Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum

Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum is an American-Canadian flash-animated children's television series that premiered on November 11, 2019, on PBS Kids.[1] The series is produced by 9 Story Media Group. It is a concept of the children's book series written by Brad Meltzer and Chris Eliopoulos, named Ordinary People Change the World.[2] The series involves Xavier Riddle with his sister Yadina, and their friends Brad and Berby, at the Secret Museum, and help from historical heroes, who are depicted in the series as children.[3]

Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum
GenreChildren's television series
Educational
Action-Adventure
Science fiction
Created byTodd Grimes
Based onOrdinary People Change the World
by Brad Meltzer
Written by
  • Julia Daley
  • Jiro C. Okada
  • Charles Johnston
  • Jennifer Daley
  • Desmond Sargeant
  • Meghan Read
  • Lakna Edilima
Directed byCory Bobiak
Voices of
  • Aidan Vissers
  • Zoe Hatz
  • Wyatt White
Theme music composer
Opening theme"Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum Theme"
Ending theme"Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum Theme" (instrumental)
ComposerMeiro Stamm
Country of origin
  • Canada
  • United States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes27
Production
Executive producers
ProducerJennifer Bradley
EditorsMeghan Read
Tom Hastings
Running time22 minutes (11 minutes per segment)
Production companiesBrown Bag Films
9 Story Media Group
DistributorPBS Distribution
9 Story Media Group
Release
Original networkPBS Kids (U.S.)
TVOKids (Canada)
Picture formatHDTV (720p)
Audio formatDolby Digital 5.1
Original releaseNovember 11, 2019 (2019-11-11) 
present

Premise

The series involves Xavier Riddle with his sister Yadina Riddle and their friend Brad. In each episode, a problem or difficulty is encountered. They go to the Secret Museum, to time travel to the past, to observe, interact, and learn from the historical heroes. They then return to the present, and use their experience to solve the problem.[2][4]

Characters

Main

  • Xavier Riddle (voiced by Aidan Vissers) – Xavier is the leader of his group with his sister Yadina and their friend Brad. He appears to be an excitable kid who is eager to go back in time and meet various historical figures. He is described as a kid who loves everything (especially art and basketball), but lives for adventures.
  • Yadina Riddle (voiced by Zoe Hatz) – Yadina is Xavier's younger sister. She seems to be eager to explore the secret museum and learn about various historical figures. She carries a stuffed turtle around with her named Dr. Zoom. She is quite talented, whether it be with books or with balls. Although Yadina is very extroverted (not a wallflower at all), she is only six years old. This means that she can be very honest with just about anyone, and sometimes even blunt. For example, Yadina dislikes meanness of any kind, and if anyone is not being friendly to another, Yadina will let them know exactly what she thinks of their behavior. When faced with conflict, Yadina is an expert at making others understand a situation from someone else's perspective, which ultimately requires empathy, self-awareness, and self-regulation. She also has a habit of making bad puns, which she fruitlessly tries to explain to both her brother Xavier and her buddy Brad.
  • Brad Scott Meltzer (voiced by Wyatt White) – Brad tends to be the most nervous and neurotic of his friends and suffers from several allergies. He is sometimes hesitant to go on adventures since travelling back in time makes him dizzy. Brad is quite partial to butterflies, as well as action heroes and is a relatively good artist who enjoys drawing comic book stories. He is described as having "delusions of averageness", and is apprehensive over everything. His friends, Xavier and Yadina, encourage him to live a little and to try new things. He suffers from imposter syndrome. Brad is Jewish, as revealed in the episode I am Tomioka Tossai, when he shows his friends a dreidel. His last name is only revealed on the website. He is an avatar of the author of the book series Brad Meltzer, whom he also resembles.

Supporting

  • Berby – A small, egg-shaped flying robot who resides at the Secret Museum and functions as part of the time machine by transporting Xavier, Yadina and Dr. Zoom, and Brad back and forth in time. Berby communicates by making robotic beeping sounds, and is good friends with the kids and Dr. Zoom. It also functions as the museum's curator, ensuring all of the exhibits are taken care of and in the right places. Berby also appears in all the shorts after all episodes, either racing around the world with Xavier, playing hide & seek with Dr. Zoom & Yadina, co-starring with Brad in one of his "Bradman" comics, or going on random travels with Dr. Zoom. It is also revealed in "I Am Madam President" that Berby is a female robot.

