Imagination Movers (TV series)

Imagination Movers is an American musical sitcom developed by Rick Gitelson and based on the format and music of the New Orleans music group of the same name that premiered its first two episodes consecutively on September 6, 2008, on Disney Channel's Playhouse Disney daily block, following the premiere of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode Pluto's Bubble Bath. On February 14, 2011, the series was moved to the Disney Junior block on Disney Channel, which was rebranded from Playhouse Disney.

Each episode of the series features songs written and performed by the aforementioned music group, whose official members all starred in the show.

During the first season, the writing staff consisted of three primary writers: Rick Gitelson, Scott Gray, and Randi Barnes. All three wrote most of the episodes that season, though Barnes occasionally had to step away due to scheduling conflicts. In addition, Michael G. Stern, Sheila Dinsmore-Rogerson, Laurie Israel, Rachel Ruderman, and Sharon Soboil provided additional writing contributions during the season.

For the second season, Rick Gitelson, Randi Barnes, and Scott Gray all returned as staff writers, beginning with the episode "Captain Terrific", written by Scott Gray, Randi Barnes, and Rick Gitelson, and directed by David Kendall. The three subsequent episodes: "It's A Mystery" (directed by David Kendall), "Mousesitting" (directed by Joe Menendez), and "Slip Slidin' Away" (directed by Savage Steve Holland), were all written by Randi Barnes, Rick Gitelson, and Scott Gray. Beginning with the fifth episode, "Second Chance Pants", directed by David Kendall, the writing staff for the rest of the season increased to 4; Michael G. Stern, Rick Gitelson, Randi Barnes, and Scott Gray wrote "Second Chance Pants". Peter Hunziker and Chara Campanella also individually wrote one episode during the second season, each with Rick Gitelson, Randi Barnes, Scott Gray, and Michael G. Stern. Peter Hunziker, Rick Gitelson, Randi Barnes, Scott Gray, and Michael G. Stern wrote the 11th episode, "Muffin Man", directed by Francine McDougall. Chara Campanella, Rick Gitelson, Randi Barnes, Scott Gray, and Michael G. Stern wrote the 21st episode "Nina Gets the Giggles", directed by Joe Menendez. In addition, Scott Gray, Randi Barnes, Rick Gitelson, and Michael G. Stern wrote the 19th episode of the second season, "Trouble In Paradise", which was also directed by Gitelson, marking his overall directorial debut. The rest of the episodes saw the writing credits switched around each time. Like "Second Chance Pants", Michael G. Stern, Rick Gitelson, Randi Barnes, and Scott Gray wrote the episodes "Mouse and Home" and "Power Play", both directed by Skot Bright, and "Birthday Ball" and "Seeing Stars", both directed by Joe Menendez. Randi Barnes, Rick Gitelson, Scott Gray, and Michael G. Stern wrote "A Fairy Tale Ending" and "The Tale of Captain Kiddo", both directed by Linda Mendoza, "Out of Tunes", directed by Skot Bright, and "Knight Time", directed by Joe Menendez. Scott Gray, Rick Gitelson, Randi Barnes, and Michael G. Stern wrote "Tooth Fairy", directed by Linda Mendoza. Like "Trouble In Paradise", Scott Gray, Randi Barnes, Rick Gitelson, and Michael G. Stern wrote "Ace Mulligan" and "Gimme Strength", both directed by Francine McDougall. Michael G. Stern, Randi Barnes, Rick Gitelson, and Scott Gray wrote "Happy Ha-Ha-Holidays" and "Bye Bye Butterfly", both directed by Joe Menendez, and "Mouse Day", directed by Wilmer Valderrama.

