Wow! Wow! Wow!note
Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! is a children's animated show created by Bob Boyle (also known for Yin Yang Yo!). It was produced by Bolder Media and Starz, and animated by Bardel Entertainment using a mix of Adobe Flash and Toon Boom.
The show centers on its namesake character Wubbzy (Grey DeLisle), an anthropomorphic gerbil-like creature with a long, flexible tail and the catchphrase "Wow! Wow!", which inspired the rest of the show's title. Each episode often consists of him embarking on adventures or getting into antics with his best friends, the pink rabbit-like Gadgeteer Genius Widget (Lara Jill Miller), the intelligent bear-like Walden (Carlos Alazraqui), and (starting in season 2) the aqua-green energetic girl Daizy (Tara Strong). They all live in the town of Wuzzleburg, which has lots of creatures of every type.
Wubbzy premiered on August 21, 2006 and aired for two seasons until February 21, 2010. In the United States, the show aired on Starz Kids and Family and the Nick Jr. block. (In Canada, Starz licensed the show to Nick's rival Disney Junior, which aired reruns until 2015.)
The show also received two specials: an hour-long Clip Show movie fittingly titled Wubbzy's Big Movie!, which premiered exclusively on the Starz Kids and Family channel in August 2008, and Wubb Idol, which featured Beyoncé as a member of a girl group called the Wubb Girlz (alongside DeLisle and Strong) and premiered in May 2009.
Boyle submitted his original concept for the eventual show as a book to Frederator Studios, the lead creative partner in Bolder Media, and his submission was selected for development into an animated show for preschoolers from more than 6,000 children's book concepts that were reviewed.
Wow! Wow! Tropes!
- A Day in the Limelight: Walden in "Goo Goo Grief!" and "Mr. Cool".
- Accidental Hero: After Wubbzy plays chase with a friendly dinosaur in "Wubbzy the Hero", the town believes that he saved them by chasing a dangerous dinosaur away.
- Added Alliterative Appeal: This show has a lot of W's. Wow! Wow! Wow!
- Advanced Tech 2000: How Widget names her inventions, but she uses "3000" as opposed to 2000.
- Alphabetical Theme Naming: Wubbzy, Walden and Widget. Daizy breaks the pattern.
- Amnesia Episode: "Wubbzy's Big Movie"
- Arboreal Abode: Wubbzy lives in a big tree that's been turned into a house.
- Ascended Extra: Mayor Whoozle, who goes from a one-off character in Season 1 to a recurring character in Season 2.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Appropriately, the episode "Attack of the 50-Foot Fleegle". This also happens to Wubbzy in "Wubbzy's Big Idea".
- Batman Can Breathe in Space: In fact, the concept of oxygen isn't even discussed.
- Birthday Episode: Three Ageless Birthday Episodes.
- Wubbzy celebrated his Birthday in two episodes: "Perfecto Party" and "Big Birthday Mystery".
- Widget celebrated her Birthday in "Dash for Dolly".
- Beach Episode: "Walden on the Beach"
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Wubbzy says one of Widget's catchphrases "That wasn't supposed to happen" in "Wubbzy's Big Move", "Welcome to the Dollhouse", "What Will Wubbzy Do?" and "Wubb Girlz Rule!".
- Bowdlerise: In "Mr. Cool", Widget shows a dance move called the 'spastic ostrich'. However, since 'spastic' is considered a slur in the UK, they replaced it with 'funky ostrich' in the UK dub.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Wubbzy seems to not even take any notice of the fourth wall; he talks to the viewers often.
- Black Bead Eyes: Just about every character on this show.
- By the Lights of Their Eyes: The episode, "Monster Madness" had Wubbzy's eyes shown in the darkness after hearing a bunch of noises which made him think there are monsters in his house after watching a scary movie marathon. What is strange is that Wubbzy does not have the white in his eyes, yet when it is pitch black, the white in his eyes are shown.
- Cartoon Creature: Every single character.
- Character Catchphrase: Besides "Wow! Wow!," Widget also uses "No problemo!" and "That's not supposed to happen." Walden also uses "Yes, yes, yes!", "My, my, my!", and "Very interesting!" Daizy is prone to saying, "Lavender lollipops!"
- Then there's that one kid who always walks by saying "Kooky!" when something weird happens.
- Character in the Logo: Wubbzy is in the logo, usually depicted standing on the top right of "Wubbzy" in the show title.
- Character Tics: All the characters have an idle rest pose where they hold their hands straight to their wrists while clenching their hands in fists, similar to Wallace from Wallace & Gromit. In fact, this pose is listed on the characters' model sheets as a "Wallace and Gromit pose".
