My Magic Pet Morphle (also known as Morphle) is an animated children's television series created in 2011.[2][3] Produced by YouTube channel Morphle TV, which was acquired by Moonbug Entertainment in 2018 and announced in February 2019, the series premiered on Netflix on January 10, 2019.[4] The show is about a girl named Mila and her magic pet Morphle who can transform his appearance at Mila's will, and teaches themes of friendship, problem-solving and creativity to its preschool audience.[5]
| My Magic Pet Morphle | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Also known as | Morphle |
| Genre | Preschool |
| Created by | Arthur van Merwijk |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 324 |
| Production | |
| Animator | Arthur van Merwijk |
| Running time | 25-29 minutes |
| Production companies | Guru Studio[1] Moonbug Entertainment |
| Original release | |
| Network | |
| Release | December 15, 2011 – present |
Morphle is hosted on digital platforms including Netflix, Apple TV+, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video .[6][7]
Characters
edit- Mila is a young blonde girl who often wears blue clothing. She is always seen with her magic pet, Morphle and is the leader in their adventures together.
- Morphle is the titular red rabbit-like magic pet who is Mila's pet, friend, and a bit of a sibling at times. His special ability is shape-shifting into anything. He has a high-pitched voice and refers to himself and others in the third-person. Even though he is described as Mila's pet, they are more like siblings/best friends.
- Jordie is a young boy and Mila's stepbrother. He happily goes along with Mila and Morphle’s adventures, even if it puts him outside of his comfort zone. He carries around a Magic Pet Primer, a tablet database full of information.
History
editIn 2011 van Merwijk, an animation school graduate, created a YouTube channel for preschoolers based on nursery rhymes. Throughout the first year van Merwijk produced every episode himself. His sister, who is a professional singer, created the music for the show. Van Merwijk drew the characters and his friend, Daan Velsink, created the rig-animation. After saving his profits during the program's first year, he used the money to set up a studio in Amsterdam. He hired animators and artists and created additional videos per month.
My Magic Pet Morphle was originally titled Mila and Her Magic Pet, and the YouTube channel uploaded its first video on 19 December 2011,[8] and it was a Christmas special video (the first non-Christmas video was released on 14 January 2012).[9] At the time, Morphle had a tail on his back until it was removed in 2014.[10]
The show functioned this way until 2015 when it took on its current TV-show format. According to van Merwijk, Morphle is one of the first preschool channels on YouTube that treated its videos as episodes of a traditional television program. When van Merwijk made this change, viewership grew substantially. By 2016 the show had millions of views each month.[3]
In November 2018 Moonbug Entertainment purchased Morphle TV from van Merwijk. At the time of the purchase the show had about five million subscribers and 3.7 billion views.[11]
In February 2021 Moonbug partnered with Poetic Brands to create branded children's apparel based on My Magic Pet Morphle.[12]
Premise
editMorphle and the Magic Pets is a preschool CGI series that follows Mila and Morphle, her shapeshifting magic pet, along with her stepbrother Jordie, as they use smarts, kindness, and imagination to save their town and keep the magic pets out of mischief.
Episodes
editThis section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2021) |
This episode list reflects original upload date on the official YouTube channel Morphle TV.
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "My Magic Train" | 25 March 2015 |
| 2 | 2 | "My Pet Dinosaur" | 5 May 2015 |
| 3 | 3 | "My Red Racecar" | 19 May 2015 |
| 4 | 4 | "If you're happy and you know it!" | 11 June 2015 |
| 5 | 5 | "My Pet Unicorn" | 22 July 2015 |
| 6 | 6 | "My Pet T-Rex" | 23 September 2015 |
| 7 | 7 | "My Red Digger" | 20 October 2015 |
| 8 | 8 | "My Red Bike" | 25 October 2015 |
| 9 | 9 | "My Magic Shapes" | 2 November 2015 |
| 10 | 10 | "My Pet Dragon" | 11 November 2015 |
| 11 | 11 | "My Red Fire truck" | 17 November 2015 |
| 12 | 12 | "Children's Drawings Come Alive Through Animation!" | 19 November 2015 |
| 13 | 13 | "My Magic Christmas Present" | 30 November 2015 |
| 14 | 14 | "Animal Phonics" | 1 December 2015 |
| 15 | 15 | "My Red Spaceship" | 7 December 2015 |
| 16 | 16 | "My Red Monster Truck" | 14 December 2015 |
| 17 | 17 | "My Magic Colors" | 17 December 2015 |
| 18 | 18 | "My Pet Dinosaur: Ptyrodactyl" | 29 December 2015 |
| 19 | 19 | "Learn to Count with Animals" | 13 January 2016 |
| 20 | 20 | "My Pet Elephant" | 17 January 2016 |
| 21 | 21 | "My Red Bulldozer" | 22 January 2016 |
| 22 | 22 | "My Magic Numbers" | 23 January 2016 |
| 23 | 23 | "My Red Boat" | 30 January 2016 |
| 24 | 24 | "My Red Helicopter" | 1 February 2016 |
| 25 | 25 | "My Red Airplane" | 4 March 2016 |
| 26 | 26 | "Morphle's Mailbox" | 19 April 2016 |
| 27 | 27 | "My Pet Dinosaur: Triceratops" | 29 March 2016 |
References
edit- ^ https://www.animationmagazine.net/2022/08/guru-kicks-off-new-cg-series-based-on-my-magic-pet-morphle-for-moonbug/
- ^ Weiss, Geoff (12 February 2019). "Kids' Content Upstart Moonbug Acquires 2 More YouTube Heavyweights". www.tubefilter.com. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
- ^ a b "CASE STUDY: How 'My Magic Pet Morphle' Became One Of Youtube's Biggest Kids' Shows". Cartoon Brew. 2020-05-15. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
- ^ "Morphle - TV Review". www.commonsensemedia.org. 2021-01-29. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
- ^ "Moonbug Entertainment Expands UK Programming with Virgin Media". Animation World Network. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
- ^ "Preschool-Aimed YouTube Goliath 'Morphle' Inks Global Toy Licensing Deal". Tubefilter. 2020-02-19. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
- ^ Aquino, Steven. "How Children's Media Network Moonbug Delivers Developmentally Appropriate, Accessible Content To All Children, All Over The World". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
- ^ "Jingle Bells.. — Morphle TV". YouTube. 18 December 2011.
- ^ "ABC songs for children... — Morphle TV". YouTube. 13 January 2012.
- ^ "Baa Baa Black Sheep - Nursery Rhyme songs for children". youtube.com. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ^ "Moonbug acquires three digital properties". Retrieved 2021-03-03.
- ^ "'My Magic Pet Morphle' Stitches Kids Apparel Line". licenseglobal.com. 2021-02-02. Retrieved 2021-03-03.