Noozles vs. The Little Koala
Performing life-saving surgery on your conjoined childhood memory.
written by Mike originally for Poprocks & Coke on July 26, 2025

Sometime during the mid 80s, some important guy sat in his big chair in his big office in his big TV production building & scratched his chin as he grinned & thought to himself, "Self, you know what kids really like more than anything else? Koala bears!"

Of course, it's no secret that everybody loves koalas, & rightly so, for they are very cute & fuzzy. They are also the household pets of the future. A bright, sunny future, with a mighty eucalyptus tree growing in every backyard in the world. That's right, the world. Just imagine vast arrays of eucalyptus trees in places like Canada & Russia, & even in places like Australia! I'm not making this up, kids. It's going to happen, & we're not that far off.

When I think of koalas, two cartoons come to mind. Both were syndicated on Nickelodeon during the late 80s & early 90s, & maybe that's why everybody gets the two mixed up. Some people even seem to have combined the two into a vague memory of one show. Well I'm here to clear the record once & for all.

See? Two different shows. Two VERY different shows, actually. One was a badly dubbed anime about magic koalas who could fly. The other was a worsely dubbed anime about surfing koalas who could surf. I'll be jumping back & forth between the two, so try & stay with me.

Noozles
Renown archaeologist Alex Brown was on a dig in Australia when he sent a package to his daughter, Sandy, who was living back home with her mother & grandmother. Sandy was surprised to find that it was a cute little stuffed koala, but the real surprise came when Sandy rubbed noses with it, a "noozle" if you will. Did you know that the word "noozle" is Eskimo for "foreplay?" It probably isn't, but if I wrote the Eskimo dictionary, I sure would've thrown it in there.

So at any rate, after Sandy noozled the koala, it came to life, & introduced himself as Blinky. While the normal human reaction to this would be something along the lines of "AHHHHHHHHHH!", keep in mind that this is anime, & it's every anime girl's dream to have a talking bear for a friend. Even that one anime girl who... with the giant squid monster... & then she... yup, the whole time, she was thinking "talking bear."

Adventures of the Little Koala
"Brand new day. Time to play with Roobear & his friends. Where summer never ends..." That's how the theme song went, & that was basically the entire plot of the show. Roobear lived on some happy island in the Pacific where it was always summer (hint: the really big one).

Roobear had a spoiled little sister named Laura, who was pink, abiding to the anime canon law that states that all cute little prepubescent female animals must be pink, or a similar pastelish color. Betty, an older female koala whom every male kid on the island had the hots for, was more of a beige or camel hue. Roobear & Laura lived with their Mommy, a pilot, & their Papa, a news photographer.

Noozles
Shortly after Sandy awakens Blinky from his state of pretending to be stuffed, & by shortly I mean within the next couple of minutes, Blinky's sister, Pinky, shows up. And wouldn't you know it? She's a little pink koala as well, but Pinky is a magic koala. Among her super powers are flying, seeing the future, & sounding like Angelica Pickles.

Blinky also has some magic of his own. He's equipped with a watch that can stop time. It turns out that the two are from a parallel universe called Koala-Wala Land, which had recently been overrun by a dictator known only as the High Dingy Doo. The entire place was crawling with Kangaroo Cops who would fly around & shout "STOP IN THE NAME OF THE HIGH DINGY DOO!" as an equivalent to our "PULL OVER, PUNK!"

The Little Koala
Among Roobear's friends were Floppy & Mimi, the rabbits. Floppy was always wearing headphones for some reason, so he probably never heard what anybody was saying. Actually, he had pretty big bunny ears, so I'm sure he could hear everybody fine, despite listening to J-Pop constantly.

The penguin twins were named Nick & Pamie. They were kind of fat & clumsy, & they were always dressed like they were expecting it to start snowing any second. You can never be too careful. Actually, Pamie's scarf almost did her in one time. Of course, that whole part where she decided to not eat for a week played a big factor as well. Even in children's anime, anorexia is a sensitive, yet important issue.

The kangaroo brothers, from left to right, are Colt, Walter, & Horsie. Horsie & Colt didn't do much besides tag along with Walter, who was a short-tempered bully. Walter could throw a mean boomerang, & he made sure everybody knew it. He probably used it as a pick up line as he got older. "Hey there, sugar. My name's Walter. Can I buy you a drink? I throw a mean boomerang, you know."

Noozles
Apparently Dr. Brown had somehow wandered into Koala-Wala Land during his dig in Australia, & was on the run from the Kangaroo Cops when he sent Blinky to find Sandy, his last hope for freedom. But all Blinky wanted to do was stay in Sandy's tree & eat all day.

Pinky had a magical make-up compact with a mirror that could show glimpses of the future, & a lipstick pencil that she used to draw a portal back to Koala-Wala Land. She spent each episode trying to convince Blinky to go back to Koala-Wala Land with her. Sandy, of course, was always excited to go. Sure, she had to constantly be on the run, but in Koala-Wala Land, everybody can fly. Even fat Nick & Pamie.

While Pinky spent every episode trying to get her brother to come home, Sandy spent every episode trying to keep the fact that her teddy bear was alive & liked to eat the tree in her front yard a secret. This was especially hard, since her mom was constantly checking up on her, & her "friend" Mark was always popping in to say hi. The only people who knew about Blinky & Pinky were Sandy's grandmother, & two poachers named Franky & Spike, who kept trying to nab the koalas for profit.

The Little Koala
This guy's name is Weather. He was a dingo with a degree in meteorology, who always wore a trench coat & a scarf, even if it was really hot out. The guy was an expert on the weather, of all things, & he never once took that scarf off. He never ate any babies, either.

Weather hung out with Mingle, a nervous sugar glider, which is sort of like a flying squirrel, only with an Australian accent. Among Roobear's other neighbors were Miss Lewis, a leggy news reporter koala, & Duckbill, an elderly duckbilled platypus, whom I think was a historian of sorts.

To go along with the whole SUPER AUSTRALIAN 2 THE XTR33M!!!1 thing, Roobear & his pals were constantly doing fun XTR33M!!!1 things like surfing, skating, balloon riding, sailing & taking rides with strangers in spaceships. And everybody's parents could fly planes. Mommy Koala, Papa Rabbit, Papa Penguin, & Daddy Kangaroo were all expert pilots. It was quite the popular sport among the over 30 crowd. I wish I could say the same about my parents & their friends. They used to play softball, but not so much anymore. Watching them play horseshoes is only fun for so long, & by so long, I really mean never.

Now I couldn't possibly leave you guys hanging without a super fun bonus, could I? So I've managed to dig up the theme songs of both shows. Have fun making rave mixes out of them.

Download the Little Koala Theme Song (417kb .mp3)

Noozles theme song is in B's article.