Time Warp Trio
Time Warp Trio is an animated television series, based on the children's book series written by Jon Scieszka. Produced by Soup2Nuts in association with WGBH Boston, the show airs on Discovery Kids (now The Hub) in the United States and on CBBC in the United Kingdom (it also aired as part of a two-hour Discovery Kids block on NBC until September 2, 2006). It is currently the only program by a PBS station, in this case WGBH, that did not air on PBS.
Plot
For his tenth birthday, Joe receives a mysterious blue book from his magician uncle and namesake, "Joe the Magnificent," known only as The Book. Using an often unpredictable number of voice and print clues, The Book transports Joe and his friends Fred and Sam to a variety of different times and places, from Camelot's medieval court of knights and dragons to the year 2105, where they meet their own great-granddaughters. The only way they are able to return present-day Brooklyn, New York is to find The Book again within whatever time period they are in. Later in the series, Joe's evil uncle, Mad Jack, makes several attempts to capture the children and The Book with his crafty tricks, whether stranding them in Antarctica or trying to make their new home China.
Characters
- Joseph "Joe" Arthur (voiced by Mark Randall) - An up-and-coming magician and the present-day owner of The Book, Joe is the unofficial leader of the Time Warp Trio. While his penchant for carrying The Book around with him and experimenting with it often results in many of their adventures, his talent for magical tricks also helps them out of many tough situations. Joe is at one point awarded the title of Time Page (which Jodie says she hasn't since she was five, despite not receiving The Book herself until her tenth birthday) and is said to eventually become a Warp Wizard. According to Freddi and Jodie, Joe will fight his uncle, Mad Jack, in a great battle that will determine the fate of time itself. He lives in Brooklyn with his archeologist father, his mother, and his little sister Anna.
- Sam (voiced by Darren Frost) - A friend of Joe and Fred who contributes his intelligence and historical knowledge to the group's problems. He wears thick glasses (he is self-conscious about being a nerd) and is lactose intolerant. Sam is also very wary of time travel, convinced their doom is imminent every time they open The Book. An amateur inventor, he is told by Freddi that he will invent something very important in the future (though it is not revealed what).
- Fred (voiced by Scott McCord) - A friend of Joe and Sam who is a sports fan and known for being headstrong, sometimes to the point of idiocy. Fred is known for being the one of the group most interested in using The Book for material gains, whether hunting for treasure or patenting future technology (although in 'Dude, Where's my Karma?' he decides to use the book in order to save Joe). He has a bullying older brother named Mike.
- Joe the Magnificent (voiced by Tony Daniels) - Joe's uncle, a would-be magician who fails at live performances. He originally sent his nephew Joe The Book, which he didn't know how to use, and instead traverses time and space with an enchanted pocket watch. He believes in the Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny.
- Mrs. Arthur (voiced by Susan Roman) - Joe's mother, who is known for being short-tempered. She understands how to use The Book, originally giving it to her brother (Joe's uncle) and later showing her son the page for choosing the specific time to visit.
- Anna Arthur (voice by Annick Obonsawin) - Joe's annoying younger sister, who shows having more knowledge of The Book than her brother.
- Jodie (voiced by Sarah Gadon then Tajja Isen) - Joe's great-granddaughter from the year 2105, who occasionally cross the paths of the trio with her friends Samantha and Freddi (all three have a great mastery of The Book). She is known for being bossy, complaining, loving fashion, and allergic to cats. Jodie is also a third-level warper.
- Samantha (voiced by Laurie Elliot) - Sam's great-granddaughter from the year 2105, who occasionally cross the paths of the trio with her friends Jodie and Freddi (all three have a great mastery of The Book). She is known for being teasing, daring, and a bit clumsy, an exact opposite of Sam. Samantha owns a robot cat named Rivites and a time-traveling pocket watch that belonged to Sam.
- Freddi (voiced by Sunday Muse) - Fred's great-granddaughter from the year 2105, who occasionally cross the paths of the trio with her friends Jodie and Samantha (all three have a great mastery of The Book). She has a fear of heights and bugs and seems to be an exact opposite of Fred.
- Mad Jack (voiced by Tony Daniels) - A character created for the TV series, Mad Jack is the evil brother of "Joe the Magnificent" and Anna Arthur. He is intent on getting his hands on The Book so that he can rule all of time and space, shadowing the trio in many of their travels and even once facing his nephew Joe down.
Episodes
- "The Not-So-Jolly Roger" - The boys' first adventure with the book where they accidentally join the crew of the pirate, Blackbeard.
- "2105" - The boys warp 100 years into the future and meet their great-granddaughters. (First appearances of Jodie, Samantha and Freddi.)
