Welcome to a brave new world
It's a Big, Big World is part puppet show, part cartoon. The stunning visuals and smooth storytelling will captivate children - and impress adults.
By CHASE SQUIRES
Published January 2, 2006
It's a Big, Big World makes a big, big splash on PBS today in a half-hour show that blends giant puppets, animatronics and computer-generated graphics to teach young children about the world, science and relationships.
It's not Sesame Street. It's not a cartoon. It's hard to say what it is.
Except that it's really cool.
While the storytelling is soothing and clear, the visuals - created in a process dubbed Shadowmation - are the star. Unlike anything else on the air, Big, Big World delivers a beautiful, brightly colored package - a cross between puppetry and animation - that befuddles the eye and gives life to characters that beg to be made into giant, fluffy toys.
"It's a combination of an ancient form of puppetry, Bunraku, and computer-animated sets," creator Mitchell Kriegman said as he introduced the show in Beverly Hills last summer. "It's a really neat tech nique. Bottom line is, it's a distinctive look. It has a freedom to it that a lot of puppet shows don't have."
The way it works, each character is operated by two, three or even four puppeteers working on a green-screen stage. Computers are used to edit the puppeteers out afterward, replacing them with a computer generated background of lush jungle and cozy tree houses.
Kriegman - 53, with three children ages 8-14 - said he created the technique with entertainment giant Sony, dreaming of feature film adaptation and a new generation of theatrical entertainment for children.
"The hope is over time, that is what will happen," he said when he introduced his Shadowmation in July, armed with only a test screener. "There's a lot of things that go into impressing a kid, and one of them is to surprise them and also to speak to them."
After spending all fall experimenting and expanding on the techniques needed for Big, Big World, Kriegman said in a telephone interview that most of what he tried to do worked.
"I spent a lot of time thinking about supportive environments for kids," he said. "I had a lot of time to think about what would be great for kids, and what I would have liked."
Becoming an overnight success in the world of entertainment takes time.
In the finished product, the fabric of the puppets in Big, Big World moves in the breeze, the way no computer creation could mimic, while the detailed backgrounds create an environment no static set could come close to.
In the way that Finding Nemo and Shrek were aimed at children but found a place in grownup hearts, Big, Big World has a special charm - both in visuals and story - that rises above the simple stories.
Each lesson takes place in the World Tree, a metaphor for the world, and stars a wise, laid-back giant sloth named Snook who helps a cast of youngsters (monkeys, tree frogs, marmosets and such) make sense of their world.
Today's episode has the gang trying to understand what happened to their friend the tadpole. Snook takes them to see wise old Madge, the scientist turtle, who explains how tadpoles grow into frogs. Along with a science lesson, the kids learn that just because someone grows up and changes, they are still the same friend inside that they always were.
Kriegman, a parent and a veteran of children's television (he produced Bear in the Big Blue House), said he takes his responsibility to children and parents seriously. Each show, he said, is something he hopes will encourage families to watch together and then talk about afterward.
"I have three children and I'm a single dad," he said. "It's easy to feel the tension in the world when you're with your kids, and I felt for quite some time that parents and kids need a way to feel good about the world and to see the world in a way that's positive. My goal was to create a show that could help parents and kids think about the world on a positive, engaged, exciting way."
As for making those big, fluffy toys: That, said Kriegman, is still to come.
Big, Big World will air weekdays at 8:30 a.m., with repeats mixed among new episodes in the early going.
Not to leave out PBS adult fare, WEDU-Ch. 3 also debuts the series Real Simple, based on the popular magazine of the same name, this week. The weekly half-hour show premieres at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Like the magazine, the TV show promises "useful, smart solutions to everyday problems in an appealing, easy-to-follow way."
- Chase Squires can be reached at 727 893-8739 or squires@sptimes.com His blog is www.sptimes.com/blogs/tv
REVIEWIt's a Big, Big World premieres at 8:30 a.m. today on WEDU-Ch. 3. Grade: A