Recess (TV series)

Recess (TV series)
Recess is an American animated television series created by Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere (credited on marketing materials and late-series title cards as "Paul and Joe") and produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, with animation done by Grimsaem, Anivision, Plus One Animation, Sunwoo Animation, and Toon City. The series focuses on six elementary school students and their interaction with other classmates and teachers. The title refers to the recess period during the daily schedule, in the North American tradition of educational schooling, when students are not in lessons and are outside in the schoolyard. During recess, the children form their own society, complete with government and a class structure, set against the backdrop of a regular school.
Recess premiered on September 13, 1997, on ABC, as part of Disney's One Saturday Morning block (later known as ABC Kids). The series ended on November 5, 2001, with 65 half-hour episodes and six seasons in total. The success and lasting appeal of the series saw it being syndicated to numerous channels, including
ABC's sister channels Toon Disney, which later became Disney XD, and Disney Channel.
In 2001, Walt Disney Pictures released a theatrical film based on the series, Recess: School's Out. It was followed by a direct-to-video second film entitled Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street that same year. In 2003, two more direct-to-video films were released: Recess: All Growed Down and Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade. The characters made their final appearance on a 2006 crossover episode of Lilo & Stitch: The Series.
Overview
Recess portrays the lives of six fourth graders—cheeky and popular lovable rogue Theodore Jasper "T.J." Detweiler (Ross Malinger, Andrew Lawrence), jock Vince LaSalle (Rickey D'Shon Collins), tomboy Ashley Spinelli (Pamela Adlon), wise fool Mikey Blumberg (Jason Davis), nerdy child prodigy Gretchen Grundler (Ashley Johnson), and awkward new kid Gus Griswald (Courtland Mead)—as they go about their daily lives in a school environment at Third Street Elementary School located in Arkansas. A major satirical point of the show is that the community of students at school is a microcosm of traditional human society complete with its own government, class system, and set of unwritten laws. They are ruled by a monarch, a sixth grader named King Bob, who has various enforcers to make sure his decrees are carried out. The society has a long list of rigid values and social norms that imposes a high expectation of conformity upon all the students.
Recess is illustrated to be a symbol of liberty—a time when children can express themselves and develop meaningful relationships. Most episodes involve one or more of the main six characters seeking a rational balance between individuality and social order. They are often defending their freedom against perceived threats by adults and school administration or social norms. The group's leader, T.J. Detweiler, tends to have the most complete vision of this struggle, though even he has times when he inadvertently leads the group too far toward an extreme of conformity or non-conformity, and needs to be drawn back to even ground by his friends.
This interpretation is confirmed by the Cold War motifs found throughout the show. For example, Miss Grotke's philosophical and activist attitudes (attributed to her belonging to the counterculture of the 1960s) are juxtaposed with the authoritarian and conservative views of her colleagues such as Miss Finster and Principal Prickly. The presence of government officials either confiscating objects for national security (Episode 37, "The Substitute") or removing persons for challenging authority (Episode 71, "The Spy Who Came in from the Playground"), serve as subtle reminders on the authority of the US government. Several references by the show's characters convey the fraught political realities of the Cold War period. In Episode 85, "Here Comes Mr. Perfect", Randall suggests blackmailing a student for being a supposed Communist, while in Episode 37, "The Substitute", Mr. E demands a student write an essay on why it's wrong to bully people, "unless it's in the geopolitical interests of the United States". Cold War themes are most seen in Episode 101, "The Secret Life of Grotke", where Miss Grotke is suspected by the Recess gang as an anti-American spy due to her mysterious after-school life, as well as Episode 118, "The Army Navy Game", where T.J. masquerades as a Soviet spy to bring Gus and Theresa's military fathers to reconcile.
The show's introductory music, art design and style often evoked the feel of prison escape movies such as The Great Escape, and the playground hierarchy and school administration were often depicted in ways that paid homage to common themes in such films. Additionally, many episodes parody classic films such as Cool Hand Luke, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, 2001: A Space Odyssey and On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
Numerous references to pop culture are made by the writers of Recess, including to Star Trek, Jackie Chan, and Good Will Hunting.
