In the natural world, some animals are just born different from the rest of their species. Take Zoomba for example, an African elephant inexplicably born with zebra stripes. Shunned by his herd as a possible ill omen, poor Zoomba was forced to leave his family for something he couldn't help being. But at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, Zoomba discovers a marvelous place unlike anywhere else in the world — Zafari, a valley populated by animals that, just like him, were born with unusual physical traits that made them unique not just among their species but in the entire animal kingdom. With the help of the other one-of-a-kind animals of this very special place, Zoomba learns that his differences do not make him a freak of nature but an individual to be appreciated and admired for what makes him so different from everyone else. And thus is the premise of Zafari.
A Canadian All-CGI Cartoon created by David Dozoretz and produced by Montreal's Digital Dimension, Zafari is a show that teaches kids that our differences should not just be tolerated, but celebrated, encouraging young viewers to be comfortable with who they are and accepting of others who might be different. Brought to life through Epic Games's Unreal Engine 4, Zafari is a milestone in TV history for being the first ever animated series to be entirely created using a real-time video game engine.
Zafari made its world premiere in July 2018 on the French channel FranceTV, and has since popped up on NatGeoKids in Latin America, TinyPOP in the UK, Spacetoon in the Middle East, CBC in Canada, Rai YoYo in Italy, Amazon Prime Video, and NBCUniversal's streaming network Peacock. The series is distributed by NBCUniversal and DreamWorks Animation Television. A second season has since debuted.
Check out the official website here
!
Tropes of the series:
- Affectionate Nickname: Zoomba sometimes refers to Quincy as "Q" for short.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Zoomba's backstory is that he was cast out of his herd for being born different from the other elephants.
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Most of the inhabitants of Zafari are colored very unusually for their species, like Lulu, a horse with bright blue fur, or Frick and Frack, who are a striped kangaroo and a spotted koala respectively.
- Ambiguously Gay: While his sexuality is never explicit, Pokey's feminine appearance, classy sense of taste, and sassy attitude can certainly give off a homosexual vibe to viewers. As his bio puts it, he "loves himself and embraces everything that is unique."
- Big Guy, Little Guy: Zoomba, as an elephant, is the Big Guy to Quincy's Little Guy (being a tarsier). Nonetheless, the two are the best of friends.
- Genial Giraffe: Pokey is a giraffe with peacock feathers, who although a bit judgmental at times, possesses a heart of gold and a sense of adventure.
- Good Ol' Boy: Spike is characterized as behaving like one of these, with his prickly appearance belying his courteous mannerisms.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Zafari has several of these, including Zoomba and Quincy, Frick and Frack, and Xiang and Fan.
- Honorable Elephant: Zoomba, while only a calf, is an elephant with an innocent, adventurous, and optimistic soul that makes him eager to help others and always ready to try his best.
- Latin Lover: Ernesto is characterized as this, a charming and debonair armadillo with a Spanish accent always trying to impress the female inhabitants of Zafari.
- Meaningful Name: Xiang and Fan are pandas with inverted coloration whose name means "opposite" in Chinese. This is also reflective of how they rarely seem to agree on anything.
- Mentor Archetype: Babatua acts as a mentor figure for the other inhabitants of Zafari, although his wisdom is occasionally a bit too obscure for them to understand.
- Misplaced Wildlife: While Zafari is said to be located in Africa, several of its inhabitants are animals from other continents. Quincy is a tarsier from Southeast Asia, Xiang and Fan are two pandas from China, Frick and Frack are a kangaroo and a koala from Australia, and Spike is a rattlesnake from North America,
- Mix-and-Match Critters: Many of the inhabitants of Zafari have traits found in other animals. Zoomba is an elephant with zebra stripes, Antonio is a lion with flamingo feathers, Pokey is a giraffe with a peacock's tail, Spike is a rattlesnake with porcupine quills, Ernesto is an armadillo with a ladybug shell, etc.
- Panthera Awesome: With Antonio the lion, the clash between his species' fearsome and majestic reputation and the fact that he has bright pink fur and flamingo feathers in place of a mane makes him rather grumpy as he feels it makes it impossible for others to take him seriously as the King of Beasts.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Quincy is a cheeky, fun-loving joker and a silly prankster who "is 'different' not because of how he looks, but because of the way he acts".
- Real Men Wear Pink: Antonio is a lion with pink fur and flamingo feathers replacing his mane. However, he's not entirely fond of his coloration as he feels it makes it hard for others to take him seriously as the King of the Jungle.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Averted. While only 2 of the show's 16 characters are reptiles (Spike being a rattlesnake and Oscar being a crocodile), both of them are every bit as approachable and good-natured as the mammalian inhabitants of Zafari.
- Rhino Rampage: Subverted with Renalda. While she is strict, bossy, inflexible, and stubborn due to her place as the the enforcer of the Zafari community's rules, she often displays Hidden Depths that can make her a surprising individual in some ways.
- Shrinking Violet: Lulu is extremely shy. As a result, she tends to avoid joining in on the activities of the other Zafarians, with butterfliesbeing the only company she prefers.
- Smelly Skunk: Bubba is technically just a hippopotamus with skunk fur, but the latter characteristics means he's got a bit of a smell problem.
- Supreme Chef: Oscar is both a food lover and a food expert, and often creates dishes for the other Zafarians. To quote his bio, "He knows what he likes and likes what he knows, and what he knows is food."
