WordGirl

WordGirl
Genre	Animated television series
Created by	Dorothea Gillim
Directed by	David SanAngelo
Voices of	(See article)
Narrated by	Chris Parnell
Country of origin	United States Canada
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Deborah Forte Dorothea Gillim
Producer	Will Shepard
Running time	30 min.
Original release
Network	PBS
Release	September 3, 2007 – 2009

WordGirl is a children’s animated series produced by Soup2Nuts for PBS Kids. It began as a series of shorts that premiered on PBS Kids GO! on November 10, 2006, usually shown at the end of Maya & Miguel. The segment was spun-off into a new series which premiered on September 3, 2007 on most PBS member stations. The show is aimed at kids aged 6 and up and is designed to teach about the expansive English language. The first season has 31 episodes.

Background

The show’s creator, Dorothea Gillim, said that, “Part of my mission is to make kids’ television smart and funny.” She added that,”I feel as though we’ve lost some ground there, in an effort to make it more accessible...” She says that children’s shows often underestimate children’s intelligence, and that, “WordGirl’s focus is on great stories, characters, and animation. If all those elements are working, then you can hook a child who may come looking for laughs but leave a little smarter.”

Each 11-minute episode in the show’s half hour time slot begins with the instruction to look for two words which will be used throughout the plot of that episode. The words (examples include “diversion,” “cumbersome,” and “idolize”) are chosen according to academic guidelines. The reasoning is that children can understand words like “cumbersome” when told that it means “big and heavy and awkward.”

News anchor Jim Lehrer agreed to do a mock interview with WordGirl.

Head Writer Jack Ferraiolo, who developed the series with Gillim, won an Emmy for his work on WordGirl.

Plot

At the beginning of the series, we are introduced to Becky Botsford, a fifth grade girl who is secretly WordGirl. Becky was born on the planet Lexicon (whose name is another word for “dictionary”). When she was an infant, her spaceship (which was being piloted by Captain Huggy Face at the time,) crashed to Earth, where she was adopted by Tim and Sally Botsford. She makes friends at school with Violet Heaslip and the school reporter Todd “Scoops” Ming.

WordGirl uses her great vocabulary to fend off villains such as Granny May, The Butcher, Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy and Dr. Two-Brains. She never reveals her double identity to anyone, including her own family. She and Huggy use their crashed spaceship as a secret hideout.

Characters

Main characters

WordGirl/Becky Botsford

A superheroine from the planet Lexicon. Her superpowers include flying at the speed of sound, super strength, and a comprehensive vocabulary. Her symbol is a red star against a yellow shield; when she strikes an enemy or shoots into the sky, she leaves a twinkling star at the end of her sonic streak, similar to the trail of a shooting star. She instantly changes into her WordGirl costume by touching her shirt where her emblem would be, and speaking her catchphrase, “Word up!”

As mild-mannered fifth grader Becky Botsford, she spends her time reading, going to school, decorating her dollhouse, and trying to hide her secret identity. No one is aware of WordGirl's true identity with the exception of Captain Huggy Face and, of course, the Narrator who “runs” the program. Despite obvious similarities, only a few others have made the connection; in one episode, Dr. Two-Brains does find out and tells WordGirl/Becky’s family, but they all forget when they are hit with Dr.Two-Brains’ amnesia ray. Scoops realizes that Becky doubles as WordGirl when she runs into him, forgetting that she is still wearing the WordGirl cape; Scoops observes that she’s also worn the costume frequently, having chosen WordGirl as her Halloween costume. However, his suspicions dissipate when Becky painstakingly misdefines a word in a vocabulary bee. At one point, her parents begin to make the connection, but just when they are about to figure it out, Captain Huggy Face (a.k.a. Bob) distracts them.

Even though she may be a superhero, Becky has a love for ponies and other animals, as any 5th-grade girl might. Her favorite book and TV series is “Princess Triana.”

