Grossology (TV series)

Infobox Television
bgcolour = #DDDDFF
show_name = Grossology
format = Animation
genre = Action, Adventure,
runtime = 24 minutes
starring =Krystal Meadows
Michael Cohen
M. Christian Heywood
Paul O'Sullivan

country = Canada
network = YTV
first_aired = September 29, 2006
last_aired = Present
num_seasons = 1 (2nd upcoming)
num_episodes = 26
company = Nelvana Limited
website = http://www.ytv.com/programming/shows/grossology/
imdb_id = 0901176
tv_com_id = 68042

"Grossology" is a Canadian animated television series produced by Nelvana, and based loosely on the non-fictional children’s book series of the same name by Sylvia Branzei. It debuted on the YTV network in Canada on September 29, 2006, and was first shown on Discovery Kids in the United States on January 13, 2007. It also aired on Jetix on June 2, 2007 and Kix! from September 15, 2008 in the United Kingdom; in Nickelodeon last March in South East Asia, and aired on ABC TV in Australia in December of 2007.

This series is painstakingly animated using the partially-developed software [http://www.toonboom.com/products/harmony/ Toonboom Harmony] (and later, [http://www.toonboom.com/products/digitalpro/ Toonboom Digital Pro] ). The first season consists of 26 half-hour intallments, and the second season has premiered on September of 2008. The principal character designs were done by Faruk Cemalovic (who is also the character designer for Nelvana's "6teen").

Plot

Ty and Abby are a brother and sister crime-fighting team who report to the secret government facility named Department of Grossology [Ytv.com] . Each episode of the series follows the pair on adventures based on real scientific facts. Aided by their friend Lab Rat (a human), Ty and Abby face many disgusting criminals.

Characters

Major characters

* Abby Archer (voiced by Krystal Meadows) ["(Based upon character descriptions from YTV.com and Kids. Discovery.com)"] - Abby unravels mysteries so disgusting no adult will touch them. She loves everything gross and slimy – nothing grosses her out. Abby likes to test her limits to see if there is something so gross, so slimy, so disgusting, that it will make even her, the Queen of Squeam, turn green. So far nothing has come close. Although she closely resisted gagging at gross sights on a rare number of occasions (in "The Slim Slime Man" and "Go Fish," for example), the only exception was in "Yack Attack", when she unknowingly drank contaminated water and threw up. She gets covered in slop the most, and being dirty has yet affected her trademark ponytail. On the field, she is a competent fighter. She holds a severe grudge against not only villains like Lance Boil, but her school rival Paige. Unlike her younger brother Ty, she is athletic and depends on her instincts and feelings at times, however sometimes her feelings cloud her judgment when she has an affection for the suspect in question. Throughout the series she has shown interest in drama and sports like volleyball. She is scared of leeches as shown in the episode "Vein Drain". Abby and Ty share ownership of their kitten Hairball. She also tried out for the volleyball team at the goading of her father Harvey, who wanted her to live his dream through her.

* Ty Archer (voiced by Michael Cohen) - Ty is Abby's little brother and a hard kid to faze. His cool, analytical mind takes everything in. He sees himself as a scientist and he takes his job very seriously, too seriously if you listen to Abby. In his mind, science is everything, and his goal is to be remembered with the very best in his field. He and Lab Rat share many common interests. On the field, Ty pilots/drives the GRS-1 and is great at strategic manoeuvres. His quick thinking has saved the day many times. His utility pack doubles up as a jet pack. Ty owns a chemistry set at home and often does analyses on things he finds (eg. Hairball’s hairballs). He gets tongue tied around his love interest Naomi. It was hinted in “Queen for a Day” that he is afraid of clowns.

* Paul "Lab Rat" Squirfenherder (voiced by M. Christian Heywood) - Paul Squirfenherder is the Grossology Department's tech support, designing and building gadgets and vehicles to aid Grossologists on their missions. He spends so much time doing experiments that it earned him the nickname “Lab Rat”. His impressive inventory of hi-tech gadgets and encyclopedic knowledge make him invaluable to the team. He has a pet rat named Hermes, who treats as his best friend. Lab Rat often gives Ty and Abby solutions and inventions to stop the villains. Lab Rat suffers from Agoraphobia, he has only ventures out of the Gag Lab for Hermes’ well being. It has been suggested that Lab Rat also "lives" in the Gag Lab. The episode "Owl Most Foul" is where Lab Rat not only steps out of the Gag Lab for the first time, but also first wears his blue Slime Suit. In the episode "Fartzilla", a robotic version of Hermes was used to break into the school cafeteria in order for Ty and Abby to investigate.

