25TH ANNIVERSARIES

 We're gonna party like it's 1999! That's because that's when these shows aired, currently turning...

SATURDAY MORNING MASTERS: TARA STRONG

 

TARA STRONG

(February 12, 1973- )

 

Notable Roles: Hello Kitty, Patty Putty, Carly Cuts, Still Jill, Young Celeste, Hip Koopa, Hop Koopa, Yumi Francois, Agent Heather, Paige Guthrie, Skids, Illyana Rasputin, Kyle Griffin, Spot, Two-Tone, Vendela, Batgril/Barbara Gordon, Dil Pickles, Timmy McNulty, Teddy McNulty, Shareena, Tara Byron, Tutu, Nice Cindy, Ingrid Third, Traplev, Ariella Third, Bubbles, Bebe Proud, Cece Proud, Puff, Blink/Clarice Ferguson, Vicky Vale, Raven/Rachel Roth, Omi, Mercy Graves, Supergirl/Kara Danvers, Timmy Turner, Ben Tennyson, Toot Braunstein, Princess Clara, Maguro, Marrow/Sarah, X-23/Laura Kinney, Sierra McCool, Sky Blossoms, Sari Sumdac, Slipstream, Strika, Invisible Woman/Susan Richards, Daizy, Billy Batson, Mary Marvel/Mary Batson, Huntress/Helena Bertinelli, Ilana, Rogue, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff, American Dream/Shannon Carter, H.E.R.B.I.E., Harley Quinn/Harleen Quinzel, Iolande, Cheetah/Barbara Ann Minerva, Princess Selfrespectra, Stella’s Guardian of Sirenix, Twilight Sparkle, Penny Gadget, Black Cat/Felicia Hardy, Jessica Jones, Spider-Woman/Mary Jane Watson, Thundra, Lois Lane, Rocket J. Squirrel, Typhoid Mary/Mary Walker, Nova Prime, Terra/Tara Markov, Unikitty, Tiggy Sullivan, Miss Minutes

 

 

Born and credited as Tara Charendoff until her marriage, Strong became interested in acting at age 4 when she volunteered to perform in a school production. She worked with the Yiddish Theater and Toronto Jewish Theater and was featured in a recording of “Lay Down Your Arms” with the Habonim Youth Choir, singing the song in both English and Hebrew. Her professional debut was at the age of 13 when she starred as Gracie in Limelight Theater’s production of The Music Man. Along with a guest-spot on the show T. and T., she landed her first animated lead role in Hello Kitty’s Furry Tale Theater. By the time she moved to Los Angeles, she had already amassed an impressive resume; a trend that would continue well into her career. Largely, her work has been in animation, but Strong has made frequent on-camera appearances, most recently in 2021 as Tiggy Sullivan on Pretty Hard Cases, as well as done video games, such as playing the protagonist of Lollipop Chainsaw, Juliette. Often, Strong gets called on to play young boy characters like 10-year-old Ben Tennyson in the Ben 10 franchise, Dil Pickles in the Rugrats franchise (excluding the Paramount+ reboot) or Timmy Turner in The Fairly Oddparents.  She inherited the role as the regular voice of DC Comics’ Harley Quinn from Arleen Sorkin (in addition to already playing Batgirl), and became part of the phenomenon that was My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic as lead character Twilight Sparkle. She often uses her fame and social media presence to promote animal rescue groups, raise money for charities, decry bullying and promote Veganism. Throughout her career, she has been nominated for numerous awards including Action on Film International Film Festival, Annie Awards, Behind the Voice Actors Awards, Daytime Emmy Awards, Kids’ Choice Awards, NAVGTR Awards, Online Film & Television Association, Spike Video Game Awards, a Hollywood Gold Award, and an Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Award; winning several of them.

 

 

Saturday Credits:
Hello Kitty’s Furry Tale Theater
Care Bears
The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3
Piggsburg Pigs!
The Raccoons
Beetlejuice
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures
Little Shop
Wish Kid
Super Mario World
X-Men: The Animated Series
Tales from the Cryptkeeper
Gadget Boy and Heather
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat
Gadget Boy’s Adventures in History
101 Dalmatians: The Series
The New Batman Adventures
Recess
Detention
Pepper Ann
Teacher’s Pet
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
The Zeta Project
The Weekenders
Ozzy & Drix
Lloyd in Space
Fillmore!
What’s New, Scooby-Doo?
Duck Dodgers
Xiaolin Showdown
Lilo & Stitch: The Series
Ben 10
Legion of Super Heroes
The Penguins of Madagascar
Sushi Pack
All Grown Up!
Transformers: Animated
Wolverine and the X-Men
Pound Puppies (2010)
Green Lantern: The Animated Series
DC Nation: Super Best Friends Forever
DC Nation: New Teen Titans
DC Nation: Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld
Winx Club
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Young Justice
Ben 10: Omniverse
Beware the Batman
My Little Pony: Equestria Girls
Teen Titans Go!
DC Nation: Shazam!
Xiaolin Chronicles
Bunsen is a Beast
Justice League Action
Ben 10 (2016)
DC Super Hero Girls (2019)
My Little Pony: Pony Life

DETENTION

 

DETENTION

(WB, September 11, 1999-March 25, 2000)

 

Warner Bros. Animation

 

MAIN CAST:

Tara Strong – Shareena Wickett
Billy West – Emmitt Roswell
Roger Eschbacher – Jim Kim
Carlos Alazraqui – Ramon “Gug” Gugleamo
Tia Mowry – Lemonjella LaBelle
Tamera Mowry – Orangejella LaBelle
Bob Doucette – Duncan Bubble, Miss Treacle
Pamelyn Ferdin -Shelley Kelley
Kathleen Freeman – Eugenia P. Kisskillya

  

            Created by Bob Doucette and developed by Tim Cahill, Michael Maler and Julie McNally, Detention focused on 7 troublemakers from Benedict Arnold Middle School. Try as they might, they just couldn’t avoid being sent to detention by gym teacher Eugenia P. Kisskillya (Kathleen Freeman), a former sergeant in the Marine Corps who often timed displayed a humorless form of tyranny over them (however, she has been shown to be a nice person).  She was based on a nun teacher from Doucette’s grade school, and was infused with elements of Freeman’s Sister Mary Stigmata from The Blues Brothers films.

