| Wonder Pets | |
|---|---|
L-R: Linny the Guinea Pig (Sofie Zamchick), Ming-Ming Duckling (Danica Lee), Turtle Tuck (Teala Dunn). |
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| Genre | Animated series |
| Created by | Josh Selig |
| Directed by | Jennifer Oxley |
| Voices of | Sofie Zamchick Teala Dunn Danica Lee |
| Theme music composer | Salim-Sulaiman |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 42 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Nickelodeon |
| Original run | March 3, 2006 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | 3rd & Bird |
Wonder Pets is an American animated children's television series. It debuted on March 3, 2006, on the Nick Jr. block of the Nickelodeon cable television network and Noggin (now Nick Jr.) on the same day. It won an Emmy Award in 2008 for Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition.
Contents |
The Wonder Pets television series was created by Josh Selig for Little Airplane Productions. The show was first seen as a short Nick Jr.'s film series called Linny the Guinea Pig, in which a guinea pig named Linny traveled into space and under the ocean. Ming-Ming Duckling and Turtle Tuck were created when the show was expanded and called The Super Singing Power Pets!. The title was later shortened to Wonder Pets. The show's main characters are three elementary school classroom pets — Linny the Guinea Pig, Turtle Tuck, and Ming-Ming Duckling. They are presented as a trio of heroes who rescue baby animals as they demonstrate the benefits of teamwork.
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.
A good deal of the dialog is sung, so the show has been likened to operetta or singspiel. A 10-member live orchestra performs each episode, sometimes including other instrumentalists skilled in music from the region to which the pets are traveling during the episode.[1] Completing each episode takes thirty-three weeks from script to final delivery.[2]
| Linny the Guinea Pig | |
|---|---|
| The Wonder Pets! character | |
Linny the Guinea Pig |
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| First appearance | "Linny the Guinea Pig In Space" (shorts) "Save the Dolphin" (series) |
| Created by | Josh Selig |
| Portrayed by | Sofie Zamchick |
| Information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Family | Ginny the Guinea Pig (grandmother, voiced by Anne Meara)[3] |
Linny the Guinea Pig is a five-year-old girl [4] and the leader of the Wonder Pets. Linny is voiced by Sofie Zamchick in the United States version and Meisha Kelly (Alphabet Kidz) in the UK version. As a superhero, she wears an orange-yellow cap and a blue cape. Linny appears to be the most educated of the group, often providing different zoological and geographical information to the others. She is usually the one to remind the group about teamwork or other values and offer praise. She leads Ming-Ming and Tuck in most of the show's primary songs and usually has the responsibility of starting the "Flyboat". Linny's catch phrase is "This calls for some celery!", usually declared at the conclusion of each adventure. Before Wonder Pets, Linny starred in a few three-minute shorts on Nick Jr. titled Linny the Guinea Pig, where Linny would explore different environments such as the ocean and outer space.
| Tuck the Turtle | |
|---|---|
| The Wonder Pets! character | |
Turtle Tuck |
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| First appearance | "Rack, Shack, and Tuck" (shorts) "Save the Dolphin" (series) |
| Created by | Josh Selig |
| Portrayed by | Teala Dunn, Catherine Holden (UK) |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Family | Turtle Buck (cousin, voiced by Michael Hall D'Addario)[5] |
Tuck is a four-year-old Red Eared Slider terrapin boy. He is described as sensitive with an emotional connection to living things and the heart of the group. As a superhero, he wears a white French sailor's cap, blue Aquasocks, and a red cape. He is voiced by Teala Dunn in the United States version, and Catherine Holden (Alphabet Kidz) in the UK version. Tuck is empathetic, often desiring to give the rescued animals a hug or keeping them company while Linny and Ming-Ming put their rescue plan into action. He also has keen observational skills, spotting things from a distance, which often garners him the compliment, "Good eye, Tuck!".
