Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends

Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends
Created by	Based on the Miss Spider books by David Kirk
Developed by	Nadine van der Velde
Starring	Kristin Davis Robert Smith Rebecca Brenner Mitchell Eisner Julie Lemieux Scott Beaudin Austin Di Lulio (first season) Alexandra Lai Aaryn Doyle Marc McMulkin Cameron Ansell (second season)
Opening theme	"Be Good to Bugs"
Country of origin	Canada United Kingdom United States
Original languages	English, Spanish, Portuguese
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	44
Production
Executive producers	Michael Hirsh Scott Dyer Nicholas Callaway Doug Murphy
Producers	Callaway Nelvana
Production locations	Toronto, Ontario, Canada London, England
Running time	24 minutes (12 minutes per episode)
Original release
Network	Teletoon (2004-2006), Treehouse TV (2006-present) Nick Jr. .tv
Release	September 27, 2004 (2004-09-27) – present (present)

Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends is an animated program based on the children's books by David Kirk, which airs on Nick Jr. in the United States, on Treehouse TV in Canada, and on Discovery Kids in Brazil. Each episode follows the everyday adventures of a family of bugs, who have made their home in what is called the Hollow Tree, led by the gentle, kind-hearted Miss Spider. The show gives young viewers a bug's-eye-view of a whimsical, woodsy wonderland.

The show touches on social and emotional themes that children will recognize from their own lives. The overarching theme is about the importance of getting along with others—our family, our friends, and members of our community. It is meant to serve as a model for children about how to go out into the world and learn to live with others.

Our gifts, they are many: We hop, fly and crawl. But kindness is the finest of all! - Miss Spider

Characters

• Miss Spider — voiced by Kristin Davis . Like three of her children, Miss Spider is an adoptee, adopted by Betty Beetle when she could not find her spider mom. Miss Spider tries to be a kind and caring mom and give equal time to all of her many children. She strongly believes that "We have to be good to bugs, all bugs."

• Holley — voiced by Robert Smith . He is Miss Spider's husband. Holley is a songwriter and loves to play his guitar. He has a special thinking stone where he makes decisions, including the most important decision of his life—to marry Miss Spider.

• Shimmer — A pink jewel beetle voiced by Rebecca Brenner. She is one of Miss Spider and Holley's adoptive children.

• Dragon — A purple dragonfly voiced by Mitchell Eisner. One of Miss Spider and Holley's adoptive children. Dragon was flying with his birth family and fell into the river. A waterbug rescued Dragon and introduced him to Holley and Miss Spider. From that day, Dragon becomes a part of Squirt's family. Originally voice cast by Barbara Weber Scaff.

• Bounce — A blue bedbug voiced by Julie Lemieux. Is one of Miss Spider and Holley's adoptive children. He is a two-legged, high energy bug. Bounce lost his way when we wandered from home. Bounce and Dragon are best bug buddies.

• Squirt — A green spider voiced by Scott Beaudin. Squirt is considered to be the lead character of the children and appears in more stories than any of the others. He enjoys websurfing and even dreams of flying like Shimmer or Dragon. He is often ready to take the lead in an adventure.

• Spinner — A yellow spider voiced by Austin Di Iulio (and Cameron Ansell in season 2). Sporting very large eye glasses, he looks almost exactly like his father, Holley. He is a smart and wise bug often looked to for advice. While he is not great at basketberry (he's merely the scorekeeper), he has a wonderful talent for the bugpipes. He uncommonly shares the same name with one of the main characters on Canadian television series Degrassi: The Next Generation, although in Degrassi, Spinner is his nickname.

• Snowdrop — A yellow spider voiced by Alexandra Lai. She is Pansy's twin. Her distinguishing feature is a green bow on a strand of hair on her head. Has a beautiful singing voice.

• Pansy — A yellow spider voiced by Aaryn Doyle. She is Snowdrop's twin. Her distinguishing feature is a pink bow on a strand of hair on her head. Sings well, but not as naturally as Snowdrop. '
• Wiggle — A blue spider voiced by Marc McMulkin. Tends to be the worrier of the group and quite emotional.

