Recess (TV series)
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Recess was a Saturday morning cartoon, created by Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere (both part of the Rugrats creative team), and produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It centered around six elementary school aged best friends, who have various adventures during recess at their school.
The show premiered on ABC's One Saturday Morning programming block on September 13 1997; its final first-run episode aired on November 4 2001. Recess was a popular and successful show, and spun-off three direct-to-video films (one in 2001, two more in 2003) and an animated feature, Recess: School's Out, in 2001. Reruns of the original show continue to air on the Disney Channel.
While some episodes involved realistic scenarios (such as the government canceling recess to get better test scores), some involved far-out situations (in one episode, Principal Prickly installed a Sal 3000 computer system, a spoof of 2001: A Space Odyssey).
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Location
The children attend Third Street Elementary School, a school which is generally poorly funded and ill-managed. In one episode it was stated that the show takes place in Alabama, and in another its coordinates are given as being in Pennsylvania, but there is very little to suggest this in the series itself. The school is instead supposed to represent a sort of "anywhere, USA" with the characters and settings being an amalgamation of traditional stereotypes and cliches associated with American youth and childhood. The show presumably takes place in the present day, though the artistic style often evokes an earlier era through the character's fashions and appearances, (for example many of the female students wear long dresses) again as part of the series' use of exaggerated cliches and stereotypes.
Almost all of the show's action takes place outside during the recess period, though other settings such as the classroom or the cafeteria are also occasionally used.
Characters
Kids
Main characters
- Theodore "T.J." Detweiler - The ringleader of his five best friends. He normally wears a red baseball cap, backwards. T.J. usually spends time planning pranks against the teachers.
- Vince LaSalle - A very talented athlete, Vince has been referred to as 'cool' several times.
- Ashley Spinelli - A feisty tomboy who enjoys pro wrestling. Almost always called by her surname.
- Gretchen Grundler - Academically talented and very intelligent.
- Mikey Blumberg - Large, likes to eat, and very philosophical: writes poetry and believes in notions of peace often dismissed by the others.
- Gustavus "Gus" Patton Griswald - The newest kid in the grade (although it was revealed in a Recess TV special, All Growed Down, that he spent a while in Third Street Elementary as a kindergartener before being hauled out the next day), and also very short. His father is in the army.
Secondary Characters
- King Bob - The "king" of the playground. He once appointed himself pharaoh when he realised that no one remembered the three kings before him (no one would since the other kids were too young). Generally a good but arrogant leader.
- Theresa "Cornchip Girl" LaMaise - A girl who is usually seen eating cornchips. Like Gus, she also has a military family; her father is in the United States Navy. Gus' father and her own father are rivals.
- Cryer Kid - Only mentioned in the first episode, Cryer Kid agrees to work for the kids for a dollar and two candy bars
- Randall Weems - The snitch of the playground and Ms. Finster's informant, Randall frequently proves the chief antagonist to the Recess gang.
- Menlo - A kid who spends recess indoors, helping Miss Lemon, Principal Prickly's secretary. In one episode it was revealed that he was once T.J.'s best friend, and in another we are told that he used to be an uncontrollable kid until he was selected as Principal For A Day.
- The Diggers (Digger Dave and Digger Sam) - Two boys who spend all their time digging holes.
- Erwin Lawson - Vince's sports rival, he usually goes by his last name.
- Guru Kid, a.k.a. Jimmy - Guru Kid provides spiritual advice for students. He wears his shirt as a turban.
- Hustler Kid, a.k.a. Francis - A black market trader who provides various items for the kids, such as comics, maps to teacher's houses, and rare airplane models.
- The Ashleys (Ashley Armbruster, Ashley Bonet, Ashley Quinlan, and Ashley Tomassian)- Four girls who are best friends and all share the same first name. They view themselves with perfection and spend their time putting on make-up, having tea parties, and playing with dolls. The Ashleys are often the targets of pranks that are pulled off by T.J. and his friends. The Ashleys each have a younger brother and a younger sister (the Tylers and the Britneys). They also are commonly referred to by their last initial (example, Ashley A.). (NOTE: Ashley T. rarely speaks)
- Upside-down girl - Spends her recess hanging upside down from a climbing frame. Has a very short temper when bothered.
- Butch - Butch is a conspiracy theorist, with a white streak in his hair. He got this upon seeing that older boys and girls enjoy kissing one another.
- Swinger girl - Swinger Girl spends all of her recess on the swings, trying to achieve her greatest ambition of swinging over the top.
Teachers & Staff
- Principal Peter Prickly - The principal of Third Street School. He hopes to one day be promoted out of Third Street, although when the opportunity did arise, he decided to stay.
- Ms. Muriel Finster - The elderly, Draconian teacher in charge of keeping order on the playground. Although she seems uptight and militaristic, we learn in a Recess special that she used to be a kind, grandmotherly old teacher until one student caused a lot of trouble, triggering her so-called "dark side".
- Ms. Groetke - The 4th Grade Teacher at Third Street, she is somewhat New Age, but is popular among her pupils.
- Hank the Janitor - Hank briefly had a romantic relationship with Ms Finster, and in another episode it was revealed that he is a mathematical genius (presumably an homage to Good Will Hunting).
The Playground
The playground has an organized system of government, a pastiche of the social hierarchy at elementary school. The students are ruled by a sixth-grader king, who is appointed by the previous monarch on the last day of school. The laws and the "Kids' Unwritten Code of Honor" are basically what kids think of in this age group (some laws are about jinxing and tattle-tales). The show is very popular in the UK.