Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends
Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends, sometimes shortened to Sunny Patch, is a Canadian-British children's television series based on the children's books by David Kirk. The series originally aired on Teletoon (and later Treehouse TV) in Canada and Channel 5 in the United Kingdom. It was produced by Callaway Arts & Entertainment.[3][4] A total of three seasons of 44 episodes were produced.[5]
Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends | |
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Genre | Children's television series |
Created by | David Kirk |
Developed by | Nadine van der Velde |
Voices of | Kristin Davis Scott Beaudin Rebecca Brenner Mitchell Eisner Julie Lemieux Robert Smith Tony Jay |
Theme music composer | Jeff Danna |
Opening theme | "Be Good to Bugs" |
Ending theme | "Be Good to Bugs" (instrumental) |
Composers |
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Country of origin | Canada United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 3[1][2] |
No. of episodes | 44 (85 segments) (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Producer | Pamela Lehn |
Running time | 24 minutes (12 minutes per episode) |
Production companies | Callaway Arts & Entertainment AbsoluteDigital Pictures Nelvana |
Release | |
Original network | Canada Teletoon (Seasons 1-2) Treehouse TV (Season 3) United Kingdom Five |
Audio format | Dolby Digital |
Original release | September 7, 2004 – October 26, 2008 |
Chronology | |
Preceded by | Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids |
External links | |
Website |
Premise
The series is set in "Sunny Patch" (a miniature town made of common forest items), populated by anthropomorphic bugs, and primarily centers around the Spider family. The episodes follow the children's adventures playing in Sunny Patch and learning life lessons, such as being kind to others, being imaginative, having responsibility, and being curious about the world around them.
Episodes
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | ||||
1 | 14 | September 7, 2004 | December 10, 2004 | ||
2 | 12 | March 15, 2005 | March 20, 2006 | ||
3 | 17 | December 3, 2005 | October 26, 2008 | ||
Special | July 24, 2006 |
Characters
![](../I/Sunny_Patch_characters.jpg.webp)
Main
- Miss Spider (voiced by Kristin Davis) – Like three of her children, Miss Spider is an adoptee, adopted by Betty Beetle when she could not find her biological mother. Miss Spider tries to be a kind and caring mom and give equal time to all of her many children. She strongly believes that "We have to be good to bugs; all bugs."
- Squirt (voiced by Scott Beaudin) – A curious and adventurous green spider, Squirt is considered to be the leader of the children and as such, more stories center around him than any other. He enjoys surfing the air on his webs, dreams of flying like Shimmer or Dragon, and is often ready to take the lead in an adventure. Because of his impulsive and curious personality, he often needs the advice of his parents to help him with situations.
- Shimmer (voiced by Rebecca Brenner) – A pink jewel beetle with an interest in sports and games, Shimmer is different from the rest of the family as she has abilities the others do not (such as heat sensors). She is one of Miss Spider and Holley's adoptive children.
- Dragon (voiced by Mitchell Eisner) – A purple dragonfly who is one of Miss Spider and Holley's adoptive children. He is the eldest of the Spider children and often antagonistic towards others, especially Squirt. In several episodes, Dragon serves as an example of peer pressure. For example, in "Cry Buggie," Dragon pokes fun at Squirt when he explains his feelings.
- Bounce (voiced by Julie Lemieux) – A blue bedbug who is one of Miss Spider and Holley's adoptive children. He is a two-legged, high-energy bug and the only bug character in the series to have teeth. He and Dragon have been "best bug buddies" ever since they met because of their similar experiences regarding their original families.
Supporting
- Holley (voiced by Robert Smith) – Miss Spider's husband. Holley is a musician who loves to play the guitar. He has a special thinking stone where he makes decisions.
- Spinner (voiced by Austin Di Iulio in seasons 1-2 and Cameron Ansell in season 3) – A yellow spider sporting very large eyeglasses, he looks almost exactly like his father, Holley. He is a smart and wise bug often looked to for advice. While he is not great at physical activities, he has a wonderful talent for the "bugpipes".
- Pansy (voiced by Aaryn Doyle) and Snowdrop (voiced by Alexandra Lai) - Orange spiders who are identical twins. Their only distinguishing features are different colored bows on their head; Pansy wears a pink bow, while Snowdrop wears a green bow. Pansy sings well, but not as naturally as Snowdrop.
- Wiggle (voiced by Marc McMulkin) – A blue spider who tends to be the worrier of the group, and is quite emotional.
- Spiderus Reeves[6](voiced by Tony Jay) – A whiny, conniving, cowardly spider. He lives with his mate Spindella in a crack at the bottom of the Hollow Tree.
