''Super Why!'' is an animated

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

preschool A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an school, educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they ...

educational Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education also fol ...

television series created by Angela Santomero and developed by Santomero and Samantha Freeman Alpert for

PBS Kids PBS Kids (stylized as PBS KIDS) is the branding used for nationally distributed children's programming carried by the U.S. public television network PBS. The brand encompasses a daytime block of children's programming carried daily by most PBS ...

. Santomero and Alpert additionally serve as executive producers alongside Steven DeNure and Anne Loi. The series was produced by Santomero and Alpert's

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

-based production company Out of the Blue Enterprises in co-production with Decode Entertainment for the first season and DHX Studios Halifax for the second and third seasons. Animation was by

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

-based C.O.R.E. Toons (season 1), Gallus Entertainment (season 2) and DHX Media (originally through its Decode Entertainment division). The opening and closing theme songs were written by composers and lyricists Steve D'Angelo and Terry Tompkins, with D'Angelo also providing lead vocals for both. The background score for seasons 2 and 3 was composed by Lorenzo Castelli and Jeff Morrow. The show was originally created as a

stop motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

pilot episode in 1999 by Cuppa Coffee Animation that was pitched to

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

/ Nick Jr. It was later featured at the 2000 Annecy Film Festival. Nickelodeon ultimately opted not to pick up the show. Instead, Curious Pictures pitched another pilot to

sometime in 2006, and

further developed the series with funds from the

United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a cabinet-level department of the United States government, originating in 1980. The department began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and ...

's Ready to Learn grant and aired the premiere episode on September 3, 2007. The original run ended on May 12, 2016 with a total of 103 episodes across three seasons.

Premise

The show is set in Storybrook Village, which is accessible through a panel that is represented by an invisible question mark located on a bookshelf in a library. The titular character, Whyatt Beanstalk, lives with his friends Woofster, Littlest Pig, Red Riding Hood, and Princess Pea. In each of the episodes, one of the main characters (sometimes two characters, or even all five) has a "super big problem", a "super big question", or a "super big mystery". The main characters then discuss their situation at the Book Club, agreeing to look and fly in a book of a famous story to resolve it. The goal of the Super Readers is to follow the storyline of the book. As they progress through the events of the story, they encounter various obstacles, which can be solved by applying their literacy skills to change the story. As they overcome each of these obstacles, they are rewarded with red glittery "Super Letters" that form the solution to whatever scenario they are investigating. At the conclusion of the adventure, the Super Readers fly back to the Book Club. The Super Letters are put onto the giant computer screen and are spelled out to show the "Super Story Answer". Then, one of the Super Readers gives the reason why that particular word or phrase serves as the solution to their issue or mystery.

Episodes

Characters

* Whyatt Beanstalk/Super Why (voiced by Nicholas Castel Vanderburgh in seasons 1 & 2 and Johnny Orlando in season 3) is the host of the series and leader of the Super Readers. He is the younger brother of Jack, the protagonist of the English folktale of the same name, and lives with his parents Mrs. Beanstalk and Mr. Beanstalk, who write and illustrate stories together, along with his baby sister, Joy. Jack is generally away at college, and appears in a certain amount of episodes. His symbols are a blue book and a question mark and his signature colors are green and blue. He has "the power to read", which focuses on

vocabulary A vocabulary (also known as a lexicon) is a set of words, typically the set in a language or the set known to an individual. The word ''vocabulary'' originated from the Latin , meaning "a word, name". It forms an essential component of languag ...

. * Littlest Pig/Alpha Pig (voiced by Zachary Bloch in seasons 1 & 2 and Samuel Faraci in season 3) is referred to in the credits as "The Littlest Pig", he introduces himself at the book club as "P is for Pig!" but throughout the show, he is simply known as "Pig". He enjoys pretending and dressing up like his father, who is a construction worker. His symbol is a triangle and his signature colors are blue-violet and orange. He has "alphabet power", which focuses on the

alphabet An alphabet is a standard set of letter (alphabet), letters written to represent particular sounds in a spoken language. Specifically, letters largely correspond to phonemes as the smallest sound segments that can distinguish one word from a ...

, as well as a toolbox with various equipment in it. *

Little Red Riding Hood "Little Red Riding Hood" () is a fairy tale by Charles Perrault about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th-century European Fable, folk tales. It was later retold in the 19th-century by the Broth ...

/Wonder Red (voiced by Siera Florindo in seasons 1 & 2 and T.J. McGibbon in season 3) is simply referred to as "Red" in the TV series. The title character from the fairy tale, she only refers to herself as " Red Riding Hood". Her symbol is a spiral and her signature colors are red and purple. She has "word power", which focuses on rhyming and word families like "OP", "AT", "UN", "UMP", "OG", etc. In the episode "Judith's Happy Chanukah", it is revealed that Red is Jewish, as she invites Whyatt over to her grandma's house for

Hanukkah Hanukkah (, ; ''Ḥănukkā'' ) is a Jewish holidays, Jewish festival commemorating the recovery of Jerusalem and subsequent rededication of the Second Temple at the beginning of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd ce ...

