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WordWorld

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WordWorld
GenreChildren's television series
Animated cartoon
Comedy
Created byDon Moody
Jacqueline Moody
Peter Schnelder
Gary Friedman
Directed byOlexa Hewryk
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes46
Production
Executive producersDon Moody
Jacqueline Moody
Olexa Hewryk
Sue Hollenberg
ProducersSue Hollenberg
Alia Nakashima
Running time28 minutes
Production companiesWordWorld
WTTW National Productions
Original release
NetworkPBS
TVO
EBS
Nick Jr.
Playhouse Disney
Disney Junior
ReleaseSeptember 3, 2007-present

WordWorld is a three-time Emmy Award-winning children's television series[1] partially funded by the United States Department of Education as part of the Ready To Learn literacy initiative targeted to 3- to 7-year olds. The show airs in 10 languages and 90 countries, including in the United States. The television series, created by Don Moody and Jacqueline Moody, stars Dog and his WordFriends. In each WordWorld television episode, Dog embarks on a series of adventures where the only way to save the day is to "build a word". The show's novelty is that when a word is built correctly, it morphs into the thing it represents, which gives instant meaning to the word. The WordWorld television series has been translated into popular mobile applications, Internet-based games, magnetic plush and other toys. WordWorld attempts to deliver a holistic curriculum that helps children develop the core literacy skills required to read.

Television series

The WordWorld television series currently airs in 90 countries and 10 languages. It premiered September 3, 2007 on CBeebies and Disney Junior and is currently in its third season, with 84 x 11-minute episodes. WordWorld currently broadcasts on PBS Kids.

WordWorld had been available on netflix's streaming service,[2] but was removed in October 2011.[3] As of Jan. 22, 2012, it is available on instant streaming yet again.[4][5][6] It was pulled again on or around January, 26, 2012.

Educational content

The main focus of the educational television show is literacy, with the shows curriculum being based on the National Reading Panel's 2000 Teaching Children to Read report with input from other groups and experts. The show aims to focus on print awareness, Phonics sensitivity and letter knowledge, Reading comprehension (including vocabulary development) and socio-emotional skills.[7]

Wordworld was developed for television by Executive Producers Don Moody, Olexa Hewryk, and David Lipson. Moody was originally inspired by a study which found that children are likely to pay less attention to words if there is a character on screen at the same time so he founded WordWorld, LLC.[8] According to Moody, WordWorld's use of characters that physically resemble the letters that make up their names may cause children to pay more attention to words. “If children want to look at the character, then the words have to be the character,” he said.[8]

Characters

Main characters

First Main characters

  • Bear - is a WordFriend who is kind and clever. She is an artist who is great at painting pictures. In the episode "Nightlight," it was revealed that Bear was afraid of the dark. She also appears to be a good artist, and lives in a CAVE. She also wears a purple bow on her head. In the episode called "Bear's Bed Sled", she gets an accident on her toe for crashing onto the tree after rolling into a snowball with Dog due to a high jump from the stump of the hill.
Gender: Female
Voiced by: Mirl Emgtrel
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Brown
  • Sheep - is a WordFriend who is kindhearted, fashionable and intelligent. However, she can sometimes be a little selfish, but helps her friends out by dressing up as characters as diverse as a princess and a superheroine. Sheep lives in a stack of HAY as her home. When she puts on some different hats, she speaks with different accents. For example, when she puts on a detective's hat, she uses a British accent.
Gender: Female
Voiced by: Veronica Taylor
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: White with purple arms and legs
  • Pig - is a WordFriend who is sometimes selfish when it comes to food, and he tends to eat the food he creates in his television show, "Cooking With Chef Pig," from his home in the BARN. In the episode, "Achoo!", it is revealed that Pig is allergic to peaches.
Gender: Male
Voiced by: George Bailey
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Pink
  • Frog - is a very intelligent and clever WordFriend. He is hydrophobic due to the water's slimy texture on his skin, and tends to say "Water, yuck." He is also the least courageous of all the other his WordFriends and living in a LOG.
Gender: Male
Voiced by: Daryl Ekroth
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Green
  • Dog - is a fun-loving dog who always likes to play with his WordFriends with his long ears up. He is the bravest among his WordFriends, as he was able to communicate with a monster in the episode "Dog's Camping Adventure," and follow a ghost — which was actually Pig sleepwalking in a blanket in the episode "A Kooky Spooky Halloween." He is also the only WordFriend who cannot talk, and lives in a HOUSE.
Gender: Male
Voiced by: H.D. Quinn
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Amber
  • Duck - is a WordFriend who is very playful and energetic. He loves to make friends with everyone. He also can't pronounce words well like in the episode "Sh-Sh-Shark" where he called Shark "S-hark." The aquatic fowl lives in a NEST. In the beginning of "Superhero Sheep", he accidentally crashes on it causing the letters to split.
Gender: Male
Voiced by: H.D. Quinn
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Yellow

The Bugs

The Bugs: Bug, Fly and Bee - are fun-loving-WordFriends. They also have a band of their own, and all live in Frog's mailbox.

