Peep and the Big Wide World
| Peep and the Big Wide World | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Also known as | Peep |
| Created by | Kaj Pindal[1][2] |
| Voices of |
Scott Beaudin Jamie Watson Amanda Soha |
| Narrated by | Joan Cusack |
| Country of origin |
Canada United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 55 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Kate Taylor |
| Producer(s) | Marisa Wolsky |
| Running time |
25 minutes (Canada) 22 minutes (United States) |
| Production company(s) |
WGBH Boston 9 Story Entertainment TVOntario Discovery Kids |
| Distributor | American Public Television |
| Release | |
| Original network |
TVOKids (Canada) Discovery Kids/PBS Kids (U.S.) |
| Picture format | 4:3 480i (SDTV) |
| Audio format |
Mono (2004–2006) Dolby Surround (2006–2008) Dolby Digital (2008–2011) |
| Original release | April 12, 2004 – October 14, 2011 |
| Website | |
Peep and the Big Wide World is a Canadian–American animated children's television series created by Canadian Animator Kaj Pindal and based on the 1988 short film Peep and the Big Wide World produced by the National Film Board of Canada, which itself is based on the 1962 short film The Peep Show,[3] also produced by the National Film Board of Canada. The series premiered on April 12, 2004, on Discovery Kids and on TLC as part of their Ready Set Learn children's block, and on the same day on TVOKids and PBS Kids. It was produced by WGBH Boston and 9 Story Entertainment, in association with TVOntario and Discovery Kids.
Carriage on the Discovery children's networks ended on October 10, 2010 with the discontinuation of Ready Set Learn and the replacement of Discovery Kids with The Hub. It continues to be offered to public television stations via independent public television distributor American Public Television to the present day. Throughout its run, it has been underwritten by the National Science Foundation, with Northrop Grumman underwriting season four in 2010.
Overview
Viewers follow Peep, Chirp, and Quack as they investigate and explore the world around them. Following the 9-minute animated segment, there is a 2-minute live-action segment with children exploring and demonstrating the same topic presented in the animated segment. Animation consists of bright colors and simple shapes..
Episodes
Characters
Main characters
- Peep (Voiced by Scott Beaudin): A male, yellow chicken who is very curious. The show's title is derived from his name. Peep is yellow and a male in the original short film.
- Chirp (Voiced by Amanda Soha): A red, female robin who is also curious, and attempts frequently to fly, with unsatisfying results. She is Peep's friend. Chirp is red and a female in the original short film.
- Quack (Voiced by Jamie Watson): A male, blue duck who wears a white sailor's hat. He frequently boasts about himself and ducks as a whole, and unwittingly makes many discoveries. Quack is purple in the original short film
- The Narrator (Voiced by Joan Cusack): The Narrator tells the episode's story, although the characters rarely have any interaction with her. In the episode "Dry Duck Part 1" the birds did have a short interaction with her (mainly Quack.)
Minor characters
- Ant (Voiced by Robert Tinkler): A busy male ant who appears in some episodes.
- Beaver Boy (Voiced by Tessa Marshall): A young naïve male beaver lives in an adjoining pond to Quack's. He appears in several episodes.
- Beaver Mom: Beaver Boy's workaholic mother.
- Beaver Dad (Voiced by Phillip Williams): Beaver Boy's businesslike father.
- Dragonfly (Voiced by Catherine Disher): A quiet dragonfly.
- Fish: Cohabitants of Quack's pond.
- Hoot (Voiced by Corinne Conley): A menacing, but kind purple female owl who lives in the Deep Dark Woods.
- Nellie (Voiced by Marium Carvell): A red female dog who acts as a seemingly maternal figure for the birds.
- Newton (Voiced by Colin Fox): An old, male dark-green turtle who lives under an apple tree.
- Quack #2 (Voiced by Megan Mullally): An annoying pink female duck who has her own pond, built by Quack, Peep, Chirp, Beaver Boy and his parents.
- Rabbit (Voiced by Jayne Eastwood): An excitable and somewhat distracted rabbit.
- Robin: An adult robin (Voiced by Holly Hunter).
- Skunk (Voiced by Adrian Truss): A grumpy skunk who lives near Quack's pond.
- Bat (Voiced by Ron Rubin): A mischievous bat
- Squeak (Voiced by Kathleen Laskey): An anxious pink, female mouse who lives under a brick and always worries about what could go wrong.
- Tom: A sly, male blue-and-black kitten who often tries to eat Peep, Chirp, and Quack. He is the sole antagonist.
Music composition
Music for Peep and the Big Wide World is composed by Terry Tompkins and Steve D'Angelo, from Eggplant. The opening theme is performed by Taj Mahal.[4]
References
- ↑ "Peep and the Big Wide World". National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
- ↑ Lerner, Loren Ruth (1997). Canadian Film and Video: A Bibliography and Guide to the Literature, Volume 1. University of Toronto Press. p. 218. ISBN 0802029884.
- ↑ "The Peep Show". National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
- ↑ Opening video, with lyrics and credits on official page
External links
- Official website
- Peep and the Big Wide World (Current series) at the Internet Movie Database
- Peep and the Big Wide World (1988) at the Internet Movie Database
- Kaj Pindal at the Internet Movie Database
- WGBH
- 9 Story Entertainment
- National Science Foundation grant information
- Watch the original Peep and the Big Wide World at NFB.ca
- Read Goodman Research Group's executive summary of the Peep website evaluation