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| Imagination Movers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Sitcom Musical |
| Developed by | Rick Gitelson |
| Starring | Rich Collins Dave Poche Scott Durbin Scott "Smitty" Smith Wendy Calio Douglas Fisher |
| Voices of | Kath Soucie Kevin Carlson |
| Opening theme | "Imagination Movers Theme Song" |
| Ending theme | "Mover Music (Jump Up!)" |
| Composer | Stuart Kollmorgen |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 75 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producers |
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| Editor | Terry Blythe |
| Running time | 24 minutes |
| Production companies | Penn/Bright Entertainment Zydeco Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | Disney Channel (Playhouse Disney block) (2008-2011) Disney Junior (2011-2013) |
| Release | September 6, 2008 – April 14, 2013 |
Imagination Movers is an American musical sitcom developed by Rick Gitelson and based on the format and music of the New Orleans music group of the same name that premiered its first two episodes consecutively on September 6, 2008, on Disney Channel's Playhouse Disney daily block, following the premiere of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode Pluto's Bubble Bath. On February 14, 2011, the series was moved to the Disney Junior block on Disney Channel, which was rebranded from Playhouse Disney.
Contents
Each episode of the series features songs written and performed by the aforementioned music group, whose official members all starred in the show.
During the first season, the writing staff consisted of three primary writers: Rick Gitelson, Scott Gray, and Randi Barnes. All three wrote most of the episodes that season, though Barnes occasionally had to step away due to scheduling conflicts. In addition, Michael G. Stern, Sheila Dinsmore-Rogerson, Laurie Israel, Rachel Ruderman, and Sharon Soboil provided additional writing contributions during the season.
For the second season, Rick Gitelson, Randi Barnes, and Scott Gray all returned as staff writers, beginning with the episode "Captain Terrific", written by Scott Gray, Randi Barnes, and Rick Gitelson. Beginning with the fifth episode, "Second Chance Pants" (directed by David Kendall), the writing staff for the rest of the season increased to 4: Michael G. Stern, Rick Gitelson, Randi Barnes, and Scott Gray. Peter Hunziker and Chara Campanella also individually wrote one episode during the second season, each with Rick Gitelson, Randi Barnes, Scott Gray, and Michael G. Stern. Peter Hunziker, Rick Gitelson, Randi Barnes, Scott Gray, and Michael G. Stern wrote the 11th episode, "Muffin Man" (directed by Francine McDougall). Chara Campanella, Rick Gitelson, Randi Barnes, Scott Gray, and Michael G. Stern wrote the 21st episode "Nina Gets the Giggles" (directed by Joe Menendez). In addition, the 19th episode of the second season, "Trouble In Paradise", written by Scott Gray, Randi Barnes, Rick Gitelson, and Michael G. Stern, was also directed by Gitelson, marking his overall directorial debut. The rest of the episodes saw the writing credits switched around each time. Like "Second Chance Pants", the episodes "Mouse and Home" and "Power Play" (both directed by Skot Bright), and "Birthday Ball" and "Seeing Stars" (both directed by Joe Menendez), were all written by Michael G. Stern, Rick Gitelson, Randi Barnes, and Scott Gray. "A Fairy Tale Ending" (directed by Linda Mendoza), "Out of Tunes" (directed by Skot Bright), "Knight Time" (directed by Joe Menendez), and "The Tale of Captain Kiddo" (directed by Linda Mendoza) were all written by Randi Barnes, Rick Gitelson, Scott Gray, and Michael G. Stern. "Tooth Fairy" (directed by Linda Mendoza) was written by Scott Gray, Rick Gitelson, Randi Barnes, and Michael G. Stern. Like "Trouble In Paradise", both "Ace Mulligan" and "Gimme Strength" (both directed by Francine McDougall) were written by Scott Gray, Randi Barnes, Rick Gitelson, and Michael G. Stern. "Happy Ha-Ha-Holidays" and "Bye Bye Butterfly" (both directed by Joe Menendez), and "Mouse Day" (directed by Wilmer Valderrama) were written by Michael G. Stern, Randi Barnes, Rick Gitelson, and Scott Gray.
