Watch with Father: The Pajanimals

I think they pretty much had us at 'Jim Henson'

Hannah has suggested that I review some of the programmes that we watch with Arya, in part as a means of exorcising the knee-jerk sarcasm which will otherwise taint her worldview for life.

Produced by the Jim Henson Company, PBS Kid Sprout and Belfast-based Sixteen South, The Pajanimals is a series about a family of four Muppet children; the Pajanimals. Each episode begins five minutes before bedtime; the Pajanimals play a game, then get ready for bed, in the course of which some complication arises. As a result, one or more of the four has trouble sleeping, asks for or is asked if they need help, at which the four convene on one bed and travel to a magical land to seek counsel and solace from a wise mentor figure. At the end of the episode they return to their own beds and their mother - who has apparently been watching the whole magical transport bit - sings them the Pajanimals' lullaby.

The show's original voices - those of adult pupeteers - are dubbed over by British child actors for the Nick Jr showings we mostly watch.

The four Pajanimals are:

• Sweetpea Sue - a horse, and possibly the oldest of the Pajanimals, taking a lead role in practical matters. She is the sensible one, but also prone to worry. When she is asking for help, it is usually due to her fear of unknown situations. The American Sweetpea Sue has a strong southern accent, but her British counterpart is slightly Northern. Her signature songs include the weirdly sinister 'Twirly Whirly' and getting ready for bed number 'Stick to the Plan'.
• Apollo - a dog, in the same year as Sweetpea at school (they both start in the Season 2 episode 'Off to My School Adventure',) Apollo is the most active and intelligent of the four, but has some serious anger management and competition issues, leading to his signature song: 'I'm Mad!'
• Cowbella - a cow. She is the girly one, loving all things pink and princessy, and her flaw is stubbornness and a bossy streak (her signature song is 'Cowbella Says').
• Squacky - a duck, and the youngest of the four. Squacky is the mad one, and a lot of his problems relate to feelings of isolation. He has a high degree of dependency on his blankie, which doubles as a cape for his super-hero costume. His signature song is 'The Pajama Freeze Dance'.

The four live with their mum and dad in a large house, and share a single bed-and-playroom with its own ensuite and walk-in closet. My assumption is that they are adopted, and probably came up through the foster system, based on both their personalities (they are insecurely attached to their parents, both highly competitive and protective of one another, and each has a pathological dependency on a totem; Squacky's blankie, Cowbella's unicorn, Apollo's nightlight and Sweetpea's daisy cushion. Squacky also habitually refers to their mum and dad as Mother and Father, instead of Mom and Dad) and on the fact that they belong to four different species and two classes (Squacky is clearly defined as a duck, not that this stops him displaying the same uniform row of teeth as the ruminant Cowbella and the carnivore Apollo after brushing; Sweetpea only ever has her two large, front teeth).

Each episode - with the exception of the last episode - follows the same pattern:

1. The Pajanimals play, which may include a song. some issue arises that will later cause problems, usually an incident provoking fear, anger or uncertainty in one Pajanimal, but sometimes a fight between two or more.
2. The Pajanimals get ready for bed, which again, may include a song.
3. One or more Pajanimals has trouble sleeping, help is requested or prompted for.
4. The Pajanimals assemble on one bed to 'bundle up, huddle up, snuggle up and go!', and the bed flies off. Sweetpea's bed changes into a hot air balloon when this happens, Apollo's into a rocket, Cowbella's a coach and Squacky's either a submarine or a plane.
5. The Pajanimals visit a magical land and seek advice from their friend there, who resolves the problem and sings a song, not necessarily in that order.
6. The Pajanimals return to their own beds and their mother sings 'La-la-lullaby' over the credits.

Now, this is all well and good, but I question the competence of some of the characters to offer advice. To take some examples:

• Jerry the Bear is as clingy and insecure as they come, always delighted to see the 'PJs' arrive and devastated to see them leave. He is more balanced in later episodes, in which he shares the Friendly Forest with Otis the Owl, but he still has way too much emotional investment to be an effective therapist.
• Bedtime Bunny is a narcoleptic rabbit from the Land of Hush who masquerades as a peace and wellness therapist specialising in meditation. It is doubtful whether anyone with so much trouble staying awake should be trusted with unsupervised childcare.
• Edwin is a delusional fantasist who uses his custodianship of Storybook Land to inhabit a range of guises; harmless enough as a king or a wizard, but worrying when he passes himself off as a dentist and works on Apollo's teeth!

For all of this, I have a great fondness for the Pajanimals. It's wonderfully paced to help settle a child for sleep, and in later years will have far more to say to her than her other bedtime favourite, In the Night Garden.