Edgar & Ellen
| Author | Charles Ogden |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | adventure fiction |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
Publication date | 2003–present |
Edgar & Ellen created by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, is based on twelve-year-old twins who cause mischief and mayhem in their sickly sweet town, Nod's Limbs. The series currently contains nine books in addition to some side material. The Twin's name's are derived from American author and poet Edgar Allan Poe. Rare Beasts is the first, followed by Tourist Trap, Under Town, Pet's Revenge, High Wire and Nod's Limbs, with a sequel series premiering just a year later, currently consisting of Hot Air, Frost Bites and Split Ends. The Mischief Manual, a book written in the voice of the twins themselves, hit the shelves in June 2007. A weekly TV series premiered October 7, 2007 on Nicktoons.
Edgar and Ellen live in a 13-story mansion on the edge of Nod's Limbs. Ellen is supposedly the older of the twins by 2 minutes and 13 seconds. They live with a hairy creature who they refer to as Pet — a hairball with an eyeball. Their groundskeeper and caretaker, Heimertz, lives in a small shack just outside the house. Their mansion is located near a now disassembled junkyard, which the twins had lovingly dubbed their "Gadget Graveyard". They take parts from it and create marvelous contraptions for trouble.
Both of the twins wear striped footie pajamas and prank each other all day long—when they're not pranking the goody-goody townspeople of Nod's Limbs. They are clever, fearless, mischievous and creative. So creative, in fact, that their pranks often backfire hilariously.
Books
- Rare Beasts (2003) ISBN 1-58246-110-4
- Tourist Trap (2004) ISBN 1-58246-111-2
- Under Town (2004) ISBN 1-58246-126-0
- Pet's Revenge (2006) ISBN 1-4169-1408-0
- High Wire (2006) ISBN 1-4169-1500-1
- Nod's Limbs (2007) ISBN 1-4169-1501-X
- Mischief Manual (2007) ISBN 1-4169-3935-0
- Hair 'Em Scare 'Em: A Pop-Up Misadventure (2007)
- Hot Air (2008) ISBN 1-4169-3935-0
- Frost Bites (2008) ISBN 978-1-4169-5464-4
- Split Ends (2009)
- Graphic Novelty: A Comic Collection (2009)
Books are published by Simon & Schuster in the United States, Canada, and the UK. Internationally books are published by Hachette Children's Book Australia, Pocket Jeunesse (France), Grupo SM in Spain and Editora Rocco in Brazil, among others.
Series one overviews
- Rare Beasts
- In Rare Beasts, the twins realize wreaking havoc can incur expenses, so they come up with a unique fundraising scheme: they'll nab the pets of Nod's Limbs and sell them as exotic animals for big bucks. But things don't go as planned when a purloined python gets hungry.
- Tourist Trap
- Mayor Knighleigh plans to destroy the gadget graveyard in order to build his own fancy hotel, using a group of celebrities to sponsor it. The twins manage to steal Stephanie Knightleigh's position as tour guide, taking the celebrities for a ghastly tour. The twins manage to sabotage the world's largest French toast festival, seemingly crushing Knightleigh's plans. They then find out that one tourist, Alex Sai, wrote a positive review on Nod's Limbs tourism.
- Under Town
- In Under Town, someone is tormenting the fine people of Nod's Limbs...and for once, it's not Edgar and Ellen. A new prankster is one step ahead of the twins, making mischief all over town. To discover the identity of this daring new foe, Edgar and Ellen must descend under town to stop this rash of copycat capers once and for all.
- Pet's Revenge
- In Pet's Revenge, Edgar has to plot solo when Ellen suddenly turns into a model of proper behavior. She (voluntarily) takes a bath and even accepts an invitation to a slumber party. Surely she's got a scheme up her (unusually clean) sleeve. Or has a hairy traitor managed to break up the devious duo...
- High Wire
- The twins' groundskeeper, Heimertz, has a dark and secret past shrouded in... the Big Top. When the circus comes to Nod's Limbs, everyone, especially Edgar and Ellen, gets their money's worth.