Cast and characters
Main characters
Theodore Jasper "T.J." Detweiler (voiced by Ross Malinger, Seasons 1–2; Andrew Lawrence, Seasons 2–6): T.J. is the main protagonist of the series. He is the leader of his five best friends, and usually spends time planning pranks against the teachers. He is rarely seen without his red baseball hat, which he always wears backwards. He uses his catchphrase "Whomps" as a child-friendly substitute swear word for something unpleasant as well as "Tender" whenever something good happens. T.J. has excellent leadership skills, confidence with public speaking, quick wit and ability to talk his way out of any situation, as shown in "Good Ol' T.J.". Despite his precarious acts, T.J. is a hero, as he is concerned about the well-being of his fellow peers at his school, and often rallies them and convinces them to work together to stand up for their rights. His only sibling is an older sister (around 17 or 18) named Becky, who was seen in Recess: School's Out (voiced by Melissa Joan Hart) and Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade (voiced by Tara Strong).
Vincent "Vince" Pierre LaSalle (voiced by Rickey D'Shon Collins): Vince is the most physically fit student at Third Street School. Along with his superior athletic ability, he comes across as a bit of a "Jock", but in the end he always knows to make the best choice to help others. His athletic/competitive skills are far superior, so much so that he seems to excel at most, if not all, challenges, such as cooking, golf, and even improvised playground games. He has a rivalry with Erwin Lawson, a fifth grade jock bully. He has an older brother named Chad whom he thinks is the coolest boy he knows, even if his peers see him as a geek. His catchphrase is "Whompinbobyulah!" to exclaim surprise. Respected and brave, he is T.J.'s right-hand man.
Ashley Funicello Spinelli (voiced by Pamela Adlon): Usually going simply by her last name, Spinelli is a wrestling fan and the tomboy of the group. Although short in stature for her age, she maintains a tough-guy image, is powerful and often tries to use violence to solve her problems. During the gang's misadventures, Spinelli is the one who gets reluctant kids to talk, usually by threatening or intimidating them during interrogation. With her reputation, a lot of Spinelli's problems happen when she is shown to have a weakness, as she prefers to be unflappable and strong-willed. While she doesn't dislike her first name since she was named after her great aunt, the first woman to win the Iditarod Sled Race, she keeps it hidden to avoid being associated with "the Ashleys", the school's clique of snobby girls. She has a talent for art, though she claims she "only does it to blow off steam". Her fiery and fearless personality has gotten on the good side of Miss Finster multiple times as well as her bad side. It is revealed on Parent-Teacher Night, by Spinelli's mother, that Spinelli has a crush on T.J.
Gretchen Priscilla Grundler (voiced by Ashley Johnson): Gretchen is an academically gifted and an extremely intelligent student. A child prodigy, she has shown the ability for academic feats that other students in her grade find difficult. She is still a young kid at heart and her imagination sometimes gets the best of her, as she is quite naive despite her high IQ. She is assisted by an interactive, calculator-sized, hand-held machine called a Galileo (voiced by Eric Idle), which she is very protective of. Though her friends don't share her passion for science, Gretchen considers the gang much more important than finding intellectual colleagues. She also has a unique talent with yo-yo's.
Michael "Mikey" Blumberg (voiced by Jason Davis; singing voiced by Robert Goulet): Mikey is an overweight, kind-hearted, and philosophical 9-year-old. He is good at playing goalie in soccer due to his towering height and body power. He writes poetry, performs ballet, and believes in notions of peace that the others often dismiss. Though known as a "sweet-souled giant", he is also an incredibly talented singer, possessing a baritone opera voice that contrasts starkly with his normal speaking voice.
