WordGirl


WordGirl is an American animated superhero children's television series produced by the Soup2Nuts animation unit of Scholastic Entertainment for PBS Kids. The series began as a series of shorts entitled The Amazing Colossal Adventures of WordGirl that premiered on PBS Kids Go! on November 10, 2006, usually shown at the end of Maya & Miguel; the segment was then spun off into a thirty-minute episodic series that aired from September 3, 2007, to August 7, 2015. The series of shorts consisted of thirty episodes, with 128 episodes and a special in the full half-hour series. WordGirl creator Dorothea Gillim felt that most children's animation "underestimated sense of humor" and hoped to create a more intellectual show for young audiences.
By June 2014, many PBS stations had stopped airing WordGirl, opting to air more popular series throughout the summer. However, new episodes continued to air on select stations, with streaming options on the PBS Kids website and video app. The series ended with the two-part episode "Rhyme and Reason", which was released on August 7, 2015.
The show was created for children ages 4–9. By 2022, the show had gained a cult following through social media.

Premise

The series follows WordGirl, a 10-year-old girl with superpowers whose secret identity is Becky Botsford, a student. WordGirl was born on the fictional planet Lexicon, but was sent away after sneaking onto a spaceship and sleeping there. Becky's pet chimpanzee and sidekick, Captain Huggy Face, who was a pilot in the Lexicon Air Force, piloted the ship, but lost control when WordGirl awoke, and crash-landed on Earth, a planet that affords WordGirl her superpowers, including flight and super strength. She utilizes these powers to protect her adoptive home, using her downed spacecraft as a secret base of operations.
WordGirl was soon adopted and provided an alter ego by father Tim and mother Sally Botsford, who gave her the name Becky. While in her alter-ego, she has a younger brother, TJ Botsford, obsessed with WordGirl, but still unknowingly a typical sibling rival to Becky. Becky attends Woodview Elementary School as a fifth grader, where she is close friends with Violet Heaslip and the school newspaper reporter Todd "Scoops" Ming.
WordGirl tries to balance her superhero activities with her "normal" life. She battles against an assortment of villains that include The Butcher, Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy, Dr. Two-Brains, Granny May, Lady Redundant Woman, Mr. Big, Theodore "Tobey" McCalister III, Amazing Rope Guy and The Whammer. The villains are all prone to malapropisms. At the same time, she must worry about maintaining her double life as Becky, keeping people from discovering the truth and living normal family situations.

Series overview

Characters

Main characters

  • WordGirl – A 10-year-old superhero from the planet Lexicon who uses the alias of Becky Botsford when adopted by the Botsford family. She possesses super-strength, super-speed, super-hearing, and the knowledge of different word meanings. While WordGirl works to keep her true identity secret, the ones who do keep her identity secret upon finding out are Captain Huggy Face, Bampy Botsford, Todd Ming, and the Narrator.
  • Captain Huggy Face – A monkey from the planet Lexicon who is WordGirl's animal sidekick. He has been called a lot of other animals on occasion. Captain Huggy Face masquerades as a normal monkey when not fighting crime and also appears in the "May I Have a Word?" segment.
  • The Narrator – He is an unseen character who narrates each episode and also tends to interact with the characters.
  • Tim Botsford – The indecisive adoptive father of Becky Botsford and the patriarch of his family.
  • Sally Botsford – The optimistic adoptive mother of Becky Botsford and the matriarch of the family who works as a district attorney.
  • TJ Botsford – The adoptive brother of Becky Botsford who is a big fan of WordGirl.

    Supporting characters

  • Todd "Scoops" Ming – A reporter for Woodview Elementary School's newspaper called the Daily Rag. He learns of WordGirl's true identity in "Invasion of the Bunny Lovers".
  • Violet Heaslip – The best friend of Becky Botsford.
  • The Exposition Guy – An unnamed man who is usually calling for help and mentioning what kind of crime is being committed.
  • Reginald – The pompous owner of Ye Old Fancy Schmancy Jewelry Store which is often targeted by Fair City's villain community.
  • Bill – The manager of the grocery store in Fair City. The episode "Caper of Plastic" revealed that he formally used to operate as a supervillain called the Masked Bagger who would get annoyed when things like eggs were not placed on top of the groceries.

