Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends

Last updated

Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends
Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends TV Show Logo.png
Genre Children's television series
Created by David Kirk
Based onSunny Patch toy line and Miss Spider book series
by David Kirk
Developed by Nadine van der Velde
Written by
  • Nadine van der Velde
  • Scott Kraft
  • Steve Sullivan
  • Robin Stein
  • Michael Stokes
  • Dave Dias
  • Alice Prodanou
  • Elizabeth Keyishian
  • David Wilks
  • John van Bruggen
Directed by Neil Affleck
Lynn Reist
Voices of Kristin Davis
Scott Beaudin
Rebecca Brenner
Mitchell Eisner
Julie Lemieux
Robert Smith
Tony Jay
Theme music composer Jeff Danna
Opening theme"Be Good to Bugs"
Ending theme"Be Good to Bugs" (instrumental)
Composers
  • Jeff Danna
  • Norm Beaver
Country of origin
  • United Kingdom
  • Canada
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons3 [1] [2]
No. of episodes44 (85 segments) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Michael Hirsh
  • Scott Dyer
  • Nicholas Callaway
  • Doug Murphy
  • David Kirk
  • Nadine van der Velde
  • Andy Russell (S2)
ProducerPamela Lehn
Running time24 minutes (12 minutes per episode)
Production companies Callaway Arts & Entertainment
AbsoluteDigital Pictures
Nelvana
Original release
Network
ReleaseSeptember 7, 2004 (2004-09-07) 
August 9, 2009 (2009-08-09)
Related

Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends, sometimes shortened to Miss Spider or Sunny Patch, is a British-Canadian animated children's television series produced by Nelvana in association with AbsoluteDigital Pictures and Callaway Arts & Entertainment as a follow-up to Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids . [3] [4] It was based on David Kirk's Sunny Patch brand and the accompanying Miss Spider book series. [5] In Canada, the show aired on Teletoon before moving over to Treehouse TV. In the United States, it aired on Nick Jr. 44 episodes were produced. [6]

Contents

Premise

The show takes place in "Sunny Patch" (a tiny town made of common forest items), populated by anthropomorphic bugs, and primarily focuses on the Spider family. The episodes follow the children's adventures playing in Sunny Patch and learning life lessons, such as being kind to others, being imaginative, having responsibility, and being curious about the world around them.

Episodes

SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
1 13September 7, 2004 (2004-09-07)May 2, 2005 (2005-05-02)
2 13December 10, 2004 (2004-12-10)June 27, 2006 (2006-06-27)
3 17March 22, 2006 (2006-03-22)August 9, 2009 (2009-08-09)
Special July 24, 2006 (2006-07-24)

Characters

The main characters. Sunny Patch characters.jpg
The main characters.

Main

Supporting

Recurring

Villains

Production, broadcast and release

The show was first announced on December 17, 2003, as part of a Callaway Arts & Entertainment press release. [3] In January 2004, it was reported that Toronto-based studio Nelvana was animating the show. [8] The show premiered on September 7, 2004 on Treehouse TV in Canada and on Nick Jr. in the US.

On June 20, 2005, a second season with 25 episodes was announced. [9] The second season premiered on March 13, 2006 in the US, with the episode "Captain Sunny Patch" airing that same day. [10] A third season followed and Treehouse TV finished airing the show's final season on June 17, 2007. The series' final episodes did not air in the US until 2009 when many episodes which had yet to be aired in the country were aired on Noggin. The final episode of the show aired on August 9, 2009. [11] The show aired repeats on Nick Jr from September 28, 2009, until December 12, 2014. Qubo aired repeats of the show from October 1, 2018 until it discontinued on February 28, 2021 due to Scripps' acquisition. In 2020, the show also started to re-air on ZooMoo internationally.

Merchandise

A video game based on the series, titled Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends: Harvest Time Hop and Fly was developed by Shin'en Multimedia and published by The Game Factory for the Nintendo DS in 2006. [12] [13] The game's plot involves Miss Spider, her husband Holley, and their gang of buggies harvesting food and preparing for the coming of winter. The review score aggregator Metacritic gave the game a score of 60 out of 100, based on 5 critic reviews. [14] IGN gave it a 4 out of 10 rating, criticizing it for being overly simplistic. Conversely, the Detroit Free Press, giving it a 75 out of 100, stating that it gets more difficult over time. [14]

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References

  1. "Watch Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends Season 3 | Prime Video". Amazon.
  2. "Nelvana Shows: Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends". nelvana.com.
  3. 1 2 Callaway Arts and Entertainment (17 December 2003). "Callaway Arts & Entertainment's plans for the Sunny Patch brand". prnewswire.com.
  4. Corus Entertainment/Nelvana Limited (20 February 2005). "Nelvana reveals its long-anticipated licensee line-up for Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends". prnewswire.com.
  5. "Lifestyle Products". Callaway.
  6. Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 198. ISBN   9781476672939.
  7. "Children's Literature Book Reviews / Miss Spider's Wedding".
  8. Nelvana Limited (5 January 2004). "Kristin Davis lends her voice talents to Nelvana's Sunny Patch". prnewswire.com.
  9. "Nick to Spin More Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends". Animation Magazine. 20 June 2005.
  10. Nick Jr. (13 March 2006). "Nick Jr. Premieres Season Two of Its Hit 3-D Animated Series, Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends". prnewswire.com.
  11. "Sunny Patch on NOGGIN". noggin.com. Archived from the original on 23 December 2008.
  12. Harris, Craig (14 June 2006). "MISS SPIDER HARVEST TIME HOP AND FLY". IGN. Archived from the original on 6 June 2019. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  13. Sellers, Pete (20 June 2006). "Miss Spider - Harvest Time Hop and Fly - Review". Deeko. Archived from the original on 29 October 2006. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  14. 1 2 "Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends: Harvest Time Hop and Fly". Metacritic . Archived from the original on 2 May 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2017.