Wonder Quest (web series)

Wonder Quest
Title card from seasons 1–2
Genre	Edutainment YouTuber
Created by	Maker Studios Joseph Garrett
Written by	Joseph Garrett Patrick Muhlberger Ryan Burns
Starring	Joseph Garrett Adam Clarke Shay Carl
Composer(s)	Seth Earnest Duke Westlake
Country of origin	United States/United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	24
Production
Producer(s)	Patrick Muhlberger
Production company(s)	Maker Studios YouTube
Release
Original release	April 25, 2015 – Present
External links
Wonder Quest Channel	www.youtube.com/channel/UC7O_8zNcaWMEj4Kc844Cieg
Production website	www.makerstudios.com

Wonder Quest is an edutainment children’s web series from Disney’s Maker Studios. It is created by Joseph Garrett, a prominent YouTube commentator who posts videos primarily set in the sandbox game, Minecraft.^[1] The series is scripted by Patrick Muhlberger, Ryan Burns, and Garrett and produced by Patrick Mulberger.^[2] The Minecraft educational content was initially developed by Adam Clarke^[3].

Featured on the Wonder Quest YouTube channel, Maker Studios describes the series as a spinoff series of Joseph Garrett’s main YouTube channel, starring the character Stampy Cat.^[1] Citing the runaway success of Minecraft as inspiration for Wonder Quest at the MIPTV television industry conference in Cannes, Garrett states that “If you take their engagement and put it into a more productive space like education or the arts, they’re going to be involved in that, they’re going to be engaged.”.^[4]

Wonder Quest premiered on April 25, 2015. As of December 2016, the series has garnered over 101 million views.^[5] The first episode of season 2 was released on August 20, 2016.^[1]

Premise

Season 1

Set in the town of Wonderberg, Stampy Cat and his newly acquainted friend, Wizard Keen, try to save the town from the evil and not so funny wizard, Heinous. Together, they set on an adventure to piece back together the 5 wonderments of the wonder gem to bring back wonder in Wonderberg, but encounter trouble along the way.

Season 2

Stampy Cat and Wizard Keen return after receiving a mysterious invitation to the Society of Wonderers. As new members of the society, the Head Wonderer, Priscilla, charges the duo to spread wonder and guard Wonderberg from evil forces. The reassembled team encounters Rama, a rejected member of the society who changed the past to stop the world's greatest wonderers from wondering. Using a time travel machine, the team sets on another adventure to bring back wonder to the present.

Voice cast

• Joseph Garrett as Stampy Cat^[1]
• Adam Clarke as Wizard Keen^[1]
• Shay Carl as Heinous^[1]
• Roger Craig Smith as Flunky
• Richard Steven Horvitz as Lacky

Production and release

Wonder Quest was first announced by Garrett at the MIPTV television industry conference in April 2015. The series is a partnership between Joseph Garrett and Maker Studios. YouTube secured rights as the exclusive distributor of the series, as its parent company Google pushed for a wider coverage of children’s content on their video streaming site.^[6]

The series takes on a different format to Garrett’s normal slate of videos: “It’s different to my normal videos just playing and talking about Minecraft. It’s a completely scripted show, and the production values are much higher: there’s an original score and lots of sound effects and overlays.”. Additionally, the series is pitched as an educational show for children, however Garrett stressed that entertainment is the main priority: "There’s no point having an educational show if nobody’s going to watch it".^[6]

The original Minecraft maps were built by The Voxelbox, Blockworks and Johan “Dragnoz” Kruger. Original soundtrack was composed by Seth Earnest.^[7]

Wonder Quest premiered on April 25, 2015. Episodes are released on a weekly schedule with an animated I Wonder episode.^[5]

As part of YouTube gaming's virtual reality initiative, season 2 of Wonder Quest includes content uploaded in 360° video. Installments of the virtual reality content immerses fans in interactive games, stories and rides.^[8]

I Wonder

Every Wonder Quest episode is accompanied by a short animated side series called I Wonder, also produced by Maker Studios. The short series, each lasting around three minutes in length, features Stampy Cat and Wizard Keen investigating educational topics explored in each corresponding Wonder Quest episode. The supervising producer was Cella Duffy and the co-directors are Josh Bitzer and TJ Fuller.^[9]Original music for I Wonder is composed by Duke Westlake.^[9]

Side Quest

Side Quest is a companion series for Wonder Quest featured on Garrett’s main channel, Stampylonghead. Unlike Wonder Quest and I Wonder, this series uses the Let’s Play format. In this series, Stampy explores the world of Wonderberg with Wizard Keen, Sqaishey and other characters.^[10]

Awards

References