Wonder Pets! facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Wonder Pets!
Genre	Adventure Educational Musical
Created by	Josh Selig
Developed by	Josh Selig
Written by	Billy Aronson Billy Lopez Chris Nee Sascha Paladino Adam Peltzman Josh Selig Melinda Richards Jennifer Oxley
Directed by	Jennifer Oxley
Voices of	Sofie Zamchick Teala Dunn Danica Lee
Theme music composer	Larry Hochman
Opening theme	"The Wonder Pets!"
Ending theme	"The Wonder Pets!" (instrumental)
Composer(s)	Larry Hochman Jeffrey Lesser Billy Lopez Bobby Lopez
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	Shorts: 2 Full-length episodes: 62 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Josh Selig
Producer(s)	Tone Thyne
Editor(s)	Romeo Alaeff Susie Herang
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	Little Airplane Productions Nickelodeon Animation Studio
Release
Original network	Nickelodeon (2006–09) Nick Jr. (2009–16)
Picture format	NTSC 480i (2006–09) HDTV 1080i (2009–16)
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	March 3, 2006 (2006-03-03) – March 9, 2016 (2016-03-09)

Wonder Pets! is an American animated children's television series created by Josh Selig for Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block. It centers on a trio of classroom pets—Linny the guinea pig, Tuck the turtle, and Ming-Ming the duckling—who use teamwork to help animals in need. Much of the characters' dialogue is sung in the style of operetta. Each episode is set to original music by a 10-member live orchestra.

Selig developed the idea for Wonder Pets! in between production cycles of his previous Nickelodeon show, Oobi. The series began with two animated shorts called "Linny the Guinea Pig," which acted as a pilot episode. They featured Linny going on adventures set to classical music. Selig first screened the shorts at the wrap party for Oobi's first season. The crew of Oobi was impressed with them and urged Selig to pitch them to a broadcast network. He eventually decided to send the shorts to Nickelodeon executives. Selig called Nickelodeon "a great partner," saying "They're really the company that first believed in us when we pitched Oobi, and then they believed in us again on Wonder Pets!."

The two original shorts were completed and aired in 2004. The characters of Tuck and Ming-Ming were added to form a team of hero pets for the full-length series. The first long-form episode debuted on March 3, 2006, as part of the Nick Jr. block on Nickelodeon. On December 27, 2006, the series started airing on Nickelodeon's sister channel Noggin. It ran for three seasons and 62 episodes. The first two seasons aired on Nickelodeon, while the majority of season three aired exclusively on the Nick Jr. channel.

Format

Each episode follows a similar structure, with many hallmarks and repeated elements. As each episode begins, schoolchildren are heard from off-screen, leaving school at the end of the day. They say goodbye to the classroom pets. The classroom is always decorated with student artwork and other items related to a given episode's particular storyline, featured animal, or geographic location. Once the classroom is empty, a pencil holder rattles to create the ringing of a telephone.

One by one, the classroom pets notice the ringing phone. As the phone rings, they put on their accessories(a cap for Linny, shoes for Tuck, and aviator goggles for Ming-Ming) and make their way towards the phone while singing their opening verses. The Wonder Pets answer the phone and find that an animal is in trouble somewhere. Linny, the guinea pig, explains the situation to the other two: Tuck the turtle and Ming-Ming the duckling. They all jump into a box filled with fabric scraps and jump back out wearing different outfits, often alluding to the area of the world they will be visiting. They make a quick joke and jump back into the box, emerging again in superhero capes.

Once dressed, they assemble a flying vehicle called the "Flyboat" In some episodes, the Wonder Pets opt for a different mode of transportation by adjusting the Flyboat. Usually, the pets encounter an obstacle before leaving the classroom. The solution is invariably similar to the action they will need to take to save the animal in trouble.

When saving the animal, the Wonder Pets always fail on the first few attempts. The danger escalates, prompting Ming-Ming to sing, "This is se-wious!" Suddenly, the Wonder Pets remember how they solved the problem in the classroom and realize that the rescue has a similar solution. They have to work together to achieve the rescue. Once the animal is saved, its parent or other relative appears to give grateful thanks to the Wonder Pets. The pets celebrate with a celery snack. The rescued animal's parent sometimes adds a bit of regional food or insists on a regional preparation. The pets fly back to the classroom and wordlessly return to their cages as their hats and capes come off. The Flyboat automatically disassembles upon landing. Ming-Ming is always the first one to get back in her cage, Tuck is the second, and Linny is the last. A musical riff relating to the episode's rescue is played as Linny takes a bite out of the celery in her cage and winks at the camera or another pet winks at the camera including Tuck in Save The Rhino Ming-Ming in Back to Kalamazoo and In The Land Of Oz and Ollie in Ollie To The Rescue and The Amazing Ollie. Another episode or the end credits then begin.