    Villains

  • Butcher – A butcher-themed villain who can summon meats for different attacks. He has a tendency to mix up words.
  • * Kid Potato – An elderly supervillain and the father of Butcher who does potato-based attacks.
  • Dr. Two-Brains – A mad scientist. Steven Boxleitner started out as a kind and distracted scientist until an accident fused him and an evil mouse together with the mouse's brain sticking out of Steven's head as he also sported pink eyes, whiskers, and white hair. Most of his plots revolved around cheese.
  • * Dr. Two-Brains' Henchmen - Two humans that consist of a large shaved-head man named Charlie and an unnamed man who speaks for Charlie while acting as Charlie's best friend.
  • Mr. Big – The CEO of Mr. Big Industries who wears a purple mask. Born Shelly Smalls, most of his plots involved the use of mind-control devices to get what he wants. Despite his various arrests, Mr. Big Industries still continues to run.
  • * Leslie – Mr. Big's personal assistant who carries out most of her boss' plans. She is usually the one who fights Captain Huggy Face.
  • * Tiny Big – Mr. Big Industries' custom made pop music star. Fair City became a big fan of his music. When WordGirl exposed that Tiny Big doesn't have an actual singing voice, Tiny Big fled with Mr. Big, Leslie, and Mr. Big's bodyguards. Tiny Big has made cameos since then.
  • * Mr. Big's Bodyguards - Two unnamed bald-headed men in sunglasses that are often seen with Mr. Big. The episode "Mr. Big's Dinner and a Scam" was the only time when they were arrested alongside their boss.
  • Granny May – An elderly supervillain who fools people a lot by pretending to be innocent in order to commit heists. She wears retractable armor when committing crimes and fighting Word Girl.
  • Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy – A sandwich-headed supervillain with a sandwich motive that lives in his mother's basement. He does not have a way with words and uses different condiments as his weapons.
  • Theodore "Tobey" McCallister III – A 10-year-old boy at Woodview Elementary School who is often shown using his giant robots to cause much trouble in Fair City to win the affection of WordGirl.
  • Eileen the Birthday Girl – A spoiled 10-year-old girl who thinks everyday is her birthday. When she gets angry/greedy, she grows to a giant size and her skin turns green. Only by getting Eileen what she wants causes Eileen to return to her normal size.
  • Amazing Rope Guy – A rope-themed villain who uses ropes in his minor crimes and is constantly being thwarted by WordGirl.
  • Lady Redundant Woman – Beatrice Bixby was once a copy shop employee who pressed a button on a copy machine that fused them together. This turned Beatrice into Lady Redundant Woman who can make clones of herself and other items by touching her nose. In addition, she also mentions words that mean the same thing hence her name.
  • Masked Meat Marauder - A villain with the same abilities as Butcher, but his meat attacks are done with flavor. Though he was the main villain in his self-titled episode where he developed a rivalry with Butcher, Masked Meat Marauder has since made some background appearances since then.
  • Maria the Energy Monster – An electrical monster that was created when a ball of electricity was exposed to an experiment gone wrong.
  • Whammer – A supervillain who sends out sonic waves upon "whamming". While operating on his own, he has worked as henchmen to other villains.
  • Coach – A motivation coach who turned to crime the day he met Whammer and tricked him into committing crimes for him. Both of them were defeated by WordGirl. Coach later started a villain school and had once again made use of Whammer to help his students improve themselves. The episode "Plain Old Mischief Makers" reveals that the Villain Society uses him to keep an eye on any villain that fails to prove themselves and to demote them to the mischief maker level of the Villain Society tier should they fail.
  • * Big Left Hand Guy – A student of Coach who has a big left hand which comes in handy when hailing taxi cabs.
  • * Invisi-Bill – A student of Coach who can turn invisible.
  • * Timmy Tim-Bo – A student of Coach whose self-described powers is that he naps a lot.
  • * Ms. Question – A student of Coach who mostly asks questions. She later gained the ability to shoot question marks and give people amnesia.
  • Hal Hardbargain – A gadget supplier with an electrical eye patch and a mechanical arm who is the proprietor of Hal's Villain Supply Shop. He has sold equipment to any villain that comes wanting to purchase them. Hal has allegedly had villain customers like Wally Walnuts, Tommy Two-Necks, Little Kahuna, and Rotten Pete. The only times he's ever been apprehended by WordGirl are "Rat Trap" and "Caper or Plastic".
  • Seymour Orlando Smooth – A game show host and con artist who uses his different games shows as covers to steal people's money.
  • * Harry Kemple and Chip Von Dumor – Seymour's brothers who help him out in some of his plots.
  • Raul Demiglass – A TV chef whose beef stew recipe comes from a can. In "Plain Old Mischief Makers", Raul is shown on the mischief maker part of the Villain Society tier and has befriended Glen Flurbaum.
  • Glen Flurbaum – The number-one fan of Dr. Two-Brains who temporarily worked as his henchman when Dr. Two-Brains' henchmen were on vacation. In "Dr. Three-Brains", Glen became Dr. Three-Brains by tying two fake brains to the side of his head and operated on his own. In "Plain Old Mischief Makers", Glen is shown on the mischief maker part of the Villain Society tier and has befriended Raul Demiglass.
  • Nocan the Contrarian – A barbarian from Contraria who always does the opposite of what he is told to do.
  • Victoria Best – A child prodigy and student at Woodview Elementary School who is always trying to be the very best at everything even when pressured by her parents.
  • * General Smoochington - A western lowland gorilla who is Victoria Best's pet and sidekick.
  • Captain Tangent |John Henson] in his self-titled episode, Brian Stack – A teenage pirate and former waiter at the pirate-themed restaurant Blackbeard's Buffet who was fired by his manager for telling tangents. He found a hook with magnetic properties that he used to become a supervillain.
  • * Oscar - A [scarlet macaw who is Captain Tangent's pet and sidekick.
  • Learnerer – A supervillain in an adaptive super-suit who often adds suffixes to the words he uses.

