The Penguins of Madagascar
Title image
Genre	Animated comedy
Created by	Tom McGrath Eric Darnell
Directed by	Bret Haaland Nick Filippi
Starring	Tom McGrath John DiMaggio Jeff Bennett James Patrick Stuart Danny Jacobs Kevin Michael Richardson Andy Richter Nicole Sullivan Mary Scheer Conrad Vernon Tara Strong
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	30[1] (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Mark McCorkle Bob Schooley[2]
Location(s)	Nicktoons Network Burbank, California
Running time	approximately 22 minutes (2 × 11-minute episodes)
Broadcast
Original channel	Nickelodeon
First shown in	United States
Original run	November 29, 2008 – present
Chronology
Preceded by	Madagascar (2005) Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)
Followed by	Madagascar 3 (proposed)
External links
Official website

The Penguins of Madagascar is an American CGI animated television series airing on Nickelodeon, starring the penguins from the 2005 film, Madagascar, which the TV series is based on. A pilot episode, Gone in a Flash, aired as part of Super Stuffed Nicktoons Weekend on November 29, 2008 before a new episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, and The Penguins of Madagascar became a regular series on March 28, 2009. The series takes place after the events of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. Nickelodeon ordered 26 episodes for season 1 and in January 2009 ordered a second season of 26 episodes, bringing the total to 52.^[3] This is the first Nicktoon produced with DreamWorks Animation. The series premiere drew 6.1 million viewers.^[4]

Plot

The Penguins of Madagascar is a spin-off of the Madagascar films, which takes place after the second movie. The series follows the adventures of four penguins: Skipper, Kowalski, Private and Rico, who perform various missions to protect their home in the Central Park Zoo. The penguins are constantly opposed by a trio of lemurs, Julien, Mort and Maurice, who believe that Julien is the rightful ruler of the zoo.

While it is not known how the penguins and lemurs arrived at the zoo after their adventures in both Madagascar films, the penguins are seen opening a crate at the show’s opening which reads “Madagascar” and contains the three lemur characters. It is possible that the proposed third installment of the Madagascar franchise may reveal some details, as DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg had stated that "there is at least one more chapter. We ultimately want to see the characters make it back to New York."^[5]

Characters

The Penguins of Madagascar features the four penguin characters from the Madagascar franchise, as well as the chimpanzees and the three lemurs. New to the series is Marlene, a female otter, and Alice, a zookeeper.

Penguins

• Skipper (voiced by Tom McGrath), the leader of the penguins, who forms tactics and gives orders. While usually cool-headed and calculating, he is shown to have a secret fear of needles.
• Private (voiced by James Patrick Stuart), the emotionally sensitive rookie of the group, who has a knack for cracking codes. Though less experienced than the other penguins, he is shown to be the most down to earth. He has a British accent and is sometimes prone to accidents.
• Kowalski (voiced by Jeff Glen Bennett) acts as the group strategist and gadgeteer. Kowalski is highly intelligent, but tends to over-analyze situations.
• Rico (voiced by John DiMaggio), the team's weapons and explosives specialist, who communicates through grunts and squeals. Rico swallows useful tools, such as dynamite, and regurgitates them when needed.

Lemurs

• King Julien (voiced by Danny Jacobs) is a Ring-tailed Lemur and the self-proclaimed lemur king.^[6] Julien is a stuck-up character who has little regard for his "subjects", Maurice and Mort. He has a tendency to use malapropisms and misinterpret figures of speech.
• Maurice (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson), an Aye-aye who is one of Julien's subjects. While Maurice accepts his life as a servant, he often shows disdain towards Julien and his hare-brained ideas.
• Mort (voiced by Andy Richter), an accident-prone mouse lemur. Unlike Maurice, Mort is fiercely devoted to Julien, even displaying an obsession with the lemur king's feet. However, Julien treats him with contempt.

Secondary characters

• Marlene (voiced by Nicole Sullivan), is a female otter who was transferred to the Central Park Zoo from an aquarium in California.^[7] She is close friends with Skipper and sometimes tags along on his missions, but she believes the penguins are insane.
• Mason (voiced by Conrad Vernon) and Phil, are two intelligent chimpanzees. Mason can speak but cannot read; Phil is mute but is an avid reader. Phil communicates through sign language which is interpreted by Mason.
• Alice (voiced by Mary Scheer) is a surly zookeeper. Though another worker can be heard on her walkie-talkie, she is the only one ever seen.
• The Rat King (voiced by Diedrich Bader), is a genetically enhanced, muscular lab rat who resides in the sewer. He is a common antagonist of the penguins.
• Roger (voiced by Richard Kind) is the penguin's gator friend that lives in the sewers. They meet him in the episode "Haunted Habitat" when Skipper and Marlene go to investigate the sewers under Marlene's habitat because of a strange sound. Roger tells the penguins that he is from Florida. He appears again in "Roger Dodger" when the sewer rats terrorize him.
• Max (voiced by Wayne Knight) is the penguins' stray cat friend. He first meets the four penguins in the episode "Launchtime" when the penguins end up on a rooftop across the street from the zoo instead of on the moon. At first, the penguins thought he was a "mooncat," but at the end they figure out he was just a stray cat. Max is skinny and hopes to catch a bird in his life. He at first wanted to eat the penguins, but was so touched that he was given a can of fish by them that he became their friend instead.