- Chekhov's Gun: As the gang runs around the new Wubb Club in "The Wubb Club", Wubbzy spills his glass everywhere they go. When the structure is about to fall over this helps them find their way out.
- Cheerful Child: Wubbzy. He's shown to be cheerful and playful.
- Cheer Up Episode: "Widget Gets the Blooey Blues"
- Christmas Episode: There were three Christmas episodes in this series: "'O Figgity Fig Tree" from season one, and "Great and Grumpy Holiday" and "The Super Special Gift" from season two.
- Clothes for Christmas Cringe: In the episode "Great and Grumpy Holiday," Old Man Grumpus' Freudian Excuse for being grumpy all the time is that he always got long-john underwear for Christmas instead of the choo-choo train he always wanted.
- Compilation Movie:
- The Made-for-TV Movie "Wubbzy's Big Movie!" included seven main episodes and one of the post-show songs along with the main story line, meaning the title cards were cut for these episodes.
- When the four episodes featuring the Wubb Girlz was released on DVD as "Wubb Idol", they were cut together as a hour and a half special, meaning the title cards were also cut.
- Consolation World Record: In "Broken Record."
- Continue Your Mission, Dammit!: In the Flash game "The Great Microphone Hunt", which was released around the time of the Wubb Idol episodes, Widget will ask you to pick between Daizy and Wubbzy on the character select menu. If you don't select either one and sit around on said screen, she will repeat herself.
- Cousin Oliver: Daizy is one of these. She debuted in the second season premiere and thus did not appear during the first season. Second season episodes have Daizy wedged into the Theme Tune by changing a line in the song to include her.
- Clip Show: The 2008 film "Wubbzy's Big Movie" is made up of various episodes from the first season.
- Department of Redundancy Department: In Wubbzy's interview
, when one of the kids ask him what he likes to do for fun.Wubbzy: I like kickity-kick ball, underwater ice cream eating, skateboarding, kickity-kick ball, skydiving, synchronized swimming...did I mention kickity-kick ball? - Earth Song: "Beautiful World"
- Easter Episode: In "Eggs Over Easy", Widget makes the Egg-cellento 3000 in order to do all the work for the Easter egg hunt, but then she learns from Wubbzy (who is in charge of the egg hunt) that the real fun of Easter is doing the fun yourself.
- Episode Title Card: A rather unique example as Wubbzy says the show's name and the episode's name when the title card is shown.
- Everyone Laughs Ending: Most of the episodes in the show end with the characters laughing.
- Evil Lawyer Joke: Wubbzy considers wearing a lawyer costume for Halloween to scare people.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Exaggerated with such things as the kickety-kick ball.
- Expy: Each character shares a similarity to at least one SpongeBob SquarePants character.
- Wubbzy is very similar to SpongeBob both in terms of appearance and personality.
- Widget is comparable to Sandy due to their love of building inventions.
- Walden could be a combination of both Squidward and Mr. Krabs due to sharing the former's love of art and music, and the latter's somewhat assertive attitude.
- Daizy shares many similarities with Pearl in that they both enjoy very feminine activities and like the color pink (though, Daizy is a lot less whiny). Their main attire look very similar too.
- Feud Episode: "Wubbzy in the Middle" has Widget and Walden get into a feud and in Season 2's "What a Card", Wubbzy and Daizy be nice to Earl just so they can get his Touchdown Tiki card and start arguing at the store and when they both attempt to steal Earl.
- First Day of School Episode: "Who Needs School?".
- Funny Animal: All of the characters are anthropomorphic animals who live in houses and (mostly) wear clothing. Interestingly, it's really not clear what animals they are supposed to be. Wubbzy is a—yellow square thing, who might be a gerbil or hedgehog (going by the long tail, it is likely he is a gerbil). Widget kind of looks like a rabbit, but that's mostly her long ears. Walden's species isn't clear at all, though The Other Wiki says he's a Bear. Daizy looks vaguely like a dog.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Widget
- The Ghost: Widget once mentions a cousin named "Ratchet" in "Once Upon a Wubbzy", but said cousin is never shown at all nor ever mentioned again.
- Grass is Greener: "The Grass is Always Plaider", where the trio move to a city made only out of plaid after thinking Wuzzleburg is boring.
- Green Aesop: Wubbzy and the gang have to deal with an excess of plastic bottles in Wuzzleburg in "All Bottled Up".
- Halloween Episode:
- The episode "Monster Madness" from the first season.
- There were two Halloween episodes in the second season: "The Ghost of Wuzzleburg" and "March of the Pumpkins."
