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Braceface
Braceface title card
Created byMelissa Clark
Voices of
Country of originCanada
China
Original languages
  • English
  • French
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes78 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producerAlicia Silverstone
ProducerAlicia Silverstone
Running time22 minutes
Production companiesNelvana
Jade Animation
Original release
Network
ReleaseJune 30, 2001 (2001-06-30)[1] –
September 1, 2004 (2004-09-01)[2]

Braceface is a Canadian/Chinese animated series that aired on Teletoon in Canada, and on Disney Channel and ABC Family in the United States, as well as Fox Kids and then Pop Girl in the United Kingdom. It is produced by American actress Alicia Silverstone, and made by the Canadian company Nelvana.

The show, set in Elkford, British Columbia, recounts the travails of Sharon Spitz, who is a junior high school student with braces that get in the way of leading a normal teenage life. In the first season, she is enrolled at Mary Pickford Junior High but later the show progresses into Sharon going into high school.

Voice actors

Characters

Sharon Spitz

Sharon Esther Spitz is the main character of the series who has unrealistic luck. Sharon frequently gets into trouble and messes up unlike every other teen, but she always learns from her mistakes and sets things right in the end, no matter what the situation. Sharon is also known to be a clumsy girl and would usually end up embarrassing herself somehow. Sharon's rival is Nina Harper who attends Sharon's junior high school and later senior high school. Sharon's family members include her father Richard (a musician), her mother Helen (a therapist), her older brother Adam, and her younger brother Josh.

Sharon's best friend is Maria Wong and her other friends are Connor MacKenzie, her boyfriend Alden Jones, Brock Leigthon, Dion, Marlo, and later in the series, Alyson Malitski. Sharon has five pets: her dogs, Pigger and Sampson, and her cats Moshie, Rocky, and Lawrence. Sharon's favorite singers are Leena and Taylor Knight, both of whom she met in person in the episodes "The Good Life" and "Knight To Remember". She was an extra in Leena's new music video and she learned that she had a lot in common with her and she also learned from Leena that being a big star isn't as easy as people think it is. Taylor Knight on the other hand was not at all who Sharon thought he was he ended up being a creep who didn't seem to care about her and couldn't remember her name, So Sharon was glad when he cancelled their date to her prom. Sharon had a huge crush on Alden and they eventually become boyfriend and girlfriend, but later on, Alden ended their relationship because Sharon was overly jealous of Alden hanging with other girls even if they had nothing in common, whatsoever, in the episode "Dear Alden". In the final episode, "Leap of Faith", Alden comes back to Sharon and tries to rebuild their relationship, saying that it was his mistake to end it, and the two finally get together again.

Sharon's character is based on the early life of the actress Alicia Silverstone.[citation needed] Just like Silverstone, Sharon is an animal rights supporter and a vegetarian. Many times, her braces form a central part of the show's plots, as they are magnets, which leads Sharon to unintentionally attract different objects and get into embarrassing situations, although they do help her occasionally. In the first episode, they are shown to pick up radio and telephone frequencies, though it is never explained how.

Helen Spitz

Helen is the mother of Sharon, Adam, and Josh, and she works as a psychologist who is not only successful as a psychologist who sees clients in her home office, she's also a single parent raising three kids. Helen is a great mother who does her best to stay "in touch" with her kids, but not punishing them. This sometimes takes the form of "psychoanalysing" Sharon and her brothers, which irritates them. Sharon summarizes her mother in three sentences: "Means well, love her dearly, doesn't get it". Helen divorced Sharon's father when Sharon was seven, but her parents still get along well. Helen is now dating a guy named David who, in Sharon's opinion, is a dorky guy who wears dorky ties, but still likes him nonetheless.

Adam Spitz

Adam Francis Spitz is Sharon's older seventeen-year-old brother.[3] He loves wrestling and his girlfriend, Hannah, whom he wooed in the beginning of the series. Hana is quite petite and despite Adam's rather tall and fit figure, they get along very well. He enjoys teasing his younger siblings, however he can also be quite a good listener and sometimes comes up with unexpected reasoned opinions. His career goal is to become an astronaut.

