Max & Ruby

Max & Ruby
Based on	Max & Ruby book series by Rosemary Wells
Directed by	Jamie Whitney (seasons 1–5) Steven Boeckler (season 2) Derek Prout (season 6–present)
Voices of	Katie Griffin Samantha Morton Billy Rosemberg Julie Lemieux Kay Hawtrey Rebecca Peters Tyler Stevenson Drew Davis Gavin MacIver-Wright Lana Carillo
Theme music composer	Geoff Bennett Ben Johannesen Andre Hirz
Composer(s)	Geoff Bennett Ben Johannesen Andre Hirz
Country of origin	Canada United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	90 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Michael Hirsh (seasons 1–2) Scott Dyer (seasons 1–4; 6–present) Tina Peel (seasons 1–3) Vince Commisso (seasons 3–5) Steven Jarosz (seasons 3–5) Doug Murphy (seasons 3–5) Diana Manson (season 4–present) Colin Bohm (season 6–present) Megan Laughton (season 6–present) Irene Weibel (season 6–present)
Producer(s)	Alice Bell (season 1) Tracy Leach (seasons 1–2) Venessa Esteves (season 6–present) Melissa Graham (season 6–present)
Running time	22–23 minutes
Production company(s)	Nelvana[1] Silver Lining Productions (seasons 1–3) Treehouse Original 9 Story Entertainment (seasons 3–5) Chorion (season 4)
Distributor	Nelvana (seasons 3–4)
Release
Original network	Treehouse TV Nick Jr.
Picture format	480i (2003–10) HDTV 1080i (2011–present)
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	May 3, 2002 (2002-05-03) – present
External links
Website	http://maxandruby.treehousetv.com
Production website	www.nelvana.com/show/97/max-and-ruby

Max & Ruby is an animated children's television series based on the book series by Rosemary Wells. In Canada, the series debuted on Treehouse TV on May 3, 2002,^[2] and in the United States, the series premiered on Nick Jr. on October 21.^[3]

Plot

Max & Ruby is about two rabbits; Max Bunny, a rambunctious and determined three-year-old, and his older sister Ruby Bunny, a patient, goal-oriented, and sometimes restrictive seven-year-old.^[4]

Characters

Main

• Max Bunny (voiced by Billy Rosemberg in seasons 1–3, Tyler Stevenson in seasons 4–5, and Gavin MacIver-Wright in season 6) is a white rabbit, and Ruby's three-and-a-half, later four-year-old brother.^[5] In every episode, Max says one word and Ruby always thinks it's no help, but in the end Max is right. Ruby will try to talk him out of it, but he'll keep asking for what he wants, and will eventually find a way to outsmart Ruby. Max is smart, and is able to read situations better than his sister. In season 6, Max becomes old enough to attend preschool and can communicate better as he uses complete sentences. Max also no longer wears his overalls and instead wears a shirt with white and orange stripes, along with blue pants.
• Ruby Bunny (voiced by Katie Griffin in season 1, Samantha Morton in season 2, Rebecca Peters in seasons 3–5, and Lana Carillo in season 6) is a white rabbit, and Max's seven, later eight-year-old sister.^[5] She is over-protective of Max, and will often persuade him to do something against his will because it's "what's best for him". At times, she incorrectly judges things. Ruby's best friends are Louise, Valerie, and Martha, who are all part of the Bunny Scout group. She is somewhat a perfectionist when it comes to certain things, and likes things to be neat and tidy, in contrast with Max who is messy and untidy. In season 6, she is seen attending school along with Max, and is Ms. Bunty's assistant helper. She's known to not realize things due to Max and his toys getting in the way, but her friends cheer it to her after a while.
• Grandma (voiced by Kay Hawtrey) is Mr. Bunny's mother and paternal grandma of Max and Ruby. She likes to have fun and has an attic full of clothes and a treasure box that has a memory picture of herself and her husband wearing some fancy clothes to a festival. She has gray fur, wears a blue dress and is frequently involved with her grandchildren. Grandma appears to love her grandchildren. Even though Ruby believes that Grandma won't like Max's ideas, she is always revealed to like both Max and Ruby's ideas equally. However, she usually sides with Max when Max outsmarts Ruby and when Ruby assumes Grandma will love her ideas better than Max's. In Seasons 1 and 2, Ruby wears a purple shirt and a yellow dress, in Seasons 3, 4, and 5, she wears a dark pink dress and a light pink shirt, and in Season 6, she wears a blue polka dotted pink dress, along with a light purple cardigan sweater.
• Mr. and Mrs. Bunny (voiced by David Pentwick and Caroly Larson) are Max and Ruby's parents. In the first five seasons they only appeared in the background in photographs. They make their first physical appearance in season 6, and subsequently appear on a regular basis. Mr. Bunny is Grandma's son. Mrs. Bunny and Ruby are close and she trusts Ruby's ability to help out with Max. They tend to let Max and Ruby solve their problems on their own and usually go about their daily business, though may occasionally check in on them from time-to-time or ask how their day went at the conclusion of the story.