Captain Huggy Face/Bob

WordGirl’s sidekick, a monkey from Lexicon, who was also responsible for crashing WordGirl’s spacecraft. Huggy Face has no superpowers and loves to eat almost anything, even the dreaded Beans a la Botsford (although he hates the repulsive Chicken Liver Fricassee the Butcher conjured once). Huggy is a surprisingly competent sidekick and can do martial arts, especially kung fu. His symbol, on the chest of his costume, is a thunderbolt. As Bob, he is the Botsford family pet.

The Narrator

The Narrator is an unseen character on “WordGirl.” He can interact with any character, although he most often converses with WordGirl, and can also hear her thoughts, as seen in the “Vocab Bee” episode. Occasionally, The Narrator telegraphs upcoming plot developments to viewers; for example, in the episode titled “When Life Gives You Potatoes...”, Dr.Two-Brains captures WordGirl as part of a plot to turn gold into potato salad, and then into cheese. Once WordGirl is captured, The Narrator says: “Is this the end of WordGirl? Will Dr.Two-Brains turn her into potato salad?” Dr.Two-Brains replies, “Hey! Don’t give it away!” The Narrator has also been known to intervene in the story’s action, and his words and judgments during these circumstances generally lead the viewers to believe that the Narrator is not-so-secretly on WordGirl’s side. For example, in the episode “Tobey or Consequences,” the child villain Tobey proposes a game show, “Crash or Pie?” to settle the question of whether his robots would be allowed to destroy the city. The Narrator acts as show host, and his final judgment of the game’s outcome shows his overall bias in WordGirl’s favor. He has a twin brother who works in Hollywood (as seen in the “Mecha-Mouse” episode). It is implied that his brother is a better narrator than himself. In the episode "Sandwich World", The Narrator claimed he was only a voice.

Tim Botsford

Becky’s adoptive and cheerful father. He encourages Becky and is very supportive of his family, though he’s quite indecisive and somewhat of an idiot. He makes “Beans a la Botsford,” which only Captain Huggy Face will eat.

Sally Botsford

Becky’s adoptive mother, a constant optimist. She works at City Hall as a district attorney. She also seems to have a fear of robots.

TJ Botsford

Tim and Sally’s 7-year-old biological child. Having an older sister annoys him, but he idolizes WordGirl and constantly babbles about her. This obsession with WordGirl is a bit unnerving to his sister. He is president of WordGirl’s fan club and does not allow his sister (as Becky) to attend meetings.

Villains

The Butcher

A criminal with the ability to shoot any type of meat out of his hands. He has the strange habit of mixing up words (such as saying “sunbeam” instead of “supreme,” or “robbify” instead of “robbery”) or even whole phrases (“So, WordGirl, we meet again for the first time!”). This is a play on his name, as he tends to "butcher" the English language. The Butcher’s powers are nullified by tofu. In one episode, after tiring of being defeated by WordGirl, the Butcher chooses a very unlikely ally to help him out, a kitten. Because WordGirl has a love for cute animals, she was powerless against The Butcher and Lil’ Mittens (the kitten). After The Butcher was arrested, he left Lil’ Mittens to a little girl.

Dr. Two-Brains

Dr. Two-Brains is the result of a laboratory experiment fusing the brain of Professor Steven Boxleitner, a kind-hearted and distracted scientist, with the brain of Squeaky, a vicious albino mouse. While testing a machine that would allow Dr. Boxleitener to read a rodent's mind, Squeaky pressed a button, causing their brains to fuse, and the external mouse part, located on the left side of his head, glows with a greenish light and pulsates sometimes. He is now out to steal all the cheese in the city. WordGirl was good friends with him before he became a supervillain, and once encouraged him to fight the mouse brain’s control on him. Dr. Two-Brains seems to know all of the vocabulary words so far, and has even introduced and defined quite a few. In the episode “Mouse Army,” Dr. Two-Brains temporarily teamed up with WordGirl to stop an army of super-intelligent mice he had created. In the end he betrayed her, but whether this was part of his plan or if his mouse brain took control is never clearly determined. In the episode “A Game of Cat and Mouse” it becomes clear that he is afraid of cats.

