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WordGirl

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WordGirl
File:Word girl logo.jpg
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WordGirl
Country of originU.S. & Canada
Production
Running time30 minutes per episode
Original release
NetworkPBS
ReleaseSeptember 3, 2007 –
Present

WordGirl is a children's animated series produced by Soup2Nuts for PBS Kids GO!. It began as a series of shorts that premiered on PBS Kids GO! on November 10, 2006, usually shown at the end of Maya & Miguel. The segment was spun-off into a new series which premiered on September 3, 2007 on most PBS member stations. The show is aimed at kids aged 6-12 and is designed to teach about the expansive English language.[1] The first season has 31 episodes.

Background

The show's creator, Dorothea Gillim, said that, “Part of my mission is to make kids’ television smart and funny." She added that,"I feel as though we’ve lost some ground there, in an effort to make it more accessible..."[2] She says that children's shows often underestimate children's intelligence, and that, "Word Girl's focus is on great stories, characters, and animation. If all those elements are working, then you can hook a child who may come looking for laughs but leave a little smarter."[3]

Each 11-minute episode in the show's half hour time slot features begins with the instruction to look for two words which will be used throughout the plot of that episode. The words (examples include diversion, cumbersome, and idolize) are chosen according to academic guidelines. The reasoning is that children can understand words like “cumbersome” when told that it means “big and heavy and awkward.”[4]

News anchor Jim Lehrer agreed to do a mock interview with WordGirl.

Head Writer Jack Ferraiolo, who developed the series with Gillim, won an Emmy for his work on WordGirl.[5]

Plot

At the beginning of the series, we are introduced to Becky Botsford, a 10 1/2-year-old girl who is WordGirl in secret. Becky was born on the planet Lexicon. When she was an infant, her spaceship, which was being piloted by Captain Huggy Face at the time, crashed to Earth where she was adopted by Tim and Sally Botsford. She makes friends with "Scoops" (the school reporter) and Violet Heaslip at school.

WordGirl uses her great vocabulary to fend off villains such as Granny May, The Butcher, Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy and Dr. Two-Brains. She never reveals her true identity--"WordGirl"--to anyone, not even her own family.

Characters

Main characters:

WordGirl/Becky Botsford

A superheroine from the planet Lexicon. Her superpowers include flying at the speed of sound, super strength, and a comprehensive vocabulary. Her symbol is a star; when she strikes an enemy or shoots into the sky, she leaves a twinkling star at the end of her sonic streak, similar to the trail of a shooting star. As mild-mannered Becky Botsford, she spends her time reading, going to school, decorating her dollhouse, and trying to hide her secret identity. No one is aware of WordGirl's true identity with the exception of Captain Huggy Face and, of course, the Narrator who "runs" the program. Despite obvious similarities, only a few others have made the connection; in one episode, Dr. Two-Brains does find out and tells WordGirl/ Becky's family, but they all forget when they are hit with Dr.Two-Brains' amnesia ray. Scoops realizes that Becky doubles as WordGirl when she runs into him, forgetting that she is still wearing the WordGirl cape. Scoops observes that she's also worn the costume frequently, having chosen WordGirl as her Halloween costume. However, his suspicions dissipate when Becky painstakingly misdefines a word in a vocabulary bee. At one point, her parents begin to make the connection, but just when they are about to find out, Captain Huggy Face (aka Bob) distracts them. Even though she may be a superhero, Becky has a love for ponies and other animals, as any 5th-grade girl might. Her favorite series is "Princess Triana".

Captain Huggy Face/Bob

WordGirl's sidekick, a monkey from Lexicon, who was also responsible for crashing WordGirl's spacecraft. Huggy Face has no superpowers and loves to eat almost anything, even the dreaded Beans a la Botsford (although he hates the repulsive Chicken Liver Fricassee the Butcher conjured once). Huggy is a surprisingly competent sidekick and can do martial arts, although he is always being mistaken for the wrong type of animal. His symbol is a lightning bolt, apparent on the chest of his costume. As Bob, he is the Botsford family pet.

