Television series
Trollz is an American animated television series produced by DIC Entertainment. These trolls were based on the troll doll created by the European in the 1960s.[1]
A single season was produced with a total of 27 episodes. A second season was planned, but was later cancelled.[2]
Premise
The show centers the adventures of five teenaged female trolls (adding gems on stomachs), who call themselves the Best Friends For Life, who use magic every day to help them with their everyday life as well as battling whatever magical creatures and issues they may find themselves up against in their everyday lives.
Characters
Main
The main characters in the series are collectively known as the "Best Friends For Life".
- Amethyst van der Troll (voiced by Britt McKillip): She is the leader of the BFFL. She is a young and naive girl who loves her friends and would do anything for them. Amethyst is also considerate and gives good advice to her friends. Her gem is a pinkish-purple heart. She wears a lavender midriff top with a matching skirt and a fuchsia sash. She also wears fuchsia flats with white straps. Her hair is pink and wavy with a purple heart-shaped hairclip. She also wears pink heart-shaped earrings and a purple heart-shaped anklet. Her eyes are pinkish-purple and she has pink spell beads. Her favorite color is pink. Her boyfriend is Coal and her Ancient is her grandmother.
- Ruby Trollman (voiced by Chiara Zanni): She is the bossy girl and second-in-command of the BFFL, and, as such, is really pushy and passionately cares about her looks. She is black. She is the lancer of the group. If she really wants something, she will do anything to get it. Her hair is red which is done with a star-shaped style; though her natural hair color is brown. She has a red star gem that match the color of her eyes and is a bit more tan than her friends. She wears an off-shoulder, white midriff top with a green star design, and yellow and blue sneakers. She also wears a black necklace with a red jewel, and a gold charm bracelet with a gold star. Her favorite color is red. Her spell beads are red. Her boyfriend is Rock and her Ancient is Obsidian.
- Sapphire Trollzawa (voiced by Alexandra Carter): She is the smartest girl of the BFFL. She is half-Asian. When the friends have slumber parties, Sapphire just wants to study. Her gem is a blue flower. She wears a long-sleeved blue sweater with a white shirt, a pink skirt, ankle socks, and pink loafers with a blue flower on top of it. Her hair is blue and styled in a high ponytail by a pink hairbow. She has glasses on top of her head, her eyes are baby blue, her favorite color is blue. She has blue spell beads. Her boyfriend is Alabaster and her Ancient is Mr. Trollheimer.
- Topaz Trollhopper (voiced by Leah Juel): She is a troll who is a bit of an airhead with a big heart. She loves shopping, is a fashion expert. Her gem is a yellow diamond. She wears a white midriff top with a pink vest over it, a green miniskirt with a pink and white sash, cream-colored leg warmers, and multicolored platform sneakers. Her hair is blonde and frizzy, but styled in a ponytail alongside a green scrunchie. She has amber eyes, her favorite color is yellow. She has yellow spell beads. Her boyfriend is Jasper and her Ancient is Zirconia.
- Onyx Von Trollenberg (voiced by Anna van Hooft): She is a goth girl and has a liking for poetry. She acts aloof but she cares deeply about her friends. She may not be the toughest member of the BFFL, but she is confirmed as the heart of the BFFL. Her gem is a purplish-black moon. She wears a black long-sleeved midriff top with a white tank top with pink polka dots, a black skirt, lavender tights, and black boots. Her hair is purple and styled in Afro puffs which are tied in buckled scrunchies. Her eyes are dark purple and she wears multiple ear piercings on both ears and a silver choker, her favorite color is purple. Her spell beads are purple. Her boyfriend is Flint and her Ancient is Spinell.
Villains
- Simon (voiced by Reece Thompson): Simon the Gremlin is the main villain of the series and appears in numerous episodes throughout the show trying to take over the world of Trollzopolis and get revenge against the Best Friends For Life.
- Snarf (voiced by Janyse Jaud): A half-dog, half-ogre creature and Simon's loyal henchman who sticks by his side despite enduring endless abuse. Able to change from a cute-looking puppy to a hulking beast-like form at will.
Supporting
Boys
- Coal Trollwell (voiced by Jesse Moss): He is a very clumsy Troll often getting into trouble. Boyfriend to Amethyst.
- Rock Trollhammer (voiced by Matt Hill): Rock is a muscular troll with tall blue hair. He is very dimwitted and forgetful. Boyfriend to Ruby.
- Alabaster Trollington III (voiced by Samuel Vincent): Alabaster is a mild-mannered troll with blond hair and rectangular glasses. He is a multi-millionaire, whose father owns a lot of the companies in Trollzopolis. Boyfriend to Sapphire.
- Jasper Trollhound (voiced by Armen Weitzman): During the first episode, Amethyst cast a spell which cost Jasper his hair. However, Jasper has grown used to his new bald appearance and Jasper himself doesn't mind. Boyfriend to Topaz. He is black.
- Flint Trollentino (voiced by Mike Antonakos): He is in a rock band, and loves writing poetry. Boyfriend to Onyx.
Ancients
- Grandma Van Der Troll: Amethyst's Ancient/Grandmother.
- Obsidian: Ruby's Ancient and owner of Obsidian's Spell Shop.
- Mr. Slate Trollheimer (voiced by Jason Connery): Sapphire's Ancient and the girls' teacher.
- Zirconia: Topaz's Ancient and Spinell's wife.
- Spinell: Onyx's Ancient and Zirconia's husband.
Rivals
- Coral Trollarwise: Coral is the senior captain of the cheerleaders. She is in constant rivalry with Ruby, usually for a cute boy's attention. Her gem is maroon. Her gem is shaped like an ace of spades.
