Wapos Bay airing final series on APTN

At a press event on May 11 for Wapos Bay, producers Anand Ramayya and Dennis Jackson publicly announced that the award winning animation series is coming to an end after its fifth and final season this year.

“It’s been a long journey for us,” said Ramayya of their start in 2003 with a pilot episode and the eventual development to a series that began airing in 2005.

“In the last five years we’ve done over $11 million dollars of production in Saskatoon. And we’ve employed over 50 people every single year. We’re really proud and happy for what we’re doing,” he added.

The series is based on a short story written by Jackson about his childhood experiences in the Cree community of Sandy Bay, Saskatchewan, which he adapted into a short film in his final year of studies at the University of Regina for Telefilm Canada. It focuses on 10-year-old T-Bear, nine-year-old Talon, and six-year-old Raven, who live in a remote Cree community and learn valuable lessons in their daily interactions.

Wapos Bay will show its final season this Fall on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network’s (APTN) ‘Movie of the Week’. It closes off with an hour and a half long episode called ‘Long Goodbyes’ in which the main characters Talon and Raven find out they’re moving to the city from Wapos Bay after their dad lands a job in the city.

Through its five years of airing on APTN, Wapos Bay has not only helped preserve Native language and culture, but it also offers children and family entertainment.

“Every year we have other new staff or new characters coming to do voices,” Jackson said in an interview with Sage. “Very talented people who specialize in certain skills.”

The stop-motion animation production uses puppets and digital cameras along with a computer program to give the “still” pictures motion. Five separate departments –Assistant Directors, the Art Department, Camera/Grip, Animators, and Post Production – bring the final product together.

Actor Gordon Tootoosis and Raven Brass were at the press event as two actors who come into the studio regularly to provide dialogue for the characters of Moshum and Raven. The series airs in four languages: English, Cree, French and Inuktitut.

“We have to hire Cree actors to do the roles that some of the English actors can’t do,” said Jackson, and added Tootoosis does both the Cree and English dialogue for his own character.
Tootoosis himself sees the series having a unique purpose.

“It brings out the closeness, the family unit,” he said in a Sage interview. “Kinship in an Indian community. The Elders, the adults and the children together. And I think that’s very educational,” he added.
Like the producers, Tootoosis is sad to see Wapos Bay come to an end.

“It’s always sad to have to wrap a series. … I was a big part of it from the beginning, every year for five years, and it’s really sad to see it go,” he said.
However, he added, he has been especially happy to be able to do the work right in Saskatchewan.
“I do animation in Los Angeles as well, in Toronto and in all places. But this one is right here, it’s a home grown thing and I’m really proud of that,” he said.
Tootoosis’ past experience in animation is voicing characters for Walt Disney’s version of ‘Pocahontas’, ‘Open Season’ and a recent series from Scotland called ‘Shoebox Zoo’.

Raven Brass – as the voice of young Raven – said the experience has been good for her and sometimes exciting.

“To be able to get into a studio and working with people was really fun,” she said.

How she came to play the character was very simple, she tagged along with her father for his audition.

“My dad got asked to audition for a part in Wapos Bay. I think it was for Ron McLean, the hockey announcer. He saw that it needed a girl for the role of ‘Raven’ so he took me to the audition. I auditioned for it and I got the part.” Brass has been doing the dialogue for the role since production began.

Wapos Bay, season five is expected to air starting in Fall 2010 and will feature some new characters voiced by Andrea Menard, Lorne Cardinal and David Suzuki. A special episode in season five will have Suzuki as an environmental warrior in a future apocalyptic world.
As its initial creator, Jackson is still hanging on to the hope that Wapos Bay can survive despite APTN’s decision to discontinue the show. For now, he said, producers have another stop motion animation series in development with APTN called Guardians, which is a science fiction adventure.

Earning three Gemini Awards, Wapos Bay is a nominee for three categories of the Golden Sheaf Award, the awards gala takes place in Yorkton on May 29.