Johnny Test
Johnny Test is an American-Canadian animated television series produced by Warner Bros. Animation for the first and second seasons and by Cookie Jar Entertainment for the second season onwards. It premiered on Kids' WB on September 17, 2005, which continued to air the series through its second and third seasons. The rest of the series aired on Cartoon Network starting on January 7, 2008, in the United States and internationally. In Canada, the series airs on Teletoon, premiering September 8, 2006.
The series revolves around the adventures of the title character, Johnny Test, an 11-year-old suburban boy who lives with his parents, his "super-genius" 13-year-old twin sisters, Susan and Mary, both of whom are scientists and best friends with each other, and a talking dog named Dukey. They reside in the fictional town of Porkbelly, which is in the USA or Canada. Johnny is often used as a test subject for his genius twin sisters' inventions and experiments, which range from gadgets to superpowers. Their experiments often cause problems that he must resolve and he must sometimes fight villains in the process. He occasionally saves the world with his sisters' inventions.
On June 11, 2013, Teletoon announced that the series had been renewed for a seventh season, to consist of 13 episodes and a three-part special. However, in response to a tweet on June 25, 2015, regarding a seventh season, voice actor James Arnold Taylor stated that he was unaware of any plans for a seventh season.
On March 15, 2019, the official Johnny Test YouTube channel released a video confirming the show would inspire a series of web-shorts by WildBrain Spark, a subsidiary of WildBrain that produces original content for online distribution. The announcement video was made private in October 2019. Known as Johnny Test: The Lost Web Series, the first short debuted on May 2, 2020 before being made private two days later.
In January 2020, WildBrain announced that their Vancouver studio was hiring for a new Johnny Test project separate from the web-shorts. On May 6, 2020, WildBrain confirmed the series had been picked up by Netflix for two more seasons and a 66-minute interactive special set for release in 2021, with Fellows returning as showrunner and executive producer.
Plot
Johnny is part of the Test family, which consists of his 13-year-old genius twin sisters, Susan and Mary, and his parents: his mother Lila, who is a full-blown workaholic businesswoman; and his father Hugh, who is an obsessive–compulsive househusband whose two biggest obsessions are cleaning and cooking meatloaf. The Test Twins frequently use Johnny as a guinea pig for their various experiments and inventions in their laboratory filled with highly advanced technology built in over the Tests' household attic, with most of which they try to impress their pretty boy next-door neighbor, Gil, for whom both harbor a deep love and obsession, although their attempts to come up with some way to attract his attention usually end in failure.Johnny is a troublesome and mischievous boy who causes problems in the family and often within the city. His best friend is his anthropomorphic talking pet dog, Dukey, who Susan and Mary gave human-level intelligence and the ability to speak in an experiment. Because Johnny has Susan, Mary, and Dukey by his side, he can live any kid's dream, only to find that most dreams never turn out as hoped. He is very hyperactive and often messes with his sisters' inventions, causing trouble and mayhem, but just as often proves himself to be clever such as by frequently tricking his sisters or saving the day from whatever danger happens to show up. Johnny is also stubborn and a bit spoiled, as he gets what he wants through deceit, blackmail, or manipulation. However, he does have a sense of justice and always learns from his mistakes. On the other hand, he, like most kids, does not like school; if anything, he goes to great lengths to avoid doing work, often using his sisters' inventions to do so and often putting himself and/or others in trouble as a result.
One of Johnny's main nemeses is Eugene "Bling-Bling Boy" Hamilton, a fellow of the Test sisters and frienemy of Johnny and Dukey, who has an unrequited crush on Susan. Another is Sissy Blakely, a tomboy who often serves as Johnny's rival/friend; the two are believed to have crushes on each other, but each would instantly deny it, and they also constantly compete against each other. Missy, Sissy's pink labradoodle, is also Dukey's rival/crush. A third is Bumper, the school bully who constantly picks on Johnny. Meanwhile, the General from the army base Area 51.1 and Mr. Black and Mr. White, two federal agents from the Super Secret Government Agency, are shown to be close friends with the kids and often get them out of trouble or recruit them for an assignment, or simply help, distract, and/or annoy the Tests on various occasions.
