Grossology
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You'll never look at anything gross the same way again after watching this.
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Grossology is a Canadian animated television series produced by Nelvana, and based loosely on the non-fictional children's book series of the same name by Sylvia Branzei. It appeared on YTV in Canada on September 29, 2006, and is broadcast on the "Real Toons" cartoon block on Discovery Kids in the United States on January 13, 2007. It also aired on Jetix on June 2, 2007 and Kix! from September 15, 2008 in the United Kingdom, and on ABC TV in Australia in December 2007.
Plot
Abigail "Abby" Archer (a tomboy who loves her gross nature) and Tyler "Ty" (a boy genius who really hates Abby's gross nature) are a teen sister and brother crime-fighting team who report to the Bureau of Grossology, a secret government agency whose job is to investigate gross criminals, their gross crimes, and/or various gross phenomena. Each episode of the series follows the pair on adventures based on real scientific facts. Aided by their friend Lab Rat (a human scientist), their boss The Director, and their police liaison, The Detective, Ty and Abby work to keep the city safe, all while keeping their identities hidden.
Why It's Anything But Gross
- The show teaches viewers some gross aspects of nature and the human body in a way that is appealing and light-hearted.
- It sets itself apart from other series with gross out humor and other gross-out shows by being a partially-scientific action series with gross-themed villains.
- Strange, but interesting premise.
- Good characters who teach the audience about gross science.
- Abby is a cute, perky, tomboyish and daring girl who enjoys skateboarding, playing video games, and being interested in gross stuff (especially eating boogers and farting).
- Ty is a, intelligent boy who's very dedicated to science and hates Abby's gross nature, aims to be among the most well known in the scientific community.
- Great and smooth animation, thanks to Mercury Filmworks (season 1) and Toon Boom Harmony.
- The Grossology gadgets are great to see.
- Great and cute anime-esque animation and character designs. It helps the fact that the show was produced by Nelvana, the same studio behind Spliced (both this and Spliced aired on Qubo).
- Memorable intro music.
- Great villains, especially Kid Rot, who is one of the most sympathetic.
- Great action scenes.
Gross Qualities
- Some characters can be very annoying.
- The gross aspects of the show will throw some people off.
- Abby had too much gross-out humor, due to her love of her gross nature.
- The US airing schedule was weird; Discovery Kids (US) also dropped it after the first season, Luckily, Qubo managed to air the second season when the channel started airing this show.
- Some fart jokes here and there.
- While not a bad episode, the season 2 finale "Night of the Living Roadkill" didn't feel like a true closure to the series.
- Some of the lesser villains got overshadowed by the more popular villains and only got one episode.
- Some plot threads weren't tied up properly in season 2, this was likely they were saving them for a third season which unfortunately was cancelled.