Remember that one day when you could wake up without an alarm? When you would get your favorite bowl of cereal and sit between the hours of 8 and 12? This is a blog dedicated to the greatest time of our childhood: Saturday mornings. The television programs you watched, the memories attached to them, and maybe introducing you to something you didn't realize existed. Updated every weekend.
LITTLE BILL (Nickelodeon,
November 28, 1999-February 6, 2004) Nickelodeon Animation
Studio (as Nick Jr. Productions)
Little
Bill was a series of children’s books written by Bill Cosby with collage-style
art from Varnette Honeywood, whose work
was collected by Cosby and his wife and were featured on the sets of his
programs. The titular character was based on Cosby and his then recently-deceased
son, Ennis, for which the books were dedicated and from where the
character’s catchphrase—“Hello, friend!”—originated. The books were told in the
first-person as Little Bill dealt with things like bullying, honesty, family,
friends, boredom and more. 12 books were published by Scholastic
between 1997 and 1999 and received critical
acclaim for their realism and accessibility. In late 1997, Nickelodeonentered
into discussions to adapt the books into three specials, with a potential
series to follow.
The cover to one of the original books.
The
animated version of Little Bill, Cosby’s second after Fat
Albert, debuted on Nickelodeon on November 28, 1999, as part of its Nick Jr.
programming block (although the first 8 episodes originally aired on Sunday
nights). Little Bill Glover Jr. (Xavier
Pritchett) was an inquisitive 5-year-old boy with a knack for storytelling
and daydreaming that learned about everyday life through his family, friends
and imagination. He lived in Philadelphia with his father Big Bill (Gregory Hines), a building
inspector; mother Brenda (Phylicia
Rashad, who played Cosby’s wife on both The Cosby Show
and Cosby);
sister April (Monique Beasley),
who was 10-years-old and tended to be competitive and played sports; brother
Robert (Devon Malik Beckford
& Tyler James Williams),
an 8-year-old violin player and member of the Boy
Scouts; and great-grandmother Alice Kendall (Ruby Dee). Elephant was the
family’s pet hamster, named for Little Bill’s favorite animal, and tended to
roll around the apartment in his plastic hamster ball. Cosby would appear in
live-action during the show’s opening sequence, composed part of the theme song
with Don Braden and Jon Faddis, and portrayed
Little Bill’s favorite superhero, Captain Brainstorm.
The series' characters: Little Bill, teacher Miss Murray, sister April Glover, friend Kiku Wong, April again, brother Bobby Glover, cousin Fuchsia Glover, Bill again, Kiku again, Bill once more, Bobby again, best friend Andrew Mulligan, grandmother Alice the Great, mother Brenda Glover, father Big Bill, and Elephant.
The series ran for two seasons, being nominated for several Daytime Emmy Awards and winning one and
spawning a book
series of its own. Nick Jr. would continue to air episodes through 2006,
while it also aired concurrently on CBS
Saturday mornings as part of the Nick on CBS
programming block. In 2007, the series moved to the Noggin
channel and then to the channel version of Nick Jr. in
2009. Reruns would continue to air until 2014. When allegations
against Cosby came to light, networks and studios began
to distance themselves from the comedian; with his shows and
specials—including Little Bill—being pulled from schedules. The books
themselves had also been
targeted for removal from school libraries. Since then, Nickelodeon has
largely scrubbed Little Bill from its history; excluding it from a 2022
illustrated timeline of its programs and not offering it up for streaming.
However, episodes were still available to purchase through Prime Video.
THE BACKYARDIGANS (Treehouse TV, Nickelodeon,
Nick Jr., October 11, 2004-July 12, 2013) Nelvana Limited,
Nickelodeon Studios Florida (pilot), Nick Digital (pilot), Nickelodeon
Animation Studio (as Nick Jr. Productions)
The
Backyardigans was a CGI-animated musical series that followed the
adventures of five anthropomorphic animal children as they hung out in their
shared backyard and used their imagination to go on wild adventures. These
children were Uniqua (LeShawn Jefferies & Lizzie Waterworth), a
pink-spotted unique creature that was curious, self-confident and adventurous,
and the group’s leader by default; Pablo (Zach Tyler Eisen, Jake Goldberg &
Janet James), a high-strung blue penguin that tended to overreact and
experience panic attacks when encountering difficulty; Tyrone (Reginald Davis
Jr., Jordan Coleman, Chris Grant Jr., Maria Darling & Emma Tate), a
laid-back and cool-headed red-haired orange moose that always had a sarcastic
comment at the ready; Tasha (Naelee Rae, Gianna Bruzzese, Darling & Tate),
a strong-willed yellow hippopotamus who was rational, skeptical, and determined
to get her own way; and Austin (Jonah Bobo & Waterworth), an imaginative
fun-loving purple kangaroo that was shy at first since having just moved in, but
grew to become more outgoing. Episodes would typically follow a formula, with
the characters introducing themselves and the scenario they’re about to
experience before the backyard transformed into that setting. The imaginary
locations would fade back into the yard once they were done playing and
returned to their respective homes. Each episode was set to a different genre
of music (which the background music would emulate) and featured four songs.
