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''Tugs'' (Stylized ''TUGS'') is a British children's television series first broadcast in 1988. It was created by the producers of ''Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'', Robert D. Cardona and David Mitton. The series dealt with the adventures of two anthropomorphized tugboat fleets, the Star Fleet and the Z-Stacks, who compete against each other in the fictional Bigg City Port. The series was set in the Roaring Twenties, and was produced by Tugs Ltd., for TVS and Clearwater Features Ltd.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=TUGS airdates )〕 Music was composed by Junior Campbell and Mike O'Donnell,〔 who also wrote the music for ''Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends''.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Who Drove Thomas To Success? )〕 Due to the bankruptcy of production company TVS, the series did not continue production past 13 episodes. Following the initial airing of the series throughout 1989, television rights were sold to an unknown party, while all models and sets from the series sold to Britt Allcroft. Modified set props and tugboat models were used in ''Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends'' from 1991 onwards, with footage from the original program being heavily dubbed and edited for use in American children's series ''Salty's Lighthouse''. Mitton returned to working with ''Thomas & Friends'' in 1991, while Cardona would go on to direct ''Theodore Tugboat'', a similarly natured animated series set in Canada.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Theodore Tugboat - Nighttime Adventures )〕 All thirteen episodes of the show were released on VHS between 1988 and 1993. ==Format and production== The series consists of thirteen fifteen-minute episodes (though four exist as twenty-minute episodes on the ''Tugs'' videos), each told by the show's narrator, Captain Star (voiced by Patrick Allen). Filming and production of the series took place throughout 1987–1988, in West London's Shepperton Studios.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Toonhound - Tugs )〕 The series was animated using live-action models, which were seen as the most realistic method of portraying real tugboats.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Behind the Scenes )〕 The set featured the Clearwater Periscope lens system, a type of professional video camera used to film at the models' eye level.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.sodor-island.net/behindthescenes.html )〕 Each model was mounted on a wheeled chassis, which were then pulled through the water using transparent string. Remote control devices were initially tested in operating the machines, but the tugboats became too heavy and unable to move through the water. Remote controls were instead used to power other devices, such as the moving eye features of the models and some cranes.〔 Throughout the series, the two fleets primarily contest contracts to dock and tow larger sailing vessels and objects, including ocean liners,〔 tramp steamers and schooners. Various other contractual obligations were also completed by the two fleets, including transportation of stone,〔 munitions and logging fell. The series was considerably darker in tone than many other children's television programmes, with further plots involving crime, violence, and sabotage. The characters' dialogue, too, was somewhat mature for a children's series, featuring slang and terminology not normally directed at children. Characters would often insult each other, as well as use historical and maritime terms. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tugs (TV series)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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