For the final season, only Rick Gitelson, Randi Barnes, and Michael G. Stern returned as writers; Scott Gray had multiple commitments with other projects and was unable to return. Beginning with the second episode "Idea Café", Randi Barnes, Rick Gitelson, and Michael G. Stern wrote the teleplays themselves. Despite this, Maisha Closson and Michael "Mike" Rabb each individually wrote one other episode with them. Maisha Closson, Randi Barnes, Rick Gitelson, and Michael G. Stern wrote the first episode, "Goldilocks and the Four Movers", and Mike Rabb, Randi Barnes, Rick Gitelson, and Michael G. Stern wrote the fifth episode, "One Cool Mover". As the season progressed, Gitelson, Barnes, and Stern were joined by more writers. Beginning with the 6th episode, "The Prince Frog", the writing staff increased to 5: Jennifer Heftler, Randi Barnes, Rick Gitelson, Vivien Mejia, and Michael G. Stern. This episode was the first of the series to involve Heftler and Mejia. This further increased to 7 beginning with the next episode, "Fathers Know Best", which was written by only 6 of the main writers: Vivien Mejia, Brian Ash, Randi Barnes, Jennifer Heftler, David Sacks, and Michael G. Stern, without the involvement of Rick Gitelson. This episode marked the series debut of Ash and Sacks. All 8 staff writers worked on the subsequent episodes, except for the 11th episode, "Snorey Morrie", which was written by Vivien Mejia, Rick Gitelson, Randi Barnes, and Michael G. Stern. Jorge Aguirre also contributed to the following episode with David Sacks, Randi Barnes, Rick Gitelson, Jennifer Heftler, Vivien Mejia, and Michael G. Stern, the 12th episode, "Walkaway Walkie". Sacks, Ash, Heftler, and Mejia were also absent for the 13th episode, "Award to the Wise", which was written by Michael G. Stern, Randi Barnes, and Rick Gitelson. Towards the end of the season, Gitelson and Barnes had to step away temporarily to work on other projects. To account for their absences, as well as that of Heftler and occasionally Stern, veteran television writer Mark Saltzman, best known for his work on Sesame Street , joined the writing staff and contributed to six episodes, "Have You Ever Seen A Unicorn?", "Scott and the Beanstalk", "Uffle-Fluffs", "Switcheroo", "Shall We Dance", and "Aloha Nina." "Have You Ever Seen A Unicorn?" was written by Michael G. Stern, Brian Ash, Vivien Mejia, David Sacks, and Mark Saltzman. "Scott and the Beanstalk" and "Uffle-Fluffs" were both written by David Sacks, Brian Ash, Vivien Mejia, Mark Saltzman, and Michael G. Stern. "Switcheroo" was written by Randi Barnes, Brian Ash, Vivien Mejia, David Sacks, Mark Saltzman, and Michael G. Stern. "Shall We Dance" was written by Rick Gitelson, Brian Ash, Randi Barnes, Jennifer Heftler, Vivien Mejia, David Sacks, and Mark Saltzman. "Aloha Nina" was written by David Sacks, Brian Ash, Randi Barnes, Jennifer Heftler, Vivien Mejia, Mark Saltzman, and Michael G. Stern.
For the first season, the directing staff, which rotated each episode, consisted of Francine McDougall, David Kendall, Jonathan Judge, Henry Chan, Joe Menendez, Skot Bright, and Jonathan Winfrey. For the second season, only David Kendall, Joe Menendez, Skot Bright, and Francine McDougall returned, joined by developer and staff writer Rick Gitelson, Savage Steve Holland, Linda Mendoza, and actor and first-time director Wilmer Valderrama. Linda Mendoza, Joe Menendez, and Skot Bright all returned for the final season, joined by Eric Dean Seaton, Robert "Bob" Berlinger, Roger Christiansen, Jon A. Rosenbaum, and Rusty Cundieff.
For the entire run of the series, Kati Johnston served as producer and unit production manager, with frequent director Joe Menendez serving as supervising producer for the first two seasons, before being promoted to co-executive producer for the final season. Developer and staff writer Rick Gitelson served as a co-executive producer during the first season, and was promoted to executive producer for the subsequent two seasons. Frequent director Skot Bright also served as an executive producer alongside his partner Sascha Penn, through their production company Penn/Bright Entertainment. David Sacks, who (with Jennifer Heftler, Vivien Mejia, and Brian Ash) joined the series as a staff writer a few episodes into the final season, also served as an executive producer alongside Gitelson, Bright, and Penn for the remainder of the series. Imagination Movers band members and stars Rich Collins, Scott Durbin, Dave Poche, and Scott "Smitty" Smith held co-executive producer roles for all three seasons.
In addition to the regular episodes, the band also aired a live concert special titled "Imagination Movers: In Concert", on March 6, 2011. The special was directed by frequent series director Linda Mendoza, with pre-recorded segments directed by fellow recurring director Skot Bright, and produced by Eileen Bernstein and series regular Kati Johnston, with a teleplay written by Sascha Penn, who also retained his position as executive producer alongside Bright and series developer and staff writer Rick Gitelson. Band members Rich Collins, Scott Durbin, Dave Poche, and Scott "Smitty" Smith also returned as co-executive producers.
On May 24, 2011, it was announced that the series wouldn't be renewed for a fourth season (which meant a loss of several months of steady employment for the 100 members of the mostly local crew that worked on the show) and that it would end after the remaining episodes of the third season have aired, though the band itself can continue and is open to doing other projects. [1]
After the final episode originally aired on April 14, 2013, reruns continued to air on Disney Junior until May 16, 2014, and the entire series (excluding the concert special) was made available on the Disney+ streaming service on February 28, 2020. [2]