Episodes

History

Production (2006-2008)

In mid 2006, Nickelodeon and Dreamworks Animation announced that they would collaborate to create a Nicktoon based on the Madagascar films. The new series would star the Penguins from the film series. Nothing had been confirmed on what the series is about, until November 2007.

At first, in November 2007, Nickelodeon advertised a sneak peek of three new Nicktoons coming to Nickelodeon, The Mighty B!, Making Fiends, and The Penguins of Madagascar all on November 25, 2007 part of Superstuffed Nicktoons Weekend. Then December 2007, Nickelodeon had advertised many events that were going to premier on Nickelodeon in 2008 (The Mighty B!, Fairly OddBaby, The Penguins of Madagascar, KCA 2008, Sidekicks, and "Pest of the West").^[9] Since then, The Penguins of Madagascar had been delayed at least twice in 2008, and saw a debut in March 2009, most likely due to Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa being delayed to November 7, 2008. On November 28, 2008, Nickelodeon aired an episode from the series as a sneak peek. The Double DVD Pack of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa includes an early DVD of the show.

Dreamworks licensed to a number of manufacturers, including Hooga Loo Toys, who had a successful run creating a line of plush toys associated with the second Madagascar movie. Based on its success, Hooga Loo was granted a license to create an entire new toy line for the new series. Hooga Loo recruited the creative development team, PANGEA, the company who assisted Playmates Toys in the development of the phenomenally successful "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," to work systemically with Dreamworks and develop toys inspired by and for the series. ^[10] Fast food restaurants have been courting Dreamworks to glean the rights for a QSR deal. McDonald's produced a collector's dream line based on the second film.

Nickelodeon Debut

After some delays of the series to air, The Penguins of Madagascar debuted on Nickelodeon in 2009. The series is produced at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio in Burbank, California, with animation carried out in India.^[7] Both Nickelodeon and DreamWorks Animation are planning on a 26 episode season.^[2] The Penguins of Madagascar aired after the 2009 Kids' Choice Awards on March 28, 2009 at 9:30pm ET/PT.^[11]

International release

Country / Region	Series premiere	Network	Episodes aired
Australia	April 18, 2009	Nickelodeon Australia	Popcorn Panic, Gone in a Flash
Belgium The Netherlands	April 12, 2009	Nickelodeon Netherlands	Gone in a Flash
Austria Germany Switzerland	April 10, 2009	Nickelodeon Germany	Popcorn Panic, Gone in a Flash, Launchtime, Haunted Habitat, Tangled in the Web, Crown Fools
Argentina  Brazil  Chile  Costa Rica  Mexico  Venezuela	June 5, 2009	Nickelodeon Latin America	Popcorn Panic, Gone in a Flash
Ireland United Kingdom	April 12, 2009	Nickelodeon UK Nickelodeon Ireland	Popcorn Panic, Gone in a Flash
Canada United States	November 29, 2008 ("Sneak Peek")[8] March 28, 2009 (Official launch)	Nickelodeon	Gone in a Flash Launchtime, Haunted Habitat

Actor Replacements

For the television series, not all the actors from the films were able to reprise their roles as their characters. For example:

• Kowalski is voiced by Chris Miller in the films, but voiced by Jeff Bennett in the series.
• Private is voiced by James Patrick Stuart in the series, and voiced by Christopher Knights in the films.
• King Julien is voiced by Danny Jacobs in the series, but voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen in the films.
• Maurice is voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson in the series, and voiced by Cedric the Entertainer in the films.

Skipper, Rico, and Mort are voiced by the same actors as in the films. Tom McGrath (Skipper), John DiMaggio (Rico), and Andy Richter (Mort).

Critical reception

This section requires expansion with: more critical reception from reliable sources.

The Penguins of Madagascar has been given mixed to positive critical reviews. Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times gave the show a favorable review. She said that the show had strong comedic timing and action scenes, saying that it recalled both Wile E. Coyote cartoons and 1940s gangster movies. McNamara also noted that the replacements for the celebrity voice actors did their jobs well.^[12] Tim Goodman's review in the San Francisco Chronicle is also favorable. He said that he considered the penguins and Julien as having the most comedic potential from the movies, with his review focusing on the voice actors' comedic timing, and said that the show also contained several jokes which would make it appealing to adults.^[13]

After admitting that Madagascar "...is hardly my favorite recent animated movie," Brian Lowry of Variety, said that although he thought the show was "loud, exuberant and colorful", he did not think that it was funny and said that the show seemed more like a "merchandising bonanza". He did, however, say that the show's CGI animation was high in quality.^[14]

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (April 2009)

• The rotating statues at the front gate of the Central Park Zoo (which is located just below the monkey bells) rotate counterclockwise in the series, however in the film, they rotate clockwise.
• Phil the chimpanzee has lighter brown fur in the series than he did in the films. Mason, however still retains his dark brown fur.
• The penguins' car's license plate reads "I ♥ BNJVI", a reference to the rock band Bon Jovi and rocker Jon Bon Jovi. It is a New Jersey license plate, and was first discovered by Kowalski at a dump in that state in the episode Gone in a Flash and first seen on the penguins' car in the episode Little Zoo Coupe.
• Private is pictured on the front of the Central Park Zoo brochure in the series.
• The lemurs' exhibit used to be Alex's.

References

External links

• The Penguins of Madagascar at the Internet Movie Database.
• The Penguins of Madagascar at TV.com