Jungle Junction

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

"Gotta zip, gotta zip, gotta spin our wheels / Because you know how great it feels / Gotta zip (gotta gotta gotta) gotta spin our wheels!"

Jungle Junction is a UK-produced CGI animated children's show that begain airing in the United States and parts of Europe in 2009. It features anthropomorphic animals "with wheels instead of feet" who cruise around a hidden jungle with its own town square and highway system. Like other shows on the Disney Channel's weekday morning Playhouse Disney (now Disney Junior) segment, it is aimed at younger viewers and includes portions in which the characters ask the viewing audience to help them solve a simple problem. An example would be, "which road takes me to the waterfall? ... The one marked by a sign with a picture of a waterfall on it? Yes, of course!"

As should probably be expected, there is no elaborate storyline to this show, and a new viewer does not need to know anything about the characters or setting beyond what is explained in the theme song. The animal-cars simply spend each episode cruising through the jungle, discovering new things and solving random problems they encounter along the way. In one episode, they find a special tree with a tap on it that produces bouncy balls, then forget to turn the tap off in their excitement, and must fight their way back up the now ball-covered road to fix their mistake. Sometimes these episodes include an Aesop — in this case, a statement on conservation, as the bouncy ball tree wilts from overuse — but more often than not, they just highlight the importance of friendship and working together.

The characters who are most frequently seen include:

  • Zooter, a two-wheeled sow who works as a messenger.
  • Ellyvan, an elephant-van hybrid who delivers goods and is Zooter's best friend.
  • Bungo, who is... um... an animal with a striped tail of some kind (The show calls him a "bunny", though). Anyway, he makes all of the jungle's road signs.
Tropes used in Jungle Junction include:
  • All CGI Cartoon
  • Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: The koala is orange instead of the usual grey. Also, Ellyvan is blue, Hippobus is yellow, the rhino is purple.
  • Cartoon Creature: Bungo the "bunny"
  • Ear Worm: The "Gotta Zip" song.
  • Forgotten Birthday: The rest of the animals in the jungle pull this trick on Zooter.
  • Funny Animal: Really funny animals in this case, by virtue of their biology. Regardless, they all have jobs, talk and act like people.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: "Good news, everyone! I've successfully cross-bred an elephant with my old van! Unfortunately, it ate Fry and is speaking in his voice now."
    • As you know, for reasons of security, my name is changed daily. Today you may call me: *sigh* "Bungo".
  • Lost World: The theme song describes the setting as, "deep inside the jungle, far from anywhere... a place that no one knows."
  • Misplaced Wildlife: Boars may be native to jungles, but pink pigs like Zooter certainly aren't. The cast of characters also features a crab, which is generally an aquatic creature, and a koala, which is a species that doesn't share territory with rhinos or elephants.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: An abnormal example of this trope, in that there is no mixing of two different animals, just animals mixed with machinery.
    • And, then there's Bungo. He's supposed to be some sort of rabbit, but, what rabbit has a long striped tail?
  • Name's the Same: Crocker, who happens to be a friendly talking crocodile rather than a Sadist Teacher obsessed with fairies FAIRY GODPARENTS!!!
  • Never Smile At a Crocodile: Averted with Crocker.
  • Once Per Episode: More like once a short but the "Gotta Zip" song.
  • Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Averted with Crocker.
  • Typical Cartoon Animal Colors: Crocker is a green crocodile, Zooter is a pink pig, Toadhog is a green toad, and Taxicrab the crab is red.