'Beetle' Mania Hits Nickelodeon's Airwaves as The Wonder Pets! Jet to Liverpool to Rescue Their Musical Idols on 'Save the Beetles!', New Primetime Mini-Operetta Premiering Monday, April 21, at 7:00 p.m. (ET/PT)
'Beetle' Mania Hits Nickelodeon's Airwaves as The Wonder Pets! Jet to Liverpool to Rescue Their Musical Idols on 'Save the Beetles!', New Primetime Mini-Operetta Premiering Monday, April 21, at 7:00 p.m. (ET/PT)
Lenie Colacino and Tom Teeley of Broadway's Beatlemania to Guest-Voice Animated Bug Band in a Wonder Pets! Homage to The Beatles Composed by Larry Hochman (Monty Python's Spamalot)
Nickelodeon Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment to Release The Wonder Pets!: Save the Beetles! DVD on Tuesday, April 22
NEW YORK, April 2, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- There's a new kind of Beatlemania craze hitting the preschool airwaves as The Wonder Pets! travel to Liverpool, England, to save their favorite rock band on "Save the Beetles!", a new primetime musical adventure premiering Monday, April 21, at 7:00 p.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon. The Wonder Pets! tribute to the Fab Four features Lenie Colacino and Tom Teeley of Broadway's Beatlemania as guest voices for the famous animated bug band The Beetles. The new mini-operetta is composed by Larry Hochman (orchestration for Monty Python's Spamalot), who also serves as lead composer on the series.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080402/NYW093 )
In addition, three new The Wonder Pets! episodes will premiere the week of April 21 in the series' regular Nick Jr. weekday timeslot (10:00 a.m., ET/PT), including "Save the Gecko!" (Wednesday, April 23), "Save the Griffin!" (Thursday, April 24) and "Here's Ollie!" (Friday, April 25).
"The Beatles transcend every age group and The Wonder Pets bring that iconic sound to the next generation of Beatle fans," said Brown Johnson, President, Animation, Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group. "We hope everyone at home will 'come together' to watch this very funny homage."
In "Save the Beetles," The Wonder Pets embark on a musical journey to Liverpool, England, to save a band of mop-haired beetles -- Jack, Pete, Greg and Wingo -- who are trapped in a yellowish submarine tangled up in kelp. Will the famous band miss their highly anticipated undersea concert at the Octopus' Garden? After receiving a distress call from The Beetles on their tin-can phone, Linny the Guinea Pig, Turtle Tuck and Ming-Ming Duckling hop into their fly sub to rescue their musical idols. In their first attempt to save The Beetles, The Wonder Pets use a rope to try to free the submarine from kelp, but the rope breaks causing the ship to spring a leak. Running low on time, the trio puts on their swim gear and use teamwork to untangle the mess while The Beetles patch up the sub's leak. They free the band in the nick of time and are invited to attend The Beetles concert as their guests of honor, for their heroic efforts.
The half-hour episode also features a second new adventure from The Wonder Pets! titled "Three Wonder Pets And A Baby!" In this second story, a Piglet comes to live in the classroom, but The Wonder Pets each want to take care of it on their own. They realize they must work together to care for the rather large baby pig.
On Tuesday, April 22, Nick Jr. will release a new DVD titled The Wonder Pets!: Save the Beetles!, created by Nickelodeon Home Entertainment and distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment. The DVD will feature the title special episode, in addition to three other The Wonder Pets! Adventures: "Save the Chameleon/Save the Platypus," "Save the Duckling/Save the Kitten" and "Save the Sheep/Save the Hermit Crab." Bonus features on The Wonder Pets!: Save the Beetles! include the music video "Kelp!" from the "Save the Beetles!" episode.
