At first glance, memories of the Friendly Giant are inevitable, what with the enchanting Tom Jackson interacting with his puppet friends in a mysterious setting filled with obscure tools and trinkets, but looking beyond, it becomes clear that Tales From the Longhouse is far from anything ever seen on Canadian tv.

A Catalyst Entertainment/TeleImages Creation (France) coproduction, Tales From the Longhouse is a 26-part, $6.5-million series that combines cgi, puppetry and live action, all at once.

‘It’s a world like you’ve never seen before – a natural world with unnatural elements,’ says Jim Corston, who is producing the series with Larry Mirkin.

The series, in fact, slides back and forth between two worlds: the longhouse – where the mysterious stranger Hector Longhouse (Jackson) tells stories of native folklore to three puppet characters – and the five natural environments – where the stories play themselves out and the remaining 10 puppet animals live. Joining Hector in the longhouse are a turkey puppet named Ticonderoga (Frank Meschuleit) and two bat puppets, Hummingbird (Karen Valleau) and Fly (Jim Rankin).

The transition between the two worlds is a wrinkle wipe, or what exec producer Kevin Gillis says is ‘a wrinkle in time.’

‘We wanted to make it as different looking as possible, especially when dealing with the depth in shots, so we created cg backgrounds with moving clouds, birds, changing horizons…textures that match the texture of the studio settings,’ says Corston.

Steeped in mystery, it is never clear who Hector is, where he comes from, why he tells the stories, the time and place in which the worlds exist, or the relation between the two worlds.

There is, however, a definite surreal or supernatural element suggested throughout each half-hour episode; for instance, some of the animated horizons show three moons and there are only two times of day, night or magic hour.

‘I’ve never directed anything like this before,’ says Wayne Moss (Fraggle Rock, Muppet Family Christmas), who is codirecting the series with Steve Wright (Elliot Moose, Zoboomafoo). ‘The big challenge is with the technology we’re using, being able to move performers within the shots without moving the shot.’

Because the cgi backgrounds won’t track with the cameras, there is minimal camera movement. And because almost every set is shot with the backgrounds added to the blue screen simultaneously, the three cameras are often fixed on three different backgrounds at the same time.

‘It will look like nothing else on tv, with 3D performers against a 2D background,’ says Gillis, who shares his role as exec producer with TeleImages’ Philippe Alessandri.

With a 20% interest in the coproduction (Catalyst holds 80%), TeleImages is handling post, sound, music and animation, which it has subcontracted to France’s ttk.

Targeted at kids aged six to nine, a slightly older demo than most puppet-oriented shows, the series serves as a portal to inform people about native culture. ‘All the characters come out of native mythology, but they deal with everyday life,’ says Jackson, who created the series after he left Shining Time Station. ‘There was an immediate void, as I was the only Indian character who was a positive role model for kids.’

The potential for merchandising, which would be handled by Catalyst affiliate The Britt Allcroft Group in the u.k., is great, especially in publishing, character play sets and web sites, says Gillis, ‘but it’s not what’s driving the show.’

Writers on the series include, Paul Dreskin (Fraggle Rock), Deborah Jarvis (Bit & Bob), Tom King, Drew Hayden Taylor (Ground Zero), Alan Templeton and Mary Crawford (Watership Down), Don Truckey (Net Worth) and Jordan Wheeler (North of 60).

The puppets were designed and constructed by Toronto’s Radical Sheep Productions.

Shooting began Feb. 7 and runs until May 19 at Studioasis in Toronto.

The series premiers in September on tvontario and aptn. cbc has a second window and will broadcast the series in January 2001.

Catalyst took a demo to mip-tv to showcase for further sales. While distribution is still being negotiated, Catalyst holds North American rights and TeleImages has distribution in France.