Katie and Orbie

Katie and Orbie
the title characters
Created by	Ben Wicks and Susan Wicks
Written by	Susan Wicks (seasons 1–2) Mary Mackay-Smith (seasons 3–6)
Directed by	Lee Williams
Voices of	Chris Wightman Amanda Tripp
Narrated by	Leslie Nielsen
Composer	Edmund Eagan
Country of origin	Canada
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	78 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Sheldon S. Wiseman
Producer	Mark Edwards
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	Family Channel
Release	1994–1996, 2001–2002

Katie and Orbie is an animated television series aimed at preschoolers, originally broadcast in Canada in 1994 by Family Channel and later aired in the United States on PBS from 1995–1997 and on Disney Channel from 1997–2000. In Canada, the series still airs on Family and Playhouse Disney. The show has also aired in several countries around the world.

The animated show is based on a series of 4 environment-themed children's books titled Katie and Orbie Save the Planet, illustrated by Canadian cartoonist Ben Wicks and written by his daughter Susan Wicks, which were published in 1991. In 1993, Lacewood Productions adapted the characters into an animated series which was originally in production until 1996, being revived 5 years later by Amberwood Entertainment and finally cancelled in 2002. Contrary to the original books, the series is more based on Katie and Orbie's adventures and discoveries, ranging from having a new pet or helping their friends, to address themes like protection of the environment, different types of people and childhood fears.

The show was narrated by the late actor Leslie Nielsen.

The theme song was written by Edmund Eagan and sung by Mireille Eagan. Michael Nyman has also provided music for the series.

During the first 3 seasons, most stories were written by the characters' co-creator Susan Wicks, with Mary Mackay-Smith writing the remaining stories. For seasons 4–6, all stories were written by Mackay-Smith.

This show is different from most other such series in that the scenes are shown similar to a slideshow, instead of coming to life, also, none of the characters actually speak, so a variety of sound effects are used during the stories.

International rights for the series were first owned by Entertainment Rights (which was also a producer company on seasons 4–6), which on 2009 was merged into Classic Media. On March 25, 2010, Canadian company E1 Entertainment signed a deal with Amberwood Entertainment on which E1 obtained the worldwide distribution rights to several of Amberwood's shows, including all 78 episodes of Katie and Orbie.

Main characters

• Katie - A 5 year old girl(although it is implied at the start of the series that she was 4, as she celebrates her 5th birthday party in the episode Andy's Birthday Present) who is, essentially, the main character of the show. She has blonde hair, and almost always wears a green and white striped t-shirt with blue overalls. Katie is depicted as an imaginative, playful, and curious girl, and usually quite happy. She lives with her best friend Orbie and her parents in a suburb of Ottawa (although the show's setting isn't stated, it is implied due to some Ottawa landmarks appearing in some episodes and characters pouring milk out of bags, which are common in Ottawa). Some descriptions of the show say that she's "teetering on the brink of her first days at school" but casually except for Charisse (who on a story invites Katie to her school), practically none of the neighborhood kids are seen going to school. Her sound effects include a characteristic laugh, as well as occasional sighing, yelling and crying sounds. Those sound effects, as well as her "voice" during the Did You Know? segments, are done by Amanda Tripp.

• Orbie - A small and pink alien, he has pink polka dots on his body (early episodes show him having the capacity to change the color of his dots, depending on how he feels), who is from an unknown planet which is "far away out past the moon". The book Katie and Orbie Pick Up the Garbage, one of the books on which the series is based, implies that he was sent away from his home planet because it was too polluted to sustain life, and the destiny of his native family or his species is unknown. While travelling in a small spaceship, he reached Earth and just happened to land in Katie's backyard, and immediately he and Katie became best friends, resulting in his being "adopted" by Katie's parents. He's apparently the same age as Katie. He speaks in a unique series of squeaks and chirps (often referred to as 'honks') that people appear to be able to understand despite that fact that he isn't speaking any known language. With the exception of I Don't Want to be Different (the last story of the first episode), people seem to be oblivious to the fact that he's an alien, and treat him like a normal person(In that story a group of kids at a restaurant look surprised at Orbie, making him feel embarrassed). He doesn't wear clothes or appear to require them, though he does wear clothing and boots if it's raining, cold or snowing. He is a natural acrobat, often breaking into leaps and flips out of sheer joy and has pads on his fingers and toes which enable him to climb walls and hang from the ceiling. He can also use these pads to help him climb other things, but they work best on flat surfaces. He sleeps in Katie's closet, hanging upside down from the bar like a bat. His sound effects are made by Chris Wightman.

