Western Animation / Blinky Bill

Good on ya, Blinky! ^{The main cast of the first two seasons:} Blinky's Gang and the Dingo family; from left to right: Shifty, Daisy, Nutsy, Meatball, Blinky, Danny, Flap, Splodge and Marcia. Not pictured: Wombo. For a full list of characters, go here.

Blinky Bill is the anthropomorphic koala protagonist of an Australian book series written by author Dorothy Wall in the 1930s. The books inspired an animated series beginning in 1993, titled The Adventures of Blinky Bill, which was produced as a follow-up to the 1992 animated movie Blinky Bill: The Mischievous Koala. The animated series, by far the most well-known version of the character internationally, was produced by Yoram Gross and ran for two series on the ABC from 1993-95 (the second series titled Blinky Bill's Extraordinary Excursion), with a third series (titled Blinky Bill's Around the World Adventures) airing on Seven Network in 2004.

The first season had the townspeople of Greenpatch (a fictional Australian bushland town and the main setting of the series) trying to rebuild their home (after it was destroyed by loggers in the 1992 movie), while coping with a family of playful tricksters and con artists in the form of the town's family of dingoes (who redeemed themselves by the end of the season). In the second season, Greenpatch is fully rebuilt and a story arc formed in which Blinky and his gang get lost while on a school camping trip and have to find their way home. The third season had Blinky, Flap and Nutsy leave Greenpatch and travel around the world in a hot air balloon/caravan with a gang of escaped circus animals, returning the animals to their proper homes while being chased by the circus' owners.

The series got a CGI reboot in 2015 as a coproduction between Yoram Gross (under its new name, Flying Bark Productions) and Belgian animation studio Studio100 (who now also co-owns the rights to the original series with Yoram Gross/Flying Bark), starting with a theatrical film, which was then followed by a new series in 2016. Needless to say, fans were divided on whether going CGI was good at all, and even the new character designs were a point of contention.

Not to be confused with another series starring a koala named Blinky, although it could be argued that the name of the character in that series is a reference to this one^note , specifically the original books from the 1930s, as that series came out in '84.

Unless noted otherwise, this page fully focuses on the 1992-2005 animated series.

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Tropes you'll see in the series:

• Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: Marcia's name is pronounced incorrectly in season 2's credits song ("Marsh-ah" instead of "Mar-see-ah").
• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal:
  • Mayor Pelican wears a purple top hat, eyeglasses placed on his beak, a dickie, bowtie, and a mayoral sash.
  • Miss Magpie wears an academic cap with a pink scarf around it and eyeglasses placed on her beak.
  • All that Danny Dingo wears is sunglasses, while his brother Meatball wears a bucket hat and gumboots.
• Advertised Extra: Ruff the frill-necked lizard is namechecked in the Theme Tune Roll Call, but he's never shown with the rest of Blinky's friends, only briefly appearing in the flashback of the destruction of Greenpatch, and rarely has a role in the show proper.
• Alliterative Title: Blinky Bill.
• Animated Musical: The 1992 film had songs in it.
• Adipose Rex: Ma Dingo is portrayed as the queen of Greenpatch in "Blinky and the Heart of the Tree"'s fantasy sequences.
• Art Evolution:
  • Like other Yoram Gross feature films such as the Dot films, the 1992 movie featured animated characters against live-action backgrounds. Even so, the animation was more fluid than in the TV series that followed a year later.
  • Speaking of the TV series, the backgrounds were animated instead of live-action. The first two seasons (and the aforementioned movie) were animated on hand-painted cels, whereas the third season utilized digital ink and paint, and the background art was less detailed, yet more vibrant. Some characters also underwent slight redesigns/colour changes.
  • Blinky Bill's White Christmas had the same character designs from season 3, but the background art was similar to the first two seasons.
• Asshole Victim: Danny's schemes during season 1 almost always landed him in trouble.
• Badass Adorable: Let's just say the gang Took a Level in Badass after season 2 had them face the brutal Australian wilderness by themselves, which definitely came in handy for Blinky, Nutsy and Flap during season 3.
• Band of Relatives: The Dingo family are a Type 2, as shown in "How Green is My Greenpatch"◊, with Daisy on lead vocals, Danny on bass, Shifty on guitar and Meatball on drums.
• Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Everyone except Mr. Wombat, Nutsy's dad (season 2 only), Splodge's dad, Daisy and Meatball.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Marcia Mouse, mostly in the first two seasons.
• Break the Cutie: Nutsy in "Blinky Bill's Mothers Day", "Blinky Remembers Nutsy's Birthday" and "Blinky Bill and the Lost Puppy".
• Butt-Monkey: Many characters have their moments, especially Mayor Pelican and Miss Magpie, who are regularly on the receiving end of Blinky's pranks.
  • Flap becomes this in spades during season 3, especially after he falls out of the balloon and plummets headfirst into China at the beginning of "Operation Free Flap".
• Canon Foreigner:
  • The main cast from the original books only included Blinky, Nutsy, Splodge, Wombo, and Blinky's parents. The 1990s animated series added several recognisable characters, such as Flap, Marcia and the Dingo family, none of whom appeared in the books.
  • The New Adventures of Blinky Bill puppet show (which ran from 1984 to 1987) had a few as well, such as Charlie Goanna, Eric Echidna and Sybilla the Snake, plus various (human) park rangers.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Flap, the Dingo family and Miss Magpie, among others, are nowhere to be seen in the 2015/16 reboot movie and series.
• Civilised Animal: The animals wear clothes, go to school and even have a currency.
• Clark Kenting: Danny's disguise as El Diablo the Magician; a fake beard and a hat (he doesn't even take off his Cool Shades). Shifty's disguise as his assistant is no better. It works, at least on the kids, until Meatball comes in and blows it.
• Comedic Underwear Exposure: At some points happens to both Basil and Cyril, the main villains of season three, who are both revealed to wear polka-dot boxers.
• Continuity Reboot: The series received one in 2015 with Blinky Bill: The Movie, which was then followed by a new TV series, The Wild Adventures of Blinky Bill, the following year.
• Cool Big Sis: Daisy Dingo.
• Cute Little Fangs: All the members of the Dingo family have them.
• Darker and Edgier: Downplayed with season 3; while it's no darker than the rest of the series, the stakes are certainly higher, with Blinky, Nutsy and Flap travelling the world to return the displaced circus animals to their proper homes while on the run, and the themes presented are heavier, such as animal rights and abuse/exploitation.
• Deadly Dingos: The Dingo family are recurring antagonists throughout the first season, but they all made a Heel–Face Turn by its end. In particular, Danny could be sly and manipulative towards the residents of Greenpatch, constantly coming up with new plans to antagonise them before he learnt his lesson. His younger siblings, Daisy, Meatball and Shifty, however, are friendlier to the townspeople, although they did follow along with Danny's plans on occasion.
• Denser and Wackier: The 2015/16 reboot is this compared to the "classic" series, featuring plots such as Reboot!Blinky and Jacko being transported to a world made out of cardboard boxes and having to find a way to escape, and said duo having to protect Greenpatch from an onslaught of swooping magpies.