Production

Brad Meltzer wrote the book Ordinary People Change the World and began a series based on the book named the Ordinary People series in 2014 with I Am Abraham Lincoln, I Am Amelia Earhart, I Am Rosa Parks, and I Am Albert Einstein.[5]

The series is produced by 9 Story Media Group's animation division, Brown Bag Films. 9 Story's Chief Creative Officer Angela Santomero states that Xavier Riddle lets kids know they have "the curiosity and adventurous spirit to change the world". Meltzer added to that statement: "When my own kids watch this series, I get to see them realize that there’s extraordinary within the ordinary."[6]

Episodes

Each episode of Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum runs for half an hour. They consist of two 11-minute stories based on famous historical heroes around the world in the past.[7] There may be an interstitial segment between the two main stories, in which Berby, and either Xavier, Yadina, Brad, or Dr. Zoom, are shown doing something fun together.

No.
overall
No. in
season
TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProd.
code[lower-alpha 1]
11"I Am Johann Sebastian Bach"
"I Am Marie Curie"
Cory BobiakWritten by: Jennifer Daley
Storyboard by: Cory Bobiak
Written by: Amy Brown
Storyboard by: Firas Momani
November 12, 2019 (2019-11-12)101
22"I Am Mary Shelley"
"I Am Harry Houdini"
Cory BobiakWritten by: Meghan Read
Storyboard by: Craig Taillefer
Written by: Desmond Sargeant
Storyboard by: Hong Qi
November 13, 2019 (2019-11-13)102
33"I Am George Washington"
"I Am Susan B. Anthony"
Cory BobiakTBANovember 14, 2019 (2019-11-14)109
44"I Am Isaac Newton / I Am Golda Meir"Cory BobiakWritten by: Amy Brown
Storyboard by: Sean Janisse
Written by: Amy Brown
Storyboard by: Stephanie Ramone
November 18, 2019 (2019-11-18)106
55"I Am Winston Churchill / I Am Cleopatra"Cory BobiakWritten by: Jiro C. Okada
Storyboard by: Alex Greychuck
Written by: Lakna Edilima
Storyboard by: Firas Momani
November 19, 2019 (2019-11-19)107
66"I Am Catherine the Great / I Am Tomioka Tessai"Cory BobiakWritten by: Jiro C. Okada
Storyboard by: Sean Janisse
Written by: Meghan Read
Storyboard by: Stephanie Ramone
November 20, 2019 (2019-11-20)108
77"We Are the Wright Brothers / We Are the Brontë Sisters"Cory Bobiakwritten by: Desmond SargeantNovember 27, 2019 (2019-11-27)111
88"I Am Mark Twain / I Am Abigail Adams"Cory BobiakTBANovember 27, 2019 (2019-11-27)112
99"I Am Julia Child / I Am Neil Armstrong"Cory BobiakTBANovember 27, 2019 (2019-11-27)113
1010"I Am Helen Keller / I Am Alexander Graham Bell"Cory BobiakWritten by: Meghan Read
Storyboard by: Alex Greychuck
Written by: Lakna Edilima
Storyboard by: Firas Momani
December 2, 2019 (2019-12-02)103
1111"I Am Florence Nightingale / I Am George Washington Carver"Cory BobiakWritten by: Charles Johnston
Storyboard by: Sean Janisse
Written by: Jiro C. Okada
Storyboard by: Craig Taillefer
December 9, 2019 (2019-12-09)104
1212"I Am Leonardo da Vinci / I Am Amelia Earhart"Cory BobiakWritten by: Charles Johnston
Storyboard by: Alex Greychuck
Written by: Jennifer Daley
Storyboard by: Firas Momani
December 16, 2019 (2019-12-16)105
1313"I Am Zora Neale Hurston / I Am Charles Dickens"Cory BobiakWritten by: Charles Johnston
Storyboard by: Sean Janisse
Written by: Jennifer Daley
Storyboard by: Stephanie Ramone
December 23, 2019 (2019-12-23)110
