WordWorld
| WordWorld |
|
| Genre |
Children's television series
Animated cartoon
Comedy |
| Created by |
Don Moody
Jacqueline Moody
Peter Schnelder
Gary Friedman |
| Directed by |
Olexa Hewryk |
| Country of origin |
United States |
| Language(s) |
English |
| No. of seasons |
3 |
| No. of episodes |
46 |
| Production |
| Executive producer(s) |
Don Moody
Jacqueline Moody
Olexa Hewryk
Sue Hollenberg |
| Producer(s) |
Sue Hollenberg
Alia Nakashima |
| Running time |
28 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
WordWorld
WTTW National Productions |
| Broadcast |
| Original channel |
PBS
TVO
EBS Nickjr Playhouse disney Disney junior |
| Picture format |
1080i (HDTV) |
| Original run |
September 3, 2007 – present |
| External links |
| Website |
WordWorld is a three-time Emmy Award-winning children's television series [1] partially funded by the United States Department of Education as part of the Ready To Learn literacy initiative targeted to 3- to 7-year olds. The show airs in 10 languages and 90 countries, including in the United States. The television series, created by Don Moody and Jacqueline Moody, stars Dog and his WordFriends. In each WordWorld television episode, Dog embarks on a series of adventures where the only way to save the day is to "build a word". The show’s novelty is that when a word is built correctly, it morphs into the thing it represents, which gives instant meaning to the word. The WordWorld television series has been translated into popular mobile applications, Internet-based games, magnetic plush and other toys.
WordWorld delivers a holistic curriculum that helps children develop the core literacy skills required to read. Third-party testing demonstrates that WordWorld improves children’s literacy skills.
Television Series
The WordWorld television series currently airs in 90 countries and 10 languages. It premiered September 3, 2007 on CBeebies and Disney Junior and is currently in its third season, with 84 x 11-minute episodes. It is usually ranked as one of the top five children’s shows on all broadcasters globally.
WordWorld currently broadcasts on PBS Kids.
WordWorld had been available on netflix's streaming service[2], but was removed in October of 2011.[3][4][5][6]
Educational Content
The main focus of the educational television show is literacy, with the shows curriculum being based on the National Reading Panel's 2000 Teaching Children to Read report with input from other groups and experts. The show aims to focus on print awareness, Phonics sensitivity and letter knowledge, Reading comprehension (including vocabulary development) and socio-emotional skills.[7]
Wordworld was developed for television by Executive Producer David Lipson, Emmy award winner Olexa Hewryk, and Don Moody. Moody was originally inspired by a study which found that children are likely to pay less attention to words if there is a character on screen at the same time so he founded WordWorld, LLC.[8] According to Moody, WordWorld's use of characters that physically resemble the letters that make up their names may cause children to pay more attention to words. “If children want to look at the character, then the words have to be the character,” he said.[8]
Characters
Main characters
First Main characters
- Bear - is a brown WordFriend who is kind and clever. She is an artist who is great at painting pictures. In the episode "Nightlight," it was revealed that Bear was afraid of the dark. She also appears to be a good artist, and lives in a CAVE. She also wears a purple bow on her head. In the episode called "Bear's Bed Sled", she gets an accident on her toe for crashing onto the tree after rolling into a snowball with Dog due to a high jump from the stump of the hill.
- Gender: Female
- Voiced by: Tara Jayne
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Sheep - is a WordFriend who is kindhearted, fashionable and intelligent. However, she can sometimes be a little selfish, but helps her friends out by dressing up as characters as diverse as a princess and a superheroine. Sheep lives in a stack of HAY as her home. When she puts on some different hats, she speaks with different accents. For example, when she puts on a detective's hat, she uses a British accent.
- Gender: Female
- Voiced by: Veronica Taylor
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Pig - is a WordFriend who is sometimes selfish when it comes to food, and he tends to eat the food he creates in his television show, "Cooking With Chef Pig," from his home in the BARN. In the episode, "Achoo!", it is revealed that Pig is allergic to peaches.
