 |
Sorry, Doc, but this Article is Under Construction
|
My Gym Partner's a Monkey is an American animated television series created by Tim Cahill and Julie McNally Cahill for Cartoon Network. The show is about a middle school student named Adam Lyon, whose surname "Lyon" that has a clerical error listed his surname as "Lion", as a result, he had to transfer to Charles Darwin Middle School, a middle school for anthropomorphic zoo animals, he befriends a spidermonkey named Jake Spidermonkey, like the show's title, both Adam and Jake were partnered in gym class, where they became best friends
The show first aired on December 26, 2005 as a sneak peek. It officially premiered on February 24, 2006. The show ended its 4th season run on November 27, 2008.
Premise[]
12-year-old middle school student, Adam Lyon is transferred to a middle school made for anthropomorphic zoo animals due to a spelling error making his surname "Lion". He makes friends with the animals at the school, Jake, whom he met in gym class who is the mischievous and eccentric monkey, the intelligent gorilla, Windsor, the easygoing python snake, Slips, the sassy toucan, Lupe, and Ingrid, the giraffe who is infatuated with Adam. In spite of his usual kindness and how fond he is with his friends, he hates being banished to Charles Darwin Middle School because of something beyond his control and longs for his previous human middle school.
Production[]
The show was the first Cartoon Network original series to be created by a married couple. Before creating the show, Timothy Cahill and Julie McNally worked at Warner Bros. Animation on shows like Animaniacs, The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries, Detention, Histeria!, ¡Mucha Lucha!, and Krypto the Superdog. The two later thought on a idea when having a friend who told Timothy Cahill, when he was in first grade, he attended a experimental school that had a monkey in the science area; and that friend of theirs used to go hang out with the monkey. Tim Cahill found that story hilarious that he thought that it would be a great idea to adapt it in a cartoon, despite which, the characters aren't based off of real people, but it was adapted into different types of people like the stoner (Slips), strong silent type (Windsor), the girl who suddenly got taller over summer (Ingrid), and more.
The show was what Tim had in his back pocket beforehand in the 1990s with the pitch actually being the second choice of what they wanted to do. The show was pitched to Cartoon Network in 2001 under the name "The Zoo, but in 2002, the title was changed to "My Gym Partner's A Monkey", to give it a comedic title. The concept of the show began in 2003 with a pilot and in 2004, the show was given a second pilot that features the final designs for the show.
The art style in the show is reminiscent of older Hanna-Barbera cartoons, which was the influenced the style of the show. The series regularly makes use of the same score used in Curb Your Enthusiasm. The animation work was done by Saerom Animation, who would later do animation work for Adventure Time, Regular Show, and The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.
The show was met with 4 seasons, 52 half-hour episodes, and two TV movie specials. The series' penultimate episode "A Thanksgiving Carol" was pushed to air on November 27, 2008, due to it being a Thanksgiving episode. "A Whole Zoo World" became the series finale due to the creators' decision to end the show.
Characters[]
Adam Lyon - The only human student at Charles Darwin Middle School. He is a 12 year old student who was transferred from Chester Arthur Middle School, following a misspelling surname from "Lyon" to "Lion". As what the titles suggests, Jake is chosen as his gym partner and the two would become best friends. He is downtrodden, disheartened, and emotionally distraught, with his animal school for the most part, since he had been tortured there, however despite that, he was able to make it in good shape.
Jake Spidermonkey - as what his surname implies, is a spider monkey who quickly became Adam's best friend. He truly cares about how Adam feels, rather than his backside. Jake is an emotional but a goofy monkey, who shows his love to Adam's comments and actions, leading to some overly-dramatic and exaggerated reactions. However, he can be lazy and selfish, but at the same time, he is also fairly sensible. His obsession with his butt is the main running gag.
Slips Python - An easy-going, street-talking green tree python. He is an underachieving daydreamer, who's gullibility makes him to believe to things that seem truthful to him, even misinformation. Despite being a snake with no arms, he still wears a t-shirt. He is care free, delightfully apathetic, unintelligent and the most tertiary member of the group and he is very often seen with his best friend, Windsor Gorilla.
Windsor Gorilla - A dispassionate, but thoughtful and wise lowland gorilla, who's part of Adam's friend group, though his main companion is Slips Python. He always speaks in a deadpan, monotonous tone of voice, he talks with with only the side of his mouth, while the rest remains closed. He's usually seen with Slips. He's also the voice of reason to the group and often dispenses wisdom for them.
Lupe Toucan - A loud-mouthed, selfish and attention-grabbing toucan with a passion for music. She is part of Adam's main friend group, though her best friend in Ingrid Giraffe. She speaks with a Spanish accent and is known to have some issues involving what she sees as her overly large beak.
Ingrid Giraffe - A Masai giraffe who's artsy, and poetic. She has in-depth emotions that she's often afraid to express. . She is part of Adam's main friend group. She is so tall, that most of the time when she's on camera, she's only seen from the neck down, unless she hunches over and sticks her head into the frame. She secretly has a crush on Adam and her best friend is Lupe Toucan.
Virgil "Bull" Sharkowski - A bull shark school bully who likes to beat up other students, steal their lunches, make them cry, etc. He has earned the reputation of the most feared student in school, as well as being the strongest bully. He has even managed dominate the principal, which shows that he never gets in trouble for what he has done. Since he is a water creature, he wears water-filled headphones over his gills to help him breathe when he is on dry land; whenever he talks, he'll stop as his gills suck up the water with loud noise.
Principal Poncherello Pegone Pixiefrog- A short frog who is the current head principal of Charles Darwin Middle School. As a strict, but fair administrator, he runs a tight ship, which is somewhat remarkable considering he could easily be squashed underfoot by most of his students and the rest of the faculty. He divides little interest his job, on about his personal life, whenever a student is sent to his office, he ignores the reason to why the student is sent there. He also fears lawsuits.
Coach Tiffany Gills- A gym coach who talks in a deep masculine voice. She's known for Adam and Jake's gym partnership. Though, she looks sweet, she's no pushover. She never hesitates to give Adam a hard time if he doesn't do very well as his fellow students. She is in her fish bowl and must be wheeled around by her ferret assistant, Horace, who's mute and contrasts with her loud bossy, trigger-happy means of running her gym class.