Western Animation / The Koala Brothers

We're here to help!

If you're in trouble and you need someone to help you out,
There's no need to whistle and there's no need to shout
Hey, hey, hey, hey, help is on its way!
Call the Koala Brothers,
Call the Koala Brothers,
Call the Koala Brothers,
Call the Koala Brothers,
Help is on its way!

—The Theme Song

The Koala Brothers is a British stop-motion animated TV series by Famous Flying Films and Spellbound Entertainment which aired on CBeebies and Playhouse Disney. It involves a pair of koala brothers named Frank and Buster that ride in an airplane to look for others in need of help. This show is known for Frank and Buster helping out their friends with various problems such as what to do when sick, how to take care of a plant, or even help repair an ice cream truck.

When Playhouse Disney became Disney Junior, repeats of the show were carried over to it.

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Tropes in this show:

• Artistic License – Geography: Subverted in the Christmas special. By having the characters travel to Antarctica for Christmas, the show can depict snow and ice on Christmas while still having it accurately take place in summer. The show also accurately depicts constant daytime in Antarctica, unlike most northern-hemisphere Christmas specials, which show the North Pole in daytime (when it should be constant night).
• Baffled by Own Biology:
  • In "Archie's Loose Tooth", Archie gets a loose tooth and thinks his head is wobbly until the Koala brothers explain that it's not his head that's unsteady, but his tooth.
  • In "Ned Catches a Cold", Ned gets a cold. He's a bit confused when the brothers explain to him that he's been sneezing because of his illness, as he claims to have never had one before.
• Big "YES!": Doubles with Oh, Crap! when Buster realizes that Frank took off without him in "Ned the Pilot".
  Mitzi: Buster, weren't you supposed to be on the plane too?
  Buster: Yes? (Beat) YES!!
• Birthday Episode: George's birthday is celebrated in the episode "George and the Parcel".
• Butt-Monkey: Buster seems to fill this role, whether getting hit by planks, unable to remember putting fuel in the plane or, in one episode (when Ned decided he wants to be a pilot), when Frank accidentally leaves him behind due to Mitzi refusing to open the gate, and Buster offers to open it for them.
• Character Catchphrase:
  • "We're here to help!", said cheerily by Frank and Buster to reinforce the Central Theme of helping others.
  • "Cooey!", said by Mitzi to announce her arrival at a certain place (in a meta sense, to announce her entrance to a scene as well).
• Christmas Episode: The Koala Brothers Outback Christmas
• Episode Title Card: The title cards feature a picture of the character Frank and Buster are going to help in the episode, with the title displayed above such.
• Every Episode Ending: The episodes end with the cast singing "The Helping Song" before the credits.
• Exact Words: At one point, Mitzi offers to do Ned's job with the bats during the plane takeoffs while Ned learns how to be a pilot himself. She never says anything about opening the gates, which leads to Buster getting out of the plane to open them... and being left behind by accident.
• Funny Animal: All of the characters are these.
• Goggles Do Nothing: Averted; everyone who goes for a ride in the plane always wears goggles over their eyes.
• Hot Drink Cure: In "Ned Catches a Cold", Ned, and later Mitzi, are given hot lemon and honey drinks to help with their colds.
• Identical Twin ID Tag: Buster has a small tuft of hair on his head.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: All episodes feature the name of the character Frank and Buster are helping, as told per the pre-episode intro before it starts.
• Job Song: The theme is about the koalas' job helping people.
• Jump Rope Blunders:
  • In the extended intro, Josie attempts to skip rope, only to get tied up.
  • Josie's dilemma in "Josie's Big Jump" is that she has agreed to skip rope with Mitzi later, but every time she tries to use a jump rope, her feet always get tied up in it. As it turns out, the rope she's been using is too short, and when she uses a longer rope, she can jump perfectly.
• Kangaroos Represent Australia: Josie the Kangaroo.
• The Kiddie Ride: Northern Leisure/Kiddy Rides UK has spawned the brothers' plane, using technology from Fun2Learn.
• May It Never Happen Again: In "Alice's Night Mystery", it is revealed that Alice has been attempting to bake in her sleep, resulting in her kitchen being covered in flour. Frank ends up putting a lock on her cupboard (which contains the aforementioned flour) to keep her from opening it in case she does sleepwalk again.
• Minimalist Cast: With the exception of the narrator, the show features primarily 10 speaking characters spread amongst a small cast of only 4 voice actors.
• Never Smile at a Crocodile: Averted with Archie. He is a friendly crocodile who will never bite anyone.
• No Antagonist: While the characters can be inconsiderate sometimes and have different opinions, there are no villains or disagreeable characters - the emphasis is on helping others and being a good friend.
• Plank Gag: Happens in a few episodes, with Buster being the most frequent victim.
• Running Gag/Once per Episode: Whenever Frank and Buster fly the airplane out of their house, they always manage to knock over their letterbox.
  • Mitzi's green sandals sometimes come loose, but luckily, she's smart enough to realize she's lost a sandal and put it back on the second it comes off.
• Something We Forgot: One episode had Frank take off for a postal run while leaving Buster (who got out of the plane to open the gate) behind!
• Sweet Tooth: See Trademark Favorite Food.
• The Teaser: The 30-minute broadcast version begins every segment with the Koala Brothers flying in their plane on their "daily patrol" and observing the townsfolk before the telescope shows the character they're going to help in the episode.
• Title Theme Tune: "Hey, hey, hey, hey, help is on its way. Call The Koala Brothers, call the Koala Brothers, call the Koala Brothers, call the Koala Brothers, help is on its way!"
• Trademark Favorite Food: For Buster, it's butter cookies.
• Wrap-Up Song: The 30-minute broadcasts has the cast sing "The Helping Song" at the end of every episode before the credits roll.
• You Didn't Ask: Frank's stated reason for not mentioning that he had a photo of Penny the penguin in The Koala Brothers Outback Christmas.

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Always try to help (Care for one another!)
Always try to help (Share what you have with others!)
Always try to help (Be kind to everyone!)
Helping others is lots of fun!