Instruments & Instruments

***Instruments & Instruments*** is an American animated television series created by Ralf Hat and Thatstuff for Kingson. The series revolves around two young twin tarantulas, David and Thomas Instruments, who reside in the fictional village of Bugville, set in a garden in North Carolina.

The series was conceived way back in 1993, based on a series of drawings and animations. The series finally aired on Kingson in 1996, gaining a large viewership and making the series one of the most watched series on the network at the time. The series officially ended in 2003, with the one hour television movie, *Attack of the Molemen**.*

The series has 78 episodes, six seasons, and many other spinoff media. It has been animated by the Deadpan Productions animation company, making it the second television series to be produced by the company, after Hat's famed series, The Misadventures of Gecko. As a result of the series' fandom once it ended, cast and crew helped out create the spinoff series, The Sherry Show.

## Background

The series revolves around the lives of two young twin tarantulas who reside in the fictional village of Bugville, set in a garden in North Carolina. *David* *Instruments*—the brave and adventurous brother who takes as many risks as possible without worrying, and *Thomas Instruments*—the mature and intelligent brother who is normally more cowardly than adventurous, but still tends to join his brother on their exploits.

## Characters

### Main

* David Instruments: Dave is an eight year old spider who usually causes trouble throughout the neighborhood along with his brother, Tom. He often wears a violet T-shirt and dark blue shorts. Dave speaks in a more high pitched voice, and tends to act "sillier" and "childish" than his brother, Tom.
* Thomas Instruments: Tom, like his brother, is an eight year old spider. Tom wears a scarlet colored shirt, magenta colored shorts, and a dark pink cap. Unlike his brother, Tom is the mature one of the two, who usually acts as a "leader" to his brother.

### Antagonists

* Sherry: Sherry is a greedy, selfish, and maniacal 16 year old girl, who is just plain evil towards everyone (including her own family). She is ignorant, and only cares about herself nearly all of the times. Unlike, any other female character in the show, Sherry has an aggressive masculine voice.
* The Alien Bunnies: A race of villainous rabbit-like aliens, who threaten world domination, but fail, usually when they are outwitted by the boys.
* Henry: Tom and Dave's cousin who acts like a bully towards them. He treats them like absolutely nothing, and he enjoys playing pranks on everyone.
* Richard & Roland: Richard and Ronald are the complete opposites and rivals of the Instruments brothers. Both are rich snobby kids who treat others like nothing, and think that they are better than everyone else due to being the nephews of King Monarch, the ruler of Bugville.

### Secondary

* Eloise Instruments (Mom): Eloise is the mother of Tom and Dave. She is a somewhat hardworking housewife, who is barely noticeable about what her children are doing.
* Kevin Instruments (Dad): Kevin is the father of the brothers. Like his wife, Kevin is hardworking. He is however wondering on what his sons are doing on their adventures.
* The Bedbugs: Seen as lazy, and absolutely idiotic, Bert Bug and Ben Bug are the best friends of the brothers. They do not act like actual bedbugs, for they survive on trash.
* Jenna Orbweave: Jenna is the sister of sally and the neighbors and friends torwards the Instruments brothers. She is ten years old, and often tries to help the brothers out when in need.
* Sally Orbweave: Sally is the sister of Jenna, who is friends with the brothers too. Unlike Jenna, Sally is less mature, and usually gets into trouble.
* Snaffy: Snaffy is an unlucky and paranoid mosquito in school who often gets sick easily.
* Wormy: Wormy is a Navy veteran who appears to be a cranky old man, who is a stay at home father.
* Lorry: Wormy's adopted spider daughter who is shy, but well known by the main characters.
* Doctor Jackie: A scientist with multiple personality disorder. Jackie tends to switch from an evil mastermind to an Earth genius. He was the series' main villain during the first season.
* King Monarch: A monarch butterfly who is king of Bugville. He is shown to be a rather selfish, greedy, and idiotic leader, often making dumb rules. However, life is generally good under him due to his well working policies.

### Recurring

* Smelly: A gentle and knowledgeable shieldbug who runs The Stump Cavern (a bar in which the boys usually go to). Smelly helps the brothers in need during difficult times, but rarely he can be out of control and easily outraged.
## Production

Instruments & Instruments was first conceived way back in 1993, based on a series of drawings and animations made by the creator, Ralf Hat. Both Ralf Hat and Thatstuff (an old time friend and work partner) began to construct a whole entire television series based on the animations.

During their time, idealizing on the show and finishing the show's pitch bible, the two had a plan to make the series a *"slice of life comedy, including slapstick humor, random plots, and relative ideas".*

In 1996, Instruments & Instruments aired its first two segments *(****Twinsanity**/**David and The Goliath Bird Eater Tarantula**)* on Kingson on January 6, 1996 at 5:00pm. It later started airing regularly in April.

After season one and two, it started becoming very popular. Kingson made many merchandising deals, and a deal with Burger King was made to sell toys in their meals based on the series. This helped the series a lot. By 1997, it was almost as popular as shows currently running at the time, such as Rugrats. It was not as successful as Gecko was, however. People particularly liked Sherry, and this helped create a spinoff, know as The Sherry Show.

### Voice Acting

The main characters are both played by Elizabeth Daily, who is also best known for voicing Tommy Pickles from Rugrats.

## Broadcasting

### Episodes

* *Main article(s): Instruments & Instruments/Episode Guide*

Over the years since 1996 to 2003, there has been 75 episodes of the series, including 150 segments. Ralf Hat and Thatstuff write most of the episodes. Guest stars are featured frequently.

## Reception

### Viewers

It is proven that the series began to increase its ratings during the second season. While the first season had 1.0 Million American viewers, the second to sixth seasons had 1.50 to 4.80 Million American viewers.

### Critical Reception

Instruments & Instruments held a positive reception from critics and viewers. It has been seen as an innocent child friendly cartoon, unlike its spinoff series The Sherry Show. *"The shows writing and animation style is a huge factor which builds up the series"* replied Hat, the creator. Instruments & Instruments currently holds a 7.3 on the Internet Movie Database and a 7.0 on TV.com.

## Trivia

* Instruments & Instruments is the second animated television series that was produced by Deadpan Productions, behind The Misadventures of Gecko.
* The series satires both American suburbs life and insect life, containing references to both.

## External links

* 107 Facts You should know about Instruments & Instruments!