  • Bug: Bug in the entire series has a pink hornlike nose and insect wings. His shade of green is a little lighter than Frog's shade. As part of the Bug Band, Bug plays the empty JUG by using his nose. He also plays the TUBA when it is brought out.
Gender: Male
Voiced by: George Bailey
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Light green
  • Fly: Fly has curls on the tip of his antennae. He sometimes goes with other friends like Bear in "My Fuzzy Valentine". As part of the Bug Band, he plays the banjo with his arms.
Gender: Male
Voiced by: H.D. Quinn
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Indigo
  • Bee: Bee has a stinger for some uses. As part of the Bug Band, he plays the washboard. In "Bed Bugs", Bee is the first to learn Frog's song about "B" and "D" that's once heard.
Gender: Male
Voiced by: Tress MacNeille
Letters made of: Lowercase
Body color: Yellow with brown stripes

Other Main characters

  • Ant - is the best friend of Pig. He also advises Pig not to eat the food Pig creates in his show "Cooking With Chef Pig". He has a lot of cousins that he usually calls for backup when there is a big situation. He also has a role as a cameraman in Pig's show. Ant lives in Pig's BARN or the anthill where he works as a radio announcer.
Gender: Male
Voiced by: H.D. Quinn
Letters made of: Lowercase
Body color: Red
  • Shark - is a friendly and gentle WordFriend who loves to make friends. He is blue and appears to be clever and smart. During his first appearance, other WordFriends are frightened and scared of him, due to his scary and menacing appearance. Shark lives in a sand CASTLE in the sea. He is also one of the aquatic WordFriends.
Gender: Male
Voiced by: Frank Welker
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Blue
  • Giant - is a big ant, but only as shown in "There's an Ant in Every Giant".
Gender: Male
Voiced by: Mirl Emgtrel
Letters made of: Lowercase
Body color: Red

