Jerry and the Raiders is a Canadian computer-animated children’s television series created by Nancy Trites-Botkin and Mark Shekter, distributed by 9 Story Media Group, and produced by First Star Studios, with animation done by FAKE Digital Entertainment. The series made its debut on TVOKids in English, as well as Ici Radio-Canada Télé in French. It debuted in the United States on Qubo in October 2019.
The series focuses on a 7-year-old boy named Jerry, whose life spins comically out of control when his two galactic raider action figures, Bakko and Gant (known together as The Raiders), magically spring to life. The Raiders are hyper-curious about nearly everything around them, and thus treat every moment as one big adventure. This often leads to Jerry and his 4-year-old sister Nicole, into a series of household disasters, in which Jerry often cleans up after their mess in solving the everyday mysteries that The Raiders stumble upon.
The show is primarily aimed at children aged 4–8.
Description
To commemorate Jerry's 7th birthday, he is given a pair of boxed action figures, known as Galactic Raiders. Jerry, utterly disappointed with his gifts, opts to not open them, and decides to stash them up onto his head board where he would later have intended to put them into the give-away box. Later that night, a dripping sound was heard from down the hallway, and the Galactic Raiders, Bakko and Gant, magically spring to life and break free from their packaging. In attempting to discover the mystery of this sound, the Raiders using their gadgets to navigate Jerry's room, frantically make enough noise to wake him up. Early on, Jerry is convinced that he is dreaming when he sees his action figures come to life, but once Nicole discovers them, he is ultimately faced with the truth that his toys are special, and that neither his parents nor his friends can find out about them.
Every episode challenges Jerry with daunting children's tasks, from school assignments to chores, as well as one's everyday life activities, from taking care of an animal to playing safely. The Raiders' minds are boggled by these activities, and immediately treat them as some sort of great mystery, or often as a ferocious villain set to take over their neighborhood. Jerry, Nicole and the Raiders pull through each challenge and discover new and interesting things than happen around them, solidifying that things are not always as they appear to be, and simple everyday things always turn out amazing.
Unlike most animated series, which often feature static cameras to portray strong lines of action through characters, Jerry and the Raiders is known for its constant camera movements. Almost every shot contains subtle camera movements, such as trucking and tilting.