Josh Spitz

Sharon's younger brother, and an aspiring pianist. Because of this, Sharon often says to anyone who needs to see him, "If you're looking for my little brother, just shut your eyes and follow the sound of classical music!" Josh is not just aspiring but something of a piano prodigy, and he therefore spends much of his time playing classical music. Josh aspires to become a professional musician like his father. Away from the piano, Josh is an ordinary kid enjoying video games, fast food, and playing with the family pets. Sharon cares deeply for Josh and the two couldn't be closer. The two tend not to argue, other than when he's been a nuisance, such as when Sharon wanted to spend time with Alden, only for Josh to go and spoil it for her at every turn (his mocking reactions when he learned of her hoped romance with Alden didn't go down too well with her and proved bad for him during the outcome). Josh's piano playing also tends to get on Sharon's nerves while she's doing a task like homework, or writing an email to a "special someone". Josh also went through a period when he thought that Alyson was in love with him. In one episode she spent a lot of time with him as she liked both the way he played the piano and his selection of songs. Alyson even went so far as saying that he played like another piano player she liked. Josh tried getting in a relationship with Alyson by giving her a flower and holding hands, but realized Alyson loved being Connor's girlfriend. However, Alyson told Josh that she would still like to remain his friend. Despite all this, when it comes to giving out advice to her, his family, or anyone willing to listen Josh is, at times, wise beyond his years. Josh Spitz is voiced by Michael Cera.

Maria Wong

Maria Nunziatina Wong is Sharon's best friend. Being a very competent personality and a sports fanatic, she can be laid back while incredibly content and extraverted. Being loyal and honest Maria knows when to give Sharon a shoulder to cry on, and when to tell her to "get over herself". She often opposes Sharon's insecure and restrained mentallity, Maria always knows what she wants. Maria loves extreme sports, and is always trying to get her friends to join her, but Sharon and Connor don't share Maria's thirst for danger or her competitive streak. Because of this, Maria usually ends up whizzing down the snowboarding pipe on her own, while her friends cheer her on from a safe distance. Maria also happens to be brilliant in school,[citation needed] but she's not perfect. She and Sharon have been "partners in crime" on more than one occasion, including when Maria starts to make a habit of using the "five finger discount" and steals a pair of earrings.[4] Maria's background is as diverse as her interests; as she's half-Chinese and half-Italian, in the episode "Gray Clouds", Maria accuses Sharon of being racist because her boyfriend Cloud is also of many nationalities, but she embraces all the good stuff both cultures have to offer. When Maria liked one of her teachers and met him for lunch at a restaurant, Sharon went to spy on her to make sure she kept her feelings to herself. (She hid under the table while the two were talking to each other.) Maria slipped one of her shoes off while Sharon was underneath the table and Sharon commented that her feet stank. She was disappointed when she learned he requested she join him along with several other students to request they volunteer as he felt they all had potential in becoming teachers themselves. Maria was disappointed, but learned it was probably better the teacher was behaving professionally. Towards the end of the second season and the rest of the series Maria becomes Brock's girlfriend.

Alden Jones

Sharon's first crush and later boyfriend. Alden's hobbies include video games, music and sports. Alden has three older sisters Lily, Daisy, and Violet who all work together with their parents at their family's pita & hummus restaurant. Maria stated in the episode "The First Worst Date Ever. Period.", that she thinks Alden is some kind of weird name. Alden plays hockey with his friends for fun for the boys team in both middle school and later on at Elkford High in the series. Alden also plays the guitar in a band called "Mangled Metal"a alternative band that only has one album, with his friends Brock and Carmen. He was Sharon's first boyfriend, and after they break up, they remain friends, but in the episode "Remember When" Alden loses his memory and thinks Sharon is still his girlfriend. Sharon gets caught up in the moment and realizes that Alden's memory will soon come back. During this time, Alden was Marlo's boyfriend but they break up later in the series in the episode "The Looong Weekend" because Marlo feels Sharon being friends interferes with their relationship but Alden doesn't feel the same way. He and Sharon start dating again at the end of the series, when Alden tells Sharon he still loves her.

Connor MacKenzie

Sharon's other best friend who plays the show's stereotypical geek. He lives in her neighbourhood and treats Josh as a surrogate little brother, who Josh can come to if he's having a problem his family can't help him with. Connor has been Sharon's neighbour and friend since they were babies. At the beginning of the series, Connor starts to date a new girl in Elkford named Tally. At first he was scared, but they became a couple for most of the first season, then towards the end of the first season they broke up. It is never mentioned if they remained friends afterwards but Tally makes appearances in later episodes. Connor and Sharon have a lot of things in common, such as hanging out at Life Cycles, the smoothie shop in Elkford and going to the movies. Connor has severe allergies, and is allergic to almost everything. Thanks to his awkwardness, allergies, and hypochondria, Connor has a reputation as an oddball, but Sharon and his good friends know that there's way more to "the walking sneeze" than that. He's very good at science, believes in extra-terrestrial life, and he enjoys playing card games. Connor doesn't care what most people think of him, and is ok with being himself. Connor eventually overcomes some of his oddball ways to have the courage to tell Alyson how he feels about her. In the Episode "Triangles" Connor and Alyson are brought closer, together after her dad rescues him from a fire at Life Cycles. Connor becomes Alyson's boyfriend for the remainder of the series. In fact, when he cleaned was cleaning his glasses and parting his hair differently, Sharon has developed a bit of a crush on him, but later went back to liking Alden, and the two are childhood friends. Connor is that average guy in the story who always has the main character's back - in this case the main character is Sharon.

