Also known as The Space Racers Directed by Mark Risley | Genre Animated, children's | |
Created by Richard Schweiger and Julian Cohen Developed by Allan Neuwirth and Mark Risley Written by Allan Neuwirth, David H. Steinberg, Kate Boutilier, David Steven Cohen, Gabe Pulliam, Louise Gikow, Sam Dransfield, Davey Moore, Donna Logan, Phil Lollar, George Arthur Bloom, Angelo DeCesare, Ann Aptaker, Jim Kierstead, Richard Fegen, Andy Yerkes, P. Kevin Strader, Michael Daedalus Kenny, Chad Burke, Julian Cohen | ||
Space Racers is an American CGI animated television series featuring the cadets of the Stardust Space Academy. The series premiered in 2014 on Maryland Public Television and was distributed through American Public Television (APT). The show was renewed for a Season Two, currently Broadcasting on NBCUniversal's Sprout (TV network). The show follows the Space Racers Cadets as they travel our Solar system on fun and exciting missions of space exploration. The show includes science and technology components as part of an early childhood STEM curriculum, receives input from NASA on science and space technology, and also maintains partnerships with the U.S. Space & Rocket Center and its Space Camp.
Contents
Series overview
Space Racers is an educational animated television series aimed at children 3–6 years old. The main characters—Eagle, Hawk, Robyn, Starling and Raven—are cadets at the Stardust Space Academy, and each episode they discover a series of space-based scientific discoveries. The cadets spend each episode traveling through outer space.
Development
The series concept was developed by Richard Schweiger, who wanted to create a show based around animated vehicles that traveled through space. Schweiger and Julian Cohen developed the idea into a feature-film script in 2009, which won a screenwriting award. In 2010 he formed the company that would produce Space Racers, and instead of pursuing a film, they decided to turn the concept into a television series. The idea developed into fifty individual 11 minute episodes for broadcast. The series is distributed by Maryland Public Television and American Public Television. Cake Television is the distributor for the show internationally.
Season one
Season one of Space Racers consisted of 26 half-hour episodes, first airing in 2014. The show's head writer was Allan Neuwirth, its director was Mark Risley, and its executive producers were Brenda Wooding as well as show creator Richard Schweiger. Episodes would contain two eleven-minute animated segments, offset by live-action sections between them. The US premiere of the show was on May 2, 2014. The show was also in international syndication, including broadcastings on France 5 and the show's world broadcast debut on February 15, 2014 in New Zealand.
Season two
Season two of Space Racers consisted of half-hour episodes, first airing on November 5, 2016 on NBC Universal's Sprout Network. The show's head writer was again Allan Neuwirth, its director was Mark Risley, and its executive producers were Michael Matays, Charles Matays, and Matthias Schmitt. Episodes contain two eleven-minute animated segments, offset by interstitials or commercial sections between them. The US premiere of the show was on November 5, 2016. The show is also in international syndication, including broadcastings on France 5.
Voice cast
Collaborations
The Space Racers TV series was produced in collaboration with NASA experts, with input from NASA experts on science-based facts incorporated into the episodes. The show also features NASA scientists and astronauts in live action interstitials. The Space Racers creators have also developed a website where viewers can find a preschool science curriculum on space science, which was developed in collaboration THIRTEEN productions (WNET) and SiiTE. SpaceRacers.org has a section for family-based education as well for educators and parents. Special screenings of episodes have been held at both the Kennedy Space Center and the Wallops NASA Visitor Center, in collaboration with Maryland Public Television. In July 2014, the Virginia Air and Space Center opened a Space Racers-themed exhibit.
Awards
Space Racers has won several awards in children's broadcasting including the American Public Television (APT) Programming Excellence Award in 2014 and a Parents’ Choice Recommended Award in 2015.
Episodes - Season One
The first season contained 26 half-hour episodes.
Episodes - Season Two
The second season consists of 20 shows, with each show comprising two 11-minute episodes. This means there are 40 total 11-minute episodes in Season Two.