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: Jeff Bennett
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Frog - is a very intelligent and clever WordFriend. He is hydrophobic due to the water's slimy texture on his skin, and tends to say "Water, yuck." He is also the least courageous of all the other his WordFriends and living in a LOG.
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: Jim Cummings
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Dog - is a fun-loving dog who always likes to play with his WordFriends with his long ears up. He is the bravest among his WordFriends, as he was able to communicate with a monster in the episode "Dog's Camping Adventure," and follow a ghost — which was actually Pig sleepwalking in a blanket in the episode "A Kooky Spooky Halloween." He is also the only WordFriend who cannot talk, and lives in a HOUSE.
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: Soon will have a voice actor.
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Duck - is a WordFriend who is very playful and energetic. He loves to make friends with everyone. He also can't pronounce words well like in the episode "Sh-Sh-Shark" where he called Shark "S-hark." The aquatic fowl lives in a NEST. In the beginning of "Superhero Sheep", he accidentally crashes on it causing the letters to split.
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: H.D. Quinn
- Letters made of: Uppercase
The Bugs
- The Bugs: Fly and Bee - are fun-loving-WordFriends. They also have a band of their own, and all live in Frog's mailbox.
- Bug: Bug in the entire series has a green body with a hornlike nose and insect wings. As part of the Bug Band, he plays the empty JUG by using his nose. He also plays the TUBA when it is brought out.
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: Frank Welker
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Fly: Fly sometimes goes with other friends like Bear in "My Fuzzy Valentine". As part of the Bug Band, he plays the banjo with his arms.
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: Jeff Bennett
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Bee: Bee has brown stripes on his body. As part of the Bug Band, he plays the washer.
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: Tress MacNeille
- Letters made of: Lowercase
Other Main characters
- Ant - is the best friend of Pig. He also advises Pig not to eat the food Pig creates in his show "Cooking With Chef Pig". He has a lot of cousins that he usually calls for backup when there is a big situation. He also has a role as a cameraman in Pig's show. Ant lives in Pig's BARN or the anthill where he works as a radio announcer.
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: Rob Paulsen
- Letters made of: Lowercase
- Shark - is a friendly and gentle WordFriend who loves to make friends. He is blue and appears to be clever and smart. During his first appearance, other WordFriends are frightened and scared of him, due to his scary and menacing appearance. Shark lives in a sand CASTLE in the sea. He is also one of the aquatic WordFriends.
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: Frank Welker
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Giant - is a big ant, but only as shown in "There's an Ant in Every Giant".
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: Rob Paulsen (Same voice as "ant")
- Letters made of: Lowercase
Minor characters
Animals
First appearing in Season 1
- The Three Piggies - are the nephews of Pig. Their bodies are made out of lowercase letters "I" and "G" as well as the uppercase "P". They usually land into mischief, but they sometimes make up a helpful team. Like other Wordfriends, they build words to create things. In the episode "Rocket to the Moon", they build a rocket out of red lowercase letters. They also appear in "Pies, Pies, Pies" begging his uncle to "share the pies, NOT eat the pies!"
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by:
- Letters made of: Uppercase "P" and Lowercase "I" and "G"
- Cat - is the owner of the WordWorld junkyard when capital and turquoise with a tail made out of the capital "T". But she's lowercase and purple with a real stripy tail for the first time in "Get Well Soon Soup" where she visits Pig's BARN. She serves as the teacher (lowercase cat) at the SCHOOL for the first time in "Shark's First Day Of School".
- Gender: Female
- Voiced by: Nika Futterman
- Letters made of: Uppercase in first appearance and later on lowercase
- Monkey - is an energetic WordFriend who always like to have fun. His habitat is the JUNGLE. He appeared in the episodes "V is for Vacation," "Bit By Bit," "My Fuzzy Valentine," "You Can Never Have Too Many OOs," and the M song which Frog created using his machine. It is also revealed that in "You Can Never Have Too Many OOs," Monkey has a HUT with a straw ROOF on it with is tree as his shelter. He also has his three cousins who have different shades of brown and sing the blues harmoniously in the episode "M is for Map".
