''Grossology'' (also known as ''Glurp Attack'' in
Québec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...
) is a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
animated
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...
action
Action may refer to:
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video game
Film
* Action film, a genre of film
* ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford
* ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
-
adventure
An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...
television series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...
produced by
Nelvana
Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. (; previously known as Nelvana Limited, sometimes known as Nelvana Animation and simply Nelvana or Nelvana Communications) is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment company owned by Corus Entertainment. Founded ...
and based loosely on the non-fictional
children's book series of the same name by Sylvia Branzei.
The show first premiered on
YTV in Canada on September 29, 2006. The original run ended on October 24, 2009.
Premise
Ty and Abby are a teenage brother-and-sister crime-fighting team who report to the Bureau of Grossology, a secret government agency whose job is to investigate gross criminals, their gross crimes, and/or various gross phenomena. Each episode of the series follows the pair on adventures based on real scientific facts. Aided by their friend Lab Rat (a tech specialist and a lab researcher), their boss The Director, and their police liaison, The Detective, Ty and Abby work to keep the city safe, all while keeping their identities hidden.
Characters
Main
* Tyler "Ty" Archer (voiced by
Michael Cohen): Ty is Abby's younger brother and a hard kid to face. He is very intelligent, possessing a cool, active and analytical mind that takes everything in. He sees himself as a scientist and takes his job as a grossologist very seriously. His goal is to be remembered among the very best within the scientific community. He even owns a chemistry set and does analyses on things he finds (e.g. Hairball's hairballs). He and Lab Rat share many common interests. On the field, Ty pilots the GRS-1 and is great at strategic maneuvers. His quick thinking has saved the day many times. In fact, he is hinted to be the most intelligent of the team, being smarter than Abby and even than Lab Rat. He has a crush on Naomi, who eventually becomes his girlfriend later in the series.
* Abigail "Abby" Archer (voiced by Krystal Meadows): Abby is a
Kim Possible
''Kim Possible'' is an American animated action comedy-adventure television series created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle for Disney Channel. The title character is a teenage girl tasked with fighting crime on a regular basis while coping wi ...
-eqsue girl who unravels mysteries so disgusting that no adult will touch them. She is very confident, adventurous, sharp and loves everything gross and slimy. She likes to test her limits to see if there is something that can make even her, the Queen of Squeam, turn green. So far, nothing has come close, although she closely resisted gagging on a few occasions. The only exception was when she unknowingly drank contaminated water and threw up. Despite all of this, she is terribly afraid of leeches. She gets covered in slop the most, and being dirty has yet to affect her really long trademark
ponytail
A ponytail is a hairstyle in which some, most or all of the hair on the head is pulled away from the face, gathered and secured at the back of the head with a hair tie, clip, or other similar accessory and allowed to hang freely from that point ...
. On the field, she is a competent fighter. She holds a severe grudge against not only villains like Lance Boil but also her school rival Paige. Unlike her younger brother Ty, she is athletic and participates in school sports like volleyball. Abby depends on her instincts and feelings at times, which occasionally clouds her judgment. She shares ownership of her beloved pet kitten, Hairball, with Ty.
* Paul "Lab Rat" Squirfenherder (voiced by M. Christian Heywood): Lab Rat, a former student of the school and a former delinquent who now is the older colleague of Ty and Abby, working as Bureau of Grossology's tech support assistant He is a lab worker who make different sorts of gadgets and search for various scientific informations into the computer in order to aid Ty and Abby on their missions. Lab Rat suffers from
agoraphobia
Agoraphobia is a mental and behavioral disorder, specifically an anxiety disorder characterized by symptoms of anxiety in situations where the person perceives their environment to be unsafe with no easy way to escape. These situations can in ...
, which prevents him from leaving the Gag Lab unless absolutely necessary, but instead spent his time doing lab work. This is what earned him the nickname "Lab Rat," which he prefers to his real name. He has a pet rat named Hermes, who he treats as his best friend. He also has poor personal hygiene, Abby often jokes that he stinks due to the fact that bathing is not one of his favorite activities.
