Clifford the Big Red Dog (2000 TV series)

NOTE: not to be confused with a 2019 reboot.
Clifford the Big Red Dog is an American educational animated cartoon children's television series based upon Norman Bridwell's children's book series of the same name. Produced by Mike Young Productions and Scholastic Productions. It originally aired on PBS Kids in the United States for the first and the second seasons in 2000, 2001 and 2002. In the United Kingdom, the series got a British dub using an American voice actors by Skylark Sound Studios using a British with a British accents by The Character Development and The Sound Company Ltd. on CBeebies in 2002. Only the first 2 seasons were dubbed.
2 15 minute stories made up each half-hour cartoon. Usually one story featured Clifford and his canine friends, Cleo, Mac and T-Bone among them; the other story would focus on Clifford's owner Emily Elizabeth and her friends, Jetta, Vaz and Charley. As in the other shows of its kind, during scenes focusing on the dog characters' perspective, human speech would replace barking to engage viewers in the storyline from the dogs' point of view.
John Ritter voiced Clifford in all the episodes. This was originally done by Brent Titcomb in the series that debuted in 1988 and aired into the early 1990s. Generally, his schedule dictated the production of Clifford the Big Red Dog. By the time the last of the 68 half-hour cartoons and the movie were completed, Ritter was back on ABC's prime-time schedule, starring in 8 Simple Rules. Ritter died on September 11, 2003, less than a week before PBS debuted Clifford's Puppy Days, a function of keeping Clifford's legacy going.
While 10 new Clifford episodes from the Ready to Learn PBS Kids PSAs have been released, before Ritter's death in 2003, voice actors for the main characters have reprised some of their roles. The film Clifford's Really Big Movie serves as the series finale due to Ritter's death, as new episodes were made to continue from where it left off.
==Characters:==
=== Dogs: ===
*Clifford the Big Red Dog (Voiced by John Ritter in the US, re-dubbed by Tom Eastwood in the UK re-dub): A giant red Labrador Retriever/Vizsla cross. The depiction of Clifford's size is inconsistent; he is often shown as being about 20 feet tall (7.6 m) from paws to head, but can appear far larger. The character is based on the imaginary friend of creator Norman Bridwell's wife. Clifford is devoted to his owner Emily Elizabeth. He is friendly, shy, lovable, loyal, gentle and helpful but sometimes gets into trouble because of his size or is tempted into trouble by his friends and those he meets. Despite his role as the protagonist, he seldom has episodes focusing on him, usually serving as the voice-of-reason for his friends's misadventures.
*Cleo (Voiced by Cree Summer in the US, re-dubbed by Regine Candler in the UK re-dub): An energetic, selfish, trouble-making purple poodle with a tendency to not tell the truth. Her catchphrase is "Have I ever steered you wrong?" which she inadvertently does immediately after. She is one of Clifford's best friends. Her owner is Mrs. Diller. She has a niece named Kiki, and her great-grandmother was named Queenie.
*T-Bone (Voiced by Kel Mitchell in the US, re-dubbed by Ben Small in the UK re-dub): A male yellow and orange bulldog with a large appetite. He is often cowardly, clumsy and cautious, but does have his moments of bravery. He is one of Clifford's best friends. T-Bone is in love with Mimi, another dog who visits from time to time. His owner is Sheriff Lewis.
**T-Bone had a best friend named Hamburger (Voiced by Kel Mitchell's longtime comedy partner Kenan Thompson) who moved away before Clifford arrived.
*Mac (Voiced by Cameron Clarke): A male blue gray hound with an inflated sense of self-importance, who shifts between aloofness and wanting to be part of Clifford, Cleo, and T-Bone's circle of friends. Mac competes in dog shows. He can be vain, bossy and selfish. However, he appears to be devoted to his owner Jetta. In a few episodes, it's revealed that his name is a shortened version of "Machiavelli".
*Tonya (Voiced by Maria Canals): Mac's sweet doggy girlfriend.