Episodes

The series debuted on March 3, 2006 on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block. List of Wonder Pets! episodes

Characters

Main

• Linny the Guinea Pig (voiced by Sofie Zamchick) is a guinea pig who is the leader of the Wonder Pets and the oldest of the three. As a superhero, she wears an orange cap and a blue cape. Linny is the most educated of the group, often providing information about the different animals and environments that the pets encounter. Linny is usually the one to remind the group about teamwork and offer praise. She has the responsibility of starting and driving the Flyboat. Linny's catchphrase is "This calls for some celery!", said at the end of each adventure. She always carries some celery with her and brings it out to celebrate after every successful mission.
• Tuck Turtle (voiced by Teala Dunn) is a turtle and the second oldest of the Wonder Pets. He is sensitive with an emotional connection to living things and the heart of the group. As a superhero, he wears a white sailor's cap, blue Aquasocks, and a red cape. Tuck is empathetic, often wanting to give the rescued animals a hug or keeping them company while Linny and Ming-Ming put their rescue plan into action. He has keen observational skills and can spot things from long distances, which usually garners him the compliment, "Good eye, Tuck!". He has an older cousin named Buck, whose cool demeanor and many skills make Tuck jealous.
• Ming-Ming Duckling (voiced by Danica Lee) is an overconfident duckling and the youngest of the three. As a superhero, she wears a leather pilot's helmet with goggles and a green cape. Unlike the other Wonder Pets, she can fly and speak "bird," allowing her to connect with other birds that the Wonder Pets encounter. Ming-Ming often provides comic relief in the show, and is the Wonder Pet mostly likely to use irony and mild sarcasm. Her family comes from a petting zoo in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and she visits them on occasion. She speaks with a prominent rhotacism, pronouncing "r" sounds as "w" (as in her catchphrase "This is Se-wious!").

Recurring

• Ollie (voiced by T.J. Stanton and Cooper Corrao) is a gray rabbit who considers himself the fourth Wonder Pet. He is self-centered and often unintentionally annoys the Wonder Pets when he visits their classroom. He has his own superhero team, the "Thunder Pets," consisting of himself and his toys. He is a terrible rescuer and invariably needs help from the Wonder Pets whenever he tries to save something And He Winks to The Camera In 2 Episodes including Ollie To The Rescue And The Amazing Ollie And He lives in a burrow outside of the Wonder Pets' schoolhouse with his mother, sister, and baby brother.
• Ginny (voiced by Anne Meara) is Linny's grandmother. She lives in a nursing home with a white mouse named Bernie. Like Linny, she is self-confident, a natural leader, and loves celery.
• The Visitor is an extraterrestrial being who lives on a far-away planet. He resembles a purple frog-like creature with two antennae and one foot. He knows a few English phrases but can only speak in short fragments. He crash-lands on Earth in "Save the Visitor" and needs the Wonder Pets' help to fly back to space. He becomes a good friend of theirs and invites them to his party in "Save the Visitor's Birthday Party".
• Little Bee and Slug are a pair of bug friends. Little Bee is a young bumblebee who is just learning how to make honey for her hive. Slug is a green garden slug who wears the top of an acorn as a hat. Little Bee first appears in "Save the Bee" and "Save the Glowworm". She and Slug appear as the main characters of "The Adventures of Bee & Slug!" and "Bee & Slug Underground!".
• Baby Dragon and Uni are two magical creatures who live in a storybook in the Wonder Pets' classroom. Baby Dragon is a wingless dragon, and Uni is his best friend, a unicorn. They first appear in "Save the Unicorn," in which the Wonder Pets try to help Uni when her horn is stuck in a tree. After freeing Uni, the Wonder Pets try to flee from Baby Dragon, but they discover that he is Uni's best friend. They make a second appearance in "Save the Dragon," in which the Wonder Pets return to the storybook land to save Baby Dragon after he gets stuck on a cloud.

DVD compilations

In other media

Books (Wonder Pets! series)

• Arranged in publication date order.

Source:

Soundtrack

In addition to the DVDs and books, the show's self-titled track, Wonder Pets!, was released on April 10, 2007. The soundtrack features songs from the show itself, including the main self-titled theme song.

Track listing

All songs are performed by the Wonder Pets unless otherwise noted.

1. The Wonder Pets
2. Poor Baby Squirrel (Ming-Ming)
3. The Caterpillar's Song
4. Oh Sheep-eee-hooo
5. Tickle the Whale
6. To Be Free
7. Hold On Pigeon
8. Fruit Salad
9. City Garden Rap
10. Hug A Hedgy
11. The Oasis
12. Hola Hermit Crab
13. Wee-Wee Pee-Pee Tinkle
14. Brown Cow Down
15. Wonder Pets We Love You
16. The Wonder Pets (Instrumental) (Wonder Pets Orchestra)

Source:

Game

The show's only game was released on October 27, 2008, in the United States,

Mobile streaming

On July 6, 2016, the first 20 episodes were made available for streaming on the Noggin video service. The remaining episodes will most likely be added to the app in two years. The remaining two seasons(42 episodes) were released on the app on February 7, 2018. All three seasons of the series (62 episodes in total) are also available to buy on Amazon Video. In March 2021, the series was added to Paramount+.

Toys and merchandising

In March 2008, Fisher-Price began distributing a line of official Wonder Pets! toys in the United States. Toys include the Flyboat, figurine playsets, and plush animals. These figurine playsets have each Wonder Pet saving a different baby animal. These include Linny saving a baby penguin, Tuck saving a baby bluebird, and Ming-Ming rescuing a kitten. In addition there is a whale playset for the tub.

See also

In Spanish: Las mascotas maravilla para niños