''Elinor Wonders Why'' is an animated television series created by

Jorge Cham Jorge Gabriel Cham () (born 1976) is an engineer-turned cartoonist, writer and producer, who writes the web comic strip ''Piled Higher and Deeper'' (''PhD Comics''). Cham was born in Panama and lives in the United States, where he started drawing ...

and Daniel Whiteson. The series premiered on September 7, 2020 from

PBS Kids PBS Kids (stylized as PBS KIDS) is the branding used for nationally distributed children's programming carried by the U.S. public television network PBS. The brand encompasses a daytime block of children's programming carried daily by most PBS ...

. The series is animated using

Toon Boom Harmony Toon Boom Animation Inc., also known as Toon Boom, is a Canadian software company founded in 1994 and based in Montreal, Quebec. It specializes in the development and production of animation and storyboarding software for film, television, the ...

Overview

The exploration-themed show encourages children to follow their curiosity, ask questions when they don't understand, and find answers using science inquiry skills. The main character, Elinor, is the most observant and curious bunny rabbit in Animal Town just north of Natural Forest, California. She introduces children ages 3–6 to science, nature, and communities through adventures with her friends Olive and Ari. Each episode includes two 11-minute animated stories, plus interstitial content, where Elinor and her classmates enjoy either Señor Tapir singing about famous nature explorers or Ms. Mole reading stories.

Characters

Main

*Elinor Rabbit (voiced by Markeda McKay) – A white bunny girl with an inquisitive nature and a sweet personality. *Ari Bat (voiced by Wyatt White in season 1, and Athan Giazitzidis in season 2) – A funny, imaginative light brown bat boy who lives in a hollow boulder, and is one of Elinor's best friends. *Olive Elephant (voiced by Maria Nash in season 1, and Lizette Chambers in season 2) – An elephant calf girl who is one of Elinor's best friends. She often makes charts for whatever questions are being asked. *Ranger Rabbit (voiced by Lisette St. Louis) – Elinor's mom, who works as a park ranger. *Mr. Rabbit (voiced by Colin Doyle) – Elinor's dad. *Ms. Mole (voiced by Shoshana Sperling) – A brown mole who is Elinor, Ari and Olive's teacher. She wears glasses.

Recurring

*Ms. Elephant (voiced by Ana Sani) Olive's mom. *Señor Tapir (voiced by

Juan Chioran Juan Chioran (born June 18, 1963) is a Canadian actor primarily associated with stage roles at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada. He is based in Stratford, Ontario. Chioran is also known for his voice acting roles, such as Doji in ...

) – A Spanish-accented

tapir Tapirs ( ) are large, herbivorous mammals belonging to the family Tapiridae. They are similar in shape to a Suidae, pig, with a short, prehensile nose trunk (proboscis). Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South America, South and Centr ...

that sings about famous explorers and inventors during interstitials. *Mr. Raccoon (voiced by Dan Darin-Zanco) – A raccoon who runs a bakery. *Rollie Armadillo (voiced by Eric Khou) – An

armadillo Armadillos () are New World placental mammals in the order (biology), order Cingulata. They form part of the superorder Xenarthra, along with the anteaters and sloths. 21 extant species of armadillo have been described, some of which are dis ...

who is one of Elinor, Ari, and Olive's classmates. *Ms. Llama (voiced by

Nicole Stamp Nicole Stamp is a Canadian TV director, actor, filmmaker, writer and television host. Career Stamp works as a writer, director, actress, and TV host. Her work has been nominated for 3 Canadian Screen Awards - twice for writing, and once for d ...

) – A

llama The llama (; or ) (''Lama glama'') is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a List of meat animals, meat and pack animal by Inca empire, Andean cultures since the pre-Columbian era. Llamas are social animals and live with ...

who owns a fruit cart. *Mr. Dog (voiced by Paul Bates) – A dog who loves to bury his things into the ground. *Tito Mouse (voiced by Leo Orgil in season 1, and River Morales in season 2) – A mouse who is one of Elinor, Ari, and Olive's classmates. *Mr. Bat (voiced by

Raoul Bhaneja Raoul Bhaneja is an English-Canadian actor, musician, writer and producer. Early life and studies Bhaneja was born in Manchester. His father is an Indian Sindhi, and his mother is Irish. A graduate of The National Theatre School of Canad ...