* The Director (voiced by
Paul O'Sullivan): The Director is the head of the Bureau of Grossology and gives the Grossologists their repulsive assignments, often in a state of panic. He is incredibly squeamish and terrified by the slightest hint of anything gross. In spite of this, he is known to arrogantly enter the scene after the crime is solved and take all the credit, claiming that Abby and Ty's success is because of his "great leadership skills". Abby and Ty see right through his farce and make sure his ego is kept in check, which isn't hard to do since the crime scenes often unnerve the Director anyway. He has on one known occasion gone into the field by himself to search for his missing agents.
Villains
* Insectiva (voiced by Lili Francks): She was once a promising young university student who wanted to study
entomology
Entomology () is the science, scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such ...
(the study of insects) until she discovered how insects are treated by science: captured and dissected. Now, armed with all sorts of bugs, she pursues an insect agenda, to wipe all people off the planet so bugs can rule again. She, like many insects, can't get past windows, therefore she is continuously running into them. She began a romantic relationship with Sloppy Joe in the Valentine's Day episode "Pucker Up". She also has a twin sister, Arachnidia, who is also her rival.
** Real Name: Cara Chitin
** First Appearance: Episode 1 ("Queen for a Day")
** Cara Chitin's last name is based on
chitin
Chitin ( C8 H13 O5 N)n ( ) is a long-chain polymer of ''N''-acetylglucosamine, an amide derivative of glucose. Chitin is probably the second most abundant polysaccharide in nature (behind only cellulose); an estimated 1 billion tons of chit ...
, what insects' exoskeletons are made of.
* The Slim Slime Man (voiced by
Neil Crone
Neil Crone (born May 29, 1960) is a Canadian actor, comedian, writer and motivational speaker. He is known for portraying Fred Tupper in ''Little Mosque on the Prairie'', Jerry Whitehall in '' Cube 2: Hypercube'' and the voices of Gordon, Diesel ...
): A bitter old sewer worker, who abnormally fused with a living slime mold while working in the sewers one day, becoming a strange giant slime creature with a ghoulish skull-like head seen inside. As he gets more powerful, he aims to cover the surface world with living slime molds.
** Real Name: Slim
** First Appearance: Episode 2 ("The Slim Slime Man")
* Fartor (voiced by
Sean Cullen
Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/ Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; anglici ...
): Fifteen years ago, he was just an ordinary kid, until his older brother Gary tortured him by stuffing him under the bedsheets and farting in there. During those fifteen years, his lungs adapted to the gases in farts. Like a fish out of water, clean air is poison to him, so he breathes toxic gases in a dome that he wears on his body. There was only one thing Fartor wanted... revenge on his brother.
** Real Name: Larry
** First Appearance: Episode 3 ("Fartzilla")
* Sloppy Joe (voiced by
George Buza
George Buza is an American-born Canadian actor who is best known for voicing Beast in the '' X-Men Animated Series''.
Personal life
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he moved to Toronto, Ontario, as a young man and became a Canadian citizen in 1998.
C ...
): After discovering that a whiff of his stink was enough to render people unconscious, Joe vowed to never let a drop of water, soap, or deodorant touch his skin again, and turned to an easy life of crime. His plan: go from filthy to filthy rich. He uses his extremely filthy body as his weapon. When clean he is shown to be an
albino
Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albino.
Varied use and interpretation of the term ...
. Insectiva is his girlfriend as of the Valentine's Day episode "Pucker Up".
** First Appearance: Episode 4 ("The Perfect Stink")
** Real Name: Joseph Puglowski
* The Scab Fairy (voiced by
Jessica Holmes
Jessica Holmes (born August 29, 1973) is a Canadians, Canadian comedian and actress. She is best known for her work with the ''Royal Canadian Air Farce'', which she joined in 2003, after starring in her own show, ''The Holmes Show'' in 2002. Sh ...
): A crazed former beauty queen who was traumatized over a small cut to her shoulder, ending her career. Not seen since then, she used her exceptional degree in dermatology and mythology to create a high-tech dragonfly-winged suit made of scabs and takes the identity of the Scab Fairy, based on a
Tooth Fairy
The Tooth Fairy is a fantasy figure of early childhood in Western and Western-influenced cultures. The folklore states that when children lose one of their baby teeth, they should place it underneath their pillow or on their bedside table and ...
