WHERE’S WALDO? (2019)
(Universal Kids, Peacock, July 20, 2019-July 3, 2021)
DreamWorks Animation
Television
(Universal Kids, Peacock, July 20, 2019-July 3, 2021)
MAIN CAST:
Joshua Rush – Waldo
Haley Tju – Wenda
Eva Carlton – Odlulu
Thomas Lennon – Wizard Whitebeard, various
Piotr Michael – Arfolomew, Fritz
Joshua Rush – Waldo
Haley Tju – Wenda
Eva Carlton – Odlulu
Thomas Lennon – Wizard Whitebeard, various
Piotr Michael – Arfolomew, Fritz
In 2017, NBCUniversal relaunched the network
formerly known as Sprout as Universal
Kids, which would house their family offerings to compete with similar networks.
Sprout would continue on as a pre-school programming block in the early morning
hours, while older children and teens would be the focus for the remainder of
the day. DreamWorks Animation, which
was purchased by NBCUniversal in 2016, was tapped to provide content for the
network in the form of reruns from other places and originals.
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| (Top) The original Waldo characters: Odlaw, Wizard Whitebeard, Wenda, Waldo and Woof. (Bottom) The crew gets a new look: Arf, Wizard Whitebeard, Wenda, Waldo, Odlulu and Fritz. |
One of
those original programs was a new adaptation of the Where’s
Waldo? series of books—the first in almost 30 years. While the original
series, which aired on CBS in 1991, stuck
very closely to the books by emulating the art style of creator Martin Hanford and
featuring the character traveling to various wonderous worlds, this new series,
developed by Koyalee Chanda
and Lucas Mills, decided to
not only revise the characters a bit, but also to keep things more grounded in
reality to serve as an edutainment show dealing with geography and cultures.
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| Wenda taking point for some tandem surfing. |
Waldo
(Joshua Rush) was now a pre-teen member of the WorldWide Wanderer Society; an
international organization of curious travelers that went around the world
celebrating different cultures, learning about foreign lands and solving
problems through observation in the hopes of earning their stripes and becoming
Wizard-Level Wanderers. Waldo was knowledgeable and inquisitive, possessing an
inventive spirit as well as a magic hat that could seemingly hold anything
within. Waldo’s best friend and traveling companion was Wenda (Haley Tju), who
was the brawn to Waldo’s brains. She was a talented athlete always ready to
jump into the action. While she still wore stripes, her clothing was more
unique rather than a female version of Waldo’s, and she was designed with
darker skin and hair.
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| Fitness day with Wizard Whitebeard. |
Their mentor was Wizard Whitebeard
(Thomas Lennon), whose long white beard could act as a semi-sentient appendage.
Although he occasionally wore the red robe and tall blue hat of his original
incarnation, he was designed as a stereotypical hipster without shoes. He was
fun-loving and a bit scatterbrained at times. He was also the keeper of a cache
of Magic Keys. The Magic Keys could be used like a magic wand, each possessing
their own special ability. For instance, the Greek Myth Key brought
mythological figures to life, or the Quick Bloom Key allowed any plant to move
and garden like a human. To reverse the spell, the keys’ bow simply had to be
twisted 180-degrees before being used again. While Waldo’s loyal dog Woof would
get introduced later on, initially the only canine friend was Whitebeard’s dog,
Arfolomew (Piotr Michael), or “Arf” for short.
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| Hanging out at Wanderer HQ in the Wander Globe chair. |
Waldo and
Wenda typically spent their time at Whitebeard’s house—also known as Wanderer
HQ—playing some kind of game, engaging in one of his many eccentric hobbies, or
listening to a story from one of his many globe-trotting adventures. It was
there where they would receive a communication from a fellow Wanderer via a
Wander Post (basically, a postcard whose image could magically come to life)
alerting them to the discovery of a once-lost Magic Key that Waldo and Wenda
would need to retrieve. Whitebeard would summon the Wander Globe—a globe
attached to a funky chair—and recited the chant “By striped staff and white of
beard, I summon magic wild and weird! Spin o magic globe to show where these
Wanderers will go!”, which would cause the globe to project an image of the
country the Wander Post came from, followed by Whitebeard and/or Waldo giving a
little information on the area and its people. As this version of the Waldo
didn’t carry a walking stick that created portals to new locations, Waldo and
Wenda would jump into a magic suitcase after exclaiming “Ready…set…Wander!”
that would transport them exactly where they needed to go. After ejecting them,
the suitcase would shrink itself down before landing for storage in Waldo’s
hat.
