Threepenny Submarine is a nine episode puppet animation series of videos on Youtube inspired by the idea that most of us got at least some of our exposure to classical music as kids from Looney Tunes and other cartoons.  It’s produced by Opera 5 and Gazelle Automations and concerns an underwater journey by the submarine Threepenny Submarine investigating a mysterious sound coming from the equally mysterious Salieri Sector.  The sub is commanded by a cockatiel called Iona (voiced by Lindsay Lee and sung by Caitlin Wood) assisted by a fox called Lydian (voiced and sung by Rachel Krehm).  They befriend a “sea monster” called Flute, represented, appropriately enough, by Amelia Lyon on flute.  Various adventures take place punctuated by well known arias using new text by Rachel Krehm.  For example, the first episode features “Una voce poca fa” and “Dich, teure Halle” in arrangements for string quartet.  There are also classical instrumentals used as incidental music.  It’s all arranged by Trevor Wager and directed by Evan Mitchell.

Things change up a bit in episode 5 when the the much larger sub, Three Dollar Submarine, arrives intent on destroying the “sea monster”.  This introduces new characters.  There’s the useless and evil captain Wilbur Longnose, a weasel (voiced by Justin T. Lee and sung by Scott Rumble) and the chief engineer Ralph, a colossal boar, played by Clarence Frazer who turns out to be perhaps the most engaging character of all.  We also encounter a Translation Machine, sung by Adanya Dunn, which makes communications with the “sea monsters” possible.  The music changes up too, with arias mostly being replaced by duets, trios and quartets and slightly more, at times at least, challenging incidental music.

There’s another shift in the last two episodes where, instead of music from the operatic canon, it’s new music by Cecilia Livingston (episode 8) and Ryan Trew (final episode).  Longnose’s violent and unnecessary schemes are foiled and peace is restored but the sea creatures are unable to return to their original home which has been trashed by humans.  Traditional fairy tale endings don’t work so well on a burning planet.

There are a couple of didactic elements here but they are worn quite lightly.  There’s a message of non-violence and environmental stewardship and I, for one, am not going to diss that.  There’s also the musical element.  It starts with relative simple, and possibly familiar, music and gets rather more complex as the series progresses.  It’s not taken all that far.  Cecilia Livingston’s music doesn’t sound like Stockhausen!  But there’s just this little attempt to stretch people’s musical horizons which I think is great, especially as it is aimed at kids who haven’t been told what not to like yet!

It’s designed mainly for sub-teens with a view that parents might enjoy watching along too.  The music making is excellent and the technical values are high.  Gazelle Automations do a great job with the puppetry and the music making is top notch.  Local folk will have noticed that it features some of Toronto’s best young singers.

The whole thing is 96 minutes long including credit sequences so the nine episodes don’t challenge anyone’s attention span.  It’s going to be released for free viewing on November 1st on the Opera 5 channel on Youtube.  They have already uploaded a trailer and episode 1 so you can get a taste in advance.  It’s really rather cute!