Total Drama

Format

The name of each season consists of the title Total Drama with a different word or phrase later added. That changing word or phrase defines the theme for that season. This series is a competition to win a cash prize of C$100,000 in the first season and C$1,000,000 in every other season. This series takes elements of other widely known series such as Survivor, Fear Factor, and The Amazing Race. Like these other series, Total Drama is rated TV-PG because it features mild profanity, censored language, brief censored nudity, and some suggestive dialogue. When more suggestive dialogue is present, the episode is rated TV-PG-D. The first three seasons are rated TV-PG-D while the latter two are rated TV-PG. Unlike many other animated shows, this series has a different logo for every season (while each season might have multiple alternate logos), so there is no official logo for this series.

Location

Most seasons in this series takes place in a different location. The first season, Total Drama Island, is set in Camp Wawanakwa, a fictional island located in an unspecified area in Muskoka, Ontario. The second season, Total Drama Action, is set in an abandoned movie studio lot in Toronto, Ontario. In the third season, Total Drama World Tour, the contestants are taken all around the world in the "Total Drama Jumbo Jet", which seems to be structurally unstable. Some of the countries that are visited in the third season include Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The fourth season, Total Drama: Revenge of the Island, is set back at Camp Wawanakwa, but this time the island is radioactive. The first part of the fifth season, Total Drama All-Stars, also takes place on the island, due to the success of the first and fourth seasons. The second part, Total Drama: Pahkitew Island however, takes place on another island called Pahkitew Island after the destruction of Camp Wawanakwa.

Production

Total Drama was developed and produced by Fresh TV and was distributed by Cake Entertainment. The series is funded in part by the Canada Media Fund (formerly the Canadian Television Fund), and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit. The first season was funded by Xenpohile Media, Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund. The series, primarily targeted at eight- to sixteen-year-olds, was animated at Elliott Animation and directed by Todd Kauffman and Mark Thornton of Neptoon Studios. The creators, Tom McGillis and Jennifer Pertsch, studied what teenagers liked and disliked about reality television shows in the writing process.

McGillis says they used a "countrywide online research project" to determine this demographic's likes. Fresh TV Inc. partners McGillis, Pertsch, Elliott and Irving produced the series. The budget for the first season was $8 million. It was animated in Flash, at Elliott Animation's studio in Toronto.

Every cast and crew member on Total Drama had to sign a confidentiality agreement not to disclose who the winner was. All the characters were designed by Kauffman. An early name for the series was Camp TV when the series first started production in 2006. Camp TV Productions is still labeled in the end credits of every episode, along with the season number in Roman numerals.

Episodes

This is a list of all the seasons that have aired with the original Canadian air dates shown below along with basic elements for each season. The 100th episode of the whole series aired in Canada on February 27, 2014, with the producers very happy of this milestone. That means that it took Teletoon 6 years and 7 months for them to air the first 100 episodes.

The entire fifth and final season has already finished airing in the United States and Canada with Mike and Sky as the most recent winners. For the most recent seasons, the United States and other countries usually air the seasons first and before Canada gets to air it (usually the following year).

Seasons

There are currently five seasons in the Total Drama series that have aired worldwide, with new seasons currently in production, which all are listed below. The air dates listed in the table are from the original Canadian airings.

Source for season list:

Future plans

Although focus on production of the spin-off has delayed any production of future seasons, co-creator Tom McGillis has stated that his personal goal is for Total Drama to go up to ten seasons. Alex Ganetakos, the executive story editor and the senior writer for the series, also says that the production team plans to make more seasons in the future.

However, as of the series' fate, no new episodes have been planned, putting the series on an indefinite hiatus.

Broadcast

Total Drama first premiered in Canada on July 8, 2007 on Teletoon, while the United States aired the show one year later on Cartoon Network on June 5, 2008, followed by several other countries thereafter. Since then, Total Drama has become an international franchise and one of the biggest successes for Fresh TV. As of September 2011, the entire series has been shown in over 100 countries around the world, with the first season airing in 188 countries worldwide.

The series aired on Teletoon in Canada, ABC1, ABC3, and Cartoon Network in Australia, Kix Jetix and Disney XD in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and Cartoon Network in the United States. The fourth season first aired on Télétoon+ and Canal+ Family in France, while the fifth season finished airing first on K2 in Italy. Australia was also the first country to finish airing the third season.

Alternate airings

For every season, the show's producers create two alternate endings for the final episode, such that the winner seen in one country's broadcasts is the runner-up in other countries (and vice versa) where the show airs. Recently however, the winners have been the same for all the new countries the series is being introduced in (like Hungary, South Africa, Slovenia, etc.). The characters, Gwen, Beth, Heather, Lightning, Zoey, and Shawn are depicted as the season winners in these versions. Winners in bold are the original winners (the winners that aired in the country and language the series was produced).

