The excitement is very evident in their voice as KidsCo MD Paul Robinson and Creative Media Partners, Creative Director, Raja Masilamani talk about the latest expedition that KidsCo is setting on. And on this expedition, the leading Kids channel is taking legendary explorer ‘Sinbad‘ into space.
Sinbad in Space is 26 episodes x 11 minutes an HD show and KidsCo‘s first long form production shares KidsCo MD Paul Robinson, ‘We are reviving a classic and legendary character.‘ The show is slated to go on air in Fall 2012 and is created along with pre production by Creative Media Partners a London based agency and the animation will be produced by Chennai based Image Venture from India.
Creative Media Partners Créative Director Raja Masilamani adds, ‘On several levels this show truly integrates the Pan Asian identity, using legend mythology that resonates in different forms all across Asia. And interestingly it all comes together and happens in the future in the year 2940. So the futuristic sets and environments will fuse with mythology and legend of lore starring a very handsome 13 year old Sinbad with pan asian looks, heroism and an explorer‘s spirit that is already part of lore.”
Raja further adds that, “The culmination of my research in Indian mythology was to hypothesise that Vishnu who to date has achieved 9 reincarnations could have a 10th in the embodiment of Sinbad. Hinduism is not about causing harm or damage but the use of teaching to solve problems and this is the basis of Sinbad. The show will be fun, funny and full of adventure but without fighting or violence.”
“Sinbad is an historic and evergreen character that was captured in movies over 50 years ago. Then he voyaged to other parts of the world in a ship, across the seas, and that was the means by which humans were able to discover new worlds. Modern technology enable Sinbad to paint on a bigger canvas-in this new re-imagining Sinbad travels in space to far distant galaxies saving them from ecological disasters”, he shares.
Raja informs that Sinbad the boy lead character was evolved from the synthesis and then de-construction of a European, Middle Eastern, Indian, Oriental and SE Asian boy to emerge a universal character with ubiquitous appeal. This process is in kilter with the KidsCo brand-a global unification of diversity from across the world.
Talking about KidsCo strategy and the new series, Paul Robinson informed, “KidsCo‘s strategy for the next 24 months is to continue to deepen our distribution throughout international markets. As part of fulfilling that strategy KidsCo has to demonstrate a commitment to content to make the channel even more compelling for existing platforms and those yet to include KidsCo in their line up-and that‘s about not only classic characters but also first run and exclusive content including original production. Boo and Me our first original production, now at two series has exceeded our expectations in terms of its ratings, marketing collateral and approbation by children. Sinbad is a natural extension of that strategy which is to share KidsCo expertise with Creative Media Partners and an Asian production company. In the case of Boo and Me that was Inspidea, -for Sinbad it is Image Venture whom we have worked with creating on air KidsCo IDs and acquired Bommi and Friends which has also been a ratings success”.
“We are confident that Sinbad in Space will become loved by our global audiences and will be a significant enhancement to our programming as we build out our distribution”, Paul concluded.