Tree Fu Tom

Tree Fu Tom
Format	Children's comedy television series
Developed by	CBeebies In House Production, FremantleMedia Enterprises
Written by	Daniel Bays, Douglas Wood, Ian Carney, Moya O'Shea, Allan Plenderleith, Corey Powell, Richard Preddy, John Loy, Sindy McKay
Directed by	Adam Shaw
Starring	Adam Henderson
Voices of	Sophie Aldred, David Tennant, Tim Whitnall, Samantha Dakin, Sharon D Clarke
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of episodes	26
Production
Producer(s)	Daniel Bays
Running time	22-25 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	CBeebies (UK) Knowledge Kids (Canada)
Original airing	5 March 2012

Tree Fu Tom is a largely CGI CBeebies children's television program which has been shown on BBC and CBeebies. It is set in a miniature magical countryside and village area (Treetopolis) on the top of a part of a trunk of a big tree in a British-type woodland, where the trunk turns horizontal and then vertical again. It has these characters, mostly anthropomorphized arthropods (which are not to size scale with each other as in reality). The programme is aimed at 4-6 year olds.

In it, some species of insects are raised and controlled like cattle on a ranch: aphids, ladybirds, a rhinoceros beetle.

Premise

In each episode, Tom (live-acted) comes out of his house's back door, puts on a power belt, and runs across his lawn into a woodland. In there is the tree with Treetopolis on, protected by a magic shield. Using the power belt he jumps up, shrinks to insect size as he flies into the tree, and enters the world of Treetopolis, where he has adventures. He is skilled in that world's magic, and often gets characters out of scrapes. The tree's sap is shown as a glowing orange magic liquid. Sometimes he has to call on "the big world" for magical help: he tells the audience to make particular magical moves and then say particular words to "send the magic to me". The magic is shown as orange stuff appearing from around the camera and flying at Tom, who collects it in his arms in a ball, and uses it for whatever he needs it for. The movements which the audience are called on to make, are particularly beneficial for the development of children with dyspraxia.

The scenario includes magical hoverboards (called "leafboards").

At the end he flies up, and out of the tree's magic field, reverts to full human boy size, lands, runs out of the wood and across his back lawn, jumping over a bicycle lying on the lawn, and in through his back door.

The series' two main voice actors each previously played major roles in Doctor Who; Sophie Aldred (who voices the animated Tom) as Seventh Doctor companion Ace and David Tennant (who voices Twigs) as the Tenth Doctor. The actor who plays Tom in the live action opening and closing sections of the show, Adam Henderson, is Sophie Aldred's son.

Purpose

The series was developed in conjunction with the Dyspraxia Foundation with the aim of promoting movement. Foundation specialists Sally Payne and Dr Lydia Foulder-Hughes worked with the series creators to develop the movements Tree Fu Tom uses to create magic. Five percent of children have dyspraxia, and these movements are similar to those used by occupational therapists to help child development. It is also hoped that the spells will help get exercise into the lives of young children.

Characters

voice actor	name	species	information
Sophie Aldred	Thomas Mendez (usually just Tom)	10-year-old boy	When seen in CGI, he can fly.
Adam Henderson (full actor)			When seen in live action, he cannot fly.
David Tennant	Twigs	acorn sprite	He can fly and fold himself up to look like an acorn when frightened.
Tim Whitnall	Zigzoo	green tree frog	The local inventor at Treetopolis.
Tim Whitnall	Squirmtum	pill woodlouse	A large workman type, not the most intelligent. He can curl into a ball and in that form he can roll fast. He wears a miner's helmet with a firefly called Flicker as his helmet light.
Tim Whitnall	Rickety McGlum	spider	An elderly resident of Treetopolis; he used to be thought of as scary, but is now a close friend to Tom and his friends; he is also a Squizzle expert and trainer.
Samantha Dakin	Ariela	female butterfly	She acts as a ranch hand. She can fly and does not ride on anything.
Sharon D Clarke	Treetog	The Tree Spirit	The plump friendly leader of Treetopolis. She also acts as the schoolteacher teaching the young sprites and Tom magic spells.
Sophie Aldred	Puffy	toadstool	The Mushas. Troublemakers. Brother and sister.
	Stink	toadstool
Tara Strong	Poppy	Pixie	She's friends with Petal and often makes fun of Twigs for going barefoot all the time.
Adyson Stoner	Petal	Pixie	She makes her own magic and makes fun of Twigs' bare feet.

Episodes

• Episode 1: May The Best Berry Win: the Biggest Chuckleberry In Treetopolis contest, meanwhile, the pixies turn Twigs into a laughingstock.
• Episode 2: Squizzle Quest: A game projectile goes astray
• Episode 3: Zigzoo The Zero: Zigzoo gets tired of inventions failing
• Episode 4: So Long Greenhorns: Tom and Twigs swap Spell School for running Ariela's ranch, and vice-versa. Meanwhile, the pixies try to lure Twigs and the rest of the sprites into traps built in the pixies' hometown, Pixitopia.
• Episode 5: Hide And Squeak: A game of hide and seek; Squirmtum's fear of the dark gets the better of him. Meanwhile, the pixies grow a plant that will tickle Twigs' feet as a trap.
• Episode 6: Wishful Thinking: The Mushas get hold of a magic pebble, meanwhile, the pixies bring disaster when they practice a new spell..
• Episode 7: Zigzoo's Robot: Zigzoo builds a robot that causes more problems than it solves.
• Episode 8: With Friends Like These: Some go off to play Squizzle when they are supposed to be helping Squirmtum. Stink and Puffy see a chance.
• Episode 9: Buzzworthy: Bees get into the ranch
• Episode 10: Winging It: Squirmtum tries to fly using a jetpack with wings
• Episode 11: Crystal Catastrophe: Treetog's casting crystal gets broken.
• Episode 12: Fungus Among Us: The Mushas trick Tom and Twigs into making a mess of Treetog's castle. Meanwhile, the pixies plan out another foot trap.
• Episode 13: The Big Ranch Rodeo: Trouble organizing a rodeo.
• Episode 14: One for All!: Tom leads his under-performing squizzle team on a quest to find the enchanted squizzle.
• Episode 15: Treefle Tom: Tom and his friends' greed for tasty treefle treats leads to trouble.
• Episode 16: The Great Journey
• Episode 17: Not So Fast
• Episode 18: Hovering Humblebugs
• Episode 19: Treasure Hunt
• Episode 20: Tom's Big Mess: It's the Annual Tidy Up and Tom's careless cleaning efforts lead to disaster.
• Episode 21: Sappy Day: Preparations for Sap Day are thrown into turmoil when the Mushas get up to mischief.
• Episode 22: Rickety Rescue: Tom and Twigs' friendship isn't the only thing threatened when Twigs gets a new pet. Meanwhile, the pixies adopt a wild toe-biter in hopes that it will chew Twigs' toes off.
• Episode 23: Grubble Trouble: When Tom and friends get into trouble it's up to Rickety to leap to the rescue!
• Episode 24: Weather Bother: Zigzoo invents a weather machine to create perfect conditions for each of his friends.
• Episode 25: Tiny Tom: Tom tackles titanic troubles as he is accidentally shrunk to the size of Twigs' toes! Meanwhile, the pixies hurt Twigs' feet with a toe-pincher.
• Episode 26: The Lost Stone: A calm, quiet pond creature accidentally absorbs Tom's sapstone. Meanwhile, Twigs and the rest of the sprites learn how to be tough against the pixies with simple punches and kicks.

External links

• Tree Fu Tom: the boy with magical powers comes to CBeebies
• Tree Fu Tom Episode list, images