The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss | |
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Created by | Dr. Seuss (characters) |
Based on | The Works of Theodor Geisel |
Directed by | David Gumpel |
Creative director | Ed Eyth |
Presented by |
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Starring | |
Narrated by |
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Theme music composer | Joe Caroll, Hal J. Cohen and David Steven Cohen |
Opening theme |
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Ending theme |
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Composers | Joe Caroll, Mark Gray, Peter Thom, Steve Klapper, Hal J. Cohen, Zina Goldrich and David Steven Cohen |
Country of origin | United States |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 40 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Producers |
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Production location | Jim Henson's carriage house (Season 1)[1] |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production company | Jim Henson Productions |
Distributor | The Jim Henson Company |
Release | |
Original network | |
Audio format | Dolby Surround |
Original release | October 13, 1996 May 15, 1998 | –
Chronology | |
Followed by | Gerald McBoing-Boing |
Related | The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! Green Eggs and Ham |
The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss is an American children's puppet television series based on characters created by Dr. Seuss, produced by The Jim Henson Company. It aired from October 13, 1996, to December 28, 1998, on Nickelodeon. It combines live puppets with digitally animated backgrounds, and in its first season, refashioning characters and themes from the original Dr. Seuss books into new stories that often retained much of the flavor of Dr. Seuss' own works.
In many respects, seasons one and two of the program are very different shows. The two seasons have completely different intro and outro credit sequences and songs reflecting their differing orientations. The virtual settings seen in this show are created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.
Each episode is a self-contained story based on Dr. Seuss characters such as Yertle the Turtle and Horton the Elephant. The unifying element is that the stories are introduced and commented on by The Cat in the Hat (performed by Bruce Lanoil) who serves as host of the show. Occasionally, The Cat in the Hat himself appears in the episode, reprising his role as a bit of a trickster, as in his original eponymous books (ex. episode 1.6: "The Simplifier").
Season one is notable for hewing closely to many of the themes of the original Dr. Seuss stories, which often had a strong moral overtone. As a result, some episodes have distinctly dark or sinister elements which, like some Dr. Seuss books, may not be appropriate for younger children.
For season two, the show was reworked along the lines of a more traditional children's program. The Cat in the Hat (now performed by a much less gravelly sounding Martin P. Robinson) lives in a playhouse with his Little Cats A through Z and the often flustered Terrence McBird (performed by Anthony Asbury). Aside from the residents of the house there are usually visitors based on Dr. Seuss characters. Each episode revolves around a theme (such as family, health, art) and features one or two songs about the theme. A closing song was also added at the end of each episode. The action shifts between The Cat in the Hat and what is going on in his playhouse and shorter related story interludes, which he shows to the audience by means of his "Wubbuloscope." These story vignettes take place in various locations like:
The tone of season two is much lighter, no doubt the result of bringing in a number of comedic writers such as Adam Felber and Mo Rocca. The Cat in the Hat is no longer a trickster and instead has assumed the role of a friendly and enthusiastic host who is helpful, nurturing and sweet. Although this revised format only lasted one season before the show ended, the format was recognizably previously featured in Jim Henson Productions' next children's program Bear in the Big Blue House, which aired on Disney Channel.
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
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First aired | Last aired | |||
1 | 20 | October 13, 1996 | August 17, 1997 | |
2 | 20 | March 9, 1998 | December 28, 1998 |
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code |