Dr. Two-Brains’ henchmen

Dr. Two-Brains is assisted by two generally unhelpful henchmen. They are not dangerous at all and seem not to want to commit crimes, but help Dr. Two-Brains just for the sake of helping him, and at times seemed to have formed a friendship with WordGirl (however, nearly all the villains seem to have a minor friendship with WordGirl, before turning back to the crime they were doing). They also seem to have a love for animals. The Henchmen are:

• “Unnamed”, Dr. Two-Brains’ henchman who is in command, generally. He has a great love for animals, such as bunny rabbits and cats. In one episode where he used Dr. Two-Brains’ growth ray on his pet bunny, Flopsy, he got sad and worried when Flopsy was too big to bring along with him on their next evil mission. He also needs help to understand Dr. Two-Brains when he uses words that the henchman doesn’t know. His best friend is his co-worker Charlie. His real name has not yet been revealed.
• Charlie, Dr. Two-Brains’ 2nd henchman who acts like the muscle of the gang. Even though Charlie looks menacing at times, he has a big heart and a great love for animals just like his friend. Charlie never talks out loud in the show but has been seen whispering to his unnamed co-worker. Charlie is also twice as big as Dr. Two-Brains. His name was revealed in the episode "Two-Brain Highway".

Mr. Big

Head of Mr. Big Industries, Mr. Big is the inventor of the Thing and the Mega-Thing — cubic objects that do absolutely nothing. Despite their uselessness, they fly off the shelves, thanks to Mr. Big’s mind-control device that causes people to purchase them. His sidekick and constant companions are his squishy toy rabbit and his assistant, Leslie, to whom he confides his most dastardly plans. Mr. Big tried to become mayor twice, but failed because of WordGirl. His other Big Industries products includes Mr. Big's Big Book of Big Words (a dictionary), the Wordsucker (a microphone), and the Hero Sucker (a giant vacuum).

Granny May

A senior supervillain who pretends to be a sweet, deaf, elderly grandmother in order to deceive those she burglarizes. Her main weapons are knitting needles that shoot yarn, petrified purse mints that burn the eyes, strong-smelling perfume which acts as a sort of stink gas, and her giant but timid grandson Eugene; she can also produce a cutting-edge steel suit of armor with a jetpack to wear. The show uses anime-style animation during Granny’s attacks. Eugene stops working with Granny May and becomes friends with Violet. Granny may be the most clever of WordGirl’s enemies, once convincing the entire city that WordGirl was cruel, heartless, and not to be trusted.

Theodore “Tobey” MacCallister the Third

A 10-year-old genius inventor who uses his gargantuan robots to destroy the city in hopes of getting WordGirl’s attention. Tobey owns a personal scrapbook of WordGirl decorated with hearts. He has a giant crush on her and usually demands that if he beats her, she should tell her secret identity or go out for ice cream with him. His mother is aware of her child’s intelligence, so he can’t launch any of his schemes unless she is away on business. Tobey doesn’t seem truly evil; rather, he comes across as reckless and mischievous. Often, his plans are foiled by his malfunctioning robots. He is shown to be very nonathletic, which may explain why he feels the need to prove to everyone how smart he is. Tobey is also bad at art and dodgeball.

Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy

A supervillain who definitely does not have a way with words, hence his name. He lives in his mother’s basement, and his mother often refers to him as Charles, his full name, or Chuckie. His main weapons are squirt bottles of ketchup, mustard, honey mustard, pickle relish, and olive oil. Determined to prove to the world how important his sandwich powers are, he often commits small robberies for no real reason other than to show how “evil” he is. Chuck has tried to come up with better names for himself, such as “Destructo the Destroyer,” “Amazo the Amazing Guy Who’s Evil but Not Really That Bad When You Get to Know Him,” or “Handsome Eddie.” Chuck also has a tendency to forget vocabulary words a few seconds after they’ve been spoken. He is not especially villainous. In the episode "The Handsome Panther", he made a panther costume and renamed himself.

