Rainbow Fish is a German-Canadian-American animated television series, produced in 1999, designed particularly for pre-school children. It was adapted from the book of the same name; however, the television series does not follow the plot of the book itself; rather it takes the character and the setting and creates an entirely new story with them. Some characters were added and others removed for the purposes of the show. In the series, the place where the fish live is called "Neptune Bay" (after Neptune, the god of the sea). The fish (mostly) attend the "School of Fish". There is a shipwreck called "Shipwreck Park" in the series that resembles the wreck of the RMS Titanic. It was produced by Decode Entertainment, EM.TV and distributed by Sony Wonder.
Characters and Voice Cast
Rainbow Fish (also known as "Rainbow") (voiced by Rhys Huber) is a robust and feisty 9-year-old male fish with shiny scales who is the main character. He lives with his parents (Sol and Aqua) and 12-year-old sister ("Ruby") in a cave near Shipwreck Park.
Sea Filly the Seahorse-Mermaid Hybrid (voiced by Chantal Strand) is a friendly 9-year-old girl in the school of fish. She is one of Rainbow's friends, who is often seen reading books. She eventually becomes firm friends with both Rainbow Fish and Blue. She has orange hair and extremely good eyesight.
Blue (voiced by Andrew Francis) is Rainbow Fish's best friend, who is more down-to-Earth and thoughtful than Rainbow Fish. He is a 9-year-old bluefish and has a baby sister named Turquoise. Blue is based on the small blue fish from the Rainbow Fish book series by Marcus Pfister.
Ruby (voiced by Chiara Zanni) is Rainbow Fish's ruby-coloured and bossy 12-year-old sister. She is arrogant and self-centered. Although Ruby still means well, she regularly gets Rainbow Fish into trouble, only because she occasionally gets jealous, although she actually loves him, just like Aqua and Sol.
Aqua (voiced by Ellen Kennedy) is an aqua-coloured fish and is Rainbow's mother, while Sol (voiced by John Payne) is purple and is Rainbow's father. They help their daughter and son whatever way they can and will always provide them with great courage.
Principal Gefilte (voiced by French Tickner) is the only proud Principal of the School of Fish who is very strict about behavior. He sometimes stands in for Mrs Chips, especially when times are on the tough side.
Mrs Chips (voiced by Ellen Kennedy) is the only teacher in the school of fish who teaches art, history, mathematics, science, and literature.
Wanda the Octopus (voiced by Kathleen Barr) is the only owner of Neptune Bay's fast food restaurant who is very wise. When Rainbow Fish and his friends are feeling down, she will always give them some good advice. She has eight legs, just like an ordinary octopus and is based on the Wise Octopus from the original book.
Chomper the Shark (voiced by Christopher Gray) and Stingo the Stingray (voiced by Bill Switzer) are two bullies in the school of fish. While they do not really commit acts of physical violence, they can still bully and tease Rainbow Fish and his friends from time to time.
Sherman Shrimp (voiced by Alex Doduk) is the smallest student in the school of fish; to him, everything looks big.
Sir Sword the Swordfish (voiced by Colin Murdock) is an upper-class swordfish, and a bit of a busybody. He is sometimes grumpy, and sometimes civil, but he always seems to think he is better than everyone else in Neptune Bay.
Episodes
Broadcast
The broadcasters are Rai 3 in Italy, on TVE2 and Cartoon Network in Spain, on ARD in Germany, on MTV3 in Finland, on HBO Family in the United States, on Tiny Pop in the United Kingdom, and on Disney Channel in Australia.