Each season revolves around a group of teens competing in an elimination-style competition, in that the contestants compete in challenges both as teams and individually for rewards and immunity from elimination. The teams merge roughly halfway through the competition into individuals. As the contestants develop relationships with each other, they are progressively eliminated from the game. When there are only two or three contestants remaining, they compete in a final challenge where the winner is awarded a cash prize: C$100,000 (US$73,129.00) in the first season, or C$1,000,000 (US$731,485.00) from the second season onward. The series currently consists of six seasons: Island (2007), Action, World Tour, Revenge of the Island, the two-part All-Stars and Pahkitew Island, and the two-part Island (2023–2024).[9]
Total Drama has developed a cult following and spawned a franchise. A spin-off series, Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race, premiered on September 7, 2015.[10] A second spin-off series, Total DramaRama, premiered on September 1, 2018, in the U.S., and on October 7, 2018, in Canada.[5][6] While Netflix started streaming selected seasons of Total Drama in 2014, the entire series streamed on Netflix in the United States from 2018 until being removed on February 1, 2021.[11]
It was announced on February 17, 2021 that a revival of Total Drama had been greenlit, with two new seasons being produced for Cartoon Network and HBO Max in the United States, Cartoon Network in Canada, and CBBC in the United Kingdom.[12][13] The first part came out in Italy on April 8, 2023, with the original English version being available on Discovery+ in the region, and will later see an international extension.[14] Despite being announced as two seasons, the revival was later revealed in the end credits to be one season,[15] similar to the fifth season.
Production
Tom McGillis says they used a "countrywide online research project" to determine this demographic's likes.[16] Fresh TV partners McGillis, Jennifer Pertsch, George Elliott and Brian Irving produced the series.[17] The budget for the first season was US$8,000,000.[18] It was animated in Flash,[19] at Elliott Animation's studio in Toronto.[17]
Every cast and crew member on Total Drama had to sign a confidentiality agreement not to disclose who the winner was.[20] All the characters were designed by Todd Kauffman, who previously designed characters for shows such as Bob and Margaret and Yin Yang Yo!.[21] An early name for the series was Camp TV when the series first started production in 2006.[22]
McGillis had stated in 2013 that his personal goal was for Total Drama to go up to ten seasons.[24] Alex Ganetakos, the executive story editor and the senior writer for the series, also mentioned in 2014 that the production team planned to make more seasons in the future.[25]
In a Q&A on September 25, 2018, when asked if there would be additional seasons, McGillis responded with "Nope. Sorry to be a dreamkiller, but there's no market for this experience in the wider entertainment marketplace right now".[26]
On February 17, 2021, it was announced that two new seasons were being produced for Cartoon Network and HBO Max.[12] On June 22, 2022, it was announced by Cake Entertainment that the BBC had joined Warner Bros. Discovery as a co-commissioner for the new seasons and would air them on the CBBC Channel in the United Kingdom. In addition, the previous five seasons of the show and its spin-offs would be added to BBC iPlayer.[27][28][29]
On October 6, 2022, Regular Capital posted a tweet revealing a new poster for Total Drama that showed the new cast and Chef in a new design.[30]
On October 27, 2022, it was confirmed in an interview with Terry McGurrin on YouTube that Deven Mack would replace Clé Bennett as the voice of Chef Hatchet due to Bennett moving to Hollywood,[31] and reprising his role from the spin-off series Total DramaRama.[32] He later clarified on Twitter that despite essentially filling the role of a season six or seven, the new seasons are instead being produced as a new series.[33]
On March 28, 2023, it was confirmed that Terry McGurrin would be replacing Christian Potenza as Chris McLean because of "creative decisions".[34]
A list of all the seasons that have aired with the original Canadian air dates shown below along with basic elements for each season. The 100th episode aired on February 27, 2014.[35][citation needed]
Total Drama first premiered on July 8, 2007, on Teletoon in Canada, while the series aired almost a year later on Cartoon Network in the United States on June 5, 2008.[36] Since then, Total Drama has become an international franchise and one of the biggest successes for Fresh TV. As of September 2011, the entire series has been shown in over 100 countries around the world, with the first season airing in 188 countries worldwide.[37] The fourth season first aired on Canal+ Family (later on Télétoon+) in France,[38] while the fifth season first aired on K2 in Italy.[39] Australia was the first country to air the third season.[citation needed]Total Drama Island also aired on Pop Max (formerly known as Kix) and Disney XD in the United Kingdom, with Action on Disney XD only and subsequent series unaired in the territory until Total DramaRama was picked up by Pop. Subsequently, a deal with the BBC led to The Ridonculous Race being added to BBC iPlayer and the 2023 Island reboot airing on CBBC. The BBC also gained non-exclusive rights to Total Dramarama, running it concurrently with Pop. In autumn 2024 some of the later seasons of the original run—Revenge of the Island, All-Stars and Pahkitew Island—became available on iPlayer.[40]
Total Drama has had a total of 68 characters in the series who were introduced as contestants through seven seasons. The first three seasons consist of an original cast, with a total of 25 characters. 22 were introduced in the first season, while the other 3 were introduced in the second season's special before becoming main characters in the third season. The fourth season consists of a new cast with 13 characters. The first part of the fifth season brings back 14 contestants from the previous two casts each to compete together for the million. A third cast with 14 characters were introduced in the second part of the fifth season. For The Ridonculous Race, 32 new characters were introduced. A fourth cast with 16 new characters were introduced in the revival of Total Drama Island.
By season, 22 characters competed in the first season, 15 competed in the second season, 18 competed in the third season, 13 competed in the fourth season, 14 characters competed in both parts of the fifth season (28 characters in total for the fifth season), 36 competed in the spin-off series The Ridonculous Race, and 16 new characters competed in both parts of the revival season.