The Birthday Girl (Eileen)

This ten-year-old girl attempts to acquire the things she wants by using a falsely-polite manner, big eyes, and a lisping voice, along with the statement “Today is my birthday!” If those methods don’t work, she simply yells “Mine, MINE, MINE!”, growing in height and turning a deeper shade of green with each yell (possible reference to the expression "Green with Envy"), until the owner of the coveted item hands it over in fear. The only way to reverse Eileen’s transformation is to persuade her to give away something she values. (This was a trick discovered by Violet in the “Birthday Girl” episode; as a giant Eileen holds WordGirl and Captain Huggy Face hostage, Violet declares herself Eileen’s “bestest-westest fwiend.” In gratitude, Eileen hands over a prized necklace, and her greed-induced metamorphosis is reversed, rescuing the pair of heroes.) Eileen also greatly annoys WordGirl because she uses “w” in words instead of “l” or “r” (e.g., “I wearned my wesson.”). She is selfish and at times cruel.

Lady Redundant Woman

A former copy-shop employee, previously known as Beatrice Bixby. She aspires to become the owner of the copy shop, which is currently run by a kind man named Dave. A job-site accident merged her with a copier and transformed her into “Lady Redundant Woman,” a creature who is half woman, half copy-machine. By touching her nose, she can split off duplicates of herself, forming an army that she sends to do her bidding. The number that she can create is limited by the amount of ink she has, and if she happens to run out of ink, her copies fade away quickly by vanishing in a burst of copy paper.

The Whammer

Before he became “The Whammer,” this character was a sidekick for Chuck the Evil Sandwich-Making Guy. The Whammer “whams” his fists together, sending out sonic waves to crush anything or anyone in his path. He has a gruff, loud voice, and usually says “WHAM!” after every sentence. Though The Whammer is a sidekick, he acts more like a boss which annoys Chuck. The Whammer's other bosses includes The Amazing Rope Guy and The Coach.

Leslie

Leslie is Mr. Big's assistant/sidekick who does most of (if not all) the work for Mr. Big. She is usually the one to file Mr. Big's evil plans, carry out these plans by activating his mind-control rays, carry and unload heavy crates for Mr. Big, order his squishy beanie bunny plush dolls and batteries for his mind control devices, etc.

Glen Furlblam

Dr. Two-Brains’ self-proclaimed number one fan. When Dr. Two-Brains seeks out a replacement villain to take over for him while he goes on vacation, Glen Furlblam shows up. Because Dr. Two-Brains did not feel that Glen was a competent replacement for him (due to Glen’s conceitedness and foolish ideas), he refuses to let him take over. Angered by not being able to impress his idol, Glen uses his vicious cats to steal Dr. Two-Brains’ lab coat and corner him. Glen takes over for a while as Two-Brains’ replacement, but with the help of WordGirl, he was arrested and jailed along with his pet cats.

The Coach

A motivating coach who helps sidekicks become their own boss. When The Whammer signed up for The Coach's program, The Coach realized he could trick The Whammer into stealing anything he wants. When The Coach was arrested and jailed along with The Whammer, he decided that this was perfect opportunity to start a villain school.

The Masked Meat Marauder

A pompous meat villain who's a rival of The Butcher. His meat powers are a little fancier. He insulted The Butcher by calling his uniform "pajamas". After three encounters with The Butcher and WordGirl, he was sent to a city known as Meatropolis, where there are twenty-three butcher shops, Hamburger parades every Sunday, and no superheroes or superhero monkeys.