- "You Can't, But Genghis Khan" - When Sam accidentally throws a Mongolian menu into The Book, the boys almost get turned into roadkill and meet and become friends with the boy who will grow up to become Genghis Khan (Temüjin).
- "Tut, Tut" - Anna warps the boys back to Ancient Egypt, where they meet and befriend a Pharaoh and find themselves almost being mummified.
- "Sam Samurai" - The boys warp back to Japan, befriend a Samurai, and get involved in a battle. The girls turn up just in time to save their lives, but then Sam and Samantha get separated from the others when The Book warps them away.
- "See You Later, Gladiator" - The boys warp to ancient Rome and are almost forced to fight a gladiator.
- "Lewis and Clark... and Jodie, Freddi and Samantha" The girls accidentally warp into 1800 wilderness, where they befriend Lewis and Clark and Sacagewea.
- "Viking it and Liking it" - The boys befriend Leif Eriksson and help him discover America.
- "Hey Kid, Want to Buy a Bridge?" - The boys warp back in time while trying to go into the future to help Sam make an invention. Sam gets Edison's ideas stuck in his head.
- "Me Oh Maya" - The boys warp back to an ancient Mayan civilization and interrupt a sacred game.
- "The Good, the Bad, and the Goofy" - The trio is warped back to the time of the Indians and the "cowboys". After a frantic bull charge, the boys get stuck an Indian camp. They end up befriending the chief and save him and his people from the US Army, although the same chief was revealed to have been killed two weeks later.
- "Able Was I Ere I Saw Elba" - When Joe accidentally says a palindrome, he and Fred, along with Samantha, accidentally change history by having Napoleon win the Battle of Waterloo, as they discover on returning to the present which is radically different from how they left it; America is now called New France and everyone speaks French. The boys must return to the past to ensure that history takes its proper course.
- "The Seven Blunders of the World" - A weird man steals The Book and plots to rule the world with it. However, someone else also has the same plans (First time Mad Jack is not a background character)...
- "Jinga All the Way" - When Fred stabs The Book, he, Sam and Jodie warp to Africa and meet King Jinga .
- "Birdman or Birdbrain?" - Samantha, Fred and Freddi warp to Easter Island when the contents of The Book become a strange language.
- "Dude, Where's My Karma?" - Fred and Sam intervene when Mad Jack tries to kill Joe's ancestor so he will never be born.
- "My Big Fat Greek Olympics" - Fred accidentally warps himself and Samantha to the Greek Olympics, while simultaneously warping Sam to a futuristic, topsey-turvy diner.
- "Wushu Were Here" - Fred, Joe and Anna warp to China to find a way to free Sam, who has become trapped inside The Book.
- "What's So Great About Peter?" - Fred convinces Sam and Samantha to go back in time to Russia to look for a family fortune.
- "The Caveman Catastrophe" - On a visit to the Stone Age, Sam, Fred, and Jodie get turned into Neanderthals after accidentally changing events there. The only way for them to return to normal is to discover the reason behind the change and ensure that history is set straight.
- "Nightmare on Joe's Street" - Frankenstein's Monster gets unleashed in Joe's kitchen after the creature mysteriously turns up in the hall closet. Joe and Sam go back in time to find Mary Shelly and set things straight.
- "Breaking the Codex" - The kids have to save Leonardo Da Vinci from Mad Jack.
- "Break an Egg" - Mad Jack attempts to trap the boys in Antarctica during Robert F. Scott's 1911 expedition. Scott befriends the trio and helps them retrieve the book.
- "The High and the Flighty" - Jodie, Samantha and Freddi warp back in time to try to find out what happened to Amelia Earhart, and try to prevent her disappearance.
- "Harem Scare'em" - The kids warp to the Ottoman Empire to find the Time Map.
- "Plaid to the Bone" - Joe, Jodie and Anna are forced to help a castle from an invasion.
Media
Comics
- Nightmare on Joe's Street
- The Seven Blunders of the World
- Plaid to the Bone
- Meet you at Waterloo (Able Was I, Ere I Saw Elba)
Chapter Books
- You Can't, But Genghis Khan
- Lewis and Clark...and Jodie, Freddi, and Samantha
- Wushu Were Here
Future
The last first-run episode of "Time Warp Trio" aired on Discovery Kids on July 15, 2006 (during a marathon featuring six other first-run episodes) and on NBC on September 2 (also marking the end of the "Discovery Kids on NBC" block). TV.com blogs have stated a new season and a movie should be expected, but there have been only non-committal responses from WGBH, Soup2Nuts, and PBS on future productions.
External links