| Ming-Ming the Duckling | |
|---|---|
| The Wonder Pets! character | |
Ming-Ming Duckling |
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| First appearance | 'Ming-Ming and the Pie War" (shorts) "Save the Dolphin" (series) |
| Created by | Josh Selig |
| Portrayed by | Danica Lee, Kaya Alexander |
| Information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Family | Elenora (aunt) Marvin Duckling (cousin toddler, voiced by Noah Lee)[6] |
At age 3,[7] Ming-Ming is an overconfident young duckling. As a superhero girl, she wears a leather pilot's helmet, goggles, and a green cape. Unlike the other Wonder Pets, she has the ability to fly. She can also speak "bird", allowing her to talk to other birds that the Wonder Pets encounter. Ming-Ming also believes that her great-grandfather was an eagle. Ming-Ming sometimes tries to take on big problems by herself and in one episode ("Save the Duckling") she even becomes the animal that needed rescuing. Ming-Ming often provides comic relief in the show. Ming-Ming is voiced by Danica Lee in the United States version, and Kaya Alexander in the UK version. When Lee auditioned for the role, she pronounced her "R" sounds as "W" sounds (as in "This is Se-wious!"). The producers said that Lee's speech impediment had an endearing quality and that young children commonly mispronounce certain sounds. Danica Lee has been nominated twice, in 2007 and 2008, for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program.[8]
| Ollie the Bunny | |
|---|---|
| The Wonder Pets! character | |
| First appearance | "Save the Skunk" (series) |
| Last appearance | "Adventures in Wonderland" |
| Created by | Josh Selig |
| Portrayed by | T.J. Stanton (2004–2008) Cooper Corrao (2008–2009) |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Family | Ollie's mom (unnamed, mother) Omie (sister) Baby Ollio (baby brother) |
He first guest stars in the series in the episode, "Save The Skunk!" At age 4, Ollie is a boy revealed as a visiting bunny by a child when his mother inquires, "Who's Ollie?" Ollie begs to go with the Wonder Pets when a baby skunk is stuck under a rosebush. The Wonder Pets tunnel into Ollie's cage to get him out. He boasts and brags a bit. For instance, at the line, "To help a baby (animal) and save the day..." Ollie interrupts after "To help a baby skunk..." and says, "And I'll save the day!" Then, when Tuck usually says, "And we're not too tough," Ollie changes it himself into, "And I'm really tough!" At first, Ollie wants to save the skunk himself, without using teamwork, but ends up scaring the skunk and getting sprayed. His digging skills are eventually determined by the Wonder Pets to be necessary in freeing the skunk. When the Wonder Pets return home, Ollie goes into the sink to wash off the skunk spray. Ollie made another appearance in the episode "Ollie to the Rescue!" where he tried to make his own animal saving team called "The Thunder Pets!". But since he did everything by himself, mostly because his other teammates were a painted rock and windup toy frog, he wasn't able to save the animal in trouble. Ollie's next appearance was in the episode "Here's Ollie!" where he invites the other pets to a sleepover at his underground home, and helping him fall asleep. Later he made an appearance in "The Amazing Ollie!" where he showed the pets a disappearing act and then needs the pets to rescue him when he really disappears! But it turns out that Ollie was in a secret compartment in the table that the hat was on. Ollie's next appearance was "Help the Easter Bunny!" when he and the other Wonder Pets, or "Wonder Bunnies", deliver the Easter eggs that the Easter Bunny didn't deliver due to his cold. His latest appearance was in "How It All Began!" where Linny tells him and the other pets how they met and became the Wonder Pets in the first place. It was revealed in this episode that Ollie was the first animal that the pets ever saved.
Ollie is currently voiced by Cooper Corrao in the United States version ("The Amazing Ollie!", "Help the Easter Bunny!", "How It All Began", "Adventures in Wonderland").[9] The first four Ollie appearances ("Save The Skunk!", "Ollie to the Rescue", "Here's Ollie!") were voiced by T.J. Stanton; however, the role was later recast.
| Little Bee | |
|---|---|
| The Wonder Pets! character | |
| First appearance | "Save the Bee!" (series) |
| Last appearance | "The Adventures of Bee & Slug!" |
| Created by | Josh Selig |
| Information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Family | Little Bee's mom (unnamed, mother) Slug (friend) |
Little Bee first guest stars in the Episode "Save the Bee!" where the pets shrink down to bug size, thanks to their shrinking machine, to help her collect flower nectar and make honey for the first time. She later made an appearance in "Save the Glowworm!" where she is friends with a cricket and a glowworm named Lucy, who is trying to find a talent. Her last appearance was in "The Adventures of Bee & Slug!", where she and a slug named Slug help watch the Flyboat, but then ends as an out-of-control joyride due to them sitting inside it when they weren't supposed to. But it is possibly that Bee and Slug may be in another episode coming soon in the future, because if you look closely at the scenery in the opening credits of "How it all Began!" then you can see that there is a picture of what appears to be Bee and slug riding a cart on a track in an underground cave.