The music was composed by Evan
Lurie and Douglas Wieselman.
Austin. Pablo, Tasha, Tyrone and Uniqua in the backyard.
The
Backyardigans previewed on Canadian network Treehouse TV on September 11, 2004
before debuting on the Nick
Jr. programming block on Nickelodeon on
October 12, 2004. The series was created by Nick Jr.’s vice president Janice Burgess, after she was
invited to develop an idea by president Brown Johnson. A pilot called “Me and My
Friends” was produced at Nickelodeon
Studios Florida, featuring actors in full-body puppet costumes. The network
passed, but Johnson encouraged Burgess to retool the idea, felling it would
work better in animation. The resulting second pilot was approved for a full
series order. The inspiration for the series came from action films, Burgess
thinking “it would be fun to take kids on that big adventure”. She was also
inspired by her childhood backyard, where she and her friends would play games
and use their imaginations. Uniqua was based on how Burgess viewed herself as a
kid and was the only character to appear in every episode. Dan Yaccarino designed the characters,
with additional designing done by Michael
Lennicx from Nick
Digital. Nelvana handled the series’ animation and distribution. As they
used actual children for the voices, many of them often ended up being recast
as the show went on. When it aired in the U.K., the episodes were dubbed over
by British actors.
Using their imaginations to go surfing.
The series proved
a hit with critics children and parents; racking up eight Daytime Emmy Award nominations, winning
two, as well as Annie Award and Gemini Award nominations, winning one of the
latter. In 2009, Johnson
stated that they planned to keep the show running as long as possible,
feeling that it was an “evergreen” property that could transcend multiple
generations. Ultimately, forever ended up only being four seasons and 80
episodes. While a 5th was planned, Burgess decided she was ready to
move on to other projects and joined much of her team in transitioning over to
Nickelodeon’s revival of Winx Club. The entire series was released by Paramount
Home Media Distribution across 21
DVDs in North America, with co-producer Nelvana
and later Fremantle Home Media handling
worldwide releases. Two seasons were made available to stream on Paramount+.
In terms of
comic book-based television productions, Video Comics was extremely
unique. In 1977, an experimental
two-way multi-programmed cable TV system called “QUBE” was launched in Columbus,
Ohio by Warner Cable,
a division of Warner
Communications. It would introduce several concepts that became standard in
cable television: pay-per-view, special-interest cable services, and
interactive services. Ambitiously, QUBE had to produce 10 channels of content
all at once, which meant the quicker and cheaper the better. As Warner also
owned DC Comics, it was decided to
produce a filler series based around those comics that also encouraged children
to read along. However, rather than employ the limited animation that had
plagued rival Marvel Comics’ own
productions in the 1960s, Video Comics instead chose to skip the
animation process altogether. Instead, Video Comics was literally just a
filmed comic book utilizing zooms, pans, fades, music, sound effects and
voiceovers. Basically, an audio drama crossed with a book on tape.
Video
Comics debuted QUBE in 1979, eventually finding its way over to the
Warner-owned Nickelodeon network shortly
after its launch as a fill-in program. Some of the segments featured an intro of an artist working on pages or
pictures of the characters being featured. All of the voices were provided by Diane Disque, William Hamilton
and Charles
Pickard, with Jon Cornell
directing and editing and Dana Kadison
producing. The episodes were produced at the local Owl Studios. Among the
adapted series and characters were Green Lantern,
Swamp Thing,
Hawkman, Space Ranger,
The Atom,
The Flash,
andSugar
and Spikefor a total of 70 segments ranging from 10-20 minutes
in length. Once the networks had sufficient programming in 1981, production on
the series ended and it had largely gone forgotten. To date, only three
full episodes and one
partial exist on the internet, as well as a promo from during its
run on Nickelodeon.
As Told
by Ginger debuted on Nickelodeon on
October 25, 2000, airing on the TEENick programming
block. The show’s theme was “I’m in Between” written by series composer Jared Faber and Kapnek, and performed by Macy Gray. The series became notable
for its unusual approach compared to other animated productions at the time.
