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Total Drama

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Total Drama
The Total Drama logo.
GenreComedy / Animation / Drama / Action
Created byJennifer Pertsch
Tom McGillis
Developed byFresh TV Inc. / Teletoon
Directed byTodd Kauffman
Mark Thornton
Keith Oliver
Chad Hicks
Presented byFresh TV Inc. / Teletoon
Theme music composerVoodoo Highway
Opening theme"I Wanna be Famous!"
Ending theme"I Wanna be Famous!"
(Instrumental)
Country of originCanada
Original languagesEnglish
Brazilian Portuguese
Bulgarian
Canadian French
Croatian
Castilian Spanish
Catalan
Danish
Dutch
European French
European Portuguese
Hebrew
Hungarian
Italian
Latin American Spanish
Norwegian
Persian
Polish
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Swedish
No. of episodes120 (excluding specials)
Production
Executive producersTom McGillis
Jennifer Pertsch
George Elliott
Brian Irving
Running time22 minutes (excluding commercials)
Production companiesTeletoon
Fresh TV Inc.
Neptoon Studios
Original release
NetworkTeletoon (CAN)
Cartoon Network (USA)
ReleaseJuly 8, 2007 - present[1][2] (Canada)
June 5, 2008 - present[3] (United States)

Total Drama is a Canadian animated reality television series which lampoons the conventions commonly found in reality television. The show and its sequel seasons are collectively referred to as the Total Drama series. It premiered on the Canadian cable television specialty channel, Teletoon on July 8, 2007 and on the American cable television channel, Cartoon Network on June 5, 2008.[4] with the characters consisting of the eponymous fictional reality series and the contestants therein. All of the contestants have distinct personalities that serve as a main plot point. The style of the series is similar to that of Survivor, Fear Factor, and The Amazing Race.

Format

The name of each season consists of the title Total Drama with a different word or phrase later in. That changing word or phrase defines the theme for that season. Like most reality television series, this series is a competition but the grand prize being only cash, the first season having a prize of $100,000 and the rest at a million. However, only the second and the fourth seasons are when the winners were actually able to take the money home and spend it, unlike how the money was given away and eaten by a shark in the first season, and was thrown into a volcano in the third season. This series takes elements of other widely known series such as Endurance, The Real World, Road Rules, Iron Chef, The Apprentice, Project Runway, American Idol, I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, The Challenge, The Voice, Big Brother, and The X Factor.

Location

Every season takes place in a different location and may have different amounts of contestants, although some contestants may compete in more than one season. The first season is set in Camp Wawanakwa, a fictional island located in an unspecified area in Muskoka, Ontario. The second season is set in an abandoned movie studio lot in Toronto, Ontario. The third season takes the contestants all around the world in the Total Drama Jumbo Jet, which seems to be structurally unstable. This season visits countries such as France, Japan and Egypt. However, the fourth season is set back at Camp Wawanakwa but this time with a new cast. Due to Total Drama World Tour not being as successful as expected, it seems that the fifth season will also take place in a single, yet unspecified location.[5]

Production

Total Drama was developed and produced by Fresh TV, the same creators of 6teen (another Teletoon program) and was distributed by Cake Entertainment. The series, primarily targeted at twelve to eighteen-year-olds, was animated at Elliott Animation and directed by Todd Kauffman and Mark Thornton of Neptoon Studios.[6] The creators, Tom McGillis and Jennifer Pertsch, studied what teenagers liked and disliked about reality television shows in the writing process.[7]

McGillis says they used a "countrywide online research project" to determine this demographic's likes.[8] Fresh TV Inc. partners McGillis, Pertsch, Elliott and Irving produced the series.[9] The budget for the first season was $8 million.[10] It was animated in Flash,[6] at Elliott Animation's studio in Toronto.[9]

Every cast and crew member on Total Drama had to sign a confidentiality agreement not to disclose who the winner was.[11] All the characters were designed by Kauffman.[12][dead link‍] An early name for the series was Camp TV.[13]

Characters

Main article: List of Total Drama characters

Total Drama has had a total of 38 contestants overall who have competed on all the four seasons. The first three seasons consisted of an original set of cast, with a total of 25 contestants, while the fourth season only consisted of a new cast, with only 13 contestants. Most contestants have competed in more than one season, but only four have won.