• Wayne - Katie's father as well as Orbie's adoptive father. He is always referred to as Dad, but his real name was mentioned in the story The Thunderstorm. He works at an office building, but his actual job is unclear. He is very thoughtful towards Katie, Orbie and his wife, Susan.

• Susan - Katie's mother and Orbie's adoptive mother. She is always referred to as Mom, however her real name is mentioned in the episode Mrs. Parette's Picture. She doesn't seem to work as she's mostly seen at the family house, though it's possible she may work from home, as she has gone into the city to attend meetings. Her name is probably a reference to Ben Wicks' daughter Susan Wicks, the co-creator of the characters, as well as writer during the first 3 seasons of the show.

The family's surname was never given. Also, both Wayne's parents(Katie's paternal grandparents) and Susan's parents(maternal grandparents) have appeared on the show. Wayne's parents live in an apartment building in the city, while Susan's parents live in an old house in the same suburb where the characters live. Both Wayne and Susan lived with their parents growing up, presumably until they got married and moved to their own home.

Friends and other characters

• Mrs. Elane Parette - Friend of the family, she is an old woman who likes children and usually is seen baking cakes or cookies for them. She has a big willow in her garden which serves as a hideout for Katie, Orbie and their friends. She has at least one daughter, as well as at least two grandchildren. She is always referred simply as Mrs. Parette, being one of the few characters that has a surname. Her name, Elane, was mentioned by Susan (Katie's mom) in the episode Mrs. Parette's Picture, which was her first appearance.

• Chance - The family's cat. She has orange fur, except for her left ear which has white fur.

First appearance: The Day Chance Found a New Home, but first seen as a background on Katie's First Sleepover

• Andy - A boy who resembles Katie, although his hair is paler. His parents are divorced and he lives with his mother and his stepfather named Harry. He is one of the three "regular" friends of the main characters, the other two being Arthur and Yee Ping. He's considered Katie's second best friend, after Orbie, and he seems to be close to her, possibly indicating a future relationship.

First appearance: Andy's Birthday Present

• Arthur - A boy who was at first a bully-like boy, who gets angry easily and can even hit someone who is bothering him (Katie on only one occasion). Later, his appearance was changed and he was depicted as a simple boy, although a bit mischievous, who plays normally with the other kids. He has red hair.

First appearance: The Day Arthur Smacked Katie

• Yee Ping - A girl of Chinese origin, who is very friendly and has even taught Katie and Orbie some Chinese traditions. After Orbie, she was Katie's second friend introduced on the series. When she was introduced, her skin was light brown, however during the course of the series her skin becomes white. She also had appendicitis.

First appearance: Yee Ping

• Kyra - A young girl, with the same hair color as Andy, usually wearing a diadem over it. She has asthma and, on a later appearance, also wears glasses. Her parents are never seen, only her grandmother has appeared. She mostly appears during seasons 2 and 3. Along with Dakota, she is rarely seen during the Amberwood seasons.

First appearance: Everybody Counts, but formally introduced on Kyra, a later episode.

• Phoebe and Bryn - Sisters who are always seen together. Phoebe is the youngest, by one or two years, and Bryn is the oldest. Phoebe has blonde hair, and Bryn has brown hair. Bryn has an egg allergy.

First appearance: Does It Have Eggs In It?

• Dakota - a Native American boy. Although a common character on the Lakewood seasons, he is practically written out on the Amberwood seasons, only appearing a few times, and is "replaced" by the Latin character Miguel.

First appearance: The Pow-Wow

• Micah - A 9-year old boy who has Down Syndrome. He lives on a farm with his mother named Ara. On his mother's farm they are several animals, most notably a mare named Spirit, and her newborn colt, Sprite.

First appearance: Andy's Birthday Present, but formally introduced on Drumsticks, a later episode.

• Tom - A young adult who usually serves as Katie and Orbie's babysitter. He seems to attend either high school or college.

First appearance: The Baby Sitter

• Polly - Tom's girlfriend. Like Tom, she likes children very much and loves to play with them. Orbie once had a crush on her. Her appearances are scarce. Her appearance changed between episodes, first she had red, curly hair and white skin, and later she had straight, black hair with a ponytail, and black skin.

First appearance: Puppy Love

• Belkis - A girl that does not speak English. It is unknown from what country she came from, although the name Belkis is of Hebrew origin.

First appearance: Belkis

• Charisse - A black girl who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, she lives with her mother in an apartment. Her appearances are scarce. She's also the only kid character who seems to go to school.

