WordGirl is an American animated superhero children's television series produced by the Soup2Nuts animation unit of Scholastic Entertainment for PBS Kids. The series began as a series of shorts entitled The Amazing Colossal Adventures of WordGirl that premiered on PBS Kids Go! on November 10, 2006, usually shown at the end of Maya & Miguel; the segment was then spun off into a thirty-minute episodic series that aired from September 3, 2007, to August 7, 2015. The series of shorts consisted of thirty episodes, with 128 episodes and a special in the full half-hour series. WordGirl creator Dorothea Gillim felt that most children's animation "underestimated [children's] sense of humor" and hoped to create a more intellectual show for young audiences.
By June 2014, many PBS stations had stopped airing WordGirl, opting to air more popular series throughout the summer. However, new episodes continued to air on select stations, with streaming options on the PBS Kids website and video app. The series ended with the two-part episode "Rhyme and Reason", which was released on August 7, 2015.
The show was created for children ages 4–9 years old. By 2022, the show had gained a cult following through social media.
Premise
The series follows WordGirl, a 10-year-old girl with superpowers whose secret identity is Becky Botsford, a typical 5th grade student. WordGirl was born on the fictional planet Lexicon (referencing the term referring to the vocabulary of a language), a planet that affords WordGirl her superpowers, including flight and super strength. As an infant, Becky snuck on to a spaceship piloted by her future pet chimpanzee and sidekick, Captain Huggy Face. Huggy Face, who was a pilot in the Lexicon Air Force, was flying the ship but lost control when the child WordGirl awoke and startled him, causing a crash-landing on Earth, more specifically in Fair City. WordGirl uses her superpowers to protect her adoptive home, using her downed spacecraft as a secret base of operations.
WordGirl was soon adopted and provided an alter ego by father Tim and mother Sally Botsford, who gave her the name Becky (the family keeps Captain Huggy Face, a.k.a Bob, as a pet). She has a younger brother, TJ Botsford. TJ, a prototypical sibling rival, is obsessed with WordGirl the superhero, but does not know his sister's true identity. Becky attends Woodview Elementary School as a fifth grader, where she is close friends with Violet Heaslip and the school newspaper reporter Todd "Scoops" Ming
WordGirl tries to balance her superhero activities with her "normal" life. She battles against an assortment of villains that include The Butcher, Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy, Dr. Two-Brains, Granny May, Lady Redundant Woman, Mr. Big, Theodore "Tobey" McCalister III, Amazing Rope Guy and The Whammer. The villains are all prone to malapropisms. She also must worry about maintaining her double life as Becky. Often needing to keep people from discovering the truth about her origins.
Series overview
Characters Main WordGirl (voiced by Dannah Phirman) is a 10-year-old superhero from the planet Lexicon who uses the alias of Becky Botsford when adopted by the Botsford family. She possesses super-strength, super-speed, super-hearing, and the knowledge of different word meanings. While WordGirl works to keep her true identity secret, the ones who do keep her identity secret upon finding out are Captain Huggy Face, Bampy Botsford, Todd Ming, and the Narrator. Captain Huggy Face (vocal effects provided by James Adomian at script readings) is a monkey from the planet Lexicon who is WordGirl's animal sidekick. He has been called a lot of other animals on occasion. Captain Huggy Face masquerades as a normal monkey named Bob when not fighting crime. The Narrator (voiced by Chris Parnell) is an unseen character who narrates each episode and also tends to interact with the characters and notices the running gags. Tim Botsford (voiced by Ryan Raddatz) is the indecisive adoptive father of Becky Botsford and the patriarch of his family. Sally Botsford (voiced by Maria Bamford) is the optimistic adoptive mother of Becky Botsford and the matriarch of the family who works as a district attorney. TJ Botsford (voiced by Tom Kenny) is the adoptive brother of Becky Botsford who is a big fan of WordGirl.
Supporting Todd "Scoops" Ming (voiced by Ryan Raddatz) is an Asian reporter for Woodview Elementary School's newspaper called the Daily Rag. He learns of WordGirl's true identity in "Invasion of the Bunny Lovers". Violet Heaslip (voiced by Maria Bamford) is the purple-clad blonde best friend of Becky Botsford. The Exposition Guy (voiced by Chris Parnell) is an unnamed man who is usually calling for help and mentioning what kind of crime is being committed. Reginald (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin) is the pompous owner of Ye Old Fancy Schmancy Jewelry Store. Bill (voiced by Mike O'Connell) is the manager of the grocery store in Fair City. The episode "Caper of Plastic" reveals that he used to operate as a supervillain called the Masked Bagger.
