Nanalan'


Nanalan' is a Canadian children's television series created by Jamie Shannon and Jason Hopley. It began in 1999 as a series of three-minute shorts and later ran for a season of full-length episodes spanning 21 minutes each. It chronicles the small-scale adventures and discoveries of a three-year-old puppet girl named Mona in her grandmother Nana Bea's backyard. The title is a contraction of the phrase "Nana Land," referring to the setting.
Hopley and Shannon, who continued to work with Nickelodeon afterwards on their creation Mr. Meaty, produced the series through their puppetry troupe The Grogs in association with Lenz Entertainment. The show uses a blend of hand puppetry and the manipulation of cardboard cutouts, particularly in the opening theme. While the shorts do not follow a structure, the half-hour episodes follow a loose format that includes at least one song and reading an original story to the viewers.
The show received three nominations at the 2004 Gemini Awards and was fairly well-received by Canadian and U.S. press, with some critics calling attention to the show's surreal presentation and genuine approach to its concept. It was short-lived, as Nickelodeon did not pick up a second season. In 2004, select episodes were released across several DVDs in the United States. In 2015, the series went viral with a resurgence in popularity on websites such as Tumblr and YouTube for its bizarre nature.

Plot

The show focuses on Mona, a three-year-old girl with a big imagination and a tendency to repeat short words or phrases while also pronouncing them incorrectly. Each episode begins with Mona's mother dropping her daughter off at Nana's house and ends with her picking Mona up. Mona, Nana, and Nana's pet dog Russell spend the day exploring, learning, and visiting Nana's next-door neighbour Mr. Wooka.

Characters

The series was filmed in a building "reputed to be an old munitions factory" in the television production district of Liberty Village in Toronto, Ontario. The shorts were produced in 1999 and first aired on Nickelodeon's sister channel Noggin. They later appeared on Nickelodeon as part of the Nick Jr. block and on Canada's CBC Television, which eventually became a broadcaster of the full-length episodes. Reruns of the shorts continued to air until late 2003, when the first full-length season was produced. CBC debuted the full-length episodes in January 2004, followed by their U.S. debut on Nickelodeon in summer of the same year.
Jason Hopley and Jamie Shannon continued to build a relationship with Nickelodeon during and after Nanalan, appearing on the fellow Nick Jr. series Whoopi's Littleburg in 2004 and creating a teen-oriented sitcom for the network titled Mr. Meaty in 2005.

DVD releases

In 2004, Nickelodeon released a set of six DVDs including selections of the three-minute shorts. The discs were mainly sold in the United States. All six DVDs featured a longer logotype; rather than simply Nanalan, the DVDs billed the show as Welcome to Nanalan: As Seen on Nickelodeon. The full-length seasons were not released to DVD.

Full-Length Show Episodes

During its short run, the series received mostly positive attention from media critics, some of which felt that the show's bizarre and unconventional nature made it more appealing and watchable by viewers of all ages. Toronto Star said that "the series' surprising sweetness, simplicity and humour strike a universal chord with both adults and kids." Writers for the Windsor Star enjoyed its surreal approach to depicting early childhood, saying that "the creators have captured the essence of what it is to be three." A review from the Canadian newspaper Broadcast Week said that "it made me laugh out loud, even though I'm out of the target audience by more than a couple of decades."

Awards and nominations

In 2004, the series was nominated for the following three Gemini Awards: Best Performance in a Pre-School Program or Series; Best Writing in a Children's or Youth Program or Series; and Best Pre-School Program or Series. Nanalan won Best Writing and Best Performance, and the award was shared by all of the puppeteers.