Pansy's World

File:Pansy's World.png
***Pansy's World*** was an online exclusive webseries and a segment on Spring's programming block Pansy’s Club. Each segment, or episode, runs approximately 20 minutes long following the same, basic format. Regular features include inserts featuring the Giggles Family, Pansy asking questions of a baby and email messages which feature other Spring regulars. The segment takes place in a crayon-drawn apartment.

Each segment focuses on a specific topic - ranging from Balls or Jackets to Fast and Slow or Hands. The segments follow a series of skits and interviews centered on that topic. The skits and interviews are essentially the same every day, only changing the subject matter.

Production on new installments of *Pansy's World* was discontinued by 2013.

## Format

One characteristic feature of "Pansy's World" is that every episode has the same segments, in the same order. Research has shown that the formula appeals to young children's attraction to ritual and routine, and that children's participation with the program increases with repetition.

* **Guess what Pansy's thinking about today:** Via narration, Pansy introduces the episode topic, which leads into a film montage of the subject.
* **Donna has a question:** Donna's bowl has a decoration related to the topic, Donna relays something factual about the subject and has a question.
* **The Giggles Family:** Skits featuring Mr. Giggles, his brother (known as Mr. Giggles' brother, Mr. Giggles), or his sister (known as Mr. Giggles' sister, Ms. Giggles), or any combination of the above, attempting to answer Donna's question, but usually fail. The segment is intended to be comical, demonstrating that the Giggles aren't all too bright.
* **Kids and Baby:** Kids answer Donna's question, followed by a narrator asking a baby with a prop related to the topic.
* **Pansy Has a Question for You:** Both Pansy and the narrator asks the viewer to help the former, often counting items in a CGI animation.
* **Home Video/Video E-mail:** During the first few seasons, home video footage shot by Pansy of other Spring characters. Later replaced by video e-mail, in which Spring characters demonstrate something related to the main topic.
* **Quiz:** The narrator asks different questions about the main topic, often with multiple choice answers, and kids, in voice-over, provide the answer. Usually, at least one Spring character appears in each segment. The segment usually begins with Pansy failing to open the Drawer until it finally opens up on its own, often pushing him offscreen.
* **Film Insert:** Live action films, usually involving a child and their experiences with the subject.
* **TV:** Animated segments, seen on a channel devoted to the topic, and usually featuring the Lecture Lady.
* **Expert Interview:** To learn more, Pansy talks with an expert, often an inanimate object related to the topic or activity. Book is featured in certain segments.
* **Tickle Me Land:** Usually occurring during the guest's speech, Donna imagines a version of Pansy as a specific animal or in an occupation/activity.
* **Closing Song:** The narrator and the guest(s) sing the topic word(s), usually to the tune of "Jingle Bells".

## Episodes

Pansy's World has spawned more than 64 episodes and two hour-long direct-to-video specials. *Wild Wild West!* was released in 2010 and *Happy Holidays!* in 2011.

## Inside Pansy's World

As shown in the *Pansy's World: Happy Holidays!* home video special, Pansy's World takes place inside one of Pansy's crayon drawings, which explains the scribbly look and bright colors of the digitally-generated set. Most segments usually feature cameos by at least two other recognizable characters (one of whom usually appears in sequences where the narrator asks a yes or no-type question).

Pansy said in a video that she got help from the Pansy's Club hosts, in crayoning her house. Karla Cheatham-Msley claims that her pants got messed up in the process.

## Characters

* Pansy
* The narrator
* Donna (Pansy's pet goldfish)
* Mr. Giggles ("Weird Al" Yankovic)
* Mr. Giggles' brother, Mr. Giggles (Robin Williams)
* Mr. Giggles' sister, Ms. Giggles (Julia Roberts)

## Behind the Scenes

### Origins

The idea for a Pansy-centered webseries came just before the launch of Musical Mornings with Melody Mouse. Research was showing that the average viewing age of the channel was getting younger and was more popular with viewers under the age of three than ever before. Dr. Rosemarie Truglio, vice president of Education and Research for Spring, attested that tests showed younger viewers were losing interest around the 3-hour mark of Pansy’s Club. Producers came up with the idea for the block to end around 12pm, and that a shorter, and very different styled, segment that was specially designed to engage the younger viewers, would air during the final 20 minutes of the block. Judy Freudberg, Tony Geiss, Emily Kingsley, Cathy Turow, Annie Evans and Molly Boylan created and developed the concept along with Arlene Sherman.

Executive producer Michael Loman describes the format:

> The first episode of "Pansy's World", which was about balls, debuted in 2009. "Pansy's World" has undergone a few changes since its conception. In the beginning, the same "Pansy's World" segment was repeated on all five shows for the week, but after the first five weeks of its debut year, the practice was dropped (and the summer reruns of many of these episodes would replace the Pansy's World segments with different segments). When the segment first appeared, Pansy introduced "Pansycam" home videos. In 2010, Pansy's computer began delivering video e-mails from other Spring characters on the topic of the day. These computer segments replaced the home video portion of the show used in the first two seasons. Also, the film portions featuring kids were originally narrated, but later on were switched to being narrated by the kids themselves.
>
>

### Production

Pansy's room is a simple raised set comprised for three walls (painted scenery flats) with crayon drawing designs.

Early on, many of the animated characters who interacted with Pansy were performed in real-time alongside the puppet through the use of motion-capture puppeteering. Rick Lyon served as motion-capture puppeteer for Pansy's drawer, shade and door when the segments first started. However the use of motion-capture performances was dropped as production got more complicated. Now, simple stand-ins and markers are used and the animated characters are added in post-production using traditional key-frame computer animation techniques.

Helen Harding is Pansy's principal puppeteer for *Pansy's World*; for more complicated shots that show the use of Pansy's entire body, a puppet known as "Active Pansy" is used and additional puppeteers assist and are matted out along with Harding in the final shots. Matt Vogel, John Tartaglia and others have served as assistants.

## Internationally

The segments have also been broadcast as a standalone program (on Britain's Smoothie, Australia's ABS Kids, Canada's Scrat, and translated into Danish and Spanish, among others).

Falidon Jr.'s FRIENDS has a segment inspired by *Pansy's World*, *Hammy's World*. Instead of being inhabited by animate objects that are normally inanimate, Hammy's imagination features traditional puppets. This segment also features a clown similar to Mr. Giggles that tries to answer Hammy's question through pantomime.

## Trivia

* Years after the segment was dissolved, references to *Pansy's World* were still made in Pansy's spin-off series, The Pansy Show.