- Nod's Limbs
- The legend of Nod's missing golden limbs resurfaces, and a town-wide search commences. The entire town becomes obsessed with a treasure hunt that leads to the twins' turf, and the intruders dig out a collapsed cave to discover something far more shocking than gold.
Series two overviews
- Hot Air
- A few months after the disgrace of the Knightleighs and Augustus Nod's return from the dead, Edgar and Ellen are living as town heroes. But their easy life is threatened when an old nemesis returns, and to make matters more complicated, the first Knightleigh-less mayoral election is coming up.
- Frost Bites
- The twins' pursuit of Stephanie Knightleigh leads them to Frøsthaven, an Arctic village whose cheerful citizens and strange customs remind them of home. What makes this place a sugary sweet duplicate of Nod's Limbs? The secret, alas, is upon the forbidden slopes of the Glöggenheim, where dwells something that doesn't take kindly to being disturbed.
- Split Ends
- In order to thwart Stephanie's scheme, the twins must separate for the first time in their lives. Edgar's pursuit of the Midway Irregulars leads him to the forests of Cougar Falls and an unlikely partnership with an eccentric professional monster hunter, while Ellen and Pet find themselves in the decidedly inhospitable town of Lach Lufless.
Other books
- Mischief Manual
- The Mischief Manual is Edgar and Ellen's first chance to write a book in their own voice, "out from under the thumb of Charles Ogden". In this book, the twins share their trade secrets and inspirations for all manner of misdeeds and mayhem, including skill-building exercises, sample blueprints, and schemes to try at their home.
Setting
Nod's Limbs is the town where Edgar and Ellen live. It's so sickeningly sweet that it makes your teeth hurt. There is no originality to the people that live there- which is why Edgar and Ellen are such a foil for them. The twins attempt to liven up the place as it's a place so clean and shiny that one just wants to throw mud at it just to mix things up a bit. Living in it is, in the twins' own words, "like living inside a sugar cube".
The cartoon shorts
The TV series is co-produced with Bardel Entertainment in association with YTV and Nicktoons. Nicktoons airs Edgar & Ellen two-minute shorts every day. There are thirteen in total. Six holiday specials began airing on Nicktoons on Labor Day Weekend 2006. The Back-to-School special, "Accept No Substitutes," was followed by a Halloween special, "Trick or Twins," a winter special, "Cold Medalists," a Valentine's special entitled "Crushed", and an April Fool's special "Nobody's Fools." The most recent one, called "Frog Days of Summer" aired on September 3.
The cartoons mainly show the pranking activities of Edgar and Ellen, but also include supporting characters like Mayor Knightleigh, Bob the Intern, Pet, Buffy the Muffin lady, and several other entertaining Nod's Limbsians.
Edgar and Ellen hosted the Scare-a-thon on Nicktoons during Halloween weekend of 2005 and did so again in 2006.
TV series
| Edgar & Ellen (Television series) | |
|---|---|
| Created by |
Charles Ogden Rick Carton |
| Written by |
Adam Beechen Scott Gray Steven Kriozere Guy Toubes |
| Directed by | Keith Ingham |
| Composer(s) | Hal Beckett |
| Country of origin |
United States Canada |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 26 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Delna Bhesania Barbara Ferro Trish Lindsay |
| Producer(s) | Brian Behling |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
Studio B Productions Bardel Entertainment Star Farm Productions Nicktoons Original Series |
| Release | |
| Original network |
Nicktoons Network Nickelodeon (United States) YTV (Canada) Nickelodeon (Turkey) Kidz TV (Turkey) |
| Original release | October 7, 2007 – October 30, 2008 |
The television series premiered on Nicktoons Network around October 7, 2007. Then it premiered on Nickelodeon since November 21, 2007 until May 23, 2009. Two episodes of the series were shown. The series aired every Sunday at 5pm and 8pm and 4-5am PST. The television series also premiered on Nicktoons around October 22, 2007.