After a season is done, the winner usually gets to keeps the money and is able to spend it at the end, except for Total Drama Island where the money is eaten by a shark, and in Total Drama World Tour where the money is thrown into a volcano.

Characters

Total Drama has had a total of 52 characters in the series who were introduced as contestants throughout the series' five seasons. The first three seasons consists of an original set of cast, with a total of 25 characters (22 are introduced in the first episode of the series, while the other three are introduced later on), while the fourth season consists of only a new cast with 13 characters. However, the fifth season brings back both casts to compete together and against each other, while also introducing a third set of cast with 14 new characters.

The names of all the contestants who have competed in the first five seasons are: Alejandro, Amy, Anne Maria, B, Beardo, Beth, Blaineley, Brick, Bridgette, Cameron, Cody, Courtney, Dakota, Dave, Dawn, DJ, Duncan, Ella, Eva, Ezekiel, Geoff, Gwen, Harold, Heather, Izzy, Jasmine, Jo, Justin, Katie, Leonard, Leshawna (the name originated from Akrapong in Ghana), Lightning, Lindsay, Max, Mike, Noah, Owen, Rodney, Sadie, Sam, Samey, Scarlett, Scott, Sierra, Staci, Shawn, Sky, Sugar, Topher, Trent, Tyler, and Zoey.

Most characters have appeared in two or more seasons, but only twelve characters have been depicted as winners (only six characters are winners in their respective countries). Shawn is the most recent winner as of July 2014, while previous winners who competed again after their win are no longer capable of winning due to their unfortunate events. 22 characters competed in Season 1, 15 competed in Season 2, 18 competed in Season 3, 13 competed in Season 4, and 14 characters competed in each half of Season 5 (28 total).

Voice actors

There are several voice actors who have recorded the voices for all the characters in the Total Drama series. Both Christian Potenza and Clé Bennett voice the two main characters in the series, who appear in almost every episode. Christian Potenza plays the role of egotistical and unapathetic host Chris McLean, saying that the best part of the job was that his character could not be voted off the show. Clé Bennett plays the role of the co-host of the series Chef. Other notable voice actors include Brian Froud, who voices contestants Harold and Sam, and is the only other voice actor who has a main role in every season. Emilie-Claire Barlow plays the contestant Courtney on Total Drama Island and stated that Courtney was her favorite character that she had ever played.

A list of all the voice actors for the original cast: Emilie-Claire Barlow as Courtney, Clé Bennett as DJ, Julia Chantrey as Eva, Carla Collins as Blaineley, Katie Crown as Izzy, Novie Edwards as Leshawna, Megan Fahlenbock as Gwen, Kristin Fairlie as Bridgette, Brian Froud as Harold, Sarah Gadon as Beth, Marco Grazzini as Alejandro (for Total Drama World Tour), Carter Hayden as Noah, Alex House as Alejandro (for Total Drama All-Stars), Lauren Lipson as Sadie, Scott McCord as both Owen and Trent, Stephanie Anne Mills as both Katie and Lindsay, Drew Nelson as Duncan, Annick Obonsawin as Sierra, Peter Oldring as Ezekiel, Tyler and Cody, Dan Petronijevic as Geoff, Adam Reid as Justin, and Rachel Wilson as Heather.

For the second-generation cast, the voice actors are: Carleigh Beverly as Dakota, Jon Cor as Brick, Cory Doran as Mike, Kevin Duhaney as Cameron, Laurie Elliot as Jo, Brian Froud as Sam, Athena Karkanis as Anne Maria, Barbara Mamabolo as Zoey, Caitlynne Medrek as Dawn, Ashley Peters as Staci, Tyrone Savage as Lightning, and James Wallis as Scott.

For the third-generation cast, the voice actors are: Clé Bennett as Beardo and Leonard, Zachary Bennett as Shawn, Katie Bergin as Jasmine, Daniel DeSanto as Dave, Bruce Dow as Max, Kristi Friday as Scarlett, Christopher Jacot as Topher, Bryn McAuley as Amy and Samey, Sunday Muse as Ella, Sarah Podemski as Sky, Ian Ronningen as Rodney, and Rochelle Wilson as Sugar.

Most voice actors have only voiced one character, while some actors have voiced two characters. Peter Oldring and Clé Bennett are the only two voice actors who have voiced more than two characters, Oldring voicing three and Bennett voicing four (five if counting DJ's mother). Brian Froud, Rochelle Wilson and Bennett are the only voice actors to voice contestants from more than one generation. Claire-Barlow revealed that Courtney was voiced by an unnamed voice actress, later revealed to be Rochelle Wilson in the first two episodes of Total Drama Island before the role was given to her. Alejandro is the only character to have three voice actors; he was voiced by Marco Grazinni in Total Drama World Tour, Keith Oliver while he was in the robot suit and Alex House in Total Drama All-Stars. Josh is the only minor character to have a voice actor of his own, Dwayne Hill, as these roles are usually given to one of the main cast members.