1414"I Am Jackie Robinson / I Am Anna Pavlova"Cory BobiakWritten by: Desmond Sargeant
Written by: Amy Brown
January 20, 2020 (2020-01-20)114
1515"I Am Mary Leakey / I Am Alexander Hamilton"Cory BobiakWritten by: Lakna Edilima
Written by: Lakna Edilima
January 21, 2020 (2020-01-21)115
1616"I Am Theodore Roosevelt / I Am Eleanor Roosevelt"Cory BobiakWritten by: Amy Brown
Written by: Jennifer Daley
January 22, 2020 (2020-01-22)116
1717"I Am Lou Gehrig / I Am Marie Owens"Cory BobiakWritten By: Lakna Edilima
Written By: Jennifer Daley
January 23, 2020 (2020-01-23)117
1818"I Am Nikola Tesla / I Am Nellie Bly"Cory Bobiak
Written by: Meghan Read
August 3, 2020 (2020-08-03)119
1919"I Am Maya Angelou / I Am Frederick Douglass"Cory BobiakWritten by: Desmond Sargeant
Written by: Lakna Edilima
August 4, 2020 (2020-08-04)120
2020"I Am Louis Pasteur / I Am Rachel Carson"Cory BobiakWritten by: Charles Johnston
Written by: Amy Brown
August 5, 2020 (2020-08-05)121
2121"I Am Kate Warne / I Am Sir Arthur Conan Doyle"Cory BobiakWritten by: Meghan Read + Jen Daley
Written by: Jen Daley
August 6, 2020 (2020-08-06)122
2222"I Am Cesar Chavez / I Am Dolores Huerta[8]"Cory BobiakWritten by: M.R Horhager
Lakna Edilima
Storyboard by: Meghan Read
October 5, 2020 (2020-10-05)TBA
2323"I Am Confucius / I Am Sacagawea"Cory BobiakWritten by: Charles Johnston
Lakna Edilima
October 6, 2020 (2020-10-06)TBA
2424"I Am Mary Anning / I Am Charlie Chaplin"Cory BobiakWritten by: Amy Brown
Written by: Charles Johnston
October 7, 2020 (2020-10-07)TBA
2525"I Am Billie Jean King / I Am Arthur Ashe"Cory BobiakWritten by: Jennifer Daley
Written by: Deamond Sargeant
October 8, 2020 (2020-10-08)TBA
2626"I Am Harriet Tubman"Cory BobiakWritten by: Meghan Read and Desmond SargeantOctober 9, 2020 (2020-10-09)TBA
2727"I Am Rosa Parks / I Am Thurgood Marshall"Cory BobiakWritten By: Desmond Sargeant
Written By: Charles Johnston
October 9, 2020 (2020-10-09)TBA
2828"I Am Wilma Rudolph / I Am Jonas Salk"Cory BobiakWritten By: Amy Brown
Written By: Meghan Read
February 1, 2021 (2021-02-01)TBA
2929"I Am Jesse Owens / I Am Ella Fitzgerald"TBATBAFebruary 2, 2021 (2021-02-02)TBA

Xavier Riddle and the Secret Movie: I am Madam President

A TV special titled Xavier Riddle and the Secret Movie: I am Madam President aired on March 16, 2020. In the special, Yadina, who dreams of becoming president one day, realizes all the presidents were men.[9] She questions if she can still be president, even though it is something no girl has done yet. The trio visit the Secret Museum, where a five-part star is shown to them. They travel to different periods in time, where they meet women who are attempting to do something that has never been done before. Yadina learns from them on what is needed to do something that has never been done before, as she attempts to complete the star. She meets Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Amelia Earhart, Junko Tabei, and Sally Ride.[10]

Broadcast

The series ran on TVOKids in Canada on December 10, 2019.[11] And the series ran with Hop! Israel on May 3, 2020 and Nat Geo Kids Latinoamérica And Nick India On July 12, 2020. It also aired on Mediacorp's Channel 5 in Singapore, Sky Uno in Italy and YLE in Finland

The Song It's You

The Song "It's You" is one of the songs from the show. Two of the lines have a word that ends in the M sound rhyme with a word that ends in the N sound.

