Willa's Wild Life
Encyclopedia
Willa's Wild Life is an animated television series that first aired on ABC2
in 2008, then on Qubo
and Nickelodeon Canada in 2009. The show is based on Dan Yaccarino
's book An Octopus Followed Me Home
. It is about a 9 year old girl named Willa (Jordan Todosey
) who has some very unusual pets. She has, so far, acquired a giraffe, two elephants, an alligator, and many more exotic animals. The show airs on Qubo at 12:00 am, 6:00 pm and 12:00 pm on Saturdays and Sundays, 8:30 am on Thursdays at ION Television, and 12:30 pm at NBC
on Saturdays. New episodes for Willa's Wild Life will air on Qubo.
for Outstanding Individual Achievement for his work on Willa's Wild Life.
ABC2
ABC2 is a national public television channel in Australia. Launched on 7 March 2005, it is the responsibility of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's television division, and is available nationally to digital television viewers in Australia...
in 2008, then on Qubo
Qubo
Qubo is a multi-platform children's television specialty channel endeavor operated as a joint venture between ION Media Networks, NBCUniversal, Nelvana, Scholastic Corporation, and Classic Media...
and Nickelodeon Canada in 2009. The show is based on Dan Yaccarino
Dan Yaccarino
Dan Yaccarino is an American author, illustrator and television producer known for his animated television series, children’s books and award-winning imagery....
's book An Octopus Followed Me Home
An Octopus Followed Me Home
An Octopus Followed Me Home is a 1997 children's picture book by American writer and illustrator Dan Yaccarino. The book has been adapted by Yaccarino into an animated TV series called Willa's Wild Life. It is directed by Steve Sullivan.-Plot:...
. It is about a 9 year old girl named Willa (Jordan Todosey
Jordan Todosey
Jordan Todosey is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her roles in Life with Derek and Degrassi.Todosey has had many roles, however the female-to-male transgender character, Adam Torres, in the Degrassi franchise has been her most noted...
) who has some very unusual pets. She has, so far, acquired a giraffe, two elephants, an alligator, and many more exotic animals. The show airs on Qubo at 12:00 am, 6:00 pm and 12:00 pm on Saturdays and Sundays, 8:30 am on Thursdays at ION Television, and 12:30 pm at NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
on Saturdays. New episodes for Willa's Wild Life will air on Qubo.
People
- Willa is the main character of the series. Willa has many exotic animals much to her father's discomfort. She has many wacky adventures and learns lessons along the way. Because of her adventures she often gets into trouble. Willa is kindhearted and caring and never tries to hurt her friends feelings. She is usually seen with a green and red dress, and a green hairband. She also appears in all episodes.
- Dooley is Willa's next door neighbor and best friend. Dooley often gets caught up in Willa's adventures. He helps Willa learn lessons during their adventures. Dooley is usually seen wearing a purple T-shirt, yellow pants, and thick, round, glasses.
- Dad is Willa's father. Dad is not comfortable with the animals around the house, but knowing how Willa cares for them he lets her keep them. He helps Willa learn lessons along the way. He is usually seen with a orange sweater vest, blue sleeves, brown pants, and glasses. He loves and cares for Willa. He apparently has a crush on Ms. Vanderwinkle. His real name is never revealed.
- Sara, Kara, and Lara are snooty, conceited girls who often bully Willa, Dooley, and Evelyn. Sara, Kara, and Lara always mistake Dooley and Willa's names. For instance, they call Willa "Wilma", "Willeena", and "Wendy". And call Dooley "Danny", "Dondi", and "Dickie". Sara has a light skin tone, long blonde hair, and wears anything that is red. Lara has a pale skin tone, long red hair, and wears anything that is purple. Kara has an olive skin tone, long brown hair, and wears anything that is green.
- Evelyn is Willa's friend. Evelyn frequently gets into Willa's adventures. She seems to be grumpy all the time and gets discouraged easily. With Willa and Dooley's help she learns to have fun and be happy. Evelyn is tall, has red hair and is usually seen wearing a long-sleeved turquoise shirt, and blue capris.
- Mr. Tremble is the assistant principal at Willa's school. Mr. Tremble easily gets into Willa's adventures. He is usually seen wearing an orange toupée, a brown jacket, and blue pants. When he is in Willa's adventures he often loses his toupée.
- Ms. Delilah Vanderwinkle is Willa's other next door neighbor. Ms. Vanderwinkle is usually seen with a long-sleeved pink shirt, a flowered dress, and cat-eye glasses. She has an orange cat named Tangerine, and a nephew named Buzzy who Willa babysat in Baby It's You. Ms. Vanderwinkle's first name was revealed in the episode "Willa & Dooley Sitting in a Tree."
- The MailmanMailmanMailman may refer to:*Mail carrier, a person who delivers mail*Mailman , a 2003 novel by American author J. Robert Lennon.*The Mail Man, a 1993 album by American rapper E-40*GNU Mailman, mailing list software...
appears in some episodes and is mostly scared by Willa's alligator, Gus. - Tiffy Tootle is a famous blondBlondBlond or blonde or fair-hair is a hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some sort of yellowish color...
girl with decorative pigtails. Tiffy only appears in Willa’s Wonderful Life and near the end of this episode, she sees her biggest fan Willa and her family make a lot of pizzaPizzaPizza is an oven-baked, flat, disc-shaped bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings.Originating in Italy, from the Neapolitan cuisine, the dish has become popular in many parts of the world. An establishment that makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria"...
s by tossing.
Animals
- Gus is an American AlligatorAmerican AlligatorThe American alligator , sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator, is a reptile endemic only to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two living species of alligator, in the genus Alligator, within the family Alligatoridae...