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| Odlulu and Fritz up to mischief. |
Of course, it wasn’t all smooth
sailing. The race was on to get the key before Anti-Wanderer Odlulu (Eva
Carlton) got it first. Odlulu was a former Wanderer who was impulsive and
patient, wanting the keys to fulfill
her own selfish desires for success, attention, or as some banal
appliance—like a hair dryer. She was a gender-flipped version of franchise
antagonist Odlaw, but rather than just be an evil double to Waldo, she wore an
outfit similar to the classic Wenda outfit in Odlaw’s black and yellow stripes,
a brimmed cap, and Odlaw’s pointed glasses. Odlulu was accompanied by her pet
ferret, Fritz (Michael), who wore a purple and green hoodie. While he was loyal
to Odlulu, he was even more loyal to his stomach and couldn’t keep from being distracted
by any food item they encountered. Despite being the series’ “villain”, Odlulu
wasn’t really malicious or evil. Rather, she was just self-absorbed and oblivious
to the negative affects her actions took on others or the world around her. Her
use of the keys often led to chaos that the Wanderers had to overcome and
eventually clean up. There were times she even helped and seemed remorseful; of
course, whatever lesson she learned was gone by the time the next episode
rolled around. It was never explained how Odlulu knew about the location of the
keys or got around as she always seemed to be in place ahead of the Wanderers,
or why she left the Wanderer society.
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| Mountain climbing with Wizard Rockbeard. |
Several other Wizards, many of whom
possessed their own Magic Keys or watched over where one was located, appeared
over the course of the series. Like Whitebeard, they each had wild hair: the
male Wizards all had funky beards, while the women all had unique styles.
Wizard Wavybeard’s (Bobby
Moynihan) beard moved like calm water; Wizard Nightingale (Retta) had an occupied birdcage
wrapped in her hair; Wizard Featherbeard’s (Oscar Nuñez) beard and hair resembled a bird’s
plumage; Wizard Blizzardbeard’s (Tom
Kenny) beard looked like a storm cloud; Wizard Artbeard’s (“Weird Al” Yankovic) beard stored his art
supplies and acted as an palette; Wizard Lariat (Kerri Kenney-Silver) could use
her long braid as—what else?—a lariat; Wizard Dubloon’s (Danielle Pinnock) dreadlocks held
any number of objects; Wizard Fix (Rachel Dratch) used her hair to
store tools; Wizard Vinebeard (Carlos
Alazraqui) had a long, slender beard that could be swung on like a vine; Wizard
Odissi’s (Hannah Simone)
hair danced along with her; Wizard Dustybeard’s (Cedric Yarbrough) beard was
tied to resemble and archaeologist’s brush; Wizard Flambé’s (Sumalee Montano) hair resembled a
four-tiered cake; Wizard Shadowbeard (Randall Park) had a five
o’clock shadow rather than an actual beard; Wizard Amber (Nicole Bloom) had a laurel
branch trapped in her hair like amber; Wizard Rockybeard’s (Rob Riggle) beard looked as if
it was made of stone; Wizard Melodia’s (Stephanie Beatriz) hair was
full of bells and chimes; Wizard Corriedale’s (Cheri Oteri) hair looked like a
sheep’s coat; and Wizard Longbeard (Henry Winkler) actually had a
short one.
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| Bundled up for an arctic expedition through the magic suitcase. |
Where’s Waldo? debuted on
Universal Kids on July 20, 2019. It was written by Mills, F.M. De Marco, John Tellegen, Sam Cherington, Madison Bateman and Mimi Hess, with Mills serving
as story editor. Each episode’s title was a pun that incorporated the featured
location. Characters were designed by Melissa
Manwill and Benjamin Tong,
with animation provided by Snipple
Animation Studios, Inc. The theme was performed by Distant Cousins, and Ben Bromfield supplied the score. As
part of the promotion for the series, short clips of Rush and Tju talking about
the show were shown during commercial breaks. Like other Waldo media, Where’s
Waldo? was localized for various countries with Waldo’s name changed in the
title, theme lyrics and dialogue (for example, he’s known as “Wally” in the
United Kingdom), and had local actors re-record the lines.
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| Where's Waldo? |
A number of recurring gags occurred
through the series’ run. Wherever Odlulu and Fritz were, there would always be
an occasion for someone to misidentify Fritz’s species; prompting Odlulu (and
occasionally someone else) to correct them. Situations arose where Waldo found
himself needing to construct
a very elaborate device which he always christened with a name that ended
in “-inator” (kind of like Dr.