* The Director (voiced by Paul O'Sullivan) - He is stern. He is officious. He is the man who gives the Grossologists their repulsive assignments. And he is also incredibly squeamish. The world is full of filth and germs from the Director's perspective, and he must do everything he can to keep the city, and more importantly himself, uncontaminated. Even though he dislikes his area of work, it is still better than no job (this prompting Ty to ask his sister "what exactly does he do anyway?"). The Director is known to arrogantly enter the scene when the crime is solved and take all the credit. He claims that Abby and Ty's success is because of his "great leadership skills" and a variety of other qualities. Unfortunately for him, Abby and Ty see right through his farce and make sure to it that his ego is kept in check. That isn't hard to do, since the crime scene often unnerve the Director. (Once, he claimed to have an iron-cast stomach in front of The Detective. After sniffing Ty's Sloppy-Joe-induced stench, promptly vomited on the spot. To that, The Detective said "Mr. Director, do you mind cleaning up your iron-cast stomach off my shoes?"). Despite his incredibly squeamish nature, he has on one known occasion, gone into the field on his own to search for his missing agents (Episode #13, "Kid Rot").

Grossology Arsenal

* The Gag Lab - The Grossologists' base of operations; a sterile, airtight super-lab, where Abby & Ty assemble for each case/examination (via secret entrances in their school lockers, where they suit/gear up). Lab Rat is always there to assist them.

* Slime Suit - Skin-tight superhero-like costume worn by each Grossologist. Abby wears a yellow one, and Ty an orange-red one. (On rare occasions, Lab Rat wears a blue one.) They also always wear these when entering the Gag Lab.

* Slime Goggles - Usually worn with the Slime Suits on missions. Polarized green goggles with night vision and targeting mini-computers.

* Grossometer - Pocket-sized communication/analyzer devices carried by each Grossologist. Has a scanner which sends sample results to Lab Rat for analysis, and when unfolded, has three audio/video screens (with which each Grossologist can communicate simultaneously).

* Goop Shooter - An electronic water cannon-like blaster worn over the hand, which shoots a sticky green goop that neutralizes its enemies. Abby & Ty's basic weapons.

* Gross Grabber - A robotic claw-like device worn on the hand. Used chiefly by Ty to handle and analyze gross substances at the scene of a crime.

* GRS-1 - An all-terrain automobile that can also fly. Abby & Ty's ultimate means of transportation. Equipped with a Goop Cannon.

* The Snot Shooter- Used by Lab Rat in Episode 21 ("The Return of Fartor"). Similar to the Goop Shooter, it shoots snot instead of goop.

* The TyMobile- Appeared once in Episode 12 ("The Greatest Race Ever Crawled"). A new vehicle constructed when the GRS-1 broke down in a chase against Insectiva. Lab Rat, Ty and the Director, fascinated with sleek gadgetry, loved it, and Ty uses it as a plaything, which totally annoys Abby. Capable of flight, hopping, crawling and has a built-in stereo system. Destroyed by Insectiva and her insects, but not before Ty and Abby use its stereo system as a last resort to foil Insectiva's plan.

* Director's Slime Super Suit - A protective exo-suit. It is heavily armored and fully encloses the wearer, granting greater protection than what the standard issue Slime Suit may provide. It also appears to include air filtration systems allowing the wearer a sterile working condition inside the suit. The Director donned this suit in Episode #13 ("Kid Rot") while searching for Ty, Abby and Lab Rat in the wreck of the Gag Lab (caused by the titular villain).

* The Stinkaliser - A gas mask that can detect certain stenchs.

Villains

* Insectiva (voiced by Lili Francks) - She was once a promising young university student who wanted to study entomology (the study of insects) – until she discovered how insects are treated by science; captured and dissected! Now, armed with all sorts of bugs, arachnids, and other creepy-crawlies, she pursues an insect agenda – wipe all people off the planet so bugs can rule again!
** Real Name: Cara Chitin
** First Appearance: Episode 1 ("Queen for a Day")
** Cara Chitin's last name is based on chitin, what insects' exoskeletons are made of.

