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#redirect [[Four valleys (disambiguation)]]
{{infobox television |
| show_name = Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
| image = [[Image:Fosters1.jpg|150px]]
| caption = Foster's Logo
| format = [[Cartoon]]
| runtime = 30 Minutes (including commercials)
| creator = Craig McCracken
| starring = [[Keith Ferguson]]<br>[[Sean Marquette]]<br>[[Candi Milo]]<br>[[Tom Kenny]]<br>[[Phil LaMarr]]<br>[[Grey DeLisle]]<br>[[Tom Kane]]
| country = [[United States|USA]]
| network = [[Cartoon Network]]; [[The WB]]
| first_aired = [[August 13]], [[2004]]
| last_aired = Present
| num_episodes = 39 (includes pilot episode that counted as three episodes.)
|}}
'''''Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends''''' is an [[animation|animated]] [[television program]] created and produced by [[animator]] [[Craig McCracken]], who also created ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]''. It premiered on [[Cartoon Network]] on [[August 13]], [[2004]], as a ninety-minute [[television movie]]. Half-hour episodes (with commercials) began airing the following Friday and continue to do so. It also played two eleven-minute episodes three times (''Seeing Red'' was paired with ''Phone Home'', ''When There's A Wilt, There's A Way'' was paired with ''Everyone Knows It's Bendy'', and ''Sight for Sore Eyes'' was paired with ''Bloo's Brothers''.)
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==Show summary==
[[Image:0813foster-a.jpg|left|350px|thumb|Standing, From Left to Right: Coco, Frankie, Mr. Herriman, Wilt, Eduardo. Seated, From Left to Right: Bloo, Madame Foster, Mac]]
In the world of ''Foster's,'' an [[imaginary friend]] becomes real the instant a kid [[imagination|imagines]] them. Everyone can see and talk to them, but sometimes, they still outgrow their friends. When that happens, the friends don't disappear, which is why Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends was founded. This [[foster home]] (hence the title) was founded by the elderly Madame Foster to provide a home for abandoned imaginary friends; their motto is "Where good ideas are not forgotten." Children who cannot imagine their own imaginary friends can also [[adoption|adopt]] friends from Foster's Home.
The show is produced entirely in-house using computer [[vector graphics]] programs, including [[Macromedia Flash]], [[Adobe Illustrator]] and [[Adobe After Effects]]. This all-digital animation method is relatively inexpensive, and unlike most American [[traditional animation|traditionally animated]] shows, none of the animation is done overseas.
''Foster's Home'' is known to attract even high-schoolers for its quirky humor and odd plots. Hidden throughout the show are jokes, [[pun]]s and references aimed at older children and [[young adults]] that they would understand, while the sarcastic, wise-cracking Bloo is an atypical character among standard children's fare.
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==Main Characters==
* '''The Best Friends:''' Blooregard Q. Kazoo (Bloo for short) and Mac.
* '''Humans:''' Madame Foster; Frances "Frankie" Foster; Terrance.
* '''Imaginary Friends:''' Coco; Eduardo; Wilt; Mr. Herriman; Her Royal Duchess Diamond Persnickity, The First, Last and Only (Duchess for short).
For their biographies, see [[List of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends characters]].
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==Episode List==
===Season One===
Season One was comprised of ten episodes plus the movie, equal to three episodes.
'''MOVIE:''' ''House of Bloos''. (Pun on the [[House of Blues]].)
# ''Store Wars''. (Pun on the ''[[Star Wars]]'' movie series.)
# ''The Trouble With Scribbles''.( Pun on the ''[[Star Trek]]'' episode entitled "[[The Trouble with Tribbles]]".)
# ''Busted''.
# ''Dinner is Swerved''. (Pun on "Dinner is Served")
# ''World Wide Wabbit''. (Pun on [[World Wide Web]])
# ''Berry Scary''.
# ''a. Seeing Red./b. Phone Home''. (b. Title from a line by the titular character of [[Steven Speilberg]]'s [[1982]] movie ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial]]''.)
# ''Who Let the Dogs In?''. (Reference to the song entitled [[Who Let The Dogs Out?]] by [[Baha Men]].)
# ''Adoptcalypse Now''. (Pun on [[Francis Ford Coppola]]'s [[1979]] movie ''[[Apocalypse Now]]''.)
# ''Bloooooo!''.
===Season Two===
# ''Partying is Such Sweet Soiree''. (Pun on the line from [[William Shakespeare]]'s [[Romeo and Juliet]] "Parting is such sweet sorrow.")
# ''The Big Leblooski''. (Pun on the title of the film ''[[The Big Lebowski]]''.)
# ''a. Where There's A Wilt, There's A Way./b. Everyone Knows It's Bendy''. (a. Refers to the phrase "When there's a will, there's a way"; b. Reference to a line from [[The Association]]'s Number One hit "Windy", citing "Everyone knows it's Windy".)
# ''a. Sight for Sore Eyes./b. Bloo's Brothers''. (b. Play on words of the [[Dan Aykroyd]]-[[John Belushi]] [[Saturday Night Live]] characters [[The Blues Brothers]].)
# ''Cookie Dough''.
# ''Frankie, My Dear''. (Pun on the line from the [[1939]] adapation of ''[[Gone With The Wind]]'' as [[Clark Gable]] said "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.")