. He is rude and obnoxious. Whenever he has a chance he tries to eat the Bunnies but is always caught by either Willa or one of the other animals. He sleeps under Willa's bed. - Jenny is a Masai GiraffeMasai GiraffeThe Masai Giraffe or Maasai Giraffe, also known as the Kilimanjaro Giraffe is the largest subspecies of giraffe and the tallest land mammal. It is found in Kenya and Tanzania.-Description:...
. Jenny is the wisest of the animals. She helps Willa during her adventures. She acts as a mother figure to Willa since Willa's mother isn't around. Due to her size Jenny sleeps outside. - Inky, Blinky, and Bob are Chinstrap penguinChinstrap PenguinThe Chinstrap Penguin is a species of penguin which is found in the South Sandwich Islands, Antarctica, the South Orkneys, South Shetland, South Georgia, Bouvet Island and Balleny...
s. Inky, Blinky, and Bob are the dumbest of the animals. Bob does not speak at all. They call Willa "Gladys". They are very good at ice skatingIce skatingIce skating is moving on ice by using ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water, such as lakes and...
. They sleep in the freezer. In each episode they're always in the middle of something. - KoKo is a Red KangarooRed KangarooThe Red Kangaroo is the largest of all kangaroos, the largest mammal native to Australia, and the largest surviving marsupial. It is found across mainland Australia, avoiding only the more fertile areas in the south, the east coast, and the northern rainforests.-Description:This species is a very...
. KoKo is from AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. She has a pink bow on her head and keeps many things in her pouch. For instance, she keeps makeup products, scissorsScissorsScissors are hand-operated cutting instruments. They consist of a pair of metal blades pivoted so that the sharpened edges slide against each other when the handles opposite to the pivot are closed. Scissors are used for cutting various thin materials, such as paper, cardboard, metal foil, thin...
, and a signed photograph of a famous kangaroo named Willard Wallaby. She sleeps in the living room. - Steve and Edie are two harbour seals that used to be in show business before living with Willa. Steve's skin is darker than Edie's. Edie has a flower hair clip on her head. They sleep in the bathtub.
- Wallace is a walrusWalrusThe walrus is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean and sub-Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the Odobenidae family and Odobenus genus. It is subdivided into three subspecies: the Atlantic...
. Wallace is the oldest of all the animals. He likes to tell stories about his adventures in the ArcticArcticThe Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
before moving in with Willa. He sleeps with Steve and Edie in the bathtub. - Samuel is a bactrian camelBactrian camelThe Bactrian camel is a large, even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of central Asia. It is presently restricted in the wild to remote regions of the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts of Mongolia and Xinjiang. A small number of wild Bactrian camels still roam the Mangystau Province of southwest...
. Samuel is the most sophisticated of the animals. He rides Willa to school everyday. He sleeps with KoKo in the living room. - The Bunnies are thousands of rabbitRabbitRabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
s in different colors. The Bunnies are green, orange, blue, pink, and many more bright colors. The Bunnies can't speak but they squeak and giggle all the time. They sleep everywhere in the house. - Burt is a grizzly bearGrizzly BearThe grizzly bear , also known as the silvertip bear, the grizzly, or the North American brown bear, is a subspecies of brown bear that generally lives in the uplands of western North America...
. Before Burt lived with Willa and the other animals he lived in RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. He is usually seen sleeping. Burt sleeps with KoKo and Samuel in the living room. - Tiny and Lou are two Asian elephantAsian ElephantThe Asian or Asiatic elephant is the only living species of the genus Elephas and distributed in Southeast Asia from India in the west to Borneo in the east. Three subspecies are recognized — Elephas maximus maximus from Sri Lanka, the Indian elephant or E. m. indicus from mainland Asia, and E. m....
s. Of all the animals Tiny and Lou are the most immature. Tiny is blue and has a high-pitched voice. Lou is yellow and has a low-pitched voice. It is unknown if Tiny and Lou are brothers. They don't like to give elephant rides unless Willa wants them to. Tiny and Lou sleep in the garage. - Susu, Kuku, and Lulu are Sara, Kara and Lara's pet poodlePoodleThe Poodle is a breed of dog. The poodle breed is found officially in toy, miniature, and standard sizes, with many coat colors. Originally bred as a type of water dog, the poodle is highly intelligent and skillful in many dog sports, including agility, obedience, tracking, and even herding...
s. Susu is red, showing that she is Sara's dog. Kuku is purple, showing that she is Kara's dog. Lulu is green, showing that she is Lara's dog. They act snooty just like Sara, Kara, and Lara. - Sparkle is Evelyn's pet spiderSpiderSpiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
. Sparkle is orangeOrange (colour)The colour orange occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum at a wavelength of about 585–620 nm, and has a hue of 30° in HSV colour space. It is numerically halfway between red and yellow in a gamma-compressed RGB colour space, the expression of which is the RGB colour wheel. The...
and redRedRed is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...
. Sparkle is female. Sparkle only appears in Spider Girl - Tangarine is Ms. Vanderwinkle's pet catCatThe cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
. Tangarine is orangeOrange (colour)The colour orange occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum at a wavelength of about 585–620 nm, and has a hue of 30° in HSV colour space. It is numerically halfway between red and yellow in a gamma-compressed RGB colour space, the expression of which is the RGB colour wheel. The...
. Tangarine only appears in Over the Fence
Awards
In 2010 Art Director Adrian Thatcher received a Daytime Creative Emmy AwardEmmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for Outstanding Individual Achievement for his work on Willa's Wild Life.