Flubber

Flubber is a Canadian-American animated television series created by C. H. Greenblatt and Matt Youngberg for Bonzai Network. The series focuses on the lives of four best friends, Anna, Dorado, Wendell, and Bonnie, as they try to survive school without making huge mistakes. The show is set in the fictional metropolitan American city of Eastville City and is a satire of middle school life.

Flubber originally premiered on September 1, 2016 and has been renewed throughout Season 3. A spin-off series, using the same name and consisting of various specials and miniseries, began airing on September 16.

Origins and Development
Flubber was first announced under the title Friends4ever at the July 2011 San Diego Comic-Con. After Chowder was cancelled in August 2010, C.H. Greenblatt said that he had a series in mind pitched for any available kids network.

The teaser pilot for the series was first pitched in August 2011 for Cartoon Network, who rejected it, calling in "too real" for its demographic. Bonzai Network later picked up the series and re-dubbed it Flubber, with production starting immediately after.

Later, in September 2012, Matt Youngberg, the new director of the series, announced that production would be postponed due to Greenblatt's work on Fish Hooks for Disney Channel.

An 8-episode anthology miniseries was announced to be included in the second season, involving mythical creatures, urban myths, rituals and magic, thus extending Season 2's episode count to 35 episodes. Dubbed Flubber: Myths and Croonies, the miniseries is premiere sometime during late July/early August 2017.

On December 9, 2016, Bonzai Network announced that a special series event titled Flubber: The Summer League Sports, would replace the planned July episodes for Season 2, adding them to the planned Season 3 episodes.

Main production and writing
The series is developed at Bonzai Network Studios in New York City, where most of the writing is done. Most of the writing staff originally worked on C.H. Greenblatt's previous series Harvey Beaks for Nickelodeon. Greenblatt has stated in an interview that he wanted the series to "have a realistic approach that kids and adults alike can relate to in a uncanny way". Some of the writers that have returned from Harvey Beaks include Dani Michaeli and Zeus Cervas.

Animation
Completed scripts are then sent to Mercury Filmworks in Ottawa, Canada or Flim Roman in Woodland Hills, California, for pre-production and animation using Macromedia Flash Professional 8. The Film Roman team would storyboard the provided scripts, incorporating any direction and sometimes managing to create scenes that the writers had believed impossible to show in animation, as well as design the characters and other objects. The Mercury animators would then prepare the key layout, background art, and other main elements, and send these versions back to the production team in New York.

Though both companies performed the initial animation work, the final steps were passed to Top Draw Animation in the Philippines, an animation studio that both had worked with in the later part of season one and beyond.

Voice casting
The voice casting and production is handled by Bonzai Network and Voicebox Productions, featuring a primarily American cast. The only exception is Thomas Sangster, best known for his work on Phineas and Ferb and has provided the voiced for Wendell since Season 1.

Main characters

 * Annalise "Anna" Shapiro (Olivia Olson (Season 1), Liza Jacqueline (Season 2 and beyond)): A shy and neurotic, yet quite intelligent girl of Australian decent. She is noticeably identified at the one to take charge and find a way to solve problems. She has known Dorado since they were babies, and to this date, are really close friends. In part one of "Weekend Camping Trip", it is revealed that she has severe arachnophobia that was passed down from her father.


 * Dorado Roux-Sanchez (Dave Franco (epsiodes 1-34; 35-present), Mike Krol (episode 34)): A boy of French and Mexican decent. He is most well known for his popularity among others, as well as being a good soccer player. He has known Anna since they were babies, and to this date, they have been really close friends.


 * Wendell McHoughton (voiced by Thomas Sangster): An intellegent, and outgoing boy of British decent, who is the twin brother of Bonnie. He is allusion to the character Ferb Fletcher from Phineas and Ferb. However, unlike Ferb, he speaks in almost every episode, and expresses more emotions. He seems to have a slight crush on Anna, as revealed in the episode "Slumber Party".


 * Bonnie McHoughton (voiced by Grey DeLisle-Griffin (Season 1), Lisa Ortiz (Season 2 and beyond)): A bold, outgoing, and tomboyish girl of British decent, who is the twin sister of Wendell. Portrayed as a reckless tomboy, she goes through several character arcs and, as of the latter half of Season 2, lowers this status to a small, but large extent. She loves going out on to the field and getting her hands dirty just for the fun of it, and has a worship for kickball and softball.

