Plot
Created by Butch Hartman, the half-hour animated series The Fairly OddParents had been in production since 1997, when Hartman was led to believe that the series on which he was currently working, Johnny Bravo, was about to be canceled. But when Johnny Bravo was unexpectedly renewed, Fairly OddParents was put on the back burner for three years, finally making its bow as a short subject on the Nickelodeon anthology Oh Yeah! Cartoons. Finally, the series proper debuted March 30, 2001, again on Nickelodeon's prime time schedule.Moving about as fast as humanly (or cartoonly) possible, the series was set in the stupefyingly dull town of Dimmsdale, the home of pint-sized ten-year-old Timmy Turner. Misunderstood by his well-meaning but cloddish parents, terrorized by his evil babysitter Vicky, and tormented at school by Francis the Bully (who apparently had no other last name!), Timmy found comfort in the fact that he possessed a pair of eccentric fairy godparents, Cosmo and Wanda, who were visible only to him. (Whenever anyone else was in the room, Cosmo and Wanda would morph into goldfish, chalk drawings, or other non-fairylike forms.) Most of the series' episodes contained two short segments in which Timmy, fed up with his miserable existence, would wish for something that he'd always longed for: great strength, awesome superpowers, unlimited wealth, fabulous creature comforts, a different face or physique, a new set of parents, or even something as basic as grabbing the attention of his cute classmate Trixie Tang, who otherwise barely acknowledged his existence. At this point, Cosmo and Wanda would fly onto the scene and grant Timmy's wish -- usually in an inept or misguided fashion, thus eloquently elucidated the old adage "Be careful what you wish for." At the end of each story, things would be returned to normal, and the sadder-but-wiser Timmy would learn a valuable lesson -- not that this would prevent him from making foolish wishes in the future! Others in the cast included Timmy's nerdish friends Chester and A.J.; Vicky's cloying little sister Tootie, who harbored an oversized crush on poor Timmy; vindictive schoolteacher Mr. Crocker, who was convinced that fairies lived in Timmy's home and invariably made a jackass of himself trying to prove it; airheaded boy-band singer Chip Skylark; Timmy's favorite comic book hero, the Crimson Chin (his voice appropriately provided by Jay Leno!); Mark the Alien, a slightly neurotic visitor from the planet Yugopotamia; and Jorgen Von Strangle, the tough-as-nails boss of Fairyworld, where Wanda and Cosmo hail from. Within a month after its premiere, The Fairly OddParents was firmly established as one of Nickelodeon's most popular cartoon outings, even toppling SpongeBob SquarePants from its Number One ratings slot. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Credit
Butch Hartman - Show CreatorEpisodes
The Fairly OddParents: Season 06The Fairly OddParents: Season 07
- The Fairly OddParents: Wishology: The Big Beginning
- The Fairly OddParents: Wishology: The Exciting Middle Part
- The Fairly OddParents: Wishology: The Final Ending
Curiously, the "origins" episode of The Fairly OddParents, which shared its half-hour time slot with a brace of other short segments (including "Too Many Timmys" and "The Fairy Flu,") was not originally telecast as the series opener, but instead popped up when the show was eight weeks into its first season! The series' "official" premiere offering consisted of two brief stories: "The Big Problem," in which ten-year-old Timmy Turner prevails upon his zany fairy godparents, Wanda and Cosmo, to transform him into a grownup (with the expected disastrous results); and "Power Mad," wherein Timmy is given a harrowing up-close-and-personal view of his favorite virtual-reality game. Other season one segments include: "Spaced Out," in which Timmy is given a rather unhospitable space alien to play with; "TransParents," the first episode wherein Timmy's hostile teacher Mr. Crocker tumbles to the fairy godparents' existence; "Tiny Timmy," a Fantastic Voyage spoof with Timmy as the shrink-ee; and "Father Time," in which Timmy's foray into the past nearly messes up his chances of ever being born. Wanda and Cosmo are the focus of "Apartnership," which details a serious schism in their long marriage; and "The Zappy," a broad takeoff of glitzy TV awards ceremonies. Also: Timmy's favorite comic book superhero the Crimson Chin (voiced by Jay Leno) suffers a profound loss of self-confidence in "Chin Up!"; Timmy is converted into a canine in "Dog's Day Afternoon"; a world in which everyone looks, acts and thinks alike is conjured up by the godparents in "The Same Game"; and Cosmo strolls over to the Dark Side in "Really Bad Day." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The Fairly OddParents: Season 02 (2001)
Most of the 16 episodes seen in season two of The Fairly OddParents consist of two short segments per half hour. This year's exceptions include the Yuletide special "Christmas Every Day" (originally telecast a few months before the season proper began in March of 2002) and the Halloween outing "Scary Godparents." Among the misadventures experienced by ten-year-old Timmy Turner and his eccentric wish-granting fairy godparents Wanda and Cosmo are: "Boys in the Band," in which Timmy's terrifying babysitter Vicky kidnaps pop star Chip Skylark (voiced by *NSYNC's Chris Kirkpatrick); "Boy Toy," which finds Timmy collaborating with his "Crimson Chin" action figure to foil Vicky's equally odious kid sister Tootie; "Action Packed," the episode that asks the question, "What if real life were one long action movie?"; "Timvisible," in which Timmy is rendered invisible to avoid Francis the Bully -- and nearly loses out on a much-coveted school award as a result; and "That Old Black Magic," pitting Wanda and Cosmo against the dreaded Anti-Fairies who erect the Fountain of Bad Luck on Friday the 13th. Other second season highlights: Timmy is turned into a fairy and Cosmo and Wanda are rendered "normal" in "A Mile in My Shoes; Timmy's parents morph into superheroes in "Mighty Mom and Dyno Dad"; our hero stands in for an ailing John Hancock at the 1776 Declaration signing in "Twistory"; April Fool, Fairyworld's leading standup comic ("What's up with that??"), wreaks havoc in the real world in "Fool's Day Out"; vapid boy-band singer Chip Skylark meets his match in equally airheaded Skip Sparkypants in "Shiny Teeth"; Wanda goes the Ferris Bueller route in "Wanda's Day Out"; and the series' familiar characters assume new roles in the old frontier in "Odd, Odd West." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- The Fairly OddParents: Christmas Every Day