Nina Harper

The school's queen bee, mean girl and main antagonist of the series who bullies Sharon and her friends, but mostly Sharon for being so naive and "annoying", even failing to notice her own annoying attitude. Sharon and Nina were once friends, but that all changed when Nina found her dolls with their heads chopped off, and blamed Sharon, even though it was her cousin Petra; this was revealed in the episode "Clean Slate". Ever since, Nina has been doing her best to wreck Sharon's life and those who dare attach themselves to her. For example, Nina was the one who stuck Sharon with the nickname "Braceface". Nina isn't liked very much by many kids but loved by adults.[citation needed] Although not many people don't like Nina, there are some who wouldn't mind being her, since she has the money, looks, and life that a lot of people would love to have. Even though Nina does not like Sharon openly, she has helped her on a few occasions and even enjoyed her company when her own friends are not around such as in the episode "Lorenza" and in the episode "The Pickford Project" where Nina truly seemed to care about Sharon's life and saved her. In the episode "Lorenza", Nina helped Sharon look for the dog when Lorenza went missing, and later on Sharon gives Lorenza to Nina when she revealed why she wanted a dog. Nina's aspiration in life is to be an international fashion model. Nina also becomes Griffin's girlfriend later on in the third season.

Chrissy & Veronica Kidman

Chrissy and Veronica Kidman are Nina's best friends and Sharon, Maria and Connor's rivals. Like Nina, they are naughty and mean snobs. They have an aspiration similar to Nina's, to be international fashion models.

Richard Spitz

A musician and the father of Sharon, Adam, and Josh. Because of his career as a musician, and the fact that he and Mrs. Helen Spitz are separated, he does not see Sharon or her brothers often. But Richard is determined to be the best father he can be, so he keeps an apartment in Elkford, and he's made a few lifestyle changes so he won't be on the road as much. Even though he's busy with his band, Sharon knows that whether he's in town or not, her father will always be there for her when she needs him.

Brock Leighton

Brock Shelby Leighton is Alden's best friend and co-founder of their band. He's the kind of guy who's always trying to get attention. For example, he once tried to tattoo a "B" on his arm, but it came out looking like a 13 instead. Brock also loves cats just like Sharon does in fact he adopts two of Miranda's cats, a woman who Brock and Sharon helped get most of her cats adopted by their friends before the city took most of them away. In the episode "Mixed Messages", Brock thought Sharon loved him from a message he received, on his cell phone from her but she really meant for the message to go to Alden instead. Brock is also into and is Captain for the boys hockey team in middle school and later on in the series at Elkford High. Brock had a not-so-secret crush on Maria for a long time. Deep down, Brock's not as confident as he seems. It has been shown that he is a little bit jealous of how easy it is for Alden to meet girls and come off looking cool.[5] Starting in the episode, "When In Rome...", Brock becomes Maria's boyfriend.

Alyson Malitski

Alyson is sweet and pretty, total airhead who is the typical girl-next-door type who has been a friend of Nina's for a long time. Alyson was seen with Nina as an "accomplice" in her plans to wreck Sharon's life. When Alyson's firefighter father rescued Connor from a fire at Life Cycles, she instantly took a liking to him, and the feeling becomes mutual. It was later discovered that Alyson was never actually cruel or mean, she just did whatever Nina told her to do, because like most teenagers she wanted to be noticed and fit in. As her friendship with Nina ended, Alyson became friends with Connor, and Maria and Sharon slowly accepted Alyson into the picture, as she is seen with them and Connor almost all the time in later episodes. Alyson is extremely feminine, bubbly, and a little simple-minded, but she is very caring and a really nice person, friend, and girlfriend.[citation needed] In the episode "Triangles", it was revealed that Alyson is a fan of The Beatles. It was revealed in the same episode that her dream was to be in a rock band, and her back-up plan is to be a heart surgeon.[6] Sometimes people think Alyson is shallow because she says "totally" a lot,[7] but after getting to know her true self, Sharon, Maria, Connor, and everyone else knows there's a whole lot more to Alyson than meets the eye.

Marlo

An athletic girl who likes hockey, and plays for the girls hockey team at Elkford High also with Maria. She is a secret hater of Sharon and Maria[citation needed]. She goes out with Alden after he and Sharon break up because they have so much in common. In the episode "The Loooong Weekend," Marlo and Alden break up after Marlo gets jealous and assumes the wrong idea that Sharon wants to break them up and get Alden back, Marlo is seen and mentioned 1 more time when she adopts one of Miranda's cats in 23's a crowd and mentioned in the final episode Leap Of Faith.