• Beetrice — The queen bee voiced by Catherine Gallant.

• Honey — Beetrice's daughter and princess of the hive.

• Stinky — A stinkbug voiced by Scott McCord. Lives in the Dribbly Dell. Grace's adoptive father.

• Whiffy — Stinky's sister. Lives in a different forest and visits every now and then, is now living with her brother to be Grace's mother.

• Grace — An orange-shelled Asian lady beetle, who was supposed to meet her parents in Sunny Patch. They never returned for her and she was adopted by Stinky and his sister Whiffy.

• Spiderus — A white spider voiced by Tony Jay. He is married to Spindella. Spiderus is somewhat sulky and overly touchy, as the innocent and (most of the time) harmless antics of the children can send him into a fit of rage. He is also known for selfish and sometimes villainous behavior, such as the time he spread rumors to discredit Shimmer. However, he does show a glimpse of chivalry and kindness every now and then, especially now that he's a father himself. This was Jay's final voice acting role before his death.

• Spindella — A red spider voiced by Kristina Nicoll. Married to Spiderus. In a sense, Spindella is a foil to Spiderus; she is much warmer and appreciative of the kids. Spindella revealed that she was pregnant at the end of the special episode "Be Good to Bugs... and Frogs." It was thought that this storyline might not been through to completion due to Tony Jay's death during the show's production. However, the spiderlings were hatched in the episode "Lulla-Bug" and "The Most Perfect Parent".

• Mandrake — Spiderus and Spindella' son. Looks like a small, pudgy version of Spiderus and speaks with an British-English accent.

• Belladonna — A pink spider; Spiderus and Spindella' daughter,(Poison) Ivy's twin sister; generally called Bella.

• Poison Ivy — Bella Donna's twin sister, generally just called Ivy.

• Mr. Mantis — A green praying mantis voiced by Wayne Robson. Mr. Mantis is the Sunny Patch schoolteacher, providing wise instruction to Miss Spider's kids, as well the other youngsters of the Patch.

• Gus — An asparagus beetle voiced by Peter Oldring. Uncle to the young bugs. Originally voice cast by Joe Ranft.

• Betty Beetle — A green beetle voiced by Patricia Gage. Adopted Miss Spider when she was a spiderling. Grandmother to the young bugs.

• Ned and Ted — A pair of red ant brothers. Ned speaks with a Cockney accent and has a tuft of hair between his antenna and Ted speaks with a New York accent. The both of them are scheming and deceptive, and have only two interests: food and getting more of it.

• Sawyer — a female carpenter ant who is an aphid rancher and is responsible for clearing out mushrooms whenever they start to overgrow Sunny Patch.

• Eunice — an earwig voiced by Cara Pifko. She's Lil Sis and Eddie's mother.

• Lil Sis — an earwig voiced by Tajja Isen. Eunice's daughter.

• Eddie — another young earwig. Eunice's son.

• Rocky and Roxie — A pair of dragonflies that run the Flying Aces: a team of daredevil dragonflies and also a school for dragonfly daredevils-in-training. It is not known if they are siblings or married.

• Felix — a frog who was introduced in the three part special "A Froggy Day in Sunny Patch." Felix longed to be a bug himself and refuses to eat bugs, as he does not find them tasty. Instead, he eats only berries. Felix has formed a friendship with the Spider family children.

Episodes

Season 1

1 - I'll Fly Away / All Pupa'ed Out First broadcast: September 7, 2004

• Dragon wants leave Sunny Patch to join the Flying Aces, who are dragonflies like he is. He feels like he would belong better with them.
• Squirt and Shimmer find an orphaned baby caterpillar in the meadow. They ask Miss Spider and Holley if they can take care of her, but get more work than they bargained for.

2 - Country Bug-Kin / A Star Fell On Sunny Patch First broadcast: September 8, 2004

• An orphaned cockroach named Sweetie is blown by the wind into Sunny Patch. She is taken in by the Spider family until it is safe to go home. Squirt is taken with her and tries to impress her by taking her on a midnight stroll. He worries when he thinks nothing will interest her.
• The bugs, along with Uncle Gus, go out stargazing. They learn about constellations, shooting stars, and wishing stars. Squirt makes many wishes on a star, and Uncle Gus jokes that he wished the star out of the sky. When he, and some of the other bugs, find what looks like a wishing star, Squirt worries that what Gus said was true. They try to return the star to the sky.

