Littlest Pet Shop (2012 TV series) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Littlest Pet Shop
Genre	Comedy Fantasy Musical Adventure
Developed by	Julie McNally-Cahill Tim Cahill
Directed by	Joel Dickie
Voices of	See cast
Theme music composer	Daniel Ingram
Composer(s)	Daniel Ingram Steffan Andrews
Country of origin	United States Canada
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	104 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Julie McNally-Cahill Tim Cahill Chris Bartleman Kirsten Newlands Stephen Davis
Producer(s)	Travis Williams
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	Hasbro Studios DHX Media
Release
Original network	YTV (Canada) The Hub (United States)
Original release	November 10, 2012 (2012-11-10) – June 4, 2016 (2016-06-04)
Chronology
Related shows	Littlest Pet Shop (1995) Littlest Pet Shop: A World of Our Own (2018)

Littlest Pet Shop is an American–Canadian children's flash-animated television series produced by DHX Media for The Hub. Based on the Littlest Pet Shop and Blythe toyline by Hasbro, the show centers on Blythe Baxter, a teen girl who, after moving into an apartment in a city, gains the ability to communicate with animals. Located below her apartment is the eponymous pet store where Blythe works and talks to a group of pets who regularly reside at a day care in the shop. Worried that a corrupt rival business will drive their shop out of business, the pets depend on Blythe to drive business into the store with her pet fashion designs.

Produced by Hasbro Studios and DHX Media, the series premiered on The Hub on November 10, 2012 (which was renamed Discovery Family on October 13, 2014), and ended on June 4, 2016, totaling four seasons and 104 episodes. Animated using Adobe Flash animation, completion of a single episode took roughly one year with several in production at once. While it mostly received praise from reviewers for its writing and characters, the show was criticized for its embedded marketing. Several crew members have additionally received accolades for their work on the show.

The series was part of the company's franchise reboot, where Hasbro released a new line of Littlest Pet Shop toys designed to more closely resemble the characters on the show. A mobile game and comic book adaptation were also made.

Plot

The series follows Blythe Baxter, a young girl living with her airplane pilot father, Roger. Forced to move out from her suburban hometown following her father's promotion, she moves into a flat located in a people's city. Their complex is located above the eponymous Littlest Pet Shop—a pet shop that also serves as a day camp for numerous pets—where Blythe works as a fashion designer. Her adventure begins when she discovers that she alone can miraculously understand and talk to the pets that regularly stay at the shop, in addition to most other animals on the planet. As she and the pets spend time together, they find the pet shop jeopardised by a larger pet store managed by Fisher Biskit and his snotty twin daughters Brittany and Whittany Biskit. To avoid being dispersed, the pets convince Blythe to remain an employee.

The pets who reside in the day camp of the shop are Pepper Clark, a wisecracking striped skunk who is passionate about comedy; Minka Mark, a bouncy spider monkey with a love for painting and visual arts; Penny Ling, a sensitive giant panda interested in rhythmic gymnastics; Russell Ferguson, a hedgehog who is often the self-appointed leader of his animal bunkmates; Sunil Nevla, an Indian mongoose and hopeful magician; Vinnie Terrio, a clumsy gecko obsessed with dancing; and Zoe Trent, a diva-like cavalier king charles spaniel with a talent for singing. Other human characters include Mrs. Anna Twombly, owner of the shop and Blythe's boss; and Youngmee Song, Sue Patterson and Jasper Jones; Blythe's friends.