* The Slim Slime Man (voiced by Neil Crone) - A bitter old sewer worker, who abnormally fused with a living slime mold while working in the sewers one day, becoming a strange giant slime creature with a ghoulish skull-like head seen inside. As he gets more powerful, he aims to cover the surface world with living slime molds.
**Real Name: Slim
**First Appearance: Episode 2 ("The Slim Slime Man")

*Fartor (voiced by Sean Cullen) - Fifteen years ago, he was just an ordinary kid. That was until his older brother Gary tortured him by stuffing his brother under the bedsheets and farting in there. During those fifteen years, he became adapted to breathing the gases in farts. Like a fish out of water, clean air is toxic for him, so he breathes toxic gases in a dome that he wears on his body. There was only one thing Fartor wanted - revenge on his brother Gary.
**Real Name: Larry
**First Appearance: Episode # 3 ("Fartzilla")

*Sloppy Joe (voiced by George Buza) - After discovering that a whiff of his stink was enough to render people unconscious, Joe vowed to never let a drop of water, soap, or deodorant touch his skin again, and turned to an easy life of crime. His plan: go from filthy, to filthy rich! Once he is shown to be clean, he appears to be an albino.
**First Appearance: Episode # 4 ("The Perfect Stink")
**Real Name: Joe Puglowski

*The Scab Fairy (voiced by Jessica Holmes) - A crazed former beauty queen who was traumatized over a small cut to her shoulder, ending her career. Not seen since then, she used her exceptional degree in dermatology and mythology to create a high-tech dragonfly-winged suit made of scabs, and takes the identity of the Scab Fairy, based on a Tooth Fairy-like myth figure that collects scabs (rather than teeth). She is armed with a high-tech wand that removes scabs from people's wounds, and inflicts them on others. Her ultimate obsession is to inflict scabs on anyone pretty, as revenge for the loss of her old beauty queen career.
**Real Name: Helena Globin
**First Appearance: Episode # 5 ("The Scab Fairy")
**Helena Globin's name is a pun on the word hemoglobin, a blood-related property.

*Lance Boil (voiced by Juan Chioran) - He was once a successful Grossologist, but grew tired of the grind. After quitting the team, he decided to use his skills to evil, with one goal in his twisted head – revenge against all Grossologists! - especially Abby and Ty.
**First Appearance: Episode # 6 ("When Ya Gotta Go")
**Specifically, Lance Boil quit the Grossology team for never receiving much credit and making even less money (referring to the Director).

*Keith Van Kobbler (voiced by Pat Mastroianni) - A popular and undefeated young basketball player, and Abby's former idol. Calls himself "VK" for short, and always refers to himself in the third person. Endorsed the "KVK-1" brand super-sneakers, which have been a runaway success, but after a short while, all wearers (including VK's opposing players, up-and-coming basketball players) suffer a severe case of foot fungus! After painstakingly examining the KVK-1 sneakers in the case, Ty and Lab Rat suspect VK himself to be the culprit, while Abby has difficulty accepting their suspicion. As it turns out, VK is "indeed" the culprit, with a twisted method behind his fame; he singlehandedly manufactured the KVK-1 sneakers for mass consumption, and spiked them with fungus (while wearing a non-spiked "Deluxe Edition" pair for himself, of course), so that everyone will have foot fungus, and most of all, eliminate the competition, so that he will be the "only" basketball player in the world! Armed with a high-tech "Wrecking Ball" basketball.
**First Appearance: Episode # 9 ("It's Gotta Be the Shoes")

*Mr. Fowler (voiced by Derek McGrath) - He is the custodian at Ringworm Junior High School. He is small, timid, and wears oversized glasses. Always hums the song "4 and 20 Black birds backed in a pie." He grew tired of cleaning up the excess pigeon poop around the school, so he built a giant mechanical owl suit, with which he captures pigeons and plots to put them in a pie to bake them.
**First Appearance: Episode #10 ("Owl Most Foul")

*Kid Rot (voiced by Travis Ferris) - After a science experiment mishap, young boy Chester gains the "rotting touch," with which he causes all organic materials to rot with a single touch, and also gives off a horrible smell. He becomes a new student at Ringworm Junior High School, and causes chaos upon his arrival, with a concerned Abby and Ty trying to cure him (Abby initially had feelings for him, much to Ty's suspicion). But Chester's rotting powers literally go to his head, giving him a twisted personality (even christening himself "Kid Rot"), and making him a formidable and diabolical foe for the Grossology team. Worse, he has a psychotic infatuation for Abby (who ultimately hates him, at least his prevalent Kid Rot persona), and will stop at nothing to win her heart, even going as far as to rot the entire world!
**Real Name: Chester
**First Appearance: Episode # 13 ("Kid Rot")
**Is named for popular rock singer Kid Rock.

