ChalkZone

ChalkZone
Logo
Format	Animated series
Created by	Bill Burnett Larry Huber
Starring	E.G. Daily Hynden Walch Candi Milo Miriam Flynn Jess Harnell Robert Cait Rodger Bumpass Buck Owens Russi Taylor Tress MacNeille Jim Cummings Rob Paulsen
Country of origin	United States Canada
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	42 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Bill Burnett Larry Huber Fred Seibert
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Frederator Studios Nickelodeon Animation Studios
Distributor	Nelvana (Internationally)
Broadcast
Original channel	Nickelodeon YTV The N
Original run	January 1, 1998 (1998-01-01) - June 29, 2000 (2000-06-29) (Oh Yeah! Cartoons) March 22, 2002 (2002-03-22) – November 21, 2009 (2009-11-21)

ChalkZone is an American animated television series that aired on Nickelodeon. It was created by Bill Burnett and Larry Huber, and produced by Frederator Studios for the Nickelodeon TV channel (executive producers: Bill Burnett, Larry Huber, Fred Seibert). It is distributed outside the United States by Canadian animation company, Nelvana Limited.

Premise

The main character, an elementary school student named Rudy Tabootie (E.G. Daily), has been gifted with a magically endowed piece of chalk that allows access to the ChalkZone, an alternate dimension where everything and everyone that's ever been drawn in chalk and erased takes form as the living and/or tangible. The show concentrated on the adventures of Rudy, his sidekick Snap (Candi Milo), and classmate Penny Sanchez (Hynden Walch) within the zone.

History/Production

ChalkZone was produced by Frederator Studios for the Nickelodeon cable channel. By some—not its creators—the series can be seen as homage to the 1974 cartoon Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings. But ChalkZone went much farther, positing a world where everything that had ever been drawn in chalk by anyone came to life in the alternative chalk universe, endowed with the soul and personality its creator had intended for it. Thus ChalkZone took such alternate universe stories as Through the Looking Glass and The Wizard of Oz one step further. Where Alice and Dorothy were merely confronted by creatures and situations they had no control over, ChalkZone's hero, Rudy Tabootie had to confront the fact that there were consequences for what he brought into the world and how they interacted with the creations of others.

The show was originally featured on Oh Yeah! Cartoons, just like The Fairly OddParents and My Life as a Teenage Robot. It premiered on March 22, 2002, as the highest rated new show premiere in Nickelodeon's history up to that. Nicktoons production on Season 1 ChalkZone was accidentally copyrighted 2000.^[1] A soundtrack album, titled In The Zone (not to be confused with Britney Spears's 2003 album), has also been released. The series aired on The N in reruns on April 1, 2002 to November 2004, and it is dropped by the channel on December 31, 2004, but returned on May 2005 until September 2006. Then the show returned on May 3, 2008 until September 16, 2009. On October 7, 2009, ChalkZone did not return to TeenNick. The show aired on Nick on CBS on February 1, 2003 and ended on September 11, 2004. The show went on hiatus from June 22, 2005 to June 4, 2008. During that time, it was unknown if the unaired episodes would ever air in the US. The unaired episodes aired on Nick between June 4, 2008 to August 23, 2008. It then again went on hiatus and the last 2 episodes ended up being aired in November 22, 2009.

Awards

ChalkZone has been nominated for two Annie Awards, a Humanitas Prize and an Imagen Award.

Characters

Main Characters

• Rudolph Bartholomew “Rudy” Tabootie, voiced by E.G. Daily, is the artist whom the show stars. Rudy is the main character. He is also in Fifth Grade. He travels to ChalkZone with his best friends Penny and Snap. He has magic chalk that he can use to draw portals into ChalkZone and draw things out of thin air. It has been suggested throughout the series that he has a crush on Penny. He is 10 years old
• Snap, voiced by Candi Milo, is a small blue, humanoid drawing made by Rudy, and his best friend. Created by Rudy when he was 8 years old, he speaks with a New Jersey-like accent, and is adventurous and witty. His suit looks like something a superhero would wear.
• Penelope Victoria “Penny” Sanchez, voiced by Hynden Walch, is Rudy's best friend, a genius who helps him, and is the only other human besides Rudy who knows about ChalkZone. She is also in fifth grade just like Rudy. It has been shown that she might have a crush on Rudy. She is the same age as Rudy.

Minor Characters

• Reginald "Reggie" Bullnerd, voiced by Candi Milo, is the school bully. Gets stuck in a lot of things and his full name is shown in the unaired episode "Teachers' Lounge". He gets into trouble all the time and even has a school record with its own file drawer.
• Joe Tabootie, voiced by Jess Harnell, is Rudy's father, who runs a meat shop.
• Mildred Tabootie, voiced by Miriam Flynn, is Rudy's mother.
• Horace T. Wilter, voiced by Robert Cait, is Rudy's cartoon-hating school teacher. He comes close to learning about ChalkZone in the episode "Secret Passages."
• Biclops, voiced by Rodger Bumpass, is the guardian of the Magic Chalk Mines. He was originally named "Cyclops" until Rudy gave him a second eye. He wears a Scottish attire, including a kilt around his legs. His two eyes are drawn on top of each other. He speaks in a slight Scottish accent.
• Queen Rapsheeba, voiced by Rosslynn Taylor, is ChalkZone's song artist. Snap has had a crush on her forever.
• Blocky, voiced by Robert Cait (and Candi Milo in his earlier appearances), is one of Snap's closest friends. He is a light green block and is claimed to be Rudy's first-ever drawing. His attitude is similar to the later 2007 cartoon character, Chowder.
• Skrawl, voiced by Jim Cummings, was a drawing that was messed up by a bunch of kids at a birthday party Rudy had gone to. Skrawl blames Rudy for being ugly and wants to destroy him. Besides Reggie, Skrawl is one of the villains in the show. His most recent appearances are in "The Skrawl" and "Double Trouble." He has a Blues\R&B Soul voice most likely similar to B.B King.
• Granny in the Bathtub: A drawing Rudy made, intended for humor.
• The Craniacs, voiced by Rob Paulsen, are a series of robot drawings obsessed with collecting futuristic devices. The current version is Craniac 4, drawn by Rudy to get rid of Craniac 3.

DVD release

While there have not been any DVD releases specifically for Chalkzone, the Christmas episode was featured on the 2006 DVD Nick Picks Holiday. Three episodes(Gift Adrift, French Fry Falls, and Eschucha Mi Carazon) were released for the Nickstravaganza! 2 DVD.

Shout! Factory announced ChalkZone: The Complete series and Seasons releases on DVD.

Current status

On June 22, 2005, ChalkZone was taken off of Nickelodeon. It then aired on the Nicktoons Network. It is currently running on Nicktoons Network at 4:00 AM EST on Sundays and Mondays (counted as weekends, due to Nicktoons' broadcast "day" not starting until 6:00 AM EST). The series' last episode aired on Saturday, August 23, 2008. All episodes have been aired as of December 2009. In 2010, Nickelodeon canceled the series.

It is not currently on any Nick Network at this time

References

1. ^ "http://web.archive.org/web/20020817185332/www.viacom.com/press.tin?ixPressRelease=80003771"

External links

• ChalkZone at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• ChalkZone at the Internet Movie Database
• ChalkZone at Frederator Studios