3 - A Little Slow / Stalking the Beanstalk First broadcast: September 9, 2004

• Miss Spider takes the bugs on a nature walk for Bug Scouts. Squirt takes along his friend, Shelley the snail. But the others get annoyed at having to walk slow to keep pace with Shelley. The other bugs race ahead while Miss Spider and Squirt discover the things you do not always notice when passing by too fast. When the other bugs get lost, they are found by Miss Spider, Squirt, and Shelley. They worry over how they will get home when Shelley shows them how he leaves a trail of slime wherever he goes. They follow the trail to get home.

4 - Fly Away Friends / Bedtime Story First broadcast: September 10, 2004

• In Bedtime Story, Miss Spider and her husband, Holley, try to get their children to go to bed on time. After spinning a web to help their children children plot their goal of going to bed on time for an entire week, Miss Spider and Holley meet success. But they still cannot seem to get to bed on time themselves! This story was also made into an iPad app called Miss Spider's Bedtime Story.

5 - The Marin Rose / A Sticky Situation First broadcast: September 13, 2004

6 - Sing It Sister / Ant-tution First broadcast: September 14, 2004

• The bugs see the Dribbly Dell Singers. Pansy hears that they are doing tryouts and starts practicing. The other bugs try to be nice, but they see it's not her natural talent. When Snowdrop's beautiful singing is overheard, she's asked to give Pansy advice. Pansy realizes that she sounds better singing with her twin. Pansy has some trouble at her audition, so Snowdrop sings with her. Snowdrop is accepted instead. On the night of the show, Snowdrop refuses to go. But she and Pansy arrange for them to sing together to everyone's surprise.
• It's time for harvesting in Sunny Patch. All the bugs are working to put away storage for the winter. Squirt loses control of a cart that rolls out of control toward Ned and Ted's ant hole. When the ants come out, Squirt explains they are harvesting. Ned and Ted convince Squirt that winter's far off and nobody should need to harvest for a while. They throw a This Summer Will Never End party. Miss Spider's crew collect all they need, but Ned and Ted are surprised at the end of the night when snow begins to fall.

7 - Something's Stinky in Sunny Patch / The Listening Walk First broadcast: September 15, 2004

• Opened in a Private I syle mystery, Stinky investigates the case of the bark thief of Mr. Mantis' house. Spiderus accuses Shimmer of eating the bark, and spreads the rumor. Shimmer realizes how much gossip hurts her feelings. It is figured out that it was the bark beetles, who eat and lay their eggs in bark. They apologize for not realizing they were eating someone's house.
• Wiggle is scared of nighttime noises. Miss Spider takes him on a listening walk, like her mother took her one when she was a young bug. They are joined by Squirt and Dragon on their walk, followed by Bounce a little later. One by one, the bugs identify the nighttime noises and realize it's really the nocturnal bugs who are active at night.

8 - Wiggle's Squiggles / Basketberry Blues First broadcast: September 16, 2004

• The bugs learn at school how to collect "colors" from the meadow to paint. Mr. Mantis instructs them to paint the daisy he has placed them in front of. Wiggle is excited to show his painting off, but after first viewing Shimmer's painting which looked like a perfect recreation, he gets discouraged. Then he refuses to show everyone until he can paint a better one. After a few mishaps, he shows them his original painting which everyone loves. He learns that he has his own creativeness that he can be proud of.
• The bugs are trying out for basketberry, Sunny Patch's version of basketball. Dragon is a very talented basketberry player, and Spinner usually just keeps score. One day Spinner plays with them, which he is not very good. Miss Spider convinces Dragon that he should help coach Spinner to build his confidence. He resorts to trickery, so Spinner thinks he's improving. When Spinner discovers the trick, he is upset and refuses to try out. With some convincing and apologizing he tries out, realizing that he can still have fun playing.

