The Amazing World of Gumball
The Amazing World of Gumball is a surreal comedy animated television series created by Ben Bocquelet for Cartoon Network. Produced primarily by Cartoon Network Studios Europe, it first aired on May 3, 2011 and ended on June 24, 2019. The series revolves around the lives of 12-year-old Gumball Watterson, a blue cat and his goldfish best friend—adoptive brother 10-year-old Darwin, who attend middle school in the fictional city of Elmore, California. They frequently find themselves involved in various shenanigans around the city, during which time they interact with fellow family members—younger sister Anais, mother Nicole, and father Richard—and an extended supporting cast of characters.
Bocquelet based several of the series' characters on rejected characters from his previous commercial work and making its premise a mixture of "family shows and school shows", which Cartoon Network was heavily interested in. He pitched The Amazing World of Gumball to the network and Turner Broadcasting executive Daniel Lennard subsequently greenlit production of the series. It is the first series to be produced by Cartoon Network Studios Europe, and is currently co-produced with Studio SOI in Germany and Great Marlborough Productions Limited.
One unique feature of the series is its lack of stylistic unity. Characters are designed, filmed, and animated using multiple styles and techniques.
The series has made multiple stylistic changes throughout its production, specifically in the transition between its first and second seasons. Such changes include character redesigns, an increase in the use of VFX, higher quality animation, and a shift towards a much darker, more satirical comedic style.
Bocquelet would state on September 6, 2016 that the sixth season would be his last time working on the show and that production could continue without him. 2 years later, on October 7, 2018, he retweeted a blog post from RegularCapital stating that the sixth season will be the last, though the author would make a follow-up post saying that more seasons are possible according to Turner Northern Europe. A six-episode miniseries titled Darwin's Yearbook was announced for the series in November.
Production
When Cartoon Network Studios Europe was created in 2007, Ben Bocquelet was hired to help people pitch their projects to the network. However, when the studio decided to have its employees all pitch their own ideas, he decided to take some rejected characters he had created for commercials and put them together in one series set in a school. Daniel Lennard, vice president of Original Series and Development at Turner Broadcasting System Europe, was impressed by the premise and approved production of the series. The first series to be produced by Cartoon Network Studios Europe, thirty-six episodes were produced for its first season in collaboration with Studio SOI, Dublin-based Boulder Media Limited, and Dandelion Studios.Premise
The series revolves around the life of a 12-year-old cat named Gumball Watterson and his frequent shenanigans in the fictional American city of Elmore, accompanied by his adopted goldfish brother and best friend Darwin. Gumball's other family members—his intellectual sister Anais and stay-at-home father Richard, both rabbits, and workaholic mother Nicole, a cat – often find themselves involved in Gumball's exploits. Gumball attends school with his siblings at Elmore Junior High, where throughout the series he interacts with his various middle school classmates, most prominently his love interest Penny Fitzgerald.One prominent feature of the series since its third season is "The Void", a dimension inside of Elmore where all the universe's mistakes reside. This includes references to aspects of reality as well as in-series elements. Rob is a background character from the first two seasons who became trapped in The Void after becoming "irrelevant". He later escapes in Season 3, after which he becomes Gumball's nemesis and main antagonist. He is shown to be aware of his fictional existence in the Season 4 episode "The Disaster", and his hatred towards Gumball is a result of his role as the protagonist.
Episodes
Crossovers
On September 17, 2015, series creator Ben Bocquelet announced on his Twitter page that a crossover episode with an unknown show would air as part of the fifth season. This turned out to be the episode, "The Copycats", which features the characters interacting with ones similar to those from Miracle Star, a Chinese clone of the show."The Boredom" featured characters from Clarence, Regular Show, and Uncle Grandpa making cameo appearances.
Gumball had a cameo appearance on the Uncle Grandpa episode "Pizza Eve", along with other Cartoon Network characters from currently running and ended cartoons.
Gumball also had a cameo appearance on the OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes episode and Cartoon Network special "Crossover Nexus", along with other Cartoon Network characters from currently running and ended cartoons.
''Waiting For Gumball''
Waiting For Gumball is a series of thirteen shorts based on The Amazing World of Gumball, or more specifically, "The Puppets".''Darwin's Yearbook''
A six-episode special called Darwin's Yearbook aired on Cartoon Network from December 14 to December 28, 2019. The miniseries features Darwin attempting to complete Elmore Junior High's yearbook by examining who he thinks should fill up the best spot.Broadcast
The first two seasons were released on Cartoon Network channels in over 126 countries, with the third season rolling out through 2014.The series debuted on Cartoon Network UK on May 2, 2011, one day before the US premiere.
On December 1, 2014, The Amazing World of Gumball began airing on Boomerang in the United States, alongside its broadcasts on Cartoon Network, but as of April 3, 2017, reruns have been removed.
Reception
Critical reception
The Amazing World of Gumball has received mostly positive reviews from critics. In a favorable review, Brian Lowry of Variety described the series as "mostly a really clever spin on domestic chaos" and "first-rate silliness." Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly was also positive, writing: "There are few examples of mainstream children's programming as wildly imaginative, as visually and narratively daring, as The Amazing World of Gumball." Reviews from the Daily Mail praised The Amazing World of Gumball as a "gloriously surreal chunk of fast and funny telly" and "the kind of clever children's comedy that parents can also enjoy."The A.V. Clubs Noel Murray graded the DVD release of the series' first 12 episodes a B+, writing that "what sets apart from the many other super-silly, semi-anarchic cartoons on cable these days is that it features such a well-developed world, where even with the eclectic character designs, there are recognisable traits and tendencies." Wired writer Z noted that the series "manages to have genuine heart even as the plots themselves transition from well-worn TV tropes to all out madness."
Ratings
On May 3, 2011, the series premiere of The Amazing World of Gumball was watched by 2.120 million viewers in the United States."The Goons" is currently the highest viewed episode of the series, with 2.72 million viewers. "The Potion" is the lowest viewed episode with only 0.42 million viewers, approximately 15% of its series high.
Awards and nominations
Possible film(s)
In an interview with The Times newspaper, series creator Ben Bocquelet mentioned plans for a feature film based on the series. However, after Bocquelet announced his departure from the show following the sixth season, he stated that he doubted a film would be made.In March 2018, Bocquelet's interest in a Gumball movie was seemingly revitalized as he stated that he "might have a good idea" for a movie. He later added that he had two ideas, one for a potential theatrical film and one for a potential direct-to-video film.
On September 29, 2018, during a Q&A with the series director Mic Graves at Cartoon Network UK's 25th anniversary screening, he confirmed that a script for The Amazing World of Gumball movie is in the works. He also said that he hopes for the movie to happen. Bocquelet retweeted a tweet which states that the script for a film based on The Amazing World of Gumball is being written, however it is currently unknown if the film will actually be made. After the season six finale "The Inquisition", met with mixed-to-negative reviews from fans of the series, was released on the Cartoon Network App on 31 May, Bocquelet stated it was not his concept to conclude the season on a cliffhanger, adding that it would be resolved if a film based on the series were produced.