Clifford's Puppy Days

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Clifford's Puppy Days
Clifford's Puppy Days logo
Format	Animated television series
Created by	Norman Bridwell (characters)
Starring	Lara Jill Miller Grey DeLisle Cam Clarke Kath Soucie Masiela Lusha Orlando Brown LaTonya Holmes Ogie Banks Jess Harnell Lauren Tom Henry Winkler Candi Milo
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of episodes	39
Production
Running time	22 minutes (11 minutes per segment) (approx. per episode)
Broadcast
Original channel	PBS
Original run	September 1, 2003 – present

Clifford's Puppy Days is an animated television series on PBS Kids. It features Clifford the Big Red Dog, a popular cartoon character and it is set when Clifford was a puppy. Other characters are Clifford's friends, Norville (a bird), Jorge (a dog), Flo and Zo (two cats), and Daffodil (a rabbit).

[edit] Setting

Clifford was a small red puppy, and when Emily Elizabeth Howard heard her neighbor, Mr. Bradley (Referenced in the "Clifford the Big Red Dog" episode "Little Clifford") was giving away puppies, she wanted Clifford because he was the smallest. Emily took care of Clifford and over a span of time (less than a year or so) Clifford grew to the size of a giant dog. Only later did Emily move to Birdwell Island, where the original series was set. The Puppy Day's Timeline takes place during the first year or two of Clifford's life.

[edit] Format

The show followed the same format as its predecessor, Clifford the Big Red Dog.

• The opening theme is followed by the first central story, which is about the dogs, and a problem they face.
• Speckle Story - Between the first and second story, Emily Elizabeth reads Clifford the Speckle Story, a small 30 second (approximately) time filler about a fictional dog (Speckle), and his animal friends.
• This is followed by another central story, about Emily Elizabeth and her friends.
• Clifford's Idea to Grow On - Before the credits, another 30 second short takes place called Clifford's Idea to Grow On. The short is basically an animation of an etiquette, a proverb, or basic truth such as "Play Fair", "Help Others", etc, with narration by Emily Elizabeth. This short was called Clifford's Big Idea in the previous series.

[edit] Foreign adaptations

In Britain, where the show was only 15 minutes long, the format consists of the central story, followed by Clifford's Idea to Grow On or Speckle Story.

[edit] Voice actors and The Characters

• Lara Jill Miller - Puppy Clifford
• Grey DeLisle - Emily Elizabeth Howard/Mrs. Caroline Howard/Evan's Mother
• Cam Clarke - Mr. Mark Howard/Crafts Shop Clerk/Nina's Father/Speckle
• Kath Soucie - Daffodil
• Masiela Lusha - Nina
• Orlando Brown - Evan Thomas Taylor
• LaTonya Holmes - Flo the Cat/Vanessa
• Ogie Banks - Zo the Cat/End Narrator
• Jess Harnell - Jorge/Gruff the Dog/Mr. Pit-Bull, Choo-Coo, Mr. Sardisky
• Lauren Tom - Shun
• Henry Winkler - Norville
• Candi Milo - Nina's Mother
• Alan Oppenheimer - Mr. Solomon

[edit] Opening Theme

The opening theme, "Love Makes Little Things Grow", was performed by Freedom Bremner, a native of Washington, D.C. (See credits).

• During the theme song, Clifford barks several times. There is another version when Clifford does not bark. Since this cannot be changed, he mouths himself barking.

[edit] Contradictons

Some storylines do not follow logically from the Puppy Days storyline to the original Big Red Dog series. In the Puppy Days storyline, Clifford is friends with Flo and Zo, two cats, but that contradicts an episode of Big Red Dog, when two kittens (nearly identical to Puppy Days' Flo and Zo, but here named Billy and Betty) invade T-Bone's yard. In this episode, entitled "The Truth about Cats and Dogs" Cleo announces that cats hate dogs, and Clifford agrees with her. Although the show's conception of the time lapse between Puppy Days and Big Red Dog is unclear, it's likely to be a reasonably short stretch of time--possibly as little as a year--so it's unlikely that the older Clifford would have forgotten his puppyhood friends.

Another storyline that has not translated well between the two series involves Clifford's knowledge of rabbits. In one Big Red Dog episode, "A Bunny In A Haystack", Emily introduces Clifford to the school pet, Wally the rabbit. Conversation between Clifford, Cleo, and T-Bone reveals that none of the dogs has ever seen a rabbit before. However, in the Puppy Days series, Emily Elizabeth had another pet when Clifford arrived--a lop-eared rabbit named Daffodil.

In fact, Daffodil's existence is the source of many incongruities between the two series. In the Big Red Dog episode "Little Clifford" (most likely the back-story of the Puppy Days storyline), the basis of the episode is a flashback to when Clifford was introduced into the Howard family. There is no sign of Daffodil in this episode. However, the Puppy Days episode "Oh, Brother", is a retelling of Clifford's arrival from Daffodil's point of view, and tells of the jealousy Daffodil experienced when the new puppy took all the family's attention from her. This incongruity is emphasized because some of the dialogue in the Puppy Days episode is a verbatim repeat of dialogue from the Big Red Dog flashback:

Mrs. Howard: "Well, you didn't wish for a dog, did you Emily Elizabeth?"

Emily Elizabeth: "That's exactly what I wished for!"

[edit] TV Broadcast

[edit] External links

• PBS Clifford · The "new" Clifford Yahoo Group
• Clifford's Puppy Days at the Internet Movie Database
• Clifford's Puppy Day on TV.com
• Clifford's Puppy Days at PBS Kids