Erudite Octopus
@parkersonwheels
One family. One old RV. The whole world.
An animated teen comedy about the Parkers from Columbus, Ohio, who spend a whole year travelling the world in Grandma's 40-year-old RV.
Free on YouTube. The first episode is coming soon: subscribe to see it first.
Dad lost his job, Grams showed up in a forty-year-old RV called Big Bertha, and now the Parkers from Columbus, Ohio, are spending a whole year on the road. Every episode is a new place: the food, the sights, the people, and one very loud family trying not to break down. Literally.
It's a comedy first. The culture comes in through the story, mostly through Zoe, 13, who knows every fact about every place and loves correcting her dad. Each episode ends with her travel vlog.
Episodes are in American English, with English subtitles. Versions in Spanish (Los Ramírez sobre Ruedas) and Brazilian Portuguese (Os Oliveira de Motorhome) are planned, each with its own family.
Episode 1 · Coming soon
Grandma Ruth drives a 40-year-old RV over the Parkers' mailbox and proposes a whole year on the road. Day one: a family vote, a garage sale, fourteen labeled boxes, a dog who won't get in, a toilet next to the stove and a breakdown at sunset.
After Ohio comes Baltimore, a cargo ship and Paris. The planned first season goes on through Europe and beyond: Rome, Barcelona, Lisbon, the Swiss Alps, Amsterdam, the Norwegian fjords, Greece, Istanbul and Morocco.
A family story (an argument, a bet, a grounding, a secret) and the story of the place. Then the two collide, and the place fixes the family's problem or makes it much worse.
Two or three real facts about each place, slipped into the action. In the first episode: why Ohio is the birthplace of aviation and the hometown of Neil Armstrong.
Every episode closes with 30 seconds of Zoe's travel vlog: a funny recap of what we learned and the next destination.
The jokes come from the family and its disasters, never from making fun of the locals. Arguments and groundings, yes; violence, never, and every fight ends with a hug.
For viewers aged 13 to 17 and the families who travel with them. Teen humour, teen pace, with Zoe and Leo driving the story and the adults as the counterweight.
Dad, 43, an insurance manager who plans everything in spreadsheets. Terrible dad jokes, refuses to use GPS, wants to save on everything and always ends up spending more.
Mom, 41, a former science teacher. Practical and competitive at everything (games, haggling, hikes), and secretly the one who always wants to go further.
13, sarcastic and never without her phone. She runs a travel channel with 48 subscribers, knows every fact about every place and corrects her dad constantly.
10, with endless energy. He eats every local food (with consequences), collects rocks and bizarre souvenirs and is always in some kind of trouble.
Grandma Ruth, 72, Greg's mother and a retired long-haul trucker. She owns Big Bertha, drives like a rally driver, tells stories of doubtful truth, sides with the kids and drives her son up the wall.
The family dog, a scruffy mutt who is scared of almost everything, starting with getting into the RV.
Grams' beige and brown RV from the eighties, with a coughing engine, recurring breakdowns and noises with a personality of their own. Practically a member of the family.
The next-door neighbour in Columbus, about 70: sweet, but she haggles over everything and knows the whole street's business. She calls Greg "honey".
Teens aged 13 to 17 and the families who watch with them. It is not set as made for kids on YouTube: it is a teen comedy, and the whole family can watch it.
It's a comedy first, but every place comes with two or three real facts told through the story. The first episode covers Ohio: the Wright brothers in Dayton, Neil Armstrong from Wapakoneta, the seven U.S. presidents born there and the tree behind the name Buckeye State.
They start in Columbus, Ohio, and head to Baltimore to board a cargo ship for Paris. The planned first season continues through Rome, Barcelona, Lisbon, the Swiss Alps, Amsterdam, the Norwegian fjords, Greece, Istanbul and Morocco.
The pilot runs about nine minutes. Later episodes are planned at 10 to 15 minutes.
The plan is a new destination every week. The first episode is ready and coming soon to the channel.
Yes, planned: a Spanish version, Los Ramírez sobre Ruedas, and a Brazilian Portuguese one, Os Oliveira de Motorhome, each with its own family, names and jokes rather than a word-for-word translation.
Parkers on Wheels is made by Erudite Octopus, a small creative studio. The voices come from open voice models that run on the studio's own computers, the music is synthesised by our own code and the characters and places are drawn by our own animation engine. AI also helps with the writing, but every episode is reviewed by a person before it goes out.
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