Gustav Patton "Gus" Griswald (voiced by Courtland Mead): Gus is a new student at Third Street Elementary with a blonde crew cut; though absent in the first episode, he was introduced in the following episode as "The New Kid". Gus is usually oblivious to the rules of the playground and its traditions, as he comes from a military family and therefore had to move around frequently (he has attended 12 schools in six years but according to the movie/episode All Grown Down, he briefly attended Third Street School for a few days in kindergarten, prior to his return for fourth grade). Although normally shy and meek, he has great leadership abilities similar to T.J.'s when faced with danger. He is exceptionally skilled in dodgeball, once feared at Jesse James Elementary School, a previous school of his, as "El Diablo"; however, as shown in "Dodgeball City", when he accidentally hit a little boy hard in the face, greatly traumatizing the kid, he stopped playing it in shame. In this same episode, he shows he doesn't care for marbles, either because of Dodgeball or dislike. Gus is both brave and swallows his pride when he addresses certain situations. Even though everyone sees him as a pushover, he has repeatedly proven otherwise; for instance, he stood up to Gelman (The School Bully) in "Gus' Last Stand", and in "All Grown Down", it was revealed that during his brief tenure at Third Street as a kindergartener, he helped overthrow Randall's manipulation of Mikey (who believed he was being taunted), which was confirmed by Finster apparently bearing a grudge towards him at the end of the film.
School staff
Muriel P. Finster (voiced by April Winchell): Miss Finster is an elderly assistant teacher who monitors the students during lunch, recess, and in the halls. She is an assertive authoritarian feared by the students, and seeks to keep them in line and maintain order, with her assistant Randall Weems reporting to her on any wrongdoing. She was a Navy commodore in the 1950s, frequently reminiscing her time in Guam, and has worked at Third Street since the 1960s. Though she is often at odds with the students, Finster has been shown to genuinely care about their safety. In a few of the series' episodes and in the film Recess: School's Out, she is revealed as having been attractive and popular when she was young but eventually became a strict, grouchy and fussy figure as she grew older. She becomes the gang's fifth grade teacher in the film Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade. In the film Recess: All Growed Down it is revealed that she was the gang's kindergarten teacher and she was initially pleasant but became hot-tempered and intimidating after seeing her kindergarten students all messy and having fun during recess.
Principal Peter Prickly (voiced by Dabney Coleman): Principal Prickly is the principal of Third Street School. A former student at the school, he became a teacher out of a desire to help children and has been principal of Third Street since 1968. He is frequently angered by the children's antics, and ultimately seeks to become principal of a middle school. He has a strong rivalry with his older brother Paul, who is also a school principal. While frequently portrayed as a heartless authority figure, Prickly has been shown to have a more friendly, laid-back personality and ultimately tries to protect the student's welfare. He is also a secret fan of Señor Fusion, a comic book hero.
Miss Alordayne Grotke (voiced by Allyce Beasley) is the 4th grade teacher of the main cast. She is known for her mild-mannered, yet eccentric personality, basically being that of a hippie, including her vocabulary. She is well loved by her students, especially for her tendency to stick up for their rights and encourages them to express themselves. Her dialogue establishes her as an advocate for the environment and race/gender rights. She also moonlights as a magician.
School students
Randall J. Weems (voiced by Ryan O'Donohue) is a fourth grade student at Third Street. His hair cut and color (a reddish/brown perm curly style) resembles his father's. Well known as the playground snitch, informing Miss Finster of any playground misbehavior, he is consequently disliked on the playground but will ally with his classmates if the situation calls for it. In "All Grown Down" it is revealed he hatched a plan to get Mikey on his side by gossiping about the other kids to Mikey. Mikey assumes this is true and believes that the other kids are making fun of him. However, Gus destroys his plans before he could succeed in possibly becoming king in 6th grade.
Erwin Lawson (voiced by Erik von Detten) is a fifth grader. He is primarily a bully to the younger students and serves as a rival to Vince and T.J. at various sports and games. He is portrayed as unintelligent. In the episode "Nobody Doesn't Like TJ" Lawson can even admit that TJ's still a pretty alright guy.
King Robert "Bob" (voiced by Toran Caudell) is a sixth grader and the "King of the Playground". He enforces the unwritten rules of the playground established by other previous playground kings and acts as the primary authority of playground disputes. He was previously a renowned playground prankster, holding the title of "Prankster Prince" before becoming King. He has bequeathed the title to T.J. He is also incredibly respectful and reminiscent of previous playground kings, which can be seen in episodes such as "Pharaoh Bob" and "The Rules".
