''A Little Curious'' is an American children's animated television series that ran on

HBO Family Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

for two seasons. The series premiered on February 1, 1999 until its final episode aired on May 1, 2000. The series, produced by

Curious Pictures Curious Pictures (stylized as curious?ictures) was an American animation studio and multi-media company that was primarily based in New York City that produced television programs, commercials, animation, and video games. The company is known for ...

and

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television, premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office busi ...

, was aimed at preschoolers. It was one of the cornerstone programs for the relaunch of the HBO Family channel in February 1999.

Plot

The 24-minute episodes are essentially

anthologies In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically catego ...

of shorts centered on a common, easily digested topic word such as "slippery" or "sticky". While each short draws from the same pool of characters, they are produced in a variety of animation techniques. Animation styles include

stop-motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

clay animation Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay. Tra ...

, traditional 3-D and 2-D

cel animation Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until computer animation. Proce ...

, and 3-D CGI, along with live-action segments mostly narrated by Bob the Ball. Some of the shorts are designed to fit more than one topic, and are re-used in different episodes.

Characters

The pool of characters, generally based on everyday objects, include: *Bob the Ball – a cute, friendly, boisterous, exuberant bouncing

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...

rubber

ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used fo ...

. :Gender: Male :Voiced by: Cameron Bowen *Little Cup – a sweetened, innocent glass

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, cl ...

fruit punch The term punch refers to a wide assortment of drinks, both non-alcoholic and alcoholic, generally containing fruits or fruit juice. The drink was introduced from the Indian subcontinent to England by employees of the East India Company in the ...

who spends a lot of time learning about the world around him. He is Bob's best friend. :Gender: Male :Voiced by: Bob Kaliban *Mr. String – a nervous, intelligent, fussy bit of

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ob ...

string who can twist and tie himself into a multitude of shapes. He frequently says "definitely". :Gender: Male :Voiced by: Gary Yudman *Plush – a

multicolored Multicolor is a subtractive two-color motion picture process. Multicolor, introduced to the motion picture industry in 1929, was based on the earlier Prizma Color process, and was the forerunner of Cinecolor. For a Multicolor film, a scen ...

, air-headed stuffed plush

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. ...

who is another one of Bob's best friends. Unlike the others, he mostly speaks in a strange giggly language. :Gender: Male :Voiced by: Bob Kaliban *Mop – a

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

music-loving yellow

mop A mop (such as a floor mop) is a mass or bundle of coarse strings or yarn, etc., or a piece of cloth, sponge or other absorbent material, attached to a pole or stick. It is used to soak up liquid, for cleaning floors and other surfaces, to mop ...

with

turquoise Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrated phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula . It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone and ornamental stone for thousands of yea ...

hair who frequently changes her hairstyle. She is Mr. String's best friend. :Gender: Female :Voiced by: Amanda Kaplan *Doris the Door – a pink and

orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

, Brooklyn-accented, two-faced

automatic door An automatic door, also known as an auto door, is a door that opens automatically, usually on sensing the approach of a person. History In the 1st century AD, mathematician Heron of Alexandria in Roman Egypt invented the first known automatic door ...

, who, while being playful, is easily tired. Doris usually talks about her distant childhood. :Gender: Female :Voiced by: Marilyn Pasekoff *Pad and Pencil – a presumably romantic drawing pad and pencil couple who constantly flatter each other through

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

accents. :Gender: Female (Pad), Male (Pencil) :Voiced by:

Gerrianne Raphael Gerrianne Raphael (born February 23, 1935) is an American stage, screen, and voice-over actress. Though much of her career has been spent in the theatre, she is perhaps best known for her major role as the voice of Pumyra in '' ThunderCats''. ...

(Pad), Rafael Ferrer (Pencil) *The Shoe Family – a family of pairs of shoes with footwear-themed names such as " Mary Jane". The parents are Mr. Shoe (

brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

dress shoes) and Mrs. Shoe (

high heels), and the children are Lacey (

sneakers Sneakers (also called trainers, athletic shoes, tennis shoes, gym shoes, kicks, sport shoes, flats, running shoes, or runners) are shoes primarily designed for sports or other forms of physical exercise, but which are now also widely used fo ...

) and Mary Jane (a pair of Mary Janes). In "A Little Curious About Life", they had a baby brother named Booties. Mary Jane and Lacey are two of Bob's best friends. :Gender: Male (Mr. Shoe), Female (Mrs. Shoe, Lacey and Mary Jane) :Voiced by: Gary Yudman (Mr. Shoe), Sandy Correia (Mrs. Shoe and Lacey), Amanda Kaplan (Mary Jane)

Episodes

https://www.homeboxoffice.com/sched/2003_03_hbo4.pdf
Source of "Side, Turn, Twist" (on page 10).

Season 1 (1999)

#Loud, Soft, Shake (February 1, 1999) #Light, Dark, Bubble (February 8, 1999) #Near, Far, Swing (February 15, 1999) #Slippery, Sticky, Mirror (February 22, 1999) #Above, Below, Cover (March 1, 1999) #Front, Back, Side (March 8, 1999) #Swing, Cover, Shake (March 15, 1999) #Rough, Smooth, Picture (March 22, 1999) #Open, Close, Ring (March 29, 1999) #Bubble, Picture, Mirror (April 5, 1999) #Thick, Thin, Twist (April 12, 1999) #First, Last, Step (April 19, 1999) #Ring, Twist, Step (April 26, 1999) #Empty, Full, Pop (May 3, 1999) #Same, Different, Beat (May 10, 1999) #Fast, Slow, Spin (May 17, 1999) #Long, Short, Roll (May 24, 1999) #Character Show – Bob the Ball (May 31, 1999) #Roll, Spin, Pop (June 7, 1999) #Warm, Cool, Heart (June 14, 1999) #Character Show – Plush (June 21, 1999) #Still, Move, Train (June 28, 1999) #Spring, Fall, Turn (July 5, 1999) #High, Low, Stretch (July 12, 1999) #Side, Twist, Turn/Side, Stretch, Turn (July 19, 1999)

Season 2 (2000)

#Top, Bottom, Jump (January 3, 2000) #Over, Under, Balance (January 10, 2000) #Drop, Lift, Flat (January 17, 2000) #Tight, Loose, Squeeze (January 24, 2000) #Hit, Miss, Bump (January 31, 2000) #Work, Play, Skip (February 7, 2000) #Hard, Easy, Change (February 14, 2000) #New, Old, Dance (February 21, 2000) #Lead, Follow, Act (February 28, 2000) #Win, Lose, Tie (March 6, 2000) #Push, Pull, Rock (March 13, 2000) #A Little Curious About Life (March 20, 2000) #Jump, Flat, Squeeze (March 27, 2000) #Hard, Work, Bump (April 3, 2000) #Character Show – Mop (April 10, 2000) #Balance, Skip, Rock (April 17, 2000) #Push, Over, Top (April 24, 2000) #Drop, Loose, Change (May 1, 2000)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Little Curious 1990s American animated television series 2000s American animated television series 1990s American anthology television series 2000s American anthology television series 1999 American television series debuts 2000 American television series endings American children's animated anthology television series American children's animated comedy television series American computer-animated television series American preschool education television series American stop-motion animated television series American television series with live action and animation Animated preschool education television series 1990s preschool education television series 2000s preschool education television series English-language television shows HBO original programming Television series by Curious Pictures Television series by Home Box Office