WordGirl

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WordGirl
WordGirl title card.png
Title card
Also known asThe Amazing Colossal Adventures of WordGirl
Genre
Created by Dorothea Gillim
Developed by
  • Dorothea Gillim
  • Jack D. Ferraiolo
Directed byDavid SanAngelo
Steve Young
Voices of
Narrated by
Theme music composer
  • Steve D'Angelo
  • Terry Tompkins
Opening theme"Word Up, It's WordGirl!"
Ending theme"Word Up, It's WordGirl!" (instrumental)
ComposerEggplant Productions Inc.
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons8
No. of episodes128 (248 segments)
1 film (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Dorothea Gillim (2007–09/seasons 1–2)
  • Deborah Forte (2009–15/seasons 2–8)
Producers
  • Will Shepard (2007–09/season 1)
  • Danielle Gillis (2009–15/seasons 2–8)
Running time26–27 minutes
Production companies
Original release
Network
ReleaseNovember 10, 2006 (2006-11-10) –
October 10, 2007 (2007-10-10) (shorts)
ReleaseSeptember 3, 2007 (2007-09-03) –
August 7, 2015 (2015-08-07) (series)

WordGirl is an American animated superhero children's television series produced by the Soup2Nuts animation unit of Scholastic Entertainment for PBS Kids. [2] The series began as a series of shorts entitled The Amazing Colossal Adventures of WordGirl that premiered on PBS Kids Go! on November 10, 2006, usually shown at the end of Maya & Miguel ; the segment was then spun off into a new thirty-minute episodic series that premiered on September 3, 2007 to August 7, 2015 on most PBS member stations. The series of shorts consisted of thirty episodes, with 128 episodes in the full half-hour series and a film. WordGirl creator Dorothea Gillim felt that most children's animation "underestimated [children's] sense of humor" and hoped to create a more intellectual show for young audiences. [3]

Contents

By June 2014, many PBS stations had stopped airing WordGirl, opting to air more popular series throughout the summer. [4] [5] However, new episodes continued to air on select stations, with streaming options on the PBS Kids website and video app. The series ended [6] with the two-part episode "Rhyme and Reason", which was released on August 7, 2015. [7] [8]

The show was created for children ages 4–9. [9] By 2022, the show had gained a cult following through social media. [3]

Premise

The series follows WordGirl, a 10-year-old girl with superpowers whose secret identity is Becky Botsford, a student. WordGirl is born on the fictional planet Lexicon (also a term referring to the vocabulary of a language or to a dictionary) but was sent away after sneaking onto a spaceship and sleeping there. Becky's pet chimpanzee and sidekick, Captain Huggy Face, who was a pilot in the Lexicon Air Force, piloted the ship, but lost control when WordGirl awoke, and crash-landed on Earth (more specifically in Fair City), a planet that affords WordGirl her superpowers, including flight and super strength. WordGirl utilizes these powers to save her adoptive home, using her downed spacecraft as a secret base of operations.[ citation needed ]

WordGirl is adopted and provided an alter ego by father Tim and mother Sally Botsford, who gave her the name Becky. While in her alter ego, she has a younger brother, TJ Botsford, obsessed with WordGirl, but still unknowingly a typical sibling rival to Becky. The family keeps Captain Huggy Face as a pet (a.k.a Bob). Becky attends Woodview Elementary School, where she is close friends with Violet Heaslip and the school newspaper reporter Todd "Scoops" Ming.[ citation needed ]

WordGirl tries to balance her superhero activities with her "normal" life. She battles against an assortment of villains that include but are not limited to The Butcher, Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy, Dr. Two-Brains, Granny May, Mr. Big, Theodore "Tobey" McCalister III, Amazing Rope Guy and The Whammer. The villains are all prone to malapropisms. At the same time, she must worry about maintaining her second life as Becky, keeping people from discovering the truth and living normal family situations.[ citation needed ]

Series overview

SeasonSegmentsEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast airedNetwork
Shorts
Shorts 3030November 10, 2006 (2006-11-10)October 10, 2007 (2007-10-10) PBS Kids Go!
Episodes
1 5226September 3, 2007 (2007-09-03)January 2, 2009 (2009-01-02) PBS Kids Go!
2 5026November 4, 2008 (2008-11-04)July 20, 2010 (2010-07-20)
3 2513September 7, 2010 (2010-09-07)July 8, 2011 (2011-07-08)
4 13September 6, 2011 (2011-09-06)June 11, 2012 (2012-06-11)
5 13September 10, 2012 (2012-09-10)June 14, 2013 (2013-06-14)
6 2111August 5, 2013 (2013-08-05)June 6, 2014 (2014-06-06) PBS Kids Go!
PBS Kids
7 2513August 4, 2014 (2014-08-04)February 20, 2015 (2015-02-20) PBS Kids
8 13June 10, 2015 (2015-06-10)August 7, 2015 (2015-08-07)
Films 41February 20, 2012 (2012-02-20)February 20, 2012 (2012-02-20) PBS Kids Go!

