| ChalkZone | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | |
| Voices of |
|
| Theme music composer | Bill Burnett |
| Opening theme | "Rudy's Got the Chalk" |
| Ending theme | "Rudy's Got the Chalk" |
| Composers |
|
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 40 (159 segments)(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Running time | 23 minutes(3–11 minutes per segment) |
| Production companies | |
| Original release | |
| Network | Nickelodeon |
| Release | March 22, 2002 (2002-3-22) – August 23, 2008 (2008-8-23) |
| Related | |
ChalkZone is an Americananimated television series created byBill Burnett andLarry Huber forNickelodeon.[1] The series follows Rudy Tabootie, an elementary school student who discovers a box of magic chalk that allows him to draw portals into the ChalkZone, analternate dimension where everything ever drawn with chalk and later erased comes to life.[2] Rudy is joined in his adventures by Snap, a wisecracking superhero Rudy once drew with chalk, and Penny Sanchez, Rudy's academically intellectual classmate and personal friend.
ChalkZone originally premiered as a pilot short onFred Seibert'sOh Yeah! Cartoons animated shorts showcase in 1998. The series ran on Nickelodeon from March 22, 2002, to August 23, 2008, with 40 episodes in total. It was produced byFrederator Studios andNickelodeon Animation Studio.
The series follows Rudy Tabootie (voiced byE. G. Daily), a 10-year-old, fifth-grade boy who loves to draw. Reggie Bullnerd (Candi Milo), the school bully, constantly teases him or gets him into trouble with Mr. Wilter (Robert Cait), Rudy's grumpy school teacher who strongly dislikes cartoons, especially Rudy's passion for art. One day while in detention, Rudy discovers a piece of "White Lightnin'" chalk, which allows access to the ChalkZone, a place where everything and everyone that has ever been drawn in chalk and erased exists as living/tangible entities. He soon makes friends with Snap (Candi Milo), a short, blue, humanoid drawing made by Rudy when he was eight years old. Snap wears a superhero outfit and is very adventurous and funny. Rudy only lets one other person know about ChalkZone, his best friend Penny Sanchez (speaking voice,Hynden Walch; singing voice, Robbyn Kirmssè), who acts as the genius of the group.
While in ChalkZone, the three are introduced to Cyclops (Rodger Bumpass), the kilt-wearing guardian of the magic chalk mines where Rudy obtains his magic chalk (Rudy later draws a second eye for him and renames him "Biclops"); Queen Rapsheeba (Rosslynn Taylor), ChalkZone's musical artist whom Snap has a crush on; and Blocky (Candi Milo; Robert Cait), a light green block friend of Snap's and Rudy's first-ever drawing. They also face villains such as Skrawl (Jim Cummings), a drawing who blames Rudy for being ugly and wants to destroy him, and the Craniacs (Rob Paulsen), a series of robot drawings obsessed with collecting futuristic devices.
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 1 | 6 | March 22, 2002 (2002-3-22) | April 26, 2002 (2002-4-26) | |
| 2 | 8 | May 30, 2003 (2003-5-30) | November 2, 2003 (2003-11-2) | |
| 3 | 16 | February 2, 2004 (2004-2-2) | June 6, 2005 (2005-6-6) | |
| 4 | 10 | 4 | June 7, 2005 (2005-6-7) | June 22, 2005 (2005-6-22) |
| 6 | June 11, 2008 (2008-6-11) | August 23, 2008 (2008-8-23) | ||
ChalkZone was the creation of Bill Burnett and Larry Huber, with Huber's idea of a boy with magic chalk and Burnett's idea of a world behind the chalkboard. The concept's origin dated back during the production ofHanna Barbera'sWhat a Cartoon! where Seibert originally wanted Huber to develop a cartoon for the showcase and assigned him with Burnett, who was writing forCow and Chicken at the time, to develop a pilot for a potential series.[3] Development fell through at the last minute from the result ofWarner Bros. Animation acquiring Hanna Barbera Cartoons. The concept came back when Seibert developed Frederator Studios and was pitched as a short on Nickelodeon'sOh Yeah! Cartoons before getting the greenlight in 1998.[4] In 1999,ChalkZone became the first spin-off ofOh Yeah! Cartoons to enter production and be greenlit.[5] Despite this,ChalkZone did not make it to the air until 2002, as the initial 13 green-light episodes were shortened to 6 due to executive reasons, all which were completed by 2000.[6] The show's air-date was up for debate until the lack of new programming and America'scritical situation at the time led the decision to air the series in 2002. Frederator Studios announced in 2005 that the series had been cancelled at 40 episodes.
The show is remembered for featuring one-minute music videos sung by Rudy and his friends (credited as "Rudy & The Chalkzone Band") at the end of each episode. Several songs Bill Burnett composed beforeChalkZone's production, i.e. "Insect Aside" and "Dream Alotta Dreams", were implanted into the series. A well-liked rumor about the show is that it was based onSimon in the Land of Chalk Drawings (which Nickelodeon aired in the early 1980s as part ofPinwheel). Bill Burnett denied this in a 2013 interview, claiming that he was not aware of the series' existence until afterChalkZone entered production, although Burnett did mention thatHarold and the Purple Crayon was an influence on Larry's idea for the "boy with magic chalk" concept.[7] A one-hour special, "The Big Blow Up", premiered on August 6, 2004. The final season featured new character designs with a slimmer line quality and a zooming chalk transition as new artists and overseas studios were used for the remainder of the series.
