Pelswick
John Callahan's Pelswick (or simply Pelswick) is a Chinese-Canadian-American animated children's television series co-produced by Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. and Suzhou Hong Ying Animation Corporation Limited.[3] The series is about a teenage boy who uses a wheelchair, emphasizing that he lived a normal life. It was based on the books created by John Callahan.[4][5] Making a show suitable for children required toning down Callahan's dark humor somewhat, and the show was positive and life-affirming.[6]
| John Callahan's Pelswick | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | John Callahan[1] |
| Developed by |
|
| Starring | Rob Tinkler Julie Lemieux David Arquette Peter Oldring Phil Guerrero Kim Kuhteubl Tracey Moore[2] Tony Rosato Ellen Ray Hennessy |
| Composer(s) | Pure West |
| Country of origin | Canada China United States |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 26 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Michael Hirsh Patrick Loubert Clive A. Smith John Callahan Deborah Levin |
| Producer(s) | Alice Bell |
| Running time | Appx. 22 min |
| Production company(s) | Suzhou Hong Ying Animation Corporation Limited Nelvana Limited CBC |
| Distributor | Nelvana |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBC (Canada) China Central Television (China) Nickelodeon (United States) |
| Original release | October 5, 2000 – November 15, 2002 |
The show aired in reruns on "Nick on CBS" from September 14, 2002, to January 25, 2003.
Characters
- Pelswick Eggert (voiced by Robert Tinkler) - A 13-year-old boy who uses a wheelchair. How he became a paraplegic is not revealed in the series, but the series' creators imply through commentary that it was due to a car accident. He dislikes it when people treat him differently because of his disability. He dislikes following the crowd and he goes by his own rules.
- Ace Nakamura (voiced by Phil Guerrero) - Pelswick's best friend. Ace is technologically smarter than any of his friends, and is often the thinker of the situation.
- Goon Gunderson (voiced by Peter Oldring) - Pelswick's other best friend. Huge and slow-witted in his actions and thoughts, Goon is generally good-hearted but rather dangerous when angry. He does not know that wrestling is staged.
- Julie Smockford (voiced by Julie Lemieux) - A redheaded girl and one of Pelswick's friends. She hates all the cliques and popularity contests at school and seems to care mostly about her popularity and image. Julie is smart, dramatic, sometimes annoying, but cares a lot about Pelswick. Pelswick has a crush on her but she’s completely oblivious about it. Julie believes in justice for all.
- Sandra Scoddle (voiced by Kim Kuhteubl) - Julie's snooty and arrogant best friend/rival and one of Pelswick's friends. She thinks she's better than everyone else and often disputes with Julie. She thinks she’s cool, but she's not. She gets caught into the latest trends.
- Mr. Jimmy (voiced by David Arquette) - Pelswick's guardian angel who often gives him advice that confuses him until the last moment, no matter what it is. Pelswick can't stand him and his issues. He is also the comic relief of the show.
- Kate Eggert (voiced by Tracey Moore) - Pelswick's precocious younger sister. She treats her reputation as a little sister like a business and usually blackmails Pelswick when butting into his business. She has dreams of owning a big corporation. She is 10 years old, but she is a 5th grade elementary student.
- Bobby Eggert - Pelswick's and Kate's baby brother. He dosen’t talk and admires Pelswick. Given that Pelswick and Kate's mother is unseen, it can be assumed Bobby is either adopted or is the child of a relative that their father is taking care of.
- Quentin Eggert (voiced by Tony Rosato) - Pelswick, Kate and Bobby's politically correct father who works as a college professor until he’s fired in "The Case of the Filched Files." He later gets his job back. He wants to do everything by papers. His wife is unseen, however it can be assumed that she’s working abroad or Quentin is either divorced or widowed.
- Priscilla "Gram-Gram" Eggert (voiced by Ellen Ray Hennessy) - Quentin's mother and Pelswick, Kate and Bobby's deranged grandmother. She often does "extreme" acts beyond that of a grandmother. Most of these acts results in her getting arrested.
- Boyd Scullarzo (voiced by Chuck Campbell) - The bully of Pelswick's school who likes bullying Pelswick and others, not physically but with humiliation.
- Vice Principal Ziegler (voiced by David Huband) - The vice principal of Jr High (Pelswick's school). Despite his title, he usually assumes the role of a principal. Throughout the show, there is no mention of there being a principal at Jr High. During the second episode of the series, this issue was lampshaded by Goon Gunderson who questioned why their school had a vice principal but no principal.