The characters were allowed to age, ending up in high school by the middle of
the third season, and changed clothes every episode (sometimes several times in
an episode, depending how many days it spanned). It also dealt with heavy
topics, such as the school believing Ginger was suicidal after she wrote a
creepy poem, Ginger becoming addicted to caffeine, and the death of a teacher
(prompted by the untimely death of her voice actor, Kathleen Freeman). In 2002, the
series became part of the Saturday morning Nick on CBSprogramming
block; however, it was dropped after two months to make room for NFL coverage. As Told by Ginger was
allowed to air fully in international markets, but was taken off the Nick
schedule with several episodes left to air as its popularity had declined
(largely due to constant schedule shifts). Two additional episodes would make
their American debut on sister channel Nicktoons
in 2004 and 2006, and the three-episode series finale was released as a direct
to video film in 2004. In 2016, four additional episodes finally aired on TeenNick’s NickRewind block, “The
Splat”. In 2021, the entire series was made available to stream on Paramount+.
PINWHEEL (Channel C-3, Nickelodeon,
December 1, 1977-July 31, 1984) Warner-Amex Satellite
Entertainment
Pinwheel
was a children’s television show aimed at preschoolers aged 3-5. Created by
Dr. Vivian Horner and
produced by Sandy Kavanaugh,
two veterans of Children’s Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop), the series was set
around a large Victorian-style boarding house called Pinwheel House (and
happened to be powered by a pinwheel on the roof). Like CTW’s Sesame Street,
human characters lived alongside and interacted with puppet ones. The
humans included storyteller and artist Franci (Franci Anderson); Parisian
mime/handyman Coco (Caroline Cox
Loveheart & Lindanell
Rivera); music enthusiast Jake (George James, also the series’
composer), who liked to collect unusual sounds in small boxes for future musical
inspiration; elderly couple Smitty (Dale Engle) and Sal (Betty Rozek) who published
local newspaper The Daily Noodle; and Kim (Arline Miyazaki), the house’s
resident artist. The puppets included Aurelia (Brad Williams),
a bohemian-style character who owned the house and worked as a fortune teller;
Ebenezer T. Squint (Williams), an inventor and part-time magician that lived in
the basement; Luigi O’Brien (Williams), an Italian produce vendor that worked
out of the backyard; Aurelia’s nephews Plus (Williams) and Minus (Jim Jinkins)
who were opposites in every way; Molly the Mole (Olga Felgemacher), an elderly
mole that lived in a tree and introduced cartoon shorts; Admiral Bird (Craig
Mann), a pirate bird that was elusive and hard to catch; Silas the Snail (Mann),
constantly on his way to a snail gathering that he never makes due to his slow
speed; siblings Herbert (Mann) and Lulu (Felgemacher), a pair of bugs that
danced and played on the hedges; the Wonkies Tika, Gorkle and Woofle (all
Anderson), aliens that live in in Franci’s garden terrarium; and Spiderbelle
(Anderson), a bonnet-wearing spider.
Pinwheel
debuted on Columbus, Ohio’s Channel
C-3 on December 1, 1977. Like similar programs, episodes dealt with
concepts such as sharing, manners, the environment and other topics children
should be exposed to. Short skits were interspersed with song numbers, mostly
performed by Jake. It was specifically geared for the short attention span of
younger children. In 1979, the network went national and became Nickelodeon, making Pinwheel one of the
first programs broadcast on that network. Along with the shift came a bigger
budget, allowing production to move from Columbus to New York City, the inclusion
of imported animated shorts, and an expansion into a full hour (edited down to
a half hour for international distribution). After five seasons and 260
episodes, production on Pinwheel ended in 1984; however, the network
continued to air it for the remainder of the decade. Following the cancellation
of Captain
Kangaroo, Bill Cosby’s
Picture Pagessegment
was incorporated into Pinwheel’s reruns. When Nickelodeon launched the Nick Jr. programming block, Pinwheel became
the first program aired on it; promoted by Nick running a series of commercials
where the logo took the shape of two pinwheels. In 1990, Pinwheel was
finally taken off the air, making way for another puppet series aimed at
preschoolers: Eureeka’s Castle.
When you
become a long-running multimedia franchise, there are gonna be a lot of
different versions of the same concept for each rendition. The Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise is no different, with incarnations ranging
from dark and gritty to comedic and everything in between.
Saban's Ninja Turtles.
In the
mid-90s, Saban
Entertainment acquired the rights to the Turtles franchise and decided to
produce the first live-action Turtles series: Ninja
Turtles: The Next Mutation. It took elements from the
never-produced fourth live-action film and turned it into a comedic martial
arts action program, similar to Saban’s popular Power Rangersfranchise.
And what better way to promote the show than with a crossover into that
franchise?
Power
Rangers in Spacewas the version produced at the same time as Next
Mutation, and both being on Fox
Kids made the crossover possible. The only hitch was that since both shows
were filmed in different locations, the performers for the Turtles weren’t the
same ones used on their own show. In “Shell Shocked” written by Judd Lynn, the Turtles were
brainwashed by the Space Rangers’
nemesis, Astronema
(Melody
Perkins), to serve her and attack the Rangers. However, the Turtles are
eventually freed from her control and aided the Rangers in defeating her. This
was the second and last time that the Rangers franchise would cross over with
another show outside of comics (the first being Masked
Rider), and due to Next Mutation’s cancellation shortly after
this crossover was deemed non-canon by Ranger fans.
