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The Fairly OddParents

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The Fairly OddParents is a popular American animated television series created by Butch Hartman and first aired on March 30, 2001. Its only remaining episode, the series finale, was scheduled to air on June 1, 2006: The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour 3: The Jerkinators. It was produced by Frederator Studios, whose show Oh Yeah! Cartoons, showed the pilot episodes alongside many other first-run and one-time cartoons. It is shown in the United States on the children's television station Nickelodeon, and is also shown internationally. It is currently one of the most popular shows on Nickelodeon, second only to SpongeBob SquarePants with a File:TV-Y.gif or File:TV-Y7.gif rating. The television series is distributed outside the United States by the Canadian animation company Nelvana.

The Fairly OddParents
File:Tv hi fairlyoddparents 01.jpg
Timmy and his fairy godparents
Created byButch Hartman
StarringTara Strong
Daran Norris
Susan Blakeslee
Grey DeLisle
Carlos Alazraqui
Gary Leroi Gray
Jason Marsden
Jim Ward
Rob Paulsen
Jay Leno
Faith Abrahams
Jane Carr
Ben Stein
Country of originUSA
No. of episodes80
Production
Running time30 minutes with commercials (typically, two 15-minute segments with some double-length 22-minute segments, and occasionally shorter segments)
Original release
NetworkNickelodeon
ReleaseMarch 30, 2001 –
present (last episode to air on June 1, 2006)

Overview

General overview

The show is set in the fictional town of Dimmsdale, which is generally shown to be in northern California. It follows the day-to-day life of 10-year-old Timmy Turner. An only child, Timmy is often preyed upon by such adversaries as his evil babysitter, Vicky, his maniacal fairy-obsessed teacher, Mr. Crocker, and various magical creatures: Mama Cosma, Jorgen Von Strangle, and The Pixies.

Just as his situation was particularly grim, he was granted a pair of fairy godparents, named Cosmo and Wanda, who had the power to grant his wishes and were charged with making Timmy happy. Unfortunately, Cosmo is somewhat slow and dumb, and the two often come up with strange dangerous ideas; although well meaning, their wishes often go awry. Wanda, Cosmo's more sensible (and somewhat sarcastic) wife, must devote her time to ensuring both Timmy's and Cosmo's safety. These Fairly OddParents (a pun on "fairy godparents"), mindful of their secretive existence, disguise themselves as various animals and objects in public, always with the same peculiar colors to identify the two: Cosmo is always a light green, and Wanda is always a light pink. The only exception is when they become goldfish; only their eyes stay the same. Other than Timmy, no-one seems to notice the talking birds, and pillows with faces and gold crowns.

Most episodes end with a deus ex machina, because Timmy has fairy godparents that grant wishes for him. Many episode plots are resolved by Timmy yelling, "I wish everything was back to normal!" or something very similar. While never directly stated, the moral of the story is often that you can't solve all your problems with quick fixes or easy answers, and that doing the job right the first time is best, even if it sometimes means hard work.

Each episode of the show consists of two cartoons (each approximately 11 minutes long), with an exception of the last three episodes of the first season, which had three Oh Yeah! Cartoons shorts in each episode.

The show has a very grown-up and sarcastic humor. This helped give it popularity among children, teens, college students, and adults.

The Fairly OddParents first aired as a short film on Oh Yeah! Cartoons in 1998, which aired some ten episodes of the original show. Oh Yeah! Cartoons was cancelled in 2001, but Nickelodeon offered to pick up the franchise. This offer was accepted by creator Butch Hartman. The show began airing its own full-length episodes as its own series in 2001, alongside "Invader Zim".

The universe of The Fairly OddParents

The Fairly OddParents live in Timmy's fishbowl inside a small castle; they are his pet fish when his parents or friends are around. In one episode, Timmy goes inside their fishbowl castle and finds out that they live in a huge, mansion-like castle.

Cosmo and Wanda are actually from Fairy World. Fairy World is very different from the real world. In the episode where Cosmo and Wanda go to their high school reunion, Timmy tries to enter the door, but since he discovers that the fairies poof to their rooms, there is no door. Many of the fairies there stated: "Doors are for chumps!" during the episode. Fairy World seems the same as the real world, but different (as in simpler), and there are not as many problems that they have to worry about, compared to Timmy's problems. The landscape is made up mostly of pink and white fluffy clouds; with floating roads connecting houses and buildings (the streets are named after famous magicians and performers) the landscape also changes from episode to episode. The same bridge leads to Fairy Academy in some episodes, and in another it leads to a fairy spa. The majority of episodes have it leading to the main city of Fairy World. They also drew Timmy and Cosmo slightly differently in season 4.

