Noah's Island (1997)
First episode title: The Lost Zoo
How familiar with the show am I?: I have fond memories of this show from when I was a kid.
Don't be fooled by the title - this isn't a religious thing, although the similarities are obvious. In the case of this show, Noah is a polar bear, and he has his own island. To be any more specific would be telling, as the premise of the show is gradually set up over the course of this first episode.
The episode doesn't start with the usual opening sequence, in favour of having an extended prologue, narrated by Noah himself. He shows us what the island looks like in the present day - a lush green floating rock centred around a mountain. Then he shows us how it got this way. Once, it was part of the coastline, looking a lot more rocky and barren, but then some kind of meteor fell from the sky and into the mountain, turning it into a volcano and making it separate from the mainland. To be clear, this island isn't moving through continental drift - it's literally floating in the water now, so this clearly isn't any ordinary volcano either. I'm tempted to say that the ball of fire from the sky was something magical rather than an ordinary meteor, and we'll see more to support that later.
The flashback cuts to what is clearly much later, as the island has its present appearance, and it drifts past where Noah is living on a small bit of ice. If this is when Noah first encountered it, how was he able to tell us the story of what happened before? He shows us the volcanic core in the middle of the island that powers its movement, and the two mammoths(!) that the heat has thawed after thousands of years. Well, depending on when they woke up, maybe they were the ones who told him what happened. This is the first time we hear him say his catchphrase, "Deary be!", that he uses when he's excited or surprised.
Noah: Where will it all end, I ask myself? Who knows? But for now, we are drifting in the great Atlantic Ocean, and something tells me we are in for a stormy ride.
An ominous bolt of lightning accompanies his words, as this intro ends and the show's title finally appears.
So when the episode begins for real, the sky is cloudy and grey, and there is a big ship sailing near the island, with animals in cages looking out of the windows. A gorilla with a Cockney accent is impressed by the sight of the island, and a kangaroo with an Australian accent says it's the nicest place she's seen since leaving Australia. The accents involved there highlight something you'll notice throughout the episode, that some characters have strong accents that match up to their species whereas others seem to be assigned at random. Since it's going to be a while before we learn their names, I'll tell you in advance that the gorilla is Rocco and the kangaroo is Woomera.
Rocco is also accompanied by what is obviously his mate, as she's the most "cartoon female" of any of the animals we'll see, with eyelashes and lips and a feminine hairstyle. I will note that she's a rare exception on this show - the majority of the female animals have nothing obvious in their design that distinguishes them from the males. She doesn't have any lines here, and Rocco notes that a storm is brewing around them as Woomera speculates on whether that island would be a nice place to live, if only it were possible.
Meanwhile on the island, Noah is on a ledge near the top of the mountain, looking out at the storm. He's accompanied by a rabbit, which doesn't seem to be able to speak at all and only communicates by body language. That's a weird distinction - it's like the Pluto / Goofy thing where you have pets and people of the same species, except this is a show where humans have civilisations and animals don't, and where all the animals are drawn semi-realistically, so it's even harder to explain.
There are some wonderful dramatic shots of the storm. In general, the animation in this thing is really high quality - the only noticeable issue is that some dialogue scenes quite obviously reuse the same shots multiple times. Other than that, it's amazing.
Inside the mountain, the rabbit encounters the two mammoths from the intro - one is using a wooden paintbrush to make a cave painting of the other. The artist is a female mammoth called Salomi, and the subject is a male called Mammothsbody. Salomi reminisces about a time before humans "infested" the world. Not only does this imply she's much older than the mere "thousands" of years that Noah told us, but using a term like that implies to me that she has met humans, perhaps at some point during the island's travels? Mammothsbody is in love with Salomi and wants her to marry him, but not only does she not want to, his insistence irritates her - she erases the trunk of the drawing to replace it with a pig snout! The whole time, the rabbit is poking its own head as if to signal that it thinks Mammothsbody is crazy.
Noah comes into the cave to tell the mammoths that there is a hurricane on the way. But then he starts to talk about the possibilities for what they could do with the island - he wants to live in peace with other animals, away from anything that might want to hurt them. Noah says all they have so far is "one soppy-looking rabbit", which the creature looks disgruntled at - Noah also lifts it by its ears, which must be very painful! And if it seems weird that I'm calling the rabbit "it", Salomi refers to it that way in this very conversation. Another layer to the oddness of the non-speaking animals.
Noah talks about all the kinds of animals in the world that might need their help, specifically bringing up gorillas and kangaroos in what would be a hell of a coincidence in-universe. Salomi even points out that they're quite unlikely to find creatures like those anywhere near here!
The storm gets worse, and we see more of the animals in their cages on the ship, looking distressed. The two gorillas are huddling together, and Woomera even screams! It all feels very ominous. On the island, Salomi kicks Mammothsbody out of the cave, caling him a "circus elephant", further suggesting that they have in fact encountered modern humans.
Back on the boat, we encounter another new pair of characters - a brown bear and a panda. The brown bear has a Welsh accent, and ends most of her sentences with "see" or "isn't it", which are quite stereotypically Welsh. The panda has a bad Chinese accent... and also ends most of her sentences with "see" or "isn't it", as if she has picked up the habit from her friend!
Ursula: I know it's a terrible situation, isn't it? But I find it rather stimulating, see?
Chang: Hurricanes can be stimulating, isn't it? I've heard that, see?
They certainly do seem more relaxed than the other animals. Next Woomera tells Rocco to do something if he can, as water starts to leak into the animals' compartment. Rocco, whose catchphrase is to start sentences with "I'm Rocco, and..." when he wants people to pay attention to his words, admits to his mate Hetty that it doesn't seem like they're going to make it to their new zoo. He tells her he loves her as the boat fills with water and begins to sink...
Some of the animals' cages land on the seabed. Woomera is able to break out of hers, followed by some of the other animals, including both bears. At the top of the water, we see that somehow Rocco has ended up outside his cage with Hetty still inside, and he's desperately trying to get her out, but she's starting to sink and for a second it doesn't look like he's going to make it either, until Woomera saves him. But Hetty is lost to the ocean.
Even though I've never seen this first episode before, I've seen enough of the show to know how Rocco always talks about Hetty, so I was already prepared for this. But it's still emotional to actually see it happen. The surviving animals float together on the top of the water, smaller animals hanging on to bigger ones, and Woomera tells everyone to look around for the island they saw before the storm. An orangutan with a Scottish accent spots it, and we fade to some time later...
The shipwreck is now lying in a bay of the island, where Noah, not having noticed it, dives into the water for a swim. He bumps into a broken piece of wood that a walrus is lying on, his first sign that any new animals have arrived. The boat certainly looked like metal, but I suppose there would be wooden parts. Before Noah can say anything, the walrus explains he is a "problem walrus" who listens to other animals' problems. But once Noah asks how the walrus got here, the walrus explains about the shipwreck. The animals on the ship had all been part of a zoo that has now closed, and they were all being taken to a new zoo on the other side of the Atlantic.
Excited by the possibility of meeting new animals at long last, Noah goes rushing off back onto the island. First he meets a snooty giraffe who talks like the Queen, and denies that she has a gibbon on her head even as she blatantly does. Well, she sort of does - the animals that this show calls gibbons actually look to be proboscis monkeys, but since the naming is consistent I'll use "gibbon" here.
On another part of the beach we find the brown bear and the panda - Ursula and Chang respectively, although we don't hear those names in this episode. Chang wakes up, and Ursula quite casually tells her that she thought she had died. These two have an interesting relationship. Perhaps "frenemies" is the word. Ursula refers to this place as her own island, causing an argument between the two of them over who gets to claim it, but then they see Noah charging towards them and mistake his excitement for ferocity, causing them to flee. I love this bit of animation here where Chang initially runs straight down into the sand and has to scuttle away on her back instead:
Overlooking the shipwreck is a cliff, and Rocco is sitting there, alone and sad, talking to himself about Hetty. Woomera approaches, relieved to see that Rocco is alive, but Rocco is in such a state that he tells her he wishes she had been the one to drown instead of Hetty! Cruel, but Rocco isn't himself right now. Woomera tells him what things are like among the other survivors, who she's been helping - most of them are fine, but a gibbon called Jasper won't wake up. Rocco, apparently brought back to reality by this, agrees to help. And then both of them flee when Noah comes charging towards them. Come on, Noah, learn from that first time!
In a forest, a rhino his happily singing to himself. A song that just goes "pom-pom-piddle-pom" and variations of this, repeatedly. Noah is pleased that this is one animal that isn't frightened of him, but then Noah tells him that his song is annoying. The rhino looks angry and for a second it seems like he's going to attack, but he just walks off in a huff instead. Better luck next time, Noah.
The next scene is set in a cave. Jasper the gibbon is lying on a convenient slab of rock that's being used as a hospital bed, and there are some vultures surrounding him until Rocco arrives and yells at them to leave him alone. The lead vulture insists that they weren't going to do anything, though, and Rocco (starting his speech with "I'm Rocco" again) declares that he believes him. Jasper, confusingly, looks identical to the gibbon that was on the giraffe's head - at first I was confused since this can't be the same character, but both gibbons were actually visible in the same shot earlier, while the animals were in the water.
Alongside Rocco, Woomera arrives, along with the orangutan, and a mandrill called Reg. As Rocco inspects Jasper's unconscious body, the orangutan, who isn't named here but is apparently called Nab, tells him that Jasper is his nephew. Not biologically, I would have to assume.
As Rocco and Woomera try to revive Jasper by squeezing the juice of what looks like a grapefruit into his mouth, Noah arrives and is impressed. But none of them are impressed by him - they're still annoyed by his manic behaviour earlier. He explains who he is and where they are, and hopes that they'll stay. Then Jasper wakes up and Noah asks how Rocco learned his medical skills - Rocco says that the zoo's vet used to let him help during operations. We never see any humans in this episode, so I don't know whether we are to assume that the vet wouldn't have heard Rocco's speech as words.
