Jojo's Circus

All of this just works. ― Todd Howard

This article needs cleanup to meet our rules and guidelines. You can help by editing it. The following reason has been specified: Pointers need elaboration.

♥	This article is dedicated to the first voice actor of Goliath, Robert Norman Smith (1965 - July 22, 2020, at the age of 55).

JoJo's Circus
Where's the Joestar bloodline when you need them?!
Genre: Overall: Comedy Musical Educational Songs: Doo-wop Funk Pop rock Power pop Traditional pop Running Time: 22 minutes Country: United States Canada Release Date: September 28, 2003 – February 14, 2007 Network(s): Playhouse Disney (Disney Channel) Created by: Jim Jinkins David Campbell Lisa Jinkins Eric Weiner Starring: Madeleine Martin Robert Smith Alan Ford Austin Di Iulio Keeler Sandhaus Diana Peressini Tajja Isen Jayne Eastwood Seasons: 3 Episodes: 59

JoJo's Circus is an American/Canadian interactive stop-motion musical comedy series for preschool children. The series is created by the combined efforts of Jim Jinkins, David Campbell, Mildred Seidman, Lisa Jinkins and Eric Weiner and produced by Cuppa Coffee Studios and Cartoon Pizza. The series is written by Douglas Wood, the creative executive for Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs, and features songs with music by Jeffrey Zahn and Jim Latham with lyrics by Judy Rothman.

Plot

The series is set in Circus Town, a self-sufficient city whose cultural center is the "Big Top" tent. The story focuses on JoJo Tickle, a young silly and active 6-year-old female clown, and Goliath, JoJo's pet lion. She and Goliath study at the Big Top Circus School, where all young soon-to-be circus performers learn under their teacher, Mrs. Kersplatski. Along with her friends, JoJo explores and learns while dealing with challenging situations.

Bad Qualities

1. JoJo's constant fourth-wall breaks can be considered repetitive. Similar to Dora the Explorer and the Little Einsteins, another Playhouse Disney show, she always asks the audience for help. JoJo stays silent for several seconds in order to leave time for the viewer to breathe, which always slows down the plot tremendously. It is also what most Playhouse Disney shows do since preschool shows from the mid-2000s were always doing constant fourth wall breaks.
2. Despite being a Disney animated show from 2003, one year after Kim Possible, it's not possible to watch it in widescreen.
3. Goliath does not seem that much like a lion thanks to his unusual mane and oversized nose.
4. Hypocrisy: The show sends a subtle message about nutrition, yet the characters eat nothing but junk food.
5. The voice acting can be sentimental, however, depending on your point of view or perspective, it sounds pretty decent.
6. In "The Little Big Top Boogie Band", Croaky cries because Trina says she can't be in her friends' band due to her voice, which isn't that big of a deal.
7. Charlie the Clown Baby is pretty much annoying as his crying will occasionally get on your nerves.
8. The moral taught in "Easy as Pie", the first episode of the show, makes no sense, because there's no such thing as the orange clown nose JoJo honked earlier, in real life.
9. The morals (well, most of them..) are also shoved down your throat, while it does teach you about being healthy, the execution of it doesn't really make it any better, if not, worse.

Good Qualities

1. Nice stop-motion animation, even for Jim Jinkins' first stop motion series.
2. It teaches good life lessons and encourages kids to get active and dance, but the ways it does, are poorly executed.
3. It talks about circus life, even what it's like being a clown and running your own circus.
4. Circus Town is colorful.
5. Some of the songs, especially the theme song, are amazing.
6. Despite the flaws, the voice acting is very good for the most part.

Reception

It currently has a score of 5.1/10 on IMDb. It gained a cult following in recent years from those that grew-up with it, and that it is lost media.

Trivia

• Along with Jimmy from The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, Barney the Dinosaur, Bear from Bear in the Big Blue House, Dora and Boots from Dora the Explorer, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Emily Elizabeth, the dragons, Emmy and Max from Dragon Tales, Kim Possible, Stitch from Lilo & Stitch: The Series, the cast of Between the Lions and Sesame Street, Madeline, the Rugrats, The Proud Family, Little Bill, SpongeBob from his namesake show, Stanley, Steve and Blue from Blue's Clues and The Muppets, the characters from this show were featured in the "We Are Family: A Musical Message for All" video.
• The show only had two out of print DVD releases containing four episodes each (Take A Bow and Animal A Go-Go), an extremely rare promotional VHS containing the episodes "The Circus Shh-Shh" and "The Little Top Boogie Band" and episodes on compilation releases ("A Circus Town Christmas" on the 2005 DVD "A Very Playhouse Disney Holiday", "The Spudinski's New Act" on "Higglytown Heroes: On The Move" and "A Clown Ride" on "Higglytown Heroes: Heroes To The Rescue"). The show was last seen on Disney Junior in 2014, and it is not available on Disney+.
• The series is not available in its entirety and can be considered lost media until then.

Comments

Loading comments...