Animation killed Bananas in Pyjamas, according to a leading cultural academic.
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"I don't think the show has the same warm character that it did when human actors played the parts," Curtin University Professor of Cultural Studies Jon Stratton said of the original children's television series that spanned 400 episodes and was replaced by a computer-graphics-imagery version in 2010.
Fairfax Media revealed this week that the future of one of the ABC's biggest merchandising money-spinners is in doubt, with Aunty's head of children's content indicating that the yellow-skinned twins may not be generating enough income to warrant a fourth animated series.
The last of 156 episodes of the CGI version will air on ABC2 at the end of the month, one month before the Bananas turn 21.
No new episodes will be aired after July, with reruns to screen until a decision on another series is made in two years.
While the creators of the original live-action series, Claire Henderson and Simon Hopkinson, claimed it was supposed to be a kid-friendly version of Seinfeld than an educational program, Professor Stratton contends that a generation of young Australians still learnt something from a fruity duo bursting with not only potassium, but enthusiasm, kindness and initiative.
"The show became an institution for at least one generation," Professor Stratton said of the five-minute series for pre-schoolers that was originally produced between 1992 and 2001.
"Even adults with no children cannot have escaped knowledge of B1 and B2.
''They have been present right across Australian culture.''
Their catchphrase, ''Are you thinking what I'm thinking, B1?'' and the inevitable reply, ''I think I am, B2,'' is heard across the country.
"The show was developed at the height of the policy of multiculturalism,'' Professor Stratton said.
''On Cuddles Avenue we have a far more diverse community than we have on Ramsay Street [the setting for Neighbours] even now.
"We have teddy bears of different hues, a rat, the Bananas, and they all live happily together.
''The show showed children how people of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds could get along together and enjoy each other's company."