Hilltop Hospital takes place in an anthropomorphic animal world and is what I can only describe as the ER of children's television. Each episode is short (running around the 10 minute mark) and tends to have at least two running plots within each one. These are broken down into a plot involving a patient(s) and the other between the staff.
Speaking of which, lets start with the cast. First up is Dr Matthews. He's a dog and is basically the main doctor of the hospital. Despite his successes, he tends to be a little silly and stupid at times, though he tends to get the job done and does have his moments. Straight off the bat it's clear he has a thing for Surgeon Sally, constantly trying to get her attention. We'll get deeper into this soon.
Speaking of which, Surgeon Sally is a hippopotamus and someone who is far too serious for her own good. Work is above all else and she can't tolerate mistakes and sloppiness. She's doesn't have a cold heart, she just tends to be a bit too stern and serious then the rest. Despite Dr Matthews attempts to draw affection from her, she shows no interest in him (either cause she has no interest or simply doesn't see it that way). Her actions make it clear that she is the one who runs the hospital.
Dr Atticus is a tortoise and the anesthetist (basically, the person who puts the patient to sleep before the operation and keeps track of the patient during it) of the hospital. He runs by the usual tropes of a tortoise of eating, sleeping and being slow. He does have a scooter to help him move around the hospital for things like emergencies. There are the two lab rats called Arthur and Clare, who run the lab and medical research section, though from all the episodes I saw I couldn't tell if they were friends, siblings or a couple. The seem to work well together, which is probably why I probably thought that.
Then there is Nurse Kitty, who is a cat. She has a lot of duties to perform and one can only wonder how she keeps up with everything. She tends to be calm and demure at times, but is still softly spoken even when she is angry. Nurse Kitty also has a massive crush on Dr Matthews, who for the most part doesn't seem to notice or is clueless to her advances. Again, we'll get to it.
Then there are the twin bears called Ted. These guys are probably the shows comedic duo, mostly cause of their clumsiness and constant bickering. They are in charge of the hospitals vehicles. Finally there are Nurse Bunny, a rabbit who is tends to be part of the maternity section and Felicity, who appears to be the hospital psychologist/psychiatrist (I think she's a koala or wombat, I couldn't find anything on her beyond marrying a guy named Bruce, so I'm guessing based on her appearance and Bruce being a name more associated as Australian).
The show itself tends to tackle a number of themes. Many of these are more focused towards children as many of the patients with problems are children. Some tend to help relate to children who may experience similar problems while other ones tend to focus on a moral message. These can range from simple bed wetting or being afraid of the dark up to being alright to feel down because your parent passed away in an accident. I am not joking on that last one. Seriously, while watching these episodes, the episode called The Blues started and the introduction conversation goes like this:
Dr Atticus: "How is our new Patient?"
Sally: "Hedgehogs really ought to look both ways before they cross the road"
Dr Atticus: "Don't be too hard on her. Her mother's just died in a road accident"
Wait, WHAT? Did I really just hear that right. I know this is a hospital, but I honestly didn't expect to hear that in a show that tends to be positive for the most part. The rest of the episode is the hedgehog being extremely happy, only to learn she hides away to cry, saying that if she looks sad then people feel sorry for her and it reminds her how much she misses her mother. This leads to her going to visit Felicity to talk about her problems and going off with another family to stay with (so I'm guessing she never had any other family to take care of her, which is really sad now that I thought about it). I can only assume that these kinds of episodes are design to help children in such situations open up about their own feelings and get help. Given I'm not a child psychologist, I have no idea if it works, but I applaud the work non the less. I can't tell if the episode is considered dark, given just how desensitised we are these days.
Now lets get down to the other drama. While some episodes focus more on the other staff, a majority revolve around the Dr Matthews/Sally/Kitty drama. For the most part, it involves Dr Matthews failing to grab Sally's attention in the way he wants and Nurse Kitty commenting on Dr Matthews in a positive way. I have to admit, I'm not a fan of drama shows and don't like a lot of the ones out there, yet after a few episodes into this show, I suddenly realised that I was getting more and more frustrated with Dr Matthews for not noticing Nurse Kitty. It's only once you start noticing how aggravating you've become that you just want to shout at Dr Matthews for being an idiot for ignoring Nurse Kitty with things like "Are you an idiot? Nurse Kitty is right there, she cares about you, show her some gratitude" or "This is the perfect moment, don't pretend you don't notice. Nurse Kitty is perfect for you, just notice her you flea-brained moron" (I may have gotten a little carried away at times). Towards the second season (or is it forth? Some sites say 2 seasons, some say 4), it appears that the two have definitely had moments together, but considering I haven't been able to find all the episodes, I'm not sure when or how this turn about happened.
I honestly don't mind this style of claymation and even though some animal designs are more simple then others (probably due to needing various types of patients in a hurry), I really don't notice it as I feel more invested in these short little episodes. Lighting in some scenes is rather nice, though I do find the parts underwater hard to believe. Perhaps a water filter over the footage may have worked, then again, I doubt it would help given how they can talk clearly and understand each other underwater with scuba gear on. As for the music, it tends to feels like a drama show, sometimes a little over the top. The romantic moments between Dr Matthews and Nurse Kitty really show that off, almost to the point you expect a record scratch sound to end it as something interferes. The positive moments feel more loud and active and the sadder moments being more low. May not be the greatest at times, but it does add to the mood of the moment.
Overall, this one was enjoyable to watch again. A show with simple dramas for people who can't stomach the bigger drama shows. I do enjoy watching these claymation shows, which is sad knowing that more and more are turning to doing computer generated ones over classics like these. So pop on down to Hilltop and have some fun...
....just don't get too involved in the Dr Matthews & Nurse Kitty moments like I did.
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