ChalkZone

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ChalkZone is an American animated television series and the fifteenth major Nicktoon produced by Frederator Studios for Nickelodeon. It was originally featured on Oh Yeah! Cartoons, and is one of the three spin-offs of the show (alongside The Fairly OddParents and My Life as a Teenage Robot).
ChalkZone aired from March 22, 2002, to August 23, 2008, airing 40 episodes over four seasons. A soundtrack album, titled In The Zone had also been released. The last episode that aired on a regular schedule was "The Crush/Gift of Good Intentions/Snapshots 2: Wild ChalkZone!/Go Pop" on June 22, 2005. The show went on hiatus from then until June 4, 2008. The remaining episodes aired on Nick between June 4 to August 23, 2008. Reruns aired on NickToons from the channel's debut until October 2013.
==Premise==
The main character, an elementary school 5th-grade student named Rudy Tabootie (Elizabeth Daily), has been gifted with a magically endowed piece of chalk that allows access to the ChalkZone, an alternate dimension where everything and everyone that's ever been drawn in chalk and erased takes form as the living and/or tangible. The show concentrates on the adventures of Rudy, sidekick Snap (Candi Milo), and classmate Penny Sanchez (Hynden Walch) within the zone.
Although the show had two acts per episode like most Nicktoons, it did not follow the standard two-shorts-per-episode structure. Instead, each episode typically consisted of the following structure:
* Two segments centering on Rudy's adventures in ChalkZone, the first one usually being 11 minutes long and the latter being 7 minutes long (in the first season, this was usually one of the original shorts from Oh Yeah! Cartoons)
* A 3-minute short starring Snap
* A 1-minute song to close out the episode
==Episodes==
==Characters==
*Rudolph Bartholomew "Rudy" Tabootie (E.G. Daily) - The shy artist whom the show stars. When he was 8, he had obtained the Magic Chalk and traveled to ChalkZone for the first time.
* Snap (Candi Milo) - Rudy's ChalkZone pal, based on a character drawn on a chalkboard, who was supposed to be the rival of a monster caricature of the school, Bully Nerd.
* Penelope Victoria "Penny" Sanchez (Hynden Walch) - Rudy's geeky classmate whom he has a secret crush on. She first appeared in the Oh Yeah! Cartoons episode Rudy's Date.
* Reginald "Reggie" Bullnerd (Candi Milo) - The school bully. He enjoys blaming as his method of bullying. 
* Joseph Walter "Joe" Tabootie (Jess Harnell) - Rudy's father, who runs a meat shop. His voice resembles that of Ned Flanders from The Simpsons, but in a high-disported pitch.
* Mildred Trish "Millie" Tabootie (Miriam Flynn) - Rudy's mother who calls Rudy down in a opera singing-like voice.
* Horace T. Wilter (Robert Cait) - Rudy's cartoon-hating school teacher, despite that he once enjoyed them as a child.
* Veronica Sanchez (Nika Futterman) - Penny's mother who is a doctor and scientist.
* Tilly McNally (Grey DeLisle) - Rudy's aunt and Millie's sister.
* Sophie McNally (Grey DeLisle) - Rudy's 2-year old cousin, Tilly's daughter and Joe and Millie's niece.
* Biclops (Rodger Bumpass) - The guardian of the Magic Chalk Mines. He was drawn by a Scottish artist whom gave him a kilt (he does not like the kilt) and one eye. He was later given a second eye by Rudy, whom in turn gave him access to the Mines.
* Blocky (Candi Milo) - A childlike drawing Rudy drew early on.
* Queen Rapsheeba (Russi Taylor) - ChalkZone's hot rap artist whom Snap has a crush on.
*Chalk Dad (Jess Harnell) - A drawing Rudy made, who resembles and sounds similar to Rudy's father. His voice also resembles that of Ned Flanders from The Simpsons, but in a high-distorted pitch.
* Spy Fly - A chalk-fly with a camera attached to her head.
* Skrawl (Jim Cummings) - A villainous (and strange-looking) chalk-being who was originally drawn by Rudy (his teeth), but then, after everyone drew another part on him, was called hideous and erased into the ChalkZone. He is constantly out to "get" Rudy.
* The Beanie Boys - Skrawl's flying, singing henchmen.
* The Craniacs - A group of robots looking for futuristic inventions, each one smarter than the last.
==Broadcast history==
*Nickelodeon (original run, March 22, 2002-August 23, 2008; reruns, August 24, 2008-November 15, 2009)
*Nicktoons TV/Nicktoons Network/NickToons (May 1, 2002-October 28, 2013)
*TeenNick (November 12, 2016; February 28, 2021)
*Paramount+ (November 10, 2020-present)
==Home video releases==
The episode "Future Zone" was released on the Nickstravaganza! VHS in 2003. The full fourth episode ("Gift Adrift", "French Fry Falls", and "Eschucha Mi Corazon") was included on the Nickstravaganza! 2 DVD (only "French Fry Falls" was included on the adjacent VHS release). The Christmas episode, "When Santas Collide", was featured on the 2006 DVD Nick Picks Holiday. The episode "Waste Mountain" was included on the Green 2 Go DVD, which was released as a bonus disc with certain copies of the SpongeBob SquarePants: Pest of the West DVD.
A Complete Series DVD set for ChalkZone was released through Amazon.com's CreateSpace manufacture-on-demand program on October 13, 2014; despite the title, however, it was missing the episode "The Smooch". It was unfortunately discontinued on June 4, 2021.
==Awards==
ChalkZone was nominated for numerous Awards including two Annie Awards a Humantas, and the Imagen award.
==Trivia==
*If one counts its pilot on Oh Yeah! Cartoons and excluding Pinwheel, ChalkZone is the third-longest running Nickelodeon show (in terms of how long it took to air all the episodes) that has ended, running at 10 years, only to be behind Rugrats and The Fairly OddParents.
*Although the show finished its original airings in 2008, the last episodes were completed in 2004, according to the credits.
==External links==
* ChalkZone area on nick.com
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* ChalkZone at the Big Cartoon DataBase
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de:ChalkZone - Die Zauberkreide
nl:Chalkzone
 
Category:Nicktoons
Category:Cancelled shows
Category:2000s premieres
Category:2000s endings