The Koala Brothers

The Koala Brothers is a 2003-2007 Australian-British stop-motion animated children's television show that features the adventures of two koala brothers named Frank and Buster, as they seek to help their friends in a sleepy town in the Australian outback. 79 episodes were produced over three seasons.

A notable quality of the TV series is that although there can be differences of opinion and some instances of anti-social or unthoughtful behaviour, there are no villains or antagonistic characters. Rather, the emphasis is on helping and being a good friend. Originally aired on ABC Kids, the show later aired on CBeebies in the United Kingdom, having premiered on 16 February 2004 and Playhouse Disney in the United States, as well as different international stations.

Format
Broadcast episode formats varying slightly between countries, though the main material of each episode, featuring the koala brothers assisting one of their friends and overcoming a problem, such as jealousy, fear, or the failure to share, does not change. In Australia, the show runs in episodes of around 12 minutes though these are broadcast in pairs on Playhouse Disney, with the opening song "Call the Koala Brothers" repeated in instrumental form over the credits. CBeebies eliminates the introduction and closing song to squeeze the program into a 10-minute format.

In the 30-minute broadcast version, the show opens with the theme song and then the narrator introduces Frank and Buster as they fly in their yellow two-seater propeller airplane above the outback. The supporting cast is introduced as the narrator asks "Who do you think the Koala Brothers are going to help today?" Each 30-minute episode ends with "The Helping Song", in which all the characters gather at the Koala Brothers' homestead and sing about always trying to help and caring for one another.

Inspiration
The series remarkably resembles in visual style and ethos an globally publicised Australian 1988 NSW Bicentennial Exhibition and Children's Book and TV series proposal "The Great Wungle Bungle Aerial Expedition" featuring characters specifically dubbed "The Koala Brothers" and focusing on the adventures of altruistic animal outback aviator rescuers in homemade flying contraptions at a comical desert airstrip. The original three "Koala Brothers" characters first appeared at the "FirstState88" NSW Govt exhibition in darling harbour under that description, accompanied by book and merchandise and later in 1990s in an animated TV series proposal "Echidna Airways" circulating at Cannes. The 1988 Children's book and public exhibition attended by millions in Sydney's darling harbour and promoted on television featured Australian animal aviator characters altruistically rescuing others or helping out friends with no thought of personal reward. Archival footage of The Koala Brothers characters and flying machines viewable here: