Beat Bugs

Beat Bugs is a series for children between the ages of 5 and 7, set in an overgrown suburban backyard, which serves as an environment that 5 young bug friends regularly explore. Wakely described the series as "about teaching kids, but with a bit of humor and not in a patronizing way." He stated that the message of the song "All You Need is Love" was the main idea he wanted to portray. ==Episodes==

Main • Kumi: Kumi is a confident and imaginative ladybug with a zest for life who is protective of her friends. She is also the leader of the group. Speaking voice provided by Erin Mathews and singing voice provided by Lisa Mitchell. • Jay: Jay is a curious, ambitious and impulsive beetle who likes skateboarding and music. He is the second leader of the group. Speaking voice provided by Ashleigh Ball and singing voice provided by Andy Bull. • Lili Beaudoin as Crick, an intelligent and creative cricket who is also an inventor. He likes science and math. He wears a brown hat, a gray T-shirt, beige pants and yellow Converse shoes. Singing voice provided by Sullivan and Julia Stone. • Charles Demers as Walter, a theatrical blue slug with a big heart but excessive fears. Singing voice provided by iOTA and Daniel Johns. • Rebecca Husain as Buzz, an optimistic and enthusiastic fruit fly who is the youngest of the group. Singing voice provided by Gossling. Recurring • Lucy the Dragonfly is a dragonfly with kaleidoscope eyes who is a sleep doctor. • Boris the Frog (Doron Bell, singing Aloe Blacc) is a frog who loves things Mother Nature provided. • Postman Bee (Brian Drummond; singing Wesley Schultz) is a bee who, as his name implies, works as a postal worker. He is never late and always gets his deliveries right, unless he is feeling sad about something. He cares a great deal for his grandmother, Granny Bee (Nicole Oliver) who was once a famous TV chef known for her honey pie. • Doris the Spider (Gwynyth Walsh) is an elderly arachnid who is always filling her garden with beautiful art pieces that are made from her webbing and various other objects found in the backyard. She teaches the bugs to see the beauty in everything. • Geoff the Cockroach (Peter Kelamis; singing Dave Faulkner) is an opportunistic roach who acts like a sleazy business man. He typically sells homes to the residents in the backyard, implying that he is a realtor. He gets along with Alex the Stinkbug. • Alex the Stinkbug (Fred Ewanuick) is a jokey bug that is always farting. His farts are powerful enough to power machines built by Crick. He can be uncouth, but is very friendly. He gets along with Geoff the Cockroach. • Dr. Robert (Ian Hanlin) is a mantis in the medical profession. He is very friendly and has perfect bedside manners. He always seems to know the perfect treatment for certain ailments. • Katter (Britt McKillip; singing Frances) is a pretty caterpillar who later transforms into a butterfly. She is soft-spoken and shy, but is very friendly with everyone. She is best friends with Morgs and Millie. • Morgs (David Paul Grove; singing James Corden) is a very nervous and self-conscious stick bug. He has trouble standing up for himself and wishes that he wasn't "just a stick". He is best friends with Katter and Millie. • Millie Pede (Maryke Hendrikse; singing Tori Kelly) is a multifooted millipede who is kind and reserved. She is unsure of her dancing ability, but with help from her friends learns to do so effectively. She is best friends with Morgs and Katter. • Mr. Sun (Michael Caton; singing Robbie Williams and Yusuf Islam / Cat Stevens) is the large all seeing star during the daytime. Despite his largeness, he can speak directly to the bugs and has even sent and received letters from them. In All Together Now, Mr. Sun now has a beard and arms. • Mr. Moonlight (Robert Alexander and Charles Demers) is Mr. Sun's nighttime counterpart. He can be playful with the bugs, but sometimes feels that they like Mr. Sun more than him. • Dr. Robot (Peter Kelamis; singing Ev Jones) is a special robot that Crick built to help his friends while Dr. Robert was on vacation. Despite a few kinks here and there he has proven to be efficient. When Dr. Robert returned, Dr. Robot became Crick's assistant for his experiments. • Blackbird (Bethany Brown; singing Sia, Regina Spektor, and Jennifer Hudson) is a bird that always has her head in the clouds, both figuratively and literally. The bugs helped her damaged wing and in return, she stuck around to help them in any way she could. • Mr. Mudwasp (Andrew Hansen; singing Daniel Johns), a wasp, and working man who lives in a hive that he is constantly renovating. He is always trying to speak in foreign terms. He has numerous wasp children with his constantly pregnant wife, Mrs. Mudwasp (Ashleigh Ball). They were once identified as the Hendersons. Mr. Mudwasp has also been identified as Baz. • The Ants (Kyle Rideout) are the colony workers of the backyard. They all think uniformly as one and thus have a hard time acting as separate people. They all live in one ant hill and become lost if anything happened to it. • Freda (Shannon Chan-Kent; singing Kate Miller-Heidke) is Walter's long lost sister introduced in All Together Now. She is a very ditsy slug that shares many similarities and differences with her twin brother. She moves into a house next door to Walter. She is named after the Beatles' secretary Freda Kelly. • Glowies are glow bugs that act as a full light source for all the bugs. They always seem to be angry or annoyed at everyone, possibly because they are constantly used all the time and are treated more like objects. Nevertheless, they do their job effectively. • Octopus (Jay Brazeau) is a talking sprinkler toy that resembles a purple octopus. He only communicates with the bugs and provides comfort to everyone by spraying water. However, he is only capable of doing so when the hose he is connected to is on. • Bulldog (Colin Murdock; singing James Bay) is a big friendly slobbering dog. He initially had no home or way to communicate with the bugs, but Crick builds a translator and is adopted by the humans. • Mee-Yow (Ashleigh Ball) is a cat that is owned by the humans. He roams about the yard and, while not necessarily mean, is shown to be rather dangerous to the bugs as he tends to attack and play with them. • The Man (JR Bourne and Ian Hanlin) and Julia's Mom (Erin Mathews) are Gigants, they are what the bugs refer to humans whom the bugs are fascinated by. They live in the "Big House" at the edge of the backyard. They have a daughter named Julia, and have a second daughter named Jude in All Together Now. • Julia (Rebecca Husain) is the first born daughter of the humans who live in the "Big House". Jay seems to relate to her. As of All Together Now, Julia becomes a big sister after her mom has a baby girl named Jude. ==Production==