- Here We Go Again!: Subverted at the end of "Wubbzy and the Sparkle Stone". When giving the retrieved sparkle stone ring back to Daizy, Wubbzy trips on a rock and it looks like the ring is about to fall into another hole. Thankfully, Daizy grabs it just in time.
- Honesty Aesop: The lesson learned in "Wubbzy Tells a Whopper". Also the focus of the song following it, "Don't Lie".
- Impact Silhouette: In "Woozy Walden", after Daizy knocks on Walden's door asking if he's alright, Widget uses a buzzsaw to cut a hole in her likeness and get through, though Wubbzy opens the door by simply pushing it. The gag is later repeated when she manages to bring Dr. Flooey along with her.
- Inept Mage: "Wubbzy's Magical Mess-Up"
- Ink-Suit Actor: Jann Carl as "Jann Starl".
- It Makes Sense in Context: Used on occasion.Kooky Kid: That's kooky.
- Karma Houdini: The beavers.
- In "The Wubb Club", they deliberately gnaw away a support post for the new Wubb Club, toppling and destroying it, and they get away with it.
- In "Daizy's Purple Thumb", they steal all the produce from Daizy's garden and get away with that too.
- They also stole the Christmas tree in Wuzzleburg Square in the Christmas Episode "Great and Grumpy Holiday".
- Keet: Wubbzy is literally this.
- Kitchen Sink Included: When using the Wubbmobile's drill to dig for Daizy's sparkle stone ring in "Wubbzy and the Sparkle Stone", Widget says that "It's digging up everything but the kitchen sink!" Cue a sink coming out of the ground.
- Large Ham: Wubbzy himself. Exhibit A:
- Wow wow everyone! My name is Wubbzy!!!
- Literal Metaphor: In "Lights, Camera Wubbzy" the guy directing the Wubb Girlz movie asks Wubbzy to be in it, and says "How would you like to be a big star?". It turns out Wubbzy's part is as an actual star in the sky.
- Loose Tooth Episode: In the episode "Tooth or Dare", Daizy has a loose tooth, but the Tooth Fairy is on vacation. Wubbzy, Widget, and Walden devise a plan so that Daizy gets a visit from the Tooth Fairy anyway.
- Love Potion: In "Cupid's Little Helper", in the form of a bubble wand.
- The Man in the Moon: The Man on the Moon was shown a couple of times in the series. In the season one episode "Fly Us to the Moon," he oversleeps, causing it to be night while it is still 8 AM in the morning. He also appears in the season two episode "Wubb Girlz Rule," where he was just taking a nap.
- Match Cut: "Walden is his friend, he's really smart, he knows about science [cut] and books [cut] and art..."
- Me's a Crowd: "Too Many Wubbzy's"
- Miracle-Gro Monster: Wubbzy's pet fleegle in "Attack of the 50 Foot Fleegle."
- Morality Ballad: The songs that play after the second main segment usually revolve around the lesson seen in said segment.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: In "Hoop Dreamz" Wubbzy meets a "hoopty-hoop" player who wears #23 and is named "Jam-Jam James".
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Walden.
- Performance Anxiety: Wubbzy is stricken with stage fright when he has to sing onstage in "The Great Wuzzlewood Concert".
- Pokémon Speak: The only things the Wuzzly Bears ever say is "Wuzzle".
- Prehensile Tail: Wubbzy's tail. It's able to wrap around objects to hold them, as well as coil into a spring shape to allow him to bounce (like Tigger), and it is even a story element in "A Tale of Tails," the show's very first episode.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Wubbzy and his friends are each precious in their own way.
- Robot Me: Widget makes a robot twin in "Gidget the Super-Robot".
- Rocket Ride: Wubbzy by accident in "All Bottled Up".
- Rube Goldberg Device: Widget is prone to these, making enormously complicated devices to straighten a picture frame or clean Walden's glasses.
- Runaway Train: In the episode "The Wuzzleburg Express", the titled train starts going too fast that the gang tried to stop it before it crashes.
- Running Gag: When something odd happens, the Kooky Kid will walk by while saying "That's kooookeeee..."
- Same Language Dub: There's a British English dub of this show.
- Series Continuity Error:
- In a season one episode "Perfecto Party", Wubbzy states that he's allergic to marshmallows. But two episodes, including the previously aired "Wubbzy in the Woods," ignored this as he doesn't have a reaction towards it.
- In "Dash for Dolly", Widget liked Wubbzy's homemade doll better than the Hammering Holly-Dolly. In "Tea for Three", she was clearly shown with a Hammering Holly-Dolly.