• Description Cut: When Shifty's explaining Danny's resort plan to the class in "Blinky Bill and 'Club Pet'":
  Blinky: Get real, Shifty! A tourist resort is the last thing this town needs; only a complete idiot would fall for a plan like that.
  (fade into next scene, with Mayor Pelican talking to Danny)
  Mayor Pelican: It's brilliant!
• Determinator: The Circus Bros. chase Blinky across six continents in their efforts to catch him, despite gradually losing the circus animals they had caught over the years. In the final episode, Blinky actually gives himself up, only for Nutsy to rescue him anyway.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: A variation; "Hey Hey, Blinky Bill", the series' theme song, was performed by series voice actor Keith Scott for the first season. In seasons 2 and 3, the theme was performed by Ric Herbert.
  • "I'm Blinky Bill" (originally from the 1992 movie soundtrack) and "Yahoo Didgeridoo", the end themes of series 1 and 2 respectively, were performed by both Robyn Moore and Keith Scott as their characters! ^note Robyn as Blinky, Nutsy, Marcia and Miss Magpie, Keith as Flap, Splodge, Wombo and Mayor Pelican.
• The Door Slams You: A common gag in the series.
• Dreaming of a White Christmas: Referenced, but ultimately averted. Blinky and the gang want it to snow in Blinky Bill's White Christmas, but since they're in Australia, this doesn't happen.
• Dub Name Change: The Finnish dub does this for the majority of the characters. The character name changes mentioned below are from the first Finnish dub (from the 1990s).
  • Blinky Bill to Vili Vilperi
  • Nutsy to Nanni
  • Flap to Väpä
  • Splodge to Potso
  • Marcia to Marsa
  • Danny to Lärvi
  • Daisy to Elli
  • Meatball to Limppu
  • Shifty to Niitti
  • Ma Dingo to Dingomuori
  • Mr. Wombat (Wombo) to Herra Vompatti (Vompo)
  • Miss Magpie to Neiti Harakka
  • Mayor Pelican to Pormestari Pelikaani
• Dumb Muscle: Meatball Dingo.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: In the first episode, Flap makes brief cameos. Ruff the frill-neck lizard, meanwhile, fills the role Flap would have in every other episode, which is odd, because Flap had a rather large role in the 1992 movie.
• Easy Amnesia: Blinky gets it in the movie, after a tree falls on him, so that Wombo can conveniently fill in his backstory via Flashback for the viewers before the main plot continues.
• Election Day Episode: Season 1's "Blinky Leads the Gang" counts as this.
• Every Episode Ending: Every episode of the series (except "Blinky and the Red Car", "Blinky Bill's Zoo" and "Blinky and the Heart of the Tree") ends with Blinky (or another character) uttering his famous catchphrase; "Extraordinary!"
• Evolving Credits: Season 3 placed its end credits on a background of whatever country the episode was mainly set in. ^{In order:} Australia for episodes 1 and 2, Antarctica for 3 to 5, a view of the ocean for episodes 6 and 19, Africa for 7 to 11, China for 12 to 14, Brazil for 15 to 18, India for 20 to 22, and France for 23 to 25. The credits for episode 26, the season finale, instead included photos featuring Blinky and each country's respective escaped circus animal, implied to be taken throughout the trip.
• Expository Theme Tune: Season 1's version of the theme song has a brief recap of the 1992 movie:
  But then one dark and gloomy night, when all the bush was still,
  Some bandits came and stole the trees, to feed their woodchip mill!
  And when at last the morning came, the timber trucks moved on,
  And there where Greenpatch used to be, the little town was gone!
• Expy: Claire from the pilot movie or the human girl in "Blinky Bill's Zoo" (possibly) for Dot.
  • The two titular bird smugglers, Neil and Christopher, in "Blinky Bill and the Bird Smugglers" are this to the titular smugglers Mr. Sprag and Scarface in the Dot & the Kangaroo sequel "Dot and the Smugglers".
• Fence Painting: Blinky pulls this on Splodge and Flap in "Blinky Breaks the Drought" with his chores at Gloop's cafe.
• Four-Fingered Hands: Every character has them, even the humans, but sometimes, during the 1992 movie, they are drawn with either four of five fingers. Season 3 averts this for the humans, but Penelope, though being a poodle, is rarely drawn with five fingers, and the humans are rarely drawn with four fingers.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: In "Blinky the Hypnotist", Blinky learns hypnotism to switch the citizens' minds and voices with each other, those being Mayor Pelican with Marcia, Miss Magpie with Splodge, and Flap with Mr. Wombat.
• Gentle Giant: Splodge definitely counts as one.
• Gilligan Cut: Happens in "Blinky and the Red Car":
  Blinky: Uh, sorry I'm late, miss.
  Miss Magpie: Ah, you're ALWAYS late, Blinky Bill! Stay in after school and write "I must not be late for school" one hundred times.
  Blinky: Aww... but I've only been late for school eighty-seven times, miss!
  (fade to Blinky writing "I must not be a smart aleck" in his book)
• Glad I Thought of It: Mayor Pelican says this word for word after Blinky's (hastily made-up) suggestion of a Fund Run to raise money for a new hospital.
• Great Escape: It's the title of Season 3's premiere, where Blinky, Nutsy and Flap help the circus animals escape from the Circus Bros.