9 - What a Tangled Web / Cry Buggie (Cry Baby) First broadcast: September 17, 2004

• Squirt accidentally leaves all of his leftover webs all over Sunny Patch and instead of cleaning it up he goes off to play. So Miss. Spider is stuck cleaning up after him. But when Roxie the sky queen gets injured from a web, Squirt realizes what he must do and he helps his mom clean all the webs.
• On the day before the Soccerberry tournament, the kids have a practice game. When Wiggle loses, he bursts into tears. Dragon explains to Squirt that Wiggle's a "Cry Buggie" and that older bugs never cry. Squirt takes these words to heart and does not even cry when he hurts one of his legs and cannot play in the tournament. Squirt keeps all of his bad feelings bottled up inside him, until his parents tell him all bugs need to cry sometimes, even older bugs. Squirt then bawls his eyes out and he starts to feel a lot better. After the tournament is canceled due to rain, Dragon starts to cry, but is too embarrassed to admit it, so Squirt tells Dragon the same thing his mom and dad told him, that it's OK to cry.

10 - A Scarey Scarey Tale / A Bug-A-Boo Day Play First broadcast: October 25, 2004

11 - Hum Bug / Dashing Through the Snow First broadcast: December 10, 2004

12 - Happy Heartwood Day / Ground House Rules First broadcast: February 14, 2005

13 - Family Circus / Eight Is Not Enough First broadcast: March 14, 2005

14 - Taste-Bugs / Top O'Big Tree First broadcast: March 15, 2005

15 - No-See-Um Is Believin'! / A Little Bug Music First broadcast: March 15, 2005

16 - The Bug Flu / A Time Telling Tale First broadcast: March 17, 2005

17 - Bug Your Mom Day / Cloudy Day in Sunny Patch First broadcast: May 2, 2005

18 - Froggy Day in Sunny Patch Special - First broadcast: June 20, 2005

19 - The Big Green Bug Special - First broadcast: July 21, 2005

Season 2

20 - Captain Sunny Patch / Captain Sunny Patch Flies Again First broadcast: March 13, 2006

21 - Family Tree / The Jitterbug First broadcast: March 14, 2006

22 - Big Bad Bugsitter / Thinking Stone First broadcast: March 15, 2006

23 - Seeing Straight / Stumped! First broadcast: March 16, 2006

24 - Eight Legs Up / Spider Mom First broadcast: March 20, 2006

25 - Snuggle Bugs / Best Bug Buddies First broadcast: March 21, 2006

26 - Fungus Among Us / Ground Bound First broadcast: March 22, 2006

27 - Pitch and Itch / Bounce Back First broadcast: March 23, 2006

28 - Be Good to Bugs...and Frogs Special - First broadcast: June 27, 2006

29 - The Prince, The Princess and the Bee TV Movie - First broadcast: July 24, 2006

30 - Giddy-Up Bugs / Snake Charmer First broadcast: September 16, 2006

31 - Eclipse / Hide and Sleuth First broadcast: September 17, 2006

32 - Good Deed Seeds / Shelly and the Brain First broadcast: October 8, 2006

33 - Night and Day / Cob Fog First broadcast: October 22, 2006

34 - Lulla-Bug / The Most Perfect Parent First broadcast: November 19, 2006

35 - Frog in the Moon / Moon Music and Sun Songs First broadcast: December 3, 2006

36 - Spring Unsprung / Bumbling Bees

37 - Snake Charmer / A Party For Pops

38 - Mr. Mocking-Bug / Odd Bug Fellows

39 - Bug Talk / The Befuddled Butterfly

40 - Master Mantis / Bug-Versity

41 - Lost and Sound / It's My Party FIRST AIRED: May 14, 2007

42 - Dam the Puddle / Flower Power FIRST AIRED: May 16, 2007

43 - Little Ladybug Lost / A Beetle-ful Family

44 - Bringing Up Shrubby / Stuck On You

External links

• Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends on Noggin
• Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends on Nick Jr. - For Parents
• Episode Guide on TV.com
• Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends at IMDb
• Miss Spider on TreehouseTV.com