-like myth figure that collects scabs (rather than teeth). She is armed with a high-tech wand that removes scabs from people's wounds and inflicts them on others. Her ultimate obsession is to inflict scabs on anyone pretty, as revenge for the loss of her old beauty queen career.
** Real Name: Helena Globin
** First Appearance: Episode 5 ("The Scab Fairy")
** Helena Globin's name is a pun on the word
hemoglobin
Hemoglobin (haemoglobin BrE) (from the Greek word αἷμα, ''haîma'' 'blood' + Latin ''globus'' 'ball, sphere' + ''-in'') (), abbreviated Hb or Hgb, is the iron-containing oxygen-transport metalloprotein present in red blood cells (erythrocyte ...
, a protein found in
red blood cells
Red blood cells (RBCs), also referred to as red cells, red blood corpuscles (in humans or other animals not having nucleus in red blood cells), haematids, erythroid cells or erythrocytes (from Greek language, Greek ''erythros'' for "red" and ''k ...
.
* Lance Boil (voiced by
Juan Chioran
Juan Chioran (born June 18, 1963) is an Argentine-born Canadian actor primarily associated with stage roles at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada. He is based in Stratford, Ontario.
Chioran is also known for his voice acting roles, suc ...
): He was once a successful Grossologist; however, he envied The Director's authority. Boil tried to pull a coup, using a "prototype shrink-ray." Ty had tinkered with the weapon though, and Lance ended up blasting himself and shrinking in a somewhat lopsided manner (small body; large, misshapen, pus-filled head). Although horrified at first, Lance comes to be very proud of his boil. Banished from the team, he decided to use his skills for evil, with one goal in his twisted head: revenge against all Grossologists, especially Abby and Ty. He is also the person responsible for mentoring Abby and Ty, helping hone their fighting and investigation skills, and tutoring them personally in Grossology, human and animal anatomy, biology, and chemistry to become the Grossologists they are today.
** Real Name: Lance Boil
** First Appearance: Episode 6 ("When Ya Gotta Go")
** His name references the medical term "
lancing a boil".
* Hagfish: Giant, mutated hagfish that can breathe air and move on land. They are former bottom dwellers that were farmed and gene spliced with conger eel DNA, making them larger and hungrier. They eat fish and soon threaten the town's whole food stocks, leaving a trail of slime wherever they go. The lead hagfish has a tag on it and like all fish, they are also afraid of cats.
** First Appearance: Episode 8 ("Go Fish")
* Keith Van Kobbler (voiced by
Pat Mastroianni
Pasquale "Pat" Mastroianni (born December 22, 1971) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his role as Joey Jeremiah in the ''Degrassi'' franchise, for which he received a Gemini Award in 1988.
Biography
Mastroianni grew up in Toronto, th ...
): A popular and undefeated young basketball player, and Abby's former idol. Calls himself "VK" for short, and
always refers to himself in the third person. He endorsed the "KVK-1" brand super-sneakers, which have been a runaway success, but after a short while, all wearers (including VK's opposing players, up-and-coming basketball players) suffer a severe case of
athlete's foot
Athlete's foot, known medically as ''tinea pedis'', is a common skin infection of the feet caused by a fungus. Signs and symptoms often include itching, scaling, cracking and redness. In rare cases the skin may blister. Athlete's foot fungus m ...
. After examining the KVK-1 sneakers in the case, Ty and Lab Rat suspect VK himself to be the culprit, while Abby has difficulty accepting their suspicion. As it turns out, VK is ''indeed'' the culprit, with a twisted method behind his fame; he single-handedly manufactured the KVK-1 sneakers for mass consumption, and spiked them with fungus (while wearing a non-spiked "Deluxe Edition" pair for himself, of course), so that everyone will have athlete's foot, and most of all, eliminate the competition, so that he will be the ''only'' basketball player in the world. His weapon is a high-tech "Wrecking Ball" basketball.
