They're teaching science on Planet Zula

The PBS show is funny and educational, appealing to parents and kids.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- "Way, way up where the planets do the hula -- spin and shout until you find yourself on Zula."
Or, if you don't want to comply with the catchy little theme song to one of TV's most clever new children's shows, check out public television. "The Zula Patrol" is landing on stations all around the PBS galaxy.
The patrol, with its good-natured but bumbling green leader Bula, ace pilot Zeeter and three-eyed, absent-minded professor Multo, initially brings to mind two 1960s space shows, the colorfully animated "Jetsons" and the cartoonish but live-action "Lost in Space."
Then it quickly transcends them. While "Zula" has the same bright animated color as the "Jetsons" and humor every bit as cornball as "Lost in Space" ("Danger, Will Robinson"), it actually manages to sneak a science lesson into every episode.
Example: When galactic evildoer Dark Intruder (picture an overweight Darth Vader without the mask) tries to fool the patrol into thinking they're on Earth instead of Mars, he has trouble explaining the sudden drop in temperature to 70 degrees below zero.
Later, the patrol's members count the number of planets between them and the sun and discover, after Zeeter removes the cloud obscuring Earth, that they are standing on No. 4 and not No. 3.
"It's a really nice way, a fun way to get our message out," the show's creator, Deborah Manchester, says of each episode's subtle science lessons.
FYI, Truder tried to pass off Mars as Earth as part of a ruse to divert the crime-fighting Zula Patrol under the guise of a vacation while he carried out his scheme to take over the galaxy. But he waited until all of Earth's hotels were booked and had to settle for the red planet instead.
"That's what happens when you make an evil plan at the last minute," his sidekick Traxie, who resembles a bad hairpiece, admonishes him.
Looking back
When it came to creating the show, Manchester, who has a Ph.D. in communication from Ohio State University, didn't wait until the last minute to plan. In the beginning, she had no plan at all.
An audiologist who was bored with her job after 15 years, she returned to school in 1995 to study animation.
Around the same time, she had foot surgery that put her in a cast during a freezing Ohio winter. Unable to find a cover to keep her foot warm, she made her own.
That sparked the realization that others might want similar cast covers. Soon she was making and selling them for hands and feet and decorating them with the characters that would eventually become members of "The Zula Patrol."
Before she knew it, she had created an entire planet and its people.
"I would talk about the planet and people would say, 'Oh, this is cute,"' Manchester recalled by phone with a laugh. "So I wrote a story book and had some plush toys made of them."
At a book fair in Los Angeles, she was approached about creating a TV show and thought about doing something both entertaining and educational. She also wanted a show that could teach the audience values while they were laughing.
Good fortune
A novice to the business, Manchester acknowledges she probably never would have achieved such a vision had it not been for another unplanned bout with good fortune.
"In my case, I found an investor who had absolutely never invested in an entertainment property before," she said. "He made his money in the investment world and saw the project through one of his co-workers and decided to fund the whole program."
The investor has stayed out of the creative process but helped her with the business side.
Meanwhile, a first season's worth of 26 episodes have been filmed with plans to make at least 26 more. Manchester hopes to have the show on 80 percent of PBS stations by the end of the year.
"It's a very unique experience," she said. "To have someone hand you millions of dollars and make your dream come true."
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