4Kids' Ninja Turtles.
In 2002, 4Kids Entertainment
acquired the Turtles license and produced their own animated series the
following year; simply titled Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles(although it would gain subtitles in future
seasons). Unlike its 1987
predecessor, the series placed more emphasis on a serious tone and action,
as well as featured season-long story arcs that would noticeably make psychological
changes to the Turtles. The 2003 Turtles ultimately came to an end when
co-creator Peter Laird sold the
franchise to Nickelodeon (co-creator Kevin Eastman had previously
sold his stake back in 2000). 4Kids decided to end their incarnation with a
bang while simultaneously celebrating the 25th anniversary of the
franchise with the TV movie Turtles
Forever, written byRob David, Matthew Drdek and series
developer Lloyd Goldfine.
The 2003 Turtles discover that the
1987 Turtles were accidentally brought over from another dimension, along with
their Shredder
(David Wills) and Krang (Bradford Cameron). 1987
Shredder sought an alliance with 2003 Shredder (Scottie Ray) as a way to
finally beat the Turtles, only to have 2003 Shredder take his Foot
Clan and technology and turn them into frightening instruments of war. 2003
Shredder ultimately discovers that additional dimensions exist with their own
Turtles that could potentially stop him, leading him to decide to eliminate
them all by destroying the one he’s identified as the “prime” universe. That
universe contained the black and white 1984 Turtles from the original
Mirage comics. The twelve Turtles are joined by friend and enemy alike to
put an end to 2003 Shredder’s plans. In a meta touch, Eastman and Laird make a
cameo appearance at the end as they put the finishing touches on the first Turtles
comic. Incidentally, during one scene, 2003 Shredder shows the Turtles the
Turtle multiverse which included the movie versions, the various comic
versions, and other random interpretations inspired by the “Guest
Era” of the comics (a span of the first run from #22-44 that were produced
by guest creators and later deemed non-canon by Eastman and Laird).
Nick's Ninja Turtles.
Nickelodeon’s first outing for
their newly-acquired Turtles franchise was the 2012 CGI-animated Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles. They opted for a return to the lighthearted fun
reminiscent of the 1987 series while injecting a bit of the seriousness (and some
original characters) of the 2003 version. So, it was only fitting that the 1987
universe would make several appearances during the course of the show (outside
of the theme being the 2012 Turtles’ ringtone). And, unlike the non-union 4Kids
who couldn’t use the original actors for Turtles Forever, the 2012
series was able to employ them readily (heck, Rob Paulsen—who was part of the 1987
series—was already a regular cast member for 2012).
The first instance were cameos in
both parts of the two-episode “The Manhattan Project” (aka “Wormquake!”)
written by Brandon Auman and
John Shirley. The 2012 crew sees the
1987 characters through a portal in the first part, while the team actually
appeared at the end of the second part to deal with a giant worm-like creature
that had entered their dimension through a portal. They became a major part of
the story in their next appearance, “Trans-Dimensional Turtles” (again by
Auman), when the 2012 Turtles—currently on a space adventure in the past to
stop the sinister Triceratons
from constructing a weapon that will destroy Earth in the present—end up transported
to the 1987 universe where their counterparts ask for help in stopping Krang (Pat Fraley) from destroying both
their dimensions with a special bomb. As a nod to the original series, the
Turtles were rendered in a mimicked cel animation style whenever they were in
the 1987 world. This episode had a bit of fun with continuity as well,
retconning Krang’s origin to his being Kraang
Subprime’s (Gilbert Gottfried)
cousin that was banished to the 1987 world. Similarly to Turtles Forever, an
additional bomb was placed in the “Prime” dimension which was rendered in a
comic book panel style, black and white, and featured the 1984 Turtles as silent
animatics. Because this technically took place in the past, the episode ended
with the 1987 Turtles confronting the giant worm from their last cameo, which
by extension led to an encounter with the mutant Tiger
Claw (mistakenly sporting the eyepatch he had not yet acquired by this
point).