** First Appearance: Episode 9 ("It's Gotta Be the Shoes")
* Mr. Fowler (voiced by
Derek McGrath
Derek McGrath (born June 4, 1951) is a Canadian actor and writer.
Life and career
McGrath was born in Timmins, Ontario. His career began as Linus in ''You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown''. He is known for his roles in '' Cheers'' as Andy Schroed ...
): He is the custodian at Ringworm Junior High School. He is small, timid, shy, afraid of Paige, and wears oversized glasses. Always hums the song "4 and 20 Black Birds Baked In a Pie." He grew tired of cleaning up the excess pigeon poop around the school, so he built a giant mechanical owl suit, with which he captures pigeons and plots to put them in a pie to bake them.
** First Appearance: Episode 10 ("Owl Most Foul")
* Kid Rot (voiced by Travis Ferris): After a science experiment mishap while trying to find a cure for foods going bad or rotting, young boy Chester gains a "rotting touch," which causes all organic materials (except for human DNA) to rot with a single touch (eventually evolving into projecting rotting energy blasts and massive bursts of rotting energy), and also gives off a horrible smell. He becomes a new student at Ringworm Junior High School, and causes chaos upon his arrival, with a concerned Abby and Ty trying to cure him (Abby initially had feelings for him, much to Ty's suspicion). But Chester's rotting powers come with a terrible price, as a parasite living inside of him takes over his body and mind, giving him a mutated appearance and a twisted personality, and christens himself "Kid Rot", becoming a formidable and diabolical foe for the Grossology team. Worse, he has a psychotic infatuation for Abby (who ultimately hates him, at least his prevalent Kid Rot persona), and will stop at nothing to win her heart, even going as far as to rot the entire world! His rotting powers used to be an excellent fertilizer (in a way making his science experiment a success), but the second time they met, his powers have evolved to where they just kill whatever they touch. The last time we saw Kid Rot, he was engulfed in rot he had created. Abby and Ty gave up looking for him but as the episode is about to end we see a hand (presumably Kid Rot's) sticking out from the rot and as a leaf lands on it, it's grabbed by the hand.
** Real Name: Chester
** First Appearance: Episode 13 ("Kid Rot")
* Patrick (voiced by
Julie Lemieux
Julie Lemieux (born December 4, 1962) is a Canadian voice actress.
Career
Lemieux has provided the voice for characters such as Sammy Tsukino in '' Sailor Moon'', young Darien Shields in '' Sailor Moon R: The Movie'', and Peruru in '' Sailor Moo ...
)
** First Appearance: Episode 17 ("Survival of the Grossest")
* Dr. Cornelius Colon (voiced by
Peter Keleghan
Peter Keleghan is a Canadian actor and writer, perhaps best known for portraying Ben Bellow in the comedy series ''18 to Life'', Clark Claxton Sr. in the comedy series ''Billable Hours'' and Ranger Gord in ''The Red Green Show''. Currently has a ...
): A mad proctologist, who plots to engulf the world in a gigantic colon, starting with Ringworm Junior High School (on the last day before its Summer vacation), to take revenge on people for unsympathetically making fun of him for his unfortunate surname. He also has giant tapeworms as his henchmen.
** First Appearance: Episode 18 ("School's Grossed Out for Summer")
* Far-Ty: Ty as a temporary villain. Feeling he's not needed after Abby showed him up several times, Ty, trying to overcompensate for himself behind her back, was captured by Fartor, who was in the midst of planning yet another full-scale fart attack on the world. He exposes Ty to the same deadly gases that transformed him, using a special process to speed up the transformation. Now, Ty, as Far-Ty, becomes Fartor's greatest asset in carrying out his dastardly plan. And just as Fartor plotted revenge on his older brother Gary, Far-Ty carried out a twisted revenge on his older sister Abby. Thankfully, Ty is cured of this transformation.
