George and Martha is an Canadian animated television series produced by PorchLight Entertainment , based on the George and Martha book series originally published by the late US author James Marshall from 1972 to 1988. Other author Maurice Sendak, also helped produce the series, with his own animation studio Wild Things Productions (named after his best-known book Where the Wild Things Are), at least for the first season.
The TV series adaptation aired on HBO Family and ran for two seasons from April 1, 1999 to May 13, 2000. As opposed to PorchLight Entertainment's typical productions, this series is budgeted higher due to its use with digital ink and paint backgrounds, although the series is still animated with traditional cels. The show ran on the Jam block until 2009.
Outside of the United States, the show originally aired on CBC in Canada.
Synopsis[]
Each episode features the two titular hippo friends, George and Martha, doing fun activities together such as going to the beach, roller skating, or playing pranks on each other, in the town they live in titled Happy Palms. They also have an assortment of other animal friends who live in Happy Palms. While sometimes George and Martha don't get along with each other, they always make up and apologize later on. There are a handful of episodes that are based off of the original books, such as Split Pea Soup. Some episodes even combine two or three stories from the books.
At the end of each B episode in the first season, there is a segment that combines the main elements featured in both episodes into one quick skit. For example, in S1E13, George hypnotizes Martha to be a baby, just so he can go eat out of her cookie jar. As said, these only appeared in the first season.
Characters[]
- George (voiced by Nathan Lane) - A male hippo who has a significant golden tooth, which replaced his other tooth that broke after an accident. George is often shown to be a trickster, by sneaking up on Martha numerous times to scare or prank her. He also does things without considering the consequences, or how hard they could be, at first.
- Martha (voiced by Andrea Martin) - A female hippo who wears a big yellow and green checkered dress that often changes color. Martha often gets smart with George and has a bit of an attitude sometimes, but is still a good friend.
- Oscar and Wilde (voiced by Colin Mochrie and Sean Cullen respectively) - Two alligator friends with the same name of Oscar Wilde. Oscar has glasses, while Wilde has a hat and a purple patterned shirt. They both run a bookstore. They are heavily implied to be a same-sex couple.
- Bud and Valerie Chuckles (voiced by Colin Mochrie and Debra McGrath respectively) - A pair of laughing hyenas who do nothing but laugh and joke around. They have a silent and serious yellow cat companion named Ivan, who helps them around, and is often pushed around.
- Duke and Anton (voiced by Tony Rosato and Greg Kramer respectively) - A respective toucan and giraffe companion who hang around together. They also like cracking jokes.
- Frieda (voiced by Kathryn Greenwood) - A pig who is Happy Palms' postal lady. It appears that she likes to sing.
- Eton (voiced by Sean Cullen) - A mysterious monitor lizard who has recurring appearances in the series. Eton is encountered at many places, from the movie theater to the spa. Even then, he has many jobs in just one place, from being the movie ticket seller, the movie concession seller, and the movie usher.
- Penny (voiced by Robin Duke) - A flamingo who likes to snoop into George and Martha's business, and often can be found in her front yard.
Episodes[]
Season 1 (1999)[]
| No. | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (1a) | "The Dance Recital" | April 1, 1999 |
| 2 (1b) | "The Tooth" | April 1, 1999 |
| 3 (2a) | "The Snoop" | April 2, 1999 |
| 4 (2b) | "A Day at the Beach" | April 2, 1999 |
| 5 (3a) | "The Scary Movie" | April 3, 1999 |
| 6 (3b) | "The Book" | April 3, 1999 |
| 7 (4a) | "The French Lesson" | April 4, 1999 |
| 8 (4b) | "The Big Scare" | April 4, 1999 |
| 9 (5a) | "The Mirror" | April 25, 1999 |
| 10 (5b) | "The Special Gifts" | April 25, 1999 |
| 11 (6a) | "The Picnic" | May 2, 1999 |
| 12 (6b) | "The Trickster" | May 2, 1999 |
| 13 (7a) | "The Trip" | May 9, 1999 |
| 14 (7b) | "The Experiment" | May 9, 1999 |
| 15 (8a) | "The Triple Dare" | May 16, 1999 |
| 16 (8b) | "The Icky Story" | May 16, 1999 |
| 17 (9a) | "The Garden" | May 23, 1999 |
| 18 (9b) | "Split Pea Soup" | May 23, 1999 |
| 19 (10a) | "Baby Doll" | May 30, 1999 |
| 20 (10b) | "The Acting Class" | May 30, 1999 |
| 21 (11a) | "The Comedian" | June 6, 1999 |
| 22 (11b) | "The Prize" | June 6, 1999 |
| 23 (12a) | "The Misunderstanding" | June 13, 1999 |
| 24 (12b) | "The Secret Club" | June 13, 1999 |
| 25 (13a) | "The Hypnotist" | June 20, 1999 |
| 26 (13b) | "The Sweet Tooth" | June 20, 1999 |
Season 2 (2000)[]
| No. | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 27 (14a) | "The Cold" | February 19, 2000 |
| 28 (14b) | "The Campout" | February 19, 2000 |
| 29 (15a) | "The Reader" | February 20, 2000 |
| 30 (15b) | "The Decorator" | February 20, 2000 |
| 31 (16a) | "The Badminton Tournament" | February 26, 2000 |
| 32 (16b) | "The Caddy" | February 26, 2000 |
| 33 (17a) | "The Roller Derby" | February 27, 2000 |
| 34 (17b) | "The Spa" | February 27, 2000 |
| 35 (18a) | "The Argument" | March 5, 2000 |
| 36 (18b) | "Happy Palms' Finest" | March 5, 2000 |
| 37 (19a) | "The Flying Donut" | March 12, 2000 |
| 38 (19b) | "Martha's Cousin" | March 12, 2000 |
| 39 (20a) | "The Big Splash" | March 19, 2000 |
| 40 (20b) | "My Stars!" | March 19, 2000 |
| 41 (21a) | "The Blabbermouth" | April 1, 2000 |
| 42 (21b) | "Life and Breath" | April 1, 2000 |
| 43 (22a) | "The Best Friends Show" | April 8, 2000 |
| 44 (22b) | "The Sleepwalker" | April 8, 2000 |
| 45 (23a) | "Funny Business" | April 15, 2000 |
| 46 (23b) | "The Tease" | April 15, 2000 |
| 47 (24a) | "The Play's the Thing" | May 6, 2000 |
| 48 (24b) | "The Sore Loser" | May 6, 2000 |
| 49 (25a) | "The Costumed Duo" | May 7, 2000 |
| 50 (25b) | "Temper Temper" | May 7, 2020 |
| 51 (26a) | "The Fibber" | May 13, 2000 |
| 52 (26b) | "The Mascot" | May 13, 2000 |
Trivia[]
- After airing on HBO Family, the series reran on the now defunct Qubo channel beginning on March 28, 2016, and aired until December 30, 2018.
- Allegedly, an episode of the show still had the opening and closing HBO Family logos ("HBO FAMILY ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING" and "THIS HAS BEEN A PRESENTATION OF HOME BOX OFFICE") attached.
- The theme song of the show is an instrumental of Perfidia by Mambo All Stars.
- A large portion of the show's cast is made up of performers from Toronto's Second City comedy troupe, including Andrea Martin, Robin Duke, Colin Mochrie, Debra McGrath, Kathryn Greenwood, and the late Tony Rosato.
- On the series Stuart Little, Stuart's human allies share the same name as the titular hippos and the lead girl's parents on the Cinar-produced 1995 series.