Their final main appearance was in the
three-part series finale that spanned across “Wanted: Bebop & Rocksteady”,
“The Foot Walks Again!” and “The Big Blow-Out!” by Peter DiCicco, Mark Henry and Jed MacKay. 1987 Shredder (Kevin Michael Richardson,
replacing the late James Avery)
and Krang come to the 2012 dimension to continue Krang’s earlier plan of
dimensional destruction. They had to employ the 2012 Bebop
(J.B. Smoove) and Rocksteady
(Fred Tatasciore) to help with their plans when they accidentally left their
versions behind, and discovered that the 2012 henchmutants proved more
effective than theirs when they’re sent out to capture the 1987 Turtles that
followed them. In order to combat Shredder and Krang’s plans to open a portal
to Dimension
X and call in an army of rock
soldiers, the 2012 Turtles attempt to turn their counterparts into genuine
ninjas (their fighting was ineffective as a commentary to the neutered violence
forced on the original series) and get some help from their human allies, the Foot
Clan and the Mutanimals
(whose roster included characters voiced by Corey Feldman and Robbie Rist, who provided Turtle
voices in the live-action films). Ultimately, it took Bebop and Rocksteady
deciding that they didn’t want the world destroyed to turn on Shredder
and Krang and help ruin their plans. This trilogy not only closed out the 2012
series (even though it wasn’t the intended finale) also served as a 30th
anniversary celebration of the 1987 series as it aired just a few weeks shy of
the original’s debut.
One final encounter happened
between the 2012 and 1987 Turtles. In the short Turtles Take Time (and
Space), the 2012 Turtles get sucked into a time vortex when Michelangelo (Greg Cipes) plays with a
scepter that April (Jessica
McKenna) bought. They’re shunted onto a pirate ship, back into their
aquarium when they were babies, and an extreme dimension where the Turtles and
Shredder were jacked. Finally, they returned to their lair only to discover it
was the lair of the 1987 Turtles. Only Cipes and Townsend Coleman reprised their
respective roles as Michelangelo for the short.
(Nickelodeon,
Nicktoons, January 6, 2017-Februay 9, 2018)
Billionfold,
Inc., Nickelodeon Animation Studio
MAIN
CAST: Jeremy Rowley – Bunsen Beast,
Mr. Munroe, Jerk Von Handsome, Amazing Eric, various Ben Giroux – Mikey Morrice
Munroe, Bog Beast, various Kari Wahlgren – Amanda Killman,
Beverly, Sophie Sanders, Mrs. Munroe, various
Bunsen is a Beast was the
fourth and final show created by Butch
Hartman during his tenure at Nickelodeon.
The series centered on a blue monster named Bunsen (Jeremy Rowley) who decided
to attend the human Muckledunk Middle School in an effort to show that monsters
and humans could peacefully co-exist. He was befriended by Mikey (Ben Giroux)
who helped Bunsen try to navigate the human world while also being introduced
to the Monster World. Plaguing them every step of the way was classmate Amanda
Killman (Kari Wahlgren), who thoroughly believed that monsters were dangerous
and did whatever she could to prove it from sabotaging their ambitions to
slipping Bunsen some beets to force him to turn into a more monstrous form.
Despite their constant clashes, Mikey and Bunsen do try to help Amanda out of
jams she may end up in and Amanda had a secret crush on Mikey.
Bunsen keeping an eye on Mikey.
Other characters included Beverly
(Wahlgren), Amanda’s right-hand preschooler henchwoman that helped in her schemes;
Sophie Sanders (Wahlgren using a Valley girl accent), Mikey’s crush; Wolfie (Kevin Michael Richardson),
Bunsen’s best beast friend; Miss Flapp (Cheri Oteri), Bunsen’s teacher;
Commander Cone (Jerry Trainor),
a miserable ice cream vendor; Darcy (Cristina Milizia), a home-schooled
socially awkward friend of Mikey and Bunsen’s that sometime tagged along with
them; and Mikey and Bunsen’s parents (voiced by Rowley & Wahlgren and Jennifer Hale & Jeff Bennett, respectively).
Amanda glowers on as Bunsen and Mikey stand with their classmates.
Bunsen is a Beast debuted on
Nickelodeon with a preview on January 16, 2017 before officially beginning on
February 20th. The genesis for the series stemmed from a picture of
a boy and a beast Hartman drew in 2009, which he considered for later use in a
children’s book of some kind. After four years on his desk at Nickelodeon, executive
Russell Hicks took notice of
it and said he should pitch it for a show. The series was developed with the
overlying message that “no matter who you are, you can always find a place to
fit in.” This was the first of Hartman’s series to be completely animated in Flash as Nickelodeon
was parsing down on the more expensive hand-drawn animation, and the first to be produced in the new dominant widescreen format. Hartman also
changed up his art style for the characters’ designs, trying to give it a bit
of a different feel than his previous programs. Additional characters were
designed by Faruk Cemalovic,
Dany Demysh and Phillip Williams. The series
was written by Hartman, Ray
DeLaurentis, Will Schifrin,
Becky Wangberg, Bob Colleary, Grant Levy, Dominik Rothbard, Ellen Byron, Lissa Kapstrom and Max Beaudry, with DeLaurentis
serving as story editor. Hartman also wrote the lyrics to the theme composed by
Guy Moon, who handled the
rest of the series’ music. Animation duties were handled by Elliott Animation, Inc.