) – Ari's dad. *Mr. Lion (voiced by Kevin Dennis) – A lion who likes to paint pictures. *Koa (voiced by Ian Ho) – A brown

wombat Wombats are short-legged, muscular quadrupedal marsupials of the family Vombatidae that are native to Australia. Living species are about in length with small, stubby tails and weigh between . They are adaptable and habitat tolerant, and are ...

who is one of Elinor, Ari, and Olive's classmates. *Camilla Dromedary (voiced by Norah Adams) – A camel who is a friend of Elinor, Ari, and Olive. *Sally Beaver (voiced by Royal Goodfellow) – A

beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

who is one of Elinor, Ari, and Olive's classmates. *Mary and Lizzie Goat (voiced by Abigail and Grace Oliver) – Twin goat girls who are Elinor, Ari, and Olive's classmates. *Alejandro Possum (voiced by

Sergio Di Zio Sergio Di Zio is a Canadian actor. He starred in the television series '' Flashpoint'' as Michelangelo "Spike" Scarlatti until the show concluded on December 13, 2012. His other works include '' The Lookout'', ''Cinderella Man'', '' Senior Trip ...

) – A possum whose name is never mentioned in the series. *Silas Cheetah (voiced by Callum Shoniker in season 1, and Dax Catre in season 2) – A

cheetah The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large Felidae, cat and the Fastest animals, fastest land animal. It has a tawny to creamy white or pale buff fur that is marked with evenly spaced, solid black spots. The head is small and rounded, wit ...

who is one of Elinor, Ari, and Olive's classmates. *Baba and Bibi (voiced by

George Buza George Buza is an American and Canadian actor who is best known for voicing Beast (Dr. Hank McCoy) in '' X-Men: The Animated Series'' and ''X-Men '97''. Personal life Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he moved to Toronto, Ontario, as a young man and be ...

and

Linda Kash Linda Kash (born 17 January 1961) is a Canadian actress. Career Kash was born 17 January 1961, in Montreal. She was a cast member of Second City and played Trudy Weissman in the 1998 Jean Smart sitcom '' Style & Substance''; she has also playe ...

respectively) – Elinor's paternal grandparents who live in Desert Town. *Deputy Mouse (voiced by

Ron Pardo Ron Pardo is a Canadian actor and comedian. He has performed roles in over 90 animated series. On ''Paw Patrol'', Pardo has voiced Cap'n Turbot since the first episode, and later voiced the breakout villain Mayor Humdinger as well as various ot ...

) *Ms. Beaver (voiced by Diane Saleme) *Farmer Bear (voiced by Ellen Dublin) *Ms. Bat (voiced by Shoshana Sperling) – Ari's mom. *Mr. Hamster (voiced by Cliff Saunders) – A hamster who is a substitute teacher in Elinor’s class. *Sigmund "Siggy" Squirrel (voiced by Simon Pirso in season 1, and Luke Dietz in season 2) – A squirrel. *Lola (voiced by Elana Dunkelman) – Koa's big sister. *Mr. Beaver (voiced by Mike Petersen) *Mr. Hippo (voiced by

Derek McGrath Derek McGrath (born June 4, 1951) is a Canadian actor and writer. Life and career McGrath was born in Timmins, Ontario."That face on U.S. TV returns to shoot movie" by Rita Zekas, ''Toronto Star'' (20 Oct, 1987) inal EditionRetrieved from His ...

) *Mr. Antelope (voiced by

Eddie Glen Edward Glen, sometimes credited as Eddie Glen, is a Canadian actor. He has appeared in and provided voices in films, television shows and video games. He is best known for voicing Thomas the Tank Engine in the 2000 film ''Thomas and the Magic Rai ...

