''WordGirl'' (stylized as ''W✪RD GIRL'') is an American children's
Flash animated
Adobe Flash animation or Adobe Flash cartoon (formerly Macromedia Flash animation, Macromedia Flash cartoon, FutureSplash animation, and FutureSplash cartoon) is an animation that is created with the Adobe Animate (formerly Flash Professional) p ...
superhero
A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...
television series produced by the
Soup2Nuts animation unit of
Scholastic Entertainment
Scholastic Corporation () is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, parents, and children. Products are distributed via retail and on ...
for
PBS Kids
PBS Kids is the brand for most of the children's programming aired by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. Some public television children's programs are not produced by PBS member stations or transmitted by PBS. Instead, ...
.
The series began as a series of shorts entitled ''The Amazing Colossal Adventures of WordGirl'' that premiered on
PBS Kids Go!
PBS Kids Go! was an educational television brand used by PBS for programs aimed at early elementary-age children, in contrast to the younger, preschool target demographic of PBS Kids. Most PBS member stations aired the PBS Kids Go! block on we ...
on November 10, 2006, usually shown at the end of ''
Maya & Miguel''; the segment was then spun off into a new thirty-minute episodic series that premiered on September 3, 2007 on most
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
member stations. The series of shorts consisted of thirty episodes, with 130 episodes in the full half-hour series.
''WordGirl'' creator
Dorothea Gillim
Dorothea Gillim (born July 18, 1964) is an American television producer. She is the creator of the animated series ''WordGirl'' and ''Hey Monie!'' and co-creator of ''Molly of Denali''. Under GBH, Gillim has produced multiple animated series inc ...
felt that most children's animation "underestimated
hildren'ssense of humor" and hoped to create a more intellectual show for young audiences.
By June 2014, many PBS stations had stopped airing ''WordGirl'', opting to air more popular series throughout the summer. However, new episodes continued to air on select stations, with streaming options on the PBS Kids website and video app. The series ended with the two-part episode "Rhyme and Reason", which was released on August 7, 2015.
The show was created for children ages 4–9.
By 2022, the show had gained a
cult following
A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
through social media.
Background
''WordGirl'' began in 2006 as a series of shorts airing immediately after ''
Maya & Miguel'', becoming an independent show in September 2007.
[
The show's creator, ]Dorothea Gillim
Dorothea Gillim (born July 18, 1964) is an American television producer. She is the creator of the animated series ''WordGirl'' and ''Hey Monie!'' and co-creator of ''Molly of Denali''. Under GBH, Gillim has produced multiple animated series inc ...
, believes that children's shows often underestimate children's intelligence:
Gillim says she created the show, in part, with the idea that parents would watch the show with their children to support their learning.[
Each eleven-minute segment in each episode (except for the first three episodes) begins with verbal instructions to listen for two words that will be used throughout the plot of that episode. The words (examples include “diversion,” “cumbersome,” and “idolize”) are chosen according to academic guidelines. The reasoning is that children can understand words like “cumbersome” when told that it means “big and heavy and awkward.”]Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
for his work on WordGirl.
Rather than hiring writers experienced with children's television, the show's original writers' previous credits included '' The Onion'' and ''Family Guy
''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffin family, Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter Griff ...
''. Narrator Chris Parnell
Thomas Christopher Parnell (; born February 5, 1967) is an American actor and comedian. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1998 to 2006 and played the role of Dr. Leo Spaceman on ''30 Rock''. In animation, he voices Cyril Figgis ...
had previously worked on ''Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
''.[
]
Synopsis
The series follows WordGirl, a girl with superpowers
A superpower is a state with a dominant position characterized by its extensive ability to exert influence or project power on a global scale. This is done through the combined means of economic, military, technological, political and cultural st ...
whose secret identity is Becky Botsford, a student. WordGirl was born on the fictional planet Lexicon (also a term referring to the vocabulary of a language or to a dictionary) but was sent away after sneaking onto a spaceship and sleeping there. Captain Huggy Face, a chimpanzee who was a pilot in the Lexicon Air Force, piloted the ship, but lost control when WordGirl awoke, and crash-landed on Earth (more specifically in Fair City), a planet that affords WordGirl her superpowers, including flight and super strength. WordGirl utilizes these powers to save her adoptive home, using her downed spacecraft as a secret base of operations.
WordGirl was adopted and provided an alter ego
An alter ego (Latin for "other I", " doppelgänger") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a differen ...
by Tim and Sally Botsford, who gave her the name Becky. While in her alter ego, she has a younger brother, TJ, obsessed with WordGirl, but still unknowingly a typical sibling rival to Becky. The Botsford family keeps Captain Huggy Face as a pet, naming him Bob. Becky attends Woodview Elementary School, where she is close friends with Violet Heaslip and the school newspaper reporter Todd “Scoops” Ming.