The day after the February premiere,
Nickelodeon uploaded a video to their YouTube channel featuring a crossover
between Hartman’s shows: The Fairly Oddparents,
Danny Phantom, T.U.F.F. Puppyand Bunsen.
It was followed-up by a digital
comic written and drawn by Hartman with Benji Williams, Marcus Velazquez
and George Goodchild depicting
Hartman having to be rescued from the shows’ respective villains. Another
crossover would take place within Bunsen’s show as The Fairly Oddparents’ Cosmo
(Daran Norris), Wanda (Susanne Blakeslee) and Timmy (Tara Strong) appeared in the episode “Beast
of Friends” under the premise that Bunsen and Cosmo had met at a convention and
been friends ever since.
Bunsen and his best buds.
After nearly 2 decades at
Nickelodeon, Hartman decided
to leave the company and pursue new challenges. Bunsen ended up
being the shortest of his shows; having been planned for and running for only a
single season. Apparently, Nickelodeon had no intention of continuing his shows
without him as they also stopped production on The Fairly Oddparents. The
series’ first 16 episodes aired on Nickelodeon, but then moved over to Nicktoons
for the remainder of its run. It received
a nomination for an Annie Award for “Outstanding
Achievement in Voice Acting” in 2018.
Bunsen when he gets extra beastly.
A
point-and-click video game based on the show, Beast Day Ever, was
released on the Nickelodeon website three days before its February premiere.
Another game, Arm-A-Gettin’,
followed and was a full-motion collect-a-thon. A third game, Are You a Beast or a Human?,
was a simple pictorial survey to indicate what kind of being you were.
Bunsen would also be made a playable character in Super Brawl World, one
in a series of crossover fighting games featuring various Nickelodeon
characters, with Mikey as a support character. The entire series was made available
for purchase on YouTube and for streaming on Paramount+. EPISODE
GUIDE: “Hide
and Go Freak / Bunsen Screams for Ice Cream” (1/16/17) – Amanda disguises
herself as a beast to expose Bunsen and learns not to cross his house. / Amanda
uses an ice cream truck to lure Bunsen out of school and get him expelled. “Bunsen
is a Beast! / Body and the Beast” (2/20/17) – Amanda spikes Bunsen’s drink with
beets, turning him into a people-eating monster. / Mikey and Darcy must help
Bunsen find his body before it grows a new head and destroys the world. “Bearly
Acceptable Behavior / Beast Busters” (2/21/17) – Amanda tries to get herself
attacked by the bear Bunsen brings to class. / Mikey and Bunsen must save Amanda
from the sneeze beasts that escaped from Bunsen’s nose. “Spelling
Beast / Mikey is a Beast” (2/22/17) – Proving bees are experts at spelling bees
gets Bunsen turned into a bee. / Bunsen becomes the mascot for Mikey’s hero,
but Mikey soon finds himself left out. “Fright
at the Museum / Handsome Beast” (2/23/17) – Finding Bunsen’s uncle in a museum,
they try to sneak him out for a decade-overdue date with Bunseun’s aunt. / A
body spray turns Bunsen into a human hunk that Amanda falls for. “Tooth
or Consequences” (2/25/17) – Amanda vows to catch the tooth fairy to keep
Bunsen from becoming rich with all the teeth he loses. “Beast
of Friends” (3/4/17) – Bunsen is set to introduce Mikey to Cosmo on their
Friend-iversary, but Amanda follows them and teams up with Mr. Crocker. “Thunder
and Frightening / Eyes on the Pies” (3/11/17) – Amanda seeks to use Bunsen’s
fear of thunder to chase him out of school. / The hiccups causes Bunsen to lose
his memory. “Happy
Beastgiving / Beastern Standard Time” (3/18/17) – For a beast holiday, Mikey
helps Bunsen deliver dream gifts to people around town. / Daylight savings time
throws off Bunsen’s internal clock. “Unhappy
Campers / Hall of Justice” (3/25/17) – Bunsen uses a camping trip to help Mikey
get over his fear of the woods. / Amanda attempts to sabotage Mikey and Bunsen
when they’re named the new hall monitors. “Astro-Nots”
(4/14/17) – A tour of MASA ends up with Mikey and Bunsen being accidentally
blasted off into space. “Cookie
Monster / Braces for Disaster” (6/3/17) – When Amanda eats Bunsen’s cookies she
turns into a monster. / Amanda’s braces suddenly produce a mink every time she
says “beast”. “Hug
It Out-ch! / Guinea Some Lovin’” (6/10/17) – Amanda is trapped in Bunsen’s
hugging chair and won’t be freed until she’s happy. / Amanda seeks to spoil
Bunsen’s new love affair with a guinea pig. “Mikey-plication
/ The Case of the Cold Case” (6/17/17) – Bunsen clones Mikey so that they’ll