Family members

 * Johnathan Shapiro (James McAvoy): Anna's father, who first appeared in the episode "A True Thanksgiving". He attended high school with Anthony Roux and are very close friends to this date. Like Anthony and Dorado, he despises Principal Dobus, and despises his son for trying to get his daughter to be his girlfriend.
 * Margaret Shapiro (Sirena Irwin): Anna's mother, who first appeared in the episode "A True Thanksgiving". She is caring towards her daughter, but is not afraid to punish them if she goes too far off her limits. She is good friends with the parents of the characters. Like Anthony, Dorado, and her husband,he despises Principal Dobus, and despises his son for trying to get her daughter to be his girlfriend.
 * Anthony Aillard Roux (Christopher Smith): A burly man from Paris, France, who is the father of Dorado, first appearing in the episode "The Halloween Candy Race". He seems to have a strong bond with his son, often opening up to his experiences and giving great advice. Like his son, he doesn't like Principal Dobus or Michael, as they falsely accuse him for various reasons, as shown in the episode "EXPELLED!". He attended high school with Jonathan Shapiro and even coached him on how to get a girl to like him.
 * Viviana Sanchez (Sirena Irwin): Dorado's mother,

Student Body of Eastville Middle School

 * Nathan Welsh Oliveira (Sam Vincent (Season 1), Alex Jordan (Season 2 and beyond)): One of Dorado's soccer teammates and his best friend from Brazil. Armed with a morbid sense of humor and blunt honesty, Nathan is free to speak his mind out, as a result of his carefree personality. He has a crush on Bonnie, who also favors him as well. Like Dorado, he hates Michael, but to a much fuller extent, going as far as saying that he's Dorado's bodyguard. Like Bryan, he is portrayed as being bulky and buff but also dimwitted and oafish.


 * Bryan Mitchell (Bill Fagerbakke): One of Michael's friends. Like Nathan, he is portrayed as being bulky and buff but also dimwitted and oafish. Bryan, along with his half-cousin Jason, serve as Michael's right-hand men, completely yielding to his orders, but seems to be very unloyal to him at certain times.
 * Jason Mitchell-Polaski (Sarah Natochenny): One of Michael's semi-friends, and the half-cousin of Bryan. He serves as Michael's right-hand man, but also tends to go against him on various occasions, acing rebellious and hanging out with his enemies (Anna and the others). He comes from a very dysfunctional family, but when his family is viewed in the episode "A True Thanksgiving", they seem perfectly normal.
 * Mary Anne "Srey" Chanda (Charlyne Yi): One of Anna's friends, a 12 3/4 year old female Cambodian. As the most smartest girl in the grade, she serves as the voice of reason of the series, and is most seen accompanying Anna and the others on their adventures. While not doing that, she spends most of her time studying and reading at Eastville Library.
 * Lexx and Levi Johnson (Sean Astin and Greg Cipes): Twin brothers from the rural area of Eastville, who are Bonnie's friends, softball, and kickball teammates. They are the most instinctual of the other students and often take drastic and crude measures when trying to solve problems, sometimes at the risk of their relationship.
 * Georgina and Gordon Hopper (Grace Kaufman and Joshua Black): A pair of twin brother and sister from Barbados. Gordon, like Wendell, is portrayed as intellegent and a voice of reason. Georgina is one of Bonnie's and Anna's best friends, and loves soccer.
 * Sabrina DeMagento (Kyla Rae Kowalewski): One of Anna's and Mary Anne's friends. Portrayed as a slightly dumb blonde, she

Enemies

 * Principal Michael Arman Dobus, Sr. (voiced by Seán Cullen) - The new principal of Eastville Middle School. Because of his experience in the military, Dobus is the stereotypical army general, speaking in military jargon at all times and brutalizing people for their mistakes. He seems to hold a grudge against Wendell, Bonnie, and Dorado, as his son is constantly making them look bad. He is allusion to Principal General Wendell Barrage from the Canadian animated series Detentionare.
 * Michael Arman Dobus, Jr. (voiced by Carlos PenaVaga) - The 13-year old, spoilt-rich Caucasian son of Principal Dobus. He serves as the main antagonist of the series, portrayed as a self-centered, laid-back preteen. He loves provoking, blackmailing, gossiping and threatening students for unnecessary reasons. He'll always try his best and do anything to act cool in front of his friends, and also tries to be rebellious (against his father's wishes) to cause trouble in order to achieve his goal of humiliating and/or getting Dorado and the others in trouble. This is mainly because of his one-sided crush on Anna, as he tries to lure her into being his girlfriend, thinking that she shouldn't be hanging around with her current friends.

Episodes
Further information: Flubber Episodes

Broadcast and distribution
The first and second seasons have been released on Bonzai Network channels in over 126 countries, with the third season planning to roll out during 2018.

On September 5, 2016, just four days after the series premiere, Bonzai Network Too began airing the series alongside its broadcast on Bonzai Network.