Usual plot

Almost every episode of the Fairly OddParents follows the same basic formula, with little or no variation:

  • Something keeps annoying Timmy or Cosmo or Wanda or any other member of the cast.
  • Timmy wishes for something.
  • Wanda thinks it might be a bad wish, but she and Cosmo reluctantly grant it anyways.
  • Timmy thinks it is a great wish.
  • Cosmo does something completely random and stupid, or a running gag occurs.
  • The wish begins to get bad.
  • Wanda warns Timmy that he should probably unwish the wish.
  • Crocker ususally discovers the plot about Fairy Godparents, and flips out while saying it.
  • Timmy doesn't want to unwish it, and still thinks the wish is cool.
  • Cosmo repeats the random and stupid thing from earlier, or the running gag is repeated.
  • The wish gets worse, and Timmy decides to unwish it.
  • Right before Cosmo and Wanda can unwish it, they usually discover it's against Da Rules; or, they are unable to unwish it for another reason (Timmy and his Godparents somehow get separated, etc.)
  • Cosmo repeats the random and stupid thing from earlier, or the running gag is repeated.
  • A loophole or something similar occurs, making it able to be fixed.
  • Timmy wishes everything back to normal, and it works.
  • Cosmo repeats the random and stupid thing for the last time, or the running gag is seen for the final time before the episode ends.

Production

The following have had long-standing or particularly significant influences on the show.

File:Fairly OddParents on Oh Yeah!.gif
A poster for The Fairly OddParents segment on Nickelodeon's Oh Yeah! Cartoons.

Popularity

Although The Fairly OddParents was not very popular in its first year, it began to catch on later, attracting both a child and adult fan base. SpongeBob SquarePants was the only thing keeping The Fairly OddParents from becoming Nickelodeon's most highly rated show at this point.

Early 2003 was the peak of popularity for Fairly OddParents. Its ratings were extremely high, and it very briefly passed SpongeBob SquarePants. The show saw its very quick rise to the top and fall in summer of 2003 when the show's first TV movie, Abra-Catastrophe! was aired. The film was a success and many products were merchandised.

After Abra-Catastrophe, creator Butch Hartman created a new project for Nickelodeon called Danny Phantom. Though split between two shows, Hartman continues to play a major role in both and does as much "hands on" work - on each - as he can.

However, when the show aired its new third season later that year, it was met with a wave of criticism. With new voices for principal characters such as Chester and A.J., many felt that the show had been dumbed-down from its original double entendre style of comedy. Jokes became more "over the top" and repetitive (such as when Timmy was watching a television show with commentary similar to Girls Gone Wild) as well as featuring much more immature potty humor, (which the show previously used on minimum levels). It began to take an exaggerated bout on derogatory views against women (mainly displayed by Cosmo against Wanda) and more "gross-out" scenes. Allegedly many older viewers tuned out, and slowly the show's ratings plummeted for a while. Then SpongeBob SquarePants bounced back in as Nick's highest rated show, although it is assumed that it has been in a ratings slump during the past few years. By 2005, though, The Fairly OddParents remained at its seemingly permanent position as Nickelodeon's second most highly rated show, despite a slight decline in popularity. Some fans blame Danny Phantom for its decline due to Butch concentrating on that show recently.

A second Fairly OddParents TV movie was made, titled Channel Chasers. Since then, there has been other specials, like The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker, The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour (with sequels), Crash Nebula, and School's Out: The Musical.

Nickelodeon ceased the production of the show late in 2005, with the final episode scheduled to be The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour 3: The Jerkinators. Butch Hartman made the official announcement on his forum on January 24, 2006.

Characters

Main article: The Fairly OddParents character guide

Episodes

For a list of episodes, see List of The Fairly OddParents episodes.

