Canadian television series
Mighty Machines is a Canadian educational children's television series that teaches about machines and how they work and the jobs they do. The show premiered in October 1994 on Family Channel. The show aired 39 episodes over three seasons until 2008.
Format.
Each "Mighty Machines" episode focuses on a specific type of heavy equipment or work environment. Machines talk to viewers on screen to explain their jobs. Documentary footage of actual machines in action doing their day-to-day work is presented with voiceovers of the machines addressing the viewers. The children in the audience are invited to follow the machines during a typical day. They explain their abilities and their duties in detail over the course of the episode. Each machine is given its own personality and they often hold conversations with one another as they work. Unlike most documentary-style shows, there is no external narrator.
All of season 1 episodes were done in two formats for the airing: 22-minute full episodes and five-minute excerpts for use as filler.
Honours.
"Mighty Machines" was nominated for a Gemini Award in 1996 in the category of "Best Children's Program or Series".
Production.
"Mighty Machines" first aired as a production of Malofilm, the first season in 1994 — 1995, second in 2004, and third in 2008 (done by Loten Media, and distributed by Seville Pictures). Most of the episodes were filmed in Toronto, Ontario; Montreal, Quebec; Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Roanoke, Virginia, U.S.
Telecast and home media.
The show aired on Family Channel, TVOKids, Treehouse TV and other channels in Canada, including Access in Alberta, the Saskatchewan Communications Network in Saskatchewan, and Knowledge in British Columbia. It also aired on Discovery Kids in the United Kingdom in 2005, on the now-defunct Qubo in the United States until August 31, 2014, and a French-language version airs on TFO in Ontario and on channels in Quebec.
The episodes were put on direct-to-video tapes released by the Disney-owned Buena Vista Home Video in the U.S.
All of the first three seasons' episodes are available on VHS and DVD, individually or in box sets. There is also a 60-minute VHS featuring all of the five-minute episodes from season 1.
List of episodes.
Season 1 (1994 — 1995) – Malofilm / Seville Pictures.
The first six episodes of season 1 were written by Doug Atkinson and Fiona Zippan (Denzey) while the remaining episodes were written by Bryan A. Auld. Credited voice actors of season 1 are Loredana Cunti, Tim Brown, Jennifer Martin, Noah Segal, Joel Cohen, Greg Blanchard, Gord Rutherford, Claire Rothman, Arthur Holden, John Metcalfe, and Steve Murphy.
1. At The Airport
At Toronto Pearson International Airport, DC, a Canadian Airlines DC-10 jet, explains (and shows) his journey from the hangar to the terminal, before picking up passengers and taking to the sky. He also shows the viewers how he gets cleaned in the hangar. Many other aircraft are featured in the episode including a Canadian Airlines Boeing 737 (misnamed as an A320) who carries a talking suitcase named Sammy, a British Airways, Air Canada, and Lufthansa Boeing 747, an American Airlines Boeing 757 and a few others. An airport tug named Tug, a fuel tanker, and a people mover also explain their jobs. This episode is the series premiere.
2. At The Quarry
Euclid, a Euclid R170 quarry dump truck shows how he and his brother Ernie, also a Euclid R170 quarry dump truck are loaded with rocks by LeTourneau, a LeTourneau L-1100 front end loader and bring the rocks from the quarry to a rock crusher, turning them into gravel. A gravel conveyor brings the gravel to a gravel pit where an unnamed Volvo BM L180 front end loader loads the gravel into trucks that deliver the gravel to where it's needed.
3. In The City
Little Mac, a small municipal first-generation Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck, from the City of Toronto shows viewers how the city streets are cleaned. The featured machines that do this include Dusty, an FMC Vanguard 3000 street sweeper who sweeps the roads, Vacuum Vic, a Navistar International S2500 vacuum truck who cleans out sewers, Gusher, a Ford CT8000 street sprinkler semi-truck who sprays water on the roads. Other machines doing work around the city include Stumper, a mobile chainsaw who obliterates stumps and a Ford F-Series boom truck named Stretch with a shredder named Chipper, who trims trees. At the yard, Jaws, a Case W20C front end loader picks up the street garbage to load into The Dump Truck Brothers to take to the dump. The main location is the public works city garage.
4. In The Harbour
Murphy, a Toronto Police boat, takes viewers out into Toronto Harbour to show many of his harbour friends, including Blackie and Thor, two large freighters; William Lyon Mackenzie, a fireboat; and Flo and Merryweather, a couple of ferry boats Oriole, a Toronto city tours boat; a working replica of a square rigger ship and the two ferries that go to Toronto Island, all of which explain their use of operating in the harbour. Cranes named Hook and Claw play a role in unloading ships. Murphy speaks with an Irish accent.
5. At The Construction Site
Big Cat, a Koehring excavator shows viewers how he and his friends help build a hospital from digging the foundation to building the walls. Big Cat’s job is digging the foundations. Other members of the construction company include Skinny, a mobile crane who helps build concrete walls by dumping concrete into molds using a concrete hopper, Treads, a bulldozer, Charlie, a concrete mixer truck who brings concrete to the construction site, Mallory, a forklift who moves construction materials around the construction site and works with Lurch, another mobile crane who unloads construction materials off trucks and also brings the construction materials to where they're needed, George, a semi-dump truck who brings sand to the construction, Boomer, another mobile crane who helps set up wall molds for Skinny to dump concrete into, and Putt Putt, a mini dumper who helps build concrete floors. Meanwhile in Downtown Toronto two tower cranes named SkyHook and Carmen help build a skyscraper that is almost finished (same skyscraper in the "At The Cement Yard" episode). The building under construction in Downtown Toronto is the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, it was built as an extension to The Campbell Family Building which became part of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and was completed in 1995. The glass skyscraper SkyHook mentions is located at 777 Bay Street and was built in 1980.