Episodes
| No. | Title | Original air date | Production Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "It Came from the Sub-Basement / Beast of Show / Edgar's Satchel: Getting Antsy" | October 7, 2007 | 101 |
| 2 | "Gross Inspection / Bolty, The Friendly Robot / Ellen's Horrorscopes: Them Bones" | October 7, 2007 | 102 |
| 3 | "Trickery Dickery Clock / Dr. Edgar and Dr. Ellen / The Secret Life of Pet: Viva Pet!" | October 14, 2007 | 103 |
| 4 | "Picture Imperfect / Pasta Their Prime / Nod's Public Access: Stephanie's "How to Be Like Me"" | October 14, 2007 | 104 |
| 5 | "Commander in Stripes / Ellen vs. Slug / The All-Knowing Head of Poe: An Eggcellent Question" | October 21, 2007 | 105 |
| 6 | "For Art's Sake / The Game's Afootie / Heimertz's Family Album: His First Accordion" | October 21, 2007 | 106 |
| 7 | "To the Moon / A Midsummer's Nightmare / Heimertz's Family Album: The Mustache" | October 28, 2007 | 107 |
| 8 | "Scam Artist Shuffle / Bob's Limbs / The Secret Life of Pet: Trip to Atlantis" | November 4, 2007 | 108 |
| 9 | "Bon Voyage, Stephanie / Prankly Speaking / The All Knowing Head of Poe: Star Crazy" | November 11, 2007 | 109 |
| 10 | "Twinvasion / Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty / Ellen's Horrorocopes: Feet of Fate" | January 27, 2008 | 110 |
| 11 | "Prankster Wannabe / Satchel Bandits / Edgar's Satchel: Lepre-Conned" | February 3, 2008 | 111 |
| 12 | "Rare Birds Fiends / Prank Insurance / The All Knowing Head of Poe: Sisters" | February 10, 2008 | 112 |
| 13 | "Little Stephanie Nightingale / Off the Deep End / Edgar's Satchel: Melon-Go-Round" | February 24, 2008 | 113 |
| 14 | "The Amazing Edgarini / Wax Removal / The Secret Life of Pet: Hard-Boiled Pet" | April 6, 2008 | 114 |
| 15 | "Grownups Behaving Badly / The Eyes Have It / The Secret Life of Pet: Alien Abduction" | April 13, 2008 | 115 |
| 16 | "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Scientist / Long-Term Parking / Ellen's Horrorscopes: The New Look" | April 20, 2008 | 116 |
| 17 | "Pranker's Block / The Barracuda Whisperer / The Secret Life of Pet: Dogfight" | April 27, 2008 | 117 |
| 18 | "Parents' Night / Pet in Love / The All-Knowing Head of Poe: Sweet on You" | April 28, 2008 | 118 |
| 19 | "When You Wish Upon a Well / Baby Talk / Nod's Limbs' Public Address: Pet-o-Matic" | July 29, 2008 | 119 |
| 20 | "The Manners Marathon / Ellen's Secret Admirer / Ellen's Horrorscopes: Thanks for Muffin" | July 30, 2008 | 120 |
| 21 | "Viva La Trash / The Expert / Heimertz's Family Album: Something's Fishy" | July 31, 2008 | 121 |
| 22 | "Suspect Inspection / Radio Free Nod's Limbs / Nod's Limbs' Public Access: Edgar's House of Whatcha" | August 1, 2008 | 122 |
| 23 | "Signed, Sealed, Delivered / Study Time / Edgar's Satchel: Buzz Off" | October 30, 2008 | 123 |
| 24 | "Nod's Limbs Finest / Nuggets of Stupidity / The Secret Life of Pet: Hang Tendril" | October 30, 2008 | 124 |
| 25 | "Doomsday Parade / Flown for a Loop / Heimertz's Family Album: Belly of the Beast" | October 30, 2008 | 125 |
| 26 | "The Battle of Nod's Limbs / Attack of the Invisible Pet / Nod's Libs' Public Access: Miles' Mild" | October 30, 2008 | 126 |
Target stores
To promote Halloween in 2007, Target created a section in their stores with a haunted house facade featuring moving likenesses of the two, giant pictures of Edgar and Ellen, and branded and licensed products featuring them. They also featured prominently in-store displays.
Target also sold for Halloween an Edgar and Ellen DVD, which contains the episodes "Trick or Twins" and "Cold Medalists".
Del Taco
Halloween 2008 Del Taco promoted Edgar & Ellen in over 500 stores throughout the western United States.