Direct-to-TV films

Trivia

  • In the episode "Escape from Unwish Island" the names of various stars and celebrities (which includes Carrot Top, Vanilla Ice, both Villi & Manilli, as well as others) can be seen on their "unwish cabinets". It can be assumed that they once had godparents as well.
  • According to a fan poll, Season 5 is the least liked season (they say it jumped the shark with plot lines that just weren't FOP material). Fans were hoping Season 6 would be better and it was sort of better.
  • In the second pilot episode, Cosmo and Wanda jump into a TV and star in a fictional series called "I Love Wanda." This is an obvious spoof of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's show "I Love Lucy."
  • In "Channel Chasers", Timmy possibly marries Tootie or Trixie. His children are Tommy and Tammy. Tammy has the same glasses as present-day Tootie, but has Trixie's hairstyle and headband, and Tommy has black hair, like present-day Tootie/Trixie.
  • Jorgen Von Strangle, a fairy with a German-style name, has his name changed to Jean-Claude van Ramme (spoof of Jean Claude Van Damme) in the version aired in Germany.
  • All of Cosmo's unfortunate pets in the episode "Sleep Over and Over" seem to be named after Jimmy Neutron characters: Carl the Ant; Cindy the Bee; and Jimmy the Cat, which might have some relation to the ant, bee and cat (A, B, C).
  • Cat-Man is an old villain in the old Batman comic series, who used cat themed objects to defy both Batman and Catwoman. In the series, he is voiced by Adam West, who played Batman in the 60's TV show.
  • In the German language version, fairy was translated as elfen, which means elf in German.
  • Jorgen Von Strangle doesn't appear to have wings, however, in one early episode, he is shown to have a jet pack instead.
  • After it aired on Super RTL in Germany, this Nicktoon airs on Disney Channel, although the German version of Nickelodeon was launched on September 12, 2005.
  • In Italy, it airs on Jetix, although Nickelodeon is available.
  • The Wall 2 Wall Mart is a parody of the retail chain Wal-Mart.
  • There is a coincidental parallel between Fairly OddParents and the Disney/Square Enix video game Kingdom Hearts II: Final Fantasy X's Rikku (who was voiced by Tara Strong) is a fairy of sorts in said game, clashing with the Fairly OddParents' theme (which is, of course, fairies) and the fact that both Rikku and Timmy share the same voice actress.
  • Smoof is used as a curse word in this series.
    • Smoof may also be the Fairly OddParent's equivalent of Hemp, which can be used to make many varieties of products. This ties in with Mr. Birkenbake having a Hippie lifestyle.
  • In Vicky Loses Her Icky, the President of the United States has a button he can press to destroy Pluto in case he turns evil. This is a parody of the suitcase from the The Kid Who Ran for President series, which can launch a nuclear bomb in the wrong hands.
  • In The Crimson Chin Meets Mighty Mom and Dyno Dad, Timmy cleans his room twice; 1) before Mighty Mom and Dyno Dad fight the villains from the comic book and 2) afterwards.
  • In The Big Superhero Wish,Hawk Gal is a parody of Hawk Girl. For a example,both have wings.
  • The Power Pals are a parody of the Justice League of America, who are a group of the most popular D.C. Comics superheroes. The Power Pals consisted of Super Sam, Wet Willy, Joan Jet, and Dark Mark, which are parodies of some of the members of the Justice League, Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Aquaman, and The Flash. The Power Pals in appear in the episode of the same name.
  • In Escape From Unwish Island, Timmy, Cosmo, & Wanda go to a unwish storage building. When they go in you can see all the other stored wishes and one of them was Walt Disney, the founder of The Walt Disney Company. You can also see a picture of Duran Duran and Vanilla Ice on one of the file cabinets.
  • If every fairy in the universe wants the same child, the matter can only be settled via a Rage in the Cage match, which is a parody of WWE's Hell In A Cell match.
  • People tend to note that Wanda is fat, since there are many jokes about her gaining weight, though this, apparently, is not actually true.
  • Cosmo asks Timmy to wish for world peace in some episodes.
  • The name Wanda is a pun on the word wand, and the name Cosmo is a pun on the word cosmos.
  • In the episode, The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker, where Timmy goes back in time to try and see why Crocker is a mean tempered fairy-obsessed teacher, right before Timmy enters the 1980's, you can see a De Lorean vanishing from in front of the school leaving two fire trails behind. This is an obvious reference to Back to the Future which first came out in 1985.
  • The episode "Hard Copy", where which Timmy makes a live sized "Darth Laser" is an obvious reference to Darth Vader and the rest of the episode is filled with other references to Star Wars, including when Wanda turns her wand into what looks like a lightsaber.
