Total DramaRama

**Total DramaRama** (formerly titled "Total Drama Daycare") is the second spin-off of the Total Drama franchise.

## Summary

"*Total DramaRama* re-introduces favorite cast members like loveable Owen and uptight Courtney but ages them down from teenagers to toddlers. While the cast may be pint-sized, their teen personalities are fully-formed with the voices we know and love and each episode is packed with dream sequences, cutaways, visual jokes, confessionals and flashbacks. So, whether it’s using Uber to have a Ferris Bueller-style day off or scaring away a new teacher, our cast is ready to scale the walls, hack the school computer and do whatever it takes, because make no mistake... these toddlers are here to PLAY!"

## Episodes

 1
October 7, 2018 (Canada)
 2
April 4, 2020 (Canada)
 3
June 6, 2021 (Canada)
April 22, 2023 (Canada)

## Cast

### Supporting characters

 Christian Potenza
 Terry McGurrin
 Sunday Muse
 Sarah Gadon
 Dwayne Hill/Robert Tinkler
 Evany Rosen
 Tristan Mammitzsch

### Non-speaking Cameos

* Alejandro
* Carrie
* Devin
* DJ
* Geoff
* Heather
* Jasmine
* Katie
* Laurie
* Nikki Wong (from 6teen)
* Sadie
* Tom
* Trent

### New additions

* Lightning (from Season 3 onward)
* Sugar (from Season 3 onward)

## History

A new Total Drama was announced on May 3rd, 2017 by Christine Thompson and Christian Potenza on YouTube.

According to Actra Toronto, Total DramaRama started production on July 13, 2017 and was projected to end production on August 30, 2018, but instead it ended on March 9th, 2019. Total DramaRama was officially announced on December 19, 2017 by WorldScreen.

On December 20th, 2017 Christian Potenza confirmed on his Facebook account that he will reprise his role as Jude from 6teen.

On June 4, 2018 Corus Entertainment confirmed the show's official release date along with the finalized title.

On July 30, 2018 the entire first episode was uploaded to the Cartoon Network App.

On December 21st, 2018 the series was renewed for a second season, but it wasn't announced to the public until February 13th, 2019. According to Animationxpress The second season also consists of 52 episodes just like its predecessor, expanding the episode count to 104. According to Actra Toronto, the production for season 2 started on March 1, 2019 and was projected to end on March 1st, 2020. The first episode premiered on January 11th, 2020 in the US and in April 4th, 2020 in Canada.

On June 24th, 2020, Corus Entertainment confirmed that the series got renewed for a third season, and was said to premiere in the summer of 2021 in the US and Canada on Teletoon. The third season will also consist of 52 episodes.

On July 30th, 2020, AnimationXPress confirmed that the third season will premiere in the middle of 2021 on Cartoon Network in the US. In addition, they also confirmed that the third season would have 2 new students join the cast, Lightning and Sugar.

According to ACTRA Toronto, the production for season 3 began in August 1st, 2020 and was projected to end on August 1, 2021.

On September 20, 2021, the entire first season of the show was added to HBO Max, with the exception of Simons Are Forever. A week later, the entire second season of the show was also added.

On December 20, 2021, character designer Sean L. Moore confirmed that season 3 would be the final season of the show as the production crew was shifting focus to the future *Total Drama* seasons.

On June 8, 2022, the first 25 episodes of season 3 were added to HBO max. The other 26 episodes were also added to HBO Max on September 2, 2022.

On March 21, 2023, Elliot Animation shared a sales brochure promo of Total Drama on Facebook, which states that Total DramaRama will have a special episode with a duration of 40 minutes.

## Awards

* Emilie-Claire Barlow, the voice actress for Courtney, was nominated for ***Outstanding Performance – Female Voice*** for her performance as Courtney in the episode "Sharing is Caring".
* Lilly Bartlam, the voice actress for Gwen, was nominated for ***Outstanding Performance – Female Voice*** for her performance as Gwen in the episode "Aquarium for a Dream".
* That's a Wrap won an Award of Excellence for best animation for kids at the age of 6 to 9.
* The series was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for best animated program or series in 2020.
* Bahia Watson, the voice actress for Leshawna, was nominated for ***Outstanding Performance – Female Voice*** for her performance as Leshawna in the episode "Total Eclipse of the Fart" and won.

## Trivia

* This spin-off greatly differs from the other series:
	+ While the other two series are parodies of reality TV, this one is a slice of life comedy.
	+ The episodes are 11 minutes long rather than 22.
		- Because of this, seasons also follow a 52 episode format rather than a 26 or 13 episode format.
	+ Characters from its big sister show, *6teen* appear in the show.
* According to Christine Thompson, Total DramaRama occurs in an alternate universe. Characters from 6teen, another series developed by Fresh TV created by Tom McGillis and Jennifer Pertsch, also appear.
* All the children are 4 years old, as confirmed by Christine Thompson.
	+ According to Tom McGillis, Cartoon Network originally wanted to make the cast 11 year olds, but McGillis and his team suggested making them a lot younger. They thought that if they did make them 11 year olds, it would limit the number of stories they could tell.
* Because the spin-off takes place in an alternate continuity, every character knew each other when they were children.
	+ Hilariously, MacArthur mentions in Dude Buggies that Jen Masterson of *6teen* was her babysitter, implying she is younger than the cast of *6teen.* Here, she is older than both Jude and Nikki.
* Tom McGillis and Jennifer Pertsch had decided to create Total DramaRama as they wanted to try something new and different with the franchise.
* For a while, the show was conveniently called "*Total Drama Daycare*", but that was later changed to "*Total DramaRama*" because Fresh TV didn't want young kids to mistakenly think the show is about preschool.
	+ Coincidentally, the new title is the same as the one Anne Maria mentioned in her audition tape as a silly reference to Total Drama World Tour.
* Imagined spots and flashbacks of the children are often depicted in the form of children's drawings, using the same art style as Owen's stories in The Sucky Outdoors, The Aftermath: III, and *Oh My Izzy.*
* While it is unknown which city the daycare is located, it has the same background scenery as New York City in A Million Ways to Lose a Million Dollars.
* This is the only series not to have Clé Bennett as part of the voice cast.
* This is the first season in the franchise since Total Drama All-Stars, where new episodes are released on a weekly basis on Cartoon Network.
* There are additional characters from the main series who make silent appearances in this series, such as Katie, Trent, DJ, Geoff, and Sadie.
* Eleven of the original 22 contestants from Total Drama Island, exactly half, are cast members in this series. Like most other iterations of the franchise, Screaming Gopher characters have been favored over Killer Bass ones in terms of focus and screen time. Additionally, seven Gophers made the cut for the spinoff as opposed to only four for the Bass.
* Ezekiel, Justin, Tyler, Eva, and Lindsay are the only five of the original twenty-two contestants that have never appeared in the series, whether as a child or their original design.
* Even though this is a spin-off, this is the first time where members of the first, second and third generation casts, as well as characters from Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race, appear together.
* The art-style was redesigned for this spin-off, with brighter colors, a new sky, lines on characters (such as fur and veins) now appear as more transparent, and some characters from the main series have been redesigned or slightly tweaked to fit the art-style.
	+ This art-style was also used for the revival of the main series.