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Braceface

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Braceface
Braceface title card
The series' title card featuring protagonist Sharon Spitz
Genre
Created byMelissa Clark
Directed byCharles E. Bastien
Voices of
Theme music composerGrayson Matthews Inc.
ComposerPure West
Country of origin
  • Canada
  • China
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes78 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
Producers
  • Marilyn McAuley (seasons 1–2)
  • Tom McGillis (season 2)
  • Tracy Leach (season 3)
Running time23 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkTeletoon
ReleaseJune 2, 2001 (2001-06-02) –
September 1, 2004 (2004-09-01)[1]

Braceface is a Canadian-Chinese animated series co-produced by Nelvana Limited and Jade Animation (Shenzhen) Company, and was produced in association with Teletoon and Fox Family Channel for the first season. The show features actress Alicia Silverstone from the movie Clueless (who also voiced the titular character for the first two seasons) serving as executive producer.[2] The episodes focus on the misadventures of Sharon Spitz, a high school student who often struggles with an unusual ability occurring in her braces, which often creates mishaps in her daily life. Although considered to be a trademark feature in the series, later episodes began to drop this narrative in favor of tackling real-world issues. Unlike most animated shows which take place in fictional cities or states, etc., this one takes place in the real-life town of Elkford, British Columbia.

Summary

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The series, set in Elkford, British Columbia, recounts the travails of Sharon Spitz (a play on words, "sharing spit" being a euphemism for kissing), who is a junior high school student with braces that get in the way of leading a normal teenage life.[3] Her braces are somehow electrically charged at all times, giving her strange abilities such as remotely operating machinery, tapping into wireless communication channels, and even discharging electricity directly into what's in front of her, though much of these abilities are often outside her control. In the first season, she is enrolled at Mary Pickford Junior High but later on, the show progresses her into attending Elkford High School.

Cast and characters

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  • Sharon Esther Spitz (voiced by Alicia Silverstone in seasons 1–2 and Stacey DePass in season 3) is the lead character of the show.
  • Adam Francis Spitz (voiced by Dan Petronijevic) is Sharon and Josh's older brother.
  • Josh Spitz (voiced by Michael Cera) is Sharon and Adam's younger brother.
  • Helen Spitz (voiced by Tamara Bernier Evans) is Sharon, Josh and Adam's divorced mother.
  • Maria Wong (voiced by Marnie McPhail) is Sharon's classmate and best friend, who is of mixed Chinese and Italian descent. She is also Brock Leighton's girlfriend.
  • Connor MacKenzie (voiced by Peter Oldring) is another one of Sharon's classmates and best friends.
  • Alden Jones (voiced by Vince Corazza) is Sharon's crush at school and boyfriend. They later break up. Sharon and Alden eventually get back together by the end of the series.
  • Nina Harper (voiced by Katie Griffin) is Sharon's nemesis at school and ex-best friend.
  • Brock Leighton (voiced by Daniel DeSanto) is Alden's best friend and bandmate and Maria's boyfriend, who is African-American.
  • Alyson Malitski (voiced by Emily Hampshire) is Nina's ex-best friend and later Sharon's new friend. She soon has a relationship with Connor.
  • Hannah Corbett (voiced by Elisa Moolecherry) is the Spitz's next door neighbor and Adam's girlfriend.

Episodes

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Main article: List of Braceface episodes
SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
126U.S.June 2, 2001 (2001-06-02)February 24, 2002 (2002-02-24)
CanadaJune 30, 2001March 27, 2002
226U.S.September 27, 2002 (2002-09-27)January 24, 2003 (2003-01-24) (10 episodes unaired)
CanadaSeptember 6, 2002June 22, 2003
326November 5, 2003 (2003-11-05) (Canada)September 1, 2004 (2004-09-01) (Canada)

Production

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The series was produced by the Canadian animation studio Nelvana and Jade Animation (Shenzhen) in China, with the additional pre-production work done by Studio B Productions and Atomic Cartoons.[citation needed]

Reception

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Sarah Wenk from Common Sense Media rated the series three out of five stars, stating "ultimately it's rather lightweight and, well, cartoony. There's nothing wrong with that, but it could use a bit more substance and less silliness."[4] Nancy Wellons from Orlando Sentinel stated "What could be a wonderful premise about the struggle of adolescents to confirm and yet remain individuals instead turns into a half-hour full of inane jokes, cliched characters and bad dialogue."[5] Evan Levine from Newspaper Enterprise Assn. wrote, "The brace subplot sometimes adds an uneasy note — is it fantasy? — and can be vaguely confusing. But the show holds the possibility of being a clever takeoff of the preteen years, whether you have braces or not."[6] Jeanne Spreier from Knight Ridder wrote, "Braceface takes a refreshingly light look at junior high challenges — boys, braces, friends, popularity, parents, school — without giving in to nastiness, violence, ill-will or dejection."[7]

