Shoebox Zoo
Shoebox Zoo is an urban fantasy TV series made in a collaboration between BBC Scotland and various Canadian television companies. It is mostly live-action, but with CGI used for the animal figurines. The show centers on the story of a young girl named Marnie McBride, who is given a shoebox containing four toy animals by a mysterious old man at a junk shop, as a gift for her 11th birthday. These magical toys have the power to come alive on Marnie’s command, and they’re on a quest to find an ancient book that once belonged to a great and powerful wizard.
Episodes
The Magic Is Awakened
On her 11th birthday, still grieving over her recently deceased mother and uncomfortable with being moved from Colorado to Scotland, Marnie discovers that she is able to make a group of four old toy animals come alive.
Friend or Foe?
It's Marnie's first day of school at her new home in Scotland. She has an encounter with a bully but makes a new friend in Laura. Back home, she receives a package from America containing a necklace that belonged to her mother. She also discovers that her shoebox animal friends were once human, and that only a lost book can return them to their original form.
Echoes of the Past
When a mysterious problem causes school to be cancelled for the day, Marnie and Laura visit the nearby St. Giles’ Cathedral in order to find clues about the shoebox animals, as John Roberts said he saw a depiction of them on a stained glass window there.
A Guide for the Perplexed
Marnie manages to get the red book she was looking for from the library, after which a familiar old man appears before her and says that she must make use of a peculiar looking map that’s within the contents of the book.
The Inner Sanctum
Since Marnie's suggestion to go to Tantallon Castle was agreed on by majority vote, her class goes there for a field trip. While exploring the castle, Marnie goes off the beaten path and finds herself face to face with the great wizard Michael Scot.
A Strange Birthday Party
Marnie is reluctant to go to John Roberts' birthday party until she has a dream revealing that he was really the evil shapeshifter Toledo all along, and so she plans to confront him. However, things take a strange turn when Michael Scot appears at the party as a stage magician.
A Little Knowledge
Marnie leaves school in the middle of the day to try to get in touch with Michael Scot, while Toledo tries to convince Marnie's father that she needs to be brought in for therapy, as he plans to manipulate her into giving him the Book of Forbidden Knowledge while masquerading as the school psychologist.
Mother’s Footsteps
Marnie is on a class trip to visit a "stately home," and uses her new powers to defeat a bully, but the shoebox animals become separated from her and find themselves trapped in the basement.
Where the River Flows
Marnie hopes to find the archway shown on the clue she just received, and plans to do so while on a camping trip to the Eildon Hills with the help of Dougie and Laura, but things go awry when Toledo interferes.
The Sign of the Unicorn
The shoebox animals plead with Marnie to continue the quest, but she insists on trying to catch up on her schoolwork after largely neglecting it. Despite her efforts, she gets falsely accused of cheating during a test, leading to further drama with the school principal.
Where Four Elevens Meet
Marnie and Wolfgang confront Michael regarding the events that lead to the creation of the Shoebox Zoo. Meanwhile, the other animals decide that they must find the book on their own, without Marnie's help, and so they head to the University Library in an attempt to solve the next clue.
Los Contrarios
Toledo hypnotizes Edwin and orders him to open the Book of Forbidden Knowledge. The dark energy released from inside the book awakens the shapeshifter’s devious creations, which are shadowy dopplegangers of the Shoebox Zoo made to destroy them.
The Day of Reckoning
Marnie makes one last attempt to stop Toledo from taking the book, and comes out victorious after realizing that the book was a fake created to seal the evil shapeshifter’s magic all along. She then learns that the location of the real book is somewhere back home in Denver, and that she must return there in order to continue the Quest.
Top Cast
Vivien Endicott Douglas
Marnie McBride
Simon Callow
Wolfgang the Wolf (voice) / Hunter the Horse (voice)
Rik Mayall
Edwin the Eagle (voice)
Alan Cumming
Bruno the Bear (voice)
Siobhan Redmond
Ailsa the Adder (voice)
Jason Connery
Ross McBride
Peter Mullan
Michael Scot
David McKay
William McTaggart
Bill Paterson
The Storyteller (voice)
Gordon Tootoosis
Nathaniel Stone
