Salty's Lighthouse
From Scratchpad
| Salty's Lighthouse | |
 | |
| Genre | Children's |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Creator(s) | Sunbow Entertainment |
| Starring | Rhys Huber Kathleen Barr Janyse Jaud Terry Klassen Lenore Zann Ian James Corlett Andrea Libman Michael Donovan Kirby Morrow Long John Baldry |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original network/channel | Sunbow Entertainment |
| Origional run | May 1998- June 1998 |
| No. of episodes | 25 |
Salty's Lighthouse was an Americanised version of the British television series TUGS, seen on the PBS network. The show consisted of a plot line, with an "episode" of TUGS (mostly stock footage). It was about an animated boy called Salty, who with his friends would go into a lighthouse (with a personified and animated light bulb), and look through the lighthouse windows to see the tugs of Bigg City Port (from TUGS).
The show introduced TUGS to the US however, none of the original series' plotlines were used; the new stories were rewritten and edited as morale based stories, rather than action based.
Another significant change is the characters featured in the TUGS segments: Big Mac was renamed to Big Stack; Zebedee was changed to Z.B.; Big Mickey as Big Basil; and O.J. as Otis. Also, the Bigg City Port became Snugboat Harbour. In some cases, even the characters' genders were changed, such as the case with TUGS' major characters, Captain Star, Sunshine, and Little Ditcher, who were now all females, instead of male.
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[edit] Comparisons with TUGS
- TUGS never had a cartoon plotline.
- None of the TUGS segments used plotlines from the original 13 episodes; instead, various scenes were cut up into new, shorter episodes.
- Most of the character's voices were different.
- The stories were now set in the modern day (though the architecture was clearly still from the 1920s), and the tugs now had diesel engines (though you could still clearly see steam coming from their stacks).
- Sunshine, Grampus, Captain Star and Little Ditcher were all female instead of male. Sunshine was also referred to as Ten Cents's sister. Captain Star was also just reffered to as "Captain" Despite being female, Grampus was still male.
- The tugs voices have all been changed to Bronx, New Jersey, and Brooklyn accents rather than the original Glaswegian, Cockney, and Liverpudlian accents.
- Big Mac was called Big Stack and O.J. was called Otis. However, in the original series, the tugs' names were painted on them. As a workaround, censor bars were used to cover their TUGS names printed on them.
- The Coast Guard and his messenger were merged and became one character called Cappy despite the fact that both vessels have different appearances.
- Zebedee name was always pronounced as "Zeebee". We can assume that they misinterprited his name on the producers part.
- Zip was called Ziggy.
- Burke and Blair became movie producers, and were changed to Mr. Bocco and Mr. Socco.
- The Star Fleet and Z-Stacks became friends instead of rivals.
- Puffa was called Stanley in one episode, and Chooch in another.
- Big Mickey became Big Basil.
- The Fire Tug was named Red Fin, Possibly a misinterpretation on the producers part from the episode "Munitions" in which Bluenose calls him "Red Thing" and his voice can be indistinguished at times.
- Billy Shoepack became Anthony-George
- Lord Stinker became Stinky Morris
- Jack the Grappler became Scoop
- Lillie Lightship was called Mrs. Dempsey despite her hull was still visible.
- Boomer had two episodes, one in which he remains a tug and successfully guides the schooner to sea, and one in a flashback told by Ten Cents to Zug, in which Boomer has trouble with it and becomes a 'vacation boat'.
- Boomer was still a houseboat unlike in TUGS.
- All the Liners were renamed, The Duchess became the Queen Victoria, The Princess Alice became the Princess Anne and The S.S. Vienna had become the Martina (Name confused with the R.M.S. Mauretania).
- Sally Seaplane was called Martha
- Pearl was called Grace
- Frank and Eddie were police barge and became Mr. Knight and Mr. Chapman.
- Sea Rogue became evil instead of good.
- Johnny Cuba was called "Steamer"; and instead of a smuggler, he was shy and bashful.
- Bluenose was called Captain Smith.
- Mighty Moe was called Tow-a-Long Stephen
- Bigg City Port became Snugboat Harbour.
- Salty's Lighthouse had one season; similar to TUGS. However, as the original series' episodes were edited and integrated into the new series, the new version had 25 episodes, instead of 13.
[edit] Trivia
- Chris Tulloch voice of Zorran on TUGS and Art director also worked on Salty's Lighthouse though still didnt voice Zorran.
- Kathleen Barr and Janyse Jaud of Ed, Edd n Eddy fame voiced characters in the Series.
- Long John Baldry known for later doing the voice of Dr. Robotnik in The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog did the voice of Top Hat and Hercules.
- Voices were provided by a voice acting agency known as 'The Ocean Group'. Among them was American actor Ian Corlett, who provided the voice of Ten Cents and ZB and Scott McNeill, who provided the voice of Zorran and Zug. The group are known for their work on various NA dubbed anime.