Episodes
Characters
- Johnny Test
- Dukey
- Susan Test
- Mary Test
- Hugh Test
- Lila Test
- Gil Nexdor
- Mr. Black
- Mr. White
Background
Origin and development
On February 16, 2005, Kids' WB's unveiling of its new fall schedule for the 2005–2006 television season was announced by The WB Television Network, featuring its returning series Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokémon, The Batman, and Xiaolin Showdown, alongside four new series: Loonatics Unleashed, Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island, , and Johnny Test. The aforementioned schedule was announced by The WB/Kids' WB Entertainment President David Janollari, Kids' WB Senior Vice President and General Manager Betsy McGowen, speaking to advertisers and the media press during the Kids' WB upfront sales presentation in New York. Johnny Test was created and executively produced by Scott Fellows, who created the Nickelodeon live-action series Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Big Time Rush, and 100 Things to Do Before High School; Fellows had also served as the head writer for The Fairly OddParents and ChalkZone. The show premiered on September 17, 2005, on Kids' WB's Saturday morning lineup of its weekly fall schedule, alongside Loonatics Unleashed and Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island. The episode pair "Johnny to the Center of the Earth" and "Johnny X" marked the series premiere.When the show first aired on Kids' WB, it performed very well in the Nielsen ratings. It ranked as the #1 broadcast program in Boys 2-11, ranked as the #2 broadcast series in Kids 2-11 and Girls 6-11, and ultimately ranking #3 in Kids 6-11. Its second season received a slightly higher number of viewers on average in the United States: 2.6 million viewers per 2nd-season episode. Its 3rd season's average number of viewers in the United States was 3.1 million viewers. Its 4th season got an average number of about 4.3 million viewers per episode in the United States. Its 5th premiere attracted over 4.7 million viewers in the United States.
The series was developed for television by Aaron Simpson, with a brief, slightly longer pre-existing pilot short produced by Simpson as well, before the show was picked up as a full series by Kids' WB. Based on Episode 1A "Johnny to the Center of the Earth", the pilot episode was animated roughly in Adobe Flash, but retaining the same plot, used the same color schemes as the aforementioned episode, and was recorded with an American voice cast instead. The original production design was created, provided and contributed by Matt Danner and Marc Perry, and then later worked on by producer Chris Savino and art director Paul Stec. Fellows, the creator of the series who had interested the network in the series' premise, based the titular character on himself when he was a young boy; he based Johnny's twin sisters, Susan and Mary, on his own two sisters, also named Susan and Mary. In the original pilot and early promotional material of the show, Dukey was referred to as "Poochie".
James Arnold Taylor said that he was not Fellows' original choice for the role of Johnny Test; he had previously voiced the lead character in the initial test pilot. After the show got picked up by Kids' WB! as a series, he was initially going to be replaced by a different voice actor, with a Canadian voice cast instead, but the studio had trouble finding Johnny's initial voice convincing for the first six episodes, so they gave Taylor back the role to redub his dialog for the rest of the first season, and managed to keep him on the cast for the rest of the series. Aaron Simpson, who had developed the series and produced the pilot, was the creator and executive producer's first choice to serve as the producer of the show, before he turned it down.
Production
The remainder of the first season was produced in-house by Warner Bros. Animation, but since the show was a U.S./Canada co-production, some of the animation production work was outsourced to Canadian animation studios Studio B Productions and Top Draw Animation, as well as South Korean animation production company Digital eMation, which also provided the original main title animation opening. Storyboarding of some of the episodes was done by Atomic Cartoons.Many of the original writers, storyboarders, and art crew of the series' first production season were recycled, including familiar Cartoon Network Studios and Nickelodeon Animation Studio alumni, as well as some from WB Animation, Walt Disney Television Animation and DIC Entertainment, and even the comic book industry, including Chris Savino, Marc Perry, Paul Stec, Matt Danner, Joe Horne, Mike Kazaleh, Brian Larsen, Jun Falkenstein, Scott Shaw!, Nora Johnson, Milton Knight, Ray Leong, Chris Battle, Casey Mitchum, Pat Ventura, John Derevlany, J.C. Cheng, Aliki Theofilopoulos, George Cox III, Frederick J. Gardner III, Allan Penny, Justin Schultz, Christopher D. Lozinski, Dane Taylor and Rita Cooper. The original version of the show's theme song and all of its underscores were both written, composed and conducted by Kevin Manthei, with creator Scott Fellows having written and provided the lyrics to the theme song. Voice recording was provided by Voicebox Productions, with voice direction by Terry Klassen.
