August 26, 2000 (2000-08-26) – June 9, 2002 (2002-06-09)
Maggie and the Ferocious Beast is a Canadian animatedchildren's television series created by Betty and Michael Paraskevas.[1] The program was based on the 1996 book The Ferocious Beast with the Polka-Dot Hide and its sequels, which were also written by the Paraskevas.[2] Two years later, the show started off as a series of shorts aired on the Canadian channel Teletoon in 1998. The first full-length episode first premiered on Nickelodeon as part of the Nick Jr. programming block on June 5, 2000, in the U.S. before premiering on Teletoon on August 26 of that same year in Canada.[3] The series ran for three seasons, airing its final episode on June 9, 2002.
Premise
A 5-year-old girl named Maggie creates her own map of an imaginary world known as Nowhere Land that, in reality, takes the characters nowhere. She imagines that the characters Beast and Hamilton Hocks are her best friends.
Maggie (voiced by Kristen Bone) is a 5-year-old girl (who later turns 6 years old) and the human protagonist of the show. She is Hamilton's and Beast's best friend, who is adventurous. They both look up to Maggie very much and always turn to her for advice. Maggie is the leader of the group and is always there to be the compassionate voice of reason to her dear friends.
Beast (voiced by Stephen Ouimette in the US and David Holt in the UK) appears ferocious, but is actually gentle and kind. He is a yellow dog-centaur (half-bear, half-pig, half-elephant and half-cow), with red, large, removeable, red spots, and a human's head with three horns on his head. His catchphrase is "Great googly moogly!", which he says numerous times per episode including the opening sequence of the series. In the episode "Hide and Go Beast", it is shown that he is allergic to pollen. Beast likes pretty much any kind of food, especially Hamilton's cooking, and is almost always hungry. He even likes taking baths. He often wears multicoloured galoshes which he pronounces as "Goo-lashes". Hamilton often corrects his pronunciation, but he does not believe him. Maggie and Hamilton are his best friends.
Hamilton Hocks (voiced by Michael Caruana) is a pig who can be bossy and quite fussy, but he does have a warm heart. He lives inside a handheld cardboard box which he likes, is the best cook in Nowhere Land, and is a total-clean freak. Hamilton's most prized possessions are his handsome "H" sweater and his cardboard box, which also happens to be his home. In the episode "Hamilton the Ham", he has a great talent for singing. His catchphrase is "Hoo-wee!" Maggie and the Beast are his best friends.
Recurring
Rudy (voiced by John McGrath) is a cheese-loving mouse who lives in a large wheel of cheese in a part of Nowhere Land called Cheese Town. It is revealed in one episode that Rudy's hat and boots don't come off because they are glued to him. Strangely enough, this character started off with the name Pippy but was renamed by the writers soon after.
Nedley (voiced by Dwayne Hill) is a white rabbit who speaks in rhymes. He says rhymes almost all through every episode that he appears in, but sometimes he talks normally a little before starting his rhyme again. Nedley lives in a rabbit hole next to his carrot patch in Nowhere Land.
The Moo Sisters are the three cows who live in a part of Nowhere Land called Mooville. They all love to sing and do it very often. They are sisters and their names are Millicent, Mavis and Marge.
Mr. Moon is the only non-human and non-animal character in the episode "Blue Moon". He is grumpy because people say he is made of green cheese even though it hasn't been proven.
The Kindly Giant isn't at all scary but instead kind-hearted. The others are scared at first, but they soon get used to him and they sometimes go to him for advice or a favour. He refers to Maggie, Hamilton and the Beast as little ones. He owns a garden full of healthy food (fruits and vegetables), from which he always lets the ever-hungry Beast wolf down a giant blueberry or two. His face is never shown, and he only appears in a few episodes. He is big and strong. Even the Beast seems small compared to the giant. The Kindly Giant lives in an area of Nowhere Land where all the fruits and vegetables are giant-sized. Normally, only his shoes and ankles are seen because of his largeness.
The Dream Sheep are white sheep that make baa sounds. They are occasionally up in the clouds.
The Jellybean Team are a group of seven coloured jellybeans. There is a red one, an orange one, a yellow one, a purple one, a black one and two green ones. They are small, of course, but have big personalities. They also tend to argue with each other a lot because they each think they are more important than the others.
The Triplets (all voiced by Julie Lemieux) are Maggie's baby cousins (Zack, Max, and Oscar). They only appear in four episodes, "One, Two, Three", "Home of the Kindly Giant", "The New Rubber Ball" and "Which Way Did They Go?"
Big Duck is a large duck with white feathers who lives in the water. She is the focus in the episode "The Big Duck" and appears in the series' theme song.
Reggie Van Beast (voiced by Dan Chameroy) is Beast's cousin. His colouring is the inverse of Beast's, being red with yellow spots, and he wears a monocle. Unlike Beast, Reggie is rather stuck up and rude, and never really seems to enjoy anything that Beast and his friends want to do. He also often speaks in rhymes, similar to Nedley. He appeared in two episodes: "Guess Who's Coming to Visit" and "Tag-Along Reggie".
B. B. Katz is a tiger known for playing Jazz music through his large bass. He lives within Mud Creek. His name is based off legendary Blues musician, B. B. King.
Mr. Shivers is a talking snowman who lives in the Nowhere Land mountain.
Archie is a toy dog that appeared in "Roll Over Archie". He is seen in the form of a Scottish Terrier, hence he speaks with a Scottish accent.
Production
The theme song for the show is "Maggie and the Ferocious Beast in Nowhere Land," which is an original theme performed by Isabella Molley. Maggie and the Ferocious Beast is produced by Nelvana and produced with the participation of Teletoon, and directed by Jamie Whitney and Stuart Shankly. The show premiered in 2000 and aired its final episode in 2002. The show is distributed by Nelvana.
Telecast and home media
In Canada, the show aired on Teletoon (now known as "Cartoon Network") and later Treehouse TV. In the U.S., prior to its Canadian premiere, the show aired on Nickelodeon as part of the Nick Jr. programming block from June 5, 2000[citation needed] until September 21, 2005.[citation needed] On April 7, 2003, repeats were introduced and aired on Noggin, a channel co-founded by Nickelodeon. It continued to be aired on Noggin after its rebrand to Nick Jr. until October 30, 2010,[4] when the show was pulled from its lineup. Qubo picked up the show by May 28, 2018, and aired repeats until this channel gave out all operations on February 27, 2021, due to Scripps' acquisition. In the early 2000s, Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment released the show on VHS and DVD. Phase 4 Films's Kaboom! Entertainment in Canada and Shout! Factory in the U.S. released the show as well, with Vivendi Visual Entertainment handling DVD distribution for the Shout! Factory releases. Currently, the show is available for streaming on Tubi.
Revival
On March 18, 2021, it was announced that a revival was in the works. The 2D-animated revival will be titled The Ferocious Beast Show and will be produced by U.S.-based Frederator Studios. Production was scheduled to start in late 2021 for a 2022/2023 release. The show was co-created by Mickey Paraskevas and his wife Maria Bruno, with Michael Hirsh as a producer.[5]
References
^Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 521. ISBN978-1476665993.
