Total Drama is a Canadian animated satire comedy television series created by Jennifer Pertsch and Tom McGillis. It is produced by Fresh TV Inc., and it has the Canadian TV rating of "G," "PG," or "c8" (ages 8+), while the American rating of TV-PG or TV-PG-D (Originally TV-PG-DLS) on Cartoon Network. The show premiered in Canada on July 8, 2007, and in the US on June 5, 2008.
Staff
- For more information about this section, visit: Staff
There are sixty-four voice actors, six directors, thirty-five writers, and three songwriters for the series.
Seasons
Total Drama Island (2007)
- For more information about this section, visit: Total Drama Island (2007)
Total Drama Island (formerly titled Camp TV) is the first season of Total Drama. Created as a parody of shows such as Survivor and Fear Factor, Total Drama Island focuses on twenty-two teenagers arriving at Camp Wawanakwa to compete on a reality television show. The contestants are divided into two teams and must compete in challenges every three days. While the winning team earns invincibility, the losing team has to vote off one of their own players. Whoever is voted off must walk the Dock of Shame to the Boat of Losers and leave the island. The teams eventually dissolve, and the elimination process continues until the last contestant standing wins a grand prize of $100,000.
Episodes
This season consists of twenty-six episodes (twenty-seven including "Total Drama Island Recap" and "TDI Rundown") plus a special.
Total Drama Action
- For more information about this section, visit: Total Drama Action
Total Drama Action, the second season of Total Drama, takes place on an abandoned film lot somewhere in Toronto, Ontario. It follows the same format as Total Drama Island, with fifteen contestants from last season participating in movie-themed challenges on separate teams. After being voted off, contestants must take the Walk of Shame and travel to the Total Drama Aftermath show via the Lame-o-sine. This process continues until one player wins $1,000,000.
Episodes
Like the previous season, this season consists of twenty-six episodes plus a special.
Total Drama World Tour
- For more information about this section, visit: Total Drama World Tour
Total Drama World Tour (formerly titled Total Drama: The Musical) is the third season of Total Drama. Fifteen returning cast members, plus three new contestants, compete for the chance to win $1,000,000 in challenges taking place all around the world. This season, players are divided into three teams and must live on the Total Drama Jumbo Jet. They are forced to perform spontaneous musical numbers every episode or risk being eliminated via the Drop of Shame. The prize money (once again $1,000,000) goes to the last-standing contestant in the season.
Episodes
Total Drama World Tour consists of twenty-six episodes.
Total Drama: Revenge of the Island
- For more information about this section, visit: Total Drama: Revenge of the Island
Total Drama: Revenge of the Island (formerly titled Total Drama Comedy and then Total Drama Reloaded) is the fourth season of Total Drama, and the first season to not feature any returning contestants; instead, this season brings thirteen new players to Camp Wawanakwa, which was being rented to a biohazardous waste disposal company since the end of Total Drama Island. With mutated creatures roaming free and an invincibility statue in play, the two teams must take the Hurl of Shame until someone wins $1,000,000.
Episodes
Total Drama: Revenge of the Island consists of thirteen episodes, exactly half of the usual twenty-six episodes.
Total Drama All-Stars
- For more information about this section, visit: Total Drama All-Stars
Total Drama All-Stars is the first half of season five of Total Drama. It takes place on Camp Wawanakwa, the setting of Total Drama Island and Total Drama: Revenge of the Island, with fourteen players from the last four seasons returning to compete. This season, contestants are divided into two teams based on their status as a hero or villain and must avoid the Flush of Shame in order to take home the $1,000,000 grand prize.
Episodes
Total Drama All-Stars consists of thirteen episodes.
Total Drama: Pahkitew Island
- For more information about this section, visit: Total Drama: Pahkitew Island
Total Drama: Pahkitew Island is the second half of the fifth season of Total Drama. It features an all-new cast of fourteen at an all-new location, but the rules remain the same: contestants are split into two teams and will be forced into the Cannon of Shame one by one, except the winner, who will instead receive $1,000,000.
Episodes
Total Drama: Pahkitew Island consists of thirteen episodes.
