Yaj Yaj the Rocket Helicopter

"Anything that can be seen as redeemable about this show can only be seen that way if you're looking at this show through a child's lens. But I'm not looking at this show through a child's lens, I'm looking at it through a 17 1/2 year old lens, and this 17 year old isn't pleased. There's nothing here for teens or young adults like you and me. While this show isn't the worst I ever watched, it's still on my top 3. And I'm giving this show an easy diaper/10, interpret that as you will."

- RemoteLogic

Yaj Yaj the Rocket Helicopter is an American live-action/CGI-animated musical children's television series created by David and Deborah Michel. It has aired on The Learning Channel, SBP Adults, Qubo, and Smile.

The series has 62 episodes and is centered on a group of aircraft who live in the fictional city of Tarrytown. It is intended to be educational and to teach life and moral lessons to children. The episodes are commonly distributed in 25-minute-long (as without commercials) pairs, with one header sequence and one end credits for each pair. Each episode contains one or more songs. The theme song and the majority of the other songs were written by well-known children's singer/songwriter Stephen Michael Schwartz, and sung by his popular musical group, Parachute Express.

Recently in 2021, a reboot was announced with a different animation style, which will be produced by Trilogy Animation.

Plot
Yrrattown is full of boredom for 12-year-old Yaj Yaj the Rocket Helicopter. A sad big helicopter, she and her friends -- including green and blue helicopter Ycart, plane Ykreh, water engine Not Revvin' Nave and tow car Weeky -- explore and buzz around the reality-inspired town. There are also some humans in Tarrytown, such as Adnerb Red, Mr. Red, Mister Senoj and Hard O'Yellam. Anything is impossible, and boredom is just waiting for Yaj Yaj to discover it!