The characters of the Total Drama series

  • Introduced in Total Drama Island Top: Duncan and Tyler Standing: Lindsay, Leshawna, DJ, Eva, Justin, Owen, Noah, Harold, Trent, Geoff, Gwen, Heather and Cody (Alejandro, Sierra and Blaineley not pictured) Sitting: Izzy, Bridgette, Courtney, Katie, Sadie, Ezekiel and Beth
    Introduced in Total Drama Island
    Top: Duncan and Tyler
    Standing: Lindsay, Leshawna, DJ, Eva, Justin, Owen, Noah, Harold, Trent, Geoff, Gwen, Heather and Cody (Alejandro, Sierra and Blaineley not pictured)
    Sitting: Izzy, Bridgette, Courtney, Katie, Sadie, Ezekiel and Beth
  • Introduced in Total Drama: Revenge of the Island Top: Cameron Standing: Anne Maria, Mike, Zoey, Lightning, Dawn, B, Sam, Brick, Scott and Jo Sitting: Dakota and Staci
    Introduced in Total Drama: Revenge of the Island
    Top: Cameron
    Standing: Anne Maria, Mike, Zoey, Lightning, Dawn, B, Sam, Brick, Scott and Jo
    Sitting: Dakota and Staci

The names of all the contestants who have competed in the past four seasons are: Alejandro, Anne Maria, B, Beth, Blaineley, Brick, Bridgette, Cameron, Cody, Courtney, Dakota, Dawn, DJ, Duncan, Eva, Ezekiel, Geoff, Gwen, Harold, Heather, Izzy, Jo, Justin, Katie, Leshawna, Lightning, Lindsay, Mike, Noah, Owen, Sadie, Sam, Scott, Sierra, Staci, Trent, Tyler and Zoey. Unless otherwise stated, all of the original contestants were sixteen years old, as stated in the first episode of the series.

By the time of the third season, those original contestants have all turned at least seventeen, and by the time of the fourth season (since some time has passed between the two seasons), all of the original contestants are now eighteen and legal adults at this time. The new contestants in the fourth season are all sixteen, two years younger than the original contestants.

Voice actors

There are several voice actors who have voiced the characters in the Total Drama series. Christian Potenza played the role of host Chris McLean and said that the best part of the job was that his character could not be voted off the show.[14] Emilie-Claire Barlow plays Courtney on Total Drama Island and stated that Courtney was her favorite character that she had ever played.[15] Other voice actors include Julia Chantrey as Eva, Drew Nelson as Duncan, Megan Fahlenbock as Gwen, Stephanie Anne Mills as Lindsay and Katie, Adam Reid as Justin, Kristin Fairlie as Bridgette and Rachel Wilson as Heather. Most voice actors have only voiced one character, but some have voiced two. Peter Oldring and Clé Bennett are the only two voice actors who have voiced three characters. Brian Froud is the only voice actor to voice a contestant from both the original and the new cast, as every other voice actor only voices a character from one generation.

Episodes

Main article: List of Total Drama episodes

Broadcast

Total Drama first premiered on Teletoon on July 8, 2007 but then the United States started airing the show one year later, followed by other countries airing the series thereafter. Since then, Total Drama has become an international franchise, and one of the biggest successes for Teletoon yet. As of September 2011, Total Drama is shown in over 100 countries around the world while Cake Entertainment calls the show "phenomenally popular".[16]

Season Episodes Originally aired DVD release dates
Season premiere Season finale Region 1 Region 4
1 28 July 8, 2007 November 29, 2008 August 18, 2009 May 5, 2010[17] September 29, 2010[18]
2 27 January 11, 2009 June 10, 2010 — November 2, 2011[19][20] July 4, 2012[21]
3 26 June 10, 2010 April 24, 2011 — Fall 2012[22] TBA
4 13 January 5, 2012 April 12, 2012 Future
5 26[23] 2013 2013

Source for table:[24]

Seasons

There are currently four seasons and one upcoming season in the Total Drama series which are listed below. The winners listed are the original Canadian winners. An alternate winner in another country is basically the Canadian runner-up.