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: Cam Clarke
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Goat - is a fun-loving WordFriend in WordWorld who has an Irish accent. He builds in this episode, "Get Your Coat" as he tried to rebuild the boat and to build a coat. He is also an -oat word expert.
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: Jeff Bennett
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Kangaroo - is a hardworking WordFriend. She works as the WordWorld mail carrier as well as the engineer of the TRAIN. She has a light Australian accent and appeared in the episodes "Runaway O," "Mail Mix-up," "Waterlogged," "Pies, Pies, Pies!", "Back on Track", "You Can Never Have Too Many OOs," "Dancing Dog," and "Kite Flight."
- Gender: Female
- Voiced by: Lenore Zann
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Crab - is a WordFriend who mostly appears underwater. He is the best friend of Shark. He is also a singer and also uses his hands as castanets. He appeared in the episodes, "Castles in the Sand" and "The Dancing Duck Bonanza". Crab has a Trinidadian accent.
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: Miguel Dalemandro
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Elephant - is a WordFriend with a blue body who helps WordFriends; she appears in episodes including "Bit by Bit" and makes a cameo in "Pies, Pies, Pies!" and other episodes as one of the WordFriends in an audience. Her habitat is the JUNGLE and she is one of the WordFriends that stand on four legs.
- Gender: Female
- Voiced by: Kelly Metzger
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Cow - is another WordFriend who stands on four legs. She is always found eating grass. She makes cameos in several episodes. She says nothing but Moo.
- Gender: Female
- Voiced by: TBA (Cow doesn't have a voice actor.)
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Tiger - Appeared in the episode "M is for Map," "Pies, Pies, Pies!", and other episodes as well. She lives in the JUNGLE.
- Gender: Female
- Voiced by: Mona Marshall
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Hippo - Seen in audiences in "The Dancing Duck Bonanza" and "A Star Is Born". He wears glasses.
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: John Ratzenberger
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Bird - A tiny little blue bird who lives in a NEST on the branch of a TREE. She appears in some episodes.
- Gender: Female
- Voiced by: Russi Taylor
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Turtle - Lives in Frog's lake. First appears in the episode "Castles in the Sea," and other episodes like "The Best Nest". He talks in a deep voice and as revealed in "M is for Map", he sings bass anong the three monkeys who sing the blues.
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: Peter Cullen
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Mouse - Appears on a chalkboard in the episode "Bopping with the Bug Band". Will appear in some episode.
- Gender: TBA
- Voiced by: TBA (Mouse will have a voice actor.)
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Fox - Appears on a chalkboard just like Mouse in the episode "Bopping with the Bug Band". Also appeared in the episode "X Marks the Spot". He talks with a Northern Irish accent.
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by:
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Fish - Belongs to Sheep in a fishbowl. She is dressed as a witch in "Sheep's Halloween Costume".
- Gender: Female
- Voiced by: Tress MacNeille
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Whale - Sheep's best friend who lives in the ocean. She makes her first appearance in the episode "Wee Little Whale" where she begins as a "baby" whale. Water makes her grow bigger and her voice mature a little.
- Gender: Female
- Voiced by: Grey DeLisle
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Owl - Appears in a couple of episodes and only hoots.
- Gender:
- Voiced by:
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Cricket - Appears in "Dog's Camping Adventure" and "A Star is Born."
- Gender:
- Voiced by:
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Ant's Cousins - Related to Ant. Four of these cousins are built in the episode called "Achoo!" and all of them also appear in the episode "Pies, Pies, Pies!"
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: Various actors
- Letters made of: Lowercase
- Bird's Baby - A baby bird that came out of the mother's egg.
- Gender:
- Voiced by:
- Letters made of: Lowercase
First appearing in Season 2
- Spider - Lives in a WEB in a TREE near Duck's NEST. She first appeared in "Duck Saves Spider's Web" as a purple character.
- Gender: Female
- Voiced by: Jane Lynch
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Caterpillar - Lives on a swan plant. She first appeared in "Caterpillar Gets a Home" with all her letters descending from the rain and is befriended by Duck. Will there will be a new caterpillar after the first appearance of a BUTTERFLY in WordWorld?
