Chicken Minute (Partially Found 1990 Canadian Puppet Series)

A very rare LaserDisc, showing Minute, Mama Chicken and Anatole.

Chicken Minute (Cocotte Minute in the alternative French) was a puppet TV series made in Canada that originally ran from 1990 to 1993. It was set in the Louisiana bayou.

The puppet characters are anthropomorphic animals (almost always shown waist up, of course). The main one is simple-minded crocodile Anatole, who likes fishing and hanging with his friends: fox Minute who plays guitar and who is in a relationship with hen Mama Chicken who cooks delicious popcorn (Minute became vegetarian for her). The narrator is Ulysses, a chick still living in his egg and who is extremely smart despite his age. The main villain is Mudbelly, a swamp monster who lives among mud and likes to play nasty tricks on the other characters, but can be friendly with them too at times. Almost every episode contains one or more musical numbers performed by one or more characters.

Only a few episodes are known to have been released on VHS, in the English dub, and at least one LaserDisc. Of these, only three have been uploaded on YouTube ("Coop de Ville", "The Singing Contest", and "The Bayou Treasure").

Lately, one of the original staff that worked on the show, Jean Gagnon (art director, background and puppet designer) uploaded several episodes on YouTube in the French dub (however, some of these have their audio off-sync, so be warned). Many more episodes are still missing, though.

According to Gagnon, there were legal disputes between the authors of the show, which is possibly a reason as to why this series has never gotten a full release.

List of Found Episodes

• 1: (English title unknown) / Le Mystère du Bayou (video in French) (alternate link)

• 3: Ulysses' Revenge / La Revanche d'Ulysse (video in French)

• 4: Landlord / Le Propriétaire (video in French)

• 6: Coop de Ville / Cousin Alexandre(?)  (video in English)
• 7: The Fortune Teller / La Gitane (video in French)

• 8: The Film/ Le Film (video in French)

• 9: Chicken Fu (video in French)

• 13: The Reluctant Hero / La Coquille Sauvage (video in French)

• 15: The Watch Thief / Le Voleur de Montres (video in French)

• 19: The Singing Contest / Mega Star(?)  (video in English)

• 21: (English title unknown) / Le Reportage (video in French)

• 23: Mudbelly's Wedding / Le Mariage de Draduli (video in French)

• 24: Once Upon A Time in the Bayou / Il Etait Une Fois dans le Bayou (video in French)

• 25: The Bayou Treasure / (French title unknown) (video in English)

• Number unknown:  The Magician's Apprentice / L'Apprenti Magicien (video in French)

Each episode's number is taken from the opening narration. This should take priority over MSN Entertainment's own numbering.

The number of episodes is uncertain, and some episodes are not described in the MSN list.

External links

MSN Entertainment list of episodes with plot descriptions

Entry on the Planète Jeunesse website (incomplete)