Tim Botsford

Becky's adoptive and cheerful father. He encourages Becky and is very supportive of his family, though he's quite indecisive and somewhat of an idiot. He makes "Beans a la Botsford", which only Captain Huggy Face will eat.

Sally Botsford

Becky's adoptive mother, a constant optimist. She works at City Hall as a district attorney.

TJ Botsford

Tim and Sally's 7-year-old biological child. Having an older sister annoys him, but he idolizes WordGirl and constantly babbles about her. It has even been mentioned that he is president of WordGirl's fan club.

Villains:

The Butcher

A criminal with the ability to shoot any type of meat out of his hands. He has the strange habit of mixing up words (such as saying "sunbeam" instead of "supreme", or "robbifery" instead of "robbery") or even whole phrases ("So, WordGirl, we meet again for the first time!"). The Butcher's powers are nullified by tofu. In one episode, after tiring of WordGirl defeating him, the Butcher chooses a very unlikely ally to help him out, a kitten. Because WordGirl has a love for cute animals, she was powerless against The Butcher and Lil' Mittens (the kitten). After The Butcher was arrested, he left Lil' Mittens to a little girl.

Dr. Two-Brains

Dr. Two-Brains is the result of a laboratory experiment fusing the brain of Professor Steven Boxleitner, a kind-hearted and distracted scientist, with the brain of Squeaky, a vicious albino mouse. Their brains fused, and the external mouse part, located on the left side of his head, glows with a greenish light and pulsates sometimes. He is now out to steal all the cheese in the city. WordGirl was good friends with him before he became a supervillain, and once encouraged him to fight the mouse brain's control on him. Dr. Two-Brains seems to know all of the vocabulary words so far, and has even introduced and defined quite a few. In the episode Mouse Army, Dr. Two-Brains temporarily teamed up with WordGirl to stop an army of super-intelligent mice he had created. In the end he betrayed her, but whether this was part of his plan or if his mouse brain took control is never clearly determined. In the episode A Game of Cat and Mouse it becomes clear that he is afraid of cats.

Mr. Big

Head of Mr. Big Industries, Mr. Big is the inventor of the Thing and the Mega-Thing--cubic objects that do absolutely nothing. Despite their uselessness, they fly off the shelves, thanks to Mr. Big's mind-control device that causes people to purchase them. His sidekick and constant companion is his squishy toy rabbit and his assistant, Lesley, to whom he confides his most dastardly plans.

Granny May

A senior supervillain who pretends to be a sweet, deaf, elderly grandmother in order to deceive those she burglarizes. Her main weapons are knitting needles that shoot yarn, petrified purse mints that burn the eyes, strong-smelling perfume which acts as a sort of stink gas, and her giant but timid grandson Eugene; she can also produce a cutting-edge steel suit of armor with a jetpack to wear. Eugene stops working with Granny May and becomes friends with Violet. She may be the most clever of WordGirl's adversaries, once convincing the entire city that WordGirl was cruel, heartless, and not to be trusted.

Theodore "Tobey" MacCallister The Third

A 10-year-old genius inventor who uses his gargantuan robots to destroy the city in hopes of getting WordGirl's attention. Tobey owns a personal scrapbook of WordGirl decorated with hearts. He has a giant crush on her and usually demands that if he beats her, she should tell her secret identity or go out for ice cream with him. His mother is aware of her child's intelligence, so he can't launch any of his schemes unless she is away on business. Tobey doesn't seem truly evil; rather, he comes across as reckless and mischievous. Often, his plans are foiled by his malfunctioning robots. He is shown to be very unathletic, which may explain why he feels the need to prove to everyone how smart he is. Tobey is also bad at art and dodgeball.

Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy

A supervillain who definitely does not have a way with words, hence his name. He lives in his mother's basement, and his mother often refers to him as Charles, his full name. His main weapons are squirt bottles of ketchup, mustard, honey mustard, pickle relish, and olive oil. Determined to prove to the world how important his sandwich powers are, he often commits small robberies for no real reason other than to show how "evil" he is. Chuck has tried to come up with better names for himself, such as "Destructo the Destroyer", "Amazo the Amazing Guy Who's Evil but Not Really That Bad When You Get to Know Him", or "Handsome Eddie". Chuck also has a tendency to forget vocabulary words a few seconds after they've been spoken.

The Birthday Girl

Otherwise known as "Eileen", this ten-year-old girl attempts to acquire the things she wants by using a falsely-polite manner, big eyes, and a lisping voice, along with the statement "Today is my birthday!" If those methods don't work, she simply yells "Mine, MINE, MINE!", growing in height and turning a deeper shade of green with each yell, until the owner of the coveted item hands it over in fear. The only way to reverse Eileen's transformation is to persuade her to give away something she values. (This was a trick discovered by Violet in the "Birthday Girl" episode; as a giant Eileen holds WordGirl and Captain Huggy Face hostage, Violet declares herself Eileen's "bestest-westest fwiend". In gratitude, Eileen hands over a prized necklace, and her greed-induced metamorphosis is reversed, rescuing the pair of heroes.) Eileen also greatly annoys WordGirl because she uses "w" in words instead of "l" or "r". (e.g., "I wearned my wesson.") She is selfish and at times cruel.

Lady Redundant Woman

A former copy-shop employee, previously known as Beatrice Bixby. A job-site accident transformed her into "Lady Redundant Woman", a creature who is half woman, half copy-machine. By touching her nose, she can create duplicates of herself, forming an army that she sends to do her bidding. However, if she happens to run out of ink, her copies fade away quickly by vanishing in a burst of copy paper.

The Whammer

Before he became "The Whammer", this character was a sidekick for Chuck the Evil Sandwich-Making Guy. The Whammer "whams" his fists together, sending out sonic waves to crush anything or anyone in his path. He has a gruff, loud voice, and usually finishes his sentences with "Yeah!" Though The Whammer is a sidekick, he acts more like a boss which annoys Chuck.

Glen Furlblam

Dr. Two-Brains' self-proclaimed number one fan. When Dr. Two-Brains seeks out a replacement villain to take over for him while he goes on vacation, Glen Furlblam shows up. Because Dr. Two-Brains did not feel that Glen was a competent replacement for him (due to Glen’s conceitedness and foolish ideas), he refuses to let him take over. Angered by not being able to impress his idol, Glen uses his vicious cats to steal Dr. Two-Brains’ lab coat and corner him. Glen takes over for a while as Two-Brains’ replacement, but with the help of WordGirl, he was arrested and jailed along with his pet cats.

Other Characters:

Todd "Scoops" Ming

The reporter for the elementary school's newspaper The Daily Rag. He dreams of working for The Big City Times, although he has a long way to go. Even Becky, who has a secret crush on him, agrees that his articles can be rather dull. The oblivious Scoops has a high opinion of himself and does not hesitate to take credit for anything he might possibly have had to do with. He is desperate to know WordGirl's secret identity and is constantly on the scene.

Violet Heaslip

Becky's best friend from school. Violet conducts herself in a quiet, shy manner and has a flair for art. She loves unicorns, and she may sound airheaded at times. Violet can make up poems off the top of her head, even if there is a meteor hurling towards her. Although she will not defend herself against bullies, she will jump to the defense of her friends.

Minor Characters:

The Grocery Store Manager

A terrible communicator who is always trying to find people willing to work at the store. He has been known to try to hire villains when they come to rob him, such as the Butcher and Dr. Two-Brains.

Reginald

The pompous and rude owner of Ye Old Fancy Schmancy Jewelry Store.