- Gender: Female
- Voiced by: Wendee Lee
- Letters made of: Lowercase
First appearing in Season 3
- Pelican - Appeared in "Kite Flight" and "Race to the Spaeship".
- Gender:
- Voiced by:
- Letters made of: Lowercase
Characters coming soon
- Crocodile - She appears in the episode "A Smile For Crocodile."
- Gender: Female
- Voiced by: (Will soon have a voice actor.)
- Letters made of:
- Zebra - He appears in "How The Zebra Lost His Stripes."
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: (Will soon have a voice actor.)
- Letters made of:
- Quail - He appears in "Q and U Stick Like Glue."
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: (Will soon have a voice actor.)
- Letters made of:
- Gender: Female
- Voiced by: (Will soon have a voice actor.)
- Letters made of:
- Rabbit - She appears in "Nightingale's Nest" when she helps Duck find the missing letter N from Nightingale's nest. She is the most shyest and most cheerful Wordfriend. She is white.
- Gender: Female
- Voiced by: (Will soon have a voice actor. Could be the same voice actor of Lily from "The Letter Factory")
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Raccoon - He appears in "How The Zebra Lost His Stripes." He is made out of capital letters. He wears a black top hat.
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: (Will soon have a voice actor.)
- Letters made of:
- Alpaca - She will appear in "Where is my ZOO?" and have a voice actor or actress.
- Gender: Female
- Voiced by: (Will soon have a voice actor.)
- Letters made of:
- Dingo - Appears in "D is For Door". He is orange with a blue nose, and made out of capital letters.
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: (Will soon have a voice actor.)
- Letters made of:
- Toucan - Appears in "The Colors of a Rainbow".
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: (Will soon have a voice actor.)
- Letters made of:
Coming Soon to be first seen
- Lion - The King of WordWorld who lives in the jungle. Will soon be in an episode.
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: (Will soon have a voice actor.)
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Snail - Will appear in an episode.
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: (Will soon have a voice actor.)
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Worm - Will appear in an episode.
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: (Will soon have a voice actor.)
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Butterfly - Changes from CATERPILLAR. She will first appear in "Caterpillar Grows Up", when CATERPILLAR spins a COCOON, and changes into BUTTERFLY.
- Gender: Female
- Voiced by: (Will soon have a voice actor.)
- Letters made of:
Non-Animals
- Monster - is a friendly red WordFriend who appears to be sentient and clever. He is very helpful in the episode "Dog's Camping Trip" as he helped Dog find the letters for their tent. He is created from Frog's MACHINE.
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: Jim Cummings
- Letters made of: Uppercase
- Robot - This WordFriend hails from outer space and travels in a ROCKET. He is blue in more episodes. In the episode called "Play Ball", he is colored purple. Another ROBOT appears as having been assembled by Frog.
- Gender: Male
- Voiced by: Fred Newman
- Letters made of: Uppercase
Episode List
Season 1
- 1. Runaway O / Happy Birthday, Dog! (pilot episode)
- Airdate: September 3, 2007
- 2. There's an Ant in Every Giant / Chef Sheep
- Airdate: September 4, 2007
- 3. Rocket to the Moon / The Birds
- Airdate: September 5, 2007
- 4. The Mystery of the Disappearing Pie / Duck's Family Reunion
- Airdate: September 6, 2007
- 5. Sh-Sh-Shark! / Dog Wants to Play Ball
- Airdate: September 13, 2007
- 6. Pies, Pies, Pies! / Waterlogged!
- Airdate: September 14, 2007
- 7. Dog's Camping adventure / V is for Vacation
- Airdate: September 17, 2007
- 8. Snug as a Bug / Nightlight
- Airdate: September 18, 2007
- 9. Duck's First Sleepover Party / One Hat Fits All
- Airdate: September 19, 2007
- 10. Dancing Dog / Pig's Big Moonlight Feast
- Airdate: September 20, 2007
- 11. Boppin' with the Bug Band / Shuffleword
- Airdate: September 21, 2007
- 12. W Drought / Princess Sheep
- Airdate: September 24, 2007
- 13. Radio Read-A-Thon / Robots to the Rescue!