Episodes
Season 1 (2000–01)
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Inherit the Wheeled" | Charles E. Bastien | Andrew Nicholls & Darrell Vickers | October 5, 2000 | |
| Fearing for his safety, the school forbids Pelswick to go on a class camping trip, even though he correctly points out that "I'm the only kid who can't get accidentally paralyzed!" | |||||
| 2 | "I Won't Run, Don't Ask Me" | Charles E. Bastien | Darwin Vickers | October 26, 2000 | |
| Unable to threaten Pelswick physically, Boyd decides to humiliate him on a whole different level—by nominating him for school president. | |||||
| 3 | "Brain Suckers of Skuldeth 5" | Charles E. Bastien | Alan Daniels | November 2, 2000 | |
| Ace and Goon lure Pelswick into participating in the latest craze, the Brain Suckers trading card game. Soon Pelswick is totally hooked—and Boyd has the one ultra-rare card Pelswick would do anything to get. | |||||
| 4 | "Me, Myself And Irate" | Charles E. Bastien | Andrew Nicholls, Darrell Vickers & Leonard Dick | November 9, 2000 | |
| Pelswick tries to avoid the humiliation of having Gram-Gram deliver a guest lecture at school. | |||||
| 5 | "Draw!" | Charles E. Bastien | Todd Thicke | November 16, 2000 | |
| Pelswick's anonymously drawn cartoon is banned from the school newspaper, leading to a suspension for editor Julie when she won't reveal who drew it. | |||||
| 6 | "N'Talented" | Charles E. Bastien | Todd Thicke | November 23, 2000 | |
|
A pre-packaged boy band has all the girls swooning. Pelswick, meanwhile, desperately tries to hate the band, but to his horror finds that he actually kinda likes their music. Note: The episode's title is a play-on for the band *NSYNC. | |||||
| 7 | "Assault And A Battery" | Charles E. Bastien | Darwin Vickers & Todd Thicke | November 30, 2000 | |
| Pelswick and Boyd build a chili-powered battery that ends up turning Pelswick's wheelchair into a 50-mph menace. | |||||
| 8 | "The Wheel World" | Charles E. Bastien | Todd Thicke & Alan Daniels | December 7, 2000 | |
| A camera crew invades the Eggert household when a producer sees Pelswick as the ideal subject for a reality-based TV show. | |||||
| 9 | "David And Goonliath" | Charles E. Bastien | Leonard Dick & Darwin Vickers | December 7, 2000 | |
| Despite a noticeable lack of talent, Goon becomes a professional wrestler—and Pelswick must figure out a way to keep him from getting slaughtered in the ring. | |||||
| 10 | "Spring Broken" | Sean V. Jeffrey | Jennifer Pertsch | December 22, 2000 | |
| Ace, Goon and the Eggert family head off to Camp Self-Esteemawa for Spring Break...but the camp's determinedly non-competitive atmosphere prevents anyone from having fun. | |||||
| 11 | "Transmission Impossible" | Charles E. Bastien | Kenn Scott & John Pellatt | December 29, 2000 | |
| When Bayview's only rock-and-roll radio station changes its format to all-news, Pelswick opens a pirate rock music station of his own—one that quickly begins consuming all his time and energy. | |||||
| 12 | "Blink And You're At 182" | Charles E. Bastien | Andrew Nicholls & Darrell Vickers | April 8, 2001 | |
|
The school is thrown into an uproar when a website publishes a list of students in order of popularity. Note: The episode's title is a play-on for the band Blink-182. | |||||
| 13 | "Nursing Home Alone" | Charles E. Bastien | John Pellatt, Kenn Scott & Darwin Vickers | April 15, 2001 | |
| Gram-Gram and her friends decide to check into a shady nursing home without even saying good-bye to their families. It's up to a bewildered Pelswick to organize a rescue mission while simultaneously planning a surprise party for Quentin. | |||||
Season 2 (2001–02)
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | "Eggertggedon" | Sean V. Jeffrey | Andrew Nicholls & Darrell Vickers | October 3, 2001 | |
| All of Bayview starts panicking when it appears that a nuclear-powered space station is going to plunge through the atmosphere and destroy the town. | |||||
| 15 | "Wheeldini" | Sean V. Jeffrey | Andrew Nicholls & Darrell Vickers | October 10, 2001 | |
| The mayor of Bayview somehow manages to lose all of the town's money, so he hires a magician to find it. Though it's obvious the magician is a sham, no one but Pelswick realizes this. Meanwhile, Gram-Gram and Agnes go searching for the missing money on their own, with some help from a mule. | |||||