Characters

Main characters

Supporting characters

Villains

Other characters

Voice cast

Cast
Dannah Phirman Becky Botsford / WordGirl, Claire McCallister, Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy's Mother, Edith Von Hoosinghaus, Pretty Princess, Female Police Officers
Chris Parnell The Narrator, Unnamed Dr. Two-Brains Henchman, Exposition Guy, Sergeant Henderson, Museum Guard
Tom Kenny Steven Boxleitner / Dr. Two-Brains, TJ Botsford, Warden Chalmers, Brent the Handsome Successful Everyone-Love-Him Sandwich Making Guy, Steve McClean, Razzmatazzm, Beau Handsome (in "Tell Her What She's Won")
Cree Summer Grandolyn May / Granny May
Patton Oswalt Tobey McCalister III, Robots
Fred Stoller Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy
Jack D. FerraioloThe Butcher, The General
Pamela Adlon Eileen / The Birthday Girl
Maria Bamford Violet, Sally Botsford, Leslie, Johnson, Mrs. Best, Energy Monster (in "Dinner or Consequences")
Ryan RaddatzTim Botsford, Scoops, Oscar, Handy Man Todd, Scott Wild, Gold Store Clerk (in "Chuck!")
James Adomian Captain Huggy Face / Bob, Timmy Tim-Bo, Harry Kempel, Chip Von Dumor, Hal Hardbargain, The Candlestick Maker, David Driscoll, Raul Demiglasse, Hunter Throbheart
Grey DeLisle Beatrice Bixby / Lady Redundant Woman (2nd Time), Ms. Question, Mrs. Ripley
Daran Norris Seymour Orlando Smooth, Nocan the Contrarian
Kristen Schaal Victoria Best
Jeffrey Tambor Shelly Smalls / Mr. Big, Mr. Birg
John C. McGinley Whammer
H. Jon Benjamin Reginald the Jewelry Store Clerk, InvisiBill, Museum Curator
Mike O'ConnellBill the Grocery Store Manager, Big Left Hand Guy, El Mysterioso, Ed the Used Car Salesman (season 1)
Larry Murphy Amazing Rope Guy, Mr. Best, Stu Brisket, Dave, Anthony, Officer Jim, Zookeeper, Principal (in "A Few Words from Wordgirl"), Ed the Used Car Salesman (season 2-8)
Stephen Root Professor Robert Tubing
Ron Lynch Mayor of Fair City
Amy Sedaris Miss Jade Davis, Rhyme
John Henson Captain Tangent
Ed Asner Kid Potato
Ned Bellamy The Coach
Jack McBrayer Kid Math
Amanda Plummer Beatrice Bixby / Lady Redundant Woman (1st Time)
Jim Gaffigan Mr. Dudley
Brian Posehn Glen Furlblam / Dr. Three-Brains
"Weird Al" Yankovic Learnerer

Development

WordGirl began in 2006 as a series of shorts airing immediately after Maya & Miguel , becoming an independent show in September 2007. [9]

The show's creator, Dorothea Gillim, believes that children's shows often underestimate children's intelligence:

Part of my mission is to make kids' television smart and funny. I feel as though we’ve lost some ground there, in an effort to make it more accessible. WordGirl's focus is on great stories, characters, and animation. If all those elements are working, then you can hook a child who may come looking for laughs but leave a little smarter. [10] [11]

Gillim says she created the show, in part, with the idea that parents would watch the show with their children to support their learning. [9]

Each eleven-minute segment in each episode (except for the first three episodes) begins with verbal instructions to listen for two words that will be used throughout the plot of that episode. The words (examples include “diversion,” “cumbersome,” and “idolize”) are chosen according to academic guidelines. The reasoning is that children can understand words like “cumbersome” when told that it means “big and heavy and awkward”. [10]

PBS NewsHour anchor Jim Lehrer agreed to do a mock interview with WordGirl. Jack D. Ferraiolo, who developed the series with Gillim and served as the series' head writer in season one, received an Emmy for his work on WordGirl. [12]

Rather than hiring writers experienced with children's television, the show's original writers' previous credits included The Onion and Family Guy . Narrator Chris Parnell had previously worked on Saturday Night Live . [9]

Format

Often, short animated segments are shown in between and at the end of episodes. "What's Your Favorite Word?", ostensibly hosted by Todd "Scoops" Ming, is a short jingle and a series of vox populi interviews asking random children what their favorite words are and why. A short game show segment called "May I Have a Word?" (stylized as MAYIHAVEAWORD in the text bubble on Beau Handsome's wall) airs following each eleven-minute segment. This segment features the game show host, Beau Handsome, asking three contestants the definition of a particular word. The segment was created by Kelly Miyahara, Barry Sonnenfeld, and Ryan Raddatz.

