Entertainment
 

Chalkzone

From Nickelodeon

ChalkZone
Chalkzone logo
is an animated television series, produced by Frederator Studios for the Nickelodeon cable channel.
The series is very reminiscent of the 1974 British cartoon Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings
(which was shown of Nick as a part of Pinwheel in the 1980s).
It was originally featured on Oh Yeah! Cartoons,
just like The Fairly OddParents, My Life as a Teenage Robot and Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! (not featured).


Chalkzone started on 22 March 2002, and ended on 23 August 2008.
The whole series includes 42 episodes; and 2 of the 42 episodes hasn't aired yet,
if those two episodes will air hasn't been announced yet.

Contents

[edit] Premise

The main character, an elementary school 4th-grade student named Rudy Tabootie (Elizabeth Daily (Tommy Pickles on Rugrats)), has been gifted with a magically endowed piece of chalk that allows access to the ChalkZone, an alternate dimension where everything and everyone that's ever been drawn in chalk and erased takes form as the living and/or tangible (compare Philip José Farmer's Riverworld). The show concentrates on the adventures of Rudy, sidekick Snap (Candi Milo), and classmate Penny Sanchez (Hynden Walch) within the zone. A soundtrack album, titled In The Zone (not to be confused with Britney Spears' 2003 album), has also been released.

[edit] Episodes

→ Main article: List of Chalkzone episodes.

[edit] Characters

→ Main article: List of Chalkzone characters.
→ Main article: List of Chalkzone chalk characters.

Rudy Tabootie (E.G. Daily) - The shy artist whom the show stars.

  • Snap (Candi Milo) - Rudy's ChalkZone pal, based on a comic strip character he's created.
  • Penny Sanchez (Hynden Walch) - Rudy's geeky classmate whom he is obviously in love with.
  • Reggie Bullnerd (Candi Milo) - The school bully.
  • Joe Tabootie (Jess Harnell) - Rudy's father, who runs a meat shop.
  • Mildred Tabootie (Miriam Flynn) - Rudy's mother.
  • Horace T. Wilter (Robert Cait) - Rudy's cartoon-hating school teacher.
  • Biclops (Rodger Bumpass) - The guardian of the Magic Chalk Mines; has one eye on top of the other.
  • Blocky (Candi Milo) - A childlike drawing Rudy drew early on.
  • Queen Rapsheeba (Russi Taylor) - ChalkZone's hot rap artist whom Snap has a crush on.
  • Spy Fly - A chalk-fly with a camera attached to her head.
  • Skrawl (Jim Cummings) - A villainous (and strange-looking) chalk-being who is constantly out to "get" Rudy.
  • The Beanie Boys - Skrawl's flying, singing henchmen.
  • The Craniacs - A group of robots looking for futuristic inventions, each one smarter than the last.

[edit] History/Production

ChalkZone was produced by Frederator Studios for the Nickelodeon cable channel. The series can be seen as homage to the 1974 cartoon Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings. But ChalkZone went much farther, positing a world where everything that had ever been drawn in chalk by anyone came to life in the alternative chalk universe, endowed with the soul and personality its creator had intended for it. Thus ChalkZone took such alternate universe stories as Through the Looking Glass and The Wizard of Oz one step further. Where Alice and Dorothy were merely confronted by creatures and situations they had no control over, ChalkZone's hero, Rudy Tabootie had to confront the fact that there were consequences for what he brought into the world and how they interacted with the creations of others. The show was originally featured on Oh Yeah! Cartoons, just like The Fairly OddParents and My Life as a Teenage Robot. It premiered on March 22nd, 2002, as the highest rated new show premiere in Nickelodeon's history up to that. Nicktoons production on Season 1 ChalkZone was accidentally copyright 2000. time. A soundtrack album, titled In The Zone (not to be confused with Britney Spears's 2003 album), has also been released. A second soundtrack album, titled ChalkZone DoubleDozen has never been released. This album can be found on Bill Burnett's website. The show aired on Nick on CBS on February 1, 2003 and ended on September 9, 2004. The show went on hiatus from June 22, 2005 to June 4, 2008. During that time, it was unknown if the unaired episodes would ever air in the US. The unaired episodes aired on Nick between June 4, 2008 to August 23, 2008. On June 28, 2008, an unaired episode did not contain a Music Video. It was one of the first ChalkZone episodes to not have a Music Video at the end.

[edit] Awards

ChalkZone has been nominated for numerous Awards including two Annie Awards a Humantas, and the Imagen award.

[edit] DVD Release

While there have not been any DVD releases specifically for Chalkzone, the Christmas episode was featured on the 2006 DVD Nick Picks Holiday.
Three episodes (Gift Adrift, French French Fry Falls, and Eschucha Mi Carazon) were released for the Nickstravaganza! 2 DVD.

[edit] Current Status

On June 22, 2005, ChalkZone was taken off of Nickelodeon. It then aired on the Nicktoons Network. It is currently running on Nickelodeon on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6:00 AM EST/PST and Nicktoons Network at 4:00 AM EST on Sunday and Monday and Saturdays at 6:30 AM EST. The series' last episode aired on Saturday, August 23, 2008. 2 unaired episodes are remaining as of September 2008.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://nickelodeon.wikia.com/wiki/Chalkzone"