Little Einsteins
Little Einsteins is an American interactive animated children's television series on Disney Junior. The educational children series was developed for television by Douglas Wood who created the concept and characters, and a subsequent team headed by Emmy Award-winning director Olexa Hewryk and JoJo's Circus co-creator Eric Weiner, and produced by Curious Pictures and The Baby Einstein Company. The first episode of the Little Einsteins series premiered on Playhouse Disney in the UK on October 3, 2005, in the United States on October 9 and in Japan on TV Tokyo on February 14, 2006. In Europe, the second season of the show premiered on the Disney Channel around Christmas time, and in Japan, it aired on October 8, 2007, on Playhouse Disney Japan. Reruns were then moved to Playhouse Disney's successor, Disney Junior. The final regular episode was broadcast in December 2009, and a standalone special was broadcast in mid-2010, marking the end of the series. The series continued to air in reruns afterward, although this has slowed over time. 67 episodes were produced.[1]
| Little Einsteins | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Children's television series Educational Adventure Musical |
| Created by | Douglas Wood |
| Developed by | Douglas Wood[lower-alpha 1] |
| Written by | Jeff Borkin[lower-alpha 1] |
| Directed by | Andy Thom (supervising, season 2)[lower-alpha 1] |
| Creative director(s) | Olexa Hewryk (season 1) |
| Voices of | Jesse Schwartz Natalia Wojcik Aiden Pompey Erica Huang Harrison Chad |
| Theme music composer | Billy Straus |
| Opening theme | Little Einsteins Theme Song |
| Ending theme | Little Einsteins Theme (instrumental) |
| Composer(s) | Billy Straus Matthias Gohl Teese Gohl[lower-alpha 1] |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 67 (including two specials) (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Eric Weiner For Curious Pictures:
|
| Producer(s) | Kris Greengrove[lower-alpha 1] |
| Running time | 24 minutes |
| Production company(s) | The Baby Einstein Company Curious Pictures |
| Release | |
| Original network | Playhouse Disney |
| Picture format | NTSC (480i 4:3) |
| Original release | October 9, 2005 – December 22, 2009 |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
The series was based on the direct-to-video film of the same name, subtitled Our Huge Adventure.
Overview
Little Einsteins was designed to teach the target demographic art and music appreciation by integrating famous or culturally significant art works (usually, but not exclusively, paintings) and classical music (most typically from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras) into the scenery, plot and soundtrack of each episode. The show is also designed to encourage viewer interaction (such as encouraging the audience to pat their knees, gesture or sing along to help the characters succeed on their "mission".
Episodes
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | Network | ||||
| 1 | 29 | 1 | August 23, 2004 | Direct-to-video | ||
| 28 | October 9, 2005 | November 20, 2006 | Playhouse Disney | |||
| 2 | 40 | 39 | January 17, 2007 | December 22, 2009 | Playhouse Disney | |
| 1 | June 19, 2011 | Direct-to-video | ||||
Characters
Main
- Leo is the leader of the Little Einsteins, and the team member who pilots Rocket. He is six years old. He is Annie's older brother. His main talent is conducting, and his most prized possession is his conductor's baton. Leo has red hair and green eyes. He wears green glasses, a black t-shirt with an orange stripe, orange shorts, and black and orange sneakers. He was voiced by Jesse Schwartz and singing voice by Harrison Chad.
- June is a young ballerina who loves to dance. She is also six years old. She has dark brown hair and brown eyes. She wears a purple dress and pink headband. She was voiced by Erica Huang.
- Quincy is a five-year-old boy musician who plays a variety of musical instruments, including the violin, flute, and trumpet. At some point in each episode, Quincy exclaims, "I cannot believe it!". He has dark brown hair and brown eyes. He wears a red and blue cap, and a green sleeved yellow t-shirt. He was voiced by Aiden Pompey.
- Annie is a four-year-old girl who loves to sing. She is Leo's younger sister and the only character who has piloted Rocket alone. She loves animals, including dolphins and horses, but is afraid of spiders. She comes to own a silver microphone with orange musical notes after winning it in a singing contest in the season 2 episode "Annie Get Your Microphone." When she wishes to urgently point something out to the team, her usual phrase is "Look-look-look!" She has blonde hair in pigtails tied in pink hairbows and blue eyes. She wears a green shirt with a blue denim dress and fuchsia shoes in Season 1 and a light blue shirt with a pink denim dress and blue shoes in Season 2. She was voiced by Natalia Wójcik.
- Rocket is the Little Einsteins' main mode of transportation, as well as their friend. Rocket has an array of tools and accessories that help the team complete their missions. Rocket also has the ability to transform into any other form of transportation, like a submarine or a train. Rocket communicates by making xylophonic noises.
Recurring
- Big Jet is a blue fighter plane. Big Jet has been known to ruin parties and steal things to keep for himself. Big Jet hates springtime, owing to his being allergic to flowers, as seen in the episode "Oh Yes, Oh Yes, it's Springtime". He also hates losing, as seen in "The Great Sky Race Rematch". In episode 64, "Show and Tell", Big Jet gets revenge on Rocket and the Little Einsteins for defeating him in all of his appearances by stealing their favorite things. He befriends them later, however. Big Jet is depicted with yellow horizontal stripes on his vertical stabilizers.