** Real Name: Ty Archer
** First Appearance: Episode 20 ("Silent But Deadly, Part 1")
* Frankenbooger: A giant monster made of nose
mucus
Mucus ( ) is a slippery aqueous secretion produced by, and covering, mucous membranes. It is typically produced from cells found in mucous glands, although it may also originate from mixed glands, which contain both serous and mucous cells. It is ...
stolen by Sloppy Joe (using a suction gun), who simply wanted to make a "boogerman" with said mucus (much like a
snowman
A snowman is an anthropomorphic snow sculpture of a man often built in regions with sufficient snowfall and is a common winter tradition. In many places, typical snowmen consist of three large snowballs of different sizes with some additional ...
). Abby and Ty confront Sloppy Joe, and in the process, inadvertently cause an electrical accident that brings the "boogerman" to life. The monster sucks mucus out of people's noses, and the more he consumes, the larger he gets. Its only weakness is dirt particles (just like any mucus), which cause him to not only dry up, but decrease in size.
** First Appearance: Episode 24 ("Frankenbooger")
* Darko Crevasse (voiced by
Julian Richings
Julian Richings (born 30 August 1956)''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at Ancestry.com is a British-Canadian character actor. He has appeared in over 225 films and television series.
Career
After touring th ...
): A gothic caped villain whose eyesight is accustomed to darkness, and therefore must wear dark glasses. He summons a huge flock of bats to drop guano on anyone who opposes him. As he cannot stand light, his ultimate plan is to plunge the city into eternal darkness. In the Halloween episode "Night of the Living Roadkill", Paige commented that he was
Goth
A Goth is a member of the Goths, a group of East Germanic tribes. Two major political entities of the Goths were:
*Visigoths, prominent in Spanish history
*Ostrogoths, prominent in Italian history
Goth or Goths may also refer to:
* Goth (surname) ...
, much to his annoyance.
** First Appearance: Episode 23 ("Lights Out")
* Sarah Senia (voiced by
Jayne Eastwood
Jayne Eastwood (born December 17, 1946), also credited as Jane Easton or Jane Eastwood, is a Canadian actress and comedian. She is best known for her film roles as Anna-Marie Biddlecoff in the comedy film ''Finders Keepers'' (1984), Judy the Wai ...
): A lady whose DNA structure was crossed with that of plants. Has leaves and tendrils around her body. Plotted to use giant carnivorous plants to attack the city, and ultimately, the world.
** First Appearance: Episode 25 ("A New Leaf")
* Arachnidia (voiced by
Maria Vacratsis
Maria Vacratsis (born July 28, 1955) is a Canadian actress. She has been featured in several Canadian television series, including '' Degrassi: The Next Generation'', ''Little Mosque on the Prairie'', ''Tactical Girls'', and '' Rent-a-Goalie''. In ...
): Insectiva's twin sister. Unlike Insectiva, she loves
arachnids
Arachnida () is a Class (biology), class of joint-legged invertebrate animals (arthropods), in the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, opiliones, harvestmen, Solifugae, came ...
, as her name suggests. She and Insectiva have a bitter rivalry, and both pit their own respective arthropods against each other, with catastrophic results. She is the gothic version of Insectiva and her hairstyle is a big double-knob ponytail with the tip shaped like a scorpion stinger .
** First Appearance: Episode 27 ("Sinister Rivalry")
* Frederick Follicle (voiced by
Stephen Ouimette
Stephen Ouimette is a Canadian actor and director. Although mostly known for his stage work, particularly at the Stratford Festival of Canada and recently on Broadway in '' La Bete'', he achieved TV fame (and a Gemini Award) as the ghostly Olive ...
): A hair dresser who doesn't like to change styles. After getting kicked out of a job, he went underground doing biological experiments, and an accident ended up transforming every follicle of hair on his body into super-powered living hair.
** First Appearance: Episode 31 ("Hairless Whispers")
* Roger Pink-Eye (voiced by Lyon Smith): A kid with a
pink eye. He is curious about Ty and Abby's extra-curricular activities, and thus sets off to find the truth about his classmates' secret identities, using various attempts to do so, but all of them end in failure. In the second season trilogy (Pinkeye and The Brain, Pinkeye's Revenge Part 1, Pinkeye's Revenge Part 2), he teams up with Lance Boil (after successfully capturing him) to find out Ty and Abby's secret. He eventually becomes a Grossologist, but he is fired/quits after his plan backfires with Lance betraying him. He then loses his memories of the events.