  • There was a movie titled The Fairly OddParents Movie planned for 2006, but was replaced by "The Jerkinators" (the final episode of the series). However acording to IMDB it will be released as a direct-to-video film in 2007.
  • Nickelodeon has announced that the series finale of The Fairly OddParents will be The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour 3: The Jerkinators premiering on June 1, 2006, bringing the total amount of episodes to 80.
  • There were short Macromedia Flash cartoons featuring the Crimson Chin made for Nickelodeon's website in 2001. Some of the segments aired on the first season episodes of The Fairly OddParents that were compiled from the Oh Yeah! Cartoons shorts, were included on The Fairly OddParents: Superhero Spectacle DVD and sometimes are seen on Nicktoons Network (but all versions of the cartoons besides the internet versions are somewhat edited).
  • Zappys from "Blondas Have More Fun", are from the Oh Yeah! Cartoons short, "The Zappys".
  • In Teeth for Two, Timmy's teeth were loose. They were also loose in the Oh Yeah! Cartoons short, "The Zappys".
  • When the theme song ends, Vicky's head changes. However, in "The Switch Glitch", Cosmo's head changed. In one episode, she has no head gag; she disappears instead.
  • In the episode "Tim-Visible", when Timmy becomes invisible, a lot of comments are related to ghosts and haunted things, sort of referring to Danny Phantom. Some of these jokes include: 'Haunted locker room!', 'Haunted chalk board!', 'Ghost frog? The school is haunted!' Timmy is also called a ghost boy, referring to Danny as well. This would've been more than a coincidence if the episode had not been made a couple years before the Danny Phantom series premiered.
  • Characters in this show, appear to be flat (as explained in Jimmy Timmy Power Hour when a 2D Jimmy fell down like a piece of cardboard, silmar to classic cartoons). Also, the characters have outlines, but have the same pyshics.
  • In "Odd Ball", "The Odd Couple" and "Nega Timmy",a V-Cube can be seen. A V-Cube is a Nintendo GameCube and X-Box parody.
  • The episode "Shelf Life" has parodies of books, like Dummies books and The Cat in the Hat.
  • In the show, the summer has appeared several times. Each time, the kids are excited about the "one and only summer" and each time they return to school with the same teacher.
  • The episode "The Good Ol' Days" pays homage to classic cartoons, and features Grandpa Pappy, Timmy's paternal grandfather.
  • In the series, Timmy has about two or three birthdays and still having ten years old.
  • The episode "Parent Hoods", has spoofs of Indiana Jones scenes.
  • For several years, Cosmo and Wanda have been mascots for Nickelodeon Studios, appearing in its commercials and program openings, meaning the series is a sponsor of the studios.
  • March was the same month that ChalkZone appeared, another Oh Yeah! Cartoons spin-off.
  • Mike E. Mozzarella's Pizza Funhouse is a parody of Chuck E. Cheese's.
  • In the episode The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour 2: When Nerds Collide, parodies of Toys "R" Us are seen.
  • Dimmsdale Fried Chicken is a parody of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
  • In some episodes, Timmy can be seen playing a Game Boy parody.
  • The Tooth Fairy is obviously modeled after DC comics Wonder Woman.
  • Timmy's hat is pink because the person who was drawing him. Originally, Butch Hartman's blue marker ran out of ink. (In the show, they explained it as Timmy's parents expecting a daughter and bought a pink hat for her.)
  • Butch Hartman has confirmed to be a fan of The Simpsons; therefore, it's possible that the Turners' rivalry with next-door neighbors the Dinkleburgs may have been based off of the Simpsons' rivalry with the Flanders.
  • The Crimson Chin is a allusion of the Crimson Avenger, which the Crimson Chin parodies the Crimson Avenger's costume and his name.
  • Danny Phantom originally appeared as its background character in this series.
  • In the episode Father Time, Timmy goes back in time and meets 70's Cosmo and Wanda, and they are the godparents of Bill Gates, but in the episode The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker,Timmy goes back in time and meets 70's Cosmo and Wanda, but they are Crocker's fairy godparents.
  • In the episode Imaginary Gary, when Timmy is trapped in the pile of 5-year-old toys, you will see a box that says Goody Land on it. This is a spoof of a board game called Candy Land.
  • Some people think Jorgen Von Strangle is the same voice of Squidward from SpongeBob SquarePants (Rodger Bumpass).
  • In one episode, Timmy wishes to be CheeseBob SquarePants. This is a parody of SpongeBob SquarePants.
  • Billy Blanks (a star of karate movies and creator of Tae-Bo) appears in "Kung Timmy".
  • A upcoming Nintendo DS game based on this series is planned.
  • The episode Catman Meets The Crimson Chin is actually a parody of what happened when Batman and Superman appear together in comic books.

See also

 
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