Recurring

• Louise (voiced by Julie Lemieux) – A tan rabbit who is Ruby's best friend. She likes to have fun and has a cousin named Morris who is friends with Max; Morris also manages to be more clever than she is. She is also known for liking to attend parties and events like Max's birthday, and beach parties. She has auburn fur and wears a green tartan dress. Physically, she looks similar to Ruby except she's slightly taller. She tends to view things in the same girlishly romanticized way Ruby does, but is more open to other ideas. She also shares Ruby's inability to understand typical boyish interests like toy cars. She also has the same girlish infatuation with Roger that Ruby does, though this doesn't get in the way of their friendship. She sometimes isn't sure about Ruby's ideas but decides to help her out anyway and mostly decides to join her in her ideas. There is sort of a running gag in certain episodes, where Louise will have trouble pronouncing certain scientific words or names such as amphibian or paleontologist, which will cause her to mispronounce them for most of the episode, though she will finally end up saying the word correctly near the end of the episode. Even though Morris is her cousin, she treats him more like a little brother. Like Ruby, she will often sigh and say "Little Brothers" in response to Max's childish antics.
• Morris (originally voiced by Cameron Ansell, replaced by Nicholas Fry in Season 6) – Max's best friend and Louise's cousin, though he acts more like an older brother to him. He doesn't know how to talk as well as Max. Upon their first meeting, he was unfriendly towards Max, but they quickly became friends and takes on the role of Max's sidekick, going along with whatever Max is doing. Like Max he is a big fan of Super Bunny and often pretends he is Zoom-Zoom, Super Bunny's faithful sidekick when playing Super Bunny with Max. In Season 6, he attends preschool with Max and like Max also now speaks in complete sentences.
• Valerie (originally voiced by Alexis Walla, replaced by Loretta Jafelice in Season 6) – A friend of Ruby's, she is brown, wears a red and gold dress, has glasses and is shorter than Ruby and her other friends. She is very talented at playing the recorder and is in Bunny Scouts with Ruby, Louise, and Martha.
• Martha (voiced by Tabitha St. Germain) – A friend of Ruby's; however she is not seen as often as Louise or Valerie. She goes to, and is usually seen, at Bunny Scouts with Ruby, Louise, and Valerie, but sometimes joins them when playing. She has gold fur and is the only one of Ruby's friends with eyelashes.
• Aunt Claire and Uncle Nate – Max and Ruby's great aunt and great uncle who where first mentioned by Ruby in "Max's Birthday", after she discovered their unopened birthday present for Max, which contained the Wind-Up Lobster. In "Max and Ruby's Train Trip", "Go to Sleep Max", and "Conductor Max", Max, Ruby, and Grandma travel by train to Bunnyvale to visit Aunt Claire and Uncle Nate. They make their first physical appearance in the series near the end of "Conductor Max", where they met Max, Ruby, and Grandma shortly after Max finds the missing gift card Ruby made for Aunt Claire and Uncle Nate which she gives to them shortly after they arrive.
• Baby Huffington (voiced by Joshua Savage) – The son of Mr. and Mrs. Huffington who Ruby often babysits. Baby Huffington is sometimes referred to as Baby H. Contrary to what Ruby believes, Baby Huffington enjoys noise and loves Max's noisy toys like his Green Alien Gorilla and Good Morning Macaw. During one episode Max helps Ruby discover that the secret to getting Baby H to fall asleep is the Huffington's Cuckoo Clock. He seems to like space rockets, robots, and Super Bunny. Due to their similar interests and likes, Max often proves to be a great help to Ruby when she is babysitting Baby H.
• Mrs. Huffington (originally voiced by Emily Scott, replaced by Catherine Disher in season 6) – The wife of Mr. Huffington and mother of Baby Huffington and the daughter of Bunny Scout Leader. Mrs. Huffington is a talented Baton twirler and cheerleader, and she taught Ruby and Louise how to twirl batons and is one of the new Bunny Scout leaders since the episode "Max's Nightlight", though considering her mother is Bunny Scout Leader, it is likely that she was a Bunny Scout in her youth and has since become a scout leader as an adult.
• Mr. Huffington (voiced by John Torres) – Mrs. Huffington's husband and father of Baby Huffington. Mr. Huffington is shown with various jobs, he has appeared as a clown and a photographer. He also works at various fairs and events that Max and Ruby attend.
• Bunny Scout Leader (voiced by Sarah Adams) – The leader of the Bunny Scouts, to which Ruby, Louise, Martha, and Valerie are members. She is seen infrequently, usually testing the girls to earn badges. Ruby and her fellows respect her and Ruby has been known to mention things that she has learned from her, like in Max Get Wet when she tells Max that Bunny Scout Leader taught her to wait 1/2 hour after eating before swimming to avoid getting a cramp.
• Mr. Piazza (voiced by Jamie Watson) – Mr. Piazza runs the local market in East Bunnyhop and is the father of Roger. During East Bunnyhop's cultural festivals, Mr. Piazza runs the Italy table and is knowledgeable about Italian food and culture. He is also implied to be Italian himself.
• Roger Piazza (voiced by Robert Hall) – The son of Mr. Piazza. Roger is "almost seven and a half" years old.^[6] Roger is athletically gifted and participates in a variety of sports. He treats Max like a little brother and is into basketball, football, sledding, hockey, and toy racing cars (to Ruby and Louise's dismay). Roger has a cameo in the episode "Max's Rocket Run" where he sleds down the biggest sledding hill, Rocket Run with a large group of bunnies, three days after Christmas which is his first appearance. Louise and Ruby are infatuated with him. In the first two seasons he says only "Uh-huh" and "Uh-uh", but speaks completely in season three, season four, and season five. He often helps his father at his store and helps out with Max and Ruby's projects such as in Max Saves the Parade. In later episodes, Ruby often has Roger babysit her brother in order to distract Max by teaching him how to play various sports in order to keep Max from interfering with her and her friends' various games and projects.
