Total Drama


Total Drama is a Canadian animated reality comedy television series which is an homage to and parody of common conventions from 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 in Canada on July 8, 2007, and on the American cable television channel Cartoon Network in the U.S. on June 5, 2008. All of the contestants have distinct personalities that serve as main plot points with the characters consisting of the eponymous fictional reality series and the contestants therein. The style of this series is similar to that of Survivor. Total Drama was met with critical acclaim upon release and has developed a cult following.
The Total Drama series is the original series of the greater Total Drama franchise, which consists of five seasons that have aired during a timeframe of eight years: the first season, Total Drama Island, the second season, Total Drama Action, the third season, Total Drama World Tour, the fourth season, ', the first half of the fifth season, Total Drama All-Stars, and its second half, '. The latest installment premiered on July 7, 2014, in the United States and September 4, 2014, in Canada. A spin-off series based on the main series, was released on September 7, 2015. A spin-off series in an alternative universe, titled Total DramaRama, was released on September 1, 2018, on Cartoon Network in the U.S. and on October 7, 2018, on Teletoon in Canada.

Format

The name of each season consists of the title Total Drama with a different word or phrase later added. That changing word or phrase defines the theme for that season. This series is a competition to win a cash prize of C$100,000 in the first season and C$1,000,000 in every other season. This series takes elements of other widely known series such as Survivor, Fear Factor, The Amazing Race, and Escape from Scorpion Island. Like these other series, Total Drama is rated TV-PG because it features mild profanity, censored language, brief censored nudity, and some suggestive dialogue. When more suggestive dialogue is present, the episode is rated TV-PG-D. The first three seasons are rated TV-PG-D while the latter two are rated TV-PG. Unlike many other animated shows, this series has a different logo for every season.

Location

Most seasons in this series takes place in a different location. The first season, Total Drama Island, is set at Camp Wawanakwa, a fictional island located in an unspecified area in Muskoka, Ontario. The second season, Total Drama Action, is set in an abandoned movie studio lot in Toronto, Ontario. In the third season, Total Drama World Tour, the contestants are taken all around the world in the "Total Drama Jumbo Jet", which seems to be structurally unstable. Some of the countries that are visited in the third season include Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The fourth season, Total Drama: Revenge of the Island, is set back at Camp Wawanakwa, but this time the island is radioactive. The first part of the fifth season, Total Drama All-Stars, also takes place on the island, due to the success of the first and fourth seasons. The second part, Total Drama: Pahkitew Island however, takes place on another island called Pahkitew Island after the destruction of Camp Wawanakwa.

Production

Total Drama was developed and produced by Fresh TV and was distributed by Cake Entertainment. The series is funded in part by the Canada Media Fund, and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit. The first season was funded by Xenophile Media, Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund. The series, primarily targeted at eight- to sixteen-year-olds, was animated at Elliott Animation and directed by Todd Kauffman and Mark Thornton of Neptoon Studios. The creators, Tom McGillis and Jennifer Pertsch, studied what teenagers liked and disliked about reality television shows in the writing process.
McGillis says they used a "countrywide online research project" to determine this demographic's likes. Fresh TV Inc. partners McGillis, Pertsch, Elliott and Irving produced the series. The budget for the first season was US$8 million. It was animated in Flash, at Elliott Animation's studio in Toronto.
Every cast and crew member on Total Drama had to sign a confidentiality agreement not to disclose who the winner was. All the characters were designed by Kauffman. An early name for the series was Camp TV when the series first started production in 2006. Camp TV Productions is still labeled in the end credits of every episode, along with the season number in Roman numerals.
Series production stopped in 2014 as no new seasons were produced since. Instead, starting in 2015 the studio has focused the franchise more on producing separate spin-off series, with their respective voice actors being reused in the new spin-offs.
On May 3, 2017, it was announced that Total Drama would be making a return. It was later revealed that it would be returning as a new series titled Total DramaRama. The show is a spin-off that has the contestants as kids in daycare.

