The idea didn't come to Rao's team immediately. For months they toyed with different concepts for months, until they homed in on the ZooZoo character as the deadline approached. Everyone packed up and flew to South Africa, where filming was done with the help of a local crew.

As for the look, O&M focused on two designs. One was a fat Mr Potatohead-style humanoid, while the other was a slimmed version with a giant head and scrawny limbs. The latter won out.

And the name ZooZoo, what significance does it hold? None. It just sounds cool. According to Rao, it goes with the character.

Though most people initially assumed the ZooZoos were merely a cartoonist's rendering, we've since learned that ZooZoos are in fact real people on real sets in real costumes.

The mistake is an easy one to make, as the ZooZoos and their world have a very surreal quality, as if from another planet. According to Rao, it was designed to look that way.