• Super Bunny – Max's favorite Super Hero. Max has a Super Bunny comic book and Super Bunny pajamas, and often listens to Super Bunny radio program. In Ruby's New Shoes, Max wants to meet Super Bunny who is appearing at the local mall, but Ruby wants to find a new pair of shoes. In the end, Max and Super Bunny save Ruby from a falling stack of shoe boxes and Ruby finds a pair of new shoes in one of the boxes that fell. Max also enjoys emulating Super Bunny as Super Max. He has a faithful sidekick named Zoom-Zoom. Super Bunny is a homage/parody of Superman. In "Ruby's Bedtime Story", the cover of Max's Super Bunny comic book is based on the cover Action Comics 1.
• Bunny Drew - Ruby's favorite fictional detective who is a homage/parody of Nancy Drew. Ruby enjoys read Nancy Drew mystery novels and sometimes emulates her as Detective Ruby. Most of her novels involve her investigating the theft of valuable objects. In "Ruby's Detective Agency", Max had given Mrs. Quack to Grandma so she could knit a sweater for Mrs. Quack. Ruby, for unknown reasons, was unaware of this and she decides to use Bunny Drew's methods to solve the mystery with Max as her assistant and eventually discovers what happened. In "Ruby's Big Case", Ruby borrows an old Nancy Drew book of Grandma's to read with Louise, but is forced to investigate when some of the pages go missing and she goes on a mystery. In "Ruby's Bedtime Story", Ruby tries to figure out who the thief was in a Nancy Drew novel before she goes to bed, but keeps getting interrupted by Max who wants her to read him a bedtime story. At the end of the episode, when Ruby finally figures out who the thief was, she laughs "You'll never guess who it was Max!", though it is never revealed exactly who it was.
• Wind-Up Lobster – A wind-up Lobster toy that was one of Max's birthday presents in Max's Birthday, from his and Ruby's Aunt Claire and Uncle Nate which Max didn't like at first though after having fun being chased by it he finds he likes it and decides to keep it. After this it appears in various episodes. Despite being just a wind-up toy, it has an odd habit of causing trouble and as a result often plays the role of antagonist in Max's games and even in some episodes, albeit as an animate object that causes trouble, though it is often depicted peeking around corners menacingly like a stereotypical villain. Max simply refers to it as Lobster. In Detective Ruby, several of Ruby's things go missing and she plays detective to solve the mystery though Max realizes that his Lobster is responsible and tries to tell Ruby, but she thinks he just wants her to join him playing with his Lobster. In The Boy who Cried Lobster, Max is blamed for damaging Ruby's cake when it was actually caused by Max's Lobster and when Max tries to tell Ruby the truth, she doesn't believe him and ends up telling him a bunny tale of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, however after Ruby finishes the story, she sees the Lobster damage her cake, and realizes Max was telling the truth all along. In Ruby's Jigsaw Puzzle, it steals a piece from Ruby's ballerina jigsaw puzzle and Max tries to chase it down to retrieve it for Ruby, but Ruby unaware of the theft interferes in her attempts to get Max to leave her alone, though eventually she discovers the theft and together they manage to catch it. Despite all the trouble it causes, sometimes it can prove to be helpful such as in Ruby's Tent when its claw gets stuck on a rope of Ruby's tent, pulling up the tent allowing Valerie to pin the rope down with a peg, allowing her and Ruby to earn their tent merit badge.
• Candi (voiced by Carolyn Hennesy) – Owner of the candy shop in East Bunnyhop. Ruby occasionally worked in her store and visits her occasionally. Due to Max's love of sweets, he is quite fond of Candi as well as the sweets she makes and sells such as her Candy Apples. Besides candy, Candi's shop is shown to occasionally sell simple toys such as vampire teeth in Bunny Money. During East Bunnyhop's cultural festivals, Candi runs the India table and is shown to be knowledgeable of Indian culture.
• Rosalinda (voiced by Anne Hill) – Owner of a gift shop that sells jewelry and collectibles and a friend of Max and Ruby's grandmother, Mary. She has a pet Parrot named Pandora. In Ruby's Autograph, it is revealed she also runs the dance studio that Ruby attends and in the past was the famous Ballerina Bunny Pavlova's dance teacher when she lived in East Bunny Hoop. During the East Bunnyhop's cultural festivals, Roslinda runs the Mexican table and is shown to be knowledgeable of Mexican culture.
• Katie (voiced by Yvonne Craig) – Waitress at the diner in East Bunnyhop. During East Bunnyhop's cultural festivals, Katie runs the Japan table and is shown to be knowledgeable of Japanese culture.
• Ms. Bunty – Max's preschool teacher who first appears in the Season 6 episode, "Max's Preschool".
• Winston – One of Max's classmates who appears in Season 6. He is handicapped and uses a wheelchair, but is just as active as his classmates. In "Max! Bam! Boom!", it is mentioned that he has a talent for juggling.
• Lily (voiced by Kallan Holley) – One of Max's classmates who appears in Season 6. In "Show and Tell", it is revealed that she enjoys playing soccer. She is also the first of Max's new school friends to hang out with him outside of school.
• Priya – (voiced by Laaibah Alvi) One of Max's classmates who appears in Season 6. She is shy and has trouble opening up to others, but Max eventually discovers that being his fun, silly self is the best way to get her to open up in "Max and Priya."
• Mr. Estevez – Ruby, Louise, and Valerie's new teacher who first appears in the Season 6 episode, "Ruby's Teacher". Ruby and her friends initially assumed their teacher would be female and made a special card for their new teacher based on this false assumption. Fortunately for Ruby, Max had altered the card Ruby had made without her knowledge, which was more to Mr. Estevez's liking.