• Groin Attack: In "A Dog's Best Friend", Flap slides down a banister and gets hit in the crotch by a pole.
• Hates Being Called Cute: Danny tends to calls Blinky's gang "kids" or "kiddies", which Marcia absolutely despises.
• The Heart: Nutsy is this in general.
• Heel–Face Turn:
  • By the end of the first season, the whole Dingo family underwent this, although it could be argued that Daisy and Shifty were good from the beginning.
  • Tico the Toucan underwent this in the series 3 episode "Tico's Choice".
  • Cyril Circus undergoes this in the series finale "How Green is My Greenpatch".
• High Koala-ty Cuteness
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: As shown in the movie and numerous episodes, most prominently in season 3 with the Circus Bros.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every episode of the first two seasons was named either "Blinky Bill's (X)", "Blinky (Bill) and the (X)", or more rarely, "Blinky (Bill) (Does a Plot-Related Thing)". The only exceptions to this were variations, in season 1's "Detective Blinky", "Mayor Blinky Bill" and "Who is Blinky Bill?", and season 2's "Blinky the Hypnotist", "Blinky Bill is Kidnapped" and "Blinky and Gretel". Season 3 dropped the naming scheme entirely.
• Inexplicably Tailless:
  • The koalas have no tails. (Even in the scene where Blinky changes into his nightshirt in the 1992 movie.)
  • Some other animals (including bears, wombats and echidnas) are tailless as well.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Blinky's gang are quite close with Mr. Wombat. In season 3, Blinky, Nutsy and Flap join a group of circus animals. Leo is most likely the oldest one, as he has both a full-grown son and a grandson.
• Kid Heroes: Blinky and his gang, obviously.
• The Kiddie Ride: There's one of Blinky in a Bamboo Technology car.
• Land Down Under: Naturally.
• Lean and Mean: Danny Dingo, at least in season 1.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Cyril Circus does this in "Paris Au Go-Go".
  Cyril: Maybe it's one of those TV shows. Am I on television? Better look your best, Teddy.
• Long Runner: The franchise was created in the 1930s and has been a part of Australian culture ever since.
  • The 1990s animated series got its start with the 1992 theatrical film, and quickly became a hit. After three TV seasons, the series eventually ended in late 2005, when Blinky Bill's White Christmas aired. Despite this, and the fact that the series was rebooted in 2015, the 90s series is still popular, killing it in reruns worldwide, and merchandise featuring the 90s characters and designs are still being made to this day.
• Lovable Coward: Flap and Ruff certainly count.
• Male Gaze: The camera often focuses on Daisy Dingo's hips and butt whenever possible; this is most prominent during a scene from "Blinky Bill's Treasure Hunt".◊
• Man (and Woman) of a Thousand Voices: Robyn Moore and Keith Scott were the only two voice actors for the first two seasons, but they more than made up for it with their insanely impressive vocal range, allowing for each of their characters to sound distinct.
• More Popular Spin Off: The original books spun off from a previous novel from Dorothy Wall, "Jacko the Broadcasting Kookaburra". After Blinky became a breakout character of sorts after getting his own novel, Jacko was made part of the cast of Blinky's books, and the franchise as a whole.
• Ms. Fanservice: Daisy Dingo
• Mythology Gag: The 2015 reboot movie and its 2016 follow-up series features (a variation of) the iconic Blinky design from the "classic" series as a giant, slightly dilapidated sign above a convenience store.
  • Prior to entering said store, Reboot!Blinky sings the chorus of the 90s' series theme song to himself.
• New Season, New Name: Season 1 of the series was called The Adventures of Blinky Bill. The series was renamed to Blinky Bill's Extraordinary Excursion for its second season, and season 3 was called Blinky Bill's Around the World Adventures (in marketing, at least, the season's onscreen title was simply Blinky Bill).
• Non-Mammal Mammaries: Although most characters are mammals and Miss Magpie, who isn't, doesn't have them, Blinky's mother, Daisy Dingo and others have rather human-looking breasts.
  • By the third series, the animators didn't even bother drawing the cleavage.
• One-Shot Character: Myrtle in "Blinky Bill's Fire Brigade". She also makes a cameo among the wedding guests in "Blinky Bill's Wedding Picnic".
• The One Who Wears Shoes: Meatball and Daisy.
• Pilot Movie: The 1992 movie counts as this, as it sets up the main story of the first season.
  • The 2015 reboot also had one of these (although since the movie also functions on its own, the series that follows it may instead be an example of Recycled: The Series).
• Puppy Love: Blinky and Nutsy. This is especially prevalent in "Who is Blinky Bill?", in which Blinky challenges with doppelgänger Algernon Arkwright, who competes in Nutsy's favour. Granted, as of the season 1 finale, Blinky and Nutsy are now step-siblings...
  • Thanks to subtext provided in season 2, some fans have taken to shipping Shifty and Nutsy instead.
• Plucky Girl: Marcia Mouse.