Minor characters

Animals

First appearing in Season 1
  • The Three Piggies - are the nephews of Pig. Their bodies are made out of lowercase letters "I" and "G" as well as the uppercase "P". They usually land into mischief, but they sometimes make up a helpful team. Like other Wordfriends, they build words to create things. In the episode "Rocket to the Moon", they build a rocket out of red lowercase letters. They also appear in "Pies, Pies, Pies" begging his uncle to "share the pies, NOT eat the pies!"
Gender: Male
Voiced by: Various child actors
Letters made of: Uppercase "P" and Lowercase "I" and "G"
Body color: Pink
  • Cat - is the owner of the WordWorld junkyard when capital and turquoise with a tail made out of the capital "T". But she's lowercase and purple with a real stripy tail for the first time in "Get Well Soon Soup" where she visits Pig's BARN. She serves as the teacher (lowercase cat) at the SCHOOL for the first time in "Shark's First Day Of School".
Gender: Female
Voiced by: Lenore Zann
Letters made of: Uppercase in first appearance and later on lowercase
Body color: Turquoise and later purple
  • Monkey - is an energetic WordFriend who always like to have fun. His habitat is the JUNGLE. He appeared in the episodes "V is for Vacation," "Bit By Bit," "My Fuzzy Valentine," "You Can Never Have Too Many OOs," and the M song which Frog created using his machine. It is also revealed that in "You Can Never Have Too Many OOs," Monkey has a HUT with a straw ROOF on it with is tree as his shelter. He also has his three cousins who have different shades of brown and sing the blues harmoniously in the episode "M is for Map".
Gender: Male
Voiced by: George Bailey
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Brown
  • Goat - is a fun-loving WordFriend in WordWorld who has an Irish accent. He builds in this episode, "Get Your Coat" as he tried to rebuild the boat and to build a coat. He is also an -oat word expert.
Gender: Male
Voiced by: Daryl Ekroth
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: White
  • Kangaroo - is a hardworking WordFriend. She works as the WordWorld mail carrier as well as the engineer of the TRAIN. She has a light Australian accent and appeared in the episodes "Runaway O," "Mail Mix-up," "Waterlogged," "Pies, Pies, Pies!", "Back on Track", "You Can Never Have Too Many OOs," "Dancing Dog," and "Kite Flight."
Gender: Female
Voiced by: Lenore Zann
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Amber
  • Crab - is a WordFriend who mostly appears underwater. He is the best friend of Shark. He is also a singer and also uses his hands as castanets. He appeared in the episodes, "Castles in the Sand" and "The Dancing Duck Bonanza". Crab has a Trinidadian accent.
Gender: Male
Voiced by: Veronica Taylor
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Red-orange
  • Elephant - is a WordFriend with a blue body who helps WordFriends; she appears in episodes including "Bit by Bit" and makes a cameo in "Pies, Pies, Pies!" and other episodes as one of the WordFriends in an audience. Her habitat is the JUNGLE and she is one of the WordFriends that stand on four legs.
Gender: Female
Voiced by: Lenore Zann
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Blue
  • Cow - is another WordFriend who stands on four legs. She is always found eating grass. She makes cameos in several episodes. She says nothing but Moo.
Gender: Female
Voiced by: TBA (Cow doesn't have a voice actor.)
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: White with black patches
  • Tiger - Appeared in the episode "M is for Map," "Pies, Pies, Pies!", and other episodes as well. She lives in the JUNGLE.
Gender: Female
Voiced by: Tara Charednoff
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Orange with black stripes
  • Hippo - Seen in audiences in "The Dancing Duck Bonanza" and "A Star Is Born". He wears glasses.
Gender: Male
Voiced by: George Bailey
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Blue
  • Bird - A tiny little blue bird who lives in a NEST on the branch of a TREE. She appears in some episodes. In her first appearance, she leaves her egg snuggled in a quilted blanket for her departure.
Gender: Female
Voiced by: Mirl Emgtrel
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Blue
  • Turtle - Lives in Frog's lake. First appears in the episode "Castles in the Sea," and other episodes like "The Best Nest". He talks in a deep voice and as revealed in "M is for Map", he sings bass anong the three monkeys who sing doo-wop.
Gender: Male
Voiced by: Sean Cullen
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Three shades of green
  • Fish - Belongs to Sheep in a fishbowl. She is dressed as a witch in "Sheep's Halloween Costume".
Gender: Female
Voiced by: Tress MacNeille
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Orange
  • Whale - Sheep's best friend who lives in the ocean. She makes her first appearance in the episode "Wee Little Whale" where she begins as a "baby" whale. Water makes her grow bigger and her voice mature a little.
Gender: Female
Voiced by: Mirl Emgtrel
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Blue
  • Owl - Appears in a couple of episodes and only hoots.
Gender:
Voiced by: Lenore Zanne
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Brown
  • Cricket - Appears in "Dog's Camping Adventure" and "A Star is Born."
Gender: Male
Voiced by: Daryl Ekroth
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Green
  • Ant's Cousins - Related to Ant. Four of these cousins are built in the episode called "Achoo!" and all of them also appear in the episode "Pies, Pies, Pies!"
Gender: Male
Voiced by: A.J. Henderson
Letters made of: Lowercase
Body color: Different shades of red
  • Bird's Baby - A baby bird that came out of the mother's egg. He only peeps, but his only word is "mama".
Gender: Male
Voiced by: Mirl Emgtrel
Letters made of: Lowercase
Body color: Blue
Seen in Season 1, but first appearing soon
  • Fox - Appears on a chalkboard just like Mouse in the episode "Bopping with the Bug Band". Also appeared in the episode "X Marks the Spot". He talks with a Northern Irish accent.
Gender: Male
Voiced by: H.D. Quinn
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Red
  • Mouse - Appears on a chalkboard in the episode "Bopping with the Bug Band". Will appear in some episode.
Gender: Male
Voiced by: Victor Yerrid
Letters made of: Uppercase
First appearing in Season 2
  • Spider - Lives in a WEB in a TREE near Duck's NEST. She first appeared in "Duck Saves Spider's Web" as a purple character.
Gender: Female
Voiced by: Stephanie D'Abruzzo
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Purple
  • Caterpillar - Lives on a swan plant. She first appeared in "Caterpillar Gets a Home" with all her letters descending from the rain and is befriended by Duck. Will there will be a new caterpillar after the first appearance of a BUTTERFLY in WordWorld?
Gender: Female
Voiced by: Tress MacNeille
Letters made of: Lowercase
Body color: Various shades of green
First appearing in Season 3
  • Pelican - Appeared in "Kite Flight" and "Race to the Spaeship".
Gender: Male
Voiced by: Michael Goug
Letters made of: Lowercase
Body color: White

Non-Animals

  • Monster - is a friendly red WordFriend who appears to be sentient and clever. He is very helpful in the episode "Dog's Camping Trip" as he helped Dog find the letters for their tent. He is created from Frog's MACHINE.
Gender: Male
Voiced by: Daryl Ekroth
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Pinkish-red
  • Robot - This WordFriend hails from outer space and travels in a ROCKET. He is blue in more episodes. In the episode called "Play Ball", he is colored purple. Another ROBOT appears as having been assembled by Frog.
Gender: Male
Voiced by: Matt Vogel
Letters made of: Uppercase
Body color: Blue and later purple

References

  1. ^ "WordWorld Takes an Emmy". License! Global Weekly E-news. Advanstar Communications. 2008-06-24. Retrieved 2008-07-01. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ http://www.criticizethis.ca/2011/02/netflix-diaries-bunch-of-munsch-and.html
  3. ^ http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=6275848869&topic=20225
  4. ^ http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/WordWorld-Season-1/70160012
  5. ^ https://plus.google.com/115296172939286223379/posts/Lbg3DaENMvZ
  6. ^ http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=138616486149426&topic=906
  7. ^ "WordWorld's Research and Curriculum". About the Program / Parents & Teachers. PBSKids. Retrieved 2007-10-25.
  8. ^ a b 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)
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