Martha Speaks (TV series)

Martha Speaks is a children's preschool Flash-animated television series based on the 1992 children's book of the same name by Susan Meddaugh and debuted on September 1, 2008 on PBS Kids. The series was produced by WGBH Boston in collaboration with DHX Media Vancouver for the first four seasons and Oasis Animation for the final two seasons of the series.

The series focuses mainly on synonyms, phonics, and vocabulary, with each episode featuring an underlying theme illustrated with a wide variety of keywords. The show also occasionally focuses on introducing children aged four to seven to different concepts of science, history, astronomy and other learning concepts (from the Spanish language to passing mentions of it).

On July 6, 2009, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on September 14, 2009. On August 2, 2010, the series was renewed for another two seasons. The third season premiered on October 11, 2010 and the fourth season premiered on February 20, 2012. On April 29, 2013, the series was renewed for an additional two seasons. The fifth season premiered on June 24, 2013 and the sixth season premiered on March 31, 2014.

On October 10, 2014, it was announced that the sixth season would be its last. The series finale aired on November 18, 2014.

Premise
The series revolves around a talking dog named Martha (voiced by Tabitha St. Germain), who is owned by 10-year-old Helen Lorraine (known in the books as Helen Finney). When Helen fed Martha alphabet soup, the pasta letters somehow traveled to her brain rather than her stomach, giving her the ability to speak human words. The show takes place in the fictional town of Wagstaff City.

Episodes
Season 1 of the series ended with a total of 40 episodes; it premiered in September 2008. 30 episodes were produced for season 2 and then split in half to be aired over two broadcast seasons with 15 episodes each.

In season 1, each episode was followed by Music Time with SteveSongs and later by Dot's Story Factory. Starting with season 2, both Music Time with SteveSongs and Dot's Story Factory are replaced by a segment called Who's That Dog? in which a clip of a dog with special training is shown.

In the series, words defined by characters were off-screen early in season 1 and throughout seasons 4–6. However, the words were made visible in only season 2 and season 3.

Animals

 * Martha Lorraine (voiced by Tabitha St. Germain) is the titular protagonist. Martha is a talking Labrador mix that was born an energetic stray and was put in the dog pound as a puppy. She gained the ability to talk after Helen gave her a bowl of alphabet soup; the letters in the soup went to her brain instead of her stomach. In order to retain this ability, Martha has to continue to eat the soup. She is also capable of speaking different languages if the soup she eats is from another country but can only speak one language at a time (e.g., if she were to eat a can of soup from Poland, she'd only be able to speak Polish until she was fed another can). Though, the phenomenon couldn't be repeated with another dog. She was based on a dog owned by Susan Meddaugh, which in turn could be named after the dog in subject of The Beatles song "Martha My Dear". Martha woke up in the morning singing in "Martha Sings". She can understand most animal languages except for a few exotic animals such as monkeys and giraffes. These languages are difficult, as slight elongation or slightly higher pitch will mean something entirely altered. In the episode "Itchy Martha", Martha teaches T.D.'s father to speak a word in dog, coaching him to say it exactly right. Almost all animals are able to understand some sort of human language, but are not able to speak it. In a newer episode, it is stated that Martha understands a wide range of animal languages, possibly because they have the same grammar system. She has had three superhero alter-egos.
 * Skits Lorraine (voiced by Brian Drummond) is Helen's other dog, who tries the same alphabet soup but doesn't share the same talking ability. Though he is unable to speak, he is still a very smart dog. He was found by T.D. who couldn't keep Skits because his father is allergic to dogs.

Children

 * Helen Lorraine (voiced by Madeleine Peters) is Martha's and Skits' tomboyish owner who is usually the voice of reason of the group. Helen is closest to Martha and thinks of Martha as her best friend. Out of the six main kids, Helen is sensible. Despite this, she can be a bit overbearing and even show her rough side (as in "Martha Runs Away", where she scolded Martha for things she didn't do). She always hangs around her friends, but T.D. is said to be her best friend. She is 10 years old and biracial, coming from a Caucasian father and a Latin-American mother. In "Verb Dog", it's revealed that she has her own superhero alter ego, "When Action Calls!", is very huge and can brainwash dogs simply by calling their names.
 * T.D. Kennelly (voiced by Alex Ferris in the first 4 seasons and Valin Shinyei starting with season 5) is Helen's best friend. His father, O.G., is an inventor, while his mother is the vice-principal at his school. He has a grandfather named C.K., who works as a farmhand, and also a younger cousin named C.D. T.D. also mentioned having an unnamed older sister, who has never made an appearance in the series due to her studies. He lives a Bohemian lifestyle that revolves around the surreal. His robot alter-ego from "Verb Dog, When Action Calls!" uses robotic tentacles that grow from his back.
 * Alice Boxwood (voiced by Christina Crivici in the first 3 seasons, Michelle Creber in season 4 and Ashlyn Drummond starting with season 5) is another one of Helen's best friends. She has an older brother named Ronald who mocks her, and a pet cat named Nelson, with whom Martha is mortal enemies. Her superhero alter-ego possesses ice powers; her only weakness is anyone making her laugh, which causes her to lose control of her powers and freeze herself.
 * James "Jake" Lorraine (voiced by Tabitha St. Germain) is Helen's toddler sibling whom Martha enjoys teaching on how to talk, with unsuccessful attempts. His birth is emphasized in the episode "The Jakey Express". In the Spanish dub, he is named "Pedrito".