The Baker and The Candlestick Maker

The Butcher's old pals from elementary school. The Butcher and his pals are known as The Troublemaking Trio; pulling silly pranks. They reunited when The Butcher was about to rob a bank. When WordGirl caught them for stealing free ballons and a pen on a chain, The Baker and The Candlestick Maker promised to return them and bake a cake for Mr. Botsford's Birthday.

Other characters

Todd “Scoops” Ming

The reporter for the elementary school’s newspaper The Daily Rag. He dreams of working for The Big City Times, although he has a long way to go. Even Becky, who has a secret crush on him, agrees that his articles can be rather dull. The oblivious Scoops has a high opinion of himself and does not hesitate to take credit for anything he might possibly have had to do with. He is desperate to know WordGirl’s secret identity and is constantly on the scene. His known family members are his parents and his grandfather, who are the rivals of The Botsfords.

Violet Heaslip

Becky’s best friend from school. Violet conducts herself in a quiet, shy manner and has a flair for art. However, she can become enraged and proactive when her friends are disadvantaged or harmed. She loves unicorns, and she can make up poems off the top of her head, even if there is a meteor hurling towards her. At times she seems to have a rather tenuous grasp of reality, even more so than Becky's parents.

“May I Have a Word” characters

Beau Handsome

The host of the game show “May I Have a Word?” His first name means “good-looking” or “beautiful” in French.

Tommy

One of the contestants on the game show “May I Have a Word?” He likes to act superior to nearly everyone on the show and seems to have a crush on WordGirl. He is also extremely annoyed by Emily.

Phil

One of the contestants on the game show “May I Have a Word?” Phil usually has a worried and unsure look on his face and constantly utters, “Oh no.”

Emily

One of the contestants on the game show “May I Have a Word?” Emily is a constant annoyance to Tommy since she talks nearly non-stop about WordGirl and Captain Huggy Face. She has a great love for kittens and occasionally defines the wrong word.

Minor characters

The grocery store manager

A terrible communicator who is always trying to find people willing to work at the store. He has been known to try to hire villains when they come to rob him, such as the Butcher and Dr. Two-Brains. Butcher was incredibly annoyed by the fact that the Manager would not accept the idea that he was being robbed, where as Two-Brains simply ignores him.

Reginald

The pompous and rude owner of Ye Old Fancy Schmancy Jewelry Store. In the episode "Thorn in the Sidekick" Reginald is shown to be allergic to barbecue sauce. He doesn't seem to take superheroes seriously.

Professor James Doohickey

A technology/gadget professional that introduces the audience to both the villains’ and heroes’ helpful gadgets. He has a slight English accent.

The Amazing Rope Guy

A minor evil villain who dresses in a tight dark blue mask, tight rubber dark blue outfit, tight yellow gloves, and tight dark blue boots. He first appears in the beginning of the episode “Mr. Big’s Big Plan” and has a goatee and a slightly squeaky voice. However, in “Sidekicked to the Curb” his voice sounds a lot older and gruffer. The Amazing Rope Guy doesn’t do real crimes like all the other villains, but seems to like doing minor crimes that involve him using his rope, such as trying to pull down a statue with rope or trying to tie a shoe clerk up so he could rob the shoe store. Also, The Amazing Rope Guy isn't that good with his rope, as in his first appearance when he is about to "take down" WordGirl and Capt. Huggy Face by trying to "lasso" them up, he is unsuccessful, to which WordGirl replies that he's "not so amazing." He is voiced by Larry Murphy.

Clair MacCallister

Tobey's mother and Mrs. Botsford's boss. Mrs. MacCallister seems to be a genius like Tobey. She invented a homing device and a remote to stop her son's robots. Tobey only unleashes his robots when his mother is away. When she figures out Tobey's evil plots, she would pull him by the ear and ground him.

Prof. Robert Tubing

Prof. Robert Tubing is the scientist who moved into Professor Steven Boxleitner’s old lab, after Prof. Boxleitner turned into Dr. Two-Brains. He is disabled, so he made an all natural solar powered cyborg wheelchair. He has a monkey helper named Bosco. He appeared in the episode “A Game of Cat and Mouse.”