- Salty's Lighthouse is highly unpopular among Tugs fans, who believe it to be a crude and diluted adaptation of the original show. Many of the changes made to the show are regarded as highly implausible. For example, though many of the boat had undergone name changes, their original names could still clearly be seen painted on their hulls. Special venom is aimed at the fact that the footage had been spliced together with seemingly little regard for continuity; there are numerous scenes where the tugs' bargeloads or the settings around them change from shot to shot, and in one episode the locomotive pulling the train also changes (the original episode featured two trains, the locomotives at the head of which looked nothing like each other).
- Zip sounded like Coconuts from The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog ironically he was voiced by Ian James Corlett who voiced Coconuts.
- Salty's Lighthouse has also been accused of being a rip-off of Shining Time Station, which was used to showcase Tugs's sister series Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. Similarities between the two can be picked up on; the characters are similar, both shows use footage from another show to provide morals, and in both shows each episode ends with a song (Or atleast the Mr. Conductors Thomas Tales for Shining Time Station.
- Robert D. Cardona is known to have had a hand in the production of the show, though his exact role is unknown.
- There was supposed to an actual USA version of TUGS nothing at all like Salty's Lighthouse. They used the actual storylines but brand new voices (to fit american audiences) sadly when they showed it to Producers they were'nt interested likely due to them finding it as a Rip-Off of Thomas, the sister show of TUGS
- It's not known why the producers made such large changes to the TUGS segments, and the general consensus among fans is that the original TUGS episodes were much better.
[edit] Characters
- Salty - The main character who loves using his imagination to cosimerrate with human and animal friends alike, learning all sorts of lessons.
- Ocho - Salty's octopus friend.
- Claude - Salty's crab friend.
- Sophie and Sadie - The two girl seagulls.
- Aunt Chovie - Salty's overwieght aunt who owns the lighthouse.
- Aroura - A talking lightbulb at the top of the lighthouse who narrates the TUGS segments.
- The Clock - A yellow-faced clock that announces the "Salty's Song Time" segments.
[edit] Theme Song
The theme song is rather Childish unlike the TUGS theme and is sung by Children. The shows theme is more Musical and uses a Seaside tune which TUGS uses though the TUGS uses a Whistle tune where as Salty's Lighthouse uses a Seaside Tune. Also in TUGS Captain Star (Patrick Allen) would give the story about the Tugboat.
[edit] Episode List
Main:List of Saltys Lighthouse episodes
- 1.Mixed Signals / Too Young to Be Included
- 2.Who Took My Crayons / High Spirits
- 3.Taking My Turn / Backward Day
- 4.Banana Splits / Clear the Decks
- 5.Claude in Charge / The Favourite
- 6.Strike Up the Band / Blankety Blank
- 7.Last of the Red Hot C Gulls / Farley Frog
- 8.Some Guys Have all the Luck / Dream On
- 9.Treasure Hunt / Big Birthday Bash
- 10.Boss Man / Sophie Come Home
- 11.Salty Come Lately / It's Magic
- 12.No Strings Attached / Sound Off
- 13.If the Clue Fits, Wear It / Let's Wing It
- 14.Bivalve Music / Taking Off
- 15.Blackout / Eight is Too Much
- 16.One Bad Day / Hands Off!
- 17.Colossal Crab / Who Turned Off the Lights?
- 18.Let's Party / Guilty Gull
- 19.Count on Me / Desperately Seeking Sadie
[edit] Cast
- Rhys Huber as Salty
- Ian James Corlett as Ten Cents, Otis, Zebedee, Zip and Lord Stinker
- Kathleen Barr as Ocho and Aunt Chovie
- Scott McNeil as Zorran and Zug
- Paul Dobson as Big Stack, Sea Rogue and Red Fin
- Janyse Jaud as Sophie and Sadie
- Venus Terzo as Lillie and Sally
- Long John Baldry as Top Hat, Hercules and Stanley/Chooch
- Terry Klassen as Claude and Zak
- Andrea Libman as Sunshine
- Gary Chalk as Bluenose
- Michael Donovan as Warrior, Steamer, Scuttlebutt Pete and Mighty Moe
- Lenore Zann as Aurora, Little Ditcher and Captain Star
- French Tickner as Captain Zero, Izzy Gomez, Bigg Basil and Garbage Depot Corporation
- Richard Newman as Mr. Bocco and Mr. Socco
- Brad Swaile as Boomer, Billy Shoepack, Grampus and Cappy
- Kirby Morrow as Zorran and Zug
[edit] Parodies
[edit] See Also
- TUGS - The Original Series
- Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends - Sister Series to TUGS
- Theodore Tugboat - Canadian Series Similar to Salty's Lighthouse and TUGS