Doofenshmirtz from Phineas
and Ferb, but without the whole trying to conquer the world part). As a
nod to the books, there would be several moments where the viewer was tasked with
finding Waldo in a crowded shot. These 10-second intervals would typically
occur when the Wanderers went to a new location or Waldo needed to make one of
his devices. Waldo would wander off while Wenda was distracted, prompting her
to ask “Waldo? Where’s Waldo?” when she realized. Unlike the books and the
original series’ “Waldo Minute”, these scenes weren’t as densely populated and
did feature some limited motion as living things would gradually move out of
the way to expose Waldo more. For the first 8 episodes, Tju would appear to
introduce the episode and task the viewer with finding three additional objects
in those scenes, returning at the end to highlight where they were and promote
the next episode. After a few weeks’ hiatus, Tju would only occasionally appear
to challenge the viewers to find Waldo as many times as they could in a quick
character pop-up sequence.
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| The Where's Waldo? cast during a promo segment. |
Universal Kids, unfortunately,
found itself struggling in its ratings. In June of 2019, development on
original programming was
stopped and the network’s development staff either laid off or moved to
other NBCUniversal properties. It was decided instead to focus on the launch of
their new streaming service, Peacock,
in mid-2020. To bolster its original offerings, some shows were moved from
other NBCUniversal networks onto it. Where’s Waldo?’s second season
became one of the launch programs for the service on July 15th. Two more
batches and a final episode were uploaded, bringing an end to the series as it
wasn’t renewed for a third season.
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| Using a Magic Key to find more Magic Keys. |
While Peacock had all of the
episodes, only the first season and first seven episodes of season 2 were
available to view for free; the remainder required a paid subscription to the
service. The first season was also made available to stream on Hulu,
and purchasable on Apple
TV, Prime
Video, Google
Play and Vudu.
Several clips have been uploaded to the official Peacock
Jr. YouTube channel as both promotional material and interactive content.
EPISODE GUIDE:
Season 1:
“Little Trouble in Big China” (7/20/19) – The Wanderers must
tame the dragon Odlulu accidentally brought to life with the Unfreeze Key.
“A Wanderer in Paris” (7/21/19) – Odlulu sees the Teeny-Tiny
Key as her ticket to winning the Tour de France.
“A Day in Turkey” (7/23/19) – Wanderer Yasemin’s rug turns
out to be a map to the Doubling Key.
“The Big New Mexico Pepper Hunt” (7/27/19) – The hunt is on
for a ghost pepper to complete Whitebeard’s family chili recipe and win the
cook-off against Odlulu for the Pepper Key.
“Hang Ten in Tahiti” (8/3/19) – The Wanderers must retrieve
the Wave Key for Wizard Wavybeard, which Odlulu plans to use to win the local
surf competition and get her own statue.
“Victoria Falls & Winters” (8/10/19) – After the
Wanderers use the Weather Key to replenish a watering hole in Zimbabwe, Frtiz
steals it from them so Odlulu can become a goddess.
“Vienna Voice-Versa” (8/17/19) – Attempting to enhance his
voice for a duet with Wizard Nightingale, Whitebeard accidentally switches
bodies with Arf.
“Costa Rica…in Color!” (8/24/19) – The Wanderers head to
Costa Rica to help Wizard Featherbeard figure out why the birds are losing
their color.
“Yukon Do It” (9/21/19) – Arf gets to become a sled dog
while helping the Wanderers transport a package to Wizard Blizzardbeard.
“The Strength of Scotland” (9/28/19) – Odlulu uses the
Strength Key to allow her to win in Scotland’s Highland Games.
“Hit or Myth in Greece” (10/5/19) – Odlulu uses the Greek
Myth Key in order to obtain the Golden Fleece, prompting the Wanderers to
team-up with Jason of the Argo.
“Venice the Menace” (10/12/19) – Odlulu steals the Crystal
Glass Key in order to become the belle of the Vienetian Carnival ball.
“Australian Blunder Down Under” (10/19/19) – Waldo, Wenda
and Odlulu must work together to retrieve his hat, Fritz and the Boomerang Key
from a runaway kangaroo.
“Big in Japan” (10/26/19) – Zapping Fritz with the Mega Mega
Monster Key not only increases his size, but that of his appetite for
all the noodles in the city.