Episodes

This is a list of all the seasons that have aired with the original Canada air dates shown below along with basic elements for each season. The 100th episode of the whole series aired in Canada on February 27, 2014, with the producers very happy of this milestone. That means that it took Teletoon 6 years and 7 months for them to air the first 100 episodes.

Seasons

There are currently five seasons in the Total Drama series that have aired worldwide which all are listed below. The air dates listed in the table are from the original Canadian airings.

Future plans

Originally, co-creator Tom McGillis had stated that his personal goal was for Total Drama to go up to ten seasons. Alex Ganetakos, the executive story editor and the senior writer for the series, also mentioned that the production team planned to make more seasons in the future. However, in a Reddit Q&A on September 25, 2018, when asked if there would be additional seasons, Tom McGillis responded with "Nope. Sorry to be a dreamkiller, but there's no market for this experience in the wider entertainment marketplace right now", indicating plans changed as time went on.

Broadcast

Total Drama first premiered in Canada on July 8, 2007 on Teletoon, while the United States aired the show one year later on Cartoon Network on June 5, 2008. Since then, Total Drama has become an international franchise and one of the biggest successes for Fresh TV. As of September 2011, the entire series has been shown in over 100 countries around the world, with the first season airing in 188 countries worldwide. The fourth season first aired on Télétoon+ and Canal+ Family in France, while the fifth season finished airing first on K2 in Italy. Australia was also the first country to finish airing the third season.
Total DramaRama was premiered on November 4, 2019 on Canal+ Family and on Télétoon+ in France.

Characters

Total Drama has had a total of 52 characters in the series who were introduced as contestants through five seasons. The first three seasons consist of an original set of cast, with a total of 25 characters, while the fourth season consists of only a new cast with 13 characters. However, the fifth season brings back both casts to compete together and against each other, while also introducing a third set of cast with 14 new characters.
The names of all the contestants who have competed in the first five seasons are: Alejandro, Amy, Anne Maria, B, Beardo, Beth, Blaineley, Brick, Bridgette, Cameron, Cody, Courtney, Dakota, Dave, Dawn, DJ, Duncan, Ella, Eva, Ezekiel, Geoff, Gwen, Harold, Heather, Izzy, Jasmine, Jo, Justin, Katie, Leonard, Leshawna, Lightning, Lindsay, Max, Mike, Noah, Owen, Rodney, Sadie, Sam, Samey, Scarlett, Scott, Sierra, Staci, Shawn, Sky, Sugar, Topher, Trent, Tyler, and Zoey.
By season, 22 characters competed in Season 1, 15 competed in Season 2, 18 competed in Season 3, 13 competed in Season 4, and 14 characters competed in each half of Season 5.

