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 series
by David Kirk
Developed by Nadine van der Velde
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
  • United States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons3 [1] [2]
No. of episodes40 (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
Nick Jr. Productions
(2004–2006)
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 an animated television series produced by Nelvana in association with AbsoluteDigital Pictures and Callaway Arts & Entertainment as a follow-up to the television special Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids . [3] [4] Created by David Kirk and developed by Nadine van der Velde, it was based on 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. 40 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 October 26, 2008. [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]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Jr.</span> Programming block on the Nickelodeon television channel

Nick Jr. is an American morning programming block that airs on Nickelodeon every weekday. It was launched on January 4, 1988. Nick Jr. features a lineup of shows aimed at children aged 2 through 8.

<i>Maggie and the Ferocious Beast</i> Canadian animated childrens television series created by Michael and Betty Paraskevas

Maggie and the Ferocious Beast is a Canadian animated children's television series created by Michael and Betty Paraskevas. The program was based on the 1996 book The Ferocious Beast with the Polka-Dot Hide and its sequels, which were also written by the Paraskevas. Two years later, the show started off as a series of shorts aired on the Canadian channel Teletoon in 1998. The first full-length episode first premiered on Nickelodeon as part of the Nick Jr. programming block on June 5, 2000, in the United States before premiering on Teletoon on August 26 of that same year in Canada. The series ran for three seasons, airing its final episode on June 9, 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Roman</span> Canadian voice actress

Susan Roman is a Canadian television and voice actress and voice director, best known for voice acting the role of Lita/Sailor Jupiter in the Canada DiC dub of the anime Sailor Moon. She is one of the few voice actors to remain throughout the entire run of the Sailor Moon series.

Neil Affleck is a Canadian animator, director, actor, and teacher. He has worked as an animation-timer and director on The Simpsons and Family Guy. As an actor, he appeared in the 1981 film Scanners and had a leading role in the 1981 film My Bloody Valentine. He also directed animated works such as Family Guy, Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends,Mike the Knight, and the 2009 Doki special. He contributed to six episodes of Rocko's Modern Life, five episodes of The Critic, and one full season of Pearlie, Affleck won the Norman McLaren award for his animated film "Hands" while still a student.

Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids is a 2003 animated television special produced by Nelvana. It serves as the pilot for the show Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends. It aired on Treehouse TV in Canada on March 31, 2003, a year before the series began. The special was based on David Kirk's book series of the same name, as well as the Sunny Patch brand of toys that Kirk designed. The special features well-known celebrity voices including US actress Brooke Shields as the voice of Miss Spider, Rick Moranis as the voice of Holley, and Tony Jay as the voice of Spiderus.

Maria Darling is a British voice actress who has provided many character voices for children's television programmes in the United Kingdom and the United States. She is known for voicing Dizzy and Roley in the US version of Bob the Builder.

Nicholas Callaway is an app producer, book publisher, television producer, writer and photographer.

Callaway Arts & Entertainment is a company based in New York founded by Nicholas Callaway. It specializes in the design, production, and publication of illustrated books and multimedia products. The company is known for producing books by Madonna, including Sex (1992) and The English Roses (2003), as well as the Miss Spider series, created originally by David Kirk.

David Kirk is an American illustrator and author of children's books. He is the creator of the Sunny Patch brand, which includes a variety of products marketed by Target from 2003 to 2010, and thereafter by Melissa and Doug. The brand spun off from his Miss Spider series of children's books published by Scholastic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aaryn Doyle</span> Canadian actress

Aaryn Élan Doyle is a Canadian actress, singer and dancer. She is best known for her role as Lola Scott in the Disney Channel Original Movie Camp Rock. In 2008, Aaryn was signed to the Ford Modeling Agency, but is currently represented by IBIS Talent Management. Doyle has represented brand lines such as Diesel and Nike, as seen in Camp Rock red carpet shots.

Miss Spider Apps are children's apps for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch published by Callaway Digital Arts. They can be purchased in Apple's App Store and feature the beloved character Miss Spider, who also appears in the bestselling books by David Kirk and the Nick Jr. Channel program Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moose and Zee</span> Animated characters created for the Noggin brand

Moose and Zee were a pair of fictional characters created for the Noggin brand. They debuted as the on-air hosts of the Noggin cable channel on April 7, 2003. In 2015, Noggin was relaunched as a mobile streaming service, and Moose and Zee were reintroduced as hosts of the app.

<i>Scaredy Squirrel</i> (TV series) Canadian animated TV series

Scaredy Squirrel is a Canadian animated comedy television series based on the Scaredy Squirrel book series by Mélanie Watt. The series premiered on April 1, 2011, on YTV. The final episode aired in Canada on August 17, 2013.

<i>Miffy and Friends</i> Dutch stop-motion animated television series

Miffy and Friends is a Dutch stop-motion animated television series, based on the Miffy book series by Dutch artist Dick Bruna. The series was co-produced by Mercis Media and Palm Plus Multimedia. The series was originally broadcast from 2003 until 2005 on KRO in the Netherlands

<i>Camp Lakebottom</i> 2013 Canadian TV series or program

Camp Lakebottom is a Canadian animated television series produced by 9 Story Media Group that premiered on Teletoon in Canada on July 4, 2013 and on Disney XD in the U.S. on July 13, 2013. The show airs on Disney Channels worldwide, as well as ABC in Australia.

Joanna Ruiz is a British voice actress. She has mainly done voice acting for children's television shows. She attended the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.

Robert Norman Smith was a Canadian actor who was known as Rob Smith in his earlier works.

Nissae Isen is a Canadian voice actress who has voiced prominent young male characters in several television series, including BG's younger brother George in Miss BG from 2005 to 2008, Yuri from My Big Big Friend from 2011 to 2014 for which she received a 2012 nomination for "Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role" in the 33rd Young Artist Awards for her work in 2011 episodes, and the Canadian-accented voice of Trollee as one of the principal cast members of Mike the Knight, for which she received a "Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role" nomination in the 34th Young Artist Awards in 2013 for her work on 2012 episodes.

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.