# ''Mac Daddy''. (Refers to the rap duo [[Kris Kross]] which featured Chris Kelly, a/k/a "The Mac Daddy.")
# ''Squeakerboxxxx''. (Pun on part of [[OutKast]] double album ''[[Speakerboxxx/The Love Below]]''.)
# ''Beat With A Schtick''. (Puns the [[cliché]] "Beat with a stick".)
# ''The Sweet Stench of Success''. (Plays off the [[1957]] movie ''[[Sweet Smell of Success]]''.)
# ''Bye Bye Nerdy''. (Title spoofs the musical ''[[Bye Bye Birdie]]''.)
# ''Bloo Done It''. (Plays off the phrase "Whodunit?" for mysteries.)
# ''My So-Called Wife''. (Pun on the [[Claire Danes]] TV series ''[[My So-Called Life]]''.)
===Season Three===
# ''Eddie Monster''. (Pun on the character Eddie Munster of ''[[The Munsters]]''.)
# ''You Camp Keep A Good Mac Down''. (scheduled to premiere [[September 9]], [[2005]]. The title is a pun on the phrase "You can't keep a good man down.")
?. ''Hiccy Burp''.
Rest of the episodes TBA.
For a complete synopsis of these episodes, see [[List of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends episodes]].
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==Trivia==
*''The Big Leblooski'' isn't the only reference from "The Big Lebowski" used during the series. In the premiere movie, Bloo spoofs The Dude's meeting with vandals in his house by saying "Right, right or Blooey, Bloo the Blue Dude, El Blooderino, or hey, how about just plain Bloo?" after Terrence calls him ''bloofus'' in the first two minutes.
*Both Mr. Herriman and Townsville's Mayor in ''The Powerpuff Girls'' have these similarities: they both wear black top hats and waistcoats, monocles over their left eye, and have thinning white hair just above their temples.
*Frankie is loosely based on series supervising producer (and real-life fiancée of series creator Craig McCracken) [[Lauren Faust]]. She always wears a stylized Powerpuff Girls t-shirt, and bears a resemblance to [[Vicky the Babysitter]] from ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'', right down to the voice actress who provides both their characters — [[Grey DeLisle]]. However, Frankie and Vicky are polar opposites.
*'''[[Mojo Jojo]]''' (The Powerpuff Girls' arch-nemesis) is also seen in the Foster's TV movie during the part when Wilt is showing all the friends in Foster's. Mojo is considered an '''un'''imaginary friend, as in a friend "copied" from TV shows.
* In ''Cookie Dough'', not only does Bloo pay [[homage]] to Lady Tremaine and her daughters, Anastasia and Drizella, in Walt Disney's ''[[Cinderella (1950 movie)|Cinderella]]'', he also — albeit with fierce anger — shouts [[Donald Trump]]'s [[catch phrase]] from ''[[The Apprentice]]'', "You're fired!" (listen when he says "YOU'RE ALL FIRED! F-I-R-D! FIRED!"). He also sports Trump's cocky, hateful attitude as well.
*The character Wilt is obviously a reference to [[Wilt Chamberlain]], the legendary basketball player.
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==Awards==
Blooregard Q. Kazoo was the winner in the Best Character category and the series was also named the winner of the Best Cartoon Series for All Audiences by being honored with two [[Pulcinella]] Awards at the 2005 Cartoons on the Bay Festival in Positano, Italy. The show was also nominated for four [[Annie Awards]] in [[2004]]. "House of Bloo's" won two [[Emmy Awards]] for art direction (Mike Moon) and character design (Craig McCracken) as well as "World Wide Wabbit" winning an Emmy for best storyboard (Ed Baker). The show's theme song — described by McCracken as "psychodelic ragtime" and written by James L. Venable — is nominated for Best TV Show Theme in [[2005]].
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==Titles in other languages==
The show is now seen on Cartoon Network channels in Europe, Asia and Latin America. The titles are as follows in their native languages:
<!--This series is set to air in late octover on Japan.(Source: http://blog.drecom.jp/baobab/archive/121) Japanese title, character names to be anounced-->
*'''Chinese'''
**'''Taiwan''': 親親麻吉 (qìn qìn má jí)
* '''French''': ''Foster, la maison des amis imaginaires''.
* '''Italian''': ''Gli amici immaginari di Casa Foster''.
* '''Norwegian''' and '''Danish''': ''Fosters hjem for fantasivenner''.
* '''Polish''': ''Dom dla zmyślonych przyjaciół pani Foster''.
* '''Portuguese'''
** '''Brazil''': ''A Mansão Foster para Amigos Imaginários''.
* '''Spanish'''
** '''Spain''': ''Foster, La Casa de los Amigos Imaginarios''.
** '''Latin America''': ''Mansión Foster para Amigos Imaginarios''.
* '''Swedish''': ''Fosters hem för påhittade vänner''.
Some of the characters have slightly different names to fit their particular language. See [[List of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends characters]].
==External links==
*[http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/fosters/ ''Cartoon Network | Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends''] - Cartoon Network's official site.
*[http://fridays.toonzone.net/fosters/index.html The Very Unofficial Guide to ''Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends''] - a fan site with an interview with McCracken and lots of show information.
*[http://www.tv.com/fosters-home-for-imaginary-friends/show/28101/summary.html '''tv.com''''s guide to ''Foster's''] - From tv.com.
[[Category:Hanna-Barbera and Cartoon Network Studios series and characters]]
[[Category:Shows on Cartoon Cartoons]]
[[Category:Anthropomorphic television programs]]
[[Category:2000s TV shows in the United States]]
[[pl:Dom dla zmyślonych przyjaciół pani Foster]]
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