The Detention Crew: the Labelle twins, Shelley, Shareena, Emmitt, Jim, Gug and Duncan.

            Her frequent targets included Shareena Wickett (Tara Strong), a horror-loving goth girl who liked being a free spirit and had a pet pig named, well, Pig; Emmitt Roswell (Billy West), a conspiracy theorist with a firm belief in aliens (hence the name); Jim Kim (Roger Eschbacher), whose love of superhero comics tended to leave him a bit detached with reality as he often believed he possessed their various abilities; Ramone “Gug” Gugleamo (Carlos Alarzaqui), a short kid with a bad temper often left out of competitive sports and looking to take on people bigger than him; Duncan Bubble, a quiet boy who was able to spell out various words with the yo-yo he always carried (accompanied by an electronic voice reading them aloud, provided by Doucette); and twins Lemonjella and Orangejella LaBelle (played by real-life twins Tia and Tamera Mowry), whose possessed a high intelligence that often left others confused when they spoke and had a tendency to become competitive with each other. Shelley Kelley (Pamelyn Ferdin) was also present; however, she was considered Miss Kisskillya’s assistant more than a troublemaker (despite her best efforts to be one once). She was a peppy girl always in a Ladybug Scout uniform whose desire to be friends with the kids (particularly Shareena and Emmit, who she had a crush on) often goes at odds with their despising her for sucking up to Miss Kisskillya. The characters were designed by Stephen Silver and Matt Taylor.

Miss Kisskillya.

            Detention debuted on The WB as part of the Kids’ WB programming block on September 11, 1999, after airing a preview in the afternoon the day before. The series was a lot more grounded than other shows to come out from Warner Bros. Animation, with more of the more outlandish elements coming from fantasy sequences imagined by the kids as they got their revenge on Kisskillya. It was written by Eschbacher, Maler, Cahill and McNally with Stephen Shaw, Wendell Morris, Tom Sheppard and Charles M. Howell IV. Cahill and McNally also served as story editors, with educational input by Miki Baumgarten, Ph.D. to ensure it met the FCC’s educational and informative requirements. The series’ music was composed by Thomas Jones Chase and Steve Rucker, with the theme song’s lyrics written by Doucette and Maler. Animation duties were handled by Wang Film Productions Co. Ltd.

The DVD collection.

            At 13 episodes, it was one of the shortest shows to come out of Warner Bros. Animation by the time it was cancelled after its only season. It did, however, find an extended life in reruns when The WB moved it to Friday afternoon reruns from September 8, 2000 until August 31, 2001. It wouldn’t be until 2020 when Warner Archive released the complete series to DVD.

  

EPISODES:

“Shareena Takes the Cake” (9/11/99) – Shareena and Shelley bake an explosive cake for Misss Kisskillya over missing a concert for detention, while the boys try to retrieve Duncan’s yo-yo from her.

“The Man with the Golden Brain” (9/18/99) – The gang has to keep Lemonjella and Orangejella from ruining the spelling bee with their competitiveness while Emmitt suspects the principal is a brain-stealing cyborg.
 
“What Did You Séance?” (9/25/99) – Shareena plans to contact her great-aunt via a séance while Shelley joins Emmitt in his plans to welcome UFOS set to arrive on the school roof.
 
“The Contest” (10/9/99) – The kids all hold a competition to see who can stay out of detention while Shelley tries to get it on purpose.
 
“Too Good to be Truant” (10/23/99) – Emmitt and Gug run against each other for class president while Shareena and Shelley decide to skip school.
 
“Breaking Out” (11/6/99) – The kids decide to get out of Saturday detention to meet their favorite TV star, not knowing Miss Kisskillya is doing the same.
 
“Comedy of Terrors” (11/13/99) – Miss Kisskillya gives Gug the part Shareena wanted in the school play, and she doesn’t take it very well.
 
“Little Miss Popular” (11/20/99) – Shareena hangs out with a clique of popular girls in order to meet the boy she likes.
 
“Capitol Punishment” (12/4/99) – Shelley wins a trip to Washington, D.C. and invites the gang and Miss Kisskillya along, but she ends up left behind when the plane leaves.
 
“The Blame Game” (1/8/00) – Lemonjella and Oangejella try to find the thief behind the thefts they’re blamed for while Emmitt is assigned to clean the haunted boiler room.
 
“Boyz ‘N the Parenthood” (2/5/00) – The kids are broken up into pairs to care for a water balloon “baby” while Emmitt is distracted by the notion his father is coming to see him.
 
“A Friend in Greed” (3/4/00) – Lemonjella and Orangejella find a map for a buried treasure which causes greed to erupt among the kids.
 
“Rule the School” (3/25/00) – Gug is made hall monitor and he goes mad with power, while Shareena plans a party when her parents go out of town.