Movie Type: Children's Entertainment, Children's Educational
Themes: Twins and Lookalikes, Cultural Diversity
Main Cast: Candi Milo, Candi Milo, Nika Frost, Elizabeth Peña, Carlos Ponce
Release Year: 2004
Country: US
Plot
A presentation of the daily PBS Kids programming block, Maya & Miguel was a Latino-flavored educational cartoon series geared for children aged 5 through 11. Maya Santos was a lively 10-year-old Hispanic girl who was insatiably curious about the world around her, and who also came up with a million and one ideas to help those around her--in short, a well-meaning busybody, who invariably learned an important Life Lesson, or a new aspect of Latino culture and history, the end of each half-hour episode. Maya was accompanied in her exploits by her twin brother Miguel, her 7-year-old Mexican cousion Tito, and her ethnically diverse friends, among them Chrissy, Maggie, Theo and Andy. The adult characters included Maya and Miguel's incredibly supportive parents Miguel and Rosa, the kids' warm-hearted grandmother Abuela Elena, and friendly neighborhood mailman Senor Felipe. The Hispanic characters all spoke bilingually, switching from English to Spanish and back again with exhilarating abandon. Produced by Scholastic Productions and funded in part by a cooperative agreement between PBS, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the US Department of Education, Maya & Miguel debuted October 1, 2004. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Centering around the lives of pre-teenHispanic twins Maya and Miguel Santos and their friends, the program is aimed at promoting multiculturalism and education in general. It is geared to the 5-9 age range. Part of the dialogue in each episode in the English version is in Spanish but only individual words or phrases which are explained in English.
The artists have an unusual attention to detail. In one episode where Miguel is "flying" a spaceship simulator, we see that it is supported by a Stewart platform.
Maya tends to be impulsive and intuitive, while Miguel tends to think things out before acting.
Reruns of Seasons 1-4 will continue to air on PBS KIDS GO!
The show presents culture and language learning as fun, relevant and rewarding for all children, with a special emphasis on the Latino population. The show chronicles the adventures, and sometimes misadventures, of 10-year-old twins Maya and Miguel Santos and features their family, friends and a diverse neighborhood. This show centers on Maya's well-intentioned meddling in her family's and friends' lives, ultimately creating new quandaries to fix. The underlying message is the importance of doing good for the family and community, and the philosophy that shared happiness is greater than personal gain. The show presents a positive, culturally rich portrayal of Latino family, language and cultures. Each episode ends with a WordGirl short. Some episodes end with Miguel announcing, "Here's what some of our friends are up to today," introducing clips of children engaging and interacting in ways consistent with the show's themes. Maya concludes episodes by exhorting viewers to "visit your local library like 'Maya & Miguel'".
Characters
Maya Santos: A 10-year-old Mexican-American and Puerto Rican-American girl who always drags her brother and friends into her crazy schemes/ideas. Whenever Maya comes up with an idea, she always says "¡Éso es!" (That's it!) and her hair bow lights up; as shown in "The Bet" it will continue to glow until she says" eso es!". She can sometimes be very stubborn, ignorant, and naive, and tends to get involved in other peoples' business. She hates admitting that her ideas are bad even after they start going wrong, and gets annoyed when Miguel rubs it in with his told-you-sos. Although most of her ideas don't go the way she plans them, they somehow manage to accomplish their original objective. Maya's heart is always in the right place. Voiced by Candi Milo.
Miguel Santos: A 10-year-old Mexican-American and Puerto Rican-American boy who is Maya's older twin (by 3 minutes). He is slightly more sensible than his sister, and enjoys playing soccer and drawing. Every time Maya gets an idea, he gets a bad feeling about it. He knows Maya means well, but he thinks she gets more involved in other people's problems than need be. He even keeps track of Maya's ideas in his notebook or in his head. In some episodes, however, he admits that an idea of hers is the best idea yet. He is also slightly smarter than his sister. He has a crush on his sister's Afro-Dominican friend, Chrissy, although he would never admit it. Voiced by Nika Futterman.
Chrissy Lum: Maya's Afro-Dominican friend. She is very sensitive and level-headed (sometimes she can also be gullible). Chrissy sometimes points out the flaws in Maya's plans, similar to Miguel. She strongly resembles Abby, a character in the TV show The Replacements (TV series). Voiced by Elizabeth Payne.
