Prototype | play set:Octonauts Octopod Playset

Fisher-Price Inc. developed the Octopod play set for the three-year-old and older set to coincide with the American debut of "The Octonauts," a popular British television series. The show developed from the illustrated books by Vicki Wong and Michael C. Murphy. "The Octonauts" began airing in the United States in January 2012 on the Disney Channel. The first season consisted of 52 episodes, each 11-minute long, featuring CGI animation of eight undersea adventurers. The three main characters include a polar bear and the captain of the crew called Barnacles, a cat named Kwaizii with a mysterious past that includes piracy, and a penguin called Peso who servies at the crew's medic. The remaining five characters fill in supporting roles. In each episode, the underwater explorers meet an unusual but real sea creature that has a problem or needs rescuing. The Octonauts save the day because they learn an essential fact of biology or behavior of the sea creature they encounter. The shows stand on the sound footing of seaworthy research suppllied by the same marine biologists who advised the making of "Finding Nemo." Parents and kids have responded well to the series; British producers are developing Season 2, and short books based on individual episodes from the TV series have been published.