- Little Mouse, The Good Knight, and Joey the Kangaroo appeared individually in their own episodes, "The Mouse and the Moon", "The Good Knight and The Bad Knight", and "Jump For Joey", respectively, and collectively in the three episodes' crossover-sequel, "Rocket Soup".
- The Three Little Pigs appeared in three episodes: "Farmer Annie", "Super Fast", and "Build It Rocket".
- Melody the Music Pet is a musical pet that Leo helped find her ticket for the pet train in "Melody the Music Pet". After boarding the train, Melody is brought to live with Leo. She reappeared in "Melody and Me", where it is up to Leo to save her after her hot-air balloon flies away.
- The Bad Knight is the knight that imprisoned the Good Knight. In the episode "The Good Knight and The Bad Knight" he rides a cello that acts like a horse. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that he was under a magic spell that made him a bad knight. after rescuing the Good Knight, he himselftransforms back into a good knight. In the episode "Rocket Soup," he helps the Little Einsteins get peas to make Rocket Soup for Rocket to eat.
- The Little Red Train is a good friend of Annie, and although he is very small, is very determined and very strong. He appeared in the episodes "Go West, Young Train" and "Annie, Get Your Microphone".
Others
- Ring appeared in the episode "Ring Around the Planet". Ring fell off Saturn and landed near June's Garden. Ring is also a great dancer just like June which makes them and the rest of the Little Einsteins friends. The Little Einsteins bring the ring back home to Saturn.
- Grandma Rocket appeared in the episode "Little Red Rockethood" and is the grandma of Rocket. She shares a similar appearance to Rocket but is purple and has glasses and grey hair. Just as Rocket, she communicates by making xylophonic noises.
Production
UK version
In the UK version, the Little Einsteins are voiced by Poppy Lee Friar (June), Piers Stubbs (Leo), Kirsty Hickey (Annie), and Mitchell Zhangazha (Quincy), and certain American terms are converted to the British vernacular: for example, changing mentions of "Candy Canes" to mentions of "Sweetie Sticks."
Home and streaming media
| DVD Releases | Included episodes | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| Little Einsteins: Our Huge Adventure | Our Huge Adventure (later separated into the episodes "A Brand New Outfit" and "The Missing Invitation") | August 23, 2005 |
| Team Up for Adventure | "How We Became the Little Einsteins: The True Story", "I Love to Conduct", "Rocket Safari" | April 25, 2006 |
| Mission Celebration! | "The Birthday Machine", "Go West, Young Train", "The Birthday Balloons" | August 22, 2006 |
| Legend of The Golden Pyramid | "The Legend of the Golden Pyramid", "Dragon Kite", "Annie and the Little Toy Plane" | February 27, 2007 |
| Rocket's Firebird Rescue | "Rocket's Firebird Rescue" (Double-Length Episode), "Rocket Soup" | August 21, 2007 |
| Race for Space | "The Treasure Behind the Little Red Door", "Super Fast", "The Great Sky Race Rematch" | February 19, 2008 |
| Flight of the Instrument Fairies | "Flight of the Instrument Fairies", "The Puppet Princess", "The Glass Slipper Ball", "Little Red Rockethood" | August 5, 2008 |
| The Christmas Wish | "Show and Tell", "The Christmas Wish", "The Wind-Up Toy Prince", "The Northern Night-Light" | October 14, 2008 |
| Go to Europe (US release) | "Hello, Cello", "Silly Sock Saves the Circus", "Go Team!" | August 31, 2009 |
| O Yes, it's Springtime (UK and Japanese 2009 release, with US voices) | "Farmer Annie", "O Yes, O Yes, it's Springtime", "Annie and the Beanstalk" | September 1, 2009 |
| Fire Truck Rocket's Blastoff | "Fire Truck Rocket", "Melody the Music Pet", "Carmine's Big Race", "Mr. Penguin's Ice Cream Adventure" | September 8, 2009 |
| Go to Africa (US release) | "He Speaks Music", "Animal Snack Time", "The Puzzle of the Sphinx" | November 11, 2009 |
| Go to America (US release) | "Melody and Me", "A Tall Totem Tale", "Knock on Wood" | November 11, 2009 |
| Animal Expedition | "Whale Tale", "Duck, Duck, June", "Jump for Joey", "Little Elephant's Big Parade" | February 9, 2010 |
| Incredible Shrinking Adventure | "The Incredible Shrinking Adventure", "Quincy and the Instrument Dinosaurs", "Rocket the Bug", "Sleeping Bassoon" | June 18, 2013 |
The series also had two VHS Releases one being a VHS version of Our Huge Adventure and the second being "Climb Aboard and Get Ready to Explore" which included the episodes "The Birthday Balloons", "Dragon Kite" and "Ring Around the Planet".
In addition to DVD releases, the entire series has been available on Disney+ its launch.[2]
Reception
The series was given a 5-star rating by Common Sense Media.[3]
In other media
A video game based on the show was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2006.
Notes
- Information about the cast and crew is taken from the closing credits of each episode.
References
- Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 169-170. ISBN 9781476672939.
- Disney+ [@disneyplus] (October 13, 2019). "Little Einsteins (2005)" (Tweet). Retrieved November 14, 2019 – via Twitter.
- "Little Einsteins TV Review". Common Sense Media. Archived from the original on February 18, 2015. Retrieved February 18, 2015.