A SIMPLE bunker, set in the studio backlots of Movie World, is home to the most ambitious animation project in Australian television history.

Inside, the staff of Animalia Productions oversee the creation of the magical new world that is Animalia, a $20 million children's television series which brings to life the characters of the multimillion-selling picture book penned and illustrated by Melbourne-based Brit Graeme Base.

Just a short walk away, at Photon VFX, some 140-plus animators have completed the best part of a 40-part series which launches this week in Australia, Britain and the US. It has been sold to foreign-speaking nations, including the Middle East.

About eight episodes remain outstanding. When the last episode is in the can, they'll have completed the equivalent of eight feature-length movies in the time it takes to make a single big-screen film.

Some have already packed their things and moved on to new jobs, among them a couple of Gold Coast university students who worked as trainees on the project.

They can pretty much pick their next job, being in the enviable position of having worked in techniques and with technology that not even some of the best and biggest names in the business have mastered.

But back to that bunker. It's ordinary, in a 1980s prefab sort of way. A long sort of building, it's been home to a roster of productions -- one of the first was the long-gone soapie Pacific Drive.

The concrete paths are scuffed. The garden's feature is a spiky palm. There is no big entrance -- just a rather ordinary-looking door; nothing to indicate the wonderland just inside. Step through that door and it's a bit like stepping into the pages of Base's popular children's book, Animalia, on which the production is based.

Stage right: Three-dimensional character models of the animals and human characters of Animalia stand to attention. They have been photographed from every conceivable angle as part of the high-tech process which allows the show's makers to animate the program.

Stage left: Careful. Mind the wall. It's papered floor to ceiling with colourful concept art portraying an A to Z of characters from alligators to zebras in zeppelins. For the record, the alligator goes by the name Allegra in the TV show. All the animal residents of the magical world that is Animalia have alliterative names.

Allegra carries herself with the confidence of a pre-teen girl and even boasts a little puppy -- make that 'gator -- fat. She favours plaid miniskirts and white shirts tied in natty knot to expose her midriff.

She looks just a little like Britney Spears, if truth be told. Animalia director David Scott concedes that may be true.

"This project has been some time in the making," he says.

"When were developing these characters, Britney was still the very epitome of cool. Sadly, the Britney you see today makes our Allegra look cool. It's one of life's sad ironies."

But back to that wall. There are many characters to learn the names of.

There's Livingstone Lion, caretaker of Animalia's magical library, and his assistant, Reenie Rhino.

"Reenie was something of a challenge," Scott admits.

"She came to us as a character description -- large creature who carries herself with delicate poise.

"That's a bit of an ask for any rhino, or at least it was until someone came up with the idea of making her keep her feet together.

"Walking is something of a balancing act for Reenie. She may be a bit on the chunky side, but she walks like a geisha girl."

And the zebras? They're striped, sporty equine types. Both wear flying goggles. They're the eyes in the sky for the Animalia news service -- anchored by a couple of mice and broadcast on to the wings of butterflies.

They arrive early in the TV series, unlike in the book, where they appear on the very last page under the letter Z. Making a show from the picture book meant the characters had to be unhinged from their letters, given stories, all completely new, says Base.

He first came up with the idea of developing the Animalia book into something else some 15 years ago.

The problem was, neither filmmakers nor producers could imagine a series created around the characters penned for the 26 letters of the alphabet.

Nor was anyone interested. In a world which chases foreign sales, an English alphabet book does not necessarily translate into other languages.

Lucky, says Base, since technology had to catch up to him.

"It was about the time internet and interactive were big buzz words. Big companies were throwing ridiculous amounts of money at something you may or may not remember called CD-roms. I thought then that I wanted to do something like that for Animalia.

"The technology wasn't ready for what I had created. I couldn't have fitted what I wanted to do on one CD, not two, not 10, not even 12," he says.

Nor, says Base, could the 'softness', 'the painterly feel' of the new TV series have been achieved even five years ago.

"I'm not an animator. The way I understand it though, is computers are good for creating crisp, hard things to perfection, but it's not the way I work. I've always been pencil and brush driven," he says.

But the technology has finally caught up.

How can the children's book author and illustrator bear to watch his work transformed into something else?

As long as the playfulness of the book and its message remain, Base is happy. Learning how to let go is crucial for any artist or author who wants to see his work on the small screen as part of a TV show.

"I'd fallen into that trap before working on the movie version of another one of my books, Sign of the Seahorse, which, believe it or not, was in development well before Finding Nemo.

"As the author, you're wrapped in the detail. In your head, you're up to page 14 and you wonder how you're getting to the next thing that happens to Finn and Pearl. The producers, meanwhile, are still wondering whether we're making a movie that has something, anything in fact, to do with fish," says Base.

"I went into Animalia with that lesson in mind, with the understanding there would have to be changes, that this was the TV show, not the book.

"I think the trick is to think you're creating something that's brand new. I think of Animalia, the book, as being like a lake. It's still. As a reader, I can paddle out if you like, stow the oars, enjoy the scenery, plumb the depths. The TV show is more like taking that same boat on a fast-flowing river. If you miss something, well, it's gone and you're on to the next thing. So yes, things have to change."

The TV show story opens with a couple of kids called Alex and Zoe visiting the local library and finding a portal which takes them into a new world.

The children have their first encounter with a roaring lion and flee in fear. In fact, Reenie has just stepped on Livingstone's tail as the pair wait as a welcome party.

If the kids are scared of the residents of Animalia, well, the latter are scared too. Most have never met a human before.

Add to that the fact their landing makes the news -- complete with identikit photos of Alex and Zoe and broadcasters warning residents to be careful how they approach the pair, since no one knows what they are or whether they have good intentions.

Not all are frightened. Allegra supposes there will be a reward for whoever captures the mysterious newcomers and asks her friends, a couple of hogs on bikes, to help.

The hogs are no more horrible than your average boy in his early teens. In fact, you have to give them credit for their bikes, real works of art with sound systems which boom out Wagner's operatic Flight of the Valkyries.

G'Bubu Gorilla befriends the newcomers. Their response to the fact he can talk is the funniest thing he's ever heard.

"We're human beings. Where we come, we do the talking. We're the most intelligent of all the animals," says uppity young Zoe.

Precocious as she is, G'bubu's flatmate, Iggy D'Iguana, a talkative young Don Juan-type, takes a shine to the young human who, sadly, is playing the superior card again when she meets the rest of the animals.

What to do with these humans, wonder the residents of Animalia? Kill them, capture them, cast them out? The last is not an option since the portal through which they arrived has now closed.

"There will be none of that," says Iggy placing himself firmly -- some might say bravely -- between the children and some clearly panicked beasties, most much larger than himself. What can I say? She makes me laugh. She is beautiful. I love her."

His accent is Castilian; his face apologetic. He shakes his head as if he cannot quite believe this himself.

For Base, watching the creatures he penned more than two decades ago come to life has been nothing short of a miracle.

"I didn't think I'd live to see it," he says.

Even he is surprised how some characters have been given life by the show's writers, animators and voice-over actors.

"I would not have considered a little iguana I penned to illustrate the letter i would become a leading man; nor that so much would be made of one of many green gorillas," he laughs.

Animalia is a massive production, boasting five executive producers -- Base is one of a team which includes Ewan Burnett, Bruce Johnson, Murray Pope and Tom Ruegger.

It employs about 300 Australians on the Gold Coast and in Melbourne and more in Los Angeles.

-Lisa Simmons

Animalia premieres on Sunday at midday on Ten and Ten GC.


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