that comes to live near them. Amanda is a Marsupilami researcher, while her husband Jean-Pierre is a computer technician that works from home and they have two children, Teo (Leo in the Disney Channel version) and toddler Zoe. Leo and Marsupilami become best friends and they have lots of adventures, with both new friends and old enemies, like Backalive.

The third series, started in 2009, features a preteen boy named Hector and his aunt Diane, who are going to live in the jungle for one year to study its fauna and flora. They become the best friends with the Marsupilami family. Their main enemies are megalomaniac industrialist and jungle-hater Felicia Devort, who plans to level out the Palombian jungle and build the Devort City megalopolis in its place, and her two henchmen, Stroy and Blouprint.[6] Their old enemy, hunter Bring M. Backalive, also appears.

The fourth series, translated to Our Neighbors the Marsupilamis, featured the Marsupilami family living with veterinarian Bernard Vanderstadt and his four children Sarah, Iris, Isidore and Zoe. Their mother, Caroline, frequently contacts them by phone, but appears in the last three episodes. Once again Backalive makes an appearance.[7]

Marathon's Marsupilami series has been broadcast in 37 countries. Among the countries to air at least one season are Germany (Super RTL), Algeria (Programme National), Belgium (RTL TVI), Canada (Télé-Quebec), Estonia (ETV), Bulgaria (Super7), United Kingdom (Channel 4), Spain (Antena 3, Disney Channel, Toon Disney and TV3), Finland (MTV3), Cyprus (CyBC), Greece (Alter Channel), Ireland (RTÉ), Italy (Italia 1), Portugal (Prisvideo), Switzerland (TSR), Russia (THT Network), Hungary (Minimax), Slovenia (RTV), Serbia (Happy TV and Minimax), Montenegro (Happy TV and Minimax), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Minimax), North Macedonia (Minimax), Morocco (2M TV), Turkey (Yumurcak TV), Sri Lanka (Rupavahini), Mexico (Canal 22), Brazil (Rede Globo), Venezuela (RCTV), Indonesia (TPI (now MNCTV), B-Channel and RCTI), Malaysia (TV3 and TV9), the Africa Pansat (CFI), Latin America (ZAZ), the Near East and Middle East (TV5 and E-Junior), Vietnam (HTV7), Thailand (United Broadcasting Corporation), South Korea (EBS), Iceland (Uppeldi EHF), and South Africa (SABC).