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January 25, 2010 (2010-01-25) – April 24, 2015 (2015-04-24)
Team Umizoomi is an American live-action and animated musical preschool children's television series created by Soo Kim, Michael T. Smith, and Jennifer Twomey, and developed by Teri Weiss for Nickelodeon and the Nick Jr. Channel. Twomey and Kim additionally serve as executive producers, and Kim also serves as a producer with Smith and Marcy Pritchard. The series places an emphasis on mathematical concepts, such as counting, sequences, shapes, patterns, measurements, and equalities.[1]Team Umizoomi ran from January 25, 2010 to April 24, 2015, having released 80 episodes over 4 seasons. Although it premiered in 2010, the show started production in 2008. [2][3]
Overview
Using the live actors and props with animated characters, vehicles and environments, the series follows the adventures of the titular Team Umizoomi, a trio of tiny superheroes who use mathematics to solve whatever problems occur in and around their home of Umi City in every episode.
Characters
Main
Milli (voiced by Sophia Fox in episodes 1-18 and Madeleine Rose Yen in the rest of the series) is a 6-year-old girl with abilities related to patterns and measuring. By singing certain phrases, she can use patterns to solve problems. She is also Geo's older sister, and is often the one to lead the team in many of their missions. In addition to being able to change the pattern of her dress, Milli can also alter the appearance of another object or person to match whatever pattern she is projecting on it, and her ponytails can extend to serve as measuring tools, such as a ruler, a weighing scale, and a thermometer. Later seasons would make Milli extra proficient at martial arts, primarily when it comes to jumps and karate chops.
Geo (voiced by Ethan Kempner in Seasons 1-3 and Juan Mirt in Season 4) is a 5-year-old boy and Milli's younger brother. He mainly solves problems based on shapes and can use them to make different kinds of objects, ranging from food, tools, and clothing to animals, vehicles, and buildings.[4] For these purposes, he always has usage of his shape belt, which grants him the ability to summon any shape he needs, but later episodes would give him two more tools; the shape splitter, a longsword that can cut a shape into any form needed, and the shape magnet, a horseshoe magnet that can function as a grappling hook by attaching to any specific shape. Geo always wears a pair of roller skates, and rarely takes them off on dry land.
Bot (voiced by Donovan Patton in all seasons) is a green robot who can extend his limbs to reach things or use the screen on his belly (referred to as his "belly screen") to make calls and do math. He is Milli and Geo's primary caretaker, and as a robot features many retractable tools.
UmiCar (voiced by P.T. Walkley) is the team's anthropomorphic orange car that drives the team wherever their help is needed. The character primarily communicates via engine noises that sound like a cat purring through an electronic filter, though he can pronounce his name with a clear and deep voice on rare occasions. He lacks a face in the early-Season 1 episodes, but he gained one in mid-Season 1 episodes.
Recurring
DumpTruck is a living dump truck who doesn't speak real words and doesn't play fair.
The Shape Bandit (voiced by P.T. Walkley) is a bandit cat who steals shapes.
Squiddy (voiced by Chris Phillips) is a squid who creates all sorts of inventions.
The TroubleMakers (Little Trouble voiced by Nick Heatherington and Big Trouble voiced by Jason Harris) are two mischievous foes with the use of their TroubleRays stir up all sorts of trouble in Umi City and often sabotage Team Umizoomi in their tracks.
TroubleTruck is the duo's transportation unit.
DoorMouse (voiced by Joe Narcisco in season 1-early season 2, Chris Phillips in late season 2-season 4) is a helpful friend who guards all the doors of Umi City. He also guarding bridges, animals, and anything that needs guarding. Although he may sometimes get a little confused, he usually helps the Team on their missions and knows he can rely on help from them.
Shark Car is UmiCar's best friend. As his name suggests, he is a toy car designed to look like a shark.
Fisher-Price released the first official Team Umizoomi toys in early 2012 and were made until 2015. The first products available included plush dolls, bath toys, and figurines featuring characters and vehicles from the show.[5]
Preschool math kits
The first products released included a series of math kits designed to build preschool math skills. Each of the three kits included an episode of the show on DVD, a storybook, math activity book and math mission cards.[6]
Sorting, Classification & Reasoning Pre-K Math Kit (Playground Heroes) (ISBN1612630871)
Shapes, Measurement & Positioning Pre-K Math Kit (Aquarium Fix-It) (ISBN1612630855)
Numbers, Counting & Patterns Pre-K Math Kit (Carnival) (ISBN1612630863)
^Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 272. ISBN9781476672939.