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1 | 1 | "The Gink" | David Gumpel | Belinda Ward | October 13, 1996 | 105 |
2 | 2 | "Who Are You, Sue Snue?" | David Gumpel | Annie Evans (s) Will Ryan (t) | October 20, 1996 | 106 |
3 | 3 | "The King's Beard" | David Gumpel | Will Ryan | October 27, 1996 | 103 |
4 | 4 | "Max the Hero" | David Gumpel | David Steven Cohen | November 3, 1996 | 115 |
5 | 5 | "The Guest" | David Gumpel | Carin Greenberg Baker (s) & Craig Shemin Will Ryan (t) | November 10, 1996 | 107 |
6 | 6 | "The Simplifier" | David Gumpel | Lou Berger | November 24, 1996[2] | 102 |
7 | 7 | "The Snoozer" | John Leo | David Cohen | November 17, 1996[3] | 108 |
8 | 8 | "Mrs. Zabarelli's Holiday Baton" | John Leo | Craig Shemin | December 15, 1996 | 104 |
9 | 9 | "The Mystery of Winna-Bango Falls" | Scott Preston | Alan Neuwirth & Gary Cooper | January 5, 1997 | 109 |
10 | 10 | "Almost There" | David Gumpel | Craig Shemin | February 2, 1997 | 111 |
11 | 11 | "Oh, The People You'll Meet" | John Leo | Will Ryan | February 9, 1997 | 110 |
12 | 12 | "The Blag-Bludder Beast" | David Gumpel | Phil Lollar | March 2, 1997 | 112 |
13 | 13 | "The Muckster" | David Gumpel | Bill Marsilii | March 23, 1997[4] | 113 |
14 | 14 | "Norval the Great" | David Gumpel | Will Ryan | March 30, 1997 | 114 |
15 | 15 | "The Song of the Zubble-Wump" | Scott Preston | David Cohen | July 13, 1997 | 101 |
16 | 16 | "The Road To Ka-Larry" | John Leo | Craig Shemin & Will Ryan | July 20, 1997 | 116 |
17 | 17 | "Yertle the King" | John Leo | Phil Lollar | July 27, 1997 | 117 |
18 | 18 | "Horton Has a Hit" | David Gumpel | Bill Marsilli | August 3, 1997 | 118 |
19 | 19 | "The Birthday Moose" | David Nebel | Will Ryan & Craig Shemin | August 10, 1997 | 119 |
20 | 20 | "The Grinch Meets His Max/Halfway Home to Malmaroo" | David Gumpel | Craig Shemin, Will Ryan & David Cohen | August 17, 1997 | 120 |
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
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21 | 1 | "The Cat in the Hat Takes a Nap" | Emily Squires & David Gumpel | Stephanie Simpson | March 9, 1998 |
22 | 2 | "The Cat in the Hat Cleans Up His Act" | David Gumpel | Adam Felber | March 17, 1998 |
23 | 3 | "The Cat in the Hat's Big Birthday Surprise" | Emily Squires & Kathy Mullen | Mo Rocca | March 10, 1998[5] |
24 | 4 | "The Sounds All Around" | Steve Feldman & David Gumpel | Jay Martel | March 11, 1998 |
25 | 5 | "Make Yourself at Home in the Cat's Playhouse" | Steve Feldman & David Gumpel | Jonathan Greenberg | March 12, 1998 |
26 | 6 | "The Cat in the Hat's Flower Power" | Jim Martin & Rick Velleu | Mo Rocca | March 18, 1998 |
27 | 7 | "The Feed You Need" | Jim Martin & David Gumpel | Adam Felber | March 16, 1998 |
28 | 8 | "The Cat in the Hat's First-First Day" | David Gumpel | Jay Martel | April 7, 1998 |
29 | 9 | "The Cat in the Hat Gets a Package" | Jim Martin & Kathy Mullen | Alana Burgi | March 13, 1998 |
30 | 10 | "The Cat in the Hat's Indoor Picnic" | Emily Squires & Rick Velleu | Mo Rocca | March 31, 1998 |
31 | 11 | "There Is Nothing To Fear In Here" | David Gumpel | Adam Felber | April 20, 1998 |
32 | 12 | "The Cat in the Hat Builds a Door-a-Matic" | Emily Squires & Rick Velleu | Jay Martel | April 2, 1998 |
33 | 13 | "A Bird's Best Friend" | David Gumpel | Adam Felber | April 23, 1998 |
34 | 14 | "The Cat in the Hat's Art House" | Emily Squires & Kathy Mullen | Mo Rocca | April 27, 1998 |
35 | 15 | "Lester Leaps In" | Emily Squires & Kathy Mullen | Adam Felber | April 10, 1998 |
36 | 16 | "A Bird's Guide To Help" | Emily Squires & Kathryn Mullen | Marcello Picone | May 1, 1998[6] |
37 | 17 | "Talkin' with the Cat" | Kathy Mullen & Emily Squires | Mo Rocca | May 4, 1998 |
38 | 18 | "Walkin' with the Cat" | David Gumpel & Rick Velleu | Adam Felber | May 7, 1998 |
39 | 19 | "The Cat in the Hat Helps a Friend" | David Gumpel, Dean Gordon & Anthony Asbury | Michael Bernard | May 13, 1998 |
40 | 20 | "Cat's Play" | David Gumpel & Kathy Mullen | Stephanie Simpson | May 15, 1998[7] |
The series was never systematically issued to home video on either VHS or DVD. Some VHS tapes were distributed by Columbia TriStar Home Video in 1999. Current DVD releases contain three episodes per disc and are a mix of episodes from the first and second seasons.
In 2015, the whole series was released on DVD from Shock Entertainment in Australia.
Nickelodeon aired the series from October 13, 1996 to 1998, with reruns airing until February 6, 2000.
Starz Kids & Family began carrying reruns of the series in 2018.[8]