The Ashleys are a group of four girls (Ashley Armbruster (voiced by Anndi McAfee), Boulet (voiced by Francesca Marie Smith), Quinlan (voiced by Rachel Crane), and Tomassian (voiced by Camille Winbush)) who usually go by Ashley A, B, Q, and T respectively. The girls, while usually acting like the stereotypical popular girl clique, including being well-off and obsessing with fashion and beauty, often put down others either verbally or through a variety of underhanded schemes, resulting in them being seldom popular with anybody except during their occasional moments of kindness. They are even ostracized by many of their classmates (though they do maintain an air of superiority). They have a mutual despisement with Spinelli, due mainly to her first name being Ashley and her outright refusal to join their group as well as her frequent hostility towards them. Their catchphrase is saying "ooh, scandalous!" as well as constantly using the preposition like in unison. They each have a little brother named Tyler who are collectively known as "The Tylers", and a little sister named Brittany who are collectively known as "The Brittanys". The Ashleys are probably based on the titular characters from the 1988 film Heathers, though their fashion obsessions and mannerisms seem to be based on the main characters from the 1995 film Clueless.
Hustler Kid (voiced by Michael Shulman) is the playground's supplier of contraband goods and other hard to get merchandise for the right price. In "Hustler's Apprentice", he is revealed to be part of an association of hustlers from every school and his real name is revealed to be Francis.
Guru Kid (voiced by Klee Bragger and Ross Malinger in the series, and Ryan O'Donohue in Recess: School's Out) is the source of spiritual advice for the other students. He always sits in a meditative pose with his shirt wrapped around his head like a turban.
Swinger Girl (voiced by Francesca Marie Smith) is, as her name suggests, a girl who is always at the swing set and whose ultimate goal is to swing over the top of the swing set. She dresses like a WWII fighter pilot.
Upside Down Girl (voiced by Francesca Marie Smith) spends her time hanging upside down from the jungle gym.
Menlo (voiced by Blake McIver Ewing) is a student who works as an office aide to the school secretary Miss Lemon and is obsessed with organization. He was once good friends with T.J. before they drifted apart, but T.J. still attends Menlo's birthday parties in honor of that friendship.
Megan (voiced by Pamela Adlon in "The New Kid", Kath Soucie in "Call Me Guy", Anndi McAfee in "The Candidates", and Danielle Judovits in Recess: School's Out), a girl with brown hair in pigtails, and wears a red jacket (like T.J.) appears as a background character, though occasionally speaks. Not much is known about her, but she is seen hanging with several other background girls.
The Diggers (voiced by Ryan O'Donohue and Klee Bragger) are a pair of kids who spend their time at recess digging holes in the dirt and are dressed as miners. One is named Dave and the other is named Sam, and despite looking alike they aren't related.
Kristen Kurst (voiced by Mayim Bialik), "Kurst the Worst", is a gluttonous and messy fifth grade girl bully who often times can be found stealing food from the cafeteria. She once befriended Mikey over their shared love of desserts.
Cornchip Girl (voiced by Anndi McAfee, Francesca Marie Smith, Ashley Johnson, Elizabeth Daily, and Aria Curzon), whose real name is Theresa Laverne LaMaise, is a sweet and polite little girl known for throwing corn chips to mark the arrival of King Bob at events. Her father is in the Navy.
Butch (voiced by Kath Soucie) is a fifth grade boy who often times pops up to tell the kids about bad experiences, with T.J. almost always prompting Butch's stories with the words, "What're you talking about, Butch?". He wears a leather jacket and has a white streak in his hair.
Gelman (voiced by Justin Shenkarow) is the school bully, and picks on kids that are smaller than him (most notably Gus). Gelman is overweight, lazy and mean; he normally sports a black T-shirt, dark gray pants and light brown hair.
Singing Kid (voiced by Michael Shulman), real name Brandon, is the school's official singer.
Production
Recess first aired on ABC on August 31, 1997, as a "sneak preview", after which it transitioned to ABC's Disney's One Saturday Morning programming block, premiering on September 13, 1997. The series' success spawned three direct-to-video titles Recess Trilogy: Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street in 2001, Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade and Recess: All Growed Down in 2003; and one theatrical film, Recess: School's Out, which was released on February 16, 2001. The series ended on November 5, 2001; reruns continued to air on UPN until 2003 and ABC until 2004.
