Seven Little Monsters

As a child, I have fond memories of watching Seven Little Monsters on PBS Bookworm Bunch. It was a show that I found to be quite decent. Designed for young children, it has a universal appeal that transcends age. The monsters, with their adorable and distinct personalities, are easy to love. The high-quality animation adds to the show's visual appeal.

What truly sets this show apart is its unwavering commitment to education. Each episode is a treasure trove of important life lessons, such as the value of sharing and kindness, all delivered in a way that's not only fun but also engaging for children. The show's writers deserve commendation for their adeptness in using the monsters' actions to effectively convey these lessons.

However, it's important to note that some episodes can be repetitive and predictable, and the show could benefit from more depth in character development and storyline. The same general plot is often used in different episodes, with minimal character growth, which might make it challenging for children to form a strong emotional connection with the characters.

In conclusion, Seven Little Monsters is a good show for kids. It's light-hearted, educational and entertaining. Although it has flaws, it's worth checking out if you're looking for a show that teaches valuable life lessons while still being enjoyable for children and adults alike.

7 Little Monsters is a show I grew up watching on PBS Kids back in the day. Having rewatched the show recently for the first time since it ended, I'm more than happy to say it holds up as not just good for children, but an all around very well made show in general. From the amazing cast of characters, the wonderfully crafted animation and the very talented voice cast, this show manages to successfully be entertaining as an adult as it would be for children.

Based on the book by Where The Wild Things Are author Maurice Sendak, the show follows the lives of the titular septuplets who live with their Mom. Each episode generally focuses on one of the monsters learning a valuable lesson about being nice, being honest, being helpful, being obedient and much more. While the plot of each episode is generally predictable, the show makes up for it by incorporating songs, some educational movie reels and clever attempts at humor that land surprisingly well. Many of the jokes are range form clever word play to rather comical tales of preposterous proportions. Despite the runtime of each episode being 22 minutes in the first 2 seasons, not 1 felt boring or unengaging. In fact, the decision to cut the episodes into 11 minute segments in Season 3 is one I don't agree with but I kinda understand. It was a necessity to cut cost because producing the show wasn't cheap and they assumed kids liked 11 minute episodes more than 22 minute episodes. I don't agree with this assessment as I feel kids are perfectly capable of sitting through shows with episodes that are 22 minutes long (i.e. Blue's Clues, The Backyardigans, Dragon Tales and Little Einstiens), but at least the 3rd Season was still entertaining. This is mainly due to the fact that the main characters are all a lot of fun to watch.

The titular septuplets all remind me of me and my siblings in the best way possible and I'm sure many others would feel the same. Starting with One, she's very much like my older sister in that she's the oldest and is always looking out for her younger brothers and sister. Where she differs though is how much of a tomboy she is and I myself am a big fan of tomboys. She plays baseball, skateboards, shoots hoops and plays soccer really well. Two is the second born and is generally really smart. He's also very well mannered and very helpful, especially when helping his Mom reach high places. Three takes on a different persona in every episode but one thing that remains constant is he's very knowledgeable and is very entertaining to watch. Four is the very much the rambunctious middle child who's typically cynical, but does deeply care for his brothers and sisters. He can take his sense of humor too far sometimes but is immediately called out whenever he misbehaves. Five has the most childlike innocence and generally loves to eat. He doesn't speak a lot but he especially loves his brother Four. Six is the beauty queen of the monsters, having more of a feminine side than her sister One. While she wears her femininity on her sleeve, she recognizes that family is far more important to her than her looks. Seven is possibly the sweetest monster of the bunch as he's kind, helpful, and is innocently curious about new words. He can get frightened sometimes, but his brothers and sisters more often than not give him courage to face his fears. Then there's their Mom, who I must say is one of the most realistic mothers I've seen in a cartoon. In addition to being a loving and caring mother, she also has a firm and commanding tone when ever her children misbehave. She also helps them learn the valuable lesson of each episode and is always forgiving them when they learned their lesson. Each of the monsters have their own unique quirk that makes them distinct from one another. One can fly, Two has a very long nose, Three never breaks character, Four is often grumpy, Five has a prehensile tongue, Six is a ballerina (albeit a bit clumsy) and Seven can screw his head off and on again. Other characters that make a big impression include their pet cow, Belinda, and their next door neighbor, Mary.

