Viva Piñata is an animated children’s television series produced by 4Kids Productions and Bardel Entertainment in collaboration with Microsoft.[2] It is based on the Xbox 360video game of the same name by Xbox Game Studios and Rare, which was released alongside the TV series.Lloyd Goldfine and Paul Griffin served as executive producers, with Mike de Sève acting as story editor and Anne Bernstein and David Steven Cohen among the series' writers.[3]
Viva Piñata premiered on August 26, 2006, as part of the 4Kids TV programming block, later moving to The CW4Kids before being removed from the schedule on October 25, 2008.[4] In Canada, the series aired on YTV, where its final episode was broadcast on January 18, 2009, and would continue to air in reruns until June 24, 2011.
Synopsis
On Piñata Island, piñatas of various species roam the gardens freely, eating candy and coexisting with one another in a peaceful society. When a piñata's candy inside reaches a high enough level, they are sent to a party via the Piñata Central Cannoñata, where they will be broken open by the partygoers before being repaired and returned to the island. The series follows a group of close piñata friends and their day-to-day lives on the island that involves them evading the evil Professor Pester.
Characters
Main characters
Hudson Horstachio (voiced by Dan Green): One of the most popular piñatas in the business. As a celebrity, he sometimes has to disguise himself when in public. Hudson's friends often have to keep his ego in check. He enjoys dancing and making extravagant statements about himself.
Paulie Pretztail (voiced by Rah Rah): A no-nonsense piñata who can be considered to be "the clever-cloggs" of the main cast (besides Les). He is Fergy's best friend and shares his aversion towards being sent to parties (though it's more of an annoyance to him, rather than Fergy's idea of thinking of going to a party as frightening). Paulie seems to be good at cooking as shown in a few episodes.
Fergy Fudgehog (voiced by David Wills): Fergy loves candy, but fears parties. He is Paulie's best friend and is frequently sought out by Langston to attend parties but always manages to escape his bugcatcher's net. Fergy's catchphrase is "Oh, fudge!"
Franklin Fizzlybear (voiced by Marc Thompson): A kind piñata who enjoys surfing, & speaks with a surfer accent and related expressions. Franklin is fairly laid back and occasionally has moments of intellectualism. He is not good at lying. Franklin also draws portraits of the other piñatas. In the video game, his surfboard is an item that the player can purchase.
Tina & Teddington Twingersnap (voiced by Kathleen Delaney and Jamie McGonnigal): A two-headed snake who share a body, but argue a lot. They have both been shown to have sub-par gardening skills. Despite hating each other (after all, they are brother and sister), one episode where they are accidentally separated had them greatly missing their other half. Teddington is sophisticated & a terrible singer.
Ella Elephanilla (voiced by Rebecca Soler): A airheaded piñata who has short-term memory loss, contradicting the saying "an elephant never forgets".
Les Galagoogoo (voiced by Eric Stuart): A smart and dexterous piñata. However, when he speaks, it comes out as high-pitched gibberish. Les ranked second place in the 4Kids Viva Piñata character poll. The main cast often misunderstand him even when he uses obvious gestures. He was able to speak in one episode, but was misunderstood still.
Langston Lickatoad (voiced by Mike Pollock): The Cannoñata's operator. He regularly tries to catch the stealthy duo Fergy and Paulie in order to send them to parties.
Professor Pester (voiced by David Brimmer): A voodoo-like islander & the main villain of the series. In all his episodes, he and his Ruffians try to capture and destroy piñatas (usually Hudson) to obtain their candy. His catchphrases are "victory is mine" & "I have no regrets", the latter which he says when his plans backfire. Professor Pester and the Ruffians are the only non-piñatas from the games to appear the show.
Ruffians: Professor Pester's bumbling henchmen who usually ruin his plans, since they don't comprehend orders well. They speak gibberish, waddle from side to side in their walk, and they love to prank one another. According to Pester, three are boys and one is a girl. There were originally 5 of them, but the 5th fell in a cauldron which Pester used to conjure his Sours.
Recurring characters
Beverly Badgesicle (voiced by Rachel Butera): Hudson's biggest and very obsessive fan.
Cecil Cocoadile: The only piñata on the island who thinks Chortles' jokes are funny, causing him to burst into tears laughing. In the piñata world, Cocoadile tears make excellent fertilizer, so while laughing and crying at his bad jokes, he is also helping Chortles with his garden.
Chortles Chippopotamus (voiced by Sean Schemmel): Chortles has a horrible sense of humor, but fantastic gardening skills. Only Cecil Cocoadile thinks his jokes are funny, and Chortles uses Cecil's tears to help his garden grow.
Corrina Chocstrich (voiced by Maddie Blaustein): Hudson's ex-girlfriend who holds grudges against him.
Dr. Quincy Quackberry (voiced by Gary Littman): An incompetent doctor and psychiatrist (a play on the term "quack doctor") with a Groucho Marx-like personality. He wears glasses and a tie, and he customarily tells poor jokes.
Florence Fizzlybear: A female piñata who Franklin has a crush on. She's a playable character in Viva Piñata: Party Animals along with Hailey, Francine & Petunia.
Francine Fudgehog: Fergy's overly doting mother, who treats him like a child & occasionally cooks for him.
Episodes
Home media
Two episodes, "Chewnicorn in the Garden" and "Horstachio of a Different Color", were released for free download on the Xbox Live Marketplace as sneak peeks prior to the show's release. "Horstachio of a Different Color" was also featured on a bonus disc included with the Special Edition version of the Viva Piñata game.
Region 1 (United States/Canada)
Shout! Factory released two DVD volumes for Viva Piñata.The first, The Piñatas Must Be Crazy And Other Stories, was released in February 2009 and contains episodes 1-5.[5]
Region 4 (Australia/New Zealand)
DVDs in these regions were released by Magna Pacific.
International broadcast
In April 2007, the series was already airing on France 3 (France) and RTL2 (Germany), and had been pre-sold to Mediaset (Italy), TV2 (Denmark), MTV3 (Finland) and Momo Kids (Taiwan).[8] In October, the series would see additional pre-sales to TV3 (New Zealand), Animax (South Korea), Kids Central (Singapore), Canal J (France), Nickelodeon (UK, Netherlands, Spain, Australia & New Zealand), NRK (Norway), SIC (Portugal), and Children's Channel (Israel).[9]
The Great Bonboon: A con artist who pretends to be an all-knowing guru to steal candy from gullible piñatas, especially Fergy. He is usually meditating. When no one is present, he talks to his friend Sid on the phone in his normal voice. Paulie is the one of the few piñatas who sees through his ruse.
Hailey Horstachio: Another young celebrity who is at odds with Hudson. She appears to be Spanish or Latin American.
Hoofy Horstachio: Hudson's obese uncle who constantly coughs.
King Roario (voiced by Dan Green): The King of Piñata Island.
Mabel Moozipan (voiced by Andi Whaley): She owns a well-kept vegetable garden and despises trespassers. Mabel is friends with Florence Fizzlybear.
Pecky Pudgeon (voiced by Eric Stuart): A reporter & photographer who takes photos for the local newspaper of Piñata Island, the Piñata Yada Yada. He loves gossiping about everyone and will go to great lengths to bring in a juicy scoop for the paper.
Petunia Pretztail (voiced by Seiko Shih): A martial artist who is friends with Florence Fizzlybear, Francine Fudgehog & Hailey Hostachio.
Pierre Parrybo (voiced by Pete Zarustica): A Frenchman who emcees various activities on Piñata Island. He's also the DJ for a call-in radio show.
Prewitt Profitamole (voiced by Mike MacRae): An absent-minded mechanic who is a wonder at inventing, & sometimes in charge of restoring the piñatas when they return from parties broken. He also has a love for soaps, and watches them avidly.
Shirley Shellybean (voiced by Kayzie Rogers): A slow, pessimistic piñata.
Simone Cinnamonkey (voiced by Rebecca Soler): Hudson's brisk and resourceful talent agent. She speaks very quickly, rapidly counting off Hudson's schedule. Sometimes, Simone seems to want her pay more than Hudson's fame, but she is occasionally shown to care for him in both stern and encouraging ways.
The Big Boss: An unknown entity who's Langston's boss. He communicates with a speaker in a fruit bowl, & his actual whereabouts is never revealed.
