Wonder Pets

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Linny, Tuck, and Ming-Ming are The Wonder Pets
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Linny, Tuck, and Ming-Ming are The Wonder Pets

Wonder Pets is an American animated children's television series. It debuted on March 3, 2006, on the Nick Jr. time-block of the Nickelodeon cable television network.

The show's main characters are three elementary school classroom pets — Linny the Guinea Pig, Turtle Tuck, and Ming-Ming Duckling — who save baby animals and promote teamwork.

As each episode begins, viewers hear the school children, off-screen, leaving school at the end of the day. Once the classroom is vacant, a tin can telephone begins to ring. The Wonder Pets answer the phone and find that an animal is in trouble somewhere. They board a flying toy sailboat they've named "The Flyboat" which is formed from many classroom objects (rubber spools for wheels, a frisbee for a body, and so forth) and rush off to the rescue, singing:

Wonder Pets! Wonder Pets! We're on our way,
To help a baby [featured animal], and save the day.
(Ming-Ming:) We're not too big,
(Tuck:) And we're not too tough,
(All:) But when we work together we've got the right stuff!
Goooooooo Wonder Pets! Yaaaaaaayyyyyyy!

When saving the animal, the Wonder Pets often fail on the first attempt and have to work as a team to achieve the rescue. They sing a song as they work together - "What's gonna work? - Teamwork!, What's gonna work? - Teamwork!".

Contents

[edit] Production

The show was created by Little Airplane Productions, which also created Piper O'Possum for Nick Jr. as well as other shows and shorts for kids. The show began as a short Brøderbund's film series called "The New Adventures of Linny the Guinea Pig," in which Linny traveled into space and under the ocean by herself. Ming-Ming Duckling and Turtle Tuck were created later, making a longer show that was called The Super Singing Power Pets!, later shortened to just Wonder Pets.

The animation style used to create Wonder Pets is called "photo-puppetry", and was created for the series to allow animators to manipulate photographs of real animals. It also uses drawn objects (not characters), so the total presentation could be considered animated mixed-media.

The dialogue is almost entirely singing, so the show has been called an operetta or a singspiel. A 10-member live orchestra performs each episode, sometimes including other instrumentalists skilled in music from the region that the pets are travelling to during the episode.[1] Completing each episode takes 33 days from script to final delivery.

[edit] Age range

The show is recommended for an audience of 3 years and younger. Unlike most other shows on Nick Jr., Wonder Pets is made for younger audiences similar to Pingu or Sprout, or other shows on Noggin. Even so, it still is very comparable to most other young children's shows. Sometimes though it actually does seem to appeal to some teens.

[edit] Characters and voice cast

[edit] Linny the Guinea Pig

Linny the Guinea Pig, age 5,[2] is the leader of The Wonder Pets. As a superhero, she wears a yellow cap and a blue cape.

Linny is voiced by Sofie Zamchick. Before Wonder Pets, Linny starred in a few 3-minute shorts on Nick, Jr. entitled "The Adventures of Linny the Super Guinea Pig", where Linny would explore different environments, such as the ocean or outer space.

Linny appears to be the most educated of the group, often providing different zoological and geographical information to the others. Linny also seems to have been in the classroom longer than Ming-Ming or Tuck.

Linny usually is the one to remind Ming-Ming and Tuck about teamwork or other values. In one episode, Linny had a cold and had to stay behind while Ming-Ming took her place, but she communicated to the other two through the school's ventilation systems.

Linny's catch phrase is "This calls for some celery!" at the end of saving the baby animal. She also starts off most of the show's primary songs, and her most common quote is a compliment for Tuck: "Good eye, Tuck."

[edit] Ming-Ming Duckling

Ming-Ming Duckling, age 3,[2] is an overconfident young duckling. As a superhero, she wears an old fashioned leather pilot helmet, goggles, and a green cape. Unlike the other Wonder Pets, she has the ability to fly.

Ming-Ming is voiced by Danica Lee. When Danica first auditioned for the part, she pronounced "R" sounds as "W" sounds, a common speech problem in young children. The producers found it endearing; so, even though by the time Danica was hired she had lost that problem, they asked her to continue speaking that way for the character.[3]

The show emphasizes the concept of team work and cooperation, usually in order to rescue another featured animal from some kind of jeopardy. Ming-Ming sometimes tries to take on big problems by herself, and in one episode became the animal that needed rescuing.

Ming-Ming often provides comic relief in the show; in one episode, the Wonder Pets bump into a cuckoo clock, and the cuckoo pops out. Ming-Ming then asks the cuckoo, "Do you have a cousin named Pablo?", alluding to the blue penguin from The Backyardigans.

Ming-Ming's catch phrase is "This is sewious!"

[edit] Turtle Tuck

Turtle Tuck is a down-to-earth turtle who sometimes disagrees with Ming-Ming. As a superhero, he wears a white French sailor's cap, blue water shoes, and a red cape.

Tuck is voiced by Teala Dunn.

Tuck is very sensitive and loves giving hugs. (His catch phrase is "Can I have a hug?") He often appears as the "thinker" of the group, coming up with the ideas that "save the day".

[edit] Episode list

(Note that each aired show normally consists of two episodes)

  1. "Save the Chimp!" & "Save the Dolphin!"
  2. "Save the Sea Lions!" & "Save the Kangaroo!"
  3. "Save the Caterpillar!" & "Save the Crane!"
  4. "Save the Duckling!" & "Save the Kitten!"
  5. "Save the Dinosaur!" & "Save the Pigeon!"
  6. "Save the Cow!" & "Save the Skunk!"
  7. "Save the Swan!" & "Save the Puppy!"
  8. "Save the Tree!" & "Save the Elephant!"
  9. "Save the Panda!" & "Save the Mouse!"
  10. "Save the Unicorn!" & "Save the Penguin!"
  11. "Save the Camel!" & "Save the Ants!"
  12. "Save the Hedgehog!" & "Save the Crocodile!"
  13. "Save the Bullfrog!" & "Save the Poodle!"
  14. "Save the Sheep!" & "Save the Hermit Crab!"
  15. "Save the Black Kitten!" & "Save the Yak, Pig, Dancing Bear!"
  16. "Save the Goldfish!" & "Save the Baby Birds!"
  17. "Save the Turkey!" & "Save the Eagle!"
  18. "Save the Egg!" & "Save the Flamingo!"
  19. "Save the Reindeer!"
  20. "Save the Wolf!" & "Save the Chicken!"
  21. "Save the Armadillo!" & "Save the Goat!"
  22. "Save the Jaguar!" & "Save the Horse!"

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Lynne Heffley, "Unchained melodies; In scoring the kids' show 'The Wonder Pets!,' top-notch composers get a warm and fuzzy feeling," Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Mar 3, 2006. pg. E.29.
  2. ^ a b Robert Lloyd, "'Wonder Pets!' to the rescue", Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Mar 3, 2006. pg. E.29.
  3. ^ Edward Wyatt, "Nickelodeon's 'Wonder Pets' Offers Operetta for Preschoolers", New York Times, March 28, 2006. pg. E.1.
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