*Kiki (Voiced by Gabrielle Carteris):
===Humans===
*Emily Elizabeth Howard (Voiced by Grey DeLisle in the US, re-dubbed by Joanna Ruiz in the UK re-dub): an 8-year-old. She is Clifford's owner. A friendly, curious, and helpful girl. The best skater on the island, and also very good at soccer. Emily Elizabeth adopted Clifford when he was a very small puppy, when her parents gave him to her on her 6th birthday."Little Clifford" 19 September 2000, 6 candles on cake Emily's love caused Clifford to grow enormous, thus starting their new lives on Birdwell Island. Despite caring for Clifford and reading to him in every episode, she does not discipline him or command him and just lets him roam free. Emily was named for creator Norman Bridwell's daughter and based on the imaginary adventures of Bridwell's wife.
**Caroline Howard (Voiced by Grey DeLisle): Emily Elizabeth's mother and middle school teacher.
**Mark Howard (Voiced by Cameron Clarke): Emily Elizabeth's father
*Charley (Voiced by Gary LeRoi Gray (Jamaican with a Jamaican accent)): Emily Elizabeth's best friend and the best soccer player on the Birdwell Birds (the school soccer team). He lives on a houseboat with his father, who owns a restaurant. He speaks Jamaican with a Jamaican accent.
**Samuel (Voiced by Terrence C. Carson (Jamaican with a Jamaican accent)): Charley's father and the Jamaican owner of Samuel's Fish and Chips. He is a great storyteller and runs most of the pier. He also speaks Jamaican with a Jamaican accent too.
* Jetta Handover (Voiced by Kath Soucie): Mac's owner. She is a wealthy, self-centered friend of Emily Elizabeth who is often oblivious to others' feelings. She is often shown leading parades and competing in talent shows as a majorette. Jetta often claims her accomplishments are bigger or better than others' and finds herself humbled when she aims too high to the point where she needs help. Her mother owns one of the island stores and seems somewhat oblivious to Jetta's behavior. She often appears to dislike Clifford, criticizing him for minor accidents caused by his size, but occasionally she will show that she really does like him. She often spoils Mac with tummy yummys.
**Cosmo Handover (Voiced by Debi Derryberry) is the infant brother of Jetta. He is first seen in the episode "Baby Makes 4".
*Vaz (Voiced by Ulysses Cuadra (Mexican with a Mexican accent)): Somewhat clumsy, shy, and unlucky boy who is friends with Emily Elizabeth and Charley. He speaks Mexican with a Mexican accent.
*Sheriff Lewis (Voiced by Nick Jameson): T-Bone's owner. The island's sheriff and the soccer coach. He feeds T-Bone often (explaining why T-Bone is overweight).
**He had a best friend named Chief Wilson who moved away with T-Bone's best buddy Hamburger.
*Mrs. Diller (Voiced by Cree Summer): Cleo's owner.
*Horace Bleakman (Voiced by Earl Boen) lives with his wife Violet and also Howards' neighbor. He is often grumpy and impatient about the noise and mess Clifford inadvertently causes, but he is still a good neighbor and helps Clifford and the others from time to time.
*Violet Bleakman (Voiced by Edie McClurg) is the first neighbor of the Howards to introduce herself. She is a little more nice, calm, and patient than her cranky husband Horace.
*Mary (also voiced by Kath Soucie) is Emily-Elizabeth's friend who sits in a wheelchair due to her disability of walking and standing up. She plays piano.
*Laura Howard (Voiced by E. G. Daily) is Emily-Elizabeth's cousin who owns a dog named Rex.
*Miss. Carrington (Voiced by Grey Griffin) is the schoolteacher on Birdwell Island.
*Monique (Voiced by Simbi Khali) is Jetta's friend.
*Pedro and Victor (both voiced by Tony Plana) are dock workers who help unload the boat in "Welcome to Birdwell Island". Victor speaks Mexican with a Mexican accent.
