''Science Court'' (retitled ''Squigglevision'' in 1998) is an

educational entertainment Educational entertainment, also referred to by the portmanteau edutainment, is media designed to educate through entertainment. The term has been used as early as 1933. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has incidental entert ...

animation Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

/ non-traditional court show from

Tom Snyder Productions Soup2Nuts (sometimes referred to as Soup2Nuts Studios, and formerly part of Tom Snyder Productions) was an American animation studio founded by Tom Snyder. The studio is known for its animated comedy series, its use of Squigglevision, a techniq ...

, which was aired on ABC's Disney's One Saturday Morning block from 1997 to 2000. The cartoon was animated in

Squigglevision Squigglevision is a method of computer animation in which the outlines of shapes are made to wikt:wiggle, wiggle and wikt:undulation, undulate, emulating the effect of sketchily hand-drawn animation. Tom Snyder (animator), Tom Snyder of Tom Snyder ...

Development

''Science Court'' utilized the limited-animation

as its style of animation. In 1998, ''Science Court'' was renamed to ''Squigglevision'' in its second to third seasons. Tom Snyder Productions has released twelve of the episodes into a series of educational CD-ROMs with accompanying workbooks and experiment kits for schools. On December 2, 2004, Snyder, founder and former CEO of Tom Snyder Productions, was inducted into the Association of Educational Publishers Hall of Fame to honor his extraordinary contribution to educational publishing.

Plot and characters

The half-hour program mixed courtroom drama, science experiments, and humor to teach fundamental concepts in elementary and middle school science such as the

water cycle The water cycle (or hydrologic cycle or hydrological cycle) is a biogeochemical cycle that involves the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth across different reservoirs. The mass of water on Earth remains fai ...

, work, matter, gravity, flight, and energy. As each case unfolded, the characters in the trial used humor to highlight scientific misconceptions and model good scientific practice. In a typical episode, a lawsuit or criminal action would take place based around some scientific point. Humor and musical numbers were used to break down scientific concepts. The primary characters of ''Science Court'' were the trial lawyers Alison Krempel and Doug Savage. Alison Krempel, voiced by Paula Plum, was modest, intelligent and kind. Her logical and articulate arguments always lead to the explanations of the scientific points. Doug Savage, voiced by

Bill Braudis Bill Braudis is a writer, voice actor, and script-writing instructor from Boston, Massachusetts who has also done stand-up comedy. Career He started in stand-up in 1981, doing open mics at The Comedy Connection, in Boston and the Ding Ho, in Cam ...

, was ignorant, arrogant and unscrupulous. Both Doug and Allison called on a variety of expert witnesses to prove their case. Doug, often to his detriment, called upon child academics Dr. Julie Bean and Dr. Henry Fullerghast to testify. Their scientific testimony usually disproved Doug’s case. Professor Nick Parsons, voiced by H. Jon Benjamin served as an expert for Alison Krempel. He used science to successfully refute Doug Savage's usually ludicrous and ill-informed claims. Often Micaela and Tim, Miss Krempel's assistant, helped to break down scientific concepts. Comedians Paula Poundstone and Fred Stoller rounded out the cast playing Judge Stone and court stenographer Fred respectively. *Paula Plum as Alison Krempel *

as Doug Savage * H. Jon Benjamin as Prof. Nick Parsons * Paula Poundstone as Judge Stone * Fred Stoller as Stenographer Fred

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (1997–98)

Season 2 (1998–99)

Season 3 (1999–2000)

Critical reception

''Science Court'' earned top television awards for

Tom Snyder Thomas James Snyder (May 12, 1936 – July 29, 2007) was an American television personality, news anchor, and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows '' Tomorrow'', on NBC in the 1970s and 1980s, and '' The Late Late Show'' ...

. '' Variety'' thought that the TV series tried too hard to make

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

entertaining, and that it would come across as too complicated for its target audience.

References

External links

* {{Children's programming on the American Broadcasting Company in the 1990s 1997 American animated television series debuts 2000 American television series endings 1990s American animated television series 2000s American animated television series 1990s American children's television series 2000s American children's television series American children's animated education television series Court shows American English-language television shows Television series by Soup2Nuts Television series by Disney–ABC Domestic Television Science education television series Television series created by Tom Snyder (animator) ABC Kids (TV programming block) Squigglevision American Broadcasting Company animated television series