Season Title Season premiere Season finale Winner Runner-up
1"Total Drama Island"July 8, 2007November 29, 2008OwenGwen
Total Drama Island is the first season of the series. It first premiered on Canada on July 8, 2007 and June 5, 2008 on the United States. This season takes place at Camp Wawanakwa, a fictional island located somewhere in Muskoka, Ontario where the season is based on a summer camp theme (although a contestant is eliminated at the end of every episode). Like the whole series, this season is a competition to see which of the 22 contestants will survive and last the longest. This is because the contestants are brutally tortured along the way through the intense challenges they are given. Challenges are sometimes based on other reality shows like Fear Factor. All of this is so the winner of the season (the one to last the longest on the island and not get eliminated), will win a small fortune of $100,000 and cheesy fame. This is the largest season in the entire series (as in eliminations and contestants).
2"Total Drama Action"January 11, 2009June 10, 2010DuncanBeth
Total Drama Action is the second season of the series. It premiered on Canada on January 11, 2009 and June 11 in the U.S. It is a sequel to the first season of the series, Total Drama Island. In here, fourteen characters from Total Drama Island returned: Gwen, Heather, Lindsay, Harold, Duncan, Owen, Leshawna, Trent, Geoff, Bridgette, Justin, DJ, Izzy, and Beth. However, Courtney returns later to the show due to a lawsuit. In this season, the contestants are taken to a brand new location: an old film lot in the center of Toronto, Ontario. The challenges are now based on movie genres, and the grand prize has been multipled by ten to be $1,000,000. Cody, Tyler, Katie, Sadie, Noah, Ezekiel, and Eva do not return to compete, but still appeared for the aftermath special, an extra show which was hosted by Geoff and Bridgette, the first two eliminated contestants.
3"Total Drama World Tour"June 10, 2010April 24, 2011Alejandro is not winnerHeather
Total Drama World Tour is the third season of the series. It premiered in 2010 all around the world and continued onto 2011 in Canada. In this season, seventeen contestants are taken on a trip around the world, and compete in cultural themed challenges of the countries or regions they visit. An added twist this season is that they are required to break spontaneously into song, or else be immediately eliminated (although this rule was not strongly enforced, and no one was eliminated for not singing anyway). Fifteen of the original characters from Total Drama Island returned: Owen, Izzy, Duncan, Courtney, Bridgette, Gwen, Cody, Harold, Noah, Lindsay, DJ, Heather, Leshawna, Ezekiel, and Tyler. Two new characters, Alejandro and Sierra, joined the cast at the beginning of this season. Additionally, a third new character, Blaineley, was brought on to compete past the halfway point of the season, although she didn't last very long. Geoff, Eva, Justin, Beth, Trent, Katie, and Sadie did not return to compete, but have instead appeared for the aftermath. The prize for this season is, once again, $1,000,000.
4"Total Drama: Revenge of the Island"January 5, 2012April 12, 2012CameronLightning
Total Drama: Revenge of the Island is the fourth season of the series. The series' extension was commissioned by Teletoon from the producers, Fresh TV Inc.[25] It premiered on Canada and the U.S. in 2012. This season returns to Camp Wawanakwa (the original setting of the first season), but no contestants from previous seasons return. Instead, only a new set of cast compete, which are Anne Maria, B, Brick, Cameron, Dakota, Dawn, Jo, Lightning, Mike, Sam, Scott, Staci and Zoey. However, some characters from the original cast still have cameo appearances throughout the season.[26] Due to the island being abandoned for the past two seasons, the island has now turned radioactive[27] and causes of radiation and toxic waste is the main theme for this season. This season is only half the length of a regular season with 13 episodes[28] and the cash prize is also again $1,000,000.
5"TBA"20132013TBATBA
On June 28, 2011, Christian Potenza mentioned an upcoming season of Total Drama. This was the first time a cast member mentioned a fifth season to the public.[29] One year later on July 19, 2012, Christian Potenza announced the fifth season in an interview with Tom McGillis, saying that Season 5 would be very similar to Total Drama Island and Total Drama: Revenge of the Island, due to the high worldwide ratings of the latter.[5] That means that this season will take place in a single location once again (unlike Total Drama World Tour), and that the competitors could either be the new cast or both the old and new cast. It is possible the theme for this season will be "Heroes vs. Villains", as mentioned by Cory Doran.[30] This season will bring back the traditional length of 26 episodes, and is already in pre-production for a 2013 release date.[23]

Series reception

The first season, Total Drama Island received general acclaim from critics and fans. Users from TV.com gave the show an 8.6 "Great",[31] while users from IMDB gave it a 7.5 out of 10.[32] Commonsense Media gave the show 4 out of 5 stars, calling it a "[c]lever cartoon reality show spoof".[33]. The second season, Total Drama Action, however received less acclaim due to being seen as less on par with Total Drama Island. The third season, Total Drama World Tour, has also received critical acclaim from critics and won multiple awards including "Best Animated Series", "Best Voice Actress" (for Annick Obonsawin), and was also nominated for several other awards. As of 2011, the first season has been shown in over 188 countries[34] while the entire franchise has been seen in at least 100.[16]

