For his tenth birthday, Joe receives a mysterious blue book (known only as "The Book") from his magician uncle, Joe the Magnificent. By reading the book, Joe and his friends, Sam and Fred, are - often accidentally - transported to various times and places throughout history, such as Ancient Egypt and the Old West. In the year 2105, the trio meets their own great-granddaughters, Jodie, Samantha, and Freddi.
After each time warp, the group must find and use The Book in order to return to the present day. Later in the series, Joe's evil uncle, Mad Jack, makes several attempts to capture the children and The Book with crafty tricks, such as stranding them in Antarctica (since The Book does not work there).
Joseph "Joe" Arthur (voiced by Mark Rendall) is an up-and-coming magician and the present-day owner of The Book. He descends from India. His penchant for experimenting with The Book results in many of their adventures, and his talent for magical tricks helps them out of tough situations. At one point, Joe is awarded the title of Time Page, and he is said to eventually become a Warp Wizard. According to Freddi and Jodie, Joe will fight his uncle, Mad Jack, in a great battle that will determine the fate of time itself. He lives in Brooklyn with his archaeologist father, his mother, and little sister Anna.
Samuel "Sam" Kikin (voiced by Darren Frost) is a friend of Joe and Fred who solves problems using intelligence and historical knowledge. He is of Russian descent. Depicted as being a stereotypical nerd, he wears glasses and has multiple allergies. Sam is wary of time travel, being convinced of their imminent doom every time they open The Book. An amateur scientist and inventor, he is told by Freddi that he will invent something very important in the future.
Frederick "Fred" McGrew (voiced by Scott McCord) is a friend of Joe and Sam who wears a baseball cap and is a sports fan and known for being fun-loving, teasing, and headstrong, often to the point of idiocy. Fred is the most interested in using The Book for material gains, whether hunting for treasure or patenting future technology - yet in "Dude, Where's My Karma?", he uses it to save Joe from being erased from existence.
Jodie Arthur (voiced by Sarah Gadon until episode 15; voiced by Tajja Isen starting with episode 20) is Joe's great-granddaughter from the year 2105. She is an aspiring fashion designer who is known for being bossy, rude, condescending, and complaining a lot. Jodie is referred to as a "third-level warper" and demonstrates great mastery over The Book. She also dislikes cats as she is allergic to them.
Samantha Kikin (voiced by Laurie Elliott) is Sam's great-granddaughter from the year 2105. She, like Fred, is known for being teasing, funny, impulsive, and headstrong – the exact opposite of Sam (though like Sam, she can be sensitive at times). Samantha has a pet robot cat named Rivites and owns a time-traveling pocket watch that Sam had invented a long time ago.
Frederica "Freddi" McGrew (voiced by Sunday Muse) is Fred's great-granddaughter from the year 2105. She is very friendly and sweet-natured, but also shy, malleable, sensitive, and seems to be the exact opposite of Fred (though like Fred, she can be brave if the situation suits her).
Recurring
Anna Arthur (voiced by Annick Obonsawin) is Joe's annoying younger sister, who seems to have greater knowledge of The Book than her brother.
Joe the Magnificent (voiced by Tony Daniels) is Joe's uncle and namesake, a would-be magician who fails at live performances. He sent his nephew Joe The Book, which he didn't know how to use, and instead traverses time and space with an enchanted pocket watch. He believes in the Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny.
Mad Jack (voiced by Tony Daniels) is the evil brother of Joe the Magnificent and Lila Arthur. He is intent on stealing The Book so that he can be the sole ruler of eternity. He shadows the trio in many of their travels, once facing off with his nephew Joe. Mad Jack travels through time and space using a scepter with an hourglass on top.
Lila Arthur (voiced by Susan Roman) is Joe and Anna's mother. She knows how to use The Book, being the one to originally give it to her brother.
Ronald Arthur (voiced by Tom Arnold) is Joe and Anna's father. He is a world-famous archeologist.
Mike McGrew (voiced by Dan Petronijevic) is Fred's mean older brother who appears in "See You Later, Gladiator" and "Viking It and Liking It".
A class trip to the Natural History Museum ends up transporting the boys one hundred years into the future. The Trio run into ray gun-toting robots and meet three mysterious girls who turn out to be their own great-granddaughters. Based on the Time Warp Trio book 2095.
Fred, Joe and Sam travel back to experience life and culture in Mongolia in the 12th century, and pair up with 9-year-old Temüjin — the future Genghis Khan.
An accidental haiku sends Sam, Joe and Fred back to Japan in the middle of the Tokugawa shogunate. They meet a samurai named Honda and the evil Owatabut of Yomama who attempts to get rid of the great leader Tokugawa Ieyasu.
The Book transports Joe, Sam, and Fred back to Ancient Rome in the 2nd century AD— and face-to-face with one gladiator. Based on the book of the same name.
7
"Lewis and Clark... and Jodie, Freddi, and Samantha"
The girls' wish for a camping trip transports them back to join Lewis and Clark on the first U.S. overland expedition to the Pacific coast where they meet Sacagawea.
The boys want to play Vikings Football Smashfest, but instead find themselves in AD 1001 amidst real Vikings, including Leif Erikson. The boys accompany Ericson on his voyage to North America.
9
"Hey Kid, Want to Buy a Bridge?"
1879
Brooklyn, New York
Joe, Sam, and Fred
September3,2005(2005-09-03)
Joe, Fred and Sam transport back to New York City near the late 19th century and meet Emily Roebling, the woman who helped with the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. However something goes wrong with the warp, and Sam somehow has Thomas Edison's plans to manipulate electricity in his head.
The boys transport to Chichen Itza, Mexico in the middle of a Maya ringball court a thousand years ago, where they must compete in the game. Based on the book of the same name.