Total Drama Island (2023)
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Total Drama Island (2023) is the first half of the sixth season of Total Drama and marks the start of the series' reboot era. It features a brand new cast of sixteen contestants and returns to the show's roots on Camp Wawanakwa. Contestants have to face a variety of challenges that test their physical, mental, and sometimes even emotional abilities, for the chance to win a $1,000,000 prize.
Episodes
Total Drama Island (2023) consists of thirteen episodes.
Total Drama Island (2024)
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Total Drama Island (2024) is the second half of the sixth season of Total Drama. Serving as a direct continuation to its predecessor, it features all sixteen contestants from the previous season battling it out once again in the hopes of winning $1,000,000.
Episodes
Total Drama Island (2024) consists of thirteen episodes.
Spin-offs
Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race
- For more information about this section, visit: Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race
Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race is the first spin-off series of Total Drama. It is the first season of the series. This spin-off was first announced by Fresh TV on July 1, 2014. While the main series remains a parody of Survivor, the spin-off is a parody of The Amazing Race. Along with that, this season takes place in various locations around the world, with eighteen pairs competing. Four Total Drama contestants-Owen, Noah, Geoff, and Leonard-return to compete in this spin-off. On September 4, 2015, Cartoon Network released the first six episodes on their website. On September 7, 2015, the season began airing live in the United States. It later began airing on Teletoon beginning January 4, 2016.
Episodes
- For more information about this section, visit: List of Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race episodes
Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race consists of twenty-six episodes.
Total DramaRama
- For more information about this section, visit: Total DramaRama
Total DramaRama is the second spin-off of Total Drama. It 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!
This spinoff differs widely from previous series in that it doesn’t parody reality shows and follows the standard formula of most children’s cartoons. Characters don’t get eliminated, and the episode are typically standalone with very little continuity between them, with some episodes ending with characters seemingly stuck in a completely irreversible situation only for things to reset with no explanation in the following episode. The episodes are also usually only 11 minutes long, as opposed to the 22-minute format used by previous series.
The new spin-off series in the Total Drama franchise was announced on May 3, 2017, by Christine Thompson and Christian Potenza on YouTube.[1]
According to Actra Toronto, Total DramaRama started production on July 13, 2017. It is projected to end production on August 30, 2018. This new series was officially announced on December 19, 2017, by WorldScreen.[2]
On June 4, 2018, Corus Entertainment confirmed the show's official release date along with the finalized title.[3]
On December 21, 2018, the series was renewed for a second season[4],according to a character designer of the show. The second season will also consist of 52 episodes, just like its predecessor, expanding the episode count to 104.
On June 24th, 2020, Corus Entertainment confirmed that the series had been 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, just like its predecessors, expanding the episode count to 156.
Episodes
- For more information about this section, visit: List of Total DramaRama episodes
Each of the three seasons of Total DramaRama consists of twenty-six episodes, split into fifty-two segments.
Censorship in United States
- For more information about this section, visit: Cartoon Network and Netflix edits
Although it was originally rated TV-PG DLS, Total Drama episodes are usually rated TV-PG in the United States, for suggestive dialogue and aggressive language. Sometimes an episode will be rated TV-PG D for mild flirtatious dialogue.
In earlier episodes of the series, much of the dialogue was edited due to the differences in what is considered to be TV-PG in Canada and the United States. Strangely, these changes would be made despite other shows on the network having similar content. The number of edits decreased drastically in Total Drama Action and Total Drama World Tour, though occasionally dialogue and sometimes even scenes will still be cut. In Total Drama: Revenge of the Island and onward, there are almost no edits or censorship.
Opening sequences
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"I Wanna Be Famous" by Graeme Cornies and Dawna Toews.