Disney Channel added Recess to their lineup on September 3, 2003. Fillmore!, The Legend of Tarzan, and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command were all pre-empted in favor of a 90-minute showing of the series. It temporarily ceased airing on September 2, 2005, but resumed on August 26, 2008 replacing The Buzz on Maggie, and continued until June 30, 2010.
Toon Disney aired the show from September 3, 2003 to February 12, 2009. When Toon Disney was converted to Disney XD, the series was carried over and aired from April 14, 2009 to October 27, 2011.
Episodes
Crossover with Lilo & Stitch
Lilo & Stitch: The Series featured an episode titled "Lax" that featured the cast of Recess, when T.J. and the gang go on a school vacation to Hawaii. Notably, Recess was the only series that crossed over with Lilo & Stitch: The Series that was not a Disney Channel Original Series, and whose production had already ended before Lilo & Stitch: The Series first aired.
Disaster strikes when Dr. Hämsterviel and his henchman, Gantu, try to use an escaped alien experiment to make everyone relaxed while he takes over the world. Luckily, Gretchen saves the day, since she believes work is relaxing.
Films
Recess: School's Out
Recess: School's Out is an animated film directed by Chuck Sheetz and is based on the television series where the characters must intercept a gang of anti-recess terrorists plotting to bring about a new ice age to eliminate the institution of summer vacation. The film was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and was released theatrically nationwide on February 16, 2001.
Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street
Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street is a second direct-to-video animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures and Paul & Joe Productions, produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, Plus One Animation (Korea) Co., Ltd. and Grimsaem Animation, Korea Co., Ltd., released to VHS and DVD on November 6, 2001 by Walt Disney Home Video. The film is a direct-to-video compilation of four unrelated episodes: "Principal for a Day", "The Great Can Drive", "Weekend at Muriel's", and the series' Christmas special "Yes, Mikey, Santa Does Shave", told as flashbacks by the school faculty members while stuck in a snowstorm. The video includes the voice talents of Dick Clark, Robert Goulet and James Earl Jones as well as many of the series regulars.
Recess: All Growed Down
Recess: All Growed Down is a Disney direct-to-video animated film released on December 9, 2003. After being kidnapped by kindergarteners, the main characters recall stories about how they used to get along with each other. It is a compilation of the episodes "The Legend of Big Kid", "Wild Child", and "The Kindergarten Derby", plus a new story showing the main characters as kindergarteners.
Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade
Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade (also known as Recess: Taking the 5th Grade) is a 59-minute Disney direct-to-video animated film released on December 9, 2003. It is a compilation of "No More School", "Grade Five Club", and "A Recess Halloween", three new stories that involve the main characters in fifth grade. The film serves as the series finale.
Home media
DVD
Video-on-demand
Every episode of Recess is available on Disney+ in several countries, including the US and UK, along with most of the direct-to-video films.
Critical reception
Television critics Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz wrote favorably about Recess in their 2016 book TV (The Book), stating that the series is "Easily one of the smartest, most prankishly playful adult cartoons ever passed off as children's entertainment.... Recess is a highly ritualized bit of entertainment that strikes the same notes over and over again, but always in infinite variation and with a surprising eye for psychological grace notes, especially when characters you thought of as brusque and one-dimensional reveal their fears and dreams to one another."
Possible revival
In 2022, Joe Ansolabehere revealed that he and Paul Germain had been working on a potential revival stating, "We've come up with several different angles and we've tried different things. It's been four years that we've been working on it, but that's an example of how things have changed... things are slower."
Notes
References
External links
Recess at Don Markstein's Toonopedia.
1997 American television series debuts
1990s American animated television series
1990s American school television series
2001 American television series endings
2000s American animated television series
2000s American school television series
ABC Kids (TV programming block)
American Broadcasting Company original programming
American children's animated comedy television series
Animated television series about children
Disney Channel original programming
Disney XD original programming
Disney's One Too
English-language television shows
Elementary school television series
First-run syndicated television programs in the United States
Jetix original programming
Television shows adapted into films
Television series by Disney Television Animation
Television series created by Paul Germain
Toon Disney original programming
UPN original programming
Television shows set in Arkansas