Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends

Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends
Genre	Children's television series
Created by	David Kirk
Developed by	Nadine van der Velde
Directed by	Mike Fallows
Voices of	Kristin Davis Scott Beaudin Rebecca Brenner Mitchell Eisner Julie Lemieux Robert Smith Tony Jay
Theme music composer	Jeff Danna
Opening theme	"Be Good to Bugs"
Ending theme	"Be Good to Bugs" (instrumental)
Composers	Jeff Danna Norm Beaver
Country of origin	Canada United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of seasons	3[1][2]
No. of episodes	44 (85 segments) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Michael Hirsh Scott Dyer Nicholas Callaway Doug Murphy David Kirk Nadine van der Velde Andy Russell (S2)
Producer	Pamela Lehn
Running time	24 minutes (12 minutes per episode)
Production companies	Callaway Arts & Entertainment AbsoluteDigital Pictures Nelvana
Release
Original network	Treehouse TV (Canada) Five (UK)
Audio format	Dolby Digital
Original release	September 7, 2004 (2004-09-07) – October 26, 2008 (2008-10-26)
Chronology
Preceded by	Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids
External links
Website

Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends, sometimes shortened to Sunny Patch, is a children's television series produced by Nelvana, AbsoluteDigital Pictures, and Callaway Arts & Entertainment.^[3][4] based on the children's books by David Kirk. In Canada, it aired on Treehouse TV. A total of three seasons of 44 episodes were produced.^[5]

Premise[]

The series is set in "Sunny Patch" (a miniature town made of common forest items), populated by anthropomorphic bugs, and primarily centers around the Spider family. The episodes follow the children's adventures playing in Sunny Patch and learning life lessons, such as being kind to others, being imaginative, having responsibility, and being curious about the world around them.

Episodes[]

Characters[]

The main characters.

Main[]

• Miss Spider (voiced by Kristin Davis) – Like three of her children, Miss Spider is an adoptee, adopted by Betty Beetle when she could not find her biological mother. Miss Spider tries to be a kind and caring mom and give equal time to all of her many children. She strongly believes that "We have to be good to bugs; all bugs."
• Squirt (voiced by Scott Beaudin) – A curious and adventurous green spider, Squirt is considered to be the leader of the children and as such, more stories center around him than any other. He enjoys surfing the air on his webs, dreams of flying like Shimmer or Dragon, and is often ready to take the lead in an adventure. Because of his impulsive and curious personality, he often needs the advice of his parents to help him with situations.
• Shimmer (voiced by Rebecca Brenner) – A pink jewel beetle with an interest in sports and games, Shimmer is different from the rest of the family as she has abilities the others do not (such as heat sensors). She is one of Miss Spider and Holley's adoptive children.
• Dragon (voiced by Mitchell Eisner) – A purple dragonfly who is one of Miss Spider and Holley's adoptive children. He is the eldest of the Spider children and often antagonistic towards others, especially Squirt. In several episodes, Dragon serves as an example of peer pressure. For example, in "Cry Buggie," Dragon pokes fun at Squirt when he explains his feelings.
• Bounce (voiced by Julie Lemieux) – A blue bedbug who is one of Miss Spider and Holley's adoptive children. He is a two-legged, high-energy bug and the only bug character in the series to have teeth. He and Dragon have been "best bug buddies" ever since they met because of their similar experiences regarding their original families.

Supporting[]