** First Appearance: Episode 33 ("Mold Monster")
* Basso Profondo (voiced by
Ben Campbell): A disgraced
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
star, who was once part of the Three Baritones. He's back for revenge, but this time he's singing a whole new tune; in other words, he's now a
burping
Burping (also called belching and eructation) is the release of gas from the upper digestive tract
The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from t ...
star.
** First Appearance: Episode 39 ("Ain't Over Till the Fat Man Sings")
* Gary Gumdrop (voiced by Adrian Truss): People call him the ultimate candy man, but he's just a crazy man with a big sweet tooth and a lot of rotten teeth. His plan is to make super tooth-rotting candy, pretending that they'll take care of your teeth, and distribute them to everyone, so he won't be the only one with a rotten mouth and a large craving for candy.
** First Appearance: Episode 40 ("Candy Isn't Dandy")
*Gundy McGoober (voiced by Bruce Pirrie): Tired of campers bringing their new electronic devices with them, Gundy uses mutated worms to scare away people from his lake.
** First Appearance: Episode 42 ("Squirm")
* Evil Clone Abby (voiced by Krystal Meadows): She is the creation of Roger Pink-Eye and Lance Boil, used as part of a scheme to get Abby fired so that they can take over the Bureau of Grossology. She is made from a combination of human DNA and rat DNA. She attacked the city with an army of rats, and later infiltrated the Gag Lab and fired Ty and Lab Rat.
** First Appearance: Episode 46 ("Pink-Eye's Revenge (Part I)")
* Slitherbuddies: Genetically modified reptiles that start out cuddly but grow to be monstrous and vicious.
** First Appearance: Episode 48 ("Fang's A Lot")
Supporting
* Harvey & Petunia Archer (voiced by Richard Binsley and
Karen Hines
Karen Hines is a Canadian actor, writer and director. She is the artistic director and producer of "Keep Frozen: Pochsy Productions." Born in Chicago, raised in Toronto, she now lives in Calgary where she was playwright in Residence at Alberta Th ...
, respectively): Abby and Ty's father and mother, respectively. Both are shown to be gullible, and as such, are completely unaware of their children's secret jobs as Grossologists. Harvey manages the city's water treatment plant while Petunia teaches
entomology
Entomology () is the science, scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such ...
. Petunia has a fear of heights as shown in the episode "Squirmed".
* The Detective (voiced by
Danny Wells
Jack Westelman (April 7, 1941 – November 28, 2013), known as Danny Wells, was a Canadian actor. He was best known for his role as Charlie, the bartender on ''The Jeffersons'', as well as his role as Luigi in the live-action/animated series ''T ...
): A gruff, burly police detective, who occasionally works with Abby and Ty on cases, and is the only outsider who knows their secret. He bears more than a strong resemblance to Detective Dick Gumshoe from the Phoenix Wright series of games.
* Mr. Scheffer (voiced by Chad DeRohgth): An often nervous and uptight teacher at Ringworm Junior High School. He has been noted to teach science (Silent But Deadly: Part 1) and direct plays (When Ya Gotta Go).
* Paige Logan (voiced by
Melissa Altro
Melissa Altro (born May 16, 1982) is a Canadian voice actress and voiceover coach from Montreal, Quebec.
Biography
Prior to having a career to voice acting, Altro guest-starred on a 1994 episode of the YTV/Nickelodeon horror anthology serie ...
): A popular but very snobbish girl at Ringworm Junior High, and Abby's bitter rival. However, as seen in "New Recruits", she was once actually nice to her. Her father is very rich, and her favorite color is pink. She has been noted several times throughout the second season to have a crush on a blond boy named Rudy.
* Naomi (voiced by
Lauren Collins
Lauren Felice Collins (born August 29, 1986) is a Canadian actress, best known for portraying Paige Michalchuk on '' Degrassi: The Next Generation''. She has also had supporting roles in the films '' Take the Lead'' (2006) and ''Charlie Bartlett ...