WordGirl tries to balance her superhero activities with her "normal" life. She battles against an assortment of villains that include but are not limited to The Butcher, Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy, Dr. Two-Brains, Granny May, Mr. Big, Tobey McCalister III, and Whammer. The villains are all prone to malapropism
A malapropism (also called a malaprop, acyrologia, or Dogberryism) is the mistaken use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound, resulting in a nonsensical, sometimes humorous utterance. An example is the statement attributed to ...
s. At the same time, she must worry about maintaining her second life as Becky, keeping people from discovering the truth and living normal family situations.
Format
Often, short animated segments are shown in between and at the end of episodes. "What's Your Favorite Word?", ostensibly hosted by Todd "Scoops" Ming, is a series of interviews asking random children what their favorite words are and why. A short game show
A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...
segment called "May I Have a Word?" (stylized as MAYIHAVEAWORD in the text bubble on Beau Handsome's wall) airs following each eleven-minute segment. This segment features the game show host, Beau Handsome, asking three contestants the definition of a particular word. The segment was created by Kelly Miyahara
''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...
, Barry Sonnenfeld
Barry Sonnenfeld (born April 1, 1953) is an American filmmaker and television director. He originally worked as a cinematographer for the Coen brothers before directing films such as ''The Addams Family'' (1991) and its sequel ''Addams Family Va ...
, and Ryan Raddatz.
Yet another segment features the interstitials announcer ( Rodger Parsons) asking Captain Huggy Face for a visual demonstration of a certain word (such as "strenuous" or "flummoxed"). When Captain Huggy Face correctly demonstrates the meaning of the word, a definition is given, followed by a victory dance by the chimpanzee sidekick.
During the four-part episode, "The Rise of Miss Power
''WordGirl'' (stylized as ''W✪RD GIRL'') is an American children's Flash animated superhero television series produced by the Soup2Nuts animation unit of Scholastic Entertainment for PBS Kids. The series began as a series of shorts entitled ...
", a four-segment "Pretty Princess Power Hour" sketch is shown between acts, filling in for the average two-segment "May I Have a Word?" sketch, presumably to fill the double-length (52 minutes) time slot.
Companion website
The companion site to WordGirl lives o
PBS Kids
and was built by interactive firm Big Bad Tomato. It contains vocabulary-building games, a section where children can submit their favorite word, a video page with clips from the show (only available in the US due to legal reasons), a "Heroes and Villains" section with character biographies and activities, and a PBS Parents section with episode guides, lessons, a site map, and more activities to play at home. As of April 2022, the website is still active.
Voice cast
Comics
A series of WordGirl comics were also released by Boom! Studios
Boom! Studios (styled BOOM! Studios) is an American comic book and graphic novel publisher, headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States.
History
Origins
In the early 2000s, Ross Richie and Andrew Cosby had been working in Holly ...
new KaBOOM! line. The names of the volumes and the stories within them are:
* Coalition of Malice
*# Coalition of Malice -
*# Super Fans -
* Incredible Shrinking Allowance
*# The Incredible Shrinking Allowance -
*# Fondue, Fondon't -
* Word Up!
*# The Ham Van Makes the Man -
*# Think Big -
* Fashion Disaster
*# Fashion Disaster -
*# Fort Wham-Ground -
Series overview
Awards
The show has received seven Daytime Emmy nominations, winning four for "Outstanding Writing in Animation" in 2008, 2012–2013 and Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program in 2015.
Legacy
The series was positively received. Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media described the series as having a "brainy heroine houses vocab to outwit bad guys." She also called it an "entertaining animated series" with some cartoon violence
Cartoon violence is the representation of violent actions involving animated characters and situations. This may include violence where a character is unharmed after the action has been inflicted. Animated violence is sometimes partitioned into c ...
and said that it is an "excellent...choice for young grade-schoolers."
References
External links
*
WordGirl at Super3
*
{{TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming
2000s American animated television series
2007 American television series debuts
2010s American animated television series
2015 American television series endings
American children's animated action television series
American children's animated adventure television series
American children's animated comic science fiction television series
American children's animated education television series
American children's animated superhero television series
American flash animated television series
Animated superheroine television shows
Animated television series about children
Animated television series about monkeys
Animated television series about families
Boom! Studios titles
Child superheroes
Elementary school television series
English-language education television programming
PBS Kids shows
PBS original programming
Reading and literacy television series
Television series by Soup2Nuts