The Octonauts and the Whale Shark

The Octonauts were created as a series of children's books written by the writing team of Meomi (Vicki Wong and Michael C. Murphy), with the first book, The Only Lonely Monster, published in 2006.

 The TV series was launched on 4 October 2010, and to date there have been 126 episodes broadcast.

The very first episode, The Octonauts and the Whlae Shark, aired on the BBC on 4 October 2010.

Dashi, the Octonats' chief photographer and computer expert, has ventured into what she thought was the mouth of a cave but which was actually the mouth of a whale shark. She is streaming her photos in real time to the Octopod, and Captain Barnacles, Shellington and Peso realize what she is really standing inside.

The whale closes its mouth, trapping Dashi inside.

Immediately, Peso the Penguin and Kwazii Cat go out in the Gup C to rescue her, along with Captain Barnacles.

Kwazii Cat has a habit of leaving the submersible on his own without waiting for instructions from the Captain. In this instance, Barnacles swims out to discuss the plan while Peso remains in the Gup C. Barnacles and Kwazii are so intent on their conversation that the whale shark is able to swallow them, too.

Barnacles and Kwazii find Dashi, who has been spending the time productively by taking photos, and fortunately the timid Peso conquers his timidity to give the Whale Shark a checkup. Peso consults his medical book and learns that whale sharks will open their mouths if they are tickled, so he suits action to the word.

The Whale Shark duly open its mouth, allowing Barnacles, Kwazii and Dashi to swim free.

In this episode, although the Whale Shark is not given a name, and although it seems to understand English it does not speak.

Quotes

Barnacles: You didn't get to jump around like a bunch of spaghetti, did you?
Kwazii: No, I got sucked in like a wet noodle.

Tropes

For purposes of humor, Kwazii is always leaving the Octopod or one of the submersibles without waiting for orders from the Captain. On many occasions this has backfired, but he continues to do it - basically because it's an "in joke." In "real life", Kwazii would have learned his lesson after the second or third time, and in any case would have too much respect for Captain Barnacles to disregard his authority in such a way.