“A New York Minute” (11/2/19) – Whitebeard plans to run in
the New York City Marathon, which Odlulu plans to win by using the Slow Mo Key
on the other runners.
“Bahama Drama” (11/9/19) – Odlulu steals the Bubble Key from
Wizard Doubloon in order to raise a sunken pirate ship in the Bahamas and take
its treasure.
“Chilling Out in Antarctica” (11/16/19) – Odlulu’s new ice
castle cuts off a waddle of penguins from their eggs during the annual march of
the emperor penguins.
“Mini Mayhem in Moscow” (11/23/19) – The Wanderers head to
Moscow to have Wizard Fix-It repair the Grow Key to shrink Whitebeard back to
size, only to end up shrunken themselves.
“The Swiss Mess” (11/30/19) – The Wanderers head to
Switzerland to get Whitebeard chocolate for his fondue fountain, but Odlulu
plans to make the largest chocolate sculpture in the country.
“A Wanderer’s Christmas” (12/7/19) – Waldo and Wenda must go
back in time to stop Odlulu from ruining everyone’s Christmas in her attempts
to get off of Santa’s “Naughty” list.
Season 2:
“It’s on Like Amazon” (7/15/20) – Waldo and Wenda head to
the Amazon to return the Quick Bloom Key to its wizard keeper.
“Mumbai Dance Party” (7/15/20) – Waldo, Wenda and Whitebeard
head to Mumbai to take part in a big Bollywood dance number.
“Riddle Me This, Egypt” (7/15/20) – While helping Wizard
Dustybeard find the Lost Chamber of Magic Keys in Egypt, Odlulu steals the key
for the chamber from them.
“Mad About Madagascar” (7/15/20) – While getting fresh
vanilla for Wizard Flambe, Woof takes a key and plays catch-me-if-you-can while
unknowingly causing the key to cast its spells.
“Norway Out” (7/15/20) – The Wanderers head to Norway to
keep Odlulu from using the very powerful Wind Key as the world’s greatest hair
dryer.
“Shadows of Bali” (7/15/20) – Odlulu uses the Shadow Puppet
Key to create her own living shadows, which then run off with the key.
“Where’s Woof?” (8/20/20) – Waldo and Wenda go on a
worldwide search for Woof when he disappears into the magic suitcase.
“Jolly Olde England” (8/20/20) – When the Key in the Stone
turns Fritz into a king, the Wanderers must stop him before his knights cause
chaos in London.
“Galapagos a Go-Go” (8/20/20) – Changing into an animal via
the Become An Animal Key, Odlulu accidentally disrupts the population of the
Galapagos Islands.
“Toddle-lu Mexico City” (8/20/20) – The Wanderers must
restore Odlulu to her original age when the Grow Up Key backfires and turns her
into a toddler.
“Mongolia-Saurus” (8/20/20) – Odlulu uses the Dino Key to
bring dinosaurs to life to have the ultimate pet.
“Nepal: Yeti or Not” (8/20/20) – The Wanderers discover
Odlulu is scaring away the locals in Nepal after having turned Fritz into a
Yeti with the Furball Key.
“A Welsh Trick and Treat” (8/20/20) – The Wanderers are
invited to Halloween in Wales where Odlulu uses the Haunted House Key to bring
some decorations to life.
“Uh-Oh, Canada” (12/11/20) – Odlulu uses the Invisible Key
to turn her and Fritz invisible so that they can cheat during the Wanderers Ice
Hockey Tournament.
“Blue Moon over Argentina” (12/11/20) – Odlulu steals the
Guitar Key from Wizard Melodia to turn herself into the world’s best guitar
player.
“Once Upon a Time in Denmark” (12/11/20) – The Wanderers
head to Copenhagen to put Hans Christian Andersen’s characters back into the
books Odlulu took them out of.
“Baa-Baa for Now, New Zealand” (12/11/20) – The Wanderers
must bring a lost herd of sheep home after Odlulu attempts to rig a sheep
herding competition.
“Trolling Through Iceland” (12/11/20) – The Wanderers must
return the mythical creatures Odlulu brought to life back to stone.
“Gibraltar Rocks!” (12/11/20) – The Wanderers head to the
Great Magic Key Vault to get Whitebeard one for his birthday, only to have
Odlulu clean it out.
“Flipping in Japan” (7/3/21) – The Wanderers attend the big
Wanderer gymnastics competition in Japan where Odlulu uses the Flipperty Key to
turn herself into a world-class gymnast.
