Update (7/8) - Official Nickelodeon press release:
NICKELODEON SETS LAUNCH FOR TIM REX IN SPACE, BRAND-NEW ANIMATED PRESCHOOL SERIES, ON MONDAY, AUG. 4
Project Marks First-Ever Global Co-Production with Channel 5’s Milkshake!
Share it: @Nickelodeon @NickelodeonFamily
BURBANK, Calif.–July 7, 2025–Preschoolers will set off on epic intergalactic adventures, as Nickelodeon readies brand-new animated preschool series, Tim Rex in Space, for launch on Monday, Aug. 4. Marking the brand’s first global co-production with Channel 5’s Milkshake!, Tim Rex in Space will premiere for three consecutive weeks, Monday-Thursday, at 9:30 a.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon and encore at 6:30 p.m. (ET/PT) on the Nick Jr. channel. The series airs on Nickelodeon channels internationally and on Milkshake! in the U.K.
Tim Rex in Space follows a Tyrannosaurus Rex (T-Rex) named Tim, his big brother Tommy, little sister Tia, and triceratops bestie Kai, as they tackle kid-shaped adventures with dino-sized solutions in space. Tim and his family live in a unique world comprised of a cluster of asteroids that make up the town of Rumbleton--a quintessential 21st century suburban town, with each asteroid hosting family homes, cafés, shops, parks, and even a beach. All asteroids are connected by a network of slides, ziplines and trampolines, but can also easily be reached on a quick rocket ride.
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| Shooting Star | Tim Rex in Space |
The voice cast for Tim Rex in Space features: Cassian Swan-Mckee as Tim; Ace Gill as Tommy; Hope Delaney as Tia; and Jamie Smart as Kai. The cast also includes Stephen Alan Yorke, Nim Miller, Sophia Nomvete, Jessica Robinson, Alex Carter and Lorraine Bruce.
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| Shooting Star | Tim Rex in Space |
Tim Rex in Space is created and produced by Mint Copenhagen for Nickelodeon and Milkshake!, with animation studio, Jam Media. The series is produced by Josephine Jerris Margolis and Louise Barkholt for Mint, directed by Sam Dransfield (Bossy Bear) with animation director, Jess Patterson (Nova Jones), series designer/ art director Joshua Hogan and head written by Andy Potter (Sharkdog, Class Dismissed). Tracy Nampala (Pip and Posy Let’s Learn, Ricky Zoom, Supertato, Brave Bunnies and Colourblocks) serves as the VR Director. Kate Crownover, Senior Manager of Nickelodeon Animation, Francesca Alberigi, Paramount International Kids & Family Manager of Development & Production and Kyle Jenkins, Milkshake! Acquisitions and Programming Director serve as Executives in Charge. The series was commissioned for Channel 5’s Milkshake! by Louise Bucknole, Senior Vice President of Paramount UK & Ireland, Kids & Family.
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| Shooting Star | Tim Rex in Space |
Channel 5’s Milkshake! is home to some of the world’s favorite preschool characters. Channel 5 broadcasts children’s content for 2-5 year old’s between 6am-9am everyday and is the top-rated commercial block for kids 4-15. Milkshake! features a range of stimulating, diverse and engaging programmes that include strong character-led animation, live action series, factual entertainment and presenter-led high-quality studio and musical entertainment, also available non-stop via on-demand service, My5, Paramount +, a magazine and a touring Milkshake! Live theatre show. Popular, award-winning shows include Peppa Pig, PAW Patrol, Rubble & Crew, Fireman Sam, Thomas & Friends, Milkshake! Monkey, The Adventures Of Paddington, Pip & Posy, Milo, Pop Paper City, Tweedy & Fluff, Mixmups, Odo, Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom, Sunny Bunnies, Reu & Harpers’ Wonder World, Cooking with The Gills, Animal Care Club, Go Green with The Grimwades, The World According To Grandpa, Meet The Experts, Mimi’s World, Sesame Street Mecha Builders, Brave Bunnies, Oggy Oggy, and upcoming The Woohoos and Stan & Gran. For further information visit www.milkshake.tv
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| Shooting Star | Tim Rex in Space |
Nickelodeon, now in its 46th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The brand includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, digital, location-based experiences, publishing and feature films. For more information or artwork, visit http://www.nickpress.com. Nickelodeon is a part of Paramount’s (Nasdaq: PARA, PARAA) global portfolio of multimedia entertainment brands.