- Opal Trollangel: Opal is Coral's main friend. She has tan skin and light-pink hair with a sky blue hair tie. Her gem is in the shape of an oval.
- Jade Trollcroft: Jade is Coral's secondary friend. She has spiky lime green hair. Her gem is in the shape of a thin diamond.
Other
- Kaboom: A dim-witted but friendly volunteer at Obsidian's shop who tends to be the subject of spell bead experiments during the "Spell Moments" at the end of episodes. Originally, he was meant to be a major character, but was reduced in this role instead.
Additional voices
Spell phones
Spell Phones are devices based on real-life cellphones, but are adapted to provide functions for magic and spellbeads as well as provide the standard functions of a normal cellphone. "Spell Calls" are used to cast spells on other Trollz across long distances. To initiate a Spell Call, the caller places a spell bead in the spell bead slot after inciting the incantation and then dialing the phone number of the intended recipient and hitting the cast button. The Spell Phone then transfers the spell through the phone line and when the recipient picks up the phone the spell is released through the receiver of the phone. It is a useful function that allows Trollz to cast spells across long distances, but a lot of teenagers misuse the function and instead use it to play pranks.
Spell Moments
At the end of each episode, short 30-second segments called "Spell Moments" are featured. These feature one of the BBFL summoning a random or weird spell at a male Troll called "Kaboom", which usually leads to unusual situations.
In the DVDs, those are not featured, rather one segment would be featured on each one as a Bonus Feature.
Merchandise
During development of the property, DIC announced that the series would mostly see "tech"-related products to match the theme of the show.[3]
In November 2004, DIC appointed BBC Worldwide as the UK license holder for the property.[4][5]
Broadcast
United States
The "Best Friends for Life" movie originally premiered on Disney Channel on August 27, 2005 (later reairing on Toon Disney in the next month)[6] and then began its regular series run on the syndicated DIC Kids Network E/I block in 2005.[citation needed] The series would later re-air on the Cookie Jar TV block on CBS.[citation needed]
As of 2022, the series is currently streamimg on Tubi.[citation needed]
International
On October 8, 2004, DIC announced that CBBC and TF1 acquired broadcast rights to the series in the United Kingdom and France, respectively, and that the BBC and TF1 Groupe would also serve as the local consumer products agents for the property.[7]
On June 6, 2005, Nickelodeon acquired the exclusive cable, satellite and pay TV rights to the series in sixty-nine territories. The series aired on Nickelodeon channels in countries such as Spain, Holland, Belgium, Scandivania (including Denmark) Israel, Latin America, Asian territories (including Japan), India, Australia and New Zealand.[8] On the same day, it was announced that free-TV rights had been picked up by Mediaset (Italy), RTVE (Spain), RTL Club (Belgium), Alter Channel (Greece), Televisa (Mexico), Saran (Turkey), RTE (Ireland), TVI (Poland) and TVNZ (New Zealand).
In Ireland, the series aired on RTÉ Two from 28 September 2005 to 2006.[9]
In the UK, the series would re-air on Pop Girl.
Home Video and Streaming
On July 28, 2004, DIC announced they had signed a deal with Warner Home Video for the series in North America, where the episodes would all be combined into nine feature-length movies.[10] On September 21, 2005, DIC announced that the deal with Warner Home Video would be extended to all major territories across the world under a five-year deal, except for the United Kingdom, France, and Portugal.,[11] where the series would be released by BBC DVD, TF1 Video and LNK respectively.
These story-arc versions of the Trollz episodes would later see a release on Netflix, including the rest of the scrapped ones.
North America
The first two releases - "Best Friends for Life - The Movie" and "The Magic of the Five", were released in North America on September 6, 2005.[12] Each movie combined the story arcs of Episodes 1-3 and 4-6 respectively in a feature-length format, with additional footage not seen on the TV airings.
Two additional releases - "Hair Over Heels - The Movie" and "You Glow Girls - The Movie", which would combine the arcs of Episodes 7-9 and 10-12 respectively, were planned for a Spring 2006 release but no such release occurred.
On August 8, 2007, NCircle Entertainment, who already held a then-new home video with DIC, announced they had obtained the rights to release Trollz DVDs and announced they would reissue "Best Friends for Life - The Movie" and "The Magic of the Five - The Movie" on August 14, 2007.[13] In December 2007, the previously-canceled third DVD release - "Hair Over Heels - The Movie" was finally released. NCircle then announced they would release "Hair Over Heels - The Movie" and "A Hair A-Fair - The Movie" in June 2008, the latter containing the story arcs of episodes 13-15, but both DVDs were never released.
International
Warner Home Video released "Best Friends for Life - The Movie" and "The Magic of the Five - The Movie" across the world in various regions beginning in 2006.
On February 6, 2006, BBC DVD released "Best Friends for Life - The Movie" on DVD.[5]
In France TF1 Video, released "La Magie des Cinq" in October 2009 through their TFOU Video label, which contained both "Best Friends for Life" and "The Magic of the Five" on one disc. The company IDP later released a 5-disc boxset containing all 27 episodes in November 2015.[14]
Lawsuit
On October 25, 2007, it was announced that DIC was filing a $20 million lawsuit against DAM, certifying that they had alleged claims of fraud in the inducement and negligent misrepresentation of the Trollz property and their licensing deal with the original troll dolls. DIC also claimed that DAM had failed to halt sales of counterfeit Troll Dolls appearing in the market.[15] DAM counter-sued DIC a week later, claiming that DIC Entertainment financially misrepresented its ability to create and market a modern troll doll toy campaign and destroyed the image and goodwill of the doll.[16]
