Shoebox Zoo
Shoebox Zoo
TV ShowEnded

Shoebox Zoo

Believe.

7.8 / 10
2004
2 seasons
26 episodes
Sci-Fi & FantasyDramaAction & Adventure

Shoebox Zoo is an urban fantasy TV series made in a collaboration between BBC Scotland and various Canadian television companies. It is mostly live-action, but with CGI used for the animal figurines. The show centers on the story of a young girl named Marnie McBride, who is given a shoebox containing four toy animals by a mysterious old man at a junk shop, as a gift for her 11th birthday. These magical toys have the power to come alive on Marnie’s command, and they’re on a quest to find an ancient book that once belonged to a great and powerful wizard.

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Trailer

The Making of Shoebox Zoo

Cast

Seasons

On her 11th birthday, Marnie McBride goes to a junk shop with her father to pick out a present. There, the mysterious shopkeeper eagerly gifts her a shoebox containing four animal figurines, all of whom have the ability to magically spring to life. Marnie now has to deal with the struggles of balancing her life between adventuring with the collectively named “Shoebox Zoo” animals on a quest to find an ancient book of magic, and her day-to-day life as a schoolgirl, on top of having to deal with the grief stemming from the loss of her recently deceased mother.

  • The Magic Is Awakened

    1.The Magic Is Awakened

    21-09-200425m

    On her 11th birthday, still grieving over her recently deceased mother and uncomfortable with being moved from Colorado to Scotland, Marnie discovers that she is able to make a gro...

  • Friend or Foe?

    2.Friend or Foe?

    28-09-200425m

    It's Marnie's first day of school at her new home in Scotland. She has an encounter with a bully but makes a new friend in Laura. Back home, she receives a package from America con...

  • Echoes of the Past

    3.Echoes of the Past

    05-10-200425m

    When a mysterious problem causes school to be cancelled for the day, Marnie and Laura visit the nearby St. Giles’ Cathedral in order to find clues about the shoebox animals, as Joh...

  • A Guide for the Perplexed

    4.A Guide for the Perplexed

    12-10-200425m

    Marnie manages to get the red book she was looking for from the library, after which a familiar old man appears before her and says that she must make use of a peculiar looking map...

  • The Inner Sanctum

    5.The Inner Sanctum

    19-10-200425m

    Since Marnie's suggestion to go to Tantallon Castle was agreed on by majority vote, her class goes there for a field trip. While exploring the castle, Marnie goes off the beaten pa...

  • A Strange Birthday Party

    6.A Strange Birthday Party

    26-10-200425m

    Marnie is reluctant to go to John Roberts' birthday party until she has a dream revealing that he was really the evil shapeshifter Toledo all along, and so she plans to confront hi...

  • A Little Knowledge

    7.A Little Knowledge

    02-11-200425m

    Marnie leaves school in the middle of the day to try to get in touch with Michael Scot, while Toledo tries to convince Marnie's father that she needs to be brought in for therapy,...

  • Mother’s Footsteps

    8.Mother’s Footsteps

    09-11-200425m

    Marnie is on a class trip to visit a "stately home," and uses her new powers to defeat a bully, but the shoebox animals become separated from her and find themselves trapped in the...

  • Where the River Flows

    9.Where the River Flows

    16-11-200425m

    Marnie hopes to find the archway shown on the clue she just received, and plans to do so while on a camping trip to the Eildon Hills with the help of Dougie and Laura, but things g...

  • The Sign of the Unicorn

    10.The Sign of the Unicorn

    23-11-200425m

    The shoebox animals plead with Marnie to continue the quest, but she insists on trying to catch up on her schoolwork after largely neglecting it. Despite her efforts, she gets fals...

  • Where Four Elevens Meet

    11.Where Four Elevens Meet

    30-11-200425m

    Marnie and Wolfgang confront Michael regarding the events that lead to the creation of the Shoebox Zoo. Meanwhile, the other animals decide that they must find the book on their ow...

  • Los Contrarios

    12.Los Contrarios

    07-12-200425m

    Toledo hypnotizes Edwin and orders him to open the Book of Forbidden Knowledge. The dark energy released from inside the book awakens the shapeshifter’s devious creations, which ar...

  • The Day of Reckoning

    13.The Day of Reckoning

    14-12-200425m

    Marnie makes one last attempt to stop Toledo from taking the book, and comes out victorious after realizing that the book was a fake created to seal the evil shapeshifter’s magic a...

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