Production

Max & Ruby is produced by Nelvana and Treehouse in seasons 1–6, and 9 Story Media Group in seasons 3–5 in Canada, and Silver Lining Productions in seasons 1–3, and Chorion in season 4 in the United States. According to Wells, the series shows the relationship between Ruby, Max, and the universal nature of sibling relationships.^[7] A sixth season of the series premiered on September 18, 2016,^[8] with a new main voice cast and theme song.

New episodes of the series are scheduled to premiere Fall 2017.^[9]

In an interview with someone at Nick Jr. that is no longer online, Wells has said in her defense about Max and Ruby's unseen parents that "we don't see Max and Ruby's parents, because [she] believe[s] that kids resolve their issues and conflicts differently when they are on their own. The television series gives kids a sense about how these two siblings resolve their conflicts in a humorous and entertaining way."^[7] However, in season 6 the series finally introduced Max and Ruby's parents.^[10]

Episodes

Broadcast

Max & Ruby debuted on Treehouse TV in Canada on May 3, 2002.^[11] The series aired on Nick Jr. in the United States on October 21.^[12] A British English dub is broadcast on Nick Jr. in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

References

External links

• Max and Ruby on IMDb
• Max and Ruby at TV.com
• Max & Ruby at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Max & Ruby on Facebook
• Max & Ruby on Treehouse TV
• Max & Ruby on Nick Jr.