As Told by Ginger is a Nickelodeon media franchise that was originally the 1998 pilot episode of As Told by Ginger called "The Party" It went on air on October 9, 2015 on The Splat (now renamed NickRewind). After the pilot's success, It was aired on Nickelodeon for a full animated tv series on October 25, 2000. During the tv series' further on-air success, the tv series expanded into four tv films like "Season of Caprice" on July 7, 2001.
TV Pilot's Premise[]
As Told by Ginger: The Party[]
- Main article: As Told by Ginger: The Party
Ginger is invited to Courtney's party, but there's one problem, she has to babysit Carl. She takes Carl to the party and ties him up with a hose in the backyard.
At the party, the kids play spin the bottle. Ginger spins and it lands on her crush, Ian Richton. Just before they are about to kiss, Blake, Courtney's younger brother, comes in wearing only his underwear and ruins the party by telling the guests that Courtney stuffs her bra. Ian sneaks Ginger a kiss anyway. Meanwhile, Dodie and Macie have their own party at Dodie's house.
TV Series' Premise[]
Characters[]
:Main article: List of As Told by Ginger characters
The series focuses mainly on the life of junior high school student Ginger Foutley (voiced by Melissa Disney). Ginger and her friends Darren Patterson (voiced by Kenny Blank), Deirdre Hortense "Dodie" Bishop (voiced by Aspen Miller), and Macie Lightfoot (voiced by Jackie Harris), try to rise from the position of school geeks as they solve many conflicts that come their way.
Luckily for Ginger Foutley, the most popular girl in school, Courtney Gripling (voiced by Liz Georges), has taken a liking to her and often includes her in her social plans. She is intrigued by her "gingerisms", as Courtney calls them. However, Miranda Killgallen (voiced by Cree Summer), Courtney's right-hand woman, makes sure that she is not bumped down from her position thanks to Ginger. At home, Ginger writes her lively adventures in her diary. Her younger brother, Carl (voiced by Jeannie Elias), is often scheming with Robert Joseph "Hoodsey" Bishop (voiced by Tress MacNeille) in his own side plots, and her mother, Lois (voiced by Laraine Newman), is always there for advice – to which Ginger is always able to listen.
Setting[]
The series takes place in the fictional suburban town of Sheltered Shrubs, located in Connecticut. Sheltered Shrubs is based on the real town of Larchmont, New York, where series creator Emily Kapnek moved to when she was in junior high. She said the town became "sort of the basis for this show". Other towns noted in the series are Protected Pines, a gated community in which Courtney lives, Brittle Branches, where Ginger's father resides, and Heathered Hills, the town of Ginger's summer camp crush, Sasha.
Continuity and themes[]
As Told by Ginger has been recognized by fans and Nickelodeon alike for its character development, most of which was unusual for a cartoon in its time.
In the first season, Ginger's age group is considered as being in seventh grade. By the second season, they move up to eighth grade rather than remaining the same age. In this season, Darren has his unwieldy orthodontic headgear that he has worn for the entire first season removed, which results in rising popularity. They graduate junior high in the middle of the third season and move on to becoming freshmen in high school. Carl's age group works in a same way, as they become junior high students by the third season. Many episodes make references to past episodes, giving the episodes a definite order.
One of the most noticeable developments is that the characters change clothes every episode and often newer every day within the same episode, a highly unusual characteristic of cartoons in animation. Most animated cartoons have their characters remain in the same outfits throughout the series to save time and money. This was most conspicuous amongst the girls in Ginger's age group (Dodie, Courtney, Macie, Miranda and Ginger herself) and some of the adults such as Ginger's mother. After Darren got his orthodontic headgear removed, he changed clothes as well. Carl's age group changes clothes only infrequently and with few changes. Hoodsey's coat rack has similar purple hoodies, satirizing cartoons whose characters always remain in the same outfits. Unlike most live-action shows whose characters only wear an outfit once, As Told by Ginger characters wear their outfits in rotation, and new outfits are added every few episodes.
The series also deals with several deeper themes. In "Wicked Game", Ginger's two best friends betray her after feeling jealousy toward her new boyfriend, Darren. In "And She Was Gone", the staff and students at school think Ginger is suicidally depressed after she writes a disturbing poem that worries them. In the episode "No Hope for Courtney", Carl's pranks cause his teacher to retire. After she agrees to come back, Mrs. Gordon passes on. In actuality, Mrs. Gordon's voice actress, Kathleen Freeman, died before the episode's completion, and the script was rewritten in dedication to her. "A Lesson in Tightropes" has Ginger going through an emotional breakup with Darren while she must undergo surgery for appendicitis. Furthermore, the episode "Stuff'll Kill Ya" shows Ginger dealing with a coffee and caffeine drug addiction. The old saying of "follow your dreams" became a whole new meaning. In "Butterflies Are Free" Part 1, when Dodie became so fascinated about the pep squad, she wanted to try out. However, the coach in charge of the team told her that a freshman has never succeeded in the attempt of the usual process. But despite that piece of info, she still became inspired. In "Kiss Today Goodbye", Dodie continue to further her attempt by cooking healthy meals for the coach, cleaning cheerleading outfits, presenting the team. In "Dodie's Big Break", she became a gopher, which is Lucky High School's mascot, and performed in her first game. Unfortunately she got injured, which led to her becoming a part of the team. Unfortunately, it got taken away from her after she confessed to faking the injury that she recovered from. After being confronted by Ginger, Coach Candace allowed Dodie back into the squad and she allowed her to try out. But she injured her leg again and Dodie is allowed to try again in her sophomore year.
- In the TV film The Wedding Frame, when the Foutleys are driving to their soon-to-be home, they pass a cemetery park. One tombstone reads "ATBG" while another reads "RIP". ATBG is short for As Told by Ginger and RIP is short for "Rest in Peace". This is a nod to the fact that the film is the series finale.
- A girl named Leandra, who had a bone marrow illness and was a Make-A-Wish patient, was a fan of the series and watched it during her treatments. Her wish was to be a character on the show, so she appeared and voiced a character named after herself in a scene of the episode "Butterflies are Free", in which Ginger, Macie and Dodie greet her by name.
Unlike most other Nicktoons, the series was aired on the TEENick block.
Television films[]
There were four television films that aired during the series' run.
- Summer of Camp Caprice (also titled Season of Caprice) had Ginger, Dodie, Macie and Courtney heading to summer camp, with Darren and Miranda going to military camp (where, as it happens, Miranda's father works) and Carl and Hoodsey on the trail of dog nappers.
- Foutleys on Ice (aired in the US as Far from Home), following up on the Emmy-nominated episode "And She Was Gone", dealt with Ginger winning a scholarship to an arts school, and Carl and Hoodsey making friends with a new character, the telekinetic Noelle Sussman (voiced by series creator Emily Kapnek). This episode was released on DVD.
- Butterflies Are Free follows Ginger and her friends graduating from junior high.
- The Wedding Frame closed out the third season and the series as a whole, and features Lois marrying one of the doctors at her hospital.
Nickelodeon had originally asked for the ending of The Wedding Frame to be changed to something less conclusive in case they wished to order more episodes, however, perhaps due to that situation being very unlikely, the original ending was eventually retained. It was released directly to DVD in the United States in November 2004, but it was not broadcast in the U.S.; also, one of the episodes ("Battle of the Bands") leading up to the film has never aired in the U.S. either, resulting in some continuity issues.
In international airings, the films were divided into two (for Butterflies are Free) and three parts (for the other three films) in reruns.
External Links[]
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