Villains Butcher (voiced by Jack D. Ferraiolo) is a butcher-themed villain who utilizes meat-based attacks. In the episode "The Meaty Dimension", it is revealed he conjures his meat from a parallel universe made entirely of meat. Kid Potato (voiced by Ed Asner) is an elderly supervillain and the father of Butcher who utilizes potato-based attacks. Dr. Two-Brains (voiced by Tom Kenny) is a mouse-themed mad scientist. Steven Boxleitner started out as a benevolent scientist until an accident fused his brain with that of a mouse. Dr. Two-Brains' Henchmen are two humans that consist of a large shaved-head man named Charlie and an unnamed man (voiced by Chris Parnell) who speaks for Charlie while acting as Charlie's best friend. Mr. Big (voiced by Jeffrey Tambor) is the CEO of Mr. Big Industries who wears a purple mask. Born Shelly Smalls, most of his plots involved the use of mind-control devices to get what he wants. Leslie (voiced by Maria Bamford) is Mr. Big's personal assistant. Tiny Big (voiced by James C. Mathis III) is Mr. Big Industries' custom-made pop music star. Fair City became a big fan of his music. When WordGirl reveals that Tiny Big is not an actual singer, Tiny Big flees with Mr. Big. Mr. Big's Bodyguards are two unnamed bald-headed men in sunglasses that are often seen with Mr. Big. Granny May (voiced by Cree Summer) is an elderly supervillain who pretends to be innocent to commit heists. She wears retractable armor when committing crimes and fighting Word Girl. Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy (voiced by Fred Stoller) is a sandwich-headed supervillain who lives in his mother's basement. He does not have a way with words and uses different condiments as his weapons. Theodore "Tobey" McCallister III (voiced by Patton Oswalt) is a 10-year-old boy at Woodview Elementary School who is often shown using his giant robots to cause much trouble in Fair City to win the affection of WordGirl. Eileen the Birthday Girl (voiced by Pamela Adlon) is a spoiled, redheaded 10-year-old girl who thinks that every day is her birthday. When she gets angry/greedy, she grows to a giant size and her skin turns green. Only by getting Eileen what she wants causes Eileen to return to her normal size. Amazing Rope Guy (voiced by Larry Murphy) is a rope-themed villain. Lady Redundant Woman (voiced by Amanda Plummer in the first appearance, Grey DeLisle in later appearances) – Beatrice Bixby is a former copy shop employee who was inadvertently merged with a copy machine, gaining the ability to clone herself and other items. True to her name, she has a redundant manner of speech, saying words that mean the same thing. Masked Meat Marauder (voiced by Elliott Gould) is a villain with the same abilities as Butcher, but his meat attacks are done with flavor. Though he was the main villain in his self-titled episode where he developed a rivalry with Butcher, Masked Meat Marauder has since made some background appearances since then. Maria the Energy Monster (speaking voice provided by Maria Bamford in "Dinner or Consequences") is an electrical monster that was created when a ball of electricity was exposed to an experiment gone wrong. Whammer (voiced by John C. McGinley) is a supervillain who sends out sonic waves upon "whamming". While operating on his own, he has worked as henchmen to other villains. Coach (voiced by Ned Bellamy) is a motivation coach who turned to crime the day he met Whammer and tricked him into committing crimes for him. The Villain Society uses him to keep an eye on any villain that fails to prove themselves and to demote them to the mischief maker level of the Villain Society tier should they fail. Big Left Hand Guy (voiced by Mike O'Connell) is a student of Coach who has an enlarged left hand. Invisi-Bill (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin) is a student of Coach who can turn invisible. Timmy Tim-Bo (voiced by James Adomian) is a student of Coach whose self-described powers is that he naps a lot. Ms. Question (voiced by Grey DeLisle) is a student of Coach who mostly asks questions. She later gained the ability to shoot question marks and give people amnesia. Hal Hardbargain (voiced by James Adomian) is a gadget supplier with an electrical eye patch and a mechanical arm who is the proprietor of Hal's Villain Supply Shop, selling equipment to other villains. Seymour Orlando Smooth (voiced by Daran Norris) is a tan-skinned game show host and con artist who uses his game shows as covers to steal people's money. Harry Kemple and Chip Von Dumor (both voiced by James Adomian) are Seymour's brothers who help him out in some of his plots. Raul Demiglass (voiced by James Adomian) is a TV chef. In "Plain Old Mischief Makers", Demiglass is shown on the mischief maker part of the Villain Society tier and has befriended Glen Flurbaum. Glen Flurbaum (voiced by Brian Posehn) is the number-one fan of Dr. Two-Brains who temporarily worked as his henchman when Dr. Two-Brains' henchmen were on vacation. Nocan the Contrarian (voiced by Daran Norris) is a barbarian from Contraria who always does the opposite of what he is told to do. Victoria Best (voiced by Kristen Schaal) is a child prodigy and student at Woodview Elementary School who is always trying to be the very best at everything even when pressured by her parents. General Smoochington is a western lowland gorilla who is Victoria Best's pet and sidekick. Captain Tangent (voiced by John Henson in his self-titled episode, Brian Stack in "The Penny, the Pony, and the Pirate") is a teenage pirate and former waiter at the pirate-themed restaurant Blackbeard's Buffet who was fired by his manager for telling tangents. He found a hook with magnetic properties that he used to become a supervillain. Oscar is a scarlet macaw who is Captain Tangent's pet and sidekick. Learnerer (voiced by "Weird Al" Yankovic) is a supervillain in an adaptive super-suit who often adds suffixes to the words he uses.
Other The Mayor of Fair City (voiced by Ron Lynch) is an unnamed African-American man who is often seen making speeches. The Principal (voiced by Larry Murphy in "A Few Words from WordGirl") is the unnamed principal of Woodview Elementary School. While the principal first seen was a female, the principal from "A Few Words from WordGirl" was a male. Jade Davis (voiced by Amy Sedaris) is a teacher at Woodview Elementary School. Mrs. Ripley (voiced by Grey DeLisle) is an African-American woman who is the hyperactive gym teacher at Woodview Elementary School. Claire McCallister (voiced by Dannah Phirman) is the mother of Tobey McCallister III who works at the same district attorney's office as Sally Botsford. She is often annoyed that Tobey uses his robots to fulfill his purposes and tends to punish him when WordGirl thwarts him.