Beau Handsome

The host of the game show "May I Have a Word?" His first name means "good-looking" or "beautiful" in French.

Tommy

One of the contestants on the game show "May I Have a Word?" He likes to act superior to nearly everyone on the show and seems to have a crush on WordGirl. He is also extremely annoyed by Emily.

Phil

One of the contestants on the game show "May I Have a Word?" Phil usually has a worried and unsure look on his face and constantly utters, "Oh no."

Emily

One of the contestants on the game show "May I Have a Word?" Emily is a constant annoyance to Tommy since she talks nearly non-stop about WordGirl. She has a great love for kittens. Emily occasionally defines the wrong word.

Professor James Doohickey

A technology/gadget professional that introduces the audience to both the villains' and heroes' helpful gadgets. He has a slight Cockney accent.

The Amazing Rope Guy

A minor evil villain who dresses in a tight dark blue outfit. He first appears in the beginning of the episode Mr. Big's Big Plan and has a goatee and a slightly squeaky voice. He also appears briefly in the episode Sidekicked to the Curb, trying to rob a shoe store with the Whammer.

Tobey's Babysitter

A talkative teenage girl who baby-sat Tobey while his mother was away for business in the episode Tobey or Consequences. Before Mrs. MacCallister left, she provided the babysitter with a plethora of strange devices for Tobey, one of which was a remote made to stop Tobey's giant, attacking robots. The babysitter was terrified of Tobey at first, but calmed down when she found him sitting quietly in his room, reading a book. Little did she know, Tobey had created a hologram-projector which projected a 3-D image of himself to trick her into thinking he was still in his room, while he was actually out terrorizing the city with his robots. Captain Huggy Face ended up taking one of the remotes from the babysitter to stop Tobey's robots.

Jeff

A man who always goes to the wrong place (usually wherever WordGirl happens to be), thinking it is the police station. He has mistaken many places for the police station, screaming all the while and not recognizing his own wife ("Oh, I thought you looked familiar...").

The Narrator

The Narrator is an unseen character on "WordGirl". He can interact with any character, although he most often converses with WordGirl, and can also hear her thoughts, as seen in the "Vocab Bee" episode. Occasionally, The Narrator telegraphs upcoming plot developments to viewers; for example, in the episode titled "When Life Gives You Potatoes...", Dr.Two-Brains captures WordGirl as part of a plot to turn gold into potato salad, and then into cheese. Once WordGirl is captured, The Narrator says: "Is this the end of WordGirl? Will Dr.Two-Brains turn her into potato salad?" Dr.Two-Brains replies, "Hey! Don't give it away!". The Narrator has also been known to intervene in the story's action, and his words and judgments during these circumstances generally lead the viewers to believe that the Narrator is not-so-secretly on WordGirl's side. For example, in the episode "Tobey or Consequences", the child villain Tobey proposes a game show, "Crash or Pie?" to settle the question of whether his robots would be allowed to destroy the city. The Narrator acts as show host, and his final judgment of the game's outcome shows his overall bias in WordGirl's favor. He has a twin brother who works in Hollywood (as seen in the "Mecha-Mouse" episode). It is implied that his brother is a better narrator than him.

Cast

Episodes

  • Tobey or Consequences / High-Fat Robbery
  • You Can't Crush City Hall / Two-Brain Highway
  • Coupon Madness / When Life Gives You Potatoes
  • Jerky Jerk / Becky's Birthday
  • Down With Word Up / Chuck!
  • Book Ends / Mr. Big
  • Super-Grounded / Mouse Army
  • Tobey's Masterpiece / Chuck the Nice Pencil Selling Guy
  • The Birthday Girl / Granny-Sitter
  • Mr. Big's Big Plan / Vocab Bee
  • Shrinkin' in the Ray / Department Store Tobey
  • Chuck E. Sneeze / Swap Meat
  • Granny's All-Cure Good Time Spritzer / Mecha-Mouse
  • Princess Triana & the Ogre of Castlebum / Heat Wave, Crime Wave
  • Thorn in the Sidekick / Crime Takes a Holiday
  • Meat With a Side of Cute / Mr. Big Words
  • Two-Brains Forgets / Banned on the Run
  • Have You Seen The Remote? / Sidekicked To The Curb
  • Lady Redundant Woman / A Game of Cat and Mouse

Shorts

31 shorts were produced for PBS Kids GO!.

