''Wonder Pets!'' is an American

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are Television show, television programs designed specifically for Child, children. They are typically characterised by easy-going content devoid of sensitive or adult themes and are ...

produced by

Little Airplane Productions Little Airplane Productions was an American television production company co-founded by Josh Selig and Lori Shaer (née Sherman) in 1999. The company produced '' Oobi'' for Noggin, '' Wonder Pets!'' for Nickelodeon, and '' 3rd & Bird'' for th ...

. The series follows a trio of classroom pets—Linny the Guinea Pig, Turtle Tuck, and Ming-Ming Duckling—who use teamwork to help animals in need. Most of the characters' dialogue is sung in the style of a

sung-through A sung-through or through-sung stage musical, musical film, opera, or other work of performance art is one in which songs entirely or almost entirely replace any spoken dialogue. Conversations, speeches, and musings are communicated musically, ...

. Each episode is set to original music by a 10-member live orchestra.

Josh Selig Joshua Selig (born May 12, 1964) is an American television producer and television director, director. He won ten Daytime Emmy Awards for his work as a writer on ''Sesame Street''. After leaving ''Sesame Street'', Selig partnered with Lori Shaer ...

and Jennifer Oxley developed the idea for ''Wonder Pets!'' while working on their previous show, '' Oobi''. The series started out with two animated shorts called "Linny the Guinea Pig", which acted as pilot episodes. To animate them, Oxley created a style of animation called "photo-puppetry" that uses photos of real objects and moves them using

Adobe After Effects Adobe After Effects is a digital visual effects, motion graphics, and compositing application developed by Adobe Inc.; it is used for animation and in the post-production process of film making, video games and television production. Amo ...

. The shorts featured Linny going on adventures set to classical music. In 2003, Little Airplane screened the shorts at the wrap party for ''Oobi''s second season. The shorts caught the attention of

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

, who picked up the shorts to air in between shows on the Nick Jr. block. The two original shorts were aired throughout 2003 and 2004. For the full-length series, the characters of Tuck and Ming-Ming were added to form a team of hero pets. Tuck was created using photos of Jennifer Oxley's own pet turtle (a

red-eared slider The red-eared slider or red-eared terrapin (''Trachemys scripta elegans'') is a subspecies of the pond slider (''Trachemys scripta''), a semiaquatic turtle belonging to the Family (biology), family Emydidae. Native to the southern United States ...

). The first long-form episode debuted on March 3, 2006, as part of the Nick Jr. block on Nickelodeon. On that same day, the series started airing on Noggin as well. It ran for three seasons and 62 episodes. The final episode aired on October 17, 2016. The first two seasons and majority of season 3 aired on

, while the last 9 episodes only aired on the separate Nick Jr. Channel. A reboot series titled ''Wonder Pets: In The City'', was released on

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...

on December 13, 2024. The series, produced without the involvement of Selig or Little Airplane (due to the latter being shut down by parent company

Studio 100 Studio 100 N.V. is a Belgian children's entertainment production & distribution company that specialized in high quality kids & family entertainment content and operated their in-house animation studios such as their Australian animation compa ...

in 2023), centers on a new team of Wonder Pets and takes place in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Much like the original series, the revival is produced by

Nickelodeon Animation Studio Nickelodeon Animation Studio Inc. (also known as Nickelodeon Animation Studios or Nick Animation and credited as Nickelodeon Productions on-screen) is an American animation studio owned by Paramount Global through the Nickelodeon Group. It has c ...

