Naaaanaaaalaaaaaaaaaaaan.note
Nanalan' was a Canadian produced puppet show created by The Grogs for the Canadian TV station CBC.
Initially starting out as 3-minute shorts that aired between programs on YTV in Canada and Nick Jr. in the USA, Nanalan' later became its own 22-minute show. The show details the antics of 3-year-old Mona as she spends the day at her Nana's house while her mother is out. Mona explores the area both in around Nana's house and often learns a lesson during her day. Other characters include Nana's dog Russell, Nana's neighbor Mr. Wooka, and Nana herself.
Episodes were produced between 1999 and 2004.
Nanalan' includes examples of:
- An Aesop: Frequently, one is learned by Mona.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Mona herself is green and Nana is orange, for example. Mr. Wooka has yellow skin.
- Big Budget Beef-Up: The switch from 3-minute short to 22-minute episode brought numerous rises in quality to the show. The show was no longer limited to Nana's backyard, sets were noticeably more detailed, and Mona's mother was actually visible in the opening.
- Black Bead Eyes: Present on the characters, and possibly literally considering that they're puppets.
- Canine Companion: Mona is fond of her grandmother's dog Russell.
- Cat/Dog Dichotomy: Russel absolutely hates Nana's cat Alice. Subverted in one episode where they're seen getting along after spending some time together outside.
- Charlie Brown Baldness: The only hair visible on Mona's head are her two pig-tails.
- A Dog Named "Dog": Russell is a Jack Russell Terrier.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The original shorts had a number of differences:
- Mona had more focus in the shorts compared to the other characters.
- Nana had reddish-brown hair, thicker light blue glasses, and was a lot skinnier.
- The backgrounds weren’t as detailed, especially in the intro.
- Inherently Funny Words: Mona's bizarre speaking patterns have given way to some, most notably "peepo" (aka. pea-pod).
- Minimalist Cast: The only prominent characters are Mona, Russell, Nana, Mr. Wooka, and Mona’s mother at the end of each episode. The only other characters that aren’t a part of the main cast are a purple boy and his mother that Mona plays with at the park in one episode.
- One-Neighbor Neighborhood: The only neighbor of Nana's that's ever seen is Mr Wooka.
- Pink Means Feminine: Mona wears a dark pink dress.
- Stylistic Suck: Even after the move to full 22-minute episodes and a bigger budget certain "cheap" elements remain like various items like clouds or bubbles being represented as pictures on sticks or puppets/objects simply being thrown across the set.
- Title Theme Tune: The theme song doesn't have any lyrics beyond the show's name, and possibly "la la la".
- The Unintelligible: Mona, being only two or three years old, doesn't have a very good grasp on the English language. Nana can understand what she's saying, though, and often repeats it back so the audience can understand, but when Nana isn't around, it's up to the audience to decipher what Mona is trying to say.
- Welcome Titles: The title sequence explains the premise of the show pretty well. Mona gets up, gets cleaned up, eats breakfast, her mother drops her off at Nana's, and Mona then goes out to the backyard to play.