- The Fairly OddParents: Scary Godparents
- The Fairly OddParents: Timvisible
- The Fairly OddParents: The Switch Glitch
- The Fairly OddParents: Cosmo Con
Of the 17 half-hour episodes produced for season three of The Fairly OddParents, most contain two short, self-contained segments per show. This year's exceptions include the season opener, "Information Stupor Highway"; the Valentine's day show "Love Struck"; and "The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker," the life story of the nasty teacher who is obsessed with proving that ten-year-old Timmy Turner has a pair of winged fairy godparents named Wanda and Cosmo. (Which, of course, Timmy does!) Highlights of the third season include "Movie Magic," in which Timmy wishes to be transformed into an "auteur" to impress the haughty Trixie Tang; "Most Wanted Wish," illustrates the perils of wanting to be "wanted"; "This is Your Wish," with Cosmo's magical mom wreaking havoc; "Engine Blocked," wherein Timmy is transformed into his dad's sportscar; and "Beddy Bye," featuring the voice of Jackie Mason as the Sandman, who is so mad he could plotz when Timmy wishes for a world without sleep. Also: Timmy uses an enchanted microphone to expose the evil of his babysitter Vicky in "Microphony"; comic book superhero The Crimson Chin (voiced by Jay Leno) is pitted against his liquidy adversary H2Olga in "Crime Wave"; Timmy's wish for complete silence backfires when he can't warn Dimmsdale of an approaching meteor in "Pipe Down!"; a Darth Vader action figure is not only brought to life, but repulsively replicated by a magic copying machine in "Hard Copy"; and Timmy's neighbors face the dual threat of an avalanche and the Abominable Snowman in "Snow Bound." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- The Fairly OddParents: Information Stupor Highway
Season four of the cartoon series The Fairly OddParents yields 14 half-hour episodes, most of them containing two separate stories, generally involving 10-year-old Timmy Turner and his enthusiastic but incompetent fairy godparents Wanda and Cosmo. Exceptions to the two story rule include the season opener, "The Big Superhero Wish" (what if real life was one big comic book) and "Shelf Life" (Tom Sawyer is brought to life to wreak havoc on Timmy's house and also to bedevil a variety of other literary characters), not to mention the special episode, "The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour," wherein the characters of the cell-animated Fairly OddParents meet the CGI cast of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, and brace of animated TV movies, Crash Nebula and Channel Chasers. Other choice season-four adventures include "Vicky Loses Her Icky," in which Timmy comes to regret his wish that his hateful babysitter Vicky turn nice; "Power Pals!," a battle royal between a group of Super Friend rip-offs and the "Anti-Timmy Force"; "Lights! Camera! Adam!," exposing an insidious plot to discredit Timmy's favorite comic-book character, the Crimson Chin (voiced by Jay Leno); and "Class Clown," proving that being the Funniest Boy on Earth has its drawbacks. Among the other highlights this season are "Baby Face," wherein Timmy wishes to revert to infanthood to avoid Francis the Bully; "New Squid in Town," a tour de force for Timmy's extraterrestrial pal Mark the Alien, who is searching for the "ideal" bride (that is, one that is even uglier than Mark!); "Genie Meanie Minie," in which an evil spirit is released from a lava lamp; and the follow-up episode "Back to the Norm," which finds Timmy's hateful teacher Mr. Crocker getting hold of the lamp and conjuring up a Road Runner-like cartoon -- with himself as an ersatz Wile E. Coyote. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- The Fairly OddParents: The Big Superhero Wish
Virtually all of the episodes produced for The Fairly OddParents' fifth season consist of two animated adventures per half-hour show. As in years past, 10-year-old hero Timmy Turner, upset with his lot in life, prevails upon his wacky fairy godparents Wanda and Cosmo to grant his every wish -- usually with calamitous consequences. Among the season's best episodes are "Nega-Timmy," chronicling the chilling aftereffects of being permitted to do exactly the opposite of what your parents want; "Beach Bummed," a spoof of those old Charles Atlas magazine ads, with Timmy getting even with Francis the Bully by wishing himself into a muscular physique, only to be targeted for extermination by a "monster-response team"; "Just Desserts," wherein Timmy accidentally transforms Dimmsdale into the obesity capital of the world; "Catman Meets the Crimson Chin," or "It's no fun to be a superhero if you haven't got a fan club"; "Blondes Have More Fun," in which Wanda changes places with her sister Blanda; and "It's a Wishful Life," a spoof It's a Wonderful Life with a perverse closing twist. Best of all is "Go West Young Man," in which Wanda and Cosmo allow guest star Adam West (or at least, his voice) to enjoy the childhood that he never had. Also showcased this season is a 90-minute Fairly OddParents "movie," School's Out! The Musical, with a story conveniently compartmentalized to allow its breakup into three separate half-hour episodes should the need arise! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