  • WG101 "Catch as Catch Can"

Can WordGirl prevent a cumbersome meteorite from destroying the city?

  • WG102 "Enter, the Butcher"

WordGirl meets the Butcher, master of meat and mangler of words, and tries to prevent him from robbing a bank. WordGirl also tries to convince the Butcher that he's not "a fender" but "offended" when she tells him he "butchers" the English language.

  • WG103 "Re-enter, the Butcher"

WordGirl tries to stop the Butcher from robbing Ye Olde Fancy Schmancy Jewelry Store. They also have to deal with a pompous store clerk.

  • WG104 "What's Up, Doc?"

WordGirl pays a visit to Professor Steven Boxleitner (author of the book Superheroes and You: A Practical Guide) to figure out a way to stop the vicious Butcher.

  • WG105 "Re-Re-enter, the Butcher"

WordGirl tries to prevent the Butcher from robbing a grocery store. She also tries to clear up a misunderstanding between the Butcher and the Grocery Store Manager, who believes that the Butcher is there for a job.

  • WG106 "Yes Sir, That's My Butcher"

WordGirl and the Butcher face off for their big, big battle royale. WordGirl reveals her secret weapon: her always hungry ally, Captain Huggy Face.

  • WG107 "The Crazy World of Doctor Two-Brains"

In a lab experiment that goes horribly wrong, Prof. Steven Boxleitner accidentally fuses his mind with that of his vicious lab mouse and becomes the villainous Dr. Two-Brains. Becky (WordGirl's secret identity) tries to distract her little brother TJ so she can transform into WordGirl and capture Dr. Two-Brains before he goes on a cheese-stealing rampage.

  • WG108 "Two-Brains in the Grocers"

WordGirl tries to capture Dr. Two-Brains after he eats all the cheese in the grocery store, but Dr. Two Brains is able to escape by causing a ruckus.

  • WG109 "The Times, They Are A-Cheesy"

The Botsford family (including Becky Botsford, a.k.a WordGirl) are flabbergasted when Dr. Two-Brains appears on television, threatening to turn the city into goop if he doesn't get every piece of cheese in the city.

  • WG110 "Mouse Trap"

WordGirl and Captain Huggy Face confront Dr. Two-Brains at his secret hideout and witness part of his argument with himself. Dr. Two-Brains proves that their attacks on him would be futile by capturing them in his giant mousetrap.

  • WG111 "Squeaky's Machine"

Dr. Two-Brains is about to use his Goop Ray to give WordGirl and Captain Huggy Face a one-way ticket to Goop Town, but is stopped by Mr. Botsford asking questions about what cheese is acceptable.

  • WG112 "Driving Miss Granny"

A new villain's in town! Granny May and her timid (and enormous) grandson Eugene rob an armored car in broad daylight.

  • WG113 "Kiss My Granny"

While trying to stop Granny May from robbing Ye Olde Fancy Schmancy Jewelry Store, WordGirl and Captain Huggy Face are blinded by Granny's dazzling jewelry, then captured in her knitted Web of Yarn.

  • WG114 "Living in the Granny's Paradise"

Although WordGirl and Captain Huggy Face are able to use their coordination to escape Granny's trap, they are soon caught in the unbreakable grip of Eugene.

  • WG115 "Play Date"

After destroying a giant, rampaging robot as WordGirl, Becky returns home to find that she has an unexpected playdate with Theodore MacCallister III. When Becky discovers that Theodore is actually Tobey, the mischievous genius behind the giant robot's rampage, she risks revealing her secret identity.