. * Princess Pea/Princess Presto (voiced by

Tajja Isen Tajja Isen is a Canadian writer, editor, and actress. Her first book, the essay collection Some of My Best Friends: Essays on Lip Service, was published in April 2022. As an actress, she is best known for voicing the title character '' Atomic Be ...

) was named after the children's story "

The Princess and the Pea "The Princess and the Pea" () is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a princess who is tested to become the wife to a lonely prince. The tale was first published with three others by Andersen in a cheap booklet on 8 May 18 ...

", and her parents are the prince and princess from the story. Her symbol is a star, which matches her Magic Spelling Wand and her signature colors are pink and green. She has "spelling power", which focuses on spelling. * Puppy/Woofster (voiced by Joanne Vannicola) is a brown dog owned by Whyatt and his family. His symbol is a dog bone and his signature colors are blue and red. He has "dictionary power", which allows him to find the meaning of any word.

Reception

''Super Why!'' was received positively on

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an American nonprofit organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

, where reviewer Emily Ashby rates the show 4/5 in the categories positive messages, positive role models, and educational value. Ashby's review additionally states while extremely mild sequences of suspense and peril do occur and how the show partnered with Post Consumer Brands for a branded cereal, there are low amounts of violence/scariness and consumerism, as well as no sexual content,

profanity Profanity, also known as swearing, cursing, or cussing, is the usage of notionally word taboo, offensive words for a variety of purposes, including to demonstrate disrespect or negativity, to relieve pain, to express a strong emotion (such a ...

, or drinking, drugs, and smoking. Ashby additionally credits the merit of the show to its usage of classic children's

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...

s and the usage of characters from them, specifically the Three Little Pigs. Susan Stewart, a reviewer for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', criticized the show for taking classic fairy tales with traditionally dark lessons, specifically ''The Three Little Pigs'' and ''

Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; ) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 as part of ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). Hansel and Gretel are siblings who are abandoned in a forest and fall into the hands of a witch ...

'', and morph them into etiquette lessons. Stewart also criticized the use of interactive questions for viewers to answer and their length, specifically questions like "what comes after the letter E?". Despite stating these flaws, Stewart agreed that the show is brilliant in educational value.

Promotions and other media

Live show

In 2012, a live show was launched across the United States, titled ''Super Why Live: You've Got the Power''. Produced by S2BN Entertainment, directed by Glenn Orsher, and written by Orsher, Angela C. Santomero, Samantha Freeman Alpert, and Becky Friedman, ''Super Why Live'' was promoted for having aerial stunts and "cutting-edge technology", and due to its high levels of audience engagement, was jokingly referred to by Santomero as “‘the Rocky Horror Picture Show’ for preschoolers”. The show, which follows Super Why, Alpha Pig, Wonder Red, Princess Presto, and Woofster, premiered in

Monroe, Louisiana Monroe is the ninth-largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and is the parish seat and largest city of Ouachita Parish. With a 2020 census-tabulated population of 47,702, it is the principal city of the Monroe metropolitan statistical ...

on July 18, 2012, and toured into spring 2013, where the tour concluded in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

on May 10. The show featured the pre-recorded voices of Melissa Hutchison as Super Why and Woofster, Charlie Ibsen as Alpha Pig, Lisa Marie Woods as Wonder Red, and Christina Ulloa Purrelli as Princess Presto. The live show's soundtrack was written and produced by musician and singer-songwriter Jack Antonoff, and borrows elements from the series' songs written by Santomero, Alpert, composers Steve D'Angelo and Terry Tompkins, and lyricist and staff writer Alex Breen. Antonoff, widely known for his work with the

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band Fun, noted that being natively skilled in indie rock, writing for the show was not very different, though the lyrics needed to be much less open to interpretation and easy to understand when composing for a young audience.

Spin-off series

A short-form 2D spin-off series titled ''Super Why's Comic Book Adventures'' premiered on PBS Kids on October 18, 2023, with 20 three-minute episodes. A preview of the series was released on September 20, 2023. This series features a new Super Reader named Power Paige.

References

External links

Official website
* {{Former PBS Kids shows 2000s American animated television series 2000s Canadian animated television series 2000s American children's television series 2000s Canadian children's television series 2010s American animated television series 2010s Canadian animated television series 2010s American children's television series 2010s Canadian children's television series 2007 American animated television series debuts 2007 Canadian television series debuts 2016 American television series endings 2016 Canadian television series endings American children's animated adventure television series American children's animated comedy television series American children's animated fantasy television series American children's animated musical television series American children's animated superhero television series American computer-animated television series American preschool education television series American television series with live action and animation Canadian children's animated adventure television series Canadian children's animated comedy television series Canadian children's animated fantasy television series Canadian children's animated musical television series Canadian children's animated superhero television series Canadian computer-animated television series Canadian preschool education television series Canadian television series with live action and animation Animated preschool education television series 2000s preschool education television series 2010s preschool education television series American English-language television shows Canadian English-language television shows CBC Kids original programming Family Jr. original programming PBS Kids shows PBS animated television series Reading and literacy television series Animated television series about children Animated television series about pigs Children's television series about talking animals Crossover animated television series Television series by WildBrain Television series by 9 Story Media Group Television series created by Angela Santomero Animated television shows based on fairy tales Superhero crossover television shows