For the final season, only Rick Gitelson, Randi Barnes, and Michael G. Stern returned as writers; Scott Gray had multiple commitments with other projects and was unable to return. Beginning with the second episode "The Idea Café", directed by Joe Menendez, Randi Barnes, Rick Gitelson, and Michael G. Stern wrote the teleplays themselves. Despite this, Maisha Closson and Michael "Mike" Rabb each individually wrote one other episode with them. Maisha Closson, Randi Barnes, Rick Gitelson, and Michael G. Stern wrote the first episode, "Goldilocks and the Four Movers", directed by Linda Mendoza. Mike Rabb, Randi Barnes, Rick Gitelson, and Michael G. Stern wrote the fifth episode, "One Cool Mover", directed by Joe Menendez. As the season progressed, Gitelson, Barnes, and Stern were joined by more writers. Beginning with the 6th episode, "The Prince Frog", directed by Joe Menendez, the writing staff increased to 5; Jennifer Heftler, Randi Barnes, Rick Gitelson, Vivien Mejia, and Michael G. Stern wrote "The Prince Frog". This episode was the first of the series to involve Heftler and Mejia. This further increased to 7 beginning with the next episode, "Fathers Know Best", also directed by Menendez, which was written by only 6 of the main writers: Vivien Mejia, Brian Ash, Randi Barnes, Jennifer Heftler, David Sacks, and Michael G. Stern, without the involvement of Rick Gitelson. This episode marked the series debut of Ash and Sacks. All 8 staff writers worked on the subsequent episodes, except for the 11th episode, "Snorey Morrie", which was written by Vivien Mejia, Rick Gitelson, Randi Barnes, and Michael G. Stern, and directed by Robert "Bob" Berlinger. Except for the absent Brian Ash, Jorge Aguirre also contributed to the following episode with the other staff writers: David Sacks, Randi Barnes, Rick Gitelson, Jennifer Heftler, Vivien Mejia, and Michael G. Stern. Aguirre, Sacks, Barnes, Gitelson, Heftler, Mejia, and Stern wrote the 12th episode, "Walkaway Walkie", directed by Linda Mendoza. Sacks, Ash, Heftler, and Mejia were also absent for the 13th episode, "Award to the Wise", which was written by Michael G. Stern, Randi Barnes, and Rick Gitelson, and directed by Robert "Bob" Berlinger. Towards the end of the season, Gitelson and Barnes had to step away temporarily to work on other projects. To account for their absences, as well as that of Heftler and occasionally Stern, veteran television writer Mark Saltzman, best known for his work on Sesame Street, joined the writing staff and contributed to six episodes, "Have You Ever Seen A Unicorn?", "Scott and the Beanstalk", "Uffle-Fluffs", "Switcheroo", "Shall We Dance", and "Aloha Nina." Michael G. Stern, Brian Ash, Vivien Mejia, David Sacks, and Mark Saltzman wrote "Have You Ever Seen A Unicorn?", directed by Joe Menendez. David Sacks, Brian Ash, Vivien Mejia, Mark Saltzman, and Michael G. Stern wrote both "Scott and the Beanstalk" and "Uffle-Fluffs", directed respectively by Jon Rosenbaum and Roger Christiansen. Randi Barnes, Brian Ash, Vivien Mejia, David Sacks, Mark Saltzman, and Michael G. Stern wrote "Switcheroo", directed by Joe Menendez. Rick Gitelson, Brian Ash, Randi Barnes, Jennifer Heftler, Vivien Mejia, David Sacks, and Mark Saltzman wrote "Shall We Dance", directed by Jon Rosenbaum. David Sacks, Brian Ash, Randi Barnes, Jennifer Heftler, Vivien Mejia, Mark Saltzman, and Michael G. Stern wrote "Aloha Nina", directed by Skot Bright.

For the first season, the directing staff, which rotated each episode, consisted of Francine McDougall, David Kendall, Jonathan Judge, Henry Chan, Joe Menendez, Skot Bright, and Jonathan Winfrey. For the second season, only David Kendall, Joe Menendez, Skot Bright, and Francine McDougall returned, joined by developer and staff writer Rick Gitelson, Savage Steve Holland, Linda Mendoza, and actor and first-time director Wilmer Valderrama. Linda Mendoza, Joe Menendez, and Skot Bright all returned for the final season, joined by Eric Dean Seaton, Robert "Bob" Berlinger, Roger Christiansen, Jon A. Rosenbaum, and Rusty Cundieff.

For the entire run of the series, Kati Johnston served as producer and unit production manager, with frequent director Joe Menendez serving as supervising producer for the first two seasons, before being promoted to co-executive producer for the final season. Developer and staff writer Rick Gitelson served as a co-executive producer during the first season, and was promoted to executive producer for the subsequent two seasons. Frequent director Skot Bright also served as an executive producer alongside his partner Sascha Penn, through their production company Penn/Bright Entertainment. David Sacks, who (with Jennifer Heftler, Vivien Mejia, and Brian Ash) joined the series as a staff writer a few episodes into the final season, also served as an executive producer alongside Gitelson, Bright, and Penn for the remainder of the series. Imagination Movers band members and stars Rich Collins, Scott Durbin, Dave Poche, and Scott "Smitty" Smith held co-executive producer roles for all three seasons.