- Shout-Out: Come on, it can't be a coincidence that one cartoon was titled "Welcome to the Dollhouse", can it?
- Wubbzy is seen wearing The Cat in the Hat's iconic red-and-white hat at one point in the theme song.
- Many other shout-outs occur throughout the series. In an episode where Wubbzy becomes giant-sized he goes to see a movie called "The Big Big Monkey" that is an obvious goof on King Kong. In another he briefly wears an Iron Man costume.
- In "Lights, Camera Wubbzy", after getting a round of applause for his appearance in a movie, Wubbzy says "They like me! They really like me!".
- The video for "Sing a Song" features Wubbzy imitating several famous musicians, such as "Weird Al" Yankovic, Michael Jackson, Gene Simmons, Bob Marley, and The Beatles, among others.
- Wubbzy himself bears a resemblance to a Pikachu, especially when his tail is in a zig-zag shape.
- The Show Goes Hollywood: Or in this case Wuzzlewood, as a good chunk of Wubb Idol is set there.
- Shrink Ray: "Welcome to the Dollhouse"
- Sick Episode: Walden has one in "Woozy Walden".
- The Smart Guy: Walden
- Snowball Lie: In "Wubbzy Tells a Whopper", Wubbzy breaks Widget's whammer hammer and claims it was stolen by a so-called Growlygus. Unfortunately, what started out as a simple lie turns into a mass panic when the entire city of Wuzzleburg starts believing a Growlygus is on the loose, which only ends when Wubbzy is forced to tell the truth.
- Special Guest: Jeff Bennett as the Fire Chief, Cupid, and Easter Bunny, Phil LaMarr as Jam Jam James, Rob Paulsen as Stu, the manager of the Wubb Girlz, Beyoncé as Shine of the Wubb Girlz, Ty Pennington (of Extreme Home Makeover fame) as Ty Ty the Tool Guy, Michelle Kwan (Olympic figure skater) as Michelle Kwanzleberry, entertainment reporter Jann Carl as Jann Starl, and Tiki Barber (ex NFL Running Back, although Tiki only gets about four lines in his episode) as Touchdown Tiki.
- Stock Footage: The Jukebox Robot segments in Season 2 often reuse the same four songs in every episode.
- Take My Hand!: "Wubbzy's Big Makeover"
- Talent Contest: "Wuzzleburg Idol"
- That's No Moon: Played With in "Fly Us to the Moon."Walden: That's not a star, Wubbzy. That's a comet.
All three friends: A COMET?!? - Theme Tune Roll Call
- There Was a Door: Happens in "Woozy Walden" twice. Widget cuts a hole in her likeness in the wall (later making another one next to the original) not realizing the door was unlocked until Wubbzy and later Dr. Flooey push it open.
- Thick-Line Animation
- Three Shorts: The first season has two main episodes with a short in between and a song at the end. In the second season, the short would also be accompanied with another song.
- Title Theme Tune
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Widget's tomboy to Daizy's girly girl.
- Treasure Hunt Episode: "Pirate Treasure"
- Treasure Map: "Pirate Treasure", again.
- Twinkle Smile:
- In "Puddle Muddle," Wubbzy's teeth twinkle when he cleans them at the beginning of the episode.
- Daizy shows this off in "Who's That Girl?" when she shows off her kickity-kick ball tricks.
- Unusual Euphemism: Daizy's Catchphrase, "Lavender lollipops!"
- Vocal Evolution: In the first half of Season 1, Wubbzy's voice sounds lower and more boyish sounding. In the second half and Season 2, it sounds higher and more cheerful.
- Wardrobe Malfunction: Widget gets this trope at the end of the episode called "Gotta Dance" where she learns how to be a ballerina.
- Walk This Way: Daizy tells her friends this in "Daizy's Favorite Place" when she tells them to follow her to her favorite place. They all walk just like her along the way: Tip-toeing, skipping, hopping, and spinning. Wubbzy also tells the Puff-Puff Penguins this in "Zoo Hullaballoo" when he brings them to stay at his home. He leads the penguins into his tree house while waddling like them.
- What Happened to the Mouse?:
- Old Man Grumpus is only seen in two episodes.
- Also, the Wubb Girlz are never seen again after the 4 episodes they were featured in.
- Wubbzy's pet fleegle, Tiny, is never seen again after his debut episode.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: It is never stated where Wuzzleburg is located. In Fly Us To The Moon, they fly towards the state of Washington. This also makes sense, since there is a lot of forests and there appears to be a lot of rain in Wuzzleburg.
- Wire Fu: "Lights, Camera Wubbzy"
