The Wild Thornberrys

The Wild Thornberrys is an animated series produced at Klasky-Csupo for Nickelodeon, which follows the adventures of a fictional wildlife-documentary-making family, the Thornberrys, and particularly of Eliza Thornberry, who can talk to animals. It premiered in October 1998, and was the first Nicktoon to exclusively use 30 minute stories (previously, other Nicktoons mostly used the two-fifteen-minute-stories format). At the time, the series was quite dark in tone for a Nicktoon (with life-threatening situations in several stories).

Related Topics:
Animated series - Klasky-Csupo - Nickelodeon - Documentary - 1998

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nigel and Marianne Thornberry (voiced by Tim Curry and Jodi Carlisle) travel around the world with their family making wildlife documentaries, with Nigel as narrator and Marianne as the camerawoman. They have three children:

Related Topics:
Tim Curry - Jodi Carlisle

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• their older daughter Deborah, or Debbie (Danielle Harris), a typical teenager who longs for a normal suburban life;
• their younger daughter Elizabeth, or Eliza (Lacey Chabert), a girl who (unbeknownst to her family) gained the ability to speak with animals after an encounter with an African shaman (as shown the episode Gift of Gab, also dealing with why it's such a secret; this fact would be played on in the first film);
• their stepson Donnie (Flea), a feral boy who (as would be made known in their 2001 telefilm, Origin of Donnie) was raised by orangutans before the Thornberrys adopted him, and who talks very wildly and incoherently.

Also travelling along is Darwin (Tom Kane), a chimpanzee that travels with the family, who "belongs" to Eliza. He has a craving for cheese crunchies, especially newly discovered "Swiss" cheese crunchies. He was found by Eliza, and was the first animal she ever talked to. Tyler Tucker (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), Eliza's cousin, also travelled with them in five episodes.

Related Topics:
Tom Kane - Jonathan Taylor Thomas

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Despite being nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in 2001, the show has its share of detractors, mostly those bothered by main character Eliza's look (pigtails, glasses, freckles, and braces on her big teeth), and her attitude: basically, go out of her way to talk to animals, no matter what.

Related Topics:
Emmy Award - 2001 - Pigtail - Glasses - Freckles - Braces

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 
The Wild Thornberrys: Feature films with characters from the series ►