Wonder Pets - History and Format

History and Format

The Wonder Pets! television series was created by Josh Selig for Little Airplane Productions. The show was first seen as a short Nick Jr.'s film series called Linny the Guinea Pig, in which a guinea pig named Linny traveled into space and under the ocean. Ming-Ming Duckling and Turtle Tuck were created when the show was expanded and called The Super Singing Power Pets!. The title was later shortened to Wonder Pets. The show's main characters are three elementary school classroom pets — Linny the Guinea Pig, Turtle Tuck, and Ming-Ming Duckling. They are presented as a trio of heroes who rescue baby animals as they demonstrate the benefits of teamwork.

The animation style used to create Wonder Pets! is called "photo-puppetry", and was created for the series to allow animators to manipulate photographs of real animals. It also uses drawn objects (not characters), so the total presentation could be considered animated mixed-media.

A good deal of the dialog is sung, so the show has been likened to operetta or singspiel. A 10-member live orchestra performs each episode, sometimes including other instrumentalists skilled in music from the region to which the pets are traveling during the episode. Completing each episode takes thirty-three weeks from script to final delivery.