Beginning Monday, April 7, Nick Jr. will roll out content from "Save the Beetles!" across the following platforms:
-- Video On Demand will feature a two-minute 'sneak peek' and clips from "Save the Beetles!", plus additional episodes from The Wonder Pets! on Comcast, Charter, Cablevision, Verizon FiOS and Cox. -- Nick Jr. Video, Nick Jr.'s broadband video service available on Nickjr.com, will begin streaming a two-minute 'sneak peek' and clips from "Save the Beetles!" plus additional episodes from The Wonder Pets! -- A two-minute 'sneak peek' from "Save the Beetles!" plus additional clips and music videos from the episode will be available on wireless carriers.
Beginning Wednesday, March 26, Nick Jr.'s award-winning website (www.nickjr.com) will feature new activities to complement the premiere of "Save the Beetles!" including Beetles concert-themed iron-on T-shirts, printable concert tickets, and printable posters. Preschoolers and their parents will also be invited to submit photos with their T-shirts and tickets for a chance to see their pictures featured on Nickjr.com.
The Wonder Pets!, from creator/executive producer Josh Selig of Little Airplane Productions, Inc., is TV's first mini-operetta for preschoolers and the first preschool series to feature an extensive lineup of Tony award- winning and nominated Broadway composers, including the series' lead composer Larry Hochman (orchestration for Monty Python's Spamalot), Bobby Lopez (Avenue Q), and Jason Robert Brown (Parade). Grammy Award-winning producer and recording engineer Jeffrey Lesser serves as music producer/music supervisor for the series. All of the music on The Wonder Pets! is recorded with a live orchestra and much of the dialogue is sung in operetta style.
The Wonder Pets! chronicles the adventures of three funny, singing classroom pets: Linny the Guinea Pig, Ming-Ming Duckling and Turtle Tuck, who travel the world and use teamwork to save baby animals in distress. Every episode of The Wonder Pets! is an original mini-operetta filled with world music influences suited to the locale of the day's adventure. At the end of each school day when the teachers and students have all gone home, the fearless trio become The Wonder Pets!. In every story, The Wonder Pets! receive a call on a tin-can phone from a baby animal who needs their help. The trio quickly assembles their Flyboat, made from a collection of classroom toys and travel together across oceans, into space, and even back in time to save animals in distress. Like real preschoolers, The Wonder Pets! have no actual super powers, but they work together as a team to overcome adversity and achieve great success.
A new, original style of animation called photo-puppetry animation was created at Little Airplane Productions by Jennifer Oxley for The Wonder Pets! The technique allows animators to manipulate photographs of real animals, creating a comical, realistic look that is striking and unique.
The show's curricular goals are based on developing appreciation and orientation towards teamwork and creative problem solving.
Little Airplane Productions specializes in quality film & television programming for young children. Founded by Josh Selig in 1999, Little Airplane Productions created and produced The Wonder Pets! for Nick Jr., Go, Baby! for Playhouse Disney, and Oobi! for NOGGIN (winner of a 2001 Gold Parents' Choice Award). Additionally, Josh Selig was the Head Writer for Little Bill on Nick Jr. He has received ten Emmy Awards for his writing on Sesame Street, and was the Resident Producer of the historic Israeli/Palestinian Sesame Street co-production (winner of the 1998 Japan Prize). For more information about Little Airplane Productions please visit www.littleairplane.com.
Nick Jr. is a specially designed programming block airing on Nickelodeon weekdays from 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. (ET/PT). Completely dedicated to preschoolers ages 2-5, Nick Jr.'s Emmy, Peabody and Parents' Choice Award- winning programs are curriculum based, fun and commercial free. At Nick Jr., kids play to learn with innovative, original shows created just for them.
Nickelodeon, now in its 29th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 96 million households and has been the number- one-rated basic cable network for more than 13 consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA) (NYSE:VIA.B) .
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Source: Nickelodeon
CONTACT: Heather Brown, +1-212-846-6240, Heather.brown@nick.com, or Jodi
Davis, +1-212-846-5981, Jodi.davis@nick.com, both of Nickelodeon
Web site: http://www.nick.com/
http://www.nickjr.com/
http://www.littleairplane.com/
NOTE TO EDITORS: DVD's and art available upon request.
Profile: International Entertainment
posted by EntertainmentNews @ 8:47 AM
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