Jeff

A man who always goes to the wrong place (usually wherever WordGirl happens to be), thinking it is the police station. He has mistaken many places for the police station, screaming all the while and not recognizing his own wife (“Oh, I thought you looked familiar...”). He would report any kind of trouble even though some are not crimes.

The Mayor

The mayor of the city. His first appearance was in the episode "Book Ends". He often gives speeches of things (reading them off of index cards), sometimes reading the wrong card (i.e. accidentally reading speech for the grand opening of a public swimming pool instead of the new library). He lost his job as mayor to Mr. Big in the episode "Banned on the Run", but became mayor again after Becky tricked Mr. Big into confessing his trap. He has an assistant who sometimes corrects his mistakes and give him information; she never speaks aloud, but whispers in his ear to tell him things. The Mayor's real name has not yet been revealed.

Warden Chalmers

The prison warden. His first appearance was in "When Life Gives You Potatoes...". He often overuses expressions (e.g. eats his hat after saying he'll eat his hat if Dr. Two Brains isn't locked up in his cell). His real name was revealed in "Two Brain Highway", and often believes that he is right, only to fail.

Cast

• Dannah Feinglass - Becky Botsford/WordGirl
• Chris Parnell - The Narrator
• Tom Kenny - Dr. Two-Brains, TJ Botsford
• Cree Summer - Granny May
• Patton Oswalt - Theodore McCalister III/Tobey
• Fred Stoller - Charles “Chuck” the Evil Sandwich Making Guy
• Jack Ferraiolo - The Butcher
• Maria Bamford - Violet Heaslip, Sally Botsford
• Ryan Raddatz - Tim Botsford
• Mike O’Connell - Grocery Store Manager
• James Adomian - Robber, Security Guard, Curator
• H. Jon Benjamin - Reginald
• Ron Lynch - The Mayor
• Jeffrey Tambor - Mr. Big
• Larry Murphy - The Amazing Rope Guy, Reporter, Dave

Episodes

Airdate	Segment 1	Segment 2
September 3, 2007	Tobey or Consequences	High-Fat Robbery
September 14, 2007	You Can’t Crush City Hall	Two-Brain Highway
September 21, 2007	Coupon Madness	When Life Gives You Potatoes
September 28, 2007	Jerky Jerk	Becky’s Birthday
October 5, 2007	Chuck!	Down With Word Up
November 23, 2007	Book Ends	Mr. Big
November 30, 2007	Super-Grounded	Mouse Army
December 21, 2007	Tobey’s Masterpiece	Chuck the Nice Pencil Selling Guy
December 28, 2007	The Birthday Girl	Granny-Sitter
February 22, 2008	Mr. Big’s Big Plan	Vocab Bee
February 15, 2008	Shrinkin’ in the Ray	Department Store Tobey
April 11, 2008	Chuck E. Sneeze	Swap Meat
April 18, 2008	Granny’s Good Time All-Cure Spritzer	Mecha-Mouse
April 25, 2008	Princess Triana & the Ogre of Castlebum	Heat Wave, Crime Wave
May 26, 2008	Thorn in the Sidekick	Crime Takes a Holiday
May 27, 2008	Meat With a Side of Cute	Mr. Big Words
June 14, 2008	Two-Brains Forgets	Banned on the Run
July 11, 2008	Have You Seen The Remote?	Sidekicked To The Curb
July 23, 2008	Lady Redundant Woman	A Game of Cat and Mouse
August 15, 2008	The Masked Meat Marauder	Sandwich World
September 12, 2008	Violet Superhero	Big Business
October 13, 2008	The Handsome Panther	The Butcher, the Baker, and the Candlestick Maker
November 3, 2008	Mousezilla	Villain School
November 4, 2008	A Vote for Becky	Class Act
November 28, 2008	Return of the Reprise of Lady Redundant Woman	A Simple Plan

Shorts

30 shorts were produced for PBS Kids GO!