Fred and Joe transport to 1815 Paris and meet Napoleon Bonaparte. Samantha is also there with pioneering aeronaut Sophie Blanchard. However Napoleon gets his hands on the Book and learns how to win The Battle of Waterloo, where he continues to conquer through the USA.
Deeming the Book too dangerous Joe locks it up. However a Babylonian thief steals it on orders of Mad Jack. Accidentally warped to Babylon, the trio meet King Nebuchadnezzar II and Queen Amyitis, the creators of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
Jodie, Sam and Fred land in 17th century Angola. They join the fierce Queen Jinga and battle warring tribes in a trek along the Kwanza River on their way to a historic meeting with the Portuguese governor.
When The Book's pages transform into rongorongo script, Freddi, Samantha, and Fred transport back in time to Rapa Nui (a.k.a. Easter Island). Eventually, Freddi must jump off a cliff and, swim through shark-infested waters to the Birdman's Island (Motu Nui).
None (although Joe narrates, Sam and Fred warp without him)
February11,2006(2006-02-11)
When Joe realizes that he's slowly disappearing, the kids find a malfunction in his family tree in The Book and follow it to India. Sam, Fred, Samantha and Freddi have to help Joe's ancestor Prince Karna win the hand of Princess Lakshmi to save the entire family line.
A wild warp at the Olympia Diner sends Fred and Samantha to Ancient Greece during the Olympic games where they must team up with philosopher Plato to help avoid a historical disaster.
Sam gets trapped inside The Book, and Anna, Fred and Joe travel back to the Tang dynasty in China in 621 AD to figure out how to get him out. En route they help the Shaolin Monks rescue General Li Shimin from prison, travel past the beginnings of the Great Wall, learn about the teachings of Chan Buddhism, and confront Mad Jack.
Sam's Grandpa Dima tells some big stories to Sam, Fred and Samantha about his ancestor, Alexander Kikin, but the crew is skeptical. Fred and Samantha convince Sam to travel back to Russia, where they save Kikin (a member of the Russian guardsmen, the Streltsy), from the wrath of Peter the Great.
When the kids warp back to the Stone Age, they manage to decipher some cave paintings and find The Book in the camp of the Neanderthals. However, when they trade Jodie's binoculars to get it back, something goes wrong, and the kids become hairy.
Frankenstein's monster has escaped from Mary Shelley's imagination and is wreaking havoc in Joe's apartment in Brooklyn. Joe, Sam, and Jodie transport the monster to 1816 Switzerland.
Jodie and Freddi unexpectedly grab Joe and transport him to 1503 in Italy at the height of the Renaissance. They must rescue the artist, scientist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci from Mad Jack who has gotten the idea that Da Vinci can help Mad Jack create his own time-traveling book.
Joe, Sam and Fred transport to 1911 Antarctica where they encounter Robert Falcon Scott at the Terra Nova Expedition. They endure extreme cold, eat hoosh (seal liver), and discover that Mad Jack has brought them to the one place on Earth that's too cold for The Book to work.
The girls hear a mysterious radio transmission, which Freddi recognizes as the voice of her heroine, pilot Amelia Earhart, who is broadcasting a distress message on her last flight. The girls transport to 1937 and try to solve the mystery of Amelia's disappearance on her attempted around-the-world flight.
Jodie talks Sam and Fred into traveling to the Ottoman Empire, location of the Time Map, which will reveal the location of the Book in any time period. On arrival, they meet Selim II, Suleiman the Magnificent's son, and his wily monkey, Dimples.
Series Finale: Joe, Jodie, and Anna are flung from a trebuchet and hurtling towards the Dunbar Castle in Scotland during a siege in 1338 led by William Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury. However, when the kids meet Agnes Randolph and Uncle Joe in the dungeon, they realize much more is at stake. Joe watches Uncle Joe and Mad Jack battle it out over the fate of the universe and it's up to the kids to save the timeline.
Broadcast
Time Warp Trio aired on Discovery Kids and premiered in the United States on July 9, 2005. The final episode aired on July 15, 2006. It also aired as part of a three-hour Discovery Kids block on NBC until September 2, 2006. After the series ended, reruns aired on The Hub until June 27, 2011.
It also aired on TVOKids in Canada, CBBC in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Cartoon Network in Australia and New Zealand, and HBO Family & Cartoon Network in Southeast Asia. It also aired on Jetix (later Disney XD) in India. It was also dubbed into Hebrew under the title "מלכודת הזמן" and aired on Logi and Arutz HaYeladim, the series was also aired in South Korea on EBS under the name "시간 여행 삼총사" with Korean subtitles. It also aired in Portugal on RTP2 (formerly 2), where it was dubbed into Portuguese under the title "Trio no Tempo", it also aired in Italy on DeA Kids.[3]
Even though it was produced by PBS station WGBH, Time Warp Trio was not broadcast on PBS in the United States. However, the show is distributed internationally through PBS International[4] and airs on PBS Kids in Africa.[5]
Meet you at Waterloo ("Able Was I, Ere I Saw Elba")
Chapter books
You Can't, But Genghis Khan
Lewis and Clark...and Jodie, Freddi, and Samantha
Wushu Were Here
References
↑ "Studio 306 Inc. - Clients Inc". Various additional projects worked on: Jewel (movie of the week), The Associates, WGBH Time Warp Trio, Peter Benchley's Amazon, Benjiman Bear, Super Duper Sumos, Children of Helms, For King and Empire, Storytime with Thomas, Chilly Beach, Eckhart, Toad Patrol, For Better or For Worse, Knights of the Zodiac, Roboroach, Zoe Kezako, Traffix
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