Premise

The series centers on three pets living in a school. Each episode (two separate eleven-minute segments or a single twenty-two-minute episode) follows a similar structure, with many hallmarks and repeated elements. As each episode begins, children and a teacher are heard from off-screen, leaving school. They say goodbye to the classroom pets. The classroom is always decorated with student artwork and other items related to a given episode's particular storyline, featured animal, or geographic location. Once the classroom is empty, a pencil holder rattles to create the ringing of a phone. One by one, the classroom pets notice the ringing phone. As the phone rings, they put on their accessories (a hat for Linny, shoes and a sailor's cap for Tuck, and an aviator hat for Ming-Ming) and make their way towards the phone while singing their opening verses. The Wonder Pets answer the phone and find that an animal is in trouble somewhere. Linny, the Guinea Pig, explains the situation to the other two: Turtle Tuck and Ming-Ming Duckling. They all jump into a box filled with fabric scraps and jump back out wearing different outfits, often alluding to the area of the world they will be visiting. They make a quick joke and jump back into the box, emerging again wearing superhero capes. Once dressed, they assemble a flying vehicle called the Flyboat. In some episodes, the Wonder Pets opt for a different mode of transportation by adjusting the Flyboat. Usually, the pets encounter an obstacle before leaving the classroom. The solution is invariably similar to the action they will need to take to save the animal in trouble. When saving the animal, the Wonder Pets always fail on the first few attempts. The danger escalates, prompting Ming-Ming to sing, "This is sewious!" Suddenly, the Wonder Pets remember how they solved the problem in the classroom and realize that the rescue has a similar solution. They have to work together to achieve the rescue. Once the animal is saved, its parent or other relative appears to give grateful thanks to the Wonder Pets. The pets celebrate with a celery snack. The rescued animal's parent sometimes adds a bit of regional food or insists on a regional preparation. The pets fly back to the school and return to their cages as their hats and capes come off. The Flyboat automatically disassembles upon landing. Ming-Ming is always the first one to get back in her cage, Tuck is the second, and Linny is the last. A musical riff relating to the episode's rescue is played as Linny takes a bite out of the celery in her cage and winks at the camera. Other pets have winked at the camera including Tuck in Save the Rhino, Ming-Ming in Back to Kalamazoo and "In The Land of Oz!" and Ollie in "Ollie to the Rescue!" and "The Amazing Ollie!". Another episode or the end credits then begin.

Episodes

The series debuted on March 3, 2006, on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block.

Characters

Original Wonder Pets

* Linny (voiced by Sofie Zamchick in the US and Meisha Kelly in the UK) is a brown

guinea pig The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy ( ), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus ''Cavia'', family Caviidae. Animal fancy, Breeders tend to use the name "cavy" for the ani ...

who is the leader of the Wonder Pets and the oldest of the three. Linny is the most educated of the group, often providing information about the different animals and environments that the pets encounter. Linny is usually the one to remind the group about teamwork and offer praise. She has the responsibility of starting and driving the Flyboat. Linny's catchphrase is "This calls for some

celery Celery (''Apium graveolens'' Dulce Group or ''Apium graveolens'' var. ''dulce'') is a cultivated plant belonging to the species ''Apium graveolens'' in the family Apiaceae that has been used as a vegetable since ancient times. The original wild ...

!", said at the end of each adventure. She always carries some celery with her and brings it out to celebrate after every successful mission. * Tuck (voiced by

Teala Dunn Teala Dunn is an American actress and YouTuber. She was best known for voicing Tuck on '' Wonder Pets!'', She also played Lindsey Persons in the TBS sitcom '' Are We There Yet?'', replacing Aleisha Allen. Career Teala Dunn is known for her rol ...

in the US and Catherine Holden in the UK) is a

turtle Turtles are reptiles of the order (biology), order Testudines, characterized by a special turtle shell, shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Crypt ...

and the middle of the three. He is very sensitive with an emotional connection to living things and is the center of the group. Tuck is quite empathetic, often wanting to give the rescued animals a hug or keeping them company while Linny and Ming-Ming put their rescue plan into action. He has keen observational skills and can spot things from long distances, which Linny compliments him, "Good eye, Tuck!" He has an older cousin named Buck, whose cool demeanor and many skills make Tuck pretty jealous. * Ming-Ming (voiced by Danica Lee in the US and Kaya Alexander in the UK)Robert Lloyd
"'Wonder Pets!' to the rescue"
, ''Los Angeles Times'', Los Angeles, Calif.: Mar 3, 2006. pg. E.29. is a duckling and the youngest of the three. Unlike the other Wonder Pets, she can fly and speak "bird", allowing her to connect with other birds that the Wonder Pets encounter. Ming-Ming often provides lots of comic relief in the show and is the Wonder Pet mostly likely to use irony and mild sarcasm. Her family comes from a petting zoo in

Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...

