Katie and Orbie facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Katie and Orbie
Orbie (left) and Katie (right). Image taken from the Season 6 episode "Hearts!".
Genre	Children's television series
Created by	Ben Wicks and Susan Wicks
Written by	Mary Mackay-Smith Ben Wicks Susan Wicks
Directed by	Lee Williams Hana Kukal Richard Vanatte Maryl T. Morris Daisy von Scherler Mayer
Voices of	Chris Wightman Amanda Tripp
Narrated by	Leslie Nielsen
Composer(s)	Edmund Eagan
Country of origin	Canada
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	78 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Sheldon S. Wiseman
Producer(s)	Mark Edwards Weldon Poapst
Running time	26 minutes
Production company(s)	Lacewood Productions (1993-1996) Amberwood Entertainment (2001-2002) Entertainment Rights (2001-2002)
Release
Original network	Family Channel
Original release	1994 (1994) – 2002 (2002)

Katie and Orbie is a fun Canadian animated TV show. It was made for young children. The show first aired in Canada on Family Channel from 1994 to 2002. Later, it was shown in the United States on PBS and Disney Channel. In Canada, it also aired on Disney Junior until 2012.

There are 78 episodes in total, spread across six seasons. This popular series has been shown in many countries around the world.

Making the Katie and Orbie Show

This animated series is based on a set of four children's books. These books were about the environment. They were called Katie and Orbie Save the Planet. Ben Wicks, a Canadian cartoonist, drew the pictures. His daughter, Susan Wicks, wrote the stories. The books came out in 1991.

In 1993, a company called Lacewood Productions turned the book characters into a TV show. They made episodes until 1996. Five years later, another company, Amberwood Entertainment, brought the show back. The series then finished in 2002.

The TV show is different from the books. It doesn't only focus on the environment. The stories cover many topics. These include getting a new pet or helping friends. The show also talked about important topics. It showed children with divorced parents. It also featured characters with Down syndrome and cerebral palsy. This was rare for a show made for young kids.

The main song for the show was written by Edmund Eagan. His niece, Mireille Eagan, sang the song.

The show used a special animation style. Producer Sheldon Wiseman called it "picture-mation." It was like a moving picture book. The characters in the show do not actually speak. Instead, they use funny cartoon sounds. A narrator tells the story. The famous actor Leslie Nielsen was the narrator.

Meet the Main Characters

• Katie - Katie is a 5-year-old girl with blonde hair. She is very imaginative and loves to play. She is always curious and usually happy. Katie often wears a green and white striped shirt with blue overalls. She lives with her best friend Orbie and her parents. Katie is kind and friendly to everyone. She takes dancing classes in some episodes. Her sounds include a special laugh, sighs, yells, and cries. Amanda Tripp made these sounds and also voiced Katie in the "Did You Know?" parts.

• Orbie - Orbie is a small, pink alien. He comes from a planet far away from Earth. In one of the books, it says his home planet was too polluted. So, he was sent away. This part is not in the TV show. Orbie landed in Katie's backyard in his small spaceship. He and Katie became best friends right away. Katie's parents "adopted" him.

Orbie is the same age as Katie. He shares many of her happy personality traits. He speaks in unique squeaks and chirps. He also makes honking sounds with his nose. People seem to understand him, even though he doesn't speak a known language. He has red polka dots on his body. In early episodes, his dots could change color based on his mood. Most people don't realize he's an alien. They treat him like a normal person. If someone is surprised by Orbie at first, they quickly become friends with him. Orbie doesn't wear clothes, but he puts on clothing and boots when it's raining, cold, or snowing. He is a natural acrobat. He loves to do leaps and flips when he's happy. He has special pads on his fingers and toes. These help him climb walls and hang from the ceiling. He sleeps in Katie's closet. He hangs upside down from a bar, like a bat. Chris Wightman made Orbie's unique sounds.

• Wayne - Wayne is Katie's father and Orbie's adoptive father. Everyone calls him Dad. His real name is mentioned in one episode. He works in an office building, but his job is not shown. He is very caring towards Katie, Orbie, and his wife, Susan. He often acts funny to make them laugh. He grew up in the city, where his parents still live.

• Susan - Susan is Katie's mother and Orbie's adoptive mother. Everyone calls her Mom. Her real name is mentioned in an episode called Mrs. Parette's Picture. She is often seen at home. However, she also seems to have a job. She takes business calls and does paperwork. She also goes to meetings in the city. She even won an award for her work. Her parents live in the same neighborhood as the family.

The family's last name was never mentioned in the show. They also own a cottage by a lake. Wayne's parents bought it. They sometimes spend time there, especially in the summer.

Other Characters in Katie and Orbie

• Mrs. Elaine Parette - Mrs. Parette is a friend of the family. She is an older woman who loves children. She often bakes cakes or cookies for Katie and Orbie. She has a big willow tree in her garden. It's a secret hideout for Katie, Orbie, and their friends. She also enjoys painting. She has at least one daughter and two grandchildren. Her first name, Elaine, was mentioned by Susan in the story Mrs. Parette's Picture.