have more time for their band. / Mikey and Bunsen set out to prove that
Commander Cone didn’t steal Amanda’s phone case. “Bunsen’s
Beast Ball / Bromeo and Juliet” (6/24/17) – Amanda swaps out Bunsen’s beast
ball to keep him and Mikey from having fun. / Bunsen tries to get the lead in
the school play to kiss Sophie, and Amanda sets out to spoil his chances. “Beast
Halloween Ever” (10/14/17) – Mikey’s excited to introduce Bunsen to Halloween
while Amanda plots to steal everyone’s candy. “Bunsen
Saves Christmas” (12/18/17) – When Amanda ends up on the naughty list, she
stuffs Santa into a gift box and steals all the toys. “Beastie
Besties / By Hook or By Schnook” (12/19/17) – A beast ceremony turns Amanda
into Bunsen and Mikey’s best friend. / Amanda sends Bunsen and Mikey on a fake
treasure hunt with a bogus map. “Boodle
Loo / The Boy Who Cried Wolfie” (12/20/17) – Mikey and Bunsen search for
Bunsen’s invisible dog after Amanda lures him away. / Bunsen’s beast fest
friend comes for a visit and discovers he likes Mikey…for dinner. “Adventures
in Beastysitting / Wilda Beast” (12/21/17) – A package switch leads to Mikey
and Bunsen having to deliver a beast baby. / Bunsen’s cousin visits and
develops a crush on Mikey, which makes Amanda jealous. “Bad
Chair Day / Stupor Bowl” (12/22/17) – Miss Flap changes the seating assignments,
splitting Bunsen and Mikey up. / Bunsen becomes hypnotized by swirling toilet
water and Amanda uses this chance to convince him to return home. “Remote
Outta Control / Network Newbs” (12/26/17) – Bunsen eats Amanda’s universal
remote, causing her to be attacked by her smart house. / Mikey and Bunsen
compete with Amanda for a segment on the local news. “Amanda
Gets Schooled / Beast in Show” (12/27/17) – Mikey and Bunsen help Amanda avoid
summer school. / Amanda tries to beat Bunsen in the local dog show with her
robot dog. “Snooze
Alarm / Split Decision” (12/28/17) – Mikey tries to keep Bunsen up past his hibernation
time before he goes to sleep for 50 years. / Bunsen and Mikey find they have trouble
deciding what to use their gift card on, which gets more complicated when
Bunsen splits and disagrees with himself. “Hair
Today Gone Tomorrow / Ice Cream” (12/29/17) – Mikey and Bunsen use Boodles’ fur
to turn themselves invisible and sneak into a movie. / Mikey and Bunsen try to
help Commander Cone find his dream job. “Friend
of Phony / Beauty or the Beast” (2/10/18) – A gameshow about their friendship
threatens to end Mikey and Bunsen’s. / When Bunsen keeps interrupting their date,
Sophie forces Mikey to choose between them.
Gwen Stefani with her Harajuku Girls: (from left) Maya Chino, Jennifer Kita, Rino Nakasone & Mayuko Kitayama.
Harajuku
Girls was also the name she gave the group of backup dancers she hired for the
tour, wearing make-up and clothing meant to be evocative of the Japanese
aesthetic. The Harajuku Girls were comprised of Maya Chino,
Jennifer
Kita,
Rino Nakasone
and Mayuko
Kitayama, who performed under the stage names “Love”, “Angel”,
“Music” and “Baby”, respectively, after the album. Along with the tour, the
Harajuku Girls served as Stefani’s entourage in public (it was alleged that
they were contractually
obligated to speak only Japanese in that instance), appeared with her
on interviews (where part of her gimmick was that she considered them imaginary
friends), and starred in 8 of her music videos (three of them would also appear
in No Doubt’s “Settle
Down”
video, sans Harajuku styling). Stefani would go on to use the name “Harajuku Lovers”
for a line of fragrances,
which came in caricature bottles fashioned after her and the Girls, and fashion
for Target
also adorned with those caricatures. During this period, many critics would
come to regard Stefani’s Harajuku Girls as not so much cultural appreciation,
but more along the lines of cultural
appropriation as well as reinforcing negative
ethnic stereotypes.
An example of the kawaii design applied to the scenery.
Fast forwarding to 2014, Stefani announced the next Harajuku-inspired
product: an animated series. A desire to turn the Harajuku Girls into some kind
of media project existed since the initial album’s release, but it wouldn’t be
until 2013 that she pitched it at Kidscreen’s Asian
Animation Summit. Australia’s Network
Ten liked the idea and greenlit the production. Although this would be
Stefani’s first involvement with an animated series, she had a familiarity with
their inner workings through her brother, No Doubt co-founder and former member
Eric
Stefani, who worked as an animator on cartoons like A
Pup Named Scooby-Dooand The Simpsons.
