Miikshi follows a quiet genius scientist sheep and her high-tech, haywire sci-fi adventures in the city of Mibukiville.
Fuzzy puppets, detailed sets and intricate model miniature filmmaking bring the characters, model vehicles and world to life.
Miikshi currently consists of two original short films, a ten-episode TVOkids series, and a new series about muography produced in partnership with the University of Tokyo.
The creators of Miikshi, wife-and-husband team Lindsay Lee and Justin T. Lee, were puppetry supervisor and director/producer on Thunderbirds: The Anniversary Episodes for ITV in the UK, collaborating with film industry veterans who'd worked on everything from James Bond and Star Wars to The Lord of the Rings.
Upon their return to Canada, they started Gazelle Automations and created the original Miikshi short films in the tiny back room of a pizza shop with a small, dedicated crew. (Yes, there was discounted pizza.)
An award-winning Miikshi short film, The Cosmic Potato, led to the creation of a 10-episode web series produced for TVOkids with Shaftesbury Kids, and with participation from the Independent Production Fund and Shaw Rocket Fund.
Puppets and sets were moved to a larger studio space to accommodate the bigger stories and action.
The series won the 2022 WIFT-Toronto Showcase award for Best Writing, the 2023 Kidscreen Award for Best Original Web/App Series and was nominated for the 2023 YMA Award for Best Program, Live Action (Preschool).
In 2023, a new series of Miikshi mini-movies began production with a totally new subject and audience: particle physics for university students. Miikshi: Cosmic Rays is produced in partnership with the University of Tokyo and its Muographic Liberal Arts Foundation to promote the research of Professor Hiroyuki Tanaka through Miikshi sci-fi stories.
All three new adventures have now been released on YouTube, featuring special guest voice cameos from prominent YouTubers Tom Scott, Norman Chan from Adam Savage's Tested, Techmoan, and Seán Ferrick from TrekCulture.
Watch on YouTube:
