''Powerbirds'' is an American animated children's television series created by Stephen P. Breen and co-created by Jennifer Monier-Williams. The series premiered on January 19, 2020, on

Universal Kids Universal Kids is an American children's television Specialty channel, channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The channel launched on September 26, 2005, as PBS Kids Sprout, a preschool-oriented ...

. This series is produced by

Brown Bag Films Brown Bag Films (BBF) is an Irish television CGI and computer animation production studio owned by Canadian production studio 9 Story Media Group and based in Dublin with 2D and 3D animation facilities based in Bali, Toronto and formerly Man ...

Premise

The series follows Max with his pet parakeets, Ace and Polly. Max counts on them to keep saving the day while he is away. The powerbirds save the city from danger and they stop the main villains: Nibbles, Clawdette, Scrapper, Minerva, and Asher Stasher from the events where Max will be going later, so then later, Max is excited to visit the events.

Characters

Main

* Ace (voice of

Cory Doran Cory Doran (born February 7, 1982) is a Canadian voice actor and director who is known as the voice of Dabio & Rex in the PBS Kids animated series '' Wild Kratts'', and Jimmy, the star of the Breakthrough Entertainment animated show '' Jimmy Two ...

) is a yellow

parakeet A parakeet is any one of many small to medium-sized species of parrot, in multiple Genus, genera, that generally has long tail feathers. Etymology and naming The name ''parakeet'' is derived from the French wor''perroquet'' which is reflec ...

, who can turn into a superhero when trouble calls. He is determined, daring, and playful. When he is not fighting bad guys, he loves everything related to superheroes, and he is a food-loving bird. * Polly (voice of

Tara Strong Tara Lyn Strong (née Charendoff; born February 12, 1973) is a Canadian-American actress. She is known for her voice work in animation, websites, and video games. Strong's voice roles include animated series such as ''The New Batman Adventures ...

) is a blue

, who can also turn into a superhero like Ace. She is a very silly and creative bird, and can think outside of the box to solve problems. She has extra powers like super stretching herself that Ace does not have.

Supporting

* Max (voice of Orlando Lucas) is an imaginative eight-year-old, who owns Polly and Ace. He loves comic books that are about superheroes and counts on Ace and Polly to make sure no danger is around the city when he is away, despite him not seeing them saving the day like the other humans can. * Gwen (voice of Ana Sani) is Max’s little sister, who sometimes plays with him before they both leave to wherever they are going and would usually play as another character in his superhero games. * Mrs. Lopez (voice of Paloma Nuñez) is a bookmobile driver who speaks in a Hispanic accent. * Grandpa Felix (voice of Deven Mack) is Max’s grandfather, who would appear in some episodes prior to the mission and the lesson one of the Powerbirds must remember. These episodes are “Time to Dino-soar”, “The Powerbirds Pretender”, “Midnight Scrap”, “Wacky Wokka Walk”, and “Scrapper’s Magnet Mayhem”.

Villans

* Nibbles (voice of

Rob Tinkler Robert Tinkler is a Canadian voice actor who provides voices for a number of cartoons and anime shows. He voiced Max in '' The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police'', Delete in the children's animated series ''Cyberchase'', Pelswick Eggert ...

) is a

poodle , nickname = , stock = , country = Germany or France (see history) , height = , maleheight = , femaleheight = , weight = , maleweight = , femaleweight = , coat ...

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. Do ...

, who tries to gain attention to become famous, but ends up causing disasters, mostly because he only thinks of himself and does not know why the famous people are loved. He speaks in a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

accent. * Clawdette (voice of

Evany Rosen Evany Rosen is a Canadian comedian and actress, most noted as a founding member of the comedy troupe Picnicface and as co-creator with Kayla Lorette of the Crave original series '' New Eden''. Early life and education Originally from Ontario, ...

) is Max’s pet tabby

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

and the Powerbirds’ adoptive sister. She believes that she is the best ninja, so she tries to get stuff so she can be the best at it. In "Power Meower Saves the Day", she actually helped Polly and Ace by wearing out Asher Stasher, and she helps them again in "Food Caper", when Scrapper was stealing the cat food for himself to eat. * Scrapper (voice of Tyler Muree) is a striped

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...

, who likes to try to steal all other people's food, especially his favorite, pizzas. He seems to be the least villainous of them because all he wants is food. He speaks in a

New York accent The sound system of New York City English is popularly known as a New York accent. The New York metropolitan accent is one of the most recognizable accents of the United States, largely due to its popular stereotypes and portrayal in radio, ...

. * Minerva (voice of Shannon Hamilton) is an

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

, who uses different tools to cause trouble such as bad dream bubbles, magic mirrors, consoles, and more to make herself smarter than the humans are. * Asher Stasher (voice of

) is a

flying squirrel Flying squirrels (scientifically known as Pteromyini or Petauristini) are a tribe of 50 species of squirrels in the family Sciuridae. Despite their name, they are not in fact capable of full flight in the same way as birds or bats, but they ar ...

, who tries to collect stuff for his "collection of shiny things", but sometimes wants stuff that is too big and decides that he either does not want it anyway or gets interrupted by a phone call from his mom.

Episodes

The series has been picked up for 20 22-minute episodes. It premiered early on its original network for its first look of the show on January 1, 2020.

Production

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

has chosen to make a TV series out of Breen's children's books, which are published by

Penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

, include Stick, Violet the Pilot, Pug and Doug, Unicorn Executions and Skyhorse, and the choice was ''Powerbirds''. Universal Kids planned the series in 2017, but with a different style, before Sprout’s rebrand to Universal Kids, a different style of the characters, which was Max, Polly, Ace and another character, the Golden Eagle.

9 Story Media Group 9 Story Media Group Inc. (formerly known as 9 Story Entertainment) is a Canadian children's television series, children's media production company and international distributor founded by Vincent "Vince" Commisso, Steve Jarosz, and Blake Tohana o ...

's live-action and animation division co-produced the series with animators from

Reception

Universal Kids stated

Hollywood Life Hollywood Life is an American digital media brand launched in 2009 by magazine editor Bonnie Fuller. The site covers celebrity, fashion, beauty, women issues, and entertainment news. It also airs award shows and other pop culture events. History ...

that "The series promotes underlying positive messages that we can all be our own superhero if we do the right thing.”

Release

In 2017, Universal Kids, as Sprout, set a release date for ''Powerbirds'' in 2019, but on December 11, 2019, the show was delayed to a 2020 release date instead to January 19, 2020, and the show got a first look release on January 1, 2020.

References

{{Universal Kids 2020 American television series debuts 2020s American animated television series 2020s American children's television series 2020 Irish television series debuts American children's animated action television series American children's animated adventure television series American children's animated superhero television series American flash animated television series American preschool education television series Animated preschool education television series Irish children's animated action television series Irish children's animated adventure television series Irish children's animated superhero television series Irish preschool education television series 2020s preschool education television series Animated television series about birds Animated television series about children Universal Kids original programming English-language television shows