Each episode follows a similar structure, with some variation, in terms of the storyline and the musical form.
As each episode begins, viewers hear the school children, off-screen, leaving school at the end of the day. They say goodbye to the classroom pets. Once the classroom is vacant, a pencil holder rattles to create the ringing of a telephone. Often, the classroom will be decorated with student artwork or other items related to the storyline, particular animal or geographic location of that episode.
One by one, the classroom pets wordlessly notice the ringing phone. Up to this point in the episode, they have acted like normal animals and not said a single word. But as the phone rings, the Wonder Pets get dressed and make their way towards the phone while singing their opening verses.
The Wonder Pets answer the phone and find that an animal is in trouble somewhere. Linny, the Guinea Pig, explains the situation to the other two: Tuck, the turtle and Ming-Ming, the duckling. They all jump into a box filled with fabric scraps and jump back out, wearing various different outfits, often alluding to the area of the world they will be visiting. They make a quick joke then jump back into the box and emerge in their Wonder Pets capes.
Once dressed, they assemble a flying boat called "The Flyboat" from classroom objects: a flying disc for a body, felt marker caps as rocket exhausts, a marble, wheels, the mast, and a sheet of paper for the sail. Usually, the Wonder Pets encounter some sort of obstacle before leaving the classroom. The solution is invariably similar to the action they will need to take to save the animal in trouble.
When saving the animal, the Wonder Pets often fail on the first few attempts. Then the danger escalates, prompting Ming-Ming to once again sing, "This is se-wious!" Suddenly, the Wonder Pets remember how they solved the problem in the classroom and realize that the rescue has the same solution. Then they have to work together to achieve the rescue.
Once the animal is saved, a parent or other relative often comes out of nowhere to give grateful thanks to the Wonder Pets for saving its baby. The Wonder Pets celebrate with a celery snack, which the rescued animal's parent sometimes adds to with a bit of regional food, or they insist on a regional preparation. Then they fly back to the classroom. They wordlessly return to their cages until the next episode. The Flying boat smoothly disassembles by itself. Linny is always the last one to get back in her cage, and her cape and cap come off. A music style having to do with that day's rescue is played, as Linny takes a bite out of the celery in her cage and winks towards the camera as the closing credits begin.
In each episode, the pets create something out of toys to get them to the animal in trouble.
The Flyboat is the most common vehicle that the pets assemble. The main base is a red flying disc with 4 blue and yellow wheels, it has 3 lights: 1 green, 1 orange and 1 purple; the Flyboat has a clear plastic bottom where 5 gears, that are possibly part of the engine, are visible. The Flyboat's rocket boosters are 2 felt marker caps that are controlled by a green Popsicle® stick that when lifted up makes boosters point down, which allows the Flyboat to hover in the air. Lastly the boat has a mast made out of blue Erector® pieces with a marble on top and a sail (the color/design/print varies) with the Wonder Pets logo on it. Usually, Linny drives the Flyboat, but there are episodes where Ming-Ming or Tuck drive instead. Most other modes of transportation are a variation of the Flyboat and primarily use the same components.
Fisher Price began distributing a line of official Wonder Pets toys in the U.S. in March 2008.[10] Toys include the Flyboat, figurine playsets and plush animals. These figurine playsets have each Wonder Pet saving a different baby animal. These include Linny saving a baby penguin, Tuck saving a baby bluebird and Ming-Ming rescuing a kitten. In addition there is a whale playset for the tub. Nickelodeon Universe, a theme park inside Minnesota's Mall of America, also has a children's ride dedicated to the Flyboat.[11]
Source:[23]
| Wonder Pets | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Wonder Pets | |
| Released | April 10th, 2005 |
| Genre | Children's |
| Label | Nick Records |
In addition to the DVDs and books, the show's self-titled track, Wonder Pets, was released on April 10, 2007.[24] The soundtrack features songs from the show itself, including the main self-titled theme song.
All songs are performed by the Wonder Pets unless otherwise noted.
Source:[24]
US cover art |
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| Publisher(s) | 2K Play |
|---|---|
| Publication date | October 27th, 2006 (US) April 3rd, 2007 (AUS) |
| Genre(s) | Adventure |
| System(s) | Nintendo DS, Wii |
| Players | 1 |
| Age range | 3+ |
| Website | Official website |
The show's first (and only) game was released on October 27, 2008 in the United States and on April 3, 2009 in Australia for the Nintendo DS.[25]
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