Groundling Marsh | |
---|---|
Genre | Children's television series |
Voices of |
Gord Robertson James Rankin Jani Lauzon Wendy Welch Trish Leeper Stephen Brathwaite Dan Redican Fred Stinson John Pattison Nina Keogh |
Country of origin | Canada |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of episodes | 65 |
Production | |
Running time | 30 min |
Production company(s) |
YTV The Disney Channel Portfolio Film & Television Inc. J.A. Delmage Productions Groundling Marsh Productions |
Distributor |
Lyrick Studios (1997–1999) HiT Entertainment (currently;Mattel) |
Release | |
Original network |
YTV Disney Channel PBS Kids |
Original release | October 1, 1995 | – November 28, 1997
Groundling Marsh is a Canadian children's television series featuring puppets. The show was produced by Portfolio Film & Television Inc., and J.A. Delmage Productions. It included songs and animated segments, and enjoyed a certain amount of success and popularity during its time. The only merchandise produced for the show were videos and they are now exceptionally rare and no longer produced. In the United States, it aired on PBS and The Disney Channel. It received funding from the International Production Fund, formerly the Maclean Hunter Television Fund. This series premiered on October 1, 1995. Groundling Marsh was nominated at the 12th Annual Gemini Awards for Best Preschool Program or Series. John Pattison was also nominated for a Gemini (Best Performance in a Preschool Program or Series) for the episode "Bah Hegdish". The show had its series finale on November 28, 1997. The show is still seen on Bell Media-owned educational station CTV Two Alberta in Canada.
Groundling Marsh takes place in a magical swamp. Most of the mutant-like characters are "Groundlings", but look very different from each other. They can be described as any combination of animal, human, elf, and plant. One of the characters is a robot named Stacks. Generally, humans never appear in the series except as an alien presence represented by a boot or a voice. Most often, humans come to the marsh to dump trash and disrupt the ecosystem. The show was designed to be educational and so the story of each episode includes morals such as friendship, honesty, caring, and protection of the environment.
Galileo (performed by Gord Robertson) is a young leader Groundling. Relatively elf-like in appearance, he has yellow-orange skin, dark hair with a slight purplish tinge, a very short braid or ponytail in the back, and a rounded nose. He calls himself an explorer, and is constantly exploring and mapping the marsh. He is also curious about the world beyond the marsh, where the humans live. He built Stacks out of pieces of junk that humans dumped in the marsh. In some ways he is perhaps meant to resemble a Native American person. He is very friendly, but will sometimes lose his patience, particularly with Maggie. In the title sequence of every episode, he is seen looking through a telescope, implying that he is named after Galileo Galilei, the famous astronomer. He wears a natural-looking brown tunic and pants. He has the ability to see in the dark, His love interest is Maggie, He has a little sister named Vilma.