Little Einsteins

Little Einsteins
File:Disney's Little Einsteins logo.svg
Genre	Children's television series
Created by	Eric Weiner Olexa Hewryk
Voices of	Jesse Schwartz Natalia Wojcik Aiden Pompey Erica Huang
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	67 + 1 stand-alone special (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Susan Holden Steve Oakes Richard Winkler
Producers	Eric Weiner Olexa Hewryk
Running time	23 minutes
Production companies	The Baby Einstein Company Curious Pictures Playhouse Disney Originals
Original release
Network	Playhouse Disney (2005-09); (reruns; 2009-11) TV Tokyo (reruns; 2006-10) Disney Junior (reruns; 2011-present)
Release	October 9, 2005 (2005-10-09) – December 22, 2009 (2009-12-22)

Little Einsteins is an American animated children's television series on Playhouse Disney. The educational preschool series was developed for television by Douglas Wood who created the concept and characters, and a subsequent team headed by Emmy Award-winning director Aidan Abril and JoJo's Circus co-creator Eric Weiner, and produced by Curious Pictures and The Baby Einstein Company. The first episode of the Little Einsteins TV series premiered in the United States on the Playhouse Disney on October 9, 2005 and in Japan on TV Tokyo on February 14, 2006. In Europe, the second season of the show premiered on the Disney Channel around Christmas time, and in Japan, it aired on October 8, 2007, on Playhouse Disney Japan. Reruns were then moved to Playhouse Disney's successor, Disney Junior, and the final episode was produced in late 2009.

Little Einsteins was designed to teach the target demographic art and music appreciation by integrating famous or culturally significant art works (usually, but not exclusively, paintings) and classical music (most typically from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods) into the scenery, plot and soundtrack of each episode. The show is also designed to encourage viewer interaction (such as patting their knees, gesturing or singing along to help the characters succeed on their "mission"); at the end of the mission, the character Leo says "Mission Completion!" and the Little Einsteins then do the Curtain Call. At the end of the Curtain Call, Leo says, "See you on the next mission!", then the curtains close. In Season 2, a "That's Silly" segment is shown, where, as the main plot, Quincy would try to blow his tuba, but something would be in his tuba, like a sock, and Annie (or another protagonist) would say, "That's silly!" at the end.

The series was based on the direct-to-video film of the same name, subtitled Our Huge Adventure.

Like other Baby Einstein productions, the production company pays a royalty to Corbis, which acts on behalf of the estate of physicist Albert Einstein, for the use of the Einstein name ("Einstein" being a licensed trademark of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem). Despite the usage of Einstein's name, there is no discussion of anything physics-related in the series.

A video game based on the show was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2006.

Main characters

File:LE team.png

(From top to bottom) Leo, June, Quincy, Annie, Rocket

• Leo is the leader of the Little Einsteins, and the one who pilots Rocket. He is Annie's older brother. His main talent is conducting and his most precious object is his conductor's baton. Leo has red hair and green eyes. He wears green glasses. He is voiced by Jesse Schwartz, Trenton Rogers, and singing voice by Harrison Chad.
• Annie is a girl who loves to sing. She is Leo's little sister and the only character who has piloted Rocket alone. She loves animals including dolphins and horses, but is afraid of spiders. She owns a silver microphone with orange music notes that she won in a song contest. When she wishes to urgently point something out to the team, her usual phrase is "Look-look-look!" She has blonde pigtails and blue eyes. She wears a green shirt and a blue jean dress in Season 1, and a light blue shirt and a pink jean dress for Season 2. She is voiced by Natalia Wojcik.
• June is a young ballerina who loves to dance. She also enjoys looking at the stars at night with her telescope. She has dark brown hair and brown eyes. She wears a purple dress and pink headband. She is voiced by Erica Huang.
• Quincy is a boy musician who plays a variety of musical instruments, including the violin, guitar and trumpet. At some point in each episode, Quincy exclaims, "I cannot believe it!". He has dark brown hair and brown eyes. He wears a red and blue baseball cap, and a green and yellow t-shirt. He is voiced by Aiden Pompey.
• Rocket is Little Einsteins' main mode of transportation, as well as their friend. Rocket has an array of tools and accessories that help the team complete their missions. Rocket also has the ability to transform into any other form of transportation, like a submarine or a train. Rocket communicates by making xylophonic noises.

