The Littles

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The Littles. Clockwise from top left: Frank, Henry, Dinky, Tom, Grandpa Little (in the "center") and Lucy.
The Littles. Clockwise from top left: Frank, Henry, Dinky, Tom, Grandpa Little (in the "center") and Lucy.

The Littles were the title characters of a series of children's novels by American author John Peterson, the first of which was published in 1967. Peterson's books were adapted into an animated series by DiC Entertainment 16 years later. In 1985, an animated feature film called Here Come the Littles was released.

Similar to Mary Norton's earlier novel The Borrowers, The Littles features a family of tiny but intelligent humanoid creatures with mouse-like features (the Littles) which lived in a house owned by the Bigg family. In the original books, nobody - not even the Biggs - knows anything about the Littles.

Contents

[edit] Main Characters

[edit] The Little Family

The Littles are family of half-man, half-mouse creatures living in the walls of human houses. The Little Family consists of Tom, Lucy, their parents Helen and Frank, and Grandpa Little.

[edit] Henry Bigg

Henry Bigg as seen on The Littles.
Henry Bigg as seen on The Littles.

Henry Bigg is the boy who lives in a house with The Littles. He never discovers the Littles in the book series, but in the cartoon he is one of the few humans who knows of the Littles' existence.

Henry is the first human being to discover the Littles. He discovers them when they help him escape his evil Uncle Augustus in the movie "Here Come The Littles." The 2nd opening theme of the tv series incorrectly says a Little fell in his suitcase and that he discovered The Littles that way.

[edit] Dinky

A cousin of the other Littles, he is clumsy, and frequently gets into trouble. He also owns an airplane which he usually (and badly) pilots. Usually he gets into trouble with Grandpa Little, who loses his temper and charges into "disciplining" the unfortunate Dinky.

[edit] Ashley

Another, younger cousin of Tom and Lucy, often featured in the later episodes. Portrayed as a tamtrum-prone spoiled brat, he often sabotages whatever his older cousins accomplish, only to feel bad about it when Tom and Lucy are put in danger as a result.

[edit] Dr. Hunter

He is the evil scientist that makes several attempts to capture the Littles so that he could expose them to the rest of the world.

[edit] Peterson

He is the assistant who works with Dr. Hunter in attempting to capture the Littles. His name may possibly be a homage to the original Littles author "John Peterson".

[edit] Here Come The Littles (TV Show)

The Littles ran on ABC Saturday mornings from September 10, 1983 to November 2, 1985. It ran for a total of three seasons, and for a total of 29 episodes.

[edit] TV History

Along with Inspector Gadget, The Littles was the very first cartoon produced by DiC for American television.

The first two seasons of shows feature the Littles around the Bigg household, but to improve the show's popularity the final season features the Littles traveling around the world.

During the production run of the show, the Littles were also popular enough to warrant two movie tie-ins. In 1985, the Littles starred in their first animated feature, Here Come the Littles, which serves a prequel to the TV series. It was directed by Bernard Deyriès and written by Eleanor Burian-Mohr, Jack Olesker, and Jeffrey Scott. The following year (1986), a made-for-TV movie was created starring the Littles, Liberty and the Littles. This film was also directed by Bernard Deyriès and written by Heywood Kling. This second movie was subsequently edited into a three-part episode and included in the third season of the series. Both were released on VHS, but are now out of print.

The series aired again from Sept. 18, 1989 to Sept. 10, 1993 on The ("old") Family Channel (which is now ABC Family), it then aired on the Toon Disney channel from Apr. 7, 1998 to Sept. 2, 2002. As of 2005, The Littles are still in syndication and can be seen in some markets. In 2003, four episodes of The Littles and the feature-length movie were released on DVD. The DVD with four episodes is titled "The Little Christmas Special" and includes 4 random episodes which include: "Looking for Grandma Little", "Spirits of the Night", "The Little Girl Who Could", and "The Little Scouts". The opening titles for the show only appear once, before the menu comes up. The end credits and original DiC logo for "The Little Girl Who Could" and "The Little Scouts" are intact. The first three episodes run at their original speed, but "The Little Scouts" is digitally compressed (as it is in syndicated reruns).