Voice actors

There are various voice actors who have recorded the voices for all the characters in the Total Drama series. Both Christian Potenza and Clé Bennett voice the two main characters in the series, who appear in almost every episode. Christian Potenza plays the role of egotistical and unempathetic host Chris McLean, saying that the best part of the job was that his character could not be voted off the show. Clé Bennett voices Chef Hatchet, who serves as McLean's assistant. Other voice actors include Brian Froud, who voices contestants Harold and Sam and is the only other voice actor who has the main role in every season. Emilie-Claire Barlow plays the contestant Courtney on Total Drama and stated that Courtney was her favorite character that she had ever played.
A list of all the voice actors for the original cast: Rochelle Wilson/Emilie-Claire Barlow as Courtney, Clé Bennett as DJ, Julia Chantrey as Eva, Carla Collins as Blaineley, Katie Crown as Izzy, Novie Edwards as Leshawna, Megan Fahlenbock as Gwen, Kristin Fairlie as Bridgette, Brian Froud as Harold, Sarah Gadon as Beth, Marco Grazzini as Alejandro, Carter Hayden as Noah, Alex House as Alejandro, Lauren Lipson as Sadie, Scott McCord as both Owen and Trent, Stephanie Anne Mills as both Katie and Lindsay, Drew Nelson as Duncan, Annick Obonsawin as Sierra, Peter Oldring as Cody, Ezekiel, and Tyler, Dan Petronijevic as Geoff, Adam Reid as Justin, and Rachel Wilson as Heather.
For the second-generation cast, the voice actors are: Carleigh Beverly as Dakota, Jon Cor as Brick, Cory Doran as Mike, Kevin Duhaney as Cameron, Laurie Elliot as Jo, Brian Froud as Sam, Athena Karkanis as Anne Maria, Barbara Mamabolo as Zoey, Caitlynne Medrek as Dawn, Ashley Peters as Staci, Tyrone Savage as Lightning, and James Wallis as Scott.
For the third-generation cast, the voice actors are: Clé Bennett as Beardo and Leonard, Zachary Bennett as Shawn, Katie Bergin as Jasmine, Daniel DeSanto as Dave, Bruce Dow as Max, Kristi Friday as Scarlett, Christopher Jacot as Topher, Bryn McAuley as Amy and Samey, Sunday Muse as Ella, Sarah Podemski as Sky, Ian Ronningen as Rodney, and Rochelle Wilson as Sugar.
Most voice actors have only voiced one character, while some actors have voiced two characters. Peter Oldring and Clé Bennett are the only two voice actors who have voiced more than two characters, Oldring voicing three and Bennett voicing four. However, if the spin-offs are to be included, then multiple voice actors have voiced multiple characters throughout the franchise. Brian Froud, Rochelle Wilson, and Bennett are the only voice actors to voice contestants from more than one generation. Claire-Barlow revealed that Courtney was originally voiced by an unnamed voice actress, later revealed to be Rochelle Wilson as the first voice of Courtney in the first two episodes of Total Drama Island before the role was later given to her. Alejandro is the only character to have three voice actors; he was voiced by Marco Grazinni in Total Drama World Tour, Keith Oliver while he was in the robot suit and Alex House in Total Drama All-Stars. Josh is the only minor character to have a voice actor of his own, Dwayne Hill, as these roles are usually given to one of the main cast members.

Roles outside series

Total Drama characters are seen in an entire different series called Skatoony where the characters are interviewed to play in quiz trivia games against real people and other Canadian series characters. Geoff, Leonard, Noah, and Owen also appear in as contestants. Beth, Bridgette, Cody, Courtney, Duncan, Gwen, Harold, Izzy, Leshawna, Noah, Owen, Geoff, Katie, Trent, DJ, Ella and Max appear in the prequel spin-off Total DramaRama as young children, along with Chef Hatchet.

Reception

Ratings

As of 2011, the first season has been shown in over 188 countries while the entire franchise has been seen in at least 100. The series has received high ratings, ranking #1 for the under-14 age group base throughout the series airing period on Cartoon Network. The series also has very involved fans who keep talking about the series throughout various online communities, while also inspiring them to create their own fanart and fanfictions. Cake Entertainment, the main distributor of the series, calls the show "phenomenally popular", while the creator of the series said that "For tweens around the world, Total Drama is more than just a parody of a reality show. It's THEIR reality show".