, and she visits them on occasion. She has a baby cousin named Marvin and her aunt's name is Elenora. She speaks with a prominent rhotacism, pronouncing "r" sounds as "w". She is known for saying "This is sewious!", whenever there is trouble.

"In The City" Wonder Pets

* Izzy (voiced by Victoria Scola-Giampapa) is a light brown

with white legs and the tallest of the new Wonder Pets group. Similar to Linny, she's the most intelligent one of the new Wonder Pets, as she is usually seen giving Tate and Zuri insight as to where they will be traveling and about the animal, creature, or friend that they are saving. Whereas Linny keeps her cool, Izzy is shown to be prone to her emotions more, such as when she was bummed when her New Block City project went wrong, or being frustrated with Zuri when the latter was copying her. When it comes to her friends, she's also very encouraging in that she wants her friends to move past their struggles and compliments both Tate and Zuri, both for their eyesight and hearing abilities respectively. Moreover, she is also a lot more energetic, punky, and even rash in demeanor, as she loves to pretend that she's riffing an electric guitar and mimic its sounds. It's even evident in her mannerisms, as when she pronounces particular things as "super," "mega," or "awesome," or even a combination of the three. Besides just celery, Izzy also offers more snacks for the others to eat after their missions, such as

broccoli Broccoli (''Brassica oleracea'' var. ''italica'') is an edible green plant in the Brassicaceae, cabbage family (family Brassicaceae, genus ''Brassica'') whose large Pseudanthium, flowering head, plant stem, stalk and small associated leafy gre ...

and

cucumber The cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the family Cucurbitaceae that bears cylindrical to spherical fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.rat snake and the shortest of the three when he's coiled up. Much like Tuck, he's very caring and sensitive, especially towards his friends and those that he meets and saves. If anything, he's more fragile compared to the latter because he likes to be quiet and touches nerves with others very easily, once when Zuri accidentally bumped the shelf and ruining his souvenir wall, losing one of his bracelets in the process. Another time was unintentionally when a mother

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

didn't trust him in assisting his friends save her unhatched egg simply because he was a

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

, and he despondently sat the mission out until he and the hen both learned more about each other. He also likes to keep himself hygienic, such as when he was hesitant to get his scales dirty when trying to help a baby

hippopotamus The hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus amphibius;'' ; : hippopotamuses), often shortened to hippo (: hippos), further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus and river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Sahar ...

stuck in the mud. He's also shown to be lonely without his friends when they were out, trying to do his favorite things to keep him occupied, even trying to make cardboard cutouts of his friends so he'd feel less lonely. Also like Tuck, in a couple of episodes, he's seen wearing the former's classic sailor's cap as a reference to the other character. * Zuri (voiced by Vanessa Huszár) is a black bunny with a white nose and stomach and is the middle of the new team if you count the ears. As is Ming-Ming for her group, Zuri provides a lot of the show's silliness and comedy, but unlike the former, she's a lot nicer and hardly ever uses snarky behavior or sarcasm; there was one instance, however, when she used a film clapboard and broke the fourth wall. She is also a lot more active and mobile, so much so that she can be a little reckless at times and that she also claims she doesn't want to fall asleep, even when she's feeling drowsy. She also does have a tendency to get distracted or sidelined from the task at hand. Whenever the group has trouble locating an animal, she uses her ears to listen for their sounds. Like Ming-Ming, she also has a catchphrase that she says whenever something is gravely serious or dangerous, wherein she says, "Unbelievable!"

Recurring

Original

* Ollie (voiced by T.J. Stanton in seasons 1–2 and Cooper Corrao in season 3) is a gray

rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

who considers himself the fourth Wonder Pet. He is self-centered and often unintentionally annoys the Wonder Pets when he visits their classroom. He has his own superhero team, the "Thunder Pets", consisting of himself and his toys. Unlike the main Wonder Pets, he is a terrible rescuer and invariably needs help from the Wonder Pets whenever he tries to save someone and he lives in a burrow outside of the Wonder Pets' schoolhouse with his mother, sister, and baby brother. * Ginny (voiced by

Anne Meara Anne Meara (September 20, 1929 – May 23, 2015) was an American comedian and actress. Along with her husband Jerry Stiller, she was one-half of the prominent 1960s comedy team Stiller and Meara. Their son is actor, director, and producer Ben S ...