Role outside series

Total Drama characters are seen in an entire different series called Skatoony where the characters are interviewed to play in quiz trivia games against real people and other Canadian series characters. Geoff, Leonard, Noah, and Owen also appear in Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race as contestants.

Ratings

As of 2011, the first season has been shown in over 188 countries while the entire franchise has been seen in at least 100. The series has received incredible ratings, ranking #1 for the under-14 age group base throughout the series airing period on Cartoon Network. The series also has very involved fans who keep talking about the series throughout various online communities, while also inspiring them to create their own fanart and fanfictions. Cake Entertainment, the main distributor of the series, calls the show "phenomenally popular", while the creator of the series said that "For tweens around the world, Total Drama is more than just a parody of a reality show. It's THEIR reality show".

Critical reaction

The first season, Total Drama Island received general acclaim from critics and fans. Users from TV.com gave the show an 8.6 "Great", while users from IMDB gave it a 7.5 out of 10. Common Sense Media gave the show 4 out of 5 stars, calling it a "[c]lever cartoon reality show spoof".

The second season, Total Drama Action, received less acclaim due to being seen as less on par with Total Drama Island; a primary criticism was the selection of contestants from Island who had already made it far in that season, thus neglecting most of the contestants who were eliminated earlier. Action currently holds a 7.9 on Metacritic based on 14 reviews.

The third season, Total Drama World Tour, has also received critical acclaim from critics and won multiple awards including "Best Animated Series", "Best Voice Actress" (for Annick Obonsawin), and was also nominated for several other awards; however, the criticisms included the overuse of the love triangle between Courtney, Duncan, and Gwen, as well as the destruction of the character Ezekiel.

Total Drama: Revenge of the Island received mixed to positive reviews, airing in over 100 countries and holding a 6.7 on Metacritic based on 15 reviews, thus indicating "Generally favorable reviews."

Total Drama All-Stars has received mixed to negative reviews, with the primary criticisms being the neglecting of original favorites in favor of the Revenge of the Island cast, and many wasted plot lines such as building up a reconciliation between Courtney and Gwen, only to have it be ruined again. All-Stars currently holds a 5.4 rating on Metacritic based on 9 reviews. Total Drama Pahkitew Island, however, has received significant critical acclaim, primarily due to its diverse cast and more realistic tone that matched the feel of the original season.

Awards

DVD releases

Up until November 1, 2011, only Total Drama Island had been released on DVD. Cartoon Network released their Total Drama Island DVD in the U.S. on August 18, 2009 (Region 1), while Madman Entertainment (Region 4) also released Total Drama Island on DVD in Australia, but this time in two parts (Collection 1 on May 5, 2010 and Collection 2 on September 29, 2010). However, almost two years after Total Drama Action was first aired, Madman released their Collection 1 DVD of the second season on November 2, 2011 (with Collection 2 being released on July 4, 2012), making Australia the only country that has released the entirety of Total Drama Action for private home viewing. Australia also released Total Drama World Tour on DVD with Collection 1 being released on April 3, 2013 and Collection 2 being released on August 7, 2013. On October 8, 2014 Total Drama: Revenge of the Island was released into one part due to it being a shorter season. The first part of the fifth season, Total Drama All-Stars was released on March 4, 2015 with the second part, Total Drama: Pahkitew Island being released on July 7, 2015.

Online promotion

Teletoon hosted a Total Drama-based website called "Total Drama Online" from 2009 to 2013 where players could play games and earn badges to win prizes. Even though most features (like user accounts, original avatar designer and badge counter) from this website are exclusive to only Canadian viewers, all of the games and basic elements were available to the rest of the world. Cartoon Network also had their own Total Drama website from 2009 to 2015 which was very similar to the Canadian one, but was only exclusive to viewers in the United States. Various alternate websites based on the series also exist throughout most of the other countries the show airs in, which are all in their respective languages.

Spin-off series

A new spin-off series called Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race was created by Fresh TV which takes place in the same universe as the current show. The new series is loosely based off after the format of the The Amazing Race where the cast are split into multiple teams of two (referred to as duos) which race around the world throughout the series. There is a new host this series called Don, who replaced the original host Chris. Even though some of the characters from the main series make appearances, the spin-off series is primarily dominated by a new cast. The spin-off series is a "buddy comedy" and includes 18 pairs of teams (36 characters). It first premiered on September 7, 2015 on Cartoon Network and later premiered on January 4, 2016 on the Canadian version of Cartoon Network.