- Ned (voiced by Jonathon Wilson) and Ted (voiced by Philip Williams) – A pair of red ant brothers. Ned speaks with an Australian accent and has a tuft of hair between his antenna and Ted speaks with a New York accent. The both of them are scheming and deceptive and have only two main interests: food and getting more of it. A common running gag is that when one bug mistakes Ted for Ned or vice versa, they would correct the bug by saying "I'm Ted. He's Ned." or vice versa.
- Stinky (voiced by Scott McCord) – A green stinkbug who takes up detective work in his free time. He speaks with a New York accent and he is also talented at playing the xylophone.
- Felix (voiced by Richard Binsley) – A frog who was introduced in the three-part special "A Froggy Day in Sunny Patch." Felix longed to be a bug himself and refuses to eat bugs, as he does not find them tasty. Instead, he eats only berries.
Recurring
- Betty Beetle - Betty is Miss Spider's adoptive mother, the kids' maternal grandmother, and Holley's mother-in-law. It's revealed that when Miss Spider couldn't find her real mom, Betty decided to adopt her.
- Uncle Asparagus "Gus" - (voiced by Peter Oldring) - A red-and-green beetle who is Miss Spider's adoptive brother, Betty's son, Holley's brother-in-law, and the kids' maternal uncle. He loves to stargaze with his nephews and nieces.
- Shelley - (voiced by Cole Caplan) - A snail who is friends with the Spider family. He is also part of the Sunny Patch Bug Scouts and is a good helper, as he once helped Bounce get his berry ball back.
- Spindella Reeves - Spiderus's wife who he met in the Snakey Woods near the farm. They have 3 kids named Mandrake, Belladonna, and Poison Ivy.
- Grub (voiced by Rob Tinkler) - A white grub that has told Squirt about the Snakey Woods.
- Whiffy - A light green stinkbug who is Stinky's sister.
- Grace - A little lost ladybug who is currently with Stinky and Spiffy until her real family comes.
- Lily - A grown-up ladybug.
- Snack - A juvenile ladybug.
- Eunice Earwig - One of the Spider family's neighbors and the mother of Eddie and Little Sis.
- Eddie Earwig - Eunice Earwig's son and eldest child. He is good friends with Squirt.
- Little Sis - Eunice's youngest child and Eddie's younger sister.
- Mr. Mantis - (voiced by Wayne Robson) - The teacher of the kids' class.
- Beetrice - A queen bee in a hive part of the hollow tree.
UK Cast
- Maria Darling as Miss Spider, Dragon, Snowdrop, Pansy, Shimmer, Betty, & Eunice
- Andy Turvy as Spiderus
- Joanna Ruiz as Squirt, & Bounce
- Lynn Cleckner as Spinner, Wiggle, Spindella
- David Holt as Holley, Gus, Stinky, & other voices
- Tom Eastwood as Mr. Mantis
Production and broadcast
The series was first announced on December 17, 2003, as part of a Callaway Arts & Entertainment press release.[3] On March 19 of the same year, it was reported that the show was slated to premiere in January 2004 and that Ontario-based studio Nelvana was animating it.[7] The series premiered in January 2004 on Teletoon in Canada and in February 2004 on Nickelodeon in the United States.
On June 20, 2005, a second season with 25 episodes was announced.[8] The second season premiered on March 13, 2006, with the episode "Captain Sunny Patch."[9] A third season followed and Teletoon aired the show's last episode in June 2007. The series' final episodes did not air in the United States until 2008 when several episodes which had yet to be broadcast in the country were aired on Noggin.[10] The show aired reruns on Nick Jr. from September 28, 2009 until December 12, 2014. Qubo started airing reruns of the show on October 1, 2018. In 2020, the show also began to re-run on ZooMoo internationally.
In Germany, it airs on Fix & Foxi.
References
- https://www.amazon.com/Fungus-Among-Us-Ground-Bound/dp/B00AWMGQ7W
- "Nelvana Shows: Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends". nelvana.com.
- Callaway Arts and Entertainment (17 December 2003). "Callaway Arts & Entertainment's plans for the Sunny Patch brand". prnewswire.com.
- Corus Entertainment/Nelvana Limited (20 February 2005). "Nelvana reveals its long-anticipated licensee line-up for Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends". prnewswire.com.
- 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. 198. ISBN 9781476672939.
- http://reviews-of-childrens-literature.pbworks.com/w/page/10581702/Miss%20Spider’s%20Wedding
- Nelvana Limited (5 January 2004). "Kristin Davis lends her voice talents to Nelvana's Sunny Patch". prnewswire.com.
- "Nick to Spin More Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends". Animation Magazine.
- Nick Jr. (13 March 2006). "Nick Jr. Premieres Season Two of Its Hit 3-D Animated Series, Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends". prnewswire.com.
- "Sunny Patch on NOGGIN". noggin.com. Archived from the original on 23 December 2008.