Space Racers

Space Racers
Also known as The Space Racers
Genre Animated, children's
Created by Richard Schweiger and Julian Cohen
Developed by Allan Neuwirth and Mark Risley
Written by Allan Neuwirth, David H. Steinberg, Kate Boutilier, David Steven Cohen, Gabe Pulliam, Louise Gikow, Sam Dransfield, Davey Moore, Donna Logan, Phil Lollar, George Arthur Bloom, Angelo DeCesare, Ann Aptaker, Jim Kierstead, Richard Fegen, Andy Yerkes, P. Kevin Strader, Michael Daedalus Kenny, Chad Burke, Julian Cohen
Directed by Mark Risley
Theme music composer Jody Gray
Opening theme Jody Gray, Allan Neuwirth, David Cohen
Country of origin New Zealand
United States
Original language(s) English
No. of episodes 45
Production
Executive producer(s) Michael Matays, Charles Matays, Matthias Schmitt
Producer(s) Space Race LLC, Mark Risley, Allan Neuwirth
Running time 30 minutes
Distributor Cake Television
Release
Original network PBS
Sprout
Original release February 15, 2014 (2014-02-15) (broadcast debut) May 2, 2014 (2014-05-02) (US debut) – 2017
External links
Website

Space Racers is an American CGI animated television series featuring the cadets of the Stardust Space Academy. It was first broadcast in 2014. The show focuses on science and technology components as part of an early childhood STEM curriculum, with input from NASA on science and space technology within the series.

Series overview

Space Racers is an educational animated television series aimed at children 3–6 years old. The main characters—Eagle, Hawk, Robyn, Starling and Raven—are cadets at the Stardust Space Academy, and each episode they discover a series of space-based scientific discoveries. The cadets spend each episode traveling through outer space.[1][2][3]

Development

The series concept was developed by Richard Schweiger, who wanted to create a show based around animated vehicles that traveled through space. Schweiger and Julian Cohen developed the idea into a feature-film script in 2009, which won a screenwriting award. In 2010 he formed the company that would produce Space Racers, and instead of pursuing a film, they decided to turn the concept into a television series.[1][2] The idea developed into fifty individual 11 minute episodes for broadcast.[3] The series is distributed by Maryland Public Television and American Public Television.[4] Cake Television is the distributor for the show internationally.[5]

Season one

Season one of Space Racers consisted of 26 half-hour episodes, first airing in 2014. The show's head writer was Allan Neuwirth, its director was Mark Risley, and its executive producers were Brenda Wooding as well as show creator Richard Schweiger.[6] Episodes would contain two eleven-minute animated segments, offset by live-action sections between them. The US premiere of the show was on May 2, 2014.[1][3] The show was also in international syndication, including broadcastings on France 5[7] and the show's world broadcast debut on February 15, 2014 in New Zealand.[1]

Voice cast

Collaborations

The Space Racers TV series was produced in collaboration with NASA experts, with input from NASA experts on science-based facts incorporated into the episodes. The show also features NASA scientists and astronauts in live action interstitials. The Space Racers creators have also developed a website where viewers can find a preschool science curriculum on space science, which was developed in collaboration THIRTEEN productions (WNET) and SiiTE. SpaceRacers.org has a section for family-based education as well for educators and parents.[2] Special screenings of episodes have been held at both the Kennedy Space Center and the Wallops NASA Visitor Center, in collaboration with Maryland Public Television.[2][8] In July 2014, the Virginia Air and Space Center opened a Space Racers-themed exhibit.[9]

Awards

Space Racers has won several awards in children's broadcasting including the American Public Television (APT) Programming Excellence Award in 2014 and a Parents’ Choice Recommended Award in 2015.[10] [11]

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/25/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.