Seasons 1-4
Dear Mom and Dad, I'm doing fine
You guys are on my mind
You asked me what I wanted to be
And now I think the answer is plain to see
I wanna be famous
I wanna live close to the sun
Well pack your bags 'cause I've already won
Everything to prove, nothing in my way
I'll get there one day
'Cause I wanna be famous
na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na
I wanna be I wanna be I wanna be famous
I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous
(Whistling: I wanna be...I wanna be famous)
Season 5.1-5.2
na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na
I wanna be I wanna be I wanna be famous
I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous
(Whistling: I wanna be famous)
Season 6.1-Present
Hey what’s up, I’m here to slay
Don't know why the rest even bother to stay
I know the game and I brought the skill
Crushing players dreams, yeah you know the drill
(na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na)
I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous
(Whistling: I wanna be famous)
Reception
The Total Drama series has garnered very successful ratings over the years. Carole Bonneau, the Vice President of Programming of Teletoon Canada, stated that Total Drama Island, along with Fresh TV's 6Teen, were "consistently top performers" for audiences of ages 6-11 and also helped to bring in older viewers as well. When Total Drama Island aired on the American Cartoon Network, it performed very well; The Toronto Star reported that "in some age groups, Total Drama Island showed a 500% rating increase in its time slot." On December 11, 2008, Total Drama Island garnered 3.5 million viewers. That year, the series was the top "regularly scheduled Thursday night program at 9 p.m. on all television throughout the third quarter among boys 2-11, 6-11, and 9-14," according to the Animation World Network. On Memorial Day weekend of 2009, a marathon of Total Drama Island increased viewership in age groups 2-11, 6-11, and 9-14, each by 20% or more compared to the same week in 2008.
The show's critical reception has been generally positive. Commonsense Media gave the show four out of five stars, calling it a "clever cartoon reality show spoof OK for older tweens." In reviewing the DVD for the first season, Matthew Price of The Oklahoman wrote that while the show started out "unbelievably slowly," the series became more interesting as campers began getting voted off. Price also praised the parody of reality shows. In another review of the DVD, Jeffrey Kauffman of DVD Talk wrote that the character development was compelling and that the parody of reality shows was very funny. Mac McEntire of DVD Verdict praised the character development as well, but noted that the show sometimes sinks to "lowbrow gross-outs." Both Kauffman and McEntire recommended the season DVD. However, not all reviews have been positive. Debi Enker of The Age gave a negative review of the season's last episode, calling the art, the design, and the writing "lamentable."
Merchandise
- The DVD of the first season, Total Drama Island: The Complete First Season, came out on August 18, 2009.
- Kauffman and Thornton have both confirmed that, as of this point, DVD releases of Total Drama Action, Total Drama World Tour, Total Drama: Revenge of the Island, Total Drama All-Stars, and Total Drama: Pahkitew Island have not yet been scheduled. They might be released sometime in the future.
- Australia is the only country to receive a Total Drama Action DVD, and be releasing a Total Drama World Tour DVD, as collection 1 has been released on April 3, 2013, as well as a Total Drama: Revenge of the Island DVD set and a Total Drama: Pahkitew Island DVD set.
- A blue Total Drama Action T-shirt with a picture of a Gilded Chris Award on it was released on the Cartoon Network Shop website. Also, a T-shirt with the entire Total Drama Island cast was released by Hot Topic.
- A black Total Drama World Tour T-shirt with all the locations on it (and the season logo) was released for Gossip Mongers on Total Drama Online.
- Another variation of the shirt includes the skull from Duncan's shirt.
- A t-shirt that can be both blue and black features the question about Total Drama from the popular game show, Jeopardy!
Awards
| Year | Award Event | Category | Nominee/work(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 23rd Gemini Awards | Best Animated Program or Series | Total Drama Island | Nominated |
| International Interactive Emmy® | Interactive Program | Total Drama Island: Totally Interactive! | Nominated | |
| 2010 | Kidscreen Awards | Tweens/Teen Best Animated Series |
Total Drama Island | Won |
| Viewer's Choice Tweens/Teens Program |
Won | |||
| 25th Gemini Awards | Best Children's or Youth Fiction Program or Series | Total Drama Action | Nominated | |
| ToonZone Awards | Best Foreign Series | Total Drama World Tour | Won | |
| Best Music Score on a TV Series | Won | |||
| Best Song in a TV Series | "Oh My Izzy" | Nominated | ||
| Best Voice Actor in a TV Series | Carter Hayden (Noah) | Nominated | ||
| Best Voice Actress in a TV Series | Annick Obonsawin (Sierra) | Won | ||
| 2011 | Kidscreen Awards | Tweens/Teens (Best Animated Series) |
Total Drama World Tour | Won |
| Creative Talent (Best Voice Talent) |
Won | |||
| Viewer's Choice (Best Tweens/Teens Program) |
Won | |||
| 2012 | Pixie Awards | Animation | Total Drama World Tour | Won |
| Kidscreen Awards | Programming—Tweens/Teens (Best Companion Website 2012) |
Total Drama World Tour Online | Won | |
| 2015 | Cynopsis Kids !magination Awards | Kids 2-11 Series/Special | Total Drama: Pahkitew Island | Won |
| Youth Media Alliance Awards of Excellence | Ages 9-14 (Best Television Program, Animation) |
Total Drama: Pahkitew Island | Won | |
| 3rd Canadian Screen Awards | Best Children's or Youth Fiction Program or Series | Total Drama All-Stars | Nominated | |
| 2017 | 5th Canadian Screen Awards | Best Writing and Animated Program or Series | Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race (Alex Ganetakos) |
Nominated |
| Cross-Platform Project, Children's | Total Drama Presents: 'Donculous Dash | Nominated | ||
| 2019 | Youth Media Alliance | Best Animation Program, Ages 6-9 | "That's a Wrap" (Total DramaRama) |
Won |
| 2020 | 8th Canadian Screen Awards | Best Animation Program or Series | Total DramaRama | Nominated |
Trivia
- Three seasons (and one spin-off) so far have had their original titles changed shortly before premiering:
- Camp TV was changed to Total Drama Island.