): A shy and gentle girl at Ringworm Junior High, and Ty's love interest. She takes
ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
. She also has three incredibly jockish brothers, as seen in the episode "When Allergies Attack" when Ty went on a family picnic with her. It was also noticed in the previously mentioned episode that she has a long list of allergies.
*Emily (voiced by
Leah Pinsent
Leah Pinsent (born September 20, 1968) is a Canadian television and film actress.
Career
Pinsent made her film debut in 1984's '' The Bay Boy'', best known as Kiefer Sutherland's first film. The role garnered her a Genie nomination for Best Supp ...
): A gothic nurse who is an expert on
leech
Leeches are segmented parasitic or predatory worms that comprise the subclass Hirudinea within the phylum Annelida. They are closely related to the oligochaetes, which include the earthworm, and like them have soft, muscular segmented bodie ...
es.
Production
* Back when the series was in development in 2004, the planned series was somewhat different. Background designer Brad Graham was originally slated to do the character designs and backgrounds. The character designs looked completely different, and had more of a conventional "abstract" look like most modern kids' cartoons, but many of Graham's elements remained in the final version. The more diverse Grossology team lineup consisted of Abby and Ty (who were still the main characters, only Abby had pigtails rather than the long trademark ponytail), Nigel Stodding (a British kid fashioned like 1960s secret agent
Harry Palmer
Harry Palmer is the anti-hero protagonist of a number of films based on the unnamed main character, a secret agent, in the spy novels written by Len Deighton. Michael Caine played Harry Palmer in three of the four films based on the four publi ...
), Lab Rat (who was an overweight Caucasian boy, but still had Hermes, who looked somewhat identical to the final version), and a weirder assortment of kids including Pink Eye (a beatnik boy; the basis for the villain Roger Pink-Eye), Creepy Crawly (a goth girl with spiders, who may have been the basis for the adult villainess Insectiva.), Sloppy Joe (a dirty spud-shaped kid, who ultimately became an adult villain for the series) and Colin Polyp (A bulb-headed kid who may have evolved into the adult villain Dr. Cornelius Colon in the final series). Abby and Ty still went to Ringworm Junior High School (which looked like a more classic-style school than the more modern one in the series), and the Gag Lab was originally a more complex underground secret base called the Grossotorium. Abby and Ty did not wear Slime Suits at this point.
* According to M. Christian Heywood, the voice of Lab Rat, upon discovering the original Lab Rat design, his initial audition for the character was a modified impression of
Otacon
, nicknamed , is a fictional character from Kojima's ''Metal Gear'' series. Created by Hideo Kojima and designed by Yoji Shinkawa, Otacon was introduced in the series in ''Metal Gear Solid''.
In ''Metal Gear Solid'', Otacon, an ArmsTech employee ...
from
Metal Gear Solid
is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces operat ...
. However, the director insisted for him to try the audition more close to his natural voice albeit with some
Chris Tucker
Christopher Tucker (born August 31, 1971) is an American actor and comedian. Tucker made his debut in 1992 as a stand-up performer on the HBO comedy series ''Def Comedy Jam'', where he frequently appeared on the show during the 1990s. He app ...
influence; in which he complied. Although the directors' initially wanted a genuine child actor to play the character, the actor was fired from the project and not only did Heywood won the role but the characters' final design was re-worked and modeled after Heywood himself.
Episodes
* Airdates are from original Canadian broadcasts on YTV.
Season 1 (2006–07)
Season 2 (2008–09)
Although Season 2 never aired on Discovery Kids or its successor, Hub Network, in the United States, this season aired years later on Qubo. Most episodes can be found on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
. The last 2 episodes didn't air until 2017. "Pucker Up" and "Let Them Eat Fruitcake" both haven't aired in Canada yet, but they have aired in Australia.
Telecast and home media
Premiering on the
YTV network in Canada on September 29, 2006 with the final episode ended on October 24, 2009. the show was also aired on Discovery Kids/The Hub (now
Discovery Family
Discovery Family is an American cable television channel co-owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and Hasbro Entertainment.