HJ5: Love, Angel, G, Music and Baby, along with their manager, Rudie.
Initially titled Koo Koo Harajuku, the show was developed by Steve
Aranguren, Gillian Carr and Madellaine
Paxson and co-produced by Vision Animation, Red Flags Fly and Moody
Street Kids, with DHX Media (now WildBrain) handling
distribution. Animated in Flash, the series followed
the adventures of teenaged band HJ5 as they often met with challenges that
prevented them from playing their gigs peacefully; such as unruly fans,
fun-hating despots, or inventions gone amok. HJ5 was comprised of leader G
(modeled after Stefani, voiced by Maggie Cheretien), the glue of the band who kept
them together through tough times and represented bows; Love (Daisy Masterman),
the group genius whose inventions often caused more problems than they solved and
represented hearts; Angel (Emma Taylor-Isherwood), a bubbly and cheerful
fashionista that could be a bit of an airhead at times and represented stars; Music
(Sally Taylor-Isherwood), the sarcastic and strong-willed second-in-command of
the band who was both an amazing fighter and dancer and represented musical
notes; and Baby (Charlotte Nicdao), sweet and carefree to a fault who loved
adorable things and giving hugs (and was constantly hungry) and represented
cuteness. Their manager was Rudie Rhodes (Danny Smith), who was enthusiastic
but hard-lucked and clumsy, and tended to get the band into trouble through his
antics and forgetfulness. Additionally, the band had a sassy robotic personal
assistant and chauffer named R.O.D. (Robotic Obedient
Driver), as well as several monster pets (cute little creatures that could be
domesticated or wild) and a Pomeranian named Chewie (based on Stefani’s
own pet). The characters, designed by Kyla May, were heavily
influenced by the Harajuku Girls while remaining ethnically ambiguous.
General Nofun holds HJ5 captive.
The series featured a number of antagonists bent on ruining HJ5’s
careers any way they could. Chief amongst them was General Ira S.
Nofun (Paul Heng, Ian Bliss in Australia), the
leader of Nofunland who hated anything fun. His top man was Commander
Bo-ring (Bliss), who led a double life as pop star Baron Von Melody. Nofun also
had a cat, Moods
Meow, who had designs on world domination. Other antagonists included Madame
Shhh, who hated noise and wanted to soundproof everything through magic
spells and bubbles; Sammy
Starr, Rudie’s arrogant rival who used leetspeak and tried everything to sign
HJ5 to him; Say-Wah (Nicdao), a technological whiz who wanted revenge on the
band for not accepting her into their ranks; The Kimberlys, a rival band
comprised of similar-looking girls all named Kimberly who wanted to be famous
without doing any of the actual work; Tizzie
Lizzie (Natalie Bond), the band’s biggest
(and obsessive) fan and daughter of an incredibly wealthy man who attempted to
subjugate HJ5; Angelica (Amanda
Harrison), a young inventor and Love’s chief rial; Cici, the leader of a
mermaid singing group who felt they had sole performing rights in oceanic
territories; Panda Pete, a panda-obsessed businessman who wanted to make the
whole world kawaii (the Japanese
culture of cuteness); Mimi
Di Pollo, an extreme fashion designer who wanted revenge on HJ5 for firing her
because of her impractical outfits for them; and Bertrand, a smartphone
modified by Love to never become obsolete that evolved into a sentient despot,
among others.
Baby and the monster pets.
Other characters included Colonel Spyke (Jaqueline
Brennan), captain of the Harajuku Defense Squad who disliked HJ5’s music but
didn’t hesitate to employ their services on missions when needed; Twisty-T (Smith), a prominent
music producer Rudie always strove to impress; Jo
Jo Jolie, a fashion designer and Twisty T’s wife; Mauve Madison (Brennan in
Australia, Chrehtien in the US), a popular talk show host; Trixie
La Trill (Bond), a hair stylist and Rudie’s aunt with a desire to be famous; Sparski, a sentient computer
virus; and Krispin
Krouton, a tabloid journalist, among others.
Much like Stefani’s Harajuku Girls, reception to the series was mixed
and labeled as cultural appropriation. Reviewers pointed out the whitewashing
and Westernization of Japanese culture while simultaneously eliminating
anything remotely Japanese from the show. Despite that, the series was able to
churn out 3 seasons and was nominated for an Asian
Television Award in 2016. For the third season, HJ5 embarked on
a world tour that took them out of Harajuku City to new and exotic locations
with their own crazy themes--such as bubblegum, musical instruments or yo-yos--via
a teleporting tour bus concocted by Love. The last five episodes of the series
aired initially on Disney
Channel Australia before airing on 10 Peach.