Reception

Criticical response

Joyce Slaton of Common Sense Media gave Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum a mixed review. She stated that "the show makes many historical inaccuracies, which makes it odd for a TV show that wants to make history come back alive for kids." She also stated that "the show's tendency to play too fast and loose with the historical facts is confusing, and that 'Go for it!' is an unlikely motto for Amelia Earhart, who deceased in 1937 and didn't complete her solo Atlantic flight as a grade school student, as Xavier depicts." George Washington Carver did have a secret garden as a child, in which he learned important lessons that impacted his career in botany. But, as Slaton states, "it's a real stretch to imagine him having to defend plants from renegade soccer players in 19th century Missouri," and that "the show seems to overlook his importance as an activist for ex-slaves and champion of sustainable agriculture, instead boiling his messages down to 'take care of plants and you'll take care of the earth.'" [12]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominee Result Ref.
2020Annie AwardsBest Animated Television/Broadcast Production for Preschool Children Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum Nominated [13]
2020 Daytime Emmy Awards Outstanding Directing for a Preschool Animated Program Cory Bobiak, Steven Boeckler and Susan Hart Nominated [14][15]
2020 TCA Awards Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum Nominated [16]

Notes

  1. 9 Story files the copyright for the episodes under groups, rather than separate episodes, as seen here:

References

  1. "PBS KIDS Announces New Series Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum, Premiering November 11, 2019". PBS. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
  2. "Brad Meltzer on Finding Heroes for "Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum"". TV Shows. Retrieved 2019-11-22.
  3. Columnist, Francine Brokaw Community. "'Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum' premieres on PBS Kids". Daily Herald. Retrieved 2019-11-22.
  4. "A New PBS Show That Lets Kids Learn from the Example of Historical Heroes". WTTW Chicago. 2019-11-07. Retrieved 2019-11-22.
  5. "Brad Meltzer's kid-friendly history comes to PBS". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2019-11-22.
  6. Siegel, Fern. "'Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum' Streams on PBS Kids Platforms". The Streamable. Retrieved 2019-11-22.
  7. "This Adorable PBS Show Will Teach Your Kids About Golda Meir". Kveller. 2019-11-20. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  8. "Program > KET". KET. 2019-12-30. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  9. https://www.kget.com/community/ricks-reviews/ricks-review-brad-meltzer-makes-history-fun-with-xavier-riddle-on-pbs/
  10. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/xavier-riddle-and-the-secret-movie-i-am-madam-president
  11. "Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum (@XavierRiddleHQ) | Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
  12. "Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum - TV Review". www.commonsensemedia.org. 2019-11-19. Retrieved 2020-02-04.
  13. Mercedes Milligan (2019-12-02). "47th Annie Awards Nominations Announced". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 2019-12-31.
  14. https://www.animationmagazine.net/events/daytime-emmy-nominees-elena-of-avalor-rapunzels-tangled-adventure-lead-toon-contenders/
  15. https://www.animationmagazine.net/events/daytime-emmy-awards-dragon-prince-ask-the-storybots-last-kids-on-earth-win-key-animation-categories-for-netflix/
  16. Mitovich, Matt Webb (July 9, 2020). "TCA Awards: Watchmen, Unbelievable and Schitt's Creek Lead Nominations". TVLine. Retrieved July 10, 2020.

Attribution:

  •  This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA. Text taken from Xavier Riddle, Fandom.com. To learn how to add open license text to Wikipedia articles, please see this how-to page. For information on reusing text from Wikipedia, please see the terms of use.
  •  This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA. Text taken from Yadina Riddle, Fandom.com.
  •  This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA. Text taken from Brad Scott, Fandom.com.
  •  This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA. Text taken from Berby, Fandom.com.
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