PocKit Robot - A Nature Adventure

We believe it's vital that, from the moment they start to learn anything at all, our kids learn a love and respect for the natural world. Our planet really is quite amazing – and if all of our children learned to appreciate its unique wonder, then maybe in the future they might stand up and say something when they see it being, well, disrespected.

Would we appreciate the Earth more if we were looking from the outside in?

In between commissions, we've spent the last few years working on the concepts for what has become our passion project – a pre-school and primary kids TV show about a pair of robots (Poc and Kit) who have been exploring the cosmos, searching for life – for a very, very long time. Not a lot to report (yawn). But now they’ve come across the Earth and it has blown their inter-galactic robot minds!

The intention of every episode is to showcase a different aspect of nature through the naïve eyes of our alien visitors, to shine a fresh light on some of the things that we adults take for granted, like a tree, a stream and a dandelion; but also subtly show how working with nature rather than against her could be one of the many keys to rolling back, or at least handling the effects of, climate change. 

But it won't feel like learning. Kit's beautiful factbursts give key information about the wonders they encounter. The themes of ecology and regeneration are fed in organically throughout their madcap adventures and crazy capers, although quite a lot of the time it's just plain funny for the sake of it. This is a no doom & gloom zone!

What have we done so far?

Well, it takes a long time to work out all the tiny details of show like this. We've developed the way the characters will look as well as created their personalities, how they talk, move and interact with each other. We have shown our final character design to many children of our target age group and they have 100% loved it and declared it cute and funny!

We have also been working out what each episode will be about and how the subjects will develop over a few series.

The Blackdown Hills

We have made contact with a few local organic, regenerative farmers here in the Blackdown Hills AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), who have been really enthusiastic about the project and are happy for us to film on their land, as well as share their expertise with us. 

They have also been kind enough help us make contact with other wildlife and subject matter experts whose help will be invaluable as we continue to plan and write future episodes. Our Pilot features locations on Dennings Down Farm and The Cotley Estate.

So we have now created our final characters, finished most of the location filming, written the script and reached the point where we can really get stuck into production and create our first episode.

More on the concept

When we were kids, we were taught that nature didn't know what it was doing. That straight edges and getting rid of weeds (or wildflowers...) was best practice. What a load of manure! 

Our series will celebrate nature in its magnificent wild glory: from the tiniest moss to the tallest trees and widest wildflower meadows – as well as show them working together to maintain or even regenerate their (our) environment. 

We, Scott & Mei Mei Cooper, aka hyper-mouse, are using our own best skills: animation, script writing and film production; to reach the best and most receptive minds: our kids. We want to show them what nature looks like when we work with, rather than against it, so  hopefully they come to understand, respect and love it, like we do – and maybe their grown-ups might learn to love it more too.

The characters

PocKit Robot have been exploring the cosmos, searching for life – for a very, very long time. Not a lot to report 🤖 🥱 🙄 🤖 But now they’ve come across the Earth and it has blown their inter-galactic robot minds! 🤖 🤯 🤩 🥳 🤖 And that’s just the Somerset fields and ancient forest they chanced to touch down in! There is a lot to discover. They could be here a very, very long time...

Poc and Kit are PocKit – two separate beings in one robot body. Poc is like a 3 year old – naive, accident prone, excitable, with limited language (magic sparkle bright magicool!!) and very funny, in a slapstick kind of way. Kit is like a big sister to Poc. She is full of alien personality and has access to Earth's databases, so is more informed, but still bursting with delight for the new things they are discovering.

They are befriended by Kasey, a 5 year old boy whose windowsill they happened to touch down on. Travelling in Kasey's pocket, the three of them head off on adventures together. In each episode PocKit somehow get separated from Kasey and discover an element of the natural world during their adventures before they get back to him.

Their naivety, curiosity and distinct personalities help us explore and reassess everyday aspects of the countryside; like streams, ancient trees and the much-maligned dandelion (amongst many other wildflowers and natural ecosystems), in a light-hearted, crazy-caper kind of way.

But perhaps the real star of the show is the natural world, as Poc and Kit greet moss, dandelions, trees, streams and the sun – as well as Kasey – as new (and old) friends.

The Pilot episode: The Stream

In the first of several potential episodes about water, PocKit's human friend heads towards a stream, when PocKit fall out of his pocket as they try to get a better look. They are dazzled by the stream's beauty and marvel (ahem, dance with joy!) at how glorious and full of life it is, but are accidentally caught in its flow.

Augmented by Kit's beautiful factburst graphics (in our robot's torso) they assess their situation and discover more and more about the stream and its place in the ecosystem. 

Unaware they have been separated, their human friend continues on his way and eventually sloshes through the part of the stream PocKit have ended up in and, through a hilarious accident of course, they land back in Kasey's pocket and are reunited. 

Bends in the river and its boggy banks, have slowed them down and saved them from peril, as well as given them lots of interesting discoveries to beam back to base at the end of the day. The end! 

Other planned episodes include: Moss, Hedgerow, Tree, Leaves & Soil, Rain, Fungi, Dandelions, Wildflower Meadows, perhaps even Biodiversity in Urban Rewilding Patches and more! Each episode will be 7 minutes long.