    Other characters

  • The Mayor of Fair City – An unnamed African-American man who is often seen making speeches.
  • The Principal – The unnamed principal of Woodview Elementary School. While the principal first seen was a female, the principal from "A Few Words from WordGirl" was a male.
  • Jade Davis – A teacher at Woodview Elementary School.
  • Mrs. Ripley – An African-American woman who is the hyperactive gym teacher at Woodview Elementary School.
  • Claire McCallister – The mother of Tobey McCallister III who works at the same district attorney's office as Sally Botsford. She is often annoyed that Tobey uses his robots to fulfill his purposes and tends to punish him when WordGirl thwarts him.
  • Edith von Housenhous – A very rich lady who would have items that would be targeted by supervillains.
  • Warden Chalmers – The prison warden of the Fair City Prison who wears a cowboy hat.
  • Brent the Everybody-Loves-Him Sandwich Making Guy – Chuck's more popular and successful brother with a similar sandwich motive.
  • Police Commissioner Watson – The police commissioner of the Fair City Police Department who is known for jumping to conclusions when examining crime scenes.

    Voice cast

Development

WordGirl began in 2006 as a series of shorts airing immediately after Maya & Miguel, becoming an independent show in September 2007.
The show's creator, Dorothea Gillim, believes that children's shows often underestimate children's intelligence:
Gillim says she created the show, in part, with the idea that parents would watch the show with their children to support their learning.
Each eleven-minute segment in each episode begins with verbal instructions to listen for two words that will be used throughout the plot of that episode. The words are chosen according to academic guidelines. The reasoning is that children can understand words like "cumbersome" when told that it means "big and heavy and awkward".
PBS NewsHour anchor Jim Lehrer agreed to do a mock interview with WordGirl. Jack D. Ferraiolo, who developed the series with Gillim and served as the series' head writer in season one, received an Emmy for his work on WordGirl.
Rather than hiring writers experienced with children's television, the show's original writers' previous credits included The Onion and Family Guy. Narrator Chris Parnell had previously worked on Saturday Night Live.

Format

Often, short animated segments are shown in between and at the end of episodes. "What's Your Favorite Word?", ostensibly hosted by Todd "Scoops" Ming, is a short jingle and a series of vox populi interviews asking random children what their favorite words are and why. A short game show segment called "May I Have a Word?" airs following each eleven-minute segment. This segment features the game show host, Beau Handsome, asking three contestants the definition of a particular word. The segment was created by Kelly Miyahara, Barry Sonnenfeld, and Ryan Raddatz.
Yet another segment features the interstitials announcer asking Captain Huggy Face for a visual demonstration of a certain word. When Captain Huggy Face correctly demonstrates the meaning of the word, a definition is given, followed by a victory dance by the chimpanzee sidekick.
During the four-part episode, "The Rise of Miss Power", a four-segment "Pretty Princess Power Hour" sketch is shown between acts, filling in for the average two-segment "May I Have a Word?" sketch, presumably to fill the double-length time slot.

Website

The companion site to WordGirl lives on , and was built by interactive firm Big Bad Tomato. It contains vocabulary-building games, a section where children can submit their favorite word, a video page with clips from the show, a "Heroes and Villains" section with character biographies and activities, and a PBS Parents section with episode guides, lessons, a site map, and more activities to play at home. As of January 4, 2026, the website currently redirects to its video page, as its games haven't been migrated to the redesign that occurred in 2025.

Comics

A series of WordGirl comics were also released by Boom! Studios' new KaBOOM! line. The names of the volumes and the stories within them are:
  • Coalition of Malice
  • # Coalition of Malice -
  • # Super Fans -
  • Incredible Shrinking Allowance
  • # The Incredible Shrinking Allowance -
  • # Fondue, Fondon't -
  • Word Up!
  • # The Ham Van Makes the Man -
  • # Think Big -
  • Fashion Disaster
  • # Fashion Disaster -
  • # Fort Wham-Ground -

    Awards

The show has received seven Daytime Emmy nominations, winning four for "Outstanding Writing in Animation" in 2008, 2012–2013 and Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program in 2015.
2008:
2009:
  • Learning Magazine 2009 Teacher's Choice Award for Families
  • 2009 iParenting Media Award
  • Featured at the KIDS FIRST! Film Festival 2009
  • NY Festivals' 2009 TV Programming and Promotions award
2012:
  • 2012 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Writing in Animation
2013:
  • 2013 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Writing in Animation
2015:
  • 2015: Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program

    Reception

The series was positively received. Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media described the series as having a "brainy heroine uses vocab to outwit bad guys." She also called it an "entertaining animated series" with some cartoon violence and said that it is an "excellent...choice for young grade-schoolers."
In 2022, Collider attested that the "non-white, little girl superhero" protagonist of WordGirl began a television trend on social media. The article claims that the generation who grew up watching WordGirl later demanded new and diverse heroes, such as Captain Marvel.