• Scenery Gorn: The destruction of Greenpatch, seen in live action in the movie (with the animated animals running away from the destruction), and briefly in the opening sequence of season 1.
• Schoolmarm: Miss Magpie counts as one.
• Sequel Escalation: The seasons got grander and more plot-focused.
  • The first season was mostly self-contained episodes which could be watched in any order, save the last two.
  • Season 2 had an overarching storyline with the gang getting lost in the wilderness, but again, you could watch most episodes (being episodes 5 to 19) in any order.
  • Season 3, meanwhile, was even bigger. Blinky, Nutsy and Flap traveled around the world to return the circus animals to their own countries, as characters regularly left the group once they arrived at their respective home, so one could easily miss the episodes where they left the team (probably leaving the viewer to wonder where they went). There were also actual villains for the first time since the 1992 movie, and the characters were also constantly travelling from place to place, so you could watch one episode and they would be in Antarctica, and if you skip a few, the animals are suddenly in Africa. In essence, if you want to watch through season 3, you have to watch every episode in order.
• Short Film: Yoram Gross made two pilots for spin-offs (that never got off the ground), starring Blinky's friend Flap; "Flap's Family", where hunters caught Flap and put him in a zoo, and "Flap's Island", a Noah's Ark analogue.
• Shout-Out: Enough to warrant its own page.
• Special Edition Title: So as not to immediately spoil the story arc of the season, the first two episodes of season 3 use an alternate intro, featuring clips from throughout the season ^note mostly ones from the few episodes set in Australia, although there are a few exceptions, such as Blinky running across the African plains, and set to a modified version of season 2's theme song.
• Stock Footage: A good chunk of the first series used recycled animation not only from individual episodes, but also from the 1992 movie. The remaining two series uses stock footage as well, but not from the prior series.
• Sunglasses at Night: Danny Dingo is almost never seen without his sunglasses on, although we do see his actual eyes frequently.
• Surrender Backfire: Blinky himself, of all characters, in the last episode of series 3. He wants to get his friends out of danger by giving himself up to the Circus Bros. and get them to extinguish the fire heading for Greenpatch. Ultimately, Nutsy has to rescue him.
• Talking Animal: Pretty much all of them, including some nonmorphic characters. Series 3 even has them communicating freely with humans.
• Theme Tune Roll Call:
  • "This is the story of Blinky Bill, and Flap and Nutsy too/And Wombo, Ruff and Marcia, and Splodge the kangaroo!"
  • In season three, the theme subverts this with "Here's Blinky Bill and Nutsy, and it's Flap who makes it three, and a mob of circus animals who Blinky helped set free..."
• The Power of Friendship: Blinky's gang manage to overcome any challenge if they work together, no matter how high the stakes are.
• Trickster Archetype:
  • Danny Dingo, in season 1.
  • Blinky in the third season, against the Circus Bros.
• Vague Age:
  • While Blinky is a young child, he is more or less perfectly capable of driving.
  • Shifty, also young, can play electric guitar as shown in How Green is My Greenpatch.
• Vocal Evolution:
  • Marcia's voice started out as pitch-shifted in the movie, but the shifting was dropped when the series started, so her voice got higher and raspier as the show progressed.
  • Flap's voice was raspier earlier on, and Splodge's voice got to lower registers as the show progressed.
• Vomit Discretion Shot: Penelope's seasickness causes her to vomit into a bucket in All At Sea.
• Watch Out for That Tree!: Said word for word by Basil Circus in Panda Pandemonium.
• Wedgie: Quite a few in season three.
  • In "Monkey Business", Yoyo gives Flap a wedgie after pranking him. Flap retaliates by the end of the episode.
  • In "Tico's Choice", when Yoyo thinks he is going home, he gives Flap another wedgie out of exitement.
  • In "Monkey See, Monkey Do", after being invited to join the Temple Guardians, the monkeys all celebrate with a wedgie war, with Flap and Blinky receiving wedgies as well.
• Weird Currency: Gumnuts, which, according to Wombo, "don't grow on trees... not at this time of the year."
• Wham Episode: Blinky Bill and the Earthquake. The titular earthquake is really a mineshaft that separates Blinky and his gang from Miss Magpie... then the episode goes on with a crazed goanna chasing the gang out of the mine disguised as a ghost. Night has fallen by the time the gang gets out of the mine, and Miss Magpie is crying her eyes out while Wombo comforts her, as Blinky's gang set up camp for the night, ending the episode with Nusty imagining all their parents worried sick. This sets up the story arc for the rest of the season, in what had up until then been episodic.
• Whole-Plot Reference: The medieval fantasy scenes in "Blinky and the Heart of the Tree" are a homage to The Magic Flute, and season 2's "Blinky and Gretel" is a reference to... well, guess.
• World of Snark: Absolutely; Blinky, Marcia and Danny (the latter mostly during season 1) are the biggest offenders.

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Extraordinary!