) is Linny's grandmother. She lives in a

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF), or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms ...

with an old white

mouse A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...

named Bernie (voiced by Jerry Stiller). Like Linny, she is self-confident, a natural leader, and loves celery. * The Visitor is an extraterrestrial being who lives on a faraway planet. He resembles a purple

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

-like creature with two antennas and one foot. He knows a few English phrases but can only speak in short fragments. He crash-lands on Earth in "Save the Visitor" and needs the Wonder Pets' help to fly back to space. He becomes a good friend of theirs and invites them to his party in "Save the Visitor's Birthday Party". It is unknown who does his voice. * Little Bee and Slug are a pair of bug friends. Little Bee (voiced by Brielle Barbusca) is a young yellow and black

bumblebee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only Extant taxon, extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct r ...

who is just learning how to make honey for her hive. Slug is a brownish-green garden

slug Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less Terrestrial mollusc, terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced ...

who wears the top of an acorn as a hat. She and Slug appear as the main characters of "The Adventures of Bee & Slug!" and "Bee & Slug Underground!" It is unknown who does Slug's voice. * Baby Dragon and Uni are two magical creatures who live in a storybook in the Wonder Pets' classroom. Baby Dragon is a wingless

dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

, and Uni is his best friend, a

unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since Classical antiquity, antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn (anatomy), horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unico ...

. They first appear in "Save the Unicorn", in which the Wonder Pets try to help Uni when her horn is stuck in a tree. After freeing Uni, the Wonder Pets try to flee from Baby Dragon, but they discover that he is Uni's best friend. The Wonder Pets return to the storybook land to save Baby Dragon after he gets stuck on a cloud. It is unknown who does Baby Dragon's voice. * Baby Chimp is a chimp who flies a spaceship. His spaceship broke down twice, and was almost hit by a meteor. * Baby Monster is a

monster A monster is a type of imaginary or fictional creature found in literature, folklore, mythology, fiction and religion. They are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive, with a strange or grotesque appearance that causes Anxiety, terror ...

. She stomps her toy city down, and loves monsteroni

pizza Pizza is an Italian cuisine, Italian, specifically Neapolitan cuisine, Neapolitan, dish typically consisting of a flat base of Leavening agent, leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomato, cheese, and other ingredients, baked at a high t ...

. It is unknown who does her voice.

"In The City"

* Baby Chick is a

Chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

's offspring that hatched in the end of the "Save the Runaway Egg!" He is revisited in "Save the Baby Chick!" where, much like Tate in the beginning of the episode, has trouble speaking up to his siblings in order to feast on some chicken feed. He eventually musters up the courage to speak with the help of the Wonder Pets, knowing now that the others can finally listen to him.

Production and history

''Wonder Pets!'' was produced by

. Before ''Wonder Pets!'' started, Little Airplane had only produced live-action works, like '' Oobi'' and a short film titled ''

The Time-Out Chair ''The Time-Out Chair'' is a short film written and directed by Josh Selig in 2002. It was produced by Little Airplane Productions, a New York studio that Selig co-founded with Lori Shaer. The film premiered at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival and wa ...

