''The Why Why Family'' (french: Les Kikekoi, also known as ''Saban's The Why Why Family'') is an animated children's television series, which originally aired in 1996, produced by

Saban International Paris SIP Animation (known as Saban International Paris until 2002) was a French animation studio, and a former subsidiary of Saban Entertainment. By 2009, the company had produced over 390 hours of animated content. Despite the name, the company was n ...

and

Saban Entertainment Saban Entertainment, Inc. (along with Saban International; currently operating under the legal name is BVS Entertainment, Inc.) was a worldwide-served independent American-Israeli television production company formed in 1980 by Haim Saban and ...

. The show was broadcast internationally on Fox Kids. Character designs and comedy elements emulate vintage cartoons. In the United States, the series aired as part of a syndicated strand of Saban programmes called the "Saban Kids Network". With the series airing on the strand to the guidelines of the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

, it marked Saban's first entry into the educational television market. However, the series was cancelled by Saban on December 2, 1996, due to low ratings. Ownership of the series passed to

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

in 2001 when Disney acquired

Fox Kids Worldwide ABC Family Worldwide is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Television that is responsible for the operations of the U.S. cable network Freeform. The company was originally formed as International Family Entertainment, a spin-off of the Christian Broad ...

, which also includes

. The series is not available on

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

Synopsis

:Start to the intro: Victor (off-screen) summarizes what his family members will teach him in the episode. :The episodes are divided into are five parts. In each segment, Victor asks a family member a popular scientific question, following an extensive answer by the family member with a particular expertise in the field of science involved in the question. Each of these episodes has its short intro and ''The End'' sketches for the specific characters. Each sketch title is <(character name/s) in (episode title vis-a-vis topic)>. :Ending gag: Max asks Victor "Well Victor, what did you learn today?" to which he begins with "Tons of neat stuff", summarizing what his family members learned him. Max answers, "Sounds like a real big day." and Victor concludes, "It was, but I still have plenty of questions left for next time."

Characters

*Victor **A baby and the main protagonist of the series. All times he has questions (though these are smarter ones) to explain his family members like any other kid. *Max — ''

Technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and Reproducibility, reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in me ...

'' and ''

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

'' **The intelligent father of Victor and a stereotypical mechanic/handyman. He is Vanilla's husband, Eartha and Matik's son and Micro and Scopo's brother. He seems to be the closest to Victor compared to the others. Resembles his mother Eartha and is never seen without his cap. *Vanilla and birds Kwik and Kwak — ''

Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

'' and ''

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

'' **Vanilla is Max's wife, Eartha and Matik's daughter-in-law, Micro and Scopo's sister-in-law, and Victor's mother who he resembles. Kwik and Kwak are running gags of their episodes and normally argue. *Eartha (as her name suggests) and Basalt the dinosaur — ''

Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

'', ''

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...

'' and ''

meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did no ...

'' **Eartha is Matik's wife, Max, Micro and Scopo's mother, Vanilla's mother-in-law, and Victor's grandmother who is occasionally uncool. Basalt is a green dinosaur with orange spots, has a Japanese-American accent, can be greedy and transforms into any modes of transport. Eartha is also the one who cooks for their family. *Micro and Scopo — ''

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

'' of the human body **Victor's uncles and Max's brothers who are running gags. Micro is stubby and wears a white cowboy hat (is sometimes seen without it), does most of the statements in their episodes. Scopo is the larger and crazier of the brothers, being the test subject yet expresses his own knowledge for some reason. They both have what look like glasses, masks and 'dog ears' like their father Matik. *Matik and dog Zygo —

Astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

and the

Universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. ...

**Matik is Victor's grandfather, Max, Micro and Scopo's father, and Eartha's husband who has 'dog ears' and is never seen without his pilot hat. Zygo sounds like

Daffy Duck Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character created for Leon Schlesinger Productions by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Mel ...

from Looney Tunes and has webbed limbs.

Episodes

Voice cast

* Sammy Lane *

Heidi Lenhart Heidi Lenhart is an American actress best known for her lead role in the ''Au Pair'' film series and the sitcom ''California Dreams''. Family She is the daughter of Cheryl Saban and Ray Lenhart, a disc jockey. She has an older sister, Tifani ...

* Mendi Segal * Stanley Gurd Jr. as Max * Derek Patrick as Matik * Genghis Studebaker as Zygo *

Kevin Schon Kevin Dodd Schon (born February 7, 1958) is an American voice actor who is known for his voice-over work in video games, movies and television shows. He is best known as a voice double for Nathan Lane for animated media, most notably as Timon in ...

as Micro (uncredited) *

Julie Maddalena Julia Maddalena is an American voice actress who has worked on dubs of Japanese anime, cartoons, and video games. Some of her major voice roles are Silvia Maruyama from ''Ground Defense Force! Mao-chan'', Arusu from ''Tweeny Witches'', Hikaru Shi ...

as Victor (uncredited)

Crew

Jamie Simone Jamie Simone is an American voice director and producer, best known for directing ''Naruto'', ''Sailor Moon'' and ''Tiger & Bunny''. He is the owner of the recording studio Studiopolis. In 2012, he was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for "Out ...

– Voice Director * Bruno Bianchi - Producer, Director

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Why Why Family 1990s American animated television series 1996 American television series debuts 1990s French animated television series 1996 French television series debuts American children's animated education television series American children's animated science fiction television series French children's animated education television series French children's animated science fiction television series Science education television series Television series by Saban Entertainment