• Chance - Chance is the family's cat. She has orange fur. Her left ear has white fur.

• Andy - Andy is a boy with blonde hair. His parents are divorced. He lives with his mother and his stepfather, Harry. He is one of Katie and Orbie's regular friends. Arthur and Yee Ping are their other close friends.

• Arthur - Arthur is a red-haired Jewish boy. At first, he got angry easily. He could even hit someone who bothered him. After one episode, his behavior changed. He became a normal boy, though a bit mischievous. He plays well with the other kids.

• Yee Ping - Yee Ping is a Chinese girl with black hair. She is very friendly. She sometimes teaches Katie and Orbie about Chinese traditions. She was Katie's second friend introduced in the series, after Orbie.

• Kyra - Kyra is a girl with blonde hair. She wears a light blue headband. She has asthma. In a later episode, she also wears glasses. She appears mostly in seasons 2 and 3.

• Phoebe and Bryn - These two are sisters and are always together. Phoebe is the younger sister with blonde hair. Bryn is the older sister with brown hair. Bryn has an allergy to eggs.

• Dakota - Dakota is a First Nations boy. He was a common character in seasons 1–3. He appeared less often in seasons 4–6. He was "replaced" by a Latino character named Miguel.

• Micah - Micah is a 9-year-old boy. He has Down syndrome. He was one of the first characters with this condition in an animated series. He lives on a farm with his mother, Ara. Ara is a long-time friend of Susan. Micah is very good at playing drums. He also loves caring for the farm animals.

• Tom - Tom is a young adult man. He often babysits Katie and Orbie.

• Polly - Polly is Tom's girlfriend. Like Tom, she loves children and enjoys playing with them. Orbie once had a crush on her. She appears in only a few stories. Her appearance changed between episodes. She first had red, curly hair and light skin. Later, she had straight, black hair in a ponytail and darker skin.

• Belkis - Belkis is a girl with dark skin. She comes from a faraway country and does not speak English. She lives with her mother.

• Charisse - Charisse is a Black girl with dark skin. She has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. She lives with her mother on the 17th floor of an apartment building. She appears rarely in the show.

• Miguel - Miguel is a Latino boy. He joined the series near the end of the fourth season. He doesn't appear very often. He looks a lot like Dakota, but Miguel has lighter skin.

• Charlie and Megan Cobbington - Charlie and Megan are siblings. They are neighbors to Katie and Orbie. They live with their parents and four other siblings. Charlie and the parents are not in the series after season 2. Megan still makes short appearances in season 3 and some quick cameos in seasons 4–6.

• Greg, Jenny and Megan - This is a young couple and their baby daughter. They are also neighbors of Katie and Orbie's family. They appear in only a few stories. They also have a dog named Bruce.

• Kerry - Kerry is a Black girl with dark skin. She was Katie's best friend for some time. In her only appearance, she and her parents moved to another town. Her father got a new job there. Even though she was called Katie's best friend, she never appeared before or after this story. Mrs. Parette gave Kerry and Katie two heart-shaped necklaces. They had photos of both girls. This was so they could remember their friendship.

Episodes and Production Details

The animation studio Lacewood Productions in Ontario started working on the series in 1993. They made 13 half-hour episodes. These first episodes came out in 1994 on Family Channel. They quickly became very popular. This led Lacewood to create two more seasons in 1995 and 1996. For the third season, the show started using digital coloring. The sixth season used Flash animation.

In 1997, Lacewood Productions closed down. Paragon Entertainment took over their work. In 1999, Sheldon Wiseman started a new studio called Amberwood Entertainment. He had worked at Lacewood before. Amberwood bought some of Lacewood's old projects, including Katie and Orbie. Along with Entertainment Rights, they began making 26 more episodes. These new episodes debuted on the Family Channel the next year. However, after the sixth season in 2002, the series stopped production for good.

A total of 234 individual stories were made. Each half-hour episode had three stories. Every episode also included two short segments called Did You Know?. These segments gave viewers small facts about different things. Topics included plants, food, animals, the human body, and art. Katie, voiced by Amanda Tripp, narrated these segments off-screen.

Each episode followed a clear structure. It started with the opening theme song. Then came the first story. After that, there was a Did You Know? segment. The second story followed, then another Did You Know? segment. The third story came next, and finally, the closing credits.

DVD Releases

Some seasons of Katie and Orbie were available on DVD. Seasons 1, 4, 5, and 6 could be bought from the online store of Express Media, a Canadian retailer that is now closed. However, seasons 2 and 3 were not released on DVD there.

Two DVDs with season 6 episodes were also released in Australia in 2010.

See also

In Spanish: Katie y Orbie para niños