[edit] Episode List

1st Season (1983-1984)

  1. Beware Of Hunter! (09.10.1983)
  2. The Lost City Of The Littles (09.17.1983)*
  3. The Big Scare (09.24.1983)
  4. Lights...Camera...Littles! (10.01.1983)
  5. The Spirits Of The Night (10.08.1983)
  6. The Little Winner (10.15.1983)
  7. A Big Cure For A Little Illness (10.22.1983)
  8. The Rats Are Coming! The Rats Are Coming! (10.29.1983)
  9. The Little Fairy Tale (11.05.1983)
  10. Prescription For Disaster (11.12.1983)*
  11. The Little Scouts (11.19.1983)
  12. A Little Gold...A Lot Of Trouble (11.26.1983)
  13. Dinky's Doomsday Pizza (12.03.1983)*

2nd Season (1984-1985)

  1. For The Birds (09.15.1984)
  2. A Little Rock & Roll (09.22.1984)
  3. Twins (09.29.1984)
  4. The Forest Littles (10.06.1984)
  5. Looking For Grandma Little (10.13.1984)*
  6. The Little Baby-Sitters (10.20.1984)
  7. The Littles Halloween (10.27.1984)
  8. Every Little Vote Counts (11.03.1984)

3rd Season (1985-1986)

  1. The Little Amazon Queen (09.14.1985)*
  2. Deadly Jewels (09.21.1985)*
  3. The Wrong Stuff (09.28.1985)*
  4. When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (10.05.1985)
  5. Ben Dinky (10.12.1985)*
  6. Tut The Second (10.19.1985)*
  7. A Little Drunk (10.26.1985)
  8. The Little Girl Who Could (11.02.1985)

An asterisk (*) denotes an episode that is not currently being rerun in syndication.


[edit] The Littles Bibliography

[edit] The Littles Series

  • The Littles, Roberta Carter Clark, illustrator
  • The Littles Give A Party, Roberta Carter Clark, illustrator
  • The Littles Go Exploring, Roberta Carter Clark, illustrator
  • The Littles Go to School
  • The Littles Have A Wedding, Roberta Carter Clark, illustrator
  • The Littles Have a Happy Valentine's Day, Jacquelin Rogers, illustrator
  • The Littles Surprise Party, Roberta Carter Clark, illustrator
  • The Littles Take A Trip
  • The Littles To the Rescue, Roberta Carter Clark, illustrator
  • The Littles Treasury: Exciting Adventures With a Family of Tiny People
  • The Littles and The Scary Halloween, Jacqui Rogers, illustrator
  • The Littles and Their Amazing New Friend
  • The Littles and Their Friends
  • The Littles and the Big Storm, Roberta Carter Clark, illustrator
  • The Littles and the Great Halloween Scare, Roberta Carter Clark, illustrator (originally issued as "Tom Little's Great Halloween Scare")
  • The Littles and the Lost Children
  • The Littles and the Terrible Tiny Kid, Roberta Carter Clark and Jacqueline Rogers, illustrators
  • The Littles and the Trash Tinies

[edit] Not by John Peterson

  • The Littles and the Missing Cat by Cheryl Mead

[edit] Littles First Readers series

  • Littles First Readers: The Littles and the Big Blizzard,Jacqui Rogers, illustrator
  • Littles First Readers: The Littles and the Secret Letter, Jaqueline Rogers, illustrator
  • Littles First Readers: The Littles and the Summer Storm, with Teddy Slater, Jacqueline Rogers, illustrator
  • Littles First Readers: The Littles Get Lost
  • Littles First Readers: The Littles Get Trapped!, Jacqui Rogers, illustrator
  • Littles First Readers: The Littles Go Around the World, with Teddy Slater, Jacqueline Rogers, illustrator
  • Littles First Readers: The Littles Go On A Hike, Jaqueline Rogers, illustrator
  • Littles First Readers: The Littles Have a Merry Christmas, Jacquelin Rogers, illustrator
  • Littles First Readers: The Littles Make A Friend, Jacqui Rogers, illustrator
  • Littles First Readers: The Littles and the Scary Halloween Jaqueline Rogers, Illustrator

[edit] Littles Sets

  • The Littles Set #1: The Littles; The Littles to the Rescue; The Littles and the Lost Children; and The Littles Have a Wedding
  • The Littles Set #2: Littles and the Big Storm; Littles and the Trash Tinies; Littles and the Terrible Tiny Kid; and the Littles Go To School
  • The Littles Set #3: Littles and the Great Halloween Scare; Littles Take a Trip; Littles Go Exploring; and the Littles and Their Amazing New Friend

[edit] Other Littles Books

  • The Littles Reproducible Activities
  • The Littles' Scrapbook: A Facsimile Reproduction of Pages from a Tiny Person's Book, Enlarged Six Times; with William Thomas Little

[edit] External links

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