Conception Beat Bugs was created by Josh Wakely who in 2014, under his US-Australian production company Grace, acquired worldwide rights from Sony/ATV Music Publishing to a catalogue of music by the Beatles. The music acquired was the Lennon-McCartney "Northern Songs" catalogue. The deal reportedly cost an estimated $10 million. Wakely, an Australian writer and producer who grew up as a fan of the Beatles, stated that he never considered using any other artist's music for the series. Wakely spent three years originally working on the show before acquiring the rights to the Beatles' music, and by this time, he had already conceived all of the episodes and characters. The Seven Network in Australia was also an investor of the production. Daniel Johns, former singer of Silverchair, arranged and produced the music for the series as musical director. Release The initial order of 52 segments (26 half-hour episodes) was split into two 13-episode seasons for distribution. All episodes from Season 1 became available on Netflix in the US on 3 August 2016. The first season premiered exclusively in Australia on 7TWO on 25 July 2016. Season 2 was released through Netflix on 18 November 2016. A 48-minute special entitled Beat Bugs: All Together Now, premiered on Netflix on 21 November 2017. The third season premiered in November 2018. ==Reception==

Beat Bugs generally received favourable reviews. Critics praised the concept of reimagining Beatles songs for a young audience. David Knox of TV Tonight praised the music for "bursting with optimism and exuberance", while describing the animation as "an alluring, inviting feast". A reviewer for the Daily Telegraph applauded how the series presents children with "an influence that lasts beyond the screen time". Ivan Radford of VODzilla.co noted that the program as a whole "is something closer to a visual album than a series", and stated that the show's theme song of "All You Need is Love" provides "an upbeat sentiment that gives an overall theme and identity to this strange universe". However, Radford expressed that the main characters are not always fully developed. Beat Bugs received a 2016 AWGIE Award in animation for the episode script of "Yellow Submarine", written by Wakely. and won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Preschool Animated Program. The series also received some negative comments. Jordan Runtagh of Decider disliked the character of Jay, stating "I find the lack of comeuppance for his behavior distressing". He stated the music of the series is "forgettable, but inoffensive", however added that the songs are incorporated into the episode narratives "with grace and skill". Decider's Jessica Jernigan of described the series as "disheartening and dull because there's so little art in the transformation of Beatles lyrics into stories", suggesting that the songs were already appropriate for children "without visual or narrative contextualization." ==Broadcast and release==

The first season was added to the Australian Netflix library on 28 February 2017. In Australia, Beat Bugs premiered on pay-TV channel Nick Jr. in May 2017. The free-to-air broadcasting of the series moved to 7flix in 2017 to continue airing repeats. In Canada, the show started airing on the CBC Kids programming block on CBC on 26 February 2018. In Ukraine, the show started airing on the Niki Junior in April 2019, titles are localized, all songs are subtitled. ==Possible film adaptation==

On 10 May 2019, MGM picked up the film rights to the series with Wakely writing and producing the film. ==Awards and nominations==

Soundtracks The first soundtrack to the show, "Beat Bugs: The Complete Season One" was released on online music-streaming service Apple Music on 3 August 2016. The release featured all of the songs performed by the guest artists in the first season, compiled on one soundtrack. It was only available exclusively on Apple Music until 4 November 2016. Melodia Music was formed by the show's production to release music from Beat Bugs and other related productions. "Beat Bugs: The Complete Season One" was also made available on iTunes for the first time. ==See also==