The Rainbow Fish


The Rainbow Fish is a children's picture book drawn and written by author and illustrator, Marcus Pfister, and translated into English by J. Alison James. The book is best known for its message about selfishness and sharing and for the distinctive shiny foil scales of the Rainbow Fish. Decode Entertainment turned the story into an animated television series of the same name, which aired on the HBO Family television channel in the United States and Teletoon in Canada from 1999 until 2000.

Plot

The story is about The Rainbow Fish, a fish with shiny, multi-coloured scales. He has blue, green, and purple scales. Interspersed with these colourful scales are shiny, holographic scales which are his favourites. One day, a small blue fish asks him if he could have one of his shiny silver scales. The Rainbow Fish refuses in a very rude manner. The small blue fish tells all the other fish that The Rainbow Fish was being rude, and as a result, the other fish do not want to play with him any more.
His only remaining friend, the starfish, tells him to go visit the wise octopus for advice. When he goes to the cave where the wise octopus lives, he sees the octopus, who says that she has been waiting for him. She explains that the waves have told her his story. Then, she gives The Rainbow Fish her advice: He must share his scales with the other fish. She continues that he might no longer be the most beautiful fish after that, but he will discover how to be happy. The Rainbow Fish says that he cannot share his favourite scales, and the wise octopus disappears in a cloud of ink.
When he encounters the little blue fish for a second time, The Rainbow Fish shares one of his precious silver scales and sees the little fish's joy. With that one shiny scale gone, he immediately feels much better. Very soon, the Rainbow Fish is surrounded by the other fish requesting scales and he shares one of his shiny silver scales with the each of them. Soon, everyone in the ocean, has one shiny scale, including The Rainbow Fish. The Rainbow Fish is finally happy even though he only had one shiny scale left.

Theme

A Publishers Weekly reviewer called the book a "cautionary tale about selfishness and vanity".

Controversy

Negative backlash against the story, especially its inclusion in early childhood education, has arisen from some readers, teachers, and parents Since the plot involves the Rainbow Fish exchanging the scales which make him special for social acceptance after being shunned, the story has been interpreted in a negative light as encouraging forced sharing, changing or harming yourself to suit others, assimilation, and/ or the preference for mediocrity over being exceptional.

Book series

There are five other sequels in the Rainbow Fish book series:
On March 25, 1997, an animated adaptation of the story book was released on VHS and DVD. The home video releases also contain the film Dazzle the Dinosaur which is based on another book written by Pfister and published in 1994. The animated short film features a song called "Giving Makes You Special".

Television series

The Rainbow Fish was adapted into a children's animated television series in 1999. However, the television series does not follow the plot of the book; rather it takes the character and the setting and creates a new story with them. Some characters were added and others embellished for the purposes of the show. In the series, the place where the fish live is called Neptune Bay. The fish attend school, which is aptly named "The School of Fish". There is a shipwreck called "Shipwreck Park" in the series that resembles the wreck of the RMS Titanic. It was produced by Decode Entertainment and EM.TV for Sony Wonder. 26 episodes were produced.

Characters

Rainbow Fish: A proud, vibrant fish that lives with his parents and sister. He was voiced by Rhys Huber.
Sea Filly: In the first episode, Sea Filly is a new girl in school. She is a beautiful seahorse, though she is half mermaid, half seahorse. She eventually becomes friends with Rainbow and Blue. She is often seen reading books. She was voiced by Chantal Strand.
Blue: Rainbow Fish's best friend, who is more down-to-earth and thoughtful than Rainbow Fish. He is a blue fish and has a baby sister called Turquoise. He was voiced by Andrew Francis.
Ruby: She is Rainbow Fish's older sister who is a teenager. She is arrogant, bossy, self-centered and ruby-coloured. She regularly gets Rainbow Fish into trouble, because she gets jealous, although she actually loves him. She was voiced by Chiara Zanni.
Sol and Aqua: Aqua is an aqua-colored fish and is Rainbow Fish's mother. Sol is purple and is Rainbow's dad. They help their daughter and son whatever way they can and will always provide them with great courage. Sol was voiced by John Payne whilst Aqua was voiced by Ellen Kennedy.
Principal Gefilte: The proud Principal of the School of Fish, he is strict about behaviour. He was voiced by French Tickner.
Mrs. Chips: The teacher of the school. She teaches history, mathematics, science, and literature. She was voiced by Ellen Kennedy.
Wanda the Octopus: She is the owner of the Neptune Bay fast food restaurant. She is very wise and when Rainbow Fish and his friends are down she will always give them advice. She was voiced by Kathleen Barr.
Chomper and Stingo: The two bullies of the school. They do not really commit acts of physical violence but they can bully and tease Rainbow Fish and his friends. Chomper is a shark while Stingo is a stingray. Chomper was voiced by Christopher Gray and Stingo was voiced by Bill Switzer.
Sherman the salt-water shrimp: The smallest of the school. To him, everything looks big. He was voiced by Alex Doduk.
Sir Sword: Local swordfish, upper-class and a bit of a busybody. He is sometimes grumpy, and sometimes civil, but always seems to think he is better than everyone else. He was voiced by Colin Murdock.

Episodes