The Why Why Family

The Why Why Family (French: Les Kikekoi and also known as Saban's The Why Why Family) is a French animated children's television series, which originally aired in 1996, produced by Saban International Paris and Saban Entertainment.^[1] The show was broadcast internationally on Fox Kids. Character designs and comedy elements emulate vintage cartoons.

This marked Saban's first foray into educational television to meet the guidelines of the Federal Communications Commission.^[2]

Synopsis[]

Start to the intro: Victor (off-screen) summarizes what his family members will teach him in the episode.

The episodes are divided into are five parts. In each segment, Victor asks a family member a popular scientific question, following an extensive answer by the family member with a particular expertise in the field of science involved in the question. Each of these episodes has its short intro and The End sketches for the specific characters. Each sketch title is <(character name/s) in (episode title vis-a-vis topic)>.

Ending gag: Max asks Victor "Well Victor, what did you learn today?" to which he begins with "Tons of neat stuff", summarizing what his family members learned him. Max answers, "Sounds like a real big day." and Victor concludes, "It was, but I still have plenty of questions left for next time."

Characters[]

• Victor
  • A baby and the main protagonist of the series. All times he has questions (though these are smarter ones) to explain his family members like any other kid.
• Max — Technology and electronics
  • The intelligent father of Victor and a stereotypical mechanic/handyman. He is Vanilla's husband, Eartha and Matik's son and Micro and Scopo's brother. He seems to be the closest to Victor compared to the others. Resembles his mother Eartha and is never seen without his cap.
• Vanilla and birds Kwik and Kwak — Botany and zoology
  • Vanilla is Max's wife, Eartha and Matik's daughter-in-law, Micro and Scopo's sister-in-law, and Victor's mother who he resembles. Kwik and Kwak are running gags of their episodes and normally argue.
• Eartha (as her name suggests) and Basalt the dinosaur — Geography, geology and meteorology
  • Eartha is Matik's wife, Max, Micro and Scopo's mother, Vanilla's mother-in-law, and Victor's grandmother who is occasionally uncool. Basalt is a green dinosaur with orange spots, has a British accent, can be greedy and transforms into any modes of transport. Eartha is also the one who cooks for their family.
• Micro and Scopo — Biology of the human body
  • Victor's uncles and Max's brothers who are running gags. Micro is stubby and wears a white cowboy hat (is sometimes seen without it), does most of the statements in their episodes. Scopo is the larger and crazier of the brothers, being the test subject yet expresses his own knowledge for some reason. They both have what look like glasses, masks and 'dog ears' like their father Matik.
• Matik and dog Zygo — Astronomy and the Universe
  • Matik is Victor's grandfather, Max, Micro and Scopo's father, and Eartha's husband who has 'dog ears' and is never seen without his pilot hat. Zygo sounds like Daffy Duck from Looney Tunes and has webbed limbs.

Episodes[]

Voice cast[]

• Sammy Lane
• Heidi Lenhart
• Mendi Segal
• Stanley Gurd Jr. as Max
• Derek Patrick as Matik
• Genghis Studebaker as Zygo
• Kevin Schon as Micro (uncredited)
• Julie Maddalena as Victor (uncredited)

Crew[]

• Jamie Simone – Voice Director
• Bruno Bianchi - Producer, Director

References[]

External links[]

• The Why Why? Family at IMDb