Critical reaction

The first season, Total Drama Island received general acclaim from critics and fans. Users from TV.com gave the show an 8.6 "Great", while users from IMDb gave it a 7.5 out of 10. Common Sense Media gave the show 4 out of 5 stars, calling it a "lever cartoon reality show spoof". This season is known to be well-regarded by fans ever since.
The second season, Total Drama Action, received less acclaim due to being seen as less on par with Total Drama Island; a primary criticism was the selection of contestants from Island who had already made it far in that season, thus neglecting most of the contestants who were eliminated earlier. Action currently holds a 7.9 on Metacritic based on 14 reviews.
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", and was also nominated for several other awards; however, the criticisms included the overuse of the love triangle between Courtney, Duncan, and Gwen, lack of development for characters returning from the first season, and the destruction of the character Ezekiel.
Total Drama: Revenge of the Island received mixed to positive reviews, airing in over 100 countries and holding a 6.7 on Metacritic based on 15 reviews, thus indicating "Generally favorable reviews.", even if not as acclaimed by fans as the first season with the well-regarded original cast.
Total Drama All-Stars has received mixed to negative reviews, with the primary criticisms being the neglecting of original favorites in favor of the Revenge of the Island cast, and many wasted plotlines such as building up a reconciliation between Courtney and Gwen, only to have it be ruined again. All-Stars currently holds a 5.4 rating on Metacritic based on 9 reviews. Total Drama Pahkitew Island, however, received significantly more positive reviews by critics, but sometimes often criticized by fans of the show for the new cast's appearances being more "stereotyped" compared to the original cast.

Awards

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, while Madman Entertainment also released Total Drama Island on DVD in Australia, but this time in two parts. However, almost two years after Total Drama Action was first aired, Madman released their Collection 1 DVD of the second season on November 2, 2011, making Australia the only country that has released the entirety of Total Drama Action for private home viewing. Australia also released Total Drama World Tour on DVD with Collection 1 being released on April 3, 2013, and Collection 2 being released on August 7, 2013. On October 8, 2014, Total Drama: Revenge of the Island was released into one part due to it being a shorter season. The first part of the fifth season, Total Drama All-Stars was released on March 4, 2015, with the second part, Total Drama: Pahkitew Island being released on July 7, 2015.

Streaming

Total Drama episodes were made available on streaming services, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and iTunes. Currently, Netflix is missing Total Drama World Tour and Total Drama: Revenge of the Island while retaining all other seasons, including . Total Drama was made available for purchasing on iTunes until December 5, 2015. It was available on Amazon Prime, with the exception of The Ridonculous Race, until it was eventually removed from the site in 2019.

Online promotion

Teletoon hosted a Total Drama-based website called "Total Drama Online" from 2009 to 2013 where players could play games and earn badges to win prizes. Even though most features from this website are exclusive to only Canadian viewers, all of the games and basic elements were available to the rest of the world. Cartoon Network also had their own Total Drama website from 2009 to 2015 which was very similar to the Canadian one, but was only exclusive to viewers in the United States. Various alternate websites based on the series also exist throughout most of the other countries the show airs in, which are all in their respective languages.

Spin-off series

''The Ridonculous Race''

A new spin-off series called Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race was created by Fresh TV which takes place in the same universe as the current show. The new series is modelled on the format of The Amazing Race where the cast is split into multiple teams of two which race around the world throughout the series. There is a new host this series called Don, who replaced the original host Chris. Even though some of the characters from the main series make appearances, the spin-off series is primarily dominated by a new cast. The spin-off series is a "buddy comedy" and includes 18 pairs of teams. It first premiered on September 7, 2015, on Cartoon Network and later premiered on January 4, 2016, on the Canadian version of Cartoon Network.

''Total DramaRama''

Another spin-off series was announced on December 19, 2017, as Total Drama Daycare. The series was later renamed Total DramaRama. It was released in September 2018 on Cartoon Network in the U.S. and October 2018 on Teletoon in Canada. The new series will have 52 episodes and for the first time in the franchise, the episodes will have a new runtime with a shorter length of eleven minutes. It is set to feature some of the original characters from Total Drama Island as toddlers such as Beth, Bridgette, Cody, Courtney, Duncan, Gwen, Harold, Izzy, Leshawna, Noah and Owen as well as Jude Lizowski from 6teen. Chef Hatchet will also return as a younger adult. The series began production in early 2017, and Christian Potenza is confirmed to still have a role for the prequel.
On February 13, 2019, the series was green lit for a second season.

Related shows

These are other Canadian animated TV series that are also produced by Fresh TV: