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George Shrinks

George Shrinks is a animated television series based on the children's book by William Joyce, produced in Canada by Nelvana. It tells the story of a ten-year-old boy named George Shrinks who, for unexplained reasons, is only three inches tall. The show details his adventures with his friends and family and riding in his "Zooper car".

The series started on September 30 2000 on PBS Kids as part of PBS Kids Bookworm Bunch. The Bookworm Bunch disbanded in 2004, but George Shrinks was given an individual PBS debut on January 6 2003. The first season consisted of forty episodes, targeted at children five years old and under. The final show aired in mid-2004, though it is still in syndication.

Content

George is the narrator of the show. Episodes range from trips to the aquarium to work around the house, vacations with his parents and playing outside. Because of George's tiny size, even mundane activities often become dramatic adventures filled with excitement and learning. His primary mode of transportation is his Zooper car, a multi-purpose device able to transform into a helicopter, car, submarine, or plane. George often has interesting encounters with animals, who do not talk but show intelligence throughout the series. On two occasions, he has encountered robotic aliens his own size, and helped them get back home.

The show affects a retro-1940s look, with simple animation and colors. Primarily jazz is used for background music, reflecting both his father's occupation as a musician who tinkers with inventing new musical instruments and his mother's style as an avant-garde artist. It is revealed several times, however, that events take place in the year 2000.

Characters

Major Characters

George Bernard Shrinks— George is your totally average, adventure and thrill seeking, everyday kid; well, with the exception of being three inches tall. Because of his small stature, George gets around with a number of little personal inventions, most notably the Zooper Car (a small vehicle that can be automatically transformed into an airplane, a helicopter, a submarine, a plane, and a regular car). George also gets around with a system of pneumatic tubes, which are introduced a little later on. Why he is so small is never explained on the show.
Junior Shrinks— George's little baby brother, who often accompanies George in his adventures around the house. In a sense, he is George's "sidekick" and "gopher", doing the tasks that are too difficult for George (because of the latter's stature). His age is 2 as he can already walk and talk (with a little help on some words) but still he wears diapers and sits in a high chair.
Becky Lopez— George's best friend who lives in a house on George's block. She and George have a nice, friendly, average relationship and go on many exploits and adventures. In a sense, Becky takes Junior's place as George's sidekick for the adventures that are too complicated or advanced for Junior's character. Becky is also the captain for a Little League ice hockey team called the Storks, whose terribly bad goal scoring drought was the focus of one of the later episodes.
"Mom" Perdita Shrinks — Mom is a freelance artist by trade who builds, sculpts and welds with a very abstract style. She is a member of the town's art committee, and is into organic foods. Mom is also very supportive of the projects that the family and kids work on, and she enjoys helping out in the community.
"Dad" Harold Shrinks — Dad is a musician in a jazz band, and he is constantly building and trying out new instruments (most of which resemble oversized and distorted tubas and saxophones) in the search for the "perfect sound". Dad is a titch zany, but still loves his family and is a good father.

Other, minor and one-time characters

Timmy and Jimmy Fortevoce— Timmy and Jimmy are two all-around boyish, tough but lovable boyish twins. Despite appearing in just two episodes, they still play an important role as supporting members of the cast. In Italian, their last name literally means "Loud Voice". They are members of Becky's hockey team, the Storks.

Aunt Eunice— Aunt Eunice is a big, plump, eccentric, well-meaning, cheek-pinching relative who makes an appearance every now and then. In her first appearance, Aunt Eunice is portrayed as a patronizing, bumbling, restrictive baby-sitter who treats George (because of his size) like a helpless two-year-old who can't do anything without assistance. However, Aunt Eunice's ways are changed when George fixes her Bonsai tree "Maurice", which has seemingly been damaged beyond repair.

Ellen— Ellen is a kindhearted girl next door with a Chinese nationality. Despite only appearing in two episodes, Ellen plays a major role in both of them. She has an older brother, Matt, who is the owner of an anole lizard named Ting-Ting. She is left-handed and a member of the Storks, Becky's hockey team.

Hilda and Henry— Hilda and Henry are two blond-haired, glasses wearing kids that are brother and sister. They say everything in unison and only appear in two episodes.

Helga— Helga is the goaltender for the Storks, a Little League Hockey Team that is the focus of the episode "Coach Shrinks". This episode is her only appearance, in which she plays a major role.

Russel Copeland— Russel is a kindhearted senior that used to live in George's house as a boy. He is also a retired veterinarian.

The Cadwells— Seen only in the episode Speed Shrinks, they are two twins similar to Hilda and Henry, but they are somewhat villianous. They build a craft similar to the SR-71 blackbird and use its special features to sabotage and unfairly halt the other racers in order to win.

Episode guide

#	Title	Summary
1	On The Road	George and his family go to Capital City for Dad's big band concert. The first episode. First appearance of the Shrinks family and of the Zoopercar.
2	Friends and Anemones	When Junior accidentally loses his simian shrimp at an aquarium, George must set out to recover the little guys before they are eaten by residential fish. The first use of the Zoopersub. First appearance of Becky. The title is a pun on the phrase "Friends and Enemies".
3	If I Ran The Circus	The circus is in town, and the Shrinks family is all excited about going. But everyone's plans are threatened when a surprise attack of chicken pox hits Junior. First episode in the Shrinks' house.
4	Coach Shrinks	George makes an effort to help Becky's struggling hockey team (which hasn't scored all season) to score a goal. Only appearances of Lizzy, Helga, and the Storks. First appearance of the Fortevoce twins.
5	Becky In Wonderland	George and Becky read Alice in Wonderland, and are transported into a fantasy world of caterpillars, rabbits, and creatures. Only fantasy themed episode.
6	George Unshrinks	When George, Dad, and Junior all have dreams about being different sizes, they find out that staying their original size would have prevented a lot more problems. Only appearance of George as a normally sized boy (albeit this occurs in a dream). This is the only episode in which the Zoopercar is driven by someone other than George.
7	Migrate-est Adventure	After a monarch butterfly emerges from its cocoon in George's room, George and his family track a butterfly on its migration route with a scientist.
8	Toy George	George puts on a school play of Pinocchio, featuring Junior and their first cousin once removed, Skyler.
9	Lost and Found Art	After George and Becky carelessly lose Mom's found art sculpture, they set out to recover all of the pieces before they are recycled and permanently lost.
10	If It Ain't Broke	George and Junior sneak an illegal peek at Mom's surprise birthday sculpture for Dad (something she told them not to do), and get more trouble than they bargained for.
11	Ghost of Shrinks Manor	After Dad tells a spooky ghost story, George and Becky are so convinced that there is a ghost in the Shrinks House that they forget to think about a logical explanation for the spooky goings on at night.
12	Can We Keep Him?	George nurses a mouse with an injured leg back to health, but not without upsetting Junior, who feels that the mouse has taken away all of George's attention.
13	Journey to the Centre of the Garden	George and Becky's bean project is going AWOL, so George sets out to find out what could be causing the trouble.
14	Close Encounters of The Bird Kind	George meets a new kid on the block named Becky, and helps a little bird learn to fly.
15	Dog Sitting Miss Daisy	George is planning a surprise birthday party for Becky... but her present (a little dog) keeps messing things up.
16	Ants In The Pantry	An army of ants threatens to attack the family's picnic and George tries to stop them by himself.
17	Return To Sender	When George gets trapped in a mail parcel headed to Nigeria, he ends up going all around the world in a strange turn of events.
18	Round Up The Usual Insects	George and Becky carry out another science project about bugs, but when Junior releases them all, the pair need to round them up before Mom's party is ruined.
19	The More Things Change	George and Becky find half of a treasure map belong to Russell Copeland and the trio set out with Russell's friend Edna (who has the other half) to find their buried treasure, though not without some friction between some old friends.
20	From Bad To Worse	When Aunt Eunice is left to babysit George and Junior, George sets out to prove he can do all the things a regular ten year old boy can do - but not without various mishaps.
21	George-Lo-Phone	When George is rejected by the school's band because he is too small to play the piano, George and Dad resolve to create a one-of-a-kind musical instrument to prove everyone otherwise.
22	Sunken Treasures	George and Becky find a hidden room in the attic belonging to a boy named Russell, who lived in the house 70 years ago, and after reading his journal, use George's Zoopersub to recover a lost toy.
23	Down On The Bayou	The Shrinks family take their annual camping trip, but this year, George inherits his father's special compass.
24	Snowman's Land	After a huge snowfall, everyone is having fun but a disappointed Becky, who has the measles and won't be able to make her annual snowman from the first snowfall. George decides to make one for her, but risks being lost in a terrible blizzard.
25	A Star Is Shrunk	Mom, Dad, and Aunt Eunice all get small parts in a movie being filmed in town, but George becomes the real star when he gets to stand in the for hero of the movie.
26	Monster Mash	A new neighbor proves that everyone's negative first impression of her was wrong with her clever contributions to George and company's annual Monster Movie Marathon.
27	In the Duck Soup	When Junior's beloved toy duck "Wiggy" is broken, George and Junior take it to a local toy inventor to fix it. The duck is saved, but not safe unless George can stop a legion of flawed toy robots from wrecking Junior's duck.
28	George's Apprentice	George manages to get his parents to buy him a new cool robot, but the toy proves to be more troublesome than he anticipates.
29	The Lost World of George Shrinks	George and Ellen release Ting-ting, Ellen's older brother's lizard, when they aren't supposed to and must track it down to the local zoo while learning about following instructions.
30	Tankful of Trouble	George and Becky planned to raise a frog for a science project, but things get out of hand when they end up with a bunch of frog eggs and far too many baby frogs.
31	Zoopercar Caper	A pair of toymakers, stumped for new ideas, find out about the Zooper Car. In order to please their hard-to-please boss, they decide to acquire it from George by hook or crook.
32	All Along the Clocktower	For the town's big anniversary, everyone decides to fix up town hall and the broken clocktower attached, despite rumours that the clocktower is cursed.
33	Down the Drain	George promises to keep a ring well hidden and safe that Dad plans to give Mom for their anniversary, but ends up going through the house's drainage system when the ring accidentally falls into the sink drain.
34	Return of the Space Invaders	George, Junior, and Aunt Eunice end up meeting Manigishi (Manny for short), a space alien who needs their help repairing her crashed spaceship. She needs it too; an upcoming meteor shower will make it impossible to get back home.
35	A Day at the Beach	George and Junior are excited about taking a trip to the beach, even though Mom is suffering from artist's block near a deadline and Dad needs to come up with a new tune soon.
36	Small of the Wild	George and Becky prepare for the worst and attempt to save a yard full of animals when a bad winter storm comes around.
37	King Kongo	Junior, who's supposed to be starring in George and Becky's monster movie, is more interested in eating cookies than in acting. They decide to find a replacement right in their backyard a monkey who has escaped from the circus, but things get a little crazy when their new star crashes the arts fund-raiser which mom and dad are hosting.
38	Speed Shrinks	George and Becky enter a model car race, but need to watch out for competitors who aren't beyond cheating if it means winning.
39	George vs. the Space Invaders	Too much pepperoni pizza and scary movies along with Dad's new musical instrument have George on edge, especially when real space aliens drop by for a visit and George can't convince anyone he isn't just imagining things.
40	Hound of the Bathervilles	To raise money and awareness for a local animal shelter, George and Becky set up a pet-wash-a-matic, but finds things turning upside down when a stray dog turns out to be someone's cherished pet.

Trivia

William Joyce, the author of the book that was the basis for the show, also wrote Rolie Polie Olie, another successful book that was also turned into a TV series.

The Shrinks' house is a 2D, remodelled version of the house staircase in Rolie Polie Olie.

In the episode In the Duck Soup, Harold and Perdita (the parents) use "snookums" as a nickname for each other. This nickname is a shortened version of "ookums snookums", a name used between the parents in Rolie Polie Olie.

Several episode titles (like Becky in Wonderland) are parodies of famous titles and sayings. Many are reworked movie titles, such as, On the Road In the Duck Soup, Close Encounters of The Bird Kind, A Star is Shrunk and King Kongo. Other episodes use book titles, i.e. Journey to the Centre of the Garden, Becky in Wonderland, If I Ran the Circus , Small of the wild and Hound of the Bathervilles. These titles are based on Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, Dr. Seuss's If I Ran the Circus, Jack London's The Call of the Wild and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles. George's Apprentice is a parody of Goethe's poem Der Zauberlehrling (in English The Sorcerer's Apprentice.) Round Up The Usual Insects refers to a quip by Captain Renault (played by Claude Rains) in Casablanca: "Round up the usual suspects." Down on the Bayou and Return to sender are song titles.

Some episodes feature characters playing one of the background songs of the show. This song is the same piece that George plays on the piano and the George-Lo-Phone in the episode of the same name. It's also the same song that Harold Shrinks plays on an invented instrument in Tankful of Trouble.

In the episode George vs. the Space Invaders, George's father builds a spills and chills type instrument called the Scarimin. This is a play on the word Theremin, an instrument that makes a similar sound.

George has been on all seven continents of the world; this happened when he got himself into a mail parcel that was to be sent to Africa as a birthday present for a pen pal. However, the parcel ended up going all over the world until it was finally brought to the right place. It would normally take weeks for a parcel to be sent around the world, but it only appears to take George a few days. This happened in the episode Return to Sender.

In the episode Coach Shrinks, George says "It's Hockey Night in Shrinksville!" as his family plays a game of table hockey. This is an obvious parody of the show Hockey Night in Canada.

In the episode From Bad to Worse, George says that he has used his dish washing system "a hundred jillion times". However, we never see it in any other episode.

In the episode Dog Sitting Miss Daisy, Becky's mom comes to the Shrink's house and George calls her Mrs. Lopez, hence hinting that is Becky's last name