Kids programming ain't rocket science for Johan's Malaysian producer Inspidea (Kidscreen Magazine)

Often nerdified by the schoolyard in-crowd, science is about to get a much cooler rep if Malaysia's Inspidea has anything to say about it. The one-year-old prodco is hard at work developing a show that steps outside the laboratory to explore the kind of fun facts that will engage preschoolers. In each episode of Johan The Scientist, the show's six-year-old namesake hunts for answers to his endless questions by visiting a futuristic world contained in an amazing magic book of science called ScienScape.

When a frog finds its way into Johan's bedroom, our hero uses ScienScape to take the amphibian back to its habitat. Goldilocks-style, Johan first visits several unsuitable environments - including the freezing Snowy Mountain and a hot saltwater summer beach - before he cottons onto the little green hopper's natural abode in the pond.

Each of Johan's 13 half-hour episodes can be divvied up into 12-minute segments, and the 2-D animated series is budgeted at just under US$2 million. Inspidea is aiming for an October 2004 finish and is keen to lock in a few more presales to join Emirates Cable TV and Multimedia (eVision). The production team is also developing the English-language show in Arabic, French and Mandarin.