Adults

 * Danny Lorraine (also voiced by Brian Drummond) is Helen's father who works as a bus driver and an actor in the community theater. He is friendly but stern, though part-time, he has a somewhat immature and cringe personality, such as singing music at home.
 * Mariella Lorraine (voiced by Tabitha St. Germain) is Helen's Latina florist mother, who works as an actor in the community theater. She often uses Spanish words and phrases, giving the translation shortly afterwards. Her parents and maiden surname are unknown, but her brother Jorge (Carolina's father) is seen in the series.
 * Mrs. Clusky (voiced by Nicole Oliver) is Helen's teacher from Montreal. She was initially shocked when she found out that Martha can speak, though has since gotten used to it. She has three nieces, and a white poodle, François, who is very spoiled and demanding.

Children

 * Carolina (voiced by Vanesa Tomasino) is Helen's maternal cousin. She is very fashion-conscious of others, but in music, she sings off-key. She is described as a know-it-all with some signs of shallow. Like her aunt Mariella (Helen's mother), Carolina often uses Spanish words and phrases, giving the translation shortly afterwards. Her father is named Jorge (Mariella's sibling).
 * Truman Oatley (voiced by Cedric Payne) is another one of Helen's best friends who enjoys reading historical works of literature and is prone to seasickness. He is African-American. He is often a pessimist who focuses on the negative without any confidence and is unwilling to try other things because he is frequently convinced that the activity is pointless; additionally he is afraid of insects. Truman is younger than Helen, T.D., and Alice. Oddly, the design on his vest closely resembles the logo of the Santiago Metro.
 * Ronald Boxwood (voiced by Kathleen Barr) is Alice's older brother who can tend to act very arrogant, and he loves to scare, show-off, tease and annoy Alice and her friends, including Martha. He also loves Nelson (him and Alice's pet cat).

Adults

 * Lucille and Bernard Lorraine are Helen's grandparents. They live simple and odd lifestyles (such as selling a chair to a bear) and are allergic to certain things, such as flowers and bacon.
 * Mr. Pangborn is a neighbor who recently moved to Martha's neighborhood. He has an elderly cat named Lightning and previously has a serious mice issue. Once Martha figured out how to deal with them, Mr. Pangborn allowed the mice to live at his house.

Production
The series was executive-produced by WGBH employee Carol Greenwald (who first contacted Meddaugh during production of the PBS series Arthur) and developed for television by Emmy Award-winning writer Kenneth "Ken" Scarborough (the head writer for shows such as Arthur and Doug). Among other writers and screenwriters were Joe Fallon, Peter Hirsch, Kathy Waugh, Raye Lankford, Pippin Parker, Ron Holsey, Jessica Carleton, Matt Steinglass and Dietrich Smith. Canadian composers Daniel Ingram and Harold Foxton Beckett composed the music for both the series and the theme song, while Ken Scarborough wrote the lyrics for and Robert Wilson performed the latter.

The series was produced in Vancouver by DHX Media Vancouver (formerly Studio B Productions) using Flash. Meddaugh, the author of the book, was involved in the series and oversaw the production: despite some concerns over what would the way word definitions be incorporated into a television series, she was satisfied they didn't interrupt the plot's flowing concept.

Actor Jon Hamm along with then-girlfriend Jennifer Westfeldt and their German Shepherd mix, Cora were animated into cartoon versions of themselves for an episode as guest stars.

Format
In each episode, short animated segments related to the main parts are presented in three occasions: one between the opening theme and the first part; another one between two parts; and the other between the second part and the closing credits. However, those short segments are excluded from versions outside the United States and Canada.

Broadcast
Martha Speaks debuted on PBS Kids on September 1, 2008 and ended on November 18, 2014, with reruns continuing until October 2, 2022, though local stations may still choose to air it independently, as do KLCS-DT2 and PBS Hawaii, as of 2023.

The series also aired on TVOKids in Canada, on Discovery Kids in Latin America, on Disney Junior in the Netherlands, on CBBC in the United Kingdom and on Nick Jr. in Australia and New Zealand.

Home media
On January 3, 2009, some episodes of this television series were available for limited theatrical release. Also, a DVD set of the series featuring 8 episodes from the first season was released on March 9, 2010; since then, several DVDs were also released.

Streaming
Until July 2015, seasons 1-3 were available to stream on Netflix. Since then, the series is now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video (albeit all episodes are now available).

Merchandise
Before the series premiered, PBS Kids reported that episodes of the series were available as downloads, as they are also available for purchase via downloading, to date. In January 2010, Martha Speaks launched its first list of official tie-in books with: 24-page readers and several chapter books; and also a picture book.