) *Hazel Lion (voiced by Svea Ham) – Mr. Lion's daughter. *Mehdi Fox (voiced by Malik Hassan) – A

fennec fox The fennec fox (''Vulpes zerda'') is a small fox native to the deserts of North Africa, ranging from Western Sahara and Mauritania to the Sinai Peninsula. Its most distinctive feature is its unusually large ears, which serve to dissipate hea ...

who is one of Elinor, Ari and Olive's classmates.

Episodes

Development and production

Development of the show began in 2017, when Cham and Whiteson were approached by PBS. PBS found Cham's comic, ''

Piled Higher and Deeper ''Piled Higher and Deeper'' (also known as ''PhD Comics'') is a discontinued newspaper and webcomic strip produced from 1997 to 2018. The series was written and drawn by Jorge Cham, and follows the lives of several grad students. First published ...

'', online and asked if he was interested in pitching to them. "I reached out to Daniel, and what inspires us beyond science is our children," Cham recalled. "They are curious, and it motivated us to create the show." Cham cites ''

Pogo Pogo, PoGo or POGO may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Gaming * Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator, any Philippines-based online gambling service * Pogo.com, a website featuring free online games Music * "Pogo", a song by Digitalism * ...

'' and ''

Calvin and Hobbes ''Calvin and Hobbes'' is a daily American comic strip created by cartoonist Bill Watterson that was Print syndication, syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. Commonly described as "the last great newspaper comic", ''Calvin a ...

'' as inspiration for the show's visual design, which he described as "something that felt natural and calming, as opposed to overloaded or frenetic." The character of Elinor was inspired by Cham's own daughter, Elinor. Cham said "She was about 4, which is just at that perfect age where she really does wonder why, all the time. Any answer you give her, she’ll (have) a follow-up question, another why." Cham and Whiteson went with animals as the show's characters to make them "appealing but also relatable at the same time", and to "highlight their range of skills and abilities". A second season of the series is currently in development with funding from a National Science Foundation grant.

Broadcast

The series premiered on

in the United States on September 7, 2020, as a sneak peek by showing the first 2 episodes, before regularly airing new episodes on September 8. Some episodes are available on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

in the United States. PBS International has licensed the series to Canada, Latin America, Finland, Israel, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates via

Knowledge Network Knowledge Network, also branded as British Columbia's Knowledge Network and K:, is a Canadian publicly funded educational cable television network serving the province of British Columbia. It is owned by the Knowledge Network Corporation, a Crow ...

Discovery Kids Discovery Kids, stylized as discovery k!ds, is a brand name owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Starting as a television block within Discovery Channel, the brand expanded as a separate television channel in October 1996. Discovery Kids on NBC was ...

Yle Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

Hop! Air France Hop, formerly branded HOP!, is a French regional airline operating flights on behalf of its parent company Air France. The airline was founded on 21 December 2012 after the merger of Airlinair, Brit Air and Régional brands. Its hea ...

, SVT and

E-Junior e-junior is the first UAE children TV channel created by e-Vision which is part of Etisalat, the largest telecom operator in the Middle East. "e-junior" was launched in the year 2001, it targets kids up to 14 years old. the channel content is a ...

, respectively. The series airs on Australia on the PBS Kids channel, which was started as a venture with

Foxtel NXE Australia Pty Ltd, trading as the Foxtel Group, is an Australian pay television company that operates cable television, direct-broadcast satellite, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April ...

in July 2021.

Home media

In early 2021, the series began to release its episodes on PBS Kids compilation DVDs.

Reception

Starr Rhett Rocque of ''

Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is an American business magazine published monthly in print and online, focusing on technology, business, and design. It releases six print issues annually. History ''Fast Company'' was founded in November 1995 by Alan Webb ...

'' wrote, "This clever series...encourages curiosity."

Awards and nominations

Graphic novel series

''Elinor Wonders Why: Hiding in Plain Sight'', described as one of two launch titles for a graphic novel series based on the show, was announced in February 2022. Two titles, ''Hiding in Plain Sight'' and ''Forest Giants,'' released on September 6, 2022.

References

External links