| 16 | "The Birdboy of Alcatraz" | Sean V. Jeffrey | Darwin Vickers | October 17, 2001 | |
| Pelswick is deemed terminally uncool when he takes up birdwatching to impress Julie. Meanwhile, Gram-Gram and Agnes get jobs as store detectives, and a trainee guardian angel takes over for Mr. Jimmy. | |||||
| 17 | "Boyd, Here Comes The Flood" | Sean V. Jeffrey | Christian Murray & Mary Colin Chisholm | October 24, 2001 | |
| Substitute teacher Gram-Gram spins tales about the Bayview flood of 1921 in order to impress Pelswick's class, little dreaming of the disastrous consequences that will follow. | |||||
| 18 | "It Must Be The Shoes" | Sean V. Jeffrey | Steven Sullivan | October 31, 2001 | |
| Basketball fever sweeps Bayview as Pelswick considers trying out for the school basketball team, Sandra and Julie try to organize a girls' team, and Quentin tutors Boyd and his gang so that they can remain eligible to play. | |||||
| 19 | "Oh Bully, Where Art Thou?" | Sean V. Jeffrey | Andrew Nicholls & Darrell Vickers | November 7, 2001 | |
| Pelswick enters the Paraquest Games for handicapped athletes, and is surprised to find that Boyd is his chief competitor. Meanwhile, Julie and Sandra try to save a tree. | |||||
| 20 | "The Case of The Filchered Files" | Sean V. Jeffrey | Darwin Vickers | November 14, 2001 | |
| The Eggert family are forced to scrimp and save when Quentin loses his job; Alcatraz Junior High celebrates its 75th anniversary. | |||||
| 21 | "Pelswick On A String" | Sean V. Jeffrey | John Mein | November 21, 2001 | |
| A decidedly flaky therapist forces the students in Pelswick's class to build marionettes in their own self-images as a therapeutic exercise. When Pelswick refuses to include a wheelchair as part of his self-image puppet, he's deemed to be deliberately undermining the therapy, and is suspended until he can put his puppet on a wheelchair. | |||||
| 22 | "Shall We Dance?" | Sean V. Jeffrey | Al Schwartz | November 28, 2001 | |
| Pelswick goes on a blind date with a girl who doesn't know about his wheelchair. When he discovers that his date loves dancing, he goes to extreme lengths to keep her from finding out that he's paralyzed from the waist down. | |||||
| 23 | "A Rap And A Hard Place" | Sean V. Jeffrey | Christian Murray & Mary Colin Chisholm | December 5, 2001 | |
| Julie tries to shake everyone out of their apathy by forming a band; Sandra obsesses on the healing powers of yellow boots; Gram-Gram and Agnes go gambling. | |||||
| 24 | "Hear No Evil, P.C. No Evil" | Sean V. Jeffrey | Andrew Nicholls & Darwin Vickers | September 20, 2002 | |
| Quentin's politically correct new girlfriend wins over everyone in the Eggert family except Pelswick. | |||||
| 25 | "Kick Me Kate" | Sean V. Jeffrey | Andrew Nicholls & Darwin Vickers | September 27, 2002 | |
| Pelswick tries to get Kate's new boyfriend to stand up for himself; Julie gets increasingly frustrated with Sandra's outrageous clothing; Gram-Gram and Agnes go on dates. | |||||
| 26 | "Invasion of The Buddy Snatchers" | Sean V. Jeffrey | Darwin Vickers | November 15, 2002 | |
| Almost everyone in town gets caught up in a bizarre pyramid scheme to sell laundry detergent. The only exceptions are Julie and Sandra (who are too busy embarking on a recycling drive of truly epic proportions) and poor Pelswick, who, as usual, is trying to be the voice of reason amidst all the chaos. | |||||
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References
- "'Pelswick': Wry, Funny and Irreverently Spirited". Los Angeles Times. 2012-01-21. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
- Rosenberg, Howard (2000-10-20). "Soaring Spirit Behind 'Pelswick,' an Animated Quadriplegic". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
- Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 448–449. ISBN 978-1538103739.
- Schultz, Paul (2000-10-22). "There's Humor From Where He Sits". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
- "Nickelodeon | Kids Games, Kids Celebrity Video, Kids Shows" (in Dutch). Nick.com. 2012-10-16. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
- Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 606–607. ISBN 978-1476665993.
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