Number	Title
WG101	“Catch as Catch Can”
Can WordGirl prevent a cumbersome meteorite from destroying the city?
WG102	“Enter, the Butcher”
WordGirl meets the Butcher, master of meat and mangler of words, and tries to prevent him from robbing a bank. WordGirl also tries to convince the Butcher that he's not “a fender” but “offended” when she tells him he “butchers” the English language.
WG103	“Re-enter, the Butcher”
WordGirl tries to stop the Butcher from robbing Ye Olde Fancy Schmancy Jewelry Store. They also have to deal with a pompous store clerk. At the end, WordGirl and Captain Huggy Face decided to pay a visit to Profesor Steven Boxleitner by the order of the stor clerk.
WG104	“What’s Up, Doc?”
WordGirl pays a visit to Professor Steven Boxleitner (author of the book Superheroes and You: A Practical Guide) to figure out a way to stop the vicious Butcher. Boxleitner has his latest invention: an evil rodent!
WG105	“Re-Re-enter, the Butcher”
WordGirl tries to prevent the Butcher from robbing a grocery store since she told the narrator that she has only two minutes. She also tries to clear up a misunderstanding between the Butcher and the Grocery Store Manager, who believes that the Butcher is there for a job. By the time, WordGirl and the Butcher continues arguing, the show ran out of time and the stick with their fight pose.
WG106	“Yes Sir, That’s My Butcher”
WordGirl and the Butcher face off for their big, big battle royale. WordGirl reveals her secret weapon: her always-hungry ally, Captain Huggy Face.
WG107	“The Crazy World of Doctor Two-Brains”
In a lab experiment that goes horribly wrong, Prof. Steven Boxleitner accidentally fuses his mind with that of his vicious lab mouse (who pushed a button marked "Holy Cow! Don't Press This Button!") and becomes the villainous Dr. Two-Brains. Becky (WordGirl’s secret identity) tries to distract her little brother TJ so she can transform into WordGirl and capture Dr. Two-Brains before he goes on a cheese-stealing rampage.
WG108	“Two-Brains in the Grocers”
WordGirl tries to capture Dr. Two-Brains after he eats all the cheese in the grocery store, but Dr. Two Brains is able to escape by causing a ruckus. WordGirl goes after him but realizes that it is almost time for dinner.
WG109	“The Times, They Are A-Cheesy”
The Botsford family (including Becky Botsford, a.k.a WordGirl) are flabbergasted when Dr. Two-Brains appears on television, threatening to turn the city into goop if he doesn’t get every piece of cheese in the city.
WG110	“Mouse Trap”
WordGirl and Captain Huggy Face confront Dr. Two-Brains at his secret hideout and witness part of his argument with himself. Dr. Two-Brains proves that their attacks on him would be futile by capturing them in his giant mousetrap. Is this the end of WordGirl?!
WG111	“Squeaky’s Machine”
Dr. Two-Brains is about to use his Goop Ray to give WordGirl and Captain Huggy Face a “one-way ticket to Goop Town,” but is stopped by Mr. Botsford asking questions about what cheese is acceptable.
WG112	“Driving Miss Granny”
A new villain’s in town! Granny May and her timid (and enormous) grandson Eugene rob an armored car in broad daylight.
WG113	“Kiss My Granny”
While trying to stop Granny May from robbing Ye Olde Fancy Schmancy Jewelry Store, WordGirl and Captain Huggy Face are blinded by Granny's dazzling jewelry, then captured in her knitted “Web of Yarn.”
WG114	“Living in the Granny’s Paradise”
Although WordGirl and Captain Huggy Face are able to use their coordination to escape Granny’s trap, they are soon caught in the unbreakable grip of Eugene.
WG115	“Play Date”
