Rainbow Fish

Rainbow Fish is a 2000 animated television series. It is based on the book series of the same title by Marcus Pfister. The show was co-produced amongst Decode Entertainment, EM .TV, Sony Wonder Television, and Rainbow Fish Productions. There was also a short film of the same title that preceded this in 1997 and paired with Dazzle the Dinosaur, which is also based on a book written by Pfister, and they were released straight to VHS and DVD. Although this series is based on the books to a degree, there are some differences, like the addition of some characters and others being expanded on for this show's purposes.

Plot
It's the adventures of the multi-colored, glossy, scaly fish, Rainbow Fish, and his family, and friends. They take place in his home, Neptune Bay. In addition to adventures, Rainbow Fish and his pals are at play with one another while also growing and learning not just the things they learn at the School of Fish, but other things pertaining to every day life as well.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) This has some of the cleanest art ever drawn to screen and the animation is of the highest quality.
 * 2) Most of the storylines of episodes are well-written and executed.
 * 3) The character designs are still true enough to those in the books, other than not being in a water color style, making that aspect the complete opposite of the look of the show.
 * 4) Most characters are great, as those that were already featured in the books had their personalities and traits improved upon in the adaptation.
 * 5) The theme song has a great, Caribbean style/calypso flavor to it.
 * 6) The voice acting sounds well-performed, such as Rhys Huber from MindMash and Chantal Strand from Make Way For Noddy. Christopher Gray (b. 1981) does a good job as the voice of Chomper, possibly impersonating Alan Marriott.
 * 7) *Several guest stars have starred in the series, such as Macaulay Culkin as Slick (in "Pool Shark"), and Leslie David Baker is Billy (in "The Bodyguard").
 * 8) It teaches some well-taught lessons, like in "Game Girl", Sea Filly gets addicted to a hand-held (or rather, fin-held) video game called Clam Blaster and she has to overcome her addiction.
 * 9) Some episodes feature parodies, such as "He's A Wonderful Fish", being inspired by the Christmas film, It's A Wonderful Life.
 * 10) Nice use of fish puns and those related to other sea life, and plays on pop culture references, like M.C. Hammerhead being a play on M.C. Hammer.
 * 11) The advantage of good dialogue and lines is taken.
 * 12) Rainbow's catchphrase, "Oh, fish!".

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The show is not very realistic; it's a show about talking fish and fish cannot talk in real life.
 * 2) Although there have been moments when Rainbow's sister, Ruby, has shown her nice side, she can be unlikable more often than not. But her motive of jealousy is somewhat understandable, with the typical sibling rivalry and all. Rainbow has had his selfish moments, but he learns to be in that mood less and learns his lessons afterward.
 * 3) There has been the occasional bad episode, such as one that gives the negative message of dismissing others due to not having as many things as they have.
 * 4) It's never explained just how electrical and electronic things are still able to function underwater where the characters live and not cause any shocks, but this could be simply be chalked up to the old-fashioned cartoon logic. Either that or all of those are just shock proof somehow.
 * 5) While the voice acting for the most part is decent, Sherman Shrimp's voice is the worst out of anyone in the series, ignoring the fact that it's ear-piercingly higher than any 9-year-old Canadian male's voice voice should be, he screams most of his lines. It's as if his script was written in exclamation marks, if not all caps.

Trivia

 * There are a couple holiday episodes, one for Halloween and the other for Christmas: "Halloween Under The H20" and "Santa Sword Is Comin' To Town".
 * Each episode segment would air on every Saturday in 2000 (with the exception of New Year's Day), making this show a pioneer.

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