Bubble Guppies
Bubble Guppies is an animated children's fantasy television series created by Jonny Belt and Robert Scull and developed by Belt, Scull, and Janice Burgess for Nickelodeon. The series is a combination of the sketch comedy, edutainment, and musical genres, and revolves around the underwater adventures of a group of merperson preschoolers named Molly, Gil, Goby, Deema, Oona, Nonny, and new student Zooli. The program premiered on Nickelodeon on January 24, 2011, and ran for six seasons until June 30, 2023. The series is produced using 3D software. The series originally ended on October 21, 2016. Almost three years after the last episode of its original run, it was revived for a fifth season on June 4, 2019 with an order of 26 episodes. The fifth season premiered on September 27, 2019. On February 19, 2020, the show was renewed for a sixth and final season, which premiered on October 19, 2021. Seasons 1–4 format The episode starts with the show logo in a room and it is filling with water. Then the Little Fish breaks the fourth wall by saying the title of the show to the audience. The series starts with an introduction by Molly, saying 'Hi, it's me, Molly, and it's time for—' only to be stopped by Gil performing an act related to the episode's subject. One or both of the two then state 'It's time for Bubble Guppies!', and the theme song plays. After the theme song, the Little Fish say the episode's name. An event may occur when one or more characters is on the way to school. For example, Avi breaks his tail in "Call a Clambulance!" when Oona is on the way to school. A guppy tells Mr. Grouper about the earlier experience. He suggests, "Let's think about it", and the characters discuss the theme. A pop song follows, focusing on the episode's main theme. Usually, Molly or Gil sing this song, but there are episodes where Deema or Mr. Grouper sing it instead. One of the guppies may go to a shop that mostly focuses on the theme (example: a doctor's office in "Call a Clambulance!"). The owner of the shop (usually played by Deema) will ask questions about what they need. Jokes and silly responses will eventually lead to the correct necessity. Mr. Grouper often ends this segment by asking, "Excuse me, what time is it?" in a call and response pattern, with the guppies responding, "It's time for lunch!" three times. At lunch, three of the characters make a food pun about the subject of the episode; usually done by Nonny. After lunch, another Gil and Molly sketch is shown. After the sketch, some classroom activity is shown further reinforcing that episode's topic, or Mr. Grouper talks more about the theme. This is usually ended when Mr. Grouper says, "Line up everybody, it's time to go outside!" followed by the "outside song". Outside the classroom, the guppies act out a story about the theme, interfused with Adobe Flash-animated graphics. Once back inside, a dance song is typically performed. In Season 1, the dance song occurred before the story segment, and both were preceded by a second "Let's think about it" segment. After all that, Gil and Molly do another sketch. The guppies may either go on a field trip (before which they yell out "FIELD TRIP!") or do a special activity that focuses on the theme. This may focus on a problem shown earlier and involves the key characters. The episode concludes with a final sketch by Gil and Molly, followed by a shorter version of the theme song. The credits then roll which include a song played earlier in that episode. Seasons 5–6 format Season 5 introduced a new series format which keeps the initial format, but this time has the story segment take up the majority of the episode, and incorporates the shop and lunch segments into the narrative (basically with the new structure, the store and meal parts are now integrated into the story and the story section takes up the bulk of the show). Gil and Molly simply introduce themselves before the theme song with no opening gag. The show cuts right to school after the theme, and the dance songs and field trips were removed. With the exception of select special episodes, Mr. Grouper's overall presence in the show was primarily reduced to the beginning class segments. Gil and Molly's sketches were removed as well, instead having Mr. Grouper wave goodbye to the viewer as the guppies go back inside. Two-level humor track A significant contribution to the show's popularity is its two-level humor track. Minor characters include a police officer named Miranda and a winged serpent named Pretzel-coatl. Heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne guest starred as Sid Fishy in the 2015 episode "Super Guppies!",[6] while actor George Takei guest starred in a sci-fi mashup which pitted him as a Darth Vader-like armored villain against starship captain Gil and his first officer, Mr. Smart (Nonny). Recurring character Mr. Grumpfish is a reference to Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, while the episode "The Puppy and the Ring" makes in-jokes ranging from J. R. R. Tolkien to L. Frank Baum.
Sierra Bent
