SOUTHINGTON SCHOOLS 'Zula Patrol' to premiere in area

The educational program will be introduced next week at Southington schools.
By AMANDA C. DAVIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
SOUTHINGTON -- Hobbling around Columbus in the dead of winter has led Niles native Deborah Manchester on an unexpected journey through alien territory.
Foot surgery seven years ago left Manchester, 47, in an open-toe cast that became the catalyst for her creation of a nonviolent, educational cartoon and reading program about aliens.
"The Zula Patrol," as she calls it, will premiere April 27 at Southington schools, 4432 state Route 305, during a presentation open to the public.
Manchester's 1:30 p.m. introduction will be followed at 2 p.m. with a showing of two videotapes scheduled to appear soon on PBS affiliates.
Manchester, a 1970 McKinley High School graduate, lives in Columbus, where she attended The Ohio State University, received a Ph.D and practiced audiology for 18 years.
How it started: While looking for ways to cover her cold toes left exposed by the cast, Manchester designed cast covers for children, decorated with alien characters that caught on.
"People would say, 'Oh, they're so cute, you should make toys out of them,'" she explained.
Manchester was approached by three producers while visiting the International Book Fair in Los Angeles two years ago.
Phil Roman, who produces "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill" immediately took notice of Manchester's work.
Roman "is the king of animation," she said. "He fell in love with my concept and characters."
He helped her produce a demo tape of the Zula cartoon that she's since pitched to schools and TV stations across the country.
Manchester works with an illustrator, animators who worked on the "Titanic" motion picture and two Emmy-award-winning writers known for their work on the program, "Bill Nye, the Science Guy."
The Zula cartoon's first two episodes are complete, and Manchester is now looking for a network to pick up the series, which has been recognized by the American Guidance Service and targets children 5 to 10.
Manchester described the cartoon as "wacky and adventurous," each episode teaching a different lesson or topic.
"It's very transparent education," she said. "Children don't even realize they're learning."
The storylines: The series is about a group of aliens solving problems in space.
Manchester said she was disappointed by some network executives who saw the demo and said it was "not raunchy enough" and did not contain enough violence.
In her series, the most violence moment occurs with the crash of an asteroid, she explained.
"Conflict is never resolved in violent ways," she added. "No heads fall off and no bodies get squished."
Officials at Southington Schools say they're excited to premiere the cartoon.
First offered: Manchester chose Southington for the premiere because it was the first school district to introduce "The Zula Patrol Reading Incentive Program," and because pupils there are the first inaugurated members of "The Zula Patrol."
The reading program accompanies the show and provides pupils with iron-on patches of Zula characters and pins as a reward for reading.
Manchester said the reading program and cartoon will be launched in schools across the country, including locally, as she has been contacted by local school officials.
"The Zula Patrol" will also air soon at Niles SCOPE Senior Center. For more information on that showing, call Juanita James at 399-8846.
For more information on Zula, call (888)803-9685, visit www.zula.com or e-mail debmanchester@hotmail.com.