*Dr. Cornelius Colon (voiced by Peter Keleghan) - A mad proctologist, who plots to engulf the world in a gigantic colon, starting with Ringworm Junior High School (on the last day before its Summer vacation), to take revenge on people for unsympathetically making fun of him for his unfortunate surname. Has giant tapeworms as henchmen.
**First Appearance: Episode # 18 ("School's Grossed Out for Summer")

*Far-Ty - Ty as a temporary villain. Feeling he's not needed after Abby showed him up several times, Ty, trying to overcompensate for himself behind her back, was captured by Fartor, who was in the midst of planning yet another full-scale fart attack on the world. He exposes Ty to the same deadly gases that transformed him, using a special process to speed up the transformation. Now, Ty, as Far-Ty, becomes Fartor's greatest asset in carrying out his dastardly plan. And just as Fartor plotted revenge on his older brother Gary, Far-Ty carries out a twisted revenge on his older sister Abby!
**Real Name: Ty Archer
**First Appearance: Episode # 20 ("Silent But Deadly Part 1" and "Silent But Deadly Part 2")

*Frankenbooger - A giant monster made of nose mucus stolen by Sloppy Joe (using a suction gun), who simply wanted to make a "boogerman" with said mucus (much like a snowman). Abby and Ty confront Sloppy Joe, and in the process, inadvertently cause an electrical accident that brings the "boogerman" to life! The monster sucks mucus out of people's noses, and the more he consumes, the larger he gets. Its only weakness is dirt particles (just like any mucus), which cause him to not only dry up, but decrease in size.
**First Appearance: Episode # 24 ("Frankenbooger")

*Darko Crevasse (voiced by Julian Richings) - A gothic caped villain whose eyesight is accustomed to darkness, and therefore must wear dark glasses. He summons a huge flock of bats to drop guano on anyone who opposes him. As he cannot stand light, his ultimate plan is to plunge the city into eternal darkness.
**Real Name: Unknown
**First Appearance: Episode # 24 ("Lights Out")

*Sarah Senia (voiced by Jayne Eastwood) - A lady whose DNA structure was crossed with that of plants. Has leaves and tendrils around her body. Plotted to use giant carnivorous plants to attack the city, and ultimately, the world.
**First Appearance: Episode # 25 ("A New Leaf")
**Her name is a pun on sarracenia, a pitcher plant.

*Arachnidia (voiced by unknown) - Insectiva's twin sister. Unlike Insectiva, she loves arachnids, as her name suggests. She and Insectiva have had a bitter rivalry, and both pit their own respective insects against each other, with catastrophic results.
**Real Name: Unknown
**First Apperance: Episode # 27 ("Sinister Rivalry")

*Frederick Follicule (voiced by unknown)-A hair dresser who does'nt like to change styles get's kickad out of a job he went underground doing bioligie and ends up with living hair.

Supporting characters

*Harvey & Petunia Archer (voiced by Richard Binsley and Karen Hines, respectively) - Abby & Ty's father and mother, respectively. Both are typically gullible, and as such, are completely unaware of their children's secret jobs as Grossologists. Both superficially resemble adult versions of their two children. Harvey manages the city's water treatment plant while Petunia teaches entomology.

*The Detective (voiced by Danny Wells) - A gruff, burly police detective, who occasionally works with Abby & Ty on cases, and is the only outsider who knows their secret.

*Mr. Scheffer (voiced by Chad DeRohgth) - Often nervous and uptight teacher at Ringworm Junior High School.

*Paige Logan (voiced by Melissa Altro) - A popular but very snobbish girl at Ringworm Junior High, and Abby's bitter rival. Her father is very rich. Her favorite color is pink.

*Naomi (voiced by Lauren Collins) - A shy and gentle girl at Ringworm Junior High, and Ty's love interest. Takes ballet.

Main title sequence & credits

There have been two main title sequences used:

*The first main title sequence is the "montage" opening (Episodes 1-5, 9 and 11), with footage of Ty, Abby, and the villains from said episodes. (Some of the footage is from the show's production promo, including the title, where Abby and Ty run around in a sewer, and Abby shoots a giant living slime mold with her Goop Shooter, and then at the camera, where the title appears). The International airings of the series (seen in the Netherlands, for example) has a full 45-second opening sequence, whereas the airings in Canada and the US have a truncated 30-second version, which omits a few shots.

