Groundling Marsh

Groundling Marsh was a Canadian children's television series featuring puppets. The show was produced by Portfolio Entertainment and J.A. Delmage Productions. It included songs and animated segments, and enjoyed a certain amount of success and popularity at during its time. The only merchandise produced for the show were videos and they are now exceptionally rare and no longer produced. In the United States, it aired on PBS and the Disney Channel. It recieved funding from the International Production Fund, formerly the Maclean Hunter Television Fund. This series premiered October 1, 1995. Groundling Marsh was nominated at the 12th Annual Gemini Awards for Best Pre-School Program or Series. John Pattison also nominated for a Gemini (Best Performance in a Pre-School Program or Series) for the episode "Bah Hegdish". The show had its series finale on November 28, 1997. The show is still seen on CTVglobemedia-owned educational station Access Alberta in Canada.

Plot syphosis

Groundling Marsh took place in a magical swamp, possibly a parody of Point Pelee National Park (coincidently, this is show is Canadian-made) Most of the characters are Groundlings, but look very different from each other. They can be described as any combination of animal, human, elf and plant. One of the characters is a robot (Stacks). Generally, humans never appear in the series except as an alien presence represented by a boot or a voice. Most often, humans come to the marsh to dump trash and disrupt the ecosystem (another reference to Point Pelee, except it was development that was a threat). The show was designed to be educational and so the story of each episode includes morals such as friendship, honesty, caring, and protection of the environment.

Cast and Characters

Galileo

Galileo is voiced by Gord Robertson. Relatively human in appearance, he has yellow-orange skin, dark hair with a slight purplish tinge, a very short braid or ponytail in the back, and a rounded nose. He calls himself an explorer, and is constantly exploring and mapping the marsh. He is also curious about the world beyond the marsh, where the humans live. He built Stacks, a robot, out of pieces of junk that humans dumped in the marsh. In some ways he is perhaps meant to resemble a Native American person. He is very friendly, but will sometimes lose his patience, particularly with Maggie. In the title sequence of every episode, he is seen looking through a telescope, implying that he is named after Galileo Galilei, the famous astronomer. He wears a natural-looking brown tunic and pants. He has the ability to see in the dark.

He appears in the show very often, and despite the fact that he is both very young and relativity mature in terms of his personality, he shares the role of protagonist with Maggie, and, occasionally, with Crystal. Each character has been the focus of a number of episodes, so the show has more of an ensemble cast.

Maggie

Maggie, voiced by Jani Lauzon, Wende Welch and Trish Leeper, is the youngest groundling and one of the most commonly used characters. She has large eyes, purple eyelids, a button nose, and red-orange skin or fur. Her hair sprouts from her head in flower-like petals, and she also wears a large yellow flower in her hair. She wears a brown, sleeveless, natural-looking, buttoned jacket. Extremely rambunctious and energetic, she often gets herself into trouble due to her sometimes immature behavior. However, she is very well intentioned, tries to help others, and is curious about the world around her. She is roughly humanoid but more animal-like in appearance than some of the other groundlings. Maggie is often seen carrying a small, green, stuffed animal whom she calls Mossy Bear and whom she treats like a friend. In the episode titled Mossy Bear, Galileo tries to get Maggie to give up Mossy Bear, first by trying to convince her and then through trickery.

Mud/Slinger

Mud/Slinger is the only two-headed Groundling in the world. Actually, Mud and Slinger are really two separate individuals who share a body. Both have troll-like appearances, with large furry ears and bright blue except on their faces and hands. Some time in the past, Mud and Slinger's grandcestors (the groundlings’ term for ancient ancestors) named Slide and Mash both lived all alone in a part of the marsh and had no friends. After meeting each other and forming a deep friendship, they wanted to be merged as one, for fear of ever being lonely again. Unseen spirit creatures called the Tree Elders gave them a potion that did just that. Since then they lived happily. This implies that all of Slide/Mash’s descendants, including Mud/Slinger, have been conjoined twins. Mud/Slinger occasionally quarrel, but solve their differences easily enough. In the episode Two Be of Not to Be, after Hegdish causes a major disagreement between Mud and Slinger, decide to take the same potion, which will give them separate selves. But before they can go through with it, they learn Slide/Mash’s story and that the potion only works once on every pair. Thus, they resolve their quarrel and renew their friendship.