Rocco's Cockney accent is pretty over the top, by the way. He drops his "H"s like you might expect, but also hypercorrects by adding "H"s to words that shouldn't have them, giving us sentences like:
Rocco: The veterinarian used to let me 'elp out during hoperations and what-'ave-yous. I'd pass 'im 'is hinstruments.
Noah wants Rocco and Woomera as chief surgeon and nurse for the island, and starts talking about how all kinds of animals could live in peace on this island, but most of them are still sceptical. Reg pipes up for the first time here, in his New York accent, to ridicule Noah's ideas. But Rocco is more accepting, saying that Hetty used to say things like that. I like Rocco - he has a tough exterior but he is probably the most layered character here. The vultures also volunteer to help, as they could fly and look for other animals.
There's a brief diversion as Jasper - who seems to be one of the non-speaking animals, as he just makes monkey noises - goes rushing off, and the orangutan worries about him causing trouble. And then Noah starts to explain about this being a floating island, powered by a fireball from outer space, whose power Noah can channel to steer the island anywhere... and the animals turn against him again, Rocco declaring that he's crazy, and they all flee.
The rhinoceros shows up out of nowhere, singing again, and Noah insists to him that he's not crazy. This is also where he mentions the existence of the mammoths for the first time. The pair of bears arrive too, and Noah explains to them that they misunderstood his excitement earlier, which is enough for them to agree to go and see the fireball and the mammoths with him, so he can prove what he's been saying.
So they (all three bears and the rhino) go to the volcanic core of the island, where Noah has clearly already been at work making it accessible to himself - there is a bridge and stairs and various supports. And there's a big pool of lava in the middle, which Noah is able to get way closer to than should be possible, but we know to expect that from cartoons. Noah explains how there's lava flowing all around the inside of the island, which controls its movement. So, if they can control the lava flow, they can steer the island. Sure, that should be simple! The bears are impressed, so Noah certainly has them on his side now.
They go outside, where Rocco, Nab, and Woomera are sitting under some coconut trees... and Jasper is up in the tree, throwing coconuts! Noah unknowingly walks right into the barrage and gets knocked down. Jasper really doesn't come off as particularly sentient, with the lack of speech and now this, although Nab insists that Jasper just isn't himself right after waking up. But now comes the moment in the episode that caught me more off guard than any other part, as Reg suddenly runs over with a gun!
This was a seriously hilarious non sequitur. Woomera asks where he even got it and he explains that it washed up from the shipwreck, so things make slightly more sense after that, but still. She tells him to stop but he shoots anyway, removing all the leaves from the tree and leaving Jasper cartoonishly smoking. And yet Reg complaints that he missed, implying he was actually going for the kill!
Then Salomi shows up, angry about what has happened to the tree. The sight of the mammoth convinces Rocco instantly that Noah isn't crazy, although Rocco was quite specifically out of the room by the time Noah mentioned mammoths before. Reg argues with Salomi but gets sprayed with water, everyone has a laugh at his expense, and then the subject turns back to the idea of them all living together on the island.
This time Rocco's concern is that eventually humans will find the island, and eat the animals or put them in zoos. Noah and Salomi's answer is "Diamantina", which they'll explain in a moment. Noah tells them all to follow his "excellent" rabbit, which the rabbit looks delighted by after Noah's earlier insult. It's only just occurred to me while writing this up that the idea of following a white rabbit might be an Alice in Wonderland allusion.
They all go into a cave with a cave-drawing-style world map on the wall. I don't know much about map projections, but this map is round and centred on the Pacific Ocean, with North on top and South on the bottom. Noah explains that Salomi's father painted the map in "prehistoric" times, which is such a strange distinction for a wild animal to make. After pointing out a couple of countries that we would know of, he shows us Diamantina, represented as a big red blob to the west of Australia. So big, in fact, that it causes most of the rest of the Pacific to be heavily shrunk - New Zealand ends up on the same longitude as parts of South America!
Noah claims that humans have never discovered Diamantina, and will never discover it, so it remains a beautiful paradise for animals. There's still some doubt in the crowd, especially from Reg, but Rocco is now fully convinced that Noah can lead them there. Even though he doesn't normally like bears (leaving Ursula and Chang offended). It's hard to imagine a place that large that humans could never find, but maybe Noah and the other animals don't know about things like satellites yet.
The final scene is back on the beach at night. The problem walrus is with Jasper and says he's never heard of such terrible problems, implying that Jasper has been speaking to him - can he talk? Or can the walrus just understand him? I have so many unanswered questions about animal speech in this show. And Rocco, looking out at the sea, tells Woomera that this is the first night since he was very small that he has spent outside of a cage. Aww.
So yes, as you can see, I still have much fondness for this show after all these years. This is definitely one I want to get reacquainted with!