Total Drama Island
Total Drama Island is the first season of the Total Drama series, a Canadian animated television series created by Tom McGillis and Jennifer Pertsch. The series premiered in Canada on Teletoon on July 8, 2007, and later in the US on Cartoon Network on June 5, 2008. The season has 26 episodes, each 22 minutes in duration, as well as a special 44-minute season finale.
Plot
Total Drama Island is set in the fictional titular reality show, which follows the competition of twenty-two unsuspecting and unwitting campers at Camp Wawanakwa, the most rundown, insect-infested, disgusting island in an unspecified area in Muskoka, Ontario. The campers participate in competitions and challenges that get more insane and dangerous each week to avoid being voted off the island by their fellow campers and teammates. At the end of the series, the winning contestant will receive C$100,000. The competition is hosted by Chris McLean, assisted by the camp's chef, Chef Hatchet, who is also Chris's best friend despite being mistreated at times. Egotistical and immoral, unless something affects him legally, Chris places the show's contestants in various life-threatening challenges.At the beginning of the season, the campers are placed into two groups of eleven, the "Screaming Gophers" and the "Killer Bass". In each episode, the teams participate in a challenge, in which one or more campers can win invincibility for their team. The losing team is called to the campfire that night, where the losing team vote one of their members off the island. The camper with the most votes is eliminated from the competition. At this campfire, Chris passes out marshmallows to the campers who have not been voted off, while the one who does not get a marshmallow must walk down the Dock of Shame to the Boat of Losers, which will take them away from the island and they will "never, never, never, ever, ever, ever, come back, ever" according to Chris.
In Episode 14, the teams are disbanded, so it is every camper for themselves, after which the challenges continue; the winner of each challenge then only receives invincibility for themselves, whereupon the rest of the campers vote one camper without invincibility off the island. This process of elimination continues until two players remain where they are then subject to a final contest.
Total Drama Island is a parody of the reality show Survivor. McLean is very similar to Survivor host Jeff Probst. This is the first season in which the winner does not get to keep the money, due to it being eaten by a shark in the episode "Total Drama, Drama, Drama, Drama Island". The season finale, "The Very Last Episode, Really!" had two endings that changed whether Gwen or Owen won the season, with the winner depending on the country the season aired in. This tradition of two endings for each finalist was kept for the rest of the original series' run, and its spin off The Ridonculous Race. The following special, "Total Drama Drama Drama Drama Island" and season, Total Drama Action had alternate versions to acknowledge a specific ending in their episodes, but previous winners were simply never directly acknowledged following Action.
Episodes
Total Drama Island premiered on July 8, 2007, on the Teletoon channel. This season has 26 episodes, each 22 minutes long, and two special episodes. It was the third Cartoon Network show outside of Adult Swim and Toonami to have the U.S. rating of either "TV-PG" or "TV-PG-D", and a parental-guidance warning after every commercial break and at the beginning of the show. Its rating in Canada was initially "G"; current broadcasts are rated "PG".Source for list:
Episode finale variations
For every season, the show's producers create two alternate endings for the final episode, such that the winner seen in one country's broadcasts is the runner-up in other countries where the show airs. Owen is the original winner in Canada, but he is also shown as the winner in Australia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, France, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latin America, the Middle East, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Spain, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States. Gwen is the original runner-up in Canada, but she is also the winner in Finland, Japan, Latin America, Norway, Poland, Romania and Sweden.Characters
Staff
Contestants
There are 22 original contestants who competed in Total Drama Island. They are Beth, Bridgette, Cody, Courtney, DJ, Duncan, Eva, Ezekiel, Geoff, Gwen, Harold, Heather, Izzy, Justin, Katie, Leshawna, Lindsay, Noah, Owen, Sadie, Trent, and Tyler. Many of the characters return in later seasons either as contestants or as guests.Season summary
Elimination table
Production
As ''Camp TV''
Development began in 2003, as a project called Camp TV. A later pitch was made in 2004; both pitches were eventually rejected, however.On February 15, 2006, it was announced that Tom McGillis and Jennifer Pertsch were working on a project called Camp TV. According to Tom McGillis, Fresh TV was approached by Teletoon to create the show.
As ''Total Drama''
Development
On March 27, 2006, the project was renamed Total Drama Island and the franchise was also renamed Total Drama. Production began in June 2006.Writing
Tom McGillis and Jennifer Pertsch studied what tweens liked about reality television shows in the writing process. McGillis said that they used a "countrywide online research project" to determine what 9-to-14 year olds were watching. It was found that Canadian tweens enjoyed watching Fear Factor, Survivor, The Amazing Race, American Idol, and Canadian Idol.Animation
The season was animated at Elliott Animation and was directed by Todd Kauffman and Mark Thornton. Fresh TV partners McGillis, Pertsch, Elliott and Irving produced the series. The budget for the series was US$8,000,000. It was animated in Flash, at Elliott Animation's studio in Toronto. All the characters were designed by Kauffman.Confidentiality agreement
Every cast and crew member on Total Drama Island had to sign a confidentiality agreement not to disclose who the winner was.Casting
Voice actors from the series 6teen have lent their voices for Total Drama Island.Christian Potenza, who played the character Jude on 6teen, played the role of host Chris McLean. Potenza said that the best part of the job was that his character could not be voted off the show.
Emilie-Claire Barlow plays a recurring role as Chrissy on 6teen and plays Courtney on Total Drama Island. Barlow stated that Courtney was her favourite character that she had ever played.
Other voice actors from 6teen include Julia Chantrey as Eva; Drew Nelson as Duncan; Megan Fahlenbock as Gwen; Adam Reid as Justin; Stephanie Anne Mills as Lindsay and Katie; Rachel Wilson as Heather; and Scott McCord as Owen and Trent.