Mud/Slinger is the strongest groundling in the marsh, but is better known as an inventor, creating inventions out of the junk that humans throw away. Often, these inventions malfunction. This, combined with occasional disagreements, makes Mud/Slinger the series' comic relief. But despite causeing problems accidentally, Mud/Slinger is generally beneficial to the marsh and a help to his fellow groundlings.

Mud

Mud, voiced by Stephen Brathwaite, the right half (left from the camera's perspective), has light purple skin, a round face, and spectacles perched on his nose. He is somewhat absent-minded, but very friendly, and also the one who does most of the scientific research and inventing. He is also the less confident of the two and occasionally gets nervous or afraid in a situation, with Slinger always trying to help him get over his fears.

Slinger

Slinger, voiced by Fred Stinson, shares the same goals as Mud and contributes to their creation. However, he is more of a salesman, concentrating on finding uses for the inventions, and relying more on intuition than knowledge. He also appears to have slightly better social skills than Mud. Slinger's skin is green and his facial features are more angular. It was once revealed that he has by far the best sense of smell in the marsh.

Stacks

Stacks, voiced by James Rankin, is a robot, built by Galileo out of junk that humans have brought to the marsh, and brought to life by a powerful lightning storm. He eventually becomes a mobile unit when his essential components are placed in a special motorized vehicle, which Mud/Slinger created for him using an old shopping cart, and for which he is very grateful (though gets carried away at first). Mostly, he is humble and kind, and tries to answer the Groudling's questions with information form his database. He sometimes feels insignificant, being "just a machine" (as in the season one episode Life Before Stacks, which also shows his origins).

He has a long neck that looks like a very thick vacuum cleaner tube. His head is a tall metal canister with a handle that forms his nose, a large mouth at the bottom, a pair of eyes farther up and a hairbrush on top. Several cables dangle from his head down to the heap of machinery below him. A computer monitor forms his chest, while farther down a reel of film from a film projector on one side and a mechanical arm on the other side protrude from the heap.

Eco

Eco, voiced by James Rankin, who has lived in the marsh for over two thousand years, is a source of guidance and solace for the groundlings. Mostly human in appearance, she wears dark red robes and has pale green skin, elderly, slightly wrinkled face, dark twinkling eyes and hair made of dark green leaves with red berries. She is the wisest and most spiritual of the groundlings, and is kind, with a quirky sense of humor. She is the keeper of the Groundling Mythology, which holds the answers to most of nature's secrets. Her beliefs are similar to that of Gypsies and, to a lesser extent, Bhuddists. She can talk to animals, and takes care of the marsh. Sometimes, Eco temporarily gives an important duty or the responsibility of a rare plant or artifact to Maggie or Galileo (often to test their virtue and help them learn life-lessons about responsibility).

Hegdish

Hegdish, voiced by Dan Redican, Fred Stinson and John Pattison, is a trickster, a grouch, and the show's only main antagonist. He was added in the second season. He wears a brown scarf and has shaggy purple fur, large black eyebrows (which makes the top of his head appear bald, like a medieval monk), and heavily-ringed yellow eyes. Cynical, pessimistic, sarcastic and lazy (In many episodes he is shown sleeping in a hammock in the middle of the day), he sometimes makes the effort to horde the things he likes, trip up the plans of the other groundlings, give misleading information, and waste resources. His bitterness springs from his back-story, referenced in many episodes, in which they were both given the chance by the Tree Elders to learn how to speak with animals and be granted other powers and responsibilities (this was when he as Eco were much younger, and good friends). Now Hegdish jealously ridicules Eco when he can, though he worries about her when she goes missing in the episode It's a Wonderful Marsh, and is even moved to tears upon finding her safe and sound.