''. After ''Oobi'' became a breakout success for the studio, its co-founder

expressed interest in producing another television show. Little Airplane produced two animated shorts called "Linny the Guinea Pig." The shorts focused on a silent guinea pig who left her classroom to go on fantastic adventures, each set to classical music. Jennifer Oxley, who had joined Little Airplane as an animator, signed on as the director of the two shorts. Josh Selig and Jennifer Oxley first screened the shorts at the wrap party for ''Oobi''s second season. The shorts eventually caught the attention of

, who picked up the shorts to air in-between shows and eventually commissioned a full season of 20 long-form episodes. Tuck and Ming-Ming were added to the cast to form a team of superhero pets, and the characters were given voices; the dialogue-free nature of the original shorts did not translate well to half-hour episodes. At first, the show was called ''The Super Singing Power Pets!'', but it was renamed ''Wonder Pets!'' because the former name was too long. Many former crew members of ''Oobi'' moved onto the show, including writers

Chris Nee Christine Nee (born ) is an American children's television screenwriter and TV producer, producer. Nee is best known as the creator of ''Doc McStuffins'', which she conceived as ''Cheers'' for preschoolers. She has previously worked as an associat ...

and Sascha Paladino and composers Larry Hochman and Jeffrey Lesser. The animation style used to create ''Wonder Pets!'' is called "photo-puppetry," and was created for the series to allow animators to manipulate photographs of real animals. It also uses drawn objects (not characters), so the total presentation could be considered animated mixed-media. Jennifer Oxley considers this technique her own invention and first used it to create lifelike transitions for Little Airplane's previous works. A good deal of the dialog is sung, so the show has been likened to

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

singspiel A Singspiel (; plural: ; ) is a form of German-language music drama, now regarded as a genre of opera. It is characterized by spoken dialogue, which is alternated with ensembles, songs, ballads, and arias which were often strophic, or folk- ...

. A 10-member live orchestra performs each episode, sometimes including other instrumentalists skilled in music from the region to which the pets are traveling during the episode.Heffley, Lynne
"Unchained melodies: In scoring the kids' show 'The Wonder Pets!,' top-notch composers get a warm and fuzzy feeling"
Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, CA. 2006-03-03. Accessed: 2011-01-11. (Archived by WebCite a

Completing each episode took thirty-three weeks from script to final delivery.Jennifer Oxley
"Meet the Creators of Wonder Pets!"

Broadcast and release

''Wonder Pets!'' premiered on

airing on March 3, 2006, as well as Noggin on the same day.

DVD compilations

Reception

Pam Gelman of ''

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an American nonprofit organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

'' gave the show four stars out of five, describing as "kid-friendly mini-operas about teamwork and more." Ashley Moulton of Common Sense Media gave the reboot, Wonder Pets: In The City, four stars out of five, calling it a "sweet reboot with musical, empathetic, and helpful pets." Wonder Pets: In The City also got nominated for an Annie Award for Best Animated Television Production for Preschool, for the episode: "Save Tate?"

Awards

In other media

Books (''Wonder Pets!'' series)

* Arranged in publication date order. # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # Source:

Soundtrack

In addition to the DVDs and books, the show's self-titled track, ''Wonder Pets!'', was released on April 10, 2007.Wonder Pets: Wonder Pets!: Music
Retrieved from

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...

on Nov. 26th, 2010. The soundtrack features songs from the show itself, including the main self-titled theme song.

Track listing

''All songs are performed by the Wonder Pets unless otherwise noted.'' # "The Wonder Pets!" # "Poor Baby Squirrel" # "The Caterpillar's Song" # "Oh, Sheep-eee-hooo!" # "Tickle the Whale" # "To Be Free!" # "Hold On, Pigeon!" # "Fruit Salad" # "City Garden Rap" # "Hug a Hedgy" # "The Oasis" # "Hola, Hermit Crab!" # "Wee-Wee, Pee-Pee, Tinkle!" # "Brown Cow Down" # "Wonder Pets, We Love You!" # "The Wonder Pets! Theme" (Instrumental) Source:

Game

''The Wonder Pets! Save the Animals!'' is a video game released on October 27, 2008 in North America exclusively for the

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

Toys and merchandising

In March 2008, Fisher-Price began distributing a line of official Wonder Pets! toys in the United States.Video
, Toys "R" Us television commercial Toys include the Flyboat, figurine playsets, and plush animals. These figurine playsets have each Wonder Pet saving a different baby animal. These include Linny saving a baby penguin, Tuck saving a baby bluebird, and Ming-Ming rescuing a kitten. In addition, there is a whale playset for the tub.

References

External links

*
Wonder Pets!
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...