Recurring minor characters

• Big Jet is a blue fighter plane, who is the nemesis of Rocket and the Little Einsteins. Big Jet has been known to ruin parties, and steal things to keep for himself. Big Jet hates springtime, owing to his being allergic to flowers, as seen in the episode "Oh Yes, Oh Yes, it's Springtime". He also hates losing, as seen in "The Great Sky Race Rematch". In episode 64, "Show and Tell", Big Jet becomes friends with Rocket and the Little Einsteins. Big Jet is depicted with yellow horizontal stripes on his vertical stabilizers.
• Little Mouse, The Good Knight, and Joey the Kangaroo appeared individually in their own episodes, "The Mouse and the Moon", "The Good Knight and The Bad Knight", and "Jump For Joey", respectively, and collectively in "Rocket Soup".
• The Three Little Pigs appeared in three episodes: "Farmer Annie", "Super Fast", and "Build It Rocket".
• Melody the Music Pet is a musical pet that Leo helped find her ticket for the pet train in "Melody the Music Pet". After boarding the train, Melody is brought to live with Leo. She reappears in "Melody and Me", where it's up to Leo to save her after her hot-air balloon flies away.
• The Bad Knight is the knight that imprisoned the good knight.
• The Little Red Train is a good friend of Annie, and although he's very small, is very determined and very strong. He appeared on the episodes "Go West, Young Train" and "Annie, Get Your Microphone".
• Ring appeared on the episode "Ring Around the Planet". Ring fell off Saturn and landed near June's Garden. Ring is also a great dancer just like June which makes them and the rest of the Little Einsteins friends. The Little Einsteins eventually brings ring back home to Saturn.

Home media

Main article: List of Little Einsteins episodes

DVD Releases	Included episodes	Release date
Little Einsteins: Our Huge Adventure	Our Huge Adventure (later separated into the episodes "A Brand New Outfit" and "The Missing Invitation")	August 23, 2005
Team Up for Adventure	"How We Became the Little Einsteins: The True Story", "I Love To Conduct", "Rocket Safari"	April 25, 2006
Mission Celebration!	"The Birthday Machine", "Go West, Young Train", "The Birthday Balloons"	August 22, 2006
Legend of The Golden Pyramid	"The Legend of the Golden Pyramid", "Dragon Kite", "Annie and the Little Toy Plane"	February 27, 2007
Rocket's Firebird Rescue	"Rocket's Firebird Rescue" (Double-Length Episode) , "Rocket Soup"	August 21, 2007
Race for Space	"The Treasure Behind the Little Red Door", "Super Fast", "The Great Sky Race Rematch"	February 19, 2008
Flight of the Instrument Fairies	"Flight of the Instrument Fairies", "The Puppet Princess", "The Glass Slipper Ball", "Little Red Rocket Hood"	August 5, 2008
The Christmas Wish	"Show & Tell", "The Christmas Wish", "The Wind-up Toy Prince", "The Northern Night-Light"	October 14, 2008
Go to Europe (US release)	"Hello, Cello", "Silly Sock Saves The Circus", "Go Team!", "Numbers Adventure Narrated By Joseph St."	August 31, 2009
Oh Yes, it's Springtime (US 2017 release, with US voices)	"Farmer Annie", "O Yes, O Yes, it's Springtime", "Annie and the Beanstalk," "Rachel's Pool Party"	September 1, 2009
Fire Truck Rocket's Blastoff (US release)	"Fire Truck Rocket", "Melody the Music Pet", "Carmine's Big Race", "Mr. Penguin's Ice Cream Adventure"	September 8, 2009
Go to Africa (US release)	"He Speaks Music", "Animal Snack Time: The Bare Necessities Song", "The Puzzle of the Sphinx," "Animal Alphabet Narrated By Tom McComas"	November 11, 2009
Go to America (US release)	"Melody and Me", "A Tall Totem Tale", "Knock on Wood", "The Legend of Circus World"	November 11, 2009
Animal Expedition	"Whale Tale: Under The Sea Song", "Duck, Duck, June", "Jump for Joey", "Little Elephant's Big Parade"	February 9, 2010
The Incredible Shrinking Adventure	"The Incredible Shrinking Adventure", "Quincy and the Instrument Dinosaurs", "Rocket the Bug", "The Sleeping Bassoon"	June 18, 2013

All 67+9/2=38 episodes of the show are available for purchase on the iTunes Store, although they have been split into five volumes.

UK version

In the UK, the Little Einsteins are voiced by Lizi Botham (June), Mark Speight (Leo), Kirsten O'Brien (Annie), and Jay Burridge (Quincy). In the UK version, many American terms are converted to the British vernacular: for example, changing 'Candy Canes' to 'Sweetie Sticks'. Also 'Yeah' is changed to 'Yes' and 'Mission Completion' is changed to 'Mission Completed'.

Broadcast

Little Einsteins is shown on Playhouse Disney in Australia, Disney Junior in Canada, CITV in United Kingdom, and Teletoon in Canada.

Reception

The series was given a 5-star rating by Common Sense Media.

External links

• Official website
• Little Einsteins at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show