Yet another segment features the interstitials announcer (Rodger Parsons) asking Captain Huggy Face for a visual demonstration of a certain word (such as "strenuous" or "flummoxed"). When Captain Huggy Face correctly demonstrates the meaning of the word, a definition is given, followed by a victory dance by the chimpanzee sidekick.

During the four-part episode, "The Rise of Miss Power", a four-segment "Pretty Princess Power Hour" sketch is shown between acts, filling in for the average two-segment "May I Have a Word?" sketch, presumably to fill the double-length (52 minutes) time slot.

Website

The companion site to WordGirl lives on PBS Kids, and was built by interactive firm Big Bad Tomato. It contains vocabulary-building games, a section where children can submit their favorite word, a video page with clips from the show (only available in the US for legal reasons), a "Heroes and Villains" section with character biographies and activities, and a PBS Parents section with episode guides, lessons, a site map, and more activities to play at home. As of May 5, 2024, the website is still active. [13]

Comics

A series of WordGirl comics were also released by Boom! Studios' new KaBOOM! line. The names of the volumes and the stories within them are:

Awards

The show has received seven Daytime Emmy nominations, winning four for "Outstanding Writing in Animation" in 2008, 2012–2013 and Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program in 2015. [3]

2008:

2009:

2012:

2013:

2015:

Reception

The series was positively received. Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media described the series as having a "brainy heroine [who] uses vocab to outwit bad guys." She also called it an "entertaining animated series" with some cartoon violence and said that it is an "excellent...choice for young grade-schoolers." [19]

In 2022, Collider attested that the "non-white, little girl superhero" protagonist of WordGirl began a television trend on social media. The article claims that the generation who grew up watching WordGirl later demanded new and diverse heroes, such as Captain Marvel. [3]

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References

  1. ↑ https://www.pbs.org/parents/shows/wordgirl/about
  2. ↑ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 706–707. ISBN   978-1538103739.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Stein, Minnah (July 16, 2022). "WordGirl Is the Captain Marvel of PBS". Collider. Archived from the original on September 12, 2022. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
  4. ↑ "PBS KIDS Offers Free, Fun and Educational Content and Tools for Families This Summer". About PBS - Main. Archived from the original on July 15, 2022. Retrieved July 15, 2022.
  5. ↑ AETN (May 7, 2014). "New PBS KIDS "Double Your Fun" Summer Lineup". Arkansas PBS. Archived from the original on July 15, 2022. Retrieved July 15, 2022.
  6. ↑ Girl, Word (August 6, 2015). "Facebook post". Facebook. Archived from the original on August 26, 2015. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  7. ↑ PBS Kids (August 8, 2015). "WORDGIRL | Rhyme and Reason, Part 1/Rhyme and Reason, Part 2 | PBS KIDS – YouTube". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 1, 2015. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  8. ↑ "TV Schedules - AZPM". Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Jensen, Elizabeth (September 2, 2007). "A New Heroine's Fighting Words". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 20, 2022. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
  10. 1 2 Jensen, Elizabeth (September 2, 2007). "A New Heroine's Fighting Words". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 25, 2009. Retrieved June 23, 2008.
  11. ↑ Bynum, Aaron H. (June 18, 2007). "'The Adventures of WordGirl' Animation Emerges on PBS Kids". Animation Insider. Archived from the original on October 20, 2008. Retrieved June 25, 2008.
  12. ↑ Spero, Johannah (June 18, 2008). "Local man lands Emmy for 'WordGirl'". Wicked Local Newburyport/The Newburyport Current. GateHouse Media, Inc. Archived from the original on September 2, 2010. Retrieved June 23, 2008.
  13. ↑ "WordGirl | PBS Kids". April 7, 2022. Archived from the original on April 7, 2022. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
  14. ↑ "Volume ? Coalition of Malice". Archived from the original on September 8, 2011. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Volume ? The Incredible Shrinking Allowance".
  16. ↑ "Volume ? Word Up". Archived from the original on June 4, 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Volume 4 Fashion Disaster". Archived from the original on May 13, 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  18. ↑ "21 July 2008 press release". Archived from the original on December 30, 2010. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  19. ↑ Ashby, Emily (September 21, 2019). "WordGirl Review". Common Sense Media . Archived from the original on May 18, 2021. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
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