The show had four different variations of the theme song released to the public, one from the 2001 Nickelodeon album, "The Newest Nicktoons", which used a synthesizer instead of a guitar and had an earlier version of Penny's voice which was a demo Bill Burnett created in order for the song to get the green-light, an earlier version of the final version from the album "ChalkZone: In the Zone", where the guitar was used and Penny's earlier voice was still used, and the final version which was shown on regular episodes. Another variation was shown in the 1999 pilot, which not only featured a slightly different opening sequence and logo from the final series but also features a preparatory track mix of the final version and the second demo albeit with some modified vocals, also with Penny's final voice used.[8] Bill Burnett's original idea for the concepts' score was something in akin to simplistic children's toy instrument melodies to fit the show's children's "chalk-drawing" theme, but the Nickelodeon crew suggested a more techno rock-based score to give the show a huge contrast from the premise.Steve Rucker was brought into the music composition team and some of his compositions were later re-written upon request by Burnett and Moon to fit the series better, much to his dismay.[3]
The pilot for the series first aired on December 31, 1999, as part of Nickelodeon's annual New Year's Eve block,[9] but due to being delayed by Nickelodeon for executive reasons, the series made its official premiere on March 22, 2002. The 2002 premiere became the highest-rated premiere in Nickelodeon's history up to that point.[10][11]
The show aired in reruns on "Nick on CBS" for more than a year from February 1, 2003, to September 11, 2004. In June 2005, following the announcement that the series had been cancelled, the fourth season of the series premiered. Of the season's 11 episodes, only five would be aired that year before Nickelodeonabruptly halted the broadcast of new episodes. The remaining six episodes would not air until three years later in June and August 2008. The final episode aired on August 23, 2008.
Since the series' cancellation, reruns aired onNicktoons until October 30, 2016.ChalkZone reruns aired onNickSplat (then known as "The Splat") for two nights only on November 12 and 13, 2016, as part of a block that ran every weekend from August until December commemorating the 25th anniversary of theNicktoons franchise. NickSplat –includingChalkZone– was a subscription channel based onVRV from 2018 to 2020.
During the show's original run, there were no DVD releases specifically forChalkZone. The episode "Future Zone" was released on theNickstravaganza! VHS. Three episodes ("Gift Adrift", "French Fry Falls", and "Eschucha Mi Corazon") were released for theNickstravaganza! 2 DVD (only "French Fry Falls" was included on the VHS). The Christmas episode, "When Santas Collide", was featured on the 2006 DVDNick Picks Holiday. AComplete Series DVD set was released through Amazon.com's CreateSpace manufacture-on-demand program on October 13, 2014; the release is missing the episode "The Smooch" due to music licensing issues. A soundtrack albumIn the Zone has also been released.[12] The entire series is available onAmazon Video and thePlayStation Store, as well as available for streaming onParamount+.
| Title | Format | Season(s) | Episode count | Release date | Episodes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickstravaganza! | VHS | 1 | 1 | March 4, 2003 | "Future Zone" | |
| Nickstravaganza! 2 | BothDVD and VHS | 1 (VHS) 3 (DVD) | September 2, 2003 | "French Fry Falls" (VHS) "French Fry Falls" / "Gift Adrift" / "Escucha Mi Corazon" (DVD) | ||
| Nick Picks Holiday | DVD | 3 | 1 | September 26, 2006 | "When Santas Collide" | |
| The Complete Series | DVD (CreateSpace release) | 1–4 | 40 | October 13, 2014 (Amazon exclusive) | All episodes Excluded: "The Smooch" (due to music licensing issues.) | |
Joly Herman ofCommon Sense Media rated the series 3 out of 5 stars, saying, "What makes this show interesting is that it acknowledges that worlds of imagination are available to all of us. But while it's true that we love to get lost in a story, for a young child, getting as lost in a world as Rudy does can be scary."[13] Lana Berkowitz fromTheHouston Chronicle wrote, "There are flashes of fun in [ChalkZone], the action moves along, and there's no violence. But cartoon connoisseurs, particularly those who stay tuned after loonySpongeBob SquarePants at 7 p.m., probably will need something more intriguing to keep their attention." Berkowitz further added, "After a clever setup,Chalkzone settles into a predictable zone with stories that could easily be erased from memory."[14] Allison Fass ofThe New York Times praised the imagination and creativity in the series, but she opined that series creator Bill Burnett's message, "We have to take responsibility for what we create", may be "a little mature" for children.[15]
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | BMI Film & TV Awards | BMI Cable Award[16] | Guy Moon | Won |
| 2004 | 31st Annie Awards | Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Television Production Produced for Children[17] | ChalkZone | Nominated |
| Outstanding Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production[17] | "Pumpkin Love" | Nominated |
ChalkZone and all related logos, titles and characters are trademarks of Viacom International, Inc. © 2000 Viacom International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