In 2004, the episode "Ms. Spitz Goes To Warsch & Stone" won an award at the Environmental Media Awards.[8][9]

Telecast and home media

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In the United States, the series originally aired on Fox Family Channel starting on June 2, 2001, with reruns on its successor ABC Family until May 26, 2003. Disney Channel later aired reruns and premiered new episodes from May 2, 2004 until September 1, 2005, but some episodes were edited for content and time. Four episodes ("The Worst Date Ever. Period", "Miami Vices", "Whose Life Is It, Anyway?" and "Grey Matters") were skipped from Disney Channel airings due to their content. Half of season 2 (episodes 16 through 26) and the entirety of season 3 never aired in the United States until years later when services stream. In Canada, it ran on Teletoon from June 30, 2001[10][11] to September 1, 2004.[1]

Internationally, the series aired on Fox Kids[12] and Fox8 in Australia, and Channel 5 and Pop Girl in the UK. It also aired on Nickelodeon in Germany and South Africa. In India, the series aired on Star One.[13] It aired in Ireland on RTÉ Two from September 3, 2001 to 2005.[14] In Japan, Braceface was aired on STAR Plus Japan. In the Netherlands, the show aired on Fox Kids/Jetix. In Romania and Hungary, it aired on Minimax.

In Canada, DVD releases of the series were released by KaBOOM! Entertainment, and in the United States, DVDs were released by Funimation Entertainment.

In the UK, Maverick Entertainment released a DVD, titled "Brace Yourself" in 2006, which contains the first four episodes. Fremantle Home Entertainment later released two more DVDs.

Currently, the series is now streaming on both networks, FilmRise Kids and Tubi. The series is also available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, iTunes, Google Play,[15] and episodes 1-13 on YouTube (thru Nelvana's Keep It Weird Channel).[16] Nickelodeon Canada aired reruns of the series on weeknights at 4:00 AM from February 28, 2022, to August 26, 2024. YTV also aired reruns for some months in 2024.

Planned revival

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In a podcast interview with The Relunchables, series creator Melissa Clark revealed that, as early as 2015, she was in talks with Nelvana about a Braceface reboot that would be set twenty years after the original series. She said that Nelvana had wanted her to write the pilot and first three episodes, and that they would be in contact to discuss further details, but they never reached back out.[17]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Mediacaster Magazine - Broadband & Content - TELETOON's September Sizzles with New Series and a Finale". 16 October 2013. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013.
  2. ^ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 91. ISBN 978-1538103739.
  3. ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 155. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  4. ^ "Braceface TV Review | Common Sense Media". www.commonsensemedia.org. Retrieved 2022-08-12.
  5. ^ "DOWN IN MOUTH: 'BRACEFACE' FIZZLES". Orlando Sentinel. 27 May 2001. Retrieved 2022-08-12.
  6. ^ "'Braceface' suited to kids ready for junior high school". Indiana Gazette. 2001-06-22. p. 11. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  7. ^ "'Braceface' takes a refreshingly light look at the junior high challenges". Lancaster New Era. 2001-06-04. p. 22. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  8. ^ "Fourteenth Annual Environmental Media Awards". Environment Media Association. December 4, 2004. Archived from the original on December 4, 2004.
  9. ^ "Environmental Media Awards, USA (2004)". IMDb. Retrieved 2022-08-12.
  10. ^ "CANOE -- JAM! - Katie gets animated". June 10, 2016. Archived from the original on June 10, 2016.
  11. ^ "The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on June 29, 2001 · 85". Newspapers.com. 2001-06-29. Retrieved 2019-11-22.
  12. ^ "Welcome To Foxkids.com.au". February 5, 2003. Archived from the original on 2003-02-05.
  13. ^ "STAR - Programme Guide". 24 November 2005. Archived from the original on 24 November 2005. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  14. ^ RTÉ Guide, 1–7 September 2001 edition and subsequent dates
  15. ^ "Braceface". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  16. ^ "BRACEFACE | Full Episodes". YouTube.
  17. ^ https://bleav.com/shows/the-relunchables/episodes/40-braceface-w-melissa-clark/
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