First appearance: Charisse

• Miguel - A Latin boy who joins the series by the end of the 4th season as sort of a replacement for Dakota, although his appearances are scarce.

First appearance: Tom's Pool Party

• Charlie and Megan Cobbington - Siblings who are neighbours to Katie and Orbie, along with their parents. Charlie and the parents are written out of the show after season 2, but Megan still makes brief appearances on season 3 before being written out too.

First appearance: The Story Dress

• Greg, Jenny and baby Megan - A young couple and their baby girl who are neighbours of Katie and Orbie's family. They appear only in a few stories. They also have a dog named Bruce.

First appearance: The New Baby

• Kerry - A Caribbean girl who had been Katie's best friend for an unspecified time, and in her only appearance (episode Close to My Heart) she and her parents moved to another town because her father had got a new job. Ironically, despite being considered Katie's best friend she never appeared before and is never seen or mentioned after the aforementioned story.

A handful of other minor characters have appeared during the series.

Episodes

Main article: List of Katie and Orbie episodes

The series started production in 1993 by Lacewood Productions, which created 13 half-hour episodes each consisting of 3 7-minute unrelated stories and 2 30-second interstitial segments titled Did You Know?. The series debuted in 1994 on Family Channel and quickly became a success, prompting Lacewood to create 2 more 13-episode "seasons" of the show in 1995 and 1996. Beginning with season 3 in 1996, the series began to use digital ink and paint for coloring.

In 1997, after producing 39 episodes for the show, economical problems of Lacewood forced it to close and therefore cancel the series. In 2000, the newly-formed animation company Amberwood Entertainment acquired rights of the series, and alongside Entertainment Rights began production of 26 more episodes for the show, which debuted on the Family Channel the next year. However, the revival of the series was short-lived, as in 2002 after a final 13 episode season the series was cancelled again.

A total of 234 individual stories were produced, 3 per each half-hour episode. Each episode also had 2 30-second interstitial segments titled Did You Know? which tells viewers small pieces of information regarding several subjects, like plants, flowers, animals, the body and arts. These segments are "narrated" by Katie.

Each episode is structured by the 2-minute opening theme, the first story, a Did You Know? interstitial, the second story, another Did You Know?, the third story and the closing credits.

Airing

• Canada: Family since its premiere in 1994, still airing as of 2010.
• Playhouse Disney (2007–present)

Both channels only show the series during a graveyard slot when practically no small children are awake. Presumably, the show is still aired on those channels in order to fulfill the Canadian content rules. In both channels, only the Amberwood episodes are in active rotation.

• United States: PBS (1995–1997); Playhouse Disney (1997–2000). It has not been seen on any US channel since then, however it could be seen on CBeebies, as the channel is available inside the USA on the Spanish Mexico package of Dish Network, channel 848. Seasons 4-6 remain unaired, as they were made about a year after Playhouse Disney dropped the show.

• Latin America: CBeebies (2008–2010) dubbed into Spanish, the narrator for this version is unknown. CBeebies had skipped episode #51 for unknown reasons, but on March 12, 2010 it was finally aired. Oddly, some episodes had problems on their audio track when they were aired, these include the track being sped-up or suddenly cutting onto another scene (on most cases this cuts part of the narration). The channel aired the show only in the evenings, on a somewhat inadequate slot for young children. The show was removed from CBeebies on April 12, 2010.

The CBeebies channel is currently available only in Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Peru, Chile and Argentina on selected cable and satellite services. Is also the only version to have all 78 episodes dubbed.

• Malaysia: Astro Ria (early 2000s). Dubbed into Malay by Filem Karya Nusa.

• Australia: ABC Television (1990s–early 2000). Katie and Orbie is still listed on ABC's website under kids programs. However, the last time the series aired was in January 2000, during the summer non-ratings period. It is unknown whether it's ever been seen on Australian television since then.

• Spain: An Iberian Spanish dub of the show exists, it aired on 2000 on a digital channel called Club Super 3 which was part of a now-defunct platform called Via Digital.. Presumably, only the first 39 episodes were dubbed, as they were made before 2000.

• A French version also exists, but no information is known about what channels have aired it. Apparently, only seasons 3–5 were dubbed. A 5-disc DVD set has been released in France

DVD

Seasons 1, 4, 5 and 6 of the show are available on DVD, but strangely seasons 2 and 3 are not .

Fundings

• Corporation for Public Broadcasting
• Viewers Like You
• Intel
• NASA

External links

• Katie and Orbie at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show