Maggie Lee: Maya's Chinese-American friend. She is very dramatic, fashionable, and talented she rarely disagrees with Maya's ideas. She is learning Spanish. Voiced by Lucy Liu.
Theo McEwen: Miguel's best friend and soccer buddy. He is African-American. Theo loves sports as much as Miguel and sometimes they are rivals. In one episode, Theo is shown to be bullying Miguel due to his dislike of school. Theo often gets A's in his classes. He is more intelligent than his friends. He is seen using gadgets which he made himself. Theo is often the voice of reason among his friends. He is also shorter. Voiced by Alanna Ubach.
Andy Arlington: A 10-year-old English-American boy who was born with only one arm and is Miguel's friend. Often seen in the background with Miguel and Theo, he likes to play soccer. Andy comes from a wealthy family. He does not consider himself better than anyone else, however. He has a crush on a Mexican girl named Esperanza, but was nervous about speaking with her as he cannot speak Spanish well and she is not fluent in English. Besides meeting and being nervous about meeting Esperanza, it is not known whether or not they are still together. Voiced by Jeannie Elias.
Todd Arlington: Andy's very wealthy English father who runs Arlignton Industries, a sports company specializing in sports clothes. He is very protective o Andy. He's enrolled Andy in 6 private school, yet he seems to trust his new friends very much. He will start airing in season 5.
Laura Arlington: Andy's fashion obsessed mother. Like her husband, Todd, she loves and is protective o Andy. She also believes his new riends will protect and take care o him. Like Mr. Arlington, she will premiere in season 5. Voiced by Liza del Mundo.
Tito Chávez: Maya and Miguel's 7-year-old cousin who moved to the U.S. from Mexico with his parents. He lives in the same apartment complex. He admires his cousin Miguel. He admires Miguel so much that he even tried to look and act like him in the episode: I've Got to be Mi-guel. He is a big fan of a wrestler named El Guamazo Lopez, the "greatest luchador" from Mexico City. Voiced by Candi Milo.
Abuelita (Elena): Maya and Miguel's maternal grandmother who lives near the Santos' apartment. She is very wise and kind, fitting the stereotype of people her age. She is also a big fan of El Guamazo Lopez.
Paco: A bilingual parrot who is the twins' pet, originally owned by their abuela. Most commonly heard saying "Pretty Bird" and "What about Paco, what about Paco?", he often gets loose, causing much trouble and confusion. He often reacts to figures of speech, (mostly ones about birds) thinking they are real. Voiced by Carlos Alazraqui.
Rosa Santos: Maya and Miguel's mother, who is from Mexico. She is usually running the pet store with her husband Santiago, doing housework, and making meals for her family. In one episode she embarrasses Maya and Miguel in front of their friends when she became permanent coach of their soccer team, yet the team likes her. She's rational, kind and playful. Voiced by Elizabeth Pena.
Santiago Santos: Maya and Miguel's father. He and his wife Rosa run a pet store near the family's apartment complex. He's from Puerto Rico. Voiced by Carlos Ponce.
Mr. Nguyen, Maya, Miguel, and their friends' 5th-grade Vietnamese-American teacher. He owns a pet parrot named Minh whom Paco falls in love with.
Jimmy McCorkle: An not so evil 10-year-old British-American and Irish-American boy, Maya and Miguel's once worst enemy. When he moves into Maya and Miguel's neighborhood, Maya, Miguel and their friends are scared of him because of his big size. But they realize he has a good heart and loves rabbits. He soon become Maya and Miguel's friend, as well friends with Chrissy, Maggie, Theo and Andy. Voiced by Jeannie Elias in speaking vocals and Jeff Bennett in rapping vocals.
George McCorckle: Jimmy's father, who is from the United Kingdom. Like his son, he is very fat and has curly hair. Voiced by Frank Welker.
Kylie: A blond-haired girl who has a crush on Miguel. She is a big fan of Melissa Rojas.
Roman: Miguel's pen pal. He visited Miguel after Miguel tried to impress him by making up stories in one episode. It is assumed that Miguel and Roman keep in contact with each other. However, other than just the one episode, we do not see either of them communicating with each other through the rest of the seasons of the show.
Esperanza : A Mexican girl who goes to Maya and Miguel's school with them and with Andy. Besides being from Mexico and having a crush on Andy, not much else is known about her.
This list does not include shows from networks airing PBS Kids shows that are not funded directly by PBS, such as shows created by and funded by local PBS affiliates.