The voice acting in this show really brings these characters to life and they all have great chemistry with one another. Joanne Vannicola makes One sound like a caring yet hardcore older sister. Colin Mochire give Two a very laid back and well mannered voice to perfectly match his personality. Dwayne Hill manages to do a fantastic job voice Three with a different accent and tone of voice in every episode. Sean Cullen (who is also a writer for the show) brings out the best of Four, Five and Seven respectively and the fact that he can make all their voices sound distinct from one another is a true testament to his talent as a voice actor. Michele Scarabelli does a wonderful job voicing Six, making her sound elegant with that Queens accent. Debra McGrath gave an excellent performance as their mother though, making her sound authentically Eastern European without coming across as a caricature. What boggles my mind about the credits though is how Tara Strong went uncredited as the voice of Mary. She wasn't even close to a new at the time as she was the voice of Dil Pickles (Rugrats), Bubbles (Powerpuff Girls) and Batgirl (New Batman Adventure). Maybe it was a contract thing or something, but she still did a tremendous job voice Mary as she always does. Also, gotta give a shout out to Maurice LaMarche for his amazing guest appearance in the episode April Fools. Seriously, that episode was a real treat listening to him voicing a kid putting on such convincing voices.

Visually, the animation is very well crafted and creative. Wild Things Productions and Hong Ying Aniamation provided the visuals for the first 2 seasons where as the last was overseen by Philippine Animation Studio Inc.. In addition to staying true to Maurice Sendak's original illustrations of the characters, the characters were also slightly upgraded to be more distinct and colorful in appearance. I'm pretty sure the character designer, Cynthia Ward, was inspired by Oscar from Sesame Street to make Four green, which honestly makes sense as they're both cynical monsters with hearts of gold. I also like how each of the monsters has their number on their person, i.e. One having hers on her hat, Seven on his sleeve, etc. I also think that the animation flows smoothly and the monsters feel as heavy as they look with each of their steps making a big stomping sound. The town of Centerville also looks like a quaint town with a nice color palette and interesting little details that make it feel lived in. The true highlight of the animation is the imagination and story time sequences in which the animators go all out in the surreal and weird.

If there is one down side to the show it's that the theme song is not that great. Sure it's got a nice beat to it and the Barenaked Ladies (who provided the theme song to The Big Bang Theory) are very good singers. It's got a nice chorus, I'll give it that, however the lyrics leave a lot to be desired. Mainly because there's only one verse outside the chorus: "They cause trouble, there they go!" ...And? Yeah, I'm not a songwriter, but I'd personally as the band to come up with more lyrics to describe the monsters. Then again the visual do a good job showing what they're like so it's not that big a deal.

Overall, 7 Little Monsters is a very well made show that holds up much better than I thought it would. With an impressive cast of characters, amazing voice acting, well crafted animation and delivering really good messages to kids, it's amazing how well this show aged even after 20 years. My take: give this show a watch if you're looking for a good old trip down memory lane. Kids will definitely enjoy it and adults with siblings will most certainly relate to this one.

Like most PBS shows, Seven Little Monsters is a show adapting from the children's book series written by Arthur Yorinks. Each episode follows the so called "adventures" involving 7 monsters that live with a human woman as their mother. There's no age indication for the monsters, but they like 6 year olds. I would also use the word "little" very loosely seeing how the monsters are sometimes 10 times larger then their human mother. The show should really be called "Seven Size Changing Monsters". There is no size consistency in the monster's size. One minute their half the size of their 3 story house, the next their twice as tall as people.

The idea of having a house of seven monsters is creative, but no one really acknowledges the fact that one monster can TAKE HIS HEAD off, one has a Pinnochio nose, one has a long slimy tongue and so forth. The show ends becoming the story of seven siblings who are just regular people in the stories case. You practically forget that their even monsters and just boring children.

The show seems to keep a cap on it's absurdity despite it's premise. Most episodes take place entirely in the home of this rather unusual family. The first episode deals with the nail biting dilemma of getting breakfast ready or trying to be quite and not disturbing their mother. Lessons concerning how the moon works, how to sleep after a bad dream and remembering to turn off the water are the moral standards of the story, as well as what every child hears in TONS of other shows.

Some shows simply feel like their made to suite the perfect standards of a PBS learning show, and don't take the time to get very creative or fun. You know you're in trouble when a kids show tells audiences that if too many people leave the water running, we'll drain out the oceans and there will be no water left on earth. This explains why PBS usually takes other books into their hands. There's a lack of creativity going on around here. Nothing special here.

This was such a nice creepy wholesome show.

Got to learn various modern day morals. The Animation was awesome. The characters were all unique. Each character had their pros and cons.

7 lil monsters was a lovely show. I remember watching it in the mornings before school.

Verdict: 7 good times.