Peep and the Big Wide World
Peep and the Big Wide World is a 2004–2011 American-Canadian animated children's television series created by Canadian animator Kaj Pindal. It revolves around the lives of Peep, Chirp, and Quack, as viewers discover, investigate, and explore the world around them.
The show was based on the 1988 short film Peep and the Big Wide World produced by the National Film Board of Canada, which itself is based on the 1962 short film The Peep Show, also produced by the National Film Board of Canada. The series premiered on April 12, 2004, on Discovery Kids and on TLC as part of their Ready Set Learn children's block, and on the same day on TVOKids and PBS Kids. It was produced by WGBH Boston and 9 Story Media Group, in association with TVOntario and Discovery Kids and is distributed by Alliance Atlantis.
Carriage on the Discovery children's networks ended on October 10, 2010 with the discontinuation of Ready Set Learn and the replacement of Discovery Kids with The Hub, and now, Discovery Family. It continues to be offered to public television stations via independent public television distributor American Public Television to the present day. Since January 1, 2018, the series is distributed by both PBS Kids and APT. Throughout its run, it has been underwritten by the National Science Foundation, with Northrop Grumman underwriting season four in 2010.
Each episode consists of two 9-minute stories, which are animated segments, and two 2-minute live action segments, in which children explore and demonstrate the same topic presented in the animated segment.
Overview
Viewers follow Peep, Chirp, and Quack as they investigate and explore the world around them. Following the 9-minute animated segment, there is a 2-minute live-action segment with children exploring and demonstrating the same topic presented in the animated segment. Animation consists of bright colors and simple shapes.Episodes
Season 1 (2004)
| # | Episode | Original airdate |
| 1 | Spring Thing/Springy Thingy | April 12, 2004 |
| 2 | A Duck's Tale/Quack's Tracks | April 13, 2004 |
| 3 | Quack and the Very Big Rock/Shadow Play | April 14, 2004 |
| 4 | Current Events/Quack Loses His Hat | April 15, 2004 |
| 5 | Night Light/Sounds Like... | April 16, 2004 |
| 6 | The Windy Day/Peep Feet | April 19, 2004 |
| 7 | Newton's Big Adventure/Peep Crosses the Road | April 20, 2004 |
| 8 | Stormy Weather/Peep in Rabbitland | April 21, 2004 |
| 9 | Quack's Stuck Stick/Peep's Can | April 22, 2004 |
| 10 | Under Duck/All Fall Down | April 23, 2004 |
| 11 | The Perils of Peep and Chirp/Hoop Tricks | April 26, 2004 |
| 12 | Save It For Later/The Red Ballmoon | April 27, 2004 |
| 13 | Chirp Builds a Nest/Stuck Duck | April 28, 2004 |
| 14 | The Real Decoy/Peep's Lost Leaf | April 29, 2004 |
| 15 | Birds of a Feather/The Incredible Shrinking Duck | April 30, 2004 |
| 16 | Go West Young Peep/A Delicate Balance | May 3, 2004 |
| 17 | The Fish Museum/Peep's Night Out | May 4, 2004 |
| 18 | There's No Place Like Home/Flipping Newton | May 5, 2004 |
| 19 | Chirp's Flight Program/Mirror Mirror in the Dump | May 6, 2004 |
| 20 | Bridge the Gap/Meeting Half-Way | May 7, 2004 |
| 21 | Peep Plants a Seed/The Root Problem | May 10, 2004 |
| 22 | Hide and Go Peep/A Peep of a Different Color | May 11, 2004 |
| 23 | That's a Cat/Faster than a Duck | May 12, 2004 |
| 24 | Quack Hatches an Egg/The Whatchamacallit | May 13, 2004 |
| 25 | Wandering Beaver/Peep's New Friend | May 14, 2004 |
| 26 | The Trip to Green Island/Give Me a Call | May 17, 2004 |
Season 2 (2005-2006)
Season 3 (2007)
Season 4 (2010)
Season 5 (2011)
Characters
Main
- Peep : A male, yellow chicken who is very curious. He is the youngest bird of the group. The show's title is derived from his name. Peep is female in the original short film.
- Chirp : A female, red robin who is also curious, and attempts frequently to fly, with unsatisfying results, until A Daring Duck, when she flies from the ground. In "Big Bird" she meets a real robin for the first time. She is Peep and Quack's friend. Chirp is male in the original short film.
- Quack : A male, blue-purple duckling who wears a white sailor's hat. He is older than Peep and Chirp, as they are still chicks. He frequently boasts about himself and ducks as a whole, and unwittingly makes many discoveries. Quack is purple in the original short film and is now referred to as blue, but is still quite indigo. He also seems to have a hoarding issue, as evidenced in the episode "The Tooth, The Whole Tooth and Nothing But the Tooth, Part 1."
- The Narrator : The Narrator tells the episode's story, although the characters rarely have any interaction with her. In the episodes "Dry Duck, Part 1" the birds did have a short interaction with her and in "Quack Quiets the Universe" she and Quack interact as well.
Minor
- Ant : A busy male ant who appears in some episodes.
- Beaver Boy : A young naïve male beaver who lives in an adjoining pond to Quack's. He appears in several episodes. His desire to please his mom and dad often results in him chewing down too many trees. He often calls Quack "Blue Sailor" Peep "Yellow Guy" and Chirp "Red Round".
- Beaver Mom: Beaver Boy's workaholic mother.
- Beaver Dad : Beaver Boy's businesslike father.
- Dragonfly : A quiet dragonfly.
- Fish: Cohabitants of Quack's pond.
- Hoot : A menacing, but kind purple female owl who lives in the Deep Dark Woods.
- Nellie : A red female dog who acts as a seemingly maternal figure for the birds.
- Newton : An old, male, dark-green turtle who lives under an apple tree.
- Quack #2 : An annoying pink female duck who has her own pond, built by Quack, Peep, Chirp, Beaver Boy and his parents.
- Rabbit : An excitable and somewhat distracted rabbit.
- Robin : An adult robin.
- Skunk : A rather deadpan skunk who lives near Quack's pond.
- Bat : A shy bat.
- Squeak : An anxious pink, female mouse who lives under a brick and always worries about what could go wrong.
- Tom : A sly, male blue & black kitten who often tries to eat Peep, Chirp, and Quack. He is the sole antagonist.
- Racoon : A gobbo, male brown & black racoon who often tries to wear his sun glasses in A Peep of a Different Color
- Blue Jays: silly, blue and white birds who love to cause trouble when they see stuff
Music composition