''Wonder Quest'' was an
edutainment
Educational entertainment (also referred to as edutainment) is media designed to educate through entertainment. The term was used as early as 1954 by Walt Disney. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has incidental entertainment ...
children’s
web series
A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...
from
Disney’s Maker Studios
Maker(s) or The Maker(s) may refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Maker'' (film), a 1997 American drama film
*'' Makers: Women Who Make America'', a 2013 American TV documentary, a 2014 TV series, and related media
*Maker Studios, now part of D ...
. It was created by
Joseph Garrett
Joseph Mark Garrett (born 13 December 1990), better known as Stampylonghead or simply Stampy, is an English YouTuber, gamer, author, and filmmaker known for his video game commentaries including ''Minecraft'', and for playing the character of ...
, a prominent
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 ...
commentator who posts videos primarily set in the sandbox game ''
Minecraft
''Minecraft'' is a sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made public in May 2009 before being ...
'' as his internet
persona
A persona (plural personae or personas), depending on the context, is the public image of one's personality, the social role that one adopts, or simply a fictional Character (arts), character. The word derives from Latin, where it originally ref ...
"Stampy Cat".
The series was scripted by Patrick Muhlberger, Ryan Burns, and Garrett, and produced by Muhlberger.
The ''Minecraft'' educational content was initially developed by Adam Clarke, who stars alongside Garrett as his own persona, "Wizard Keen".
Featured on the ''Wonder Quest'' YouTube channel, Maker Studios described the series as a spinoff series of Joseph Garrett’s main YouTube channel, starring the character Stampy Cat.
Citing the runaway success of ''Minecraft'' as inspiration for ''Wonder Quest'' at the
MIPTV television industry conference in
Cannes
Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...
, Garrett states that “if you take their engagement and put it into a more productive space like
education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...
or the arts, they’re going to be involved in that, they’re going to be engaged”.
''Wonder Quest'' premiered on April 25, 2015. By December 2016, the series had garnered over 101 million views.
The first episode of season 2 was released on August 20, 2016.
Synopsis
''Wonder Quest'' follows the
anthropomorphic
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology.
Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...
Stampy Cat and sorcerer Wizard Keen, who go on many adventures to stop various forces of evil from destroying a magic gem, called the Wonder Gem.
Series overview
Season 1 (2015)
Set in the town of Wonderberg, Stampy Cat and his newly acquainted friend, Wizard Keen, try to save the town from his evil wizard brother, Heinous. Together, they set off on an adventure to piece back together the 5 wonderments of the wonder gem to bring back wonder in Wonderberg, and they encounter trouble along the way.
Season 2 (2016)
Stampy Cat and Wizard Keen receive a mysterious invitation to the Society of Wonderers. As new members of the society, the Head Wonderer, Priscilla, charges the duo to spread wonder and guard Wonderberg from evil forces. They encounter Rama, a rejected member of the society who changed the past to stop the world's greatest wonderers from wondering. Using a
time machine
Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...
, the team sets off on another adventure to bring back wonder to the present.
Voice cast
*
Joseph Garrett
Joseph Mark Garrett (born 13 December 1990), better known as Stampylonghead or simply Stampy, is an English YouTuber, gamer, author, and filmmaker known for his video game commentaries including ''Minecraft'', and for playing the character of ...
as Stampy Cat
* Adam Clarke as Wizard Keen
*
Shay Carl
Shay Carl Butler (born March 5, 1980), known professionally as Shay Carl, is an American YouTube personality. He has three YouTube channels, two of which ("shaycarl" and "SHAYTARDS") have over three million subscribers. Butler and Corey Vidal ...
as Heinous
*
Roger Craig Smith
Roger Craig Smith (born 11 August 1975) is an American voice actor. He is well known for his video game voice roles as Chris Redfield in the ''Resident Evil'' series (2009–2017), Ezio Auditore da Firenze in the ''Assassin's Creed'' series ( ...
as Flunky
*
Richard Steven Horvitz
Richard Steven Horvitz (born July 29, 1966) is an American actor and comedian, best known for his voice work in animation and video games. His voice credits include the original Alpha 5 on ''Mighty Morphin Power Rangers'', ''Power Rangers Zeo'' an ...
as Lacky
Production and release
''Wonder Quest'' was first announced by Joseph Garrett at the
MIPTV television industry conference in April 2015. The series is a partnership between Joseph Garrett and Maker Studios. YouTube secured rights as the exclusive distributor of the series, as its parent company
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
pushed for a wider coverage of children’s content on their video streaming site.
The series takes on a different format to Garrett’s normal slate of videos: “It’s different to my normal videos just playing and talking about ''Minecraft''. It’s a completely scripted show, and the production values are much higher: there’s an original score and lots of sound effects and overlays.”. Additionally, the series is pitched as an educational show for children, however Garrett stressed that entertainment is the main priority: "There’s no point having an educational show if nobody’s going to watch it".
The original ''Minecraft'' maps were built by The Voxelbox, Blockworks and Johan “Dragnoz” Kruger. The original
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
was composed by Seth Earnest.
''Wonder Quest'' premiered on April 25, 2015. Episodes were released on a weekly schedule with an animated ''I Wonder'' episode.
As part of YouTube Gaming's
virtual reality
Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...
initiative, season 2 of ''Wonder Quest'' includes content uploaded in
360° video. Installments of the virtual reality content immerses fans in interactive games, stories, and rides.
''I Wonder''
Every ''Wonder Quest'' episode is accompanied by an episode of a short
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 ...
side series called ''I Wonder'', also produced by Maker Studios. The short series, each episode lasting around three minutes in length, features Stampy Cat and Wizard Keen investigating educational topics explored in each corresponding ''Wonder Quest'' episode. The supervising producer is Cella Duffy and the co-directors are Josh Bitzer and TJ Fuller.
Original music for ''I Wonder'' is composed by Duke Westlake.
''Side Quest''
''Side Quest'' is a companion series for ''Wonder Quest'' featured on Garrett’s main channel, stampylonghead. Unlike ''Wonder Quest'' and ''I Wonder'', this series uses the
Let’s Play format. In this series, Stampy explores the world of Wonderberg with Wizard Keen and other characters.
Awards
References
{{Minecraft
Maker Studios channels
YouTube channels