The merger of UPN and The WB into The CW Television Network had resulted in many budget cuts for the show, leading to the show being put on hiatus. Cookie Jar Entertainment, another Canada-based entertainment company, decided to take control of the series' production. Due to this change, the writers, storyboarders, and art crew who worked on the first season were let go, resulting in an entirely new crew managing the show. In addition, the budget of the show dropped dramatically, leading seasons two and three of the show being animated in Adobe Flash by Collideascope Digital Productions. The show's opening theme was later changed for the second season, again for the third season and once again for the entire remainder of the series, with the opening being made of recycled episode footage. On March 1, 2008, the episode pair "Johnny X: A New Beginning" and "Johnny X: The Final Ending" aired. It was originally intended as the series finale; however, the series was renewed for a fourth season. Although Warner Bros. left the series' production, the credits still listed Warner Bros. as the trademark owner of Johnny Test so far until the last season.
The fourth season was animated at Atomic Cartoons with animation assistance from Seventoon Inc. and Philippine Animators Group Inc., which are both located in the Philippines. It finally premiered in high-definition on Teletoon on September 10, 2009, and on Cartoon Network in the U.S. on November 9, 2009. Later, on August 24, 2010, it was announced that Johnny Test was renewed for a fifth season. Like the fourth season before it, it would be a full set of 26 episodes with a 27th episode added to the end; the renewal brought the series total to 92 episodes. The fifth season premiered on Cartoon Network in America on June 13, 2011, along with a new theme sequence with the same song used from seasons 2–4. Starting with the fifth season, Trevor Devall would become the new voice of Dukey, due to Louis Chirillo leaving the series. Similarly, Ashleigh Ball retired as the voice of Mary, Sissy and Missy at the end of the 4th season, due to her work on ; as a result, she was replaced by Brittney Wilson, Mary's original voice.
On March 12, 2012, it was announced that the show had been renewed for a sixth season. Like the fourth and fifth season before it, it would again be a full set of 26 episodes; the renewal brought the series total to 117 episodes. Ashleigh Ball also returned for the roles in this season. The sixth season premiered on Cartoon Network in America on April 23, 2013. With this season, the show reached its 100th episode, making it one of Teletoon's longest-running original series.
The show was picked up by Netflix for 2 new seasons on May 6, 2020, along with an interactive special. The series will sport an updated look and will be produced in 4K.
Release
Broadcast history
Johnny Test first premiered in the United States on September 17, 2005, on The WB's Saturday morning block, Kids' WB. One year later, it aired on Teletoon, debuting in Canada on September 8, 2006. During the second season, The WB and UPN merged into The CW, which aired the second and third seasons; the latter season premiered on September 22, 2007, and concluded on March 1, 2008. On January 7, 2008, the show debuted on Cartoon Network, which aired the remainder of the series.DVD releases
The series has five DVDs released by NCircle Entertainment. Johnny Test: Johnny & Dukey and Johnny vs. Bling Bling Boy were released on December 23, 2008. Johnny X and Super Pooch was released on August 11, 2009, Extreme Johnny was released on December 1, 2009, and Game Time was released on May 4, 2010.On February 21, 2008, Liberation Entertainment released the complete first season on DVD in the UK, but as of 2012, no more seasons have been released in a Region 2 format.
On January 4, 2011, it was announced that Mill Creek Entertainment had acquired the rights to the series, under license from DHX Media. They have subsequently released the first four seasons on DVD in Region 1. The fifth season was released on May 5, 2015, and the first five seasons were released on September 1, 2015.