Lauren

Lauren is Griffin's mother and Mr. Spitz's girlfriend. She works at a publicity promotion company. When Sharon first meets Lauren in the episodes "For The Birds" she is afraid that Lauren should not have an exotic bird that belongs in its natural habitat.

Griffin

Lauren's son, who has mixed feelings for Sharon, he also later on becomes Nina's boyfriend in the third season. He was kicked out of boarding school and is now a part of a school in Elkford, however he does not attend the school Sharon and her friends attend. He pressured Sharon into smoking in the episode "Up in Smoke", and both Sharon and Griffin at Lauren's apartment smoking, but Griffin quit smoking in the episode "Busted".

David

Helen Spitz' boyfriend, Who also has two twin daughter's Lara And Sara who drive Sharon crazy, he struggles hard to be supportive of her and tries bonding with her offspring with not always successful results especially with Sharon or Adam. The character David, incidentally, is named after Alicia Silverstone's real-life elder half-brother.[8]

Hannah Corbett

Adam's girlfriend, who loves yoga and has a simple gypsyish appearance. Sharon in fact helped get her brother and her together after she moved into the neighborhood, Hannah's father is a duck hunter and is part of an organization called "Just Quacks" Adam almost joined the club so he could, have a good friend relationship with him but turned them down after Sharon helped him realized that kind of activity is not for him, and isn't something he wanted to be involved in. Hannah and Adam become boyfriend and girlfriend for the remainder of the series.

Mark Jones (a.k.a. Dion)

Dion was assigned to Sharon as a "mentor" to help ease the transition into high school, but since then, Dion has become her close friend and confidant. His real name is "Mark Jones", but he prefers to go by "Dion" in honour of Celine Dion, the musician he adores. Dion is a budding fashion designer, and his innovative creations (usually made of stuff like dental floss or credit cards) are the hit of the school fashion shows. His dream is to get into the Fashion Institute in New York and go on to a fabulous career. Sweet, flamboyant and funny, Dion has an outrageous personal style, and he always speaks his mind. He'd rather stand out than fit in; and Dion has no time for anyone who doesn't "get" that. When Sharon gets too hung up on what other people think of her, Dion is the first to remind Sharon how cool she really is.

Episodes

Main article: List of Braceface episodes

DVD releases

Some of these DVDs were released by FUNimation.

2001
  • Volume 1: Brace Yourself
2004
  • Volume 2: Getting Real
  • Volume 3: Twist of Fate
2005
  • Turning 13
  • Volume 4: Miss Popular
2006
  • Miss Popular, Brace Yourself, Getting Real, Twist of Fate (4 pack DVDs)

Broadcast

Country Channel
Chile Chile Fox Kids
Argentina Argentina Fox Kids
Canada Canada Teletoon
Netherlands Netherlands Fox Kids, Jetix, Disney Channel, Disney XD,
United States United States Fox Family, ABC Family, Disney Channel (first two seasons only)
France France France 3, Gulli and TeleTOON
Ecuador Ecuador Red TV Ecuador
United Kingdom United Kingdom Channel 5, Fox Kids/Jetix and Pop Girl
Germany Germany ProSieben, Fox Kids and Nickelodeon
Spain Spain Disney Channel, K3 and Canal Panda
Portugal Portugal Canal Panda (subtitled in Portuguese and spoken in English) and 2: (dubbed)
Brazil Brazil Fox Kids, Disney Channel Brazil and Rede Globo
Czech Republic Czech Republic Minimax
Morocco Morocco 2M TV
Poland Poland Minimax and Zig Zap
Romania Romania Minimax
Denmark Denmark Fox Kids, Jetix, DR1 and DR Ultra
Italy Italy Disney Channel Italy, Rai 2 and Frisbee
Belgium Belgium VT4 and Ketnet
Serbia Serbia Minimax
Norway Norway Jetix
Sweden Sweden Jetix
Hungary Hungary Minimax
South Africa South Africa SABC 2
Malaysia Malaysia Astro Ria (Malay Language) NTV7 (English Language)
Israel Israel Fox Kids

References

  1. ^ "CANOE - JAM! - Katie gets animated". Jam.canoe.ca. 2001-06-26. Retrieved 2013-08-21.
  2. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20131016074544/http://www.mediacastermagazine.com/pressroom/productdetail.aspx?id=2355
  3. ^ Season 2, Episode 14, "Home Alone"
  4. ^ Season 1, Episode 14, "Take That"
  5. ^ Season 2, Episode 4, "Dear Alden"
  6. ^ Season 2, Episode 23, "Pegged"
  7. ^ Season 3, Episode 11, "Knight to Remember"
  8. ^ Alicia Silverstone at IMDB. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000224/bio
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