• Holley (voiced by Robert Smith) – Miss Spider's husband. Holley is a musician who loves to play the guitar. He has a special thinking stone where he makes decisions.
• Spinner (voiced by Austin Di Iulio in seasons 1-2 and Cameron Ansell in season 3) – A yellow spider sporting very large eyeglasses, he looks almost exactly like his father, Holley. He is a smart and wise bug often looked to for advice. While he is not great at physical activities, he has a wonderful talent for the "bugpipes".
• Pansy (voiced by Aaryn Doyle) and Snowdrop (voiced by Alexandra Lai) - Orange spiders who are identical twins. Their only distinguishing features are different colored bows on their head; Pansy wears a pink bow, while Snowdrop wears a green bow. Pansy sings well, but not as naturally as Snowdrop.
• Wiggle (voiced by Marc McMulkin) – A blue spider who tends to be the worrier of the group, and is quite emotional.
• Spiderus Reeves^[6] (voiced by Tony Jay) – A whiny, conniving, and cowardly spider. He lives with his mate Spindella in a crack at the bottom of the Hollow Tree.
• Ned (voiced by Jonathon Wilson) and Ted (voiced by Philip Williams) – A pair of red ant brothers. Ned speaks with an Australian accent and has a tuft of hair between his antenna and Ted speaks with a New York accent. The both of them are scheming and deceptive and have only two main interests: food and getting more of it. A common running gag is that when Ted is mistaken for Ned or vice versa, they would say "I'm Ted. He's Ned." or vice versa.
• Stinky (voiced by Scott McCord) – A green stinkbug who takes up detective work in his free time. He speaks with a New York accent and he is also talented at playing the xylophone.
• Felix (voiced by Richard Binsley) – A frog who was introduced in the three-part special "A Froggy Day in Sunny Patch." Felix longed to be a bug himself and refuses to eat bugs, as he does not find them tasty. Instead, he eats only berries.

Recurring[]

• Betty Beetle (voiced by Patricia Gage) - Miss Spider's adoptive mother, the kids' maternal grandmother, and Holley's mother-in-law. It's revealed that when Miss Spider couldn't find her real mom, Betty decided to adopt her.
• Uncle Asparagus "Gus" (voiced by Peter Oldring) - A red-and-green beetle who is Miss Spider's adoptive brother, Betty's son, Holley's brother-in-law, and the kids' maternal uncle. He loves to stargaze with his nephews and nieces.
• Shelley (voiced by Cole Caplan) - A snail who is friends with the Spider family. He is also part of the Sunny Patch Bug Scouts.
• Spindella - Spiderus's mate who he met in the Snakey Woods near the farm.
• Mandrake (voiced by Samson Weiss-Willis) - Spiderus and Spindella's son.
• Bella (voiced by Emma Pustil) and Ivy (voiced by Nissae Isen) - Spiderus and Spindella's twin daughters.
• Grub (voiced by Rob Tinkler) - A white grub that has told Squirt about the Snakey Woods.
• Whiffy (voiced by Judy Marshak) - A light green stinkbug who is Stinky's sister.
• Grace (voiced by Hanna Endicott-Douglas) - An orphaned ladybug who was adopted by Stinky and Spiffy.
• Lily (voiced by Stephanie Morgenstern) - A grown-up ladybug.
• Snack - A juvenile ladybug.
• Eunice Earwig (voiced by Cara Pifko) - One of the Spider family's neighbors and the mother of Eddie and Little Sis.
  • Eddy Earwig (voiced by Ezra Perlman) - Eunice Earwig's son and eldest child. He is good friends with Squirt.
  • Little Sis - Eunice's youngest child and Eddie's younger sister.
• Mr. Mantis (voiced by Wayne Robson) - The teacher of the kids' class.
• Beetrice (voiced by Catherine Gallant) - A queen bee in a hive part of the hollow tree.

UK Cast[]

• Maria Darling as Miss Spider, Dragon, Snowdrop, Pansy, Shimmer, Betty, & Eunice
• Andy Turvy as Spiderus
• Joanna Ruiz as Squirt, & Bounce
• Lynn Cleckner as Spinner, Wiggle, Spindella
• David Holt as Holley, Gus, Stinky, & other voices
• Tom Eastwood as Mr. Mantis

Production and broadcast[]

The series was first announced on December 17, 2003, as part of a Callaway Arts & Entertainment press release.^[3] On March 19 of the same year, it was reported that the show was slated to premiere in January 2004 and that Ontario-based studio Nelvana was animating it.^[7] The series premiered in September 7, 2004 on Teletoon in Canada and on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block in the United States.

On June 20, 2005, a second season with 25 episodes was announced.^[8] The second season premiered on March 13, 2006, with the episode "Captain Sunny Patch."^[9] A third season followed and Teletoon aired the show's last episode in June 2007. The series' final episodes did not air in the United States until 2008 when several episodes which had yet to be broadcast in the country were aired on Noggin.^[10] The show aired reruns on Nick Jr. from September 28, 2009 until December 12, 2014. Qubo aired reruns of the show from October 1, 2018 to February 26, 2021. In 2020, the show also began to re-run on ZooMoo internationally.

In Germany, it airs on Fix & Foxi.

References[]

External links[]

• Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends at IMDb