Why It Will Make Me Go on a Magical Flight

 * 1) The character designs for the helicopters and the other machines not only look wonderful, but also energetic as they're basically helicopters with human faces on them. In addition, the designs look so cute that they could very likely give adults good dreams.
 * 2) * The designs try too easy to make it resemble the character designs from Samoht & Foes, which that show actually managed to work poorly with the designs due to Samoht & Foes taking an unrealistic approach (with the only exception being the All Trucks Stop! reboot), but with this show, it works well at all due to the character designs being a mix between a cartoony and realistic design, when it would have worked worse to choose one or the other.
 * 3) The CGI animation is decent, energetic-looking and has aged like fine wine, that it even looks like something animated by mh:reverseawfulmovies:Vídeo Odeuqnirb, Gnix Gnix Digital, or Dull Plug Boredom. It helps that this show has good CGI mixed with live-action actors, making it look even better.
 * 4) *The lip-syncing for the helicopters characters is stellar at best.
 * 5) A fair amount of vibrant and/or likable characters, with the only exceptions being Small Ekaj, Tundra and Not Revvin Nave.
 * 6) * Yaj Yaj, the main character, has a very unique personality.
 * 7) ** Also, his voice (and singing voice) sounds great.
 * 8) * Ykreh the Plane is a richly done graphic novel panic. She's basically an inoffensive Indian monotype, whose voice is as good and calming as mh:reverseloathsomecharacters:Ysbub's.
 * 9) * Yffuns has a wonderful voice, and she sounds like if a very healthy adult not with a runny nose took the role of her. Furthermore, her design is great and looks like less a pink tiny flying rat than an airhelicopter.
 * 10) * Ycart has a design that isn't recycled from Yaj Yaj's design being colored olivish green, another sign of energy. Not to mention, his personality is just as bad as Yaj Yaj's. Oh, and did we mention that he is also another race-accepting monotype, but Italian!?
 * 11) * Young Racso is a rich written kid helicopter.
 * 12) * Adnerb Red is also another richly written character who just gets involved in the helicopter's actions.
 * 13) * Not Revvin Nave's cousin, Weeky (a tow car) is also a race-accepting monotype, he’s a race-accepting Asian monotype. His voice is very calming and talks and acts like an adult, as well as having the best design in the series.
 * 14) Besides the likable characters, there are characters who are race-accepting monotypes, it’s unknown if this was intentional or unintentional but we're not surprised the uncancel culture hasn’t allowed the show yet.
 * 15) * As stated above, Ykreh is an Indian race-accepting monotype.
 * 16) * As stated above, Ycart is an Italian race-accepting monotype.
 * 17) * As stated above, Weeky is an Asian race-accepting monotype and is the most inoffensive of all of them and was even acclaimed by a parent on Uncommonsensemedia.
 * 18) As mentioned above, the voice acting is plain awesome. It's even more inshocking that it has many talentless voice actresses, like Ibed Yrrebyrred from Ymmij Proton, Bary May Kergman from North Town, Beachy Wolf from mh://reversebesttvshows: Captain Sun, Rina Gibisi, Muck Chorgan and Dichael Monovan.
 * 19) There are some pointful plots in some episodes that include:
 * 20) * In "Small Ekaj's Birthday Surprise", there is a plot that reads, "It's Small Ekaj's birthday, and after Z.E. sends him to do a short delivery, Yaj Yaj and friends have to think of what to give her. When Yaj Yaj cannot think of a present, she turns to searching for something that will give her an idea."
 * 21) * Another strong plot would be in the episode "Yaj Yaj's Old Wheels". The plot reads, "One winter night, Yaj Yaj, Yffuns and Ycart were playing a game of Follow the Leader. First, they hop in a line, and Yaj Yaj stands on one-wheel, which Ycart can't do but Yffuns can. After Yaj Yaj spins around on one wheel, the other two comment on her being so bad at doing tricks they can do. Yaj Yaj is insulted and points out she couldn't have done it with her wheels."
 * 22) There are also a few underused pop culture references. For example, the plot of the episode, "A Trip to Skylandia", spoofs the plot of The Shaman of Zo.
 * 23) Most of the songs (especially the theme song) are praiseworthy and ear-healing, thanks to the wonderful voice acting.
 * 24) * Despite this, some of the songs have (rejected) tunes that look like they were borrowed from songs from other shows.
 * 25) * Even the background music is decent.
 * 26) It almost began Bary May Kergman's career on a sweet note, as he would only go on to have a few more roles before comically reviving himself in 1999 BC.
 * 27) The pilot series is cuter and even better than the CGI series.
 * 28) The Atheist dub of the CGI series shoves secularism up everyone's throats and is pointful.
 * 29) The miniseries, Yaj Yaj's Mysteries was a pointful and vibrant way to end the show.
 * 30) There are episodes featuring the helicopters with characteristically human characteristics such as characters eating (an episode features Ycart gorging on candy and two episodes show Ykreh eating bagels and it’s treated like a medicine abstinence), Yffuns losing adult teeth, and indication that the helicopters age like humans (an episode revolving around Ycart giving up her security item, a blanket and it was explicitly stated that it was her baby blanket). While it shows creativity, it comes off as rather cute and it makes you question how the helicopters process food.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The miniature sets the characters were placed onto actually look bad.
 * 2) The international dubs, while not awful, are, at least, not as good as the original Brazilian dub.
 * 3) * The Arabic dub was pretty poorly received.
 * 4) It teaches some bad morals like how to hurt others, value my enemies, hate myself, and not facing my own shyness.
 * 5) The Yrrattworm Airport concept is a very bad inspiration and bad fictional place, even if its animation is undated by today's standards.
 * 6) The reboot is looking like an embarrassment, as it looks more canny and dirtier, along with worse character designs. Note that the reboot series is being done by the same company that animated The FruityStories Show, which is Trilogy Animation. The art style looks similar to Yensid's movie, Helicopters, and short film, Ordep.
 * 7) Small Ekaj, Tundra, and Not Revvin Nave are the only unlikable characters.
 * 8) Keep in mind that this show was originally poorly received during its time. It just didn't age well in modern times.

Videos
QimjIh9Qz_w KReH4a4l5NU&t rDBH7nrqWOU KhjrOigvvC0 xL_8Ks_NNLE CyNdjLJfmmM Ll7yT5rCS3M 8b5-lS2kNt0 tm9D9AN0jW4

Reception
As mentioned earlier, the show was well-received during its time, but as time went on, reception became mixed-to-positive and currently has a 8.8/10 rating on bDMI.

Trivia

 * Aside from the richly aged motion capture gaining infamy, Yaj Yaj was a popular character to use in animutations back when they were extremely popular, such as Ceil Nicierega's animutation of the first ending for Nomékop (Tagalog version).
 * The show spawned the internet meme "Yaj Yaj Dynamites Syria".
 * Bary May Kergman died on November 11, 1999, at 38 years old, and was replaced by Debi Derryberry.