Episodes

List of Littlest Pet Shop episodes

Characters

Cast

Principal cast

• Ashleigh Ball – Blythe Baxter, Shea Butter, Lemonface, Hubble, Baa Baa Lou, Sunshine Sweetness, Mitzi, Fluffy Lighting, Cindeanna Mellon, Alice
• Sam Vincent – Russell Ferguson, Esteban Banderas, Sam U.L., Sunil's Dad, Steve, Sweet Cheeks, Canine Cop, Captain Cuddles, Panda Elder, Otto Von Fuzzlebutt, Speedy Shellberg, Weasel Whiskers, Fisher Biskit, Morgan Payne, Josh Sharp, Mr. Bromidic, Mr. Banks, Sherman, Mr. Sawdust
• Peter New – Sunil Nevla, Mary Frances, 3DGB, Digby, Joey Featherton, Whiskers, Dodger, Weber, Basil, Big Al, Harold Winston, Ivan, Vlad, Tenzing Norgert, Francois LeGrande, Christopher Lyedecker, Riley Robinson, Fred, Littlest Pat, John Trent
• Kyle Rideout – Vinnie Terrio
• Tabitha St. Germain – Pepper Clark, Gail Trent, Sunil's Mom, Cairo, Mushroom, Delilah Barnsley, Parker, Nutmeg Dash, Philippa, McKenna Nicole, Finola Frumt, Mona Autumn, Stephanie Hart, Tess McSavage, Clarissa Trent
• Kira Tozer – Minka Mark, Olive Shellstein, Christie, Sue Patterson, Tanya Twitchel, Ginny Hues
• Nicole Oliver – Zoe Trent, Genghis, Tiger, Cashmere Biskit, Velvet Biskit, Scarletta Redd, Clover Fields, Mrs. Mondt
• Jocelyne Loewen – Penny Ling, Meow-Meow
• Kathleen Barr – Anna Twombly, Madame Pom, Poppy Pawsley, Scout Kerry, Dolores, Fleur le Moose, Jasper Jones, Henrietta Twombly, Vi Tannabruzzo, Robinnia Amster
• Shannon Chan-Kent – Brittany Biskit, Whittany Biskit, Youngmee Song, Madison, Brittman Biskit, Whittman Biskit, Phoebe Strum Basso
• Michael Kopsa – Roger Baxter, Chef Henri
• Cathy Weseluck – Buttercream Sundae, Jane, Judi Jo Jameson

Additional cast

• Brian Drummond – Fuzzy Gumbopaws, Shivers, Shahrukh, L-Zard, Ollie Arms, Desi, Jerry Ferguson, Shakespeare, Lord Twigg
• Colin Murdock – Ramon, Tangier, Wiggles McSunbask, Cheep-Cheep, Twist, Bob Flemingheimer, Oliver St. Oliver
• Kelly Metzger – Sugar Sprinkles
• Brooke Goldner – Emma Hart, Peachy Fluffton
• Terry Klassen – Dr. Handsomeface, Princess Stori Jameson
• Casey Wilson – Felina Meow
• Heidi Klum – Heidi
• Dan Sioui – Jason 1
• Anne Yoo – Jebbie
• Lee Tockar – Sideburns

Origin

The developers Cahills joined Hasbro Studios (headquarters pictured) in 2011

Hasbro owns the rights of both Blythe and Littlest Pet Shop, toy lines respectively introduced in 1972 and 1992. Both lines were originally manufactured by Cincinnati-based Kenner Products. Kenner became a part of Hasbro when the Pawtucket-based company acquired Tonka (the parent company of Kenner back then) in 1991. Hasbro sold Littlest Pet Shop toys under the name of this division until they closed down Kenner's original Cincinnati headquarters in 2000. Claster Television, Hasbro's television arm at the time, had produced an earlier animated show based on Littlest Pet Shop in 1995 for Hasbro, but the 2012 Littlest Pet Shop series marked the first adaptation of the Blythe doll to a character on television. A prior incarnation of such a character is the protagonist of Littlest Pet Shop Presents, an unrelated animated miniseries produced by Cosmic Toast Studios and released by Hasbro exclusively on the internet.

Julie McNally-Cahill and Tim Cahill, the creators of Cartoon Network's My Gym Partner's a Monkey, developed Littlest Pet Shop upon joining Hasbro Studios in September 2011. The two serve as both executive producers and story editors on the show; also working as executive producers are Chris Bartleman and Kirsten Newman. The show was announced in March 2011, based on Hasbro's 2010 introduction of the Blythe Loves Littlest Pet Shop toy line. Margaret Loesch, then-CEO of the Hub Network—a network partly owned by Hasbro and Discovery Communications—commissioned the series.

