The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss (season 1)

The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss (season 1)
Tighten up, get loose!
Genre: Educational Comedy Puppetry Musical Running Time: 30 minutes Country: United States Release Date: October 13, 1996 – August 17, 1997 2004-2006 (VHS) 2004-2013 (DVD) Network(s): Nickelodeon Distributed by: The Jim Henson Company Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (pre-2010) Lionsgate (2010-2013) Vivendi Entertainment (2013-2015) Starring: Bruce Lanoil Anthony Asbury John Kennedy Stephanie D'Abruzzo Kathryn Mullen Episodes: 20

"The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss" is an American children's puppet comedy television series based on characters created by Dr. Seuss, produced by The Jim Henson Company. It is notable for its use of live puppets with digitally animated backgrounds, for refashioning characters and themes from the original Dr. Seuss books into new stories that often retained much of the flavor of Dr. Seuss' own works.

Why It Makes Us Tighten Up And Get Loose (In a Good Way)

1. Very faithful to the Dr. Seuss books and great at adapting the works of Dr. Seuss into another form of media.
2. Very silly and creative props like the Muckster.
3. Perfectly talented puppeteering.
4. Appealing locations, like Seussville and Mount Crumpit.
5. Great voice acting, especially with Bruce Lanoil as the Cat in the Hat.
6. Very fun, wacky, and dense humor.
7. Very funny songs, like "Don't Get A Gink", "The Grass Ain't Always Greener", and "Who Are You, Sue Snue?".
8. Some distinctly dark elements, like in several Dr. Seuss books.
9. Hilarious theme song.
10. Good morals, like "the only thing that'll make you happy is what you don't have."
11. The Cat in the Hat in this show is very faithful to his book counterpart. He even reprises his role as a trickster in episodes like "The Simplifier".
12. Every episode in this season is great and underrated, this is due to how faithful the show is at making the Seuss world come to life.

Bad Qualities

1. After this season, the show went downhill due to focus group testing (according to Defunctland, a focus group at a test screening of "The King's Beard" thought that the show was for much younger kids in its first season):
   • The show became a traditional children's television program a la Barney & Friends.
   • The Cat in the Hat also got way too much screen time and not enough could be given to the other Dr. Seuss characters, due to the new format having him cover various stories in the Wubbulous World by consulting the Wubbuloscope.
   • In the Season 2 episode "The Cat in the Hat Cleans Up His Act", Yertle the Turtle was flanderized from a turtle who tortured millions of other turtles into an annoying and generic business salesman. He would later be flanderized again in "A Bird's Best Friend".
2. Most of the puppets are ugly and creepy to look at, with their wide mouths and oversized upper lips.
3. The CGI backgrounds are hideous and have aged badly even for its time in the 1990's, being on par with the earliest VeggieTales videos as well as N64 graphics.
4. Terrence McBird and Little Cat Z, introduced in the second and final season, are very annoying. All Little Cat Z does is mutter Z-words and Terrence refuses to try new things.
5. In "The Guest", Larry Nooly's parents act like he doesn't exist on their honeymoon and ignore his warnings about the Grinch.

Reception

• It holds a rating of 6.7/10 on IMDB, and is well-received by lots of people for being faithful to the Dr. Seuss books, with the late Audrey Geisel even approving of the show.

Comments

Loading comments...