Silver Spring’s Red Rock Films announced a partnership with the National Wildlife Federation to develop a new children’s series based on Ranger Rick, the NWF’s magazine and book character that teaches kids about conservation and the environment.
The two organizations will work with animation studio Bix Pix Entertainment, best known for the Amazon Prime series “Tumble Leaf” to bring the character to television for the first time.
Ranger Rick’s character first came to life in a 1959 NWF book titled “The Adventures of Rick Raccoon” in hopes of creating a future generation of conservationists.
The television series will be a “modern-day retelling of the series [that] aims to encourage children to explore their environment through the lens of one conservation issue per season, such as the monarch butterfly migration,” according to a press release.
In addition to Ranger Rick, other characters include (quoting from the release):
- Scarlett Fox, the smart, confident and social media savvy conservation enthusiast
- Boomer the Badger, the MacGyver-like innovator who can upcycle anything found from the trash bin or in nature itself, and
- Tunia the Monarch butterfly, whose determination and vision often launches the team into action. The first season focuses on an epic 3,000-mile adventure to help Tunia reach her ancestral family tree.
“For decades, Ranger Rick has inspired millions of children to explore, love and protect nature,” said Dawn Rodney, NWF’s chief innovation and growth officer. “Bringing this iconic character to life on TV will inspire an entire generation in a whole new way.”
Brenda Wooding, a children’s entertainment veteran, is the executive in charge of development and production for Red Rock; Shannon Malone-deBendictis is executive producer for the firm. Kelli Bixler, owner, founder and executive producer of Bix Pix, also is executive producing the series.
Red Rock’s recent projects include the three-time Emmy® Award-nominated special “Secrets of the Whales” on Disney+ (2021).
Graphic courtesy National Wildlife Federation