- Airdate: February 15, 2008
- 14. Pl-Pl-Plane! / Mail Mix-Up
- Airdate: March 3, 2008
- 15. Pig's Present / Tick Tock Space Clock
- Airdate: March 21, 2008
- 16. Castles in the Sea / Get Your Coat
- Airdate: April 7, 2008
- 17. Superhero Sheep / Pirate Ship
- Airdate: April 8, 2008
- 18. Playing Spies / Wee Little Whale
- Airdate: May 5, 2008
- 19. The Race to the Mystery Island / A Star is Born
- Airdate: May 6, 2008
- 20. Back on Track / The Rainbow Birthday Cake
- Airdate: May 23, 2008
- 21. Bit By Bit / Ride 'em, Cowbear!
- Airdate: June 23, 2008
- 22. Play Ball! / M is for Map
- Airdate: June 24, 2008
- 23. Flying Ant / The Dancing Duck Bonanza
- Airdate: July 7, 2008
- 24. The Lost Letter L / Catch That C!
- Airdate: August 18, 2008
- 25. A Kooky Spooky Halloween / Sheep's Halloween Costume
- Airdate: October 6, 2008
- 26. The Christmas Star / A Christmas Present for Dog
- Airdate: December 1, 2008
Season 2
- 1. My Fuzzy Valentine / Love, Bug
- Airdate: February 13, 2009
- 2. Duck Saves Spider's Web / Caterpillar Gets a Home
- Airdate: March 31, 2009
- 3. Bugs to the Rescue! / Sheep's First Bike Ride
- Airdate: April 13, 2009
- 4. Duck's Hiccups / Achoo!
- Airdate: May 11, 2009
- 5. Get Well Soon Soup / Mmm-Mmm-Milk
- Airdate: May 12, 2009
- 6. Get Set for 'ET' / Duck Plays the Piano
- Airdate: June 15, 2009
- 7. Shark's First Day of School / Shark's First Loose Tooth
- Airdate: July 13, 2009
- 8. Duck At Bat / You Can Never Have Too Many OO's
- Airdate: July 14, 2009
- 9. The Best Nest / Duck's Family Reunion
- Airdate: September 7, 2009
- 10. Bed Bugs / Snug as a Bug
- Airdate: September 8, 2009
- 11. Totally Terrific Duck / A Star is Born
- Airdate: October 12, 2009
- 12. Dog's Having a Party / Dog Wants to Play Ball
- Airdate: November 9, 2009
- 13. Welcome Home, Duck / The Lost Letter L
- Airdate: November 10, 2009
- 14. Bear's Bed Sled / Sh-Sh-Shark! (same as Episode 5-a)
- Airdate: December 28, 2009
Season 3
- 1. A String's the Thing / J-J-Jelly
- Airdate: October 4, 2010
- 2. Hide and Seek / Kite Flight
- Airdate: October 5, 2010
- 3. The Really Red Ruby / Firefighters to the Rescue
- Airdate: November 1, 2010
- 4. Think in the Rink / X Marks the Spot
- Airdate: November 2, 2010
- 5. Race to the Spaceship / Sandbox Surprise
- Airdate: January 17, 2011
Episodes Coming Soon
- 6. A Smile For Crocodile / How The Zebra Lost His Stripes
- Airdate: TBA
- 7. Q and U Stick Like Glue / Nightingale's Nest
- Airdate: TBA
- 8. D is for Door / The Silent E
- Airdate: TBA
- 9. Where Is My ZOO? / The Colors of a Rainbow
- Airdate: TBA
- 10. Rabbit's Magic Act / Caterpillar Grows Up
- Airdate: TBA
- 11. Pig's First Pizza Mix / Dog Celebrates The Dance Party
- Airdate: TBA
- 12. The Ant Bros. / There's an Ant in Every Giant
- Airdate: TBA
- 13. Duck Plays the Piano / Giant's Wishes
- Airdate: TBA
References
External links
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| See also |
- PBS network shows
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