- Total Drama, the Musical was changed to Total Drama World Tour.
- Total Drama Comedy was changed to Total Drama Reloaded, and later to Total Drama: Revenge of the Island.
- The spin-off, which was originally called Total Drama Daycare, later became Total DramaRama.
- In the first three seasons, at least two contestants have joined or rejoined the game about halfway through.
- In Total Drama Island, Izzy and Eva returned after the teams merged.
- In Total Drama Action, Izzy and Owen both returned to the competition, while Courtney later debuted.
- In Total Drama World Tour, Duncan returned after quitting, and Blaineley debuted at the merge.
- Thus, Izzy is the only contestant to return to the competition more than once.
- Also, the only two contestants who have ever joined a season that they were not originally supposed to be on were females.
- Coincidentally, both were eliminated via double elimination with each other in Total Drama World Tour.
- However, in Total Drama: Revenge of the Island, only one contestant returned.
- In Total Drama All-Stars, Total Drama: Pahkitew Island, Total Drama Island (2023), and Total Drama Island (2024), no contestants returned to the competition.
- There are sixty-eight participants in Total Drama so far.
- There are four contestants who have qualified for four seasons: Duncan, Gwen, Heather, and Lindsay.
- However, Courtney—who qualified for Total Drama Island, Total Drama World Tour, and Total Drama All-Stars—did not originally qualify for Total Drama Action but competed on the season after suing the show.
- There are six contestants who have qualified for three seasons: Bridgette, DJ, Harold, Izzy, Leshawna, and Owen.
- There are thirty-two contestants who have competed in only two seasons: Beth, Cody, Ezekiel, Geoff, Justin, Noah, Sierra, Trent, Tyler, Cameron, Jo, Lightning, Mike, Sam, Scott, and Zoey and the sixteen contestants who debuted in Total Drama Island (2023).
- However, Alejandro, who qualified for Total Drama World Tour, did not originally qualify for Total Drama All-Stars but competed on the season after his robotic body was destroyed.
- There are currently twenty-three contestants who have competed in only one season: Eva, Katie, Sadie, Anne Maria, B, Brick, Dakota, Dawn, and Staci, as well as the fourteen contestants who debuted in Total Drama: Pahkitew Island.
- However, Blaineley, who did not originally qualify for Total Drama World Tour, competed on the season after winning the second-chance challenge.
- The third generation cast is the only cast where none of its competitors competed again in a different season, although one competes in the spin-off.
- The fourth generation is the only cast where none of the contestants wear glasses nor have dotted eyes.
- There are four contestants who have qualified for four seasons: Duncan, Gwen, Heather, and Lindsay.
Gallery
References
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVluv4dVcGo
- ↑ http://worldscreen.com/tvkids/cake-on-board-new-total-drama-series
- ↑ https://www.corusent.com/news/corus-entertainment-reveals-its-outstanding-roster-of-new-and-returning-canadian-original-programming-for-2018-2019
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/Brsa1TPhDUO/?fbclid=IwAR3oqw_evLTBqmqGaIe896vLKuNVAigYjEfnB-YwmMg-aGl0qtj-TxR021o