A Look at the Props from the THEODORE TUGBOAT TV Series!
For anyone who grew up in the late 90's and early 2000's the name Theodore Tugboat should ring a bell (or whistle in this case). The Canadian children's television series based in Halifax Harbour was an amazing feat of live action television, spanning 130 15-minute episodes narrated by Haligonian and lead of the Mammas & Pappas, Denny Doherty. The series was a massive success, airing all around the world.
One amazing feature of this series was the use of radio controlled model boats, which featured anthropomorphic features such as moving eyes and interchangeable faces, and the best part is you can see all these models on display! I had the amazing opportunity to visit the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, where you can find 15 of the original models from the television series as well as the original set on display!
I'd like to start by saying the display is HUGE, these photos do no justice, from a rough view, I'd say Theodore alone is roughly 65 cm (25.59 inches), and the Kingston Container Ship model looked to be around 130 cm (52 inches) long! These are some big boats!
The museum also has done something very unique by creating a new character for the display. In 2016 the museum added a custom model of the S.S. Acadia to the display, for the ships 100th anniversary. Funny enough you can find the real S.S. Acadia outside the museum in the same spot in the display, talk about accuracy!
One amazing feature of this series was the use of radio controlled model boats, which featured anthropomorphic features such as moving eyes and interchangeable faces, and the best part is you can see all these models on display! I had the amazing opportunity to visit the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, where you can find 15 of the original models from the television series as well as the original set on display!
I'd like to start by saying the display is HUGE, these photos do no justice, from a rough view, I'd say Theodore alone is roughly 65 cm (25.59 inches), and the Kingston Container Ship model looked to be around 130 cm (52 inches) long! These are some big boats!
Another really cool feature of the display is the original set used for filming is present too! The 3-D buildings look great here, even better than they looked on screen, the small details on them is fantastic, and each has an inspired design to a real building in Halifax. Also cool to note is a model of the museum itself appears in the display, which sits along side Citadel Hill which features the character "Chimey" (a anthropomorphic version of the Halifax Town Clock).
Credit to twitter account @NS_Museum for the image on the left
As well as the main Tugboat fleet, you can also see models of other characters from the show, as can be seen here, some of the characters include, Carla the Cabin Cruiser, Barington Barge, Fillmore the Ferry Twin, Dorthy Dory, Guysborogh the Garbage Barge, and Pearl the Pilot ship.
There have also been rumors that the museum also owns more models from the series in their storage, although this has not been confirmed, Pugwash the Submarine, The Queen Ocean Liner, and the Bluenose.
Although not all the characters from the show are present, I'm happy this display exists, a lot of children's television props are usually packed away in storage and never seen by the public again, but I'm happy that for Theodore, his legacy lives on thanks to this display and the life-sized model owned by the Murphy's.
Well I hope you enjoyed this look at the Theodore display, and thanks for visiting us here in the big harbour, we'll see you all again next time!
You can find more information about the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic here:
Website: https://maritimemuseum.novascotia.ca
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ns_mma
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