6. At The Race Track
2 versions of this episode were made. The second version replaced the first version in circulation because the alcohol and tobacco company sponsors in the episode were deemed inappropriate to be seen by the show's target audience.
First Version
Blue, a Reynard 94I race car (driven by Jacques Villeneuve) shows viewers how race cars are transported to races, how race cars are prepared before a race, qualifying, racing, and making pit stops. The race in this version took place during the 1994 Molson Indy Toronto at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario on July 17, 1994. Emerson Fittipaldi was shown to have supposedly won the race but in reality Michael Andretti won the race.
Footage of Alessandro Zampedri in his number 19 Mi-Jack Lola T93/00 race car during the 1994 Molson Indy Toronto was used for the show's intro.
Second Version
Yellow, a Vector Zetec Formula Ford race car (driven by Martin Guimont) and GoldStar, a Van Diemen RF91 Formula Ford race car (driven by Martin Roy) show viewers how race cars are transported to races, how race cars are prepared before a race, qualifying, racing against other racers, and making pit stops. The race in this version took place during the Esso Protec BFGoodrich Formula 1600 Series at Circuit Mont-Tremblant in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec on September 24, 1995. Alex Tagliani was shown to have supposedly won the race but in reality he finished the race in 5th place with a penalty while Andrew Bordin won the race, whether the shot of Alex Tagliani driving around the race track in his race car while holding a checkered flag near the end of the episode is from this race or a different race is unknown. GoldStar is voiced by Arthur Holden.
7. At The Demolition Site
Dino, a Caterpillar 245 hydraulic shear excavator shows viewers around a demolition site and how he demolishes an old factory building with his shears. Crane, a stationary truck crane lifts out pipes and a motor from the building. Dozer, a Caterpillar 973 tracked loader smooths the roads in the demolition site. Dynamite is used to collapse two water towers and a tall concrete chimney. Big Mack arrives to pick up the scrap metal from the demolition site. Grapple, a Komatsu hydraulic claw excavator loads scrap metal into Mack. This episode was filmed at the former St. Lawrence Starch Company factory in Port Credit, Mississauga which was located at Hurontario Street and Lakeshore Road East. The factory permanently closed on March 31, 1990. The demolition was done by Teperman and took approximately 8 months to complete, the demolition was completed in June 1994, the administration building was preserved and is now used as the head office for building and real estate group FRAM + Slokker who redeveloped the area into a residential area starting in 1999 and completed in 2011. It's unknown if there is any truth to Dino's claim that the area was supposed to be redeveloped into a "great big park for kids". A portion of this episode was filmed on June 19, 1994. Some of the footage used for the episode is not in chronological order, the tall concrete chimney can be seen already demolished in some shots despite the demolition segment of it had not been shown yet.
8. At The Train Yard
Two Canadian Pacific SW1200RS switchers and a Canadian National GP38-2 road switcher named Shunty, Diesel, and Freddie explain how work goes on in the train yard, including switching, putting the cars on the right train and transporting materials long distances. Spike and his tie gang maintain the rails to keep them safe for the trains to run on.
9. At The Fire Hall
King, a Mack ladder truck shows viewers how his ladders and tiller work, while Pumper, a pumper truck shows how the hoses work. Sparky, a fire hydrant supervises them and delivers water for the hose practice. The episode also features some members of the North York Fire Department doing their training exercise. This was before North York merged into Toronto.
10. On The Road
Big Hoss, a Peterbilt 379 semi-truck shows viewers how he gets hooked up to a refrigerated trailer, then he takes viewers out on the road as he travels to a Husky truck stop to get his fuel tanks filled up, deliver empty pallets, and pick up a load of carrots. Forky, a forklift unloads the empty pallets out of Big Hoss's trailer. Little Joe, a forklift loads carrots into Big Hoss's trailer. Big Hoss speaks with a Texan accent. This episode was filmed in the Greater Toronto Area mainly in Bradford, Ontario.
11. At The Garbage Dump
A garbage truck named Trasher explains his job of collecting garbage in neighborhoods with Mario, his assistant. Later, Whitey, another garbage truck, explains the operations of the transfer station, showing how garbage is pushed down a chute and compacted into large semi trailers used for garbage transfer after the trailer of garbage is picked up by Big Red, a garbage transfer truck. The story continues at the dump where Big Red, Pee-Wee, a bulldozer, and Spike, a compactor explain how the landfill works. Scoop and Pee-Wee spread the garbage out after Big Red unloads it. Spike squashes the debris and Pee-Wee finishes it by smoothing the dirt out. This episode was filmed at the Disco Transfer Station in Etobicoke and the Keele Valley landfill in Vaughan.
12. At The Cement Yard
Big Boy, a cement mixer truck, shows viewers how concrete is made and what it is used for. The cement yard receives a load of sand from Red, a Mack hopper semi-truck and a load of gravel from Blue, a Western Star hopper semi-truck who dump their loads into grates, the gravel is taken by a conveyor belt and the different sizes of gravel are sorted into piles. Sally, a Caterpillar front end loader, keeps the gravel piles in the yard tidy. Big Boy is loaded with concrete and takes his load to replace