After destroying a giant, rampaging robot as WordGirl, Becky returns home to find that she has an unexpected playdate with Theodore MacCallister III. When Becky discovers that Theodore is actually “Tobey,” the mischievous genius behind the giant robot’s rampage, she risks revealing her secret identity.
WG116	“Tobey or Not Tobey”
Tobey and Becky argue over whether Tobey’s Robot caused real damage to the city or only a minor hullabaloo. Tobey decides to “play a game” with Becky to see if she’s really WordGirl or not.
WG117	“The Wrath of Tobey”
Tobey gives Becky an impossible choice: reveal herself as WordGirl and destroy the robot threatening her house, or do nothing and watch her house get demolished. Becky and Bob (a.k.a. Captain Huggy Face) initiate Emergency Plan #47, with mixed results.
WG118	“Chuck, the Evil Sandwich Making Guy”
Chuck, the Evil Sandwich Making Guy threatens to squash the Grocery Store Manager with his giant sandwich press after the Owner calls the press “extreme.”
WG119	“Name That Dude”
WordGirl and the Narrator have a hard time not laughing at Chuck, the Evil Sandwich Making Guy’s name. Chuck captures WordGirl with his noxious Pickled Eggs. As WordGirl, Scoops, and the Grocery Store Manager head towards certain doom on the giant sandwich press, all of them try to think of a less absurd name for Chuck. Meanwhile, Captain Huggy Face races to the rescue.
WG120	“Chucky and the Sandwich Factory”
WordGirl sends Captain Huggy Face to search for the “ultimate crowbar” in order to help them escape Chuck, the Evil Sandwich Making Guy’s giant sandwich press.
WG121	“Movie Trailer”
The origin of Captain Huggy Face and WordGirl.
WG122	“WordGirl and the Butcher”
WordGirl tries to prevent the Butcher from setting off his “Steak Bomb” and ruining the day of vegetarians city-wide.
WG123	“WordGirl and Dr. Two-Brains”
Dr. Two-Brains becomes frustrated with a malfunctioning trap.
WG124	“WordGirl and Chuck, the Evil Sandwich Making Guy”
WordGirl and Captain Huggy Face struggle to break free from Chuck, the Evil Sandwich Making Guy’s “Atomic Hot Dog Lasso.”
WG125	“WordGirl and Dr. Two-Brains, Part Two”
WordGirl tries to thwart Dr. Two-Brains’ latest scheme but is distracted by a yummy mixed-fruit beverage.
WG126	“Becky and Scoops”
Scoops ponders WordGirl’s secret identity while Becky saves him from perils that he doesn’t notice.
WG127	“WordGirl and the Narrator”
WordGirl wants a new Super Hero name. She convinces the Narrator to put his reputation on hold and announce the new name she has in mind, just to see how it sounds (“The Super Sweet and Really Strong Princess Who Also Knows Vocabulary!”).
WG128	“WordGirl and Captain Huggy Face, part one”
WordGirl makes Captain Huggy Face try on some new costumes because she feels his regular costume lacks pizzazz.
WG129	“WordGirl and Captain Huggy Face, part two”
When Captain Huggy Face is late for a robot battle because of the bus schedule, WordGirl suggests some other modes of transportation.
WG130	“Becky and Mr. Botsford”
Despite certain clues, Mr. Botsford is oblivious about WordGirl’s secret identity.

WordGirl comic book

Once, PBS was giving out a WordGirl comic book titled "Mystery Meat", which can also be read on the WordGirl website. The ending does not appear in the comic book, but can be revealed by mailing a self-addressed stamped envelope, or by watching a video of the ending on the WordGirl website.

Notes

WordGirl started airing on Knowledge at September 1st, 2008.

Funding

• Chuck E. Cheese's
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute
• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Corporation for Public Broadcasting
• Viewers Like You

See also

• WordGirl’s Official Website
• PBS Kids GO!
• Soup2Nuts
• Scholastic Corporation
• WordGirl at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show