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Tim Rex in Space follows a Tyrannosaurus Rex (T-Rex) named Tim, his big brother Tommy, little sister Tia and triceratops bestie Kai as they tackle kid-shaped adventures with dino-sized solutions in space. Tim and his family live in a unique world comprised of a cluster of asteroids that make up the town of Rumbleton. This intergalactic environment is a quintessential 21st century suburban town, with each asteroid hosting family homes, cafés, shops, parks, and even a beach. All asteroids are connected by a network of slides, ziplines and trampolines, but can also easily be reached on a quick rocket ride.
The series features the voices of: Cassian Swan-Mckee as Tim; Ace Gil as Tommy; Hope Delaney as Tia; and Jamie Smart as Kai. The voice cast also includes Stephen Alan Yorke, Nim Miller, Sophia Nomvete, Jessica Robinson, Alex Carter and Lorraine Bruce.
Created with a global audience in mind, the series blends humor, suspense, and everyday themes that kids can relate to. The 60×7’ (or 20 episodes across two seasons) series made its debut on Paramount-owned 5 in the UK as part of its Milkshake! kids strand on Monday 5th May 2025. The series will then premiere on Nickelodeon’s platforms worldwide later this year.
Nickelodeon treated viewers to a sneak peek of Tim Rex in Space on Monday, June 2, which is available to watch on nick.com and the Nick Jr. YouTube channel. The preview features three stories: "Shooting Star", "Ball", and "Balloon".
Jules Borkent, Managing Director (MD) and Executive Vice President (EVP), Kids & Family at Paramount said: “Nickelodeon has remained committed to leveraging creative storytelling from around the world to produce unique, relevant content that appeals to kids and families worldwide, and Tim Rex in Space is a prime example of that. This UK-produced preschool series is authentic and fun, and we are confident the series will be a global success.”
“Nickelodeon has always focused on leveraging creative storytelling worldwide to create unique and relevant content that appeals to children and families globally. Tim Rex in Space is a perfect example of this. The UK-produced preschool series is authentic and entertaining.”
Louise Bucknole, General Manager (GM), Kids & Family, Paramount UK & Ireland said: “Tim Rex in Space is an exciting, funny and imaginative show, with a slice of family life and full of adventure and fun. This show has been a true global team effort, allowing us to tap into our amazing raft of preschool talent from across the business. Dinosaurs and space are a winning combination for preschoolers the world over and we can’t wait to share it with the audience!”
“I am incredibly proud that the dedicated Mint team has developed Tim Rex in Space allowing us to work with Paramount to bring the series to a global audience. We look forward to seeing the series unfold on Paramount’s platforms,” Mint Copenhagen partner and series producer Josephine Jerris Margolis said in a statement.
Tim Rex in Space is created and produced by Mint Copenhagen for Nickelodeon and Milkshake!, with animation studio, Jam Media. The series is produced by Josephine Jerris Margolis for Mint, directed by Sam Dransfield (Bossy Bear) with animation director, Jess Patterson (Nova Jones), series designer/ art director Joshua Hogan and head written by Andy Potter (Sharkdog, Class Dismissed). Tracy Nampala (Pip and Posy, Ricky Zoom and Thomas and Friends) serves as the VR Director. Niki Williams, Senior Manager of Nickelodeon Preschool Production and Development, Francesca Alberigi, Paramount International Kids & Family Manager of Development & Production and Kyle Jenkins, Milkshake! Acquisitions and Programming Director serve as Executives in Charge. The series was commissioned for Channel 5’s Milkshake! by Louise Bucknole, General Manager of Paramount UK & Ireland, Kids & Family.
About Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon, now in its 46th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The brand includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, digital, location-based experiences, publishing and feature films. For more information or artwork, visit http://www.nickpress.com. Nickelodeon is a part of Paramount’s (Nasdaq: PARA, PARAA) global portfolio of multimedia entertainment brands.
About Milkshake!
Channel 5’s Milkshake! is home to some of the world’s favourite pre-school characters. Channel 5 broadcasts children’s content for 2-5 year old’s between 6am-9am everyday and is the top-rated commercial block for kids 4-15. Milkshake! features a range of stimulating, diverse and engaging programmes that include strong character-led animation, live action series, factual entertainment and presenter-led high-quality studio and musical entertainment, also available non-stop via on-demand service, My5, Paramount +, a magazine and a touring Milkshake! Live theatre show. Popular, award-winning shows include Peppa Pig, PAW Patrol, Rubble & Crew, Fireman Sam, Thomas & Friends, Milkshake! Monkey, The Adventures Of Paddington, Pip & Posy, Milo, Pop Paper City, Tweedy & Fluff, Mixmups, Odo, Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom, Sunny Bunnies, Reu & Harpers’ Wonder World, Cooking with The Gills, Animal Care Club, Go Green with The Grimwades, The World According To Grandpa, Meet The Experts, Mimi’s World, Sesame Street Mecha Builders, Brave Bunnies, Oggy Oggy, and upcoming The Woohoos and Stan & Gran. For further information visit www.milkshake.tv
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From Animation Magazine:
‘Tim Rex in Space’ Introduces a Curious Dino Family to Nickelodeon’s Preschool Lineup
This article was written for the September-October ’25 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 352).
Combining two obsessions of every young child — dinosaurs and space — the preschool series Tim Rex in Space looks to use its adventures to create curiosity about the everyday.
The co-production between Nickelodeon, Mint Copenhagen and Milkshake! (by the U.K.’s Channel 5), and animated by U.K.- and Ireland-based JAM Media, is directed by Sam Dransfield (who previously worked on Nickelodeon’s Bossy Bear). The series is about a T. rex named Tim, his siblings and his friends, all of whom live in Rumbleton — a town built across a series of interconnected asteroids.
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| Jurassic Jaunts: The new Nickelodeon show ‘Tim Rex in Space’ charts the intergalactic adventures of a T-Rex named Tim, his big brother Tommy, little sister Tia, and triceratops bestie Kai. |
Intergalactic Spin
Head writer Andy Potter (Sharkdog, Class Dismissed) emphasizes that despite the outlandishness of the premise — a family of dinosaurs in space — “We really tried to ensure that Tim felt like a real kid, experiencing the true emotions, problems and dilemmas that our young audience would recognize, albeit with an intergalactic spin.” Dransfield concurs and expands on their goal of fusing two wondrous topics that have long been compelling to children. With a clear concept in place, they had to build around “that heart to the show, which is Tim himself, and then that allows you to explore this combination,” the director says. “Equally, we were keen that comedy should always be front and center,” Potter adds, “and to include gags that would resonate with children and parents, so families would catch moments in each episode where they’d think, ‘Yep, that’s just like us.’”
That balance, of course, also influenced the show’s art direction. Series designer and art director Joshua Hogan says it was a “tough one to [figure] out at first,” as the premise gave them so many possibilities that it was hard to narrow it down. What helped was to pair their initial idea — bold colors and expressive characters — with what Hogan describes as “the simplified, rounded shapes seen throughout both the character designs and environments.” He continues, “It helped us build a whimsical universe that feels both fresh and familiar at the same time. Not too futuristic but also not too ordinary.” Dransfield says they also took early steps to make the show feel “more terrestrial” to keep the young audience on familiar soil. Experiments with colors were attempted in visual development, but eventually it was decided that, in this case, the grass should be green, the sky blue.