Media

DVD releases

Up until November 1, 2011, only Total Drama Island had been released on DVD. Cartoon Network released their Total Drama Island DVD in the U.S. on August 18, 2009 (Region 1), while Australia (Region 4) also released Total Drama Island on DVD, but this time in two parts (Part 1 on May 5, 2010[17] and Part 2 on September 29, 2010[18]). However, almost two years after Total Drama Action was first aired, Australia released their DVD of the second season on November 2, 2011,[19][20] making Australia the only country that has released Total Drama Action for private home viewing. Australia will also be releasing Total Drama World Tour on a DVD later this year.[22]

Total Drama Online

Teletoon is hosting a Total Drama based website called Total Drama Online where you can play games and earn badges to win prizes.[35] Cartoon Network has a similar version of their site, and both websites are exclusive to viewers only in their corresponding countries.

References

  1. ^ "Elliott Animation - Productions - Total Drama Island". Archived from the original on October 7, 2008.
  2. ^ "Total Drama Island: GOPHERS vs. BASS".
  3. ^ Thorny (2008-06-03). "Howdy Neighbor!... (or is it neighbor?)". Total Drama Action. Retrieved 2008-06-11-Present. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  4. ^ Thorny (2008-06-03). "Howdy Neighbor!... (or is it neighbor?)". Total Drama Action. Retrieved 2008-06-11-Present. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  5. ^ a b Interview with Christian Potenza and Tom McGillis
  6. ^ a b admin (June 29, 2007), "Title Drama Island", Cold Hard Flash, retrieved December 25, 2010
  7. ^ Playback Staff (May 15, 2006), "Total Drama Island ribs reality TV", Playback, retrieved December 25, 2010
  8. ^ Raju Mudhar, "Canadian cartoon show sucking 'em all back in", The Toronto Star, retrieved December 25, 2010
  9. ^ a b Playback Staff (May 15, 2006), Total Drama Island: And So It Begins, retrieved December 25, 2010
  10. ^ Annalisa D'Aprile, "L'Isola di cartone che prende in giro i reality", Kata Web (in Italian), retrieved December 25, 2010
  11. ^ Teletoon (Jun 24, 2007), "From the creators of the award winning series 6teen, the number one show on Teletoon, comes a truly unique reality show for kids", Channel Canada, retrieved December 25, 2010
  12. ^ Total Drama Island: Final 4
  13. ^ admin (March 27, 2006), "Neptoon's Promo Washes Ashore", Cold Hard Flash, retrieved December 25, 2010
  14. ^ Krissie Rutherford (November 3, 2006), "Newest role is 'every guy's dream' - Gemini-nominated Oakville actor has written his own dream role", Oakville Beaver {{citation}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  15. ^ Asma Khaliq (March 1, 2007), "Up close with a familiar voice: From Sailor Mars to Timmy's ads, Emilie-Claire Barlow is someone you've definitely heard", The Toronto Star, retrieved December 25, 2010
  16. ^ a b Read the last sentence. (TD airs in 100 countries and is "phenomenally popular")
  17. ^ a b http://www.madman.com.au/catalogue/view/13390/total-drama-island-collection-1
  18. ^ a b http://www.madman.com.au/catalogue/view/13391/total-drama-island-collection-2
  19. ^ a b http://www.dvdwarehouse.com.au/total-drama-action-collection-1-9322225093447.html
  20. ^ a b http://www.madman.com.au/catalogue/view/15588/total-drama-action-collection-1
  21. ^ http://www.madman.com.au/series/view/16570/total-drama-season-2-and-3
  22. ^ a b https://www.facebook.com/madmanent/posts/10150718511488478?notif_t=feed_comment
  23. ^ a b Fresh TV reveals number of episodes for Season 5
  24. ^ http://www.tv.com/shows/total-drama-island/episodes/
  25. ^ "Fresh TV:News". Fresh TV, Inc. September 23, 2009. Retrieved June 18, 2009.
  26. ^ Read Question #5
  27. ^ http://www.cakeentertainment.com/pages/cat-tdr.htm
  28. ^ Read Question #4
  29. ^ Skip to 8:55
  30. ^ Skip to 9:55
  31. ^ Total Drama Island Show Reviews on TV
  32. ^ Total Drama Island (2007)
  33. ^ Total Drama Island - Television Review
  34. ^ Stinson, Scott (13 October 2011). "Stinson: CanCon on the Croisette at Mipcom". The Globe and Mail. Toronto ON. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  35. ^ http://www.totaldramaonline.com/
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