Cast
List indicators
This section includes characters who will appear or have appeared in more than two films in the series.
An empty grey cell indicates the character was not in the film, or that the character's official presence has not yet been confirmed.
E indicates an appearance not included in the theatrical cut.
G indicates a guest appearance in the season.
M indicates an appearance in onscreen movie footage.
P indicates an appearance in onscreen photographs.
Total Drama characters are occasional special guests in Skatoony where the characters are interviewed to play in quiz trivia games against real people and other Canadian series characters. Geoff, Leonard, Noah, and Owen also appear in Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race as contestants.[4] Beth, Bridgette, Cody, Courtney, DJ, Duncan, Ella, Geoff, Gwen, Harold, Izzy, Katie, Leshawna, Lightning, Max, Noah, Owen, Sadie, Sugar, and Trent appear in the alternate-universe spin-off Total DramaRama as young children, along with Alejandro, Carrie, Chef Hatchet, Chet, Chris McLean, Don, Heather, Jasmine, Jen, Laurie, MacArthur, and Tom appearing as teenagers and adults.[5]
Reception
Broadcast
The series has received high ratings, ranking #1 in the under-14 age group throughout its run.[41] As of 2011, the first season has been shown in over 188 countries,[37] while the rest of the series was shown in at least 100 countries.[42]
Critical reception
The first season, Island, received generally positive reviews.[citation needed]Common Sense Media gave the show 4 out of 5 stars, calling it a "clever cartoon reality show spoof".[43]
The second season, Action, received generally positive reviews from critics, who despite criticizing the overt similarity to the previous season, praised the development of characters who had less time in Island.[44]
The third season, World Tour, received critical acclaim for the antagonist of the season, Alejandro, the musical numbers and humor, with minor criticism directed at Ezekiel's development and the Gwen-Courtney-Duncan love triangle.[45]
The fourth season, Revenge of the Island, was criticized for a shorter length and a weaker cast than previous seasons and received mixed to positive reviews.[46]
The first part of the fifth season, All-Stars, was heavily criticized for its character derailment, challenges, main antagonist, and lack of payoff. The second part, Pahkitew Island, was criticized for its more stereotyped cast but was received more positively than All-Stars.[47]
Legacy
Total Drama has garnered a cult following.[48] Co-creator Tom McGillis commented on the series' popularity, saying that, "For tweens around the world, Total Drama is more than just a parody of a reality show. It's THEIR reality show". Total Drama was cited by Cary and Michael Huang as an influence for Battle for Dream Island, which has inspired a genre of animation known as "object shows".[49]
Up until November 2, 2011, only Total Drama Island had been released on DVD. Cartoon Network released their Total Drama Island DVD in the U.S. on August 18, 2009 (Region 1), while Madman Entertainment (Region 4) also released Total Drama Island on DVD in Australia, but this time in two parts (Collection 1 on May 5, 2010,[56] and Collection 2 on September 29, 2010[57]). However, almost two years after Total Drama Action was first aired, Madman released their Collection 1 DVD of the second season on November 2, 2011[58][59] (with Collection 2 being released on July 4, 2012[60]), making Australia the only country that has released the entirety of Total Drama Action for private home viewing. Australia also released Total Drama World Tour on DVD with Collection 1 being released on April 3, 2013,[61] and Collection 2 being released on August 7, 2013.[62] On October 8, 2014, Total Drama: Revenge of the Island was released into one part due to it being a shorter season. The first part of the fifth season, Total Drama All-Stars, was released on March 4, 2015, with the second part, Total Drama: Pahkitew Island, being released on July 7, 2015.[64]
Online promotion
Teletoon hosted a Total Drama-based website called "Total Drama Online" from 2009 to 2013 where players could play games and earn badges to win prizes.[66] Even though most features (like user accounts, original avatar designer and badge counter) from this website were only exclusive to Canadian viewers, all of the games and basic elements were available to the rest of the world. Cartoon Network also had their own Total Drama website from 2009 to 2015, which was very similar to the Canadian website,[67] but was only exclusive to American viewers. Various alternate websites based on the series also exist throughout most of the other countries the show airs in, which are all in their respective languages.[68]
A spin-off series titled Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race takes place in the same universe as the original show.[69] The series is modeled on the format of The Amazing Race where the contestants are grouped into tag teams who race around the world throughout the series. There is a new host named Don, who replaced the original host Chris.[70] Even though a few of the characters from the main series make appearances, the spin-off series is primarily dominated by a new cast.[4] The spin-off series includes 18 pairs of teams (36 characters). It first premiered on September 7, 2015, on Cartoon Network and later premiered on January 4, 2016, on the Canadian version of Cartoon Network.[71]
A second spin-off series was announced on December 19, 2017, as Total Drama Daycare. The series was later renamed Total DramaRama so that viewers would not mistake it for a daycare season of Total Drama. It first premiered on September 1, 2018, on Cartoon Network in the U.S. and on October 7, 2018, on Teletoon in Canada.[6] The series has a runtime length of eleven minutes, and is a slice of life comedy. It features some of the original characters from Total Drama Island as toddlers such as Beth, Bridgette, Cody, Courtney, Duncan, Gwen, Harold, Izzy, Leshawna, Noah, and Owen, as well as Jude from 6teen. Chef Hatchet also returns as a younger adult.[5][72] The series began production in early 2017.[73]
On February 13, 2019, the series was greenlit for a second season.[74]
On June 23, 2020, Corus Entertainment announced that the series was renewed for a third season, which was set to premiere in mid-2021. Revenge of the Island contestant, Lightning, and Pahkitew Island contestant, Sugar, were aged down to join the cast.[75][76]
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