  • WG116 "Tobey or Not Tobey"

Tobey and Becky argue over whether Tobey's Robot caused real damage to the city or only a minor hullabaloo. Tobey decides to play a game with Becky to see if she's really WordGirl or not.

  • WG117 "The Wrath of Tobey"

Tobey gives Becky an impossible choice: reveal herself as WordGirl and destroy the robot threatening her house, or do nothing and watch her house get demolished. Becky and Bob (a.k.a. Captain Huggy Face) initiate Emergency Plan #47, with mixed results.

  • WG118 "Chuck, the Evil Sandwich Making Guy"

Chuck, the Evil Sandwich Making Guy threatens to squash the Grocery Store Manager with his giant sandwich press after the Owner calls the press extreme.

  • WG119 "Name That Dude"

WordGirl and the Narrator have a hard time not laughing at Chuck, the Evil Sandwich Making Guy's name. Chuck captures WordGirl with his noxious Pickled Eggs. As WordGirl, Scoops, and the Grocery Store Manager head towards certain doom on the giant sandwich press, all of them try to think of a less absurd name for Chuck. Meanwhile, Captain Huggy Face races to the rescue.

  • WG120 "Chucky and the Sandwich Factory"

WordGirl sends Captain Huggy Face to search for the "ultimate crowbar" in order to help them escape Chuck, the Evil Sandwich Making Guy's giant sandwich press.

  • WG121 "Movie Trailer"

The origin of Captain Huggy Face and WordGirl.

  • WG122 "WordGirl and the Butcher"

WordGirl tries to prevent the Butcher from setting off his "Steak Bomb" and ruining the day of vegetarians city-wide.

  • WG123 "WordGirl and Dr. Two-Brains"

Dr. Two-Brains becomes frustrated with a malfunctioning trap.

  • WG124 "WordGirl and Chuck, the Evil Sandwich Making Guy"

WordGirl and Captain Huggy Face struggle to break free from Chuck, the Evil Sandwich Making Guy's "Atomic Hot Dog Lasso."

  • WG125 "WordGirl and Dr. Two-Brains, Part Two"

WordGirl tries to thwart Dr. Two-Brains' latest scheme but is distracted by a yummy mixed-fruit beverage.

  • WG126 "Becky and Scoops"

Scoops ponders WordGirl's secret identity while Becky saves him from perils that he doesn't notice.

  • WG127 "WordGirl and the Narrator"

WordGirl wants a new Super Hero name. She convinces the Narrator to put his reputation on hold and announce the new name she has in mind, just to see how it sounds.

  • WG128 "WordGirl and Captain Huggy Face, part one"

WordGirl makes Captain Huggy Face try on some new costumes because she feels his regular costume lacks pizzazz.

  • WG129 "WordGirl and Captain Huggy Face, part two"

When Captain Huggy Face is late for a robot battle because of the bus schedule, WordGirl suggests some other modes of transportation.

  • WG130 "Becky and Mr. Botsford"

Despite certain clues, Mr. Botsford is oblivious about WordGirl's secret identity.

See also

References

  1. ^ PBS Kids Programs - WordGirl [1]
  2. ^ Jensen, Elizabeth (2007-09-02). "A New Heroine's Fighting Words". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-06-23. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  3. ^ Bynum, Aaron H. (2007-06-18). "'The Adventures of WordGirl' Animation Emerges on PBS Kids". Animation Insider. Retrieved 2008-06-25. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  4. ^ Jensen, Elizabeth (2007-09-02). "A New Heroine's Fighting Words". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-06-23. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  5. ^ Spero, Johannah (2008-06-18). "Local man lands Emmy for 'WordGirl'". Wicked Local Newburyport/The Newburyport Current. GateHouse Media, Inc. Retrieved 2008-06-23. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
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