*The second main title sequence (from Episode 6 onward) is the colorful "art deco" opening, styled like the credits sequence from "The Incredibles" and the classic movie credits of designer Saul Bass. It depicts Lance Boil polluting the city's water system with chemicals, Insectiva emerging from a manhole with insects crawling forth, and Fartor's Fartzilla attacking the city, until the Director calls on Ty and Abby Archer, who jump into action from their school (turning their work in on time), fully gear up in their Slime Suits and Slime Goggles (with split-screen visuals), dash into a light panel, arriving in the GRS-1 and confer with Lab Rat before going into action. Then, Sloppy Joe lunges at the camera, which pans up to Insectiva dispatching her swarm of flying insects from a cliff. The sequence ends with Abby squirting Sloppy Joe with her Goop Shooter, Ty grappling a giant worm with his robot claw device, Abby punching a robot's head off, and Lance Boil, Insectiva, and Sloppy Joe all getting doused with green goop (from Ty & Abby's Goop Shooters), forming the show's title. As is the case with the first opening sequence, the International airings of the series has the full 45-second opening sequence, whereas the airings in Canada and the US have a truncated 30-second version, which omits a few shots.

The closing credits depict slime, forming abstract lines (within which the credits appear), ending with a gag Nelvana logo, in which the logo's polar bear and star are suddenly doused with green slime (keeping with the show's theme).

Whereas the original YTV airings in Canada naturally retain the original closing credits, they are omitted in the Discovery Kids airings in the US, which have embedded credits underneath the horizontally-compressed picture (at the end of each episode), followed briefly by the normal YTV and Nelvana logos.

Production

*Back when the series was in development in 2004, the planned series was somewhat different. Background designer Brad Graham was originally slated to do the character designs & backgrounds. The character designs looked completely different, and had more of a conventional "abstract" look like most modern kids' cartoons, but many of Graham's elements remained in the final version. The more diverse Grossology team lineup consisted of Abby & Ty (who were still the main characters, only Abby had pigtails rather than the long trademark ponytail), Nigel Stodding (a British kid fashioned like 1960s secret agent Harry Palmer), Lab Rat (who was a fat white kid, but still had Hermes, who looked somewhat identical to the final version), and a weirder assortment of kids including Pink Eye (a beatnik boy), Creepy Crawly (a goth girl with spiders, who may have been the basis for the adult villainess Insectiva.), Sloppy Joe (a dirty spud-shaped kid, who ultimately became an adult villain for the series) and Colin Polyp (A bulb-headed kid who may have evolved into the adult villain Dr. Cornelius Colon in the final series). Abby & Ty still went to Ringworm Junior High School (which looked like a more classic-style school than the more modern one in the series), and the Gag Lab was originally a more complex underground secret base called the Grossotorium (something along the lines of the titular lab of the TV series, "Dexter's Laboratory"). Abby and Ty did not wear Slime Suits at this point (that may have been devised upon the success of Pixar's "The Incredibles"). [ [http://brad-graham.blogspot.com/2007/11/grossology-development.html The Grahams: Grossology Development ] ]

Episodes

"(Episode info from YTV.com and TV.com)"

Airdates are from original Canadian broadcasts on YTV.

Season 1: 2006-2007

Season 2: (2008- )

References

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0901176/ "Grossology" at IMDb]
* [http://www.tv.com/grossology/show/68042/summary.html?tag=tabs;summary Grossology on TV.com]
* [http://www.ytv.com/programming/shows/grossology/ "Grossology" at YTV]
* [http://kids.discovery.com/fansites/grossology/grossology.html "Grossology" at Discovery Kids]
* [http://www.jetix.co.uk/localise/grossology/frameset.html "Grossology" at Jetix UK]
* [http://www.nicksplat.com/tvshows/shows/Nicktoons/Grossology/index.html "Grossology" at Nickelodeon Asia (NickSplat)]
* [http://www.nelvana.com/shows/shows_template.asp?sid=151 Nelvana's official "Grossology" site, with widescreen promo video]
* [http://brad-graham.blogspot.com/2007/11/grossology-development.html Original "Grossology" development art by Bradford I. Graham]
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=84393835167038187&q=grossology&total=85&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=6 Animatic of full main title sequence (Google Video)]