*Ms. Lee (Voiced by Haunani Minn) is the librarian at the Birdwell Island Library.
*Dr. Dihn (also voiced by Haunani Minn) is the island's vet. She later adopts a dog named Bob.
==Format==
The series has at least 5 segments in the show, which are:
# Theme Song
# First Story - The following is about a central story, which is about the dogs and/or Emily Elizabeth and/or her friends and a problem they face.
# Storytime with Speckle - Between the 1st and Second story, Emily Elizabeth reads Clifford the Speckle Story, a small 60 seconds (approximately) time filler about a fictional dog (Speckle), and his animal friends.
# Second Story - The following is about another central story, same situation as the First Story.
# Clifford's Big Ideas - Before the credits but after the Second story, another 30-second short takes place called Clifford's Big Ideas. The short is basically an animation of an etiquette, a proverb, or basic truth such as "Play Fair", "Help Others", etc., with narration by Emily Elizabeth.
During it's original run, PBS Kids also has an exclusive segment, after Clifford's Big Ideas segment, which showcase the everyday dog in real life.
==Production and Episodes==
This series was produced by Mike Young Productions and Scholastic Studios.
:Main Article: List of Clifford the Big Red Dog Episodes
Season	Season	Episodes	Originally aired 	Originally aired
Season	Season	Episodes	First aired 	Last aired
 	1 	40 	September 1, 2000	May 10, 2001
 	2 	25 	February 1, 2002 	February 25, 2002
==Partial U.K. English redub==
*There is a U.K. English style redub which used in the U.S. English voice cast by Skylark Sound Studios using in the U.K. English with the U.K. English accents by The Character Development and The Sound Company Ltd. when voicing the characters.
==U.K. Broadcast==
* In the United Kingdom, the British dub of the American show in the same year on CBeebies for Seasons 1 and 2 respectively in 2002 instead of the original American version on PBS Kids in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
*When it comes to this particular dub, while a lot of the original American voices by Skylark Sound Studios (John Ritter, Cree Summer, Kel Mitchell and Grey DeLisle) remained intact and some of the characters were re-dubbed to have a British with a British accents in the British dub by The Character Development and The Sound Company Ltd., with the voice actors including (Tom Eastwood, Regine Candler, Ben Small and Joanna Ruiz). In addition, all the words are pronounced in the American pronunciations were redubbed given British pronunciations, but the original American version can still be found online.
* The British voice editing was done by The Character Development and The Sound Company Ltd.. The difference is that Clifford, Cleo, T-Bone and Emily had a British with a British accents.
==Film==
In April 2004, Warner Bros. Pictures distributed a feature-length animated film based on the show, titled Clifford's Really Big Movie. This was John Ritter's second last film in his career, before his death, after completing voice work for the film. The film was dedicated to his memory (just like Bad Santa in 2003). The film serves as the follow-up and as the series finale.
==Video games==
===Original series===
*Clifford's Reading
*Clifford's Thinking Adventures
===Modern series===
*Clifford's Learning Activities
*Clifford's Musical Memory Games
*Clifford's Phonics
*Clifford's Big Puzzle Game (A Wendy's Kids' Meal DVD game, available for a limited time only)
== See also==
*Younger versions of cartoon characters
*Clifford's Puppy Days
*Clifford's Really Big Movie
==Aspect Ratio==
* 4:3 (Pan & Scan as a PBS Kids series only)
==Media==
See Clifford the Big Red Dog (2000 TV series)/Gallery
==References==
^ Media and Culture, 5th ed., Richard Campbell, Christopher R. Martin and Bettina Fabos.
==External links==
*Clifford the Big Red Dog at the Internet Movie Database
*Official site of book series
*Clifford the Big Red Dog at TV.com
*Good article about Clifford's creation
Category:Clifford the Big Red Dog
Category:Clifford the Big Red Dog (2000 TV series)