“That’s hopefully what the series achieves: where you see a little asteroid in the title sequence up in the corner and [think] perhaps the episode is going to be about whatever’s on that asteroid.” — Series director Sam Dransfield
Episode director Jess Patterson (Nova Jones) explains how this translated into the animation: “As Tim Rex in Space is an action-packed series with a lot of heart, we focused on combining natural movement and acting with some more cartoony elements when looking at the animation style.” Those cartoony elements often came in by using 2D techniques. “We wanted the characters to feel energetic, lively and fun while also maintaining a solid sense of their weight (so some screen-shaking dino-stomps wouldn’t feel out of place). As a result, we often work in some smears, zips and pops between poses where we feel they would add to a moment or shot.”
Patterson says the team worked in “an almost ‘2.5D’ style of animation,” which allowed some experimentation in each episode. The team also had to do some problem-solving for the more realistic elements or, as Patterson puts it, “the big-head-little-arms question that comes with working with dinosaurs.”
“The simplified, rounded shapes seen throughout both the character designs and environments helped us build a whimsical universe that feels both fresh and familiar.” — Series designer and art director Joshua Hogan
Dransfield adds, “In designing these characters that look quite flat, we don’t have a lot of turnaround angles of their heads. So when Tim, for instance, turns from facing one way to facing the other, there’s a bit of a snap because his head isn’t 3D, so we can’t show it rotating all the way around.”
This created a limitation because “Tim lives in a 3D world and he moves in 3D,” Dransfield says. He continues, “We can have characters move towards camera and move away from camera, and they move like 3D characters, but at their core, they are 2D, and I think the success of that approach is a testament to the achievements of both the character designers to begin with, and then also our incredible animation teams over at JAM in Belfast.”
The solutions, Patterson says, came from the designers at Mint as well as the rigging and animation teams at JAM Media. “[They] have consistently hit it out of the park in terms of what we can achieve with the character rigs, props and vehicles,” she says. “From lovely subtle expression changes and quiet moments of character acting to breakdancing robots and multi-rocket space races, the teams somehow manage to outdo themselves time and time again.”
The Right Amount of Surreal
Like the art direction, using the stylized animation carefully was also important. Having been a storyboarder on shows like The Tom & Jerry Show, Dransfield is a professed fan of golden age animation, but Tim Rex was an exercise in restraint. “I don’t think it’s always totally appropriate for preschool viewers, who are brand new to cartoons, to kind of throw them in on the deep end of that kind of surrealism which that style of cartooning lends itself to,” Dransfield says, adding that the series would apply that cartoony visual language with a light touch. Dransfield also acknowledges the flipside of this, that it was also important to challenge the young audience, at least a little. “You shouldn’t be talking down to them. They are a more advanced audience than you might initially think,” the director says about managing the tone as well as the animation.
But even with that need to turn the dial down a little, building a sense of wonder was still important. Dransfield points to an early piece of visual development, a map of Rumbleton. “We were pulling from children’s illustrations and classic kids’ books, which quite often have these kind of busy, detailed worlds — like the books from your childhood where you remember poring over those images for hours. And so that’s what we really tried to do with that map. That’s hopefully what the series achieves: where you see a little asteroid in the title sequence up in the corner and [think] perhaps the episode is going to be about whatever’s on that asteroid.” With its combination of space and the familiar touches of home life, Tim Rex aims to be a show that is universal in two senses of the word.
Tim Rex in Space airs on Nickelodeon Monday-Thursday at 9:30 a.m. and encores on Nick. Jr. at 6:30 p.m. The show also airs on Nick channels internationally and on Milkshake! in the U.K.
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Originally published: July 04, 2025.
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