Skatoony (stylized as SkatoonY) is a children's live action/animated game show, pitting live-action kids against cartoon characters. The series was co-produced by Talent TV and FremantleMedia Animation (for the British version), Blink Studios (for the Arabic version), and Marblemedia with Smiley Guy Studios (for the North American version). The series used to air on Cartoon Network in the UK until 2017, with new episodes airing every Friday until the series cancellation in 2008. Skatoony has also aired as re-runs in the UK on Boomerang and Cartoon Network Too until the channel itself closed down in 2014. The show aired on Starz Kids & Family in the US until 2019. Reruns were occasionally shown on Teletoon in Canada until August 5, 2017. It also aired on Boomerang in Australia and New Zealand. The show is hosted by 'Chudd Chudders' (voiced by Rupert Degas in the UK, Jonathan Wilson in North America and 'The Earl' (voiced by Lewis MacLeod in the UK, James Rankin in North America). In the U.K. version Chudd and Earl have U.S.-Canadian accents sounding similar to themselves in the N.A. version.

History

In 2001 when the pilot episode came out in history, Skatoony began as a competition microsite on the Cartoon Network UK website co-developed by James Fox and Brian Boyle, who the latter left Cartoon Network before the series premiered. In 2006, the first full-length Skatoony TV show premiered on the Cartoon Network UK channel. However, a few phone-in shows such as Skatoony Quizmas, Ready Steady Skatoony and Skatoony Truckatoony existed before as a sort of continuity during school holidays. These phone-in shows ended in 2005. The British version of Skatoony was filmed at MTV Studios at Camden and in London with schoolchildren from around the world auditioning as contestants. According to creator James Fox, the process of producing a Skatoony episode was very complicated and developed over all of the series. "First we’d plan out an episode and part script it. Then we’d take that to the studio and record the quiz element, weaving the script into conversation with the kids using “stand-in” actors instead of cartoons. We created slime and grunge out of various pastes, mostly wallpaper paste! Then we’d take the footage back to the animation studio and build the show from the original script and the live action footage." On February 9, 2009, Marblemedia announced they would be producing a North American version of the series Skatoony (in English and French). The Canadian adaptation, titled Skatoony North America to differentiate it from other adaptations follows the same format. The North American version of Skatoony is filmed in Toronto, while the French version is filmed in Montreal with a different set of contestants; however, the outcome of the animated contestants remains the same between both versions. Jonathan Wilson voices Chudd Chudders while James Rankin provides the voice of The Earl, and new addition to the Northern American release, a NA replacement for Skatoony boss Tony Eagle-Eyes (also voiced by Degas with an N.A. accent) named Charles La Puck, which is voiced by Jeff Lumby. A Middle Eastern adaptation of Skatoony debuted on April 5, 2011, on Cartoon Network Arabic. A Hindi adaptation debuted some time in 2008, on Pogo. Original Skatoony creator James Fox serves as an Executive Producer for all Skatoony releases (except for the UAE release where James Fox was credit as a Consultant Producer) and met every single kid contestant on the show. In addition to the British format, one contestant in each episode of Skatoony North America will be a guest contestant from a show from a Canadian animated series. Accordingly, a significant figure from the series will also be seen in the Skatoony opening sequence. Other children's series (including but not limited to shows on the Teletoon lineup) are often the subject of the questions asked on the shows. Guest contestants are taken from the following series: A similar situation occurs in Skatoony Arabia where guest contestants were taken from the animated series, Freej instead. With the exception of Skatoony North America (in Québec), all non-English language Skatoony releases uses animation footage from the original British version, which is why Tony Eagle Eyes are the hosts' boss instead of Charles La Puck.

Guest Contestants

Every episode (except "Space: The Final Souffle", "Pre-School Problem", and "It Could Be You!") has a guest contestant from shows from Total Drama and Jimmy Two-Shoes.

Guest contestant replacement

In Skatoony, the quizblock has 6 colored squares - green (top left), red (top middle), pink(top right), purple (bottom left), blue (bottom middle), and yellow (bottom right). The children get the green, pink and blue squares (they sometimes move to the purple, red and yellow squares if two kid contestants remain in Round 3), and the cartoon contestants get the red, yellow and purple. The guest contestants take the place of a cartoon character from the UK version. In the episode 'Skeleton Crew in Da House' in NA, Scabz was originally a contestant but he left before the 1st round and was replaced by Harold.

Season 1

Season 2

Note: The episodes "Pre-School Problem" and "It Could Be You!" are all skipped because they have no guest.