Production

Given Hasbro's framework for Littlest Pet Shop, the Cahills pitched their adaptation of the property. Hasbro originally felt discouraged over having the show set at the pet store, finding the exchange of animals they thought would come from that disconcerting. The Cahills saw the studio's definition of such stores as antiquated, convincing them that most modern locations provide grooming and day care services as opposed to merely selling pets. Production followed quickly, to their surprise.

The studio defined only Blythe and the pets as characters, so the Cahills sought to expand the human character's fictional universe, designing Blythe's friends, Mrs. Twombly and the Biskit twins. Julie explained that she and her husband's preference for quirky comedy inspired that of the show. While the show is aimed at a demographic of young girls, Julie explain that she and the writers attempt to cater to boys of the same age and parent viewers simultaneously. Original music for the show is accomplished by film and television composers Daniel Ingram and Steffan Andrews. Ingram wrote that the urban setting of Littlest Pet Shop prompted the use of a modern style of music. The score incorporates pop and different cultural influences for the same reason. Ingram found Hasbro's pushing of the limitations for music in daytime television a source of pride.

Each 22-minute episode takes approximately a year to complete; three to four episodes are produced simultaneously. Storyboard artists depict scenes using SketchBook Pro. Adapting these boards to limited animation, studio DHX Media handles the designs, poses and key frames of movement for each character appearing in a given scene for an episode, as well as background art. DHX hands these assets to a separate studio, where the remaining animation is finished using Adobe Flash. The speed of production is throttled slightly by Blythe having two unique outfits per episode, according to director Joel Dickie. Supervising director Dallas Parker similarly explained that the variety of assets created for each episode challenged the process of Flash animation in reusing movements.

Release

Broadcast

The Hub aired the first two episodes of Littlest Pet Shop in succession on November 10, 2012. The network scheduled these episodes to succeed the third season premiere of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, based on the My Little Pony toy line which is also owned by Hasbro. The network ordered 26 episodes for its first season, concluding it on April 27, 2013. A second season, also of 26 episodes, premiered on November 2, 2013, and concluded on April 12, 2014. A third season of the same number of episodes aired from May 31, 2014, to March 7, 2015. During this season, the network shifted management and was renamed to Discovery Family. A fourth and final season was aired beginning November 7, 2015.

Home media

Shout! Factory has acquired North American distribution rights for programs broadcast by The Hub, releasing several DVD sets for Littlest Pet Shop. Clear Vision, a distributor located in the United Kingdom, obtained the rights for its first two seasons for most of European regions and the Middle East. Beyond Home Entertainment handles distribution in Australia.

Related products

Mobile game

As part of a contractual agreement with Hasbro, Gameloft developed a mobile game based on the show. Released in the same year the show premiered, on November 22, the game is of the city-building genre. The game, Littlest Pet Shop, is freemium software—microtransactions allows users to speed up the progression of the game. The game provides over 150 animal companions for users to collect; minigames allow players to take care of these pets. Its initial release was for the iOS platform. An Android port was released shortly afterwards.

Writing in TouchArcade, Jared Nelson wrote that the game is unexceptional for players who are not fans of the toy line. While in the United Kingdom the game was subject of controversy concerning its incorporation of in-app purchases, the Advertising Standards Authority deemed it acceptable. The organization found that the instructions detailing purchases did not coerce players to make such purchases.

Comic book

IDW Publishing was commissioned to adapt Littlest Pet Shop to a comic book. An adaptation made up of five issues, released from May 7 to September 17, 2014, was written by Georgia Ball and Matt Anderson and illustrated by Nico Peña and Antonio Campo. Anderson had worked on the shorter, contained stories, while Ball had scripted the remainder of each issue.

Different from the other Hasbro properties Ball had worked on, she explained that Hasbro wanted the comic to entertain readers rather than be morally didactic. She likened this to the principle of "no hugging, no learning" coined on the set of Seinfeld. Apart from that, the studio gave Ball license to give Blythe hobbies not depicted on the show. Ball focused on writing stories that would appeal to readers transitioning from primary to secondary education. She described the structure for the comic as a daily drama, while Anderson thought of it as slice of life.

See also

In Spanish: Littlest Pet Shop (serie de televisión) para niños