Eureeka's Castle

**Eureeka's Castle** is an American children's fantasy puppetry television series created by **Judy Katschke**. The series was a joint development by **Nickelodeon**, animators **Kit Laybourne** and **Eli Noyes** of **Noyes & Laybourne Enterprises**, and the puppeteers at the **3/Design Studio**. The series premiered on Nickelodeon's **Nick Jr.** block on September 4, 1989 and ended on November 10, 1991. **R.L Stine** developed the characters and was the head of the episodes.

## Premise

The series follows the magic adventures of various puppet characters, including Eureeka, a sorceress-in-training. She and her friends live in a wind-up castle music box owned by a friendly giant. Other characters include Magellan, a dragon, twin moat dwellers Bogge and Quagmire, Batly the bat, and Mr. Knack the handyman. There are also various appearing creatures such as mice, singing fish statues called the Fishtones, Magellan's pets Cooey and the Slums, and Batly's pet spider, Webster.

Halfway through the episode, an animated short based on a children's book (usually acquired from **Children's Circle**) was shown. Others also featured were much shorter animated and live-action shorts, and European-Britain imports such as **Animal Fair**, **Roobarb**, **The Shoe People**, **Towser**, **James The Cat**, **Le Piaf**, **Plonsters**, **Phillip**, and **Gran**.

## Characters/Cast

**Main**

* **Eureeka** **-** The title character/protagonist of the series. She is a friendly sorceress-in-training. Her spells aren't successful most of the time, but she keeps trying until she gets it right. Aside from magic, she usually helps her friends solve problems..
* **Magellan** **-** A large green childlike dragon with a tail that has a mind of its own. He does not always understand new concepts. Magellan tends to make great big sneezes that can shake the whole castle whenever he gets upset. He has a mother-son like relationship with Eureeka. According to Eureeka, Magellan will do anything to try and stay awake past bedtime. One talent that Magellan can do is blow bubbles from his mouth.
* **Cooey -** Magellan's pet of an indeterminate species.
* **Slurms -** Magellan's pet worm hybrids.
* **Blanketeers -** Living blue dots that are on Magellan's blanket.
* **Batly -** An egotistical clumsy blue bat who wears glasses due to him being nearsighted. Despite being different in every way, he and Magellan are good friends. His flying usually ends with a crash landing prompting him to say "I meant to do that." Batly spends most of his time in the belfry and has a large bug collection.
* **Webster** **-** Batly's intimidating pet spider.
* **Fred -** Batly's lightning bug whom he sleeps with.
* **Bogge & Quagmire -** Moat Twins who are two mischievous squabbling siblings who spend most of their time swimming in the castle moat, eating peanut butter sandwiches, and playing in the basement. Bogge is orange while Quagmire is pink. They tend to argue with each other, but work together when it comes to causing trouble. Bogge and Quagmire constantly try to steal Magellan's peanut butter sandwiches, but never succeed.
* **Mr. Knack -** The castle's handyman and tinkerer. He uses many unconventional methods for fixing things around the castle. He also loves to barter when he sells some of his inventions that he has made from his pushcart. Mr. Knack always gets some postcards which he reads to the viewers. His first name is "Nick", giving him the name Nick Knack.
* **Sir Klank -** A blue mouse with a long gray beard who resides in a suit of armor.
* **Kate -** A pink mouse who frequently reports on happenings in the castle.
* **Emma -** An orange mouse who loves to eat.
* **The Fishtones -** A trio of singing fish in the form of a stone fountain who spray water they aren't singing.
* **The Giant -** A friendly full-bodied giant with a big nose and a long orange beard who owns the wind-up castle music box where the show takes place.

## Puppeteers

### Main

* **Pam Arciero** as Quagmire, Emma
* **Cheryl Blaylock** as Eureeka
* **Lynn Hippen** as Cooey, Kate
* **Jim Kroupa** as Batly, Sir Klank, Giant
* **Noel MacNeal** as Magellan, Webster
* **Brian Muehl** as Bogge, Mr. Knack

### Additional

* **Rob Gardner**
* **John Kennedy**
* **Joey Mazzarino**

## Production

Eureeka's Castle's ending credits state the show comes from an original concept by **Debby Beece** and **Judy Katschke**. In 1988, development of the show began by staff members **Nickelodeon** and animator **Eli Noyes** and his partner **Kit Laybourne**, whose wife **Geraldine Laybourne** was the Head of Programming for Nickelodeon. "**Jovial Bob Stine**", best known for his children's horror novels written under the pen name **R. L. Stine**, was hired as the head writer to develop the concept, characters and episode scripts. The puppet design and construction for the characters were done at **3/Design Studio** where the puppets were built by **Jim Kroupa, John Orberg,** **Kip Rat** and **Matt Stoddart**.

**Nickelodeon** ordered 65 episodes of **Eureeka's Castle**, and Beece called it "**the most ambitious program for preschoolers since the premiere of Sesame Street 20 years ago**". The first episode of Eureeka's Castle premiered during Nickelodeon's **Special Delivery** block on August 27, 1989, before debuting on Nick Jr. on September 4. In May 1990, Eureeka's Castle was renewed for a 35-episode second season.

From 1990 to 1991, Nickelodeon created 52 half-hour episodes of Eureeka's Castle entirely out of clips from the first two seasons for their participation in the **Cable in the Classroom** service. Some episodes did not include acquired shorts and musical guest segments, while others included some of them. The half-hour episodes were designed for international distribution and later replaced the original hour-long episodes in reruns starting in 1994. Production on Eureeka's Castle ended in 1991; some of the show's crew later worked **Gullah Gullah Island**.

## Broadcast

The series was first shown on **Nickelodeon** as part of the **Special Delivery** block on August 27, 1989. It officially premiered on **Nick Jr.** on September 4, 1989 and ended its run on November 10, 1991. Reruns of the show continued airing on **Nick Jr.** until September 6, 1996, and again from November 16, 1998, to February 5, 1999, and on **Noggin** from 1999 to 2002.

## Episodes

**Eureeka's Castle** - **Nickelodeon** & **Noyes & Laybourne Enterprises**

**Season 1 (1989)**

1. **TBA**
2. **TBA**
3. **TBA**
4. **TBA**
5. **TBA**

**Season 2 (1990-1991)**

1. **TBA**
2. **TBA**

**Season 3 (1990-1991)**

1. **TBA**
2. **Animals**
3. **Sunny Day**
4. **Bedtime**
5. **Body Language**
6. **TBA**

**Season 4 (1990-1991)**

1. **Christmas At Eureeka's Castle**
2. **It Came From Beneath The Bed Or Nightmare On Magellan Street**
3. **Don't Touch That Box**

## Home Media

Two Eureeka's Castle direct-to-video specials, "**Sing Along With Eureeka**" and "**Wide Awake At Eureeka's Castle**" (both produced in 1990) and the "**Christmas At Eureeka's Castle**" special were released by **Sony Wonder** in 1995 and **Paramount Home Video** in 1997. While some of the episodes were released on VHS, the series has not been released on DVD.

On April 21, 2021, half-hour episodes of the show were added to **Paramount+**. This marks the first time the series had been legally available to watch in 19 years.

* **Sing Along With Eureeka - VHS**
* **Christmas At Eureeka's Castle - VHS**
* **Wide Awake At Eureeka's Castle - VHS**

Eureeka's Castle: Sing Along With Eureeka - VHS (July 1995)Eureeka's Castle: Sing Along With Eureeka - VHS (1997 reissue)Eureeka's Castle: Christmas At Eureeka's Castle - VHS (February 1997)Eureeka's Castle: Christmas At Eureeka's Castle - VHS (August 1995)Eureeka's Castle: Wide Awake At Eureeka's Castle - VHS (March 1996)Eureeka's Castle: Wide Awake At Eureeka's Castle - VHS (1997 reissue)

## Books

Book releases of **Eureeka's Castle...**

* **Magellan's Hats**
* **Magellan Saves The Day**
* **The Perfect Lunch**
* **Good Night, Magellan**
* **Eureeka's Castle: Magic, Magic, Magic!**
* **Eureeka's Castle: Giant Paint With Water**
* **Eureeka's Castle: A Giant Color/Activity Book**
* **Eureeka's Castle: Sticker Fun**

Eureeka's Castle: Magellan's Hats: A Golden Board Book (March 1991)Eureeka's Castle: Magellan Saves The Day: Golden Little Look-Look Book (June 1991)Eureeka's Castle: The Perfect Lunch: A First Little Golden Book (January 1992)Eureeka's Castle: Good Night, Magellan: A First Little Golden Book (January 1991)Eureeka's Castle: Magic, Magic, Magic! A Big Coloring Book (1990)Eureeka's Castle: Giant Paint With Water: Painting Book (1990)Eureeka's Castle: A Giant/Color Activity Book (1990)Eureeka's Castle: Sticker Fun (1990)

## Awards

In 1990, Eureeka's Castle won an **Ace Award** for **Best Children's Program**.

## Gallery

Eureeka's Castle - TV PosterEureeka's Castle - Opening TitleEureeka's Castle - Logo