Season 3

Seasonal episodes

Factories in which eliminated contestants are ejected into

Season 1

1. "Knights and Daze" - Sandpaper Factory
2. "Invasion" - Dentist's Convention
3. "I Stink, Therefore I Am" - Manure Factory
4. "Pirates" - Sewage Factory
5. "Skeleton Crew in Da House" - Porcupine Sanctuary
6. "Xcquankly" - Mousetrap Factory
7. "To the Quiz Cave" - Really Hard Mattress Company
8. "Quizoo" - Africa, Australia, and The North Pole
9. "Hoo Loves Ya, Baby!" - 80's Disco Nightclub
10. "Quiziatori Gladihost" - Secondhand Sock Depot
11. "Superheroes" - Broken Glass Factory
12. "Dinosaur" - Liver and Onion/Chopped Liver & Tripe Ice Cream Factory / Tar Pits
13. "Hooray for Bollywood" - Rat Perfume Factory

Season 2

1. "Body Swap" - Concrete Pillow Factory
2. "Sports Academy" - Angry Pig World
3. "Space: The Final Souffle" - Planet Dung
4. "Pre-School Problem" - Used Nappy Dump / Dirty Diaper Factory (In US)
5. "Trash Talk" - Land o' Trash
6. "Vikings" - Toenail Warehouse
7. "Stop the Pop" - Faulty Bagpipe Superstore
8. "Inside Eagle Eyes/La Puck" - Miniature Village
9. "It Could Be You!" - Compost World
10. "I Spy, You Quiz" - Spikey Spike Factory / Spikey Spike Shipping
11. "Out to Sea" - Super Gassy Gut Beans Shipping
12. "Freakshow" - Fernando Fernando Fernando and Xcquankly's Freakshow Circus / Human-Animal Hybrid Genetics Lab
13. "Destination: Moon" - Galactic Garbage

Season 3

1. "TJ/CJ's Birthday" - Sweaty Footballer's Pants Depot / Faulty Bagpipe Superstore (U.K. error)
2. "Amusement Park" - Rejected Hot Dog Meat Factory
3. "Follow that Quizblock" - Leftover School Dinners Dump
4. "Style Trial" - Pointy Pin Factory
5. "Pop Video" - Home for One Hit Wonders
6. "Quiz to the Future" - Broken Clock Factory / Tar Pits
7. "Broke Tony/Charles" - Worm World
8. "In Your Dreams" - Giant Frog Factory
9. "Unusual Suspects" - Gravy Recycling
10. "Café Le Quiz" - Hot Dog Factory
11. "Host of Doom" - Robo-World: Turning People Into Products for Over 20 Years

Seasonal episodes

1. "Halloween" - Rotten Pumpkin World
2. "Stoopid Santa" - Fake Holly Factory

Format

The show's format is that three child contestants and three cartoon character contestants, making 6 contestants in all, compete in a quiz show lasting three rounds. At the end of each of the first two rounds, the two lowest scoring contestants are eliminated. The first round is always '''Bang On! or Bogus?''', a rapid-fire true-or-false questioning round; with "Bang On!" meaning true, and "Bogus!" meaning false. The last two rounds vary between episodes. As contestants are eliminated, they are usually catapulted out of their seats as the hosts (and the remaining contestants) sing "You're Outta Here!". The losing contestants are catapulted into a factory containing a nasty thing like 'Compost World' or 'Leftover School Dinners Dump' or 'Used Nappy Dump (U.K. ver.) / Dirty Diaper Factory (N.A. ver.)' or 'Concrete Pillow Factory', and then they are (sometimes) not seen for the remainder of the episode. Vignettes featuring eliminated animated contestants (and on occasion, eliminated child contestants) interacting with Chudd or the Earl (as well, on Skatoony North America, Charles La Puck, their boss [Tony Eagle-Eyes in the UK]) also appear during the progression of the show; in Skatoony North America, this extends to the web extras available on the Skatoony website. The first round always ends with having one live-kid and a cartoon contestant being eliminated. At the end of the third round, only 1 of the 2 remaining contestants gets eliminated through ejection, based on who has the lowest score at the end of the round. At the end of three rounds, the remaining contestant takes on the Skatoony Quiz Champ Challenge, where they must answer ten questions correctly in 90 seconds. After 45 seconds, the clock will temporarily stop, and Earl's Halfway Deal will be offered, trading in time for correct answers: in the UK version, deals offered were inconsistent in season 1. In seasons 2 and 3 of the UK version and all seasons of the NA version the deals offered were as follows depending on the player's score: If the contestant finishes with time remaining and gets ten questions right, the contestant wins a prize, offered at the start of each episode. If a contestant finishes with the ten correct answers in under 45 seconds, they are further honoured with being called "#1 Skatoony Quiz Champ Champion". This only happened once in the show's history in the NA version of "Quizoo." Note that the games used in each round and the contestants' interactions are based on the number of child contestants remaining, and that the game always ensures that a child contestant will always be the last remaining contestant. Sometimes, for the third round, it can be either 1 child vs 1 toon, or 2 children vs each other. In addition, it is typical for the second-round challenge to be rigged against an animated contestant, leading to their elimination as well. In Skatoony North America, the prize for winning the Skatoony Quiz Champ Challenge in the first season is an iPod Touch; later seasons have refused to disclose the grand prize. Other merchandise from Teletoon shows are also awarded to the contestants for their participation. In the British version, the prizes were: According to certain articles, the prize for the Hindi version was a Sony Playstation 3 In the Arabic version, the prize was a trophy In the one currently available episode of the German version (Season 1, Episode 4: Pirates!), the prize was a Nintendo DS and Ben 10: Alien Force

Rounds

Beyond '''Bang On! or Bogus?** (used in the first round) and the **Skatoony Quiz Champ Challenge''' (when one contestant remains), the following challenges have been used:

Round 1 challenges

Round 2 challenges

Round 3 challenges

Final Round challenges

Children elimination chart

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Seasonal episodes

List of episodes

Cartoon elimination chart

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3