The channel was originally launched by Discovery Communications on October 7, 1996 as Discovery Kids, a spin-off of Discover ...
) in the
U.S.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
on January 13, 2007 with repeats until June 2011. It also aired on
Jetix
Jetix (stylized as JETIX) was a children's entertainment brand owned by The Walt Disney Company. The brand was for a slate of action/adventure-related programming blocks and television channels. Jetix programming mainly originated from the S ...
on June 2, 2007, and
Pop Max
Pop Max (formerly Kix! and then Kix) is a British free-to-air children's television channel in the United Kingdom, owned by Narrative Entertainment UK Limited. As of June 2014, it broadcasts cartoons, sci-fi, action and adventure series and ani ...
from September 15, 2008, in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, and on
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
in December 2007. The show aired with repeats on
Qubo
Qubo ( ; stylized as qubo) was an American television network for children between the ages of 5 and 14. Owned by Ion Media, it consisted of a 24-hour free-to-air television network often mentioned as the "Qubo channel" (available as a digital ...
from 2016 through 2020. The show was formerly aired on
Nickelodeon Canada
Nickelodeon is a Canadian English language specialty channel based on the American cable network of the same name owned by Corus Entertainment under a brand licensing agreement with Paramount.
As with all of its sister networks throughout the ...
, and now with repeats air on
Disney XD Canada
Disney XD is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment which launched on December 1, 2015. It is a localized version of the U.S. network of the same name operated under license from Disney Branded Television, ...
. The show is now streaming on the premium
Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service from Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one- ...
and Pluto TV.
The first official DVD release for this series was issued in Australia in July 2008. Two volumes are available so far:
* ''Grossology – Vol. 1: The Perfect Stink'' (Region 4 – Australia, PAL)
** Released: 9 July 2008
** Price: A$17.97
** Label: Magna Pacific
** Specs: Widescreen (16:9 Enhanced), Stereo (Dolby Digital 2.0)
** Running Time: 132 minutes
** Special Features: N/A
** Episodes Included: "Queen For A Day", "The Slim Slime Man", "Fartzilla", "The Perfect Stink", "This Scab's for You", "When You Gotta Go"
* ''Grossology – Vol. 2: Yack Attack'' (Region 4 – Australia, PAL)
** Released: 9 July 2008
** Price: A$17.97
** Label: Magna Pacific
** Specs: Widescreen (16:9 Enhanced), Stereo (Dolby Digital 2.0)
** Running Time: 110 minutes
** Special Features: N/A
** Episodes Included: "Club Parasites", "Go Fish", "Gotta Be The Shoes", "Owl Most Fowl", "Yack Attack",
In September 2008, they saw the first official DVD release in Canada. One volume is available so far:
* ''Grossology: The Perfect Stink'' (Region 1 – USA/Canada, NTSC)
** Released: September 23, 2008
** Price: CAN $15.99
** ASIN: B001CQS7C4
** Label: Phase 4 Films/Kaboom! Entertainment
** Specs: Widescreen (16:9 Enhanced), Stereo (Dolby Digital 2.0)
** Running Time: 90 minutes
** Special Features: Bonus episode of
Di-Gata Defenders
''Di-Gata Defenders'' is an animated series created by Greg Collinson that was produced by LuxAnimation and Nelvana Entertainment. The series follows the travels and adventures of six teenagers, part of an organization called the Di-Gata Defende ...
** Episodes Included: "Queen For A Day", "The Slim Slime Man", "Fartzilla", "The Perfect Stink".
References
External links
''Grossology'' on Nick Canada(WayBackMachine)
*
{{Former YTV original series
Episode list using the default LineColor
2006 Canadian television series debuts
2009 Canadian television series endings
2000s Canadian animated television series
2000s Canadian comic science fiction television series
Canadian children's animated action television series
Canadian children's animated adventure television series
Canadian children's animated comic science fiction television series
Canadian children's animated science fantasy television series
English-language television shows
YTV (Canadian TV channel) original programming
Canadian television shows based on children's books
Animated television series about siblings
Teen animated television series
Television series by Nelvana
Television shows set in Ontario
Middle school television series