In addition to the regular episodes, the band also aired a live concert special titled "Imagination Movers: In Concert", on March 6, 2011. The special was directed by frequent series director Linda Mendoza, with pre-recorded segments directed by fellow recurring director Skot Bright, and produced by Eileen Bernstein and series regular Kati Johnston, with a teleplay written by Sascha Penn, who also retained his position as executive producer alongside Bright and series developer and staff writer Rick Gitelson. Band members Rich Collins, Scott Durbin, Dave Poche, and Scott "Smitty" Smith also returned as co-executive producers.

On May 24, 2011, it was announced that the series wouldn't be renewed for a fourth season (which meant a loss of several months of steady employment for the 100 members of the mostly local crew that worked on the show) and that it would end after the remaining episodes of the third season have aired, though the band itself can continue and is open to doing other projects.

After the final episode originally aired on April 14, 2013, reruns continued to air on Disney Junior until May 16, 2014, and the entire series (excluding the concert special) was made available on the Disney+ streaming service on February 28, 2020.

Overview
The series focuses on the Imagination Movers: the inventive and thoughtful Dave (bass, vocals), the stern and proud Rich (drums, percussion, lead vocals), the smart and cowboy-like Smitty (guitars, keyboards, vocals), and the hyperactive, misunderstood, and burro-obsessed Scott (vocals, mandolin, keyboards, percussion), who dwell in the "Idea Warehouse," with doors leading to rooms such as a "Jungle Room," a "Wind Room," a "Beach Room," a "Farm Room," a "Wind Room," a "Lost & Found Room," a "Very Far Away Room," a "Sun Room" and a "Tropical Island Room." In every episode, they aid many clients with problems and think up creative ways to solve problems. They are often aided by Warehouse Mouse, the freeloading, wall-dwelling anthropomorphic mouse, Nina, their spirited and ever-cheerful neighbor, and Knit Knots, Nina's strict uncle who harbors a dislike for things he deems too "exciting." He appears in the first season, a flashback in the episode from Season 3, "Mouse Scouts," and the aforementioned March 2011 concert special, "Imagination Movers in Concert." Nina now works as a photographer, often visiting the Movers to take pictures for the local newspaper. In Season 3, Nina owns and operates the Idea Cafe. It is also revealed in the episode from Season 2 "Trouble in Paradise," that Nina is Hawaiian (much like Wendy Calio is in real life).

The Movers have special equipment to help them in their tasks. Rich has special "Scribble Sticks" that he can use to draw pictures and write words on the TV screen, Scott has "Wobble Goggles" that allow him to see things from a variety of perspectives, Dave has a special baseball cap that can store a variety of objects and Smitty has a special journal.

Each episode ends with the Movers singing "Jump Up" during which brief flashbacks of the episode's events play. In Season 1, the End Credits roll after this, but for Seasons 2 and 3, the End Credits roll during it.

Characters

 * Dave (played by Dave Poche) – Bass, Vocals
 * Rich (played by Rich Collins) – Drums, Percussion, Guitar, Lead Vocals
 * Smitty (played by Scott "Smitty" Smith) – Guitar, Vocals
 * Scott (played by Scott Durbin) – Vocals, Keyboards, Mandolin, Banjo
 * Warehouse Mouse (voiced by Kevin Carlson)
 * Nina (played by Wendy Calio)
 * Knit Knots (played by Douglas Fisher) – Manager (Main: Season 1, Guest: Season 3)
 * Voicemail (voiced by Kath Soucie)
 * Princess Dee (played by Tania Gunadi)

Guest stars include French Stewart, David DeLuise, and Brian Beacock.

Where Is Warehouse Mouse? shorts
Where Is Warehouse Mouse? is a series of 3-minute shorts that aired on Playhouse Disney and Playhouse Disney (UK & Ireland). It featured the character Warehouse Mouse from the main series. The show was set within the Season 2 Imagination Movers studio. Shorts were produced with viewers watching Warehouse Mouse during his daily life.