There is also a part of Hegdish's past, referenced in several episodes, in which he snuck aboard a ship, ate the food in the hold, fell asleep, woke up at out at sea, was thrown overboard by angry sailors, chased by sharks, and swallowed by a giant fish. After that he started becoming nervous around boats and large bodies of water. Despite generally avoiding his fellow groundlings, Hegdish will often share knowledge from his travels and sometimes cooperate with them. In the episode Bah Hegdish, a holiday episode where the groundlings celebrate Twinkle Time (a Christmas-like holiday) and which uses the storyline of Charles Dickens'A Christmas Carol, he plays the role of Scrooge, and so comes to realize how lonely he would be without his fellow groundlings.

Crystal

Crystal, voiced by Nina Keogh, is Eco's grandniece. She is covered in fuzzy light blue fur. The skin of her face is blue, and she has a whispery voice, very large, white eyes with small black pupils, a small red nose at the end of her snout, long thin fingers, and extremely long, furry ears that hang down her back. These ears give her the power to hear long distances; she can also see in the dark like Galileo. It was once said that she is part bat, and she lives in a cavern. In her introduction episode, Crystal comes to visit Eco and has to wear glasses to protect her eyes. She soon becomes fast friends with Maggie.

While not one the original characters, Crystal continued to appear on the show, sometimes as the main protagonist of an episode, as in Crystal and the Ice wind. A running gag is Hegdish's tendency to annoy her by mispronouncing her name (calling her "Crispy", "Creepy", "Cookie", "Cracker", "Christmas" or some other variant).

Episodes

• Fungus Amungus
• The Featherbeam
• Big Dreams
• Truth & Consequences
• Maggie's Quest
• Night and Day
• Life Before Stacks
• Heat Wave
• Pot of Plenty
• All for One
• Flower Power
• Them Dingling Dozy Daisies
• Sticks and Stacks
• Make Way for Hegdish
• Butterfly Day
• Stinky Pond Mystery
• Galileo's Prank
• Fence Fiasco
• Come Blow Your Horn
• Two Be or Not to Be
• Tupelo Treat
• Tinkletree Trouble
• Seahunt
• Eggs Over Easy
• Slice of Advice
• Snow Job
• Mossy Bear
• To Sleep, Perchance to Dream
• Reluctant Hero
• Over the Rainbow
• Mine All Mine
• Sproutsmaster
• Maggie's Tree
• Maggie's Youday
• Purple Pullet Fever
• Lucky Stick
• Megaboo Gonna Get You
• Free at Last
• Crystal Clear
• Honey, I Shrunk the Groundlings
• The Amulet
• Jingle Bellies
• Bumble-Bird Blunder
• The Hedgdish Who Came to Dinner
• What a Guy
• The Enchanted Music Box
• The Other Galileo
• My Hero
• A Little Bird Told Me
• Berries as Big as Your Head
• Ooops!
• The Imaginary Friend
• Catch a Falling Star
• Glisten Berries & Friends
• Treasure of the Lost Marsh
• Coming of Age
• The Best Present of All
• Five Leaf Clover
• Mighty Maggie
• Crystal and the Ice Wind
• Free Wally
• That's Entertainment
• Listen Up
• It's a Wonderful Marsh
• Bah Hegdish

Broadcast History

After its 1995 debut the show was successful and appeared in the U.K. and the U.S. where it was sold to the Disney Channel, "on the Fox Children's Network in Australia and Latin America", and, ultimately, "in 94 territories worldwide". A big-screen "mini-feature" was also created and seen in "interactive theatres in a chain of U.S. family entertainment centres." The show also appeared on an interactive CD-ROM of Canadian Children's television intended for industry and the government.

Reception

In a review of the Courageous Adventures VHS release, Publishers Weekly, who also deemed the show "popular", wrote, "Kids will be intrigued by this bizarre-looking world and will likely absorb overtly stated messages about cooperation, kindness and respect."

VHS Releases

Three hour-long VHS tapes were released by Lyrick Studios in 1996:

• Courageous Adventures
• Treasures are for Sharing
• It's a Wonderful Marsh

In Courageous Adventures, Maggie tells Hegdish stories of bravery to help him deal patiently with a thorn in his paw. It features the episodes Catch a Falling Star and Mossy Bear, and has a section at the end consisting of the songs in the video. Treasures are for sharing features the episodes Treasure of the Lost Marsh and Mine All Mine.