My Gym Partner's a Monkey

My Gym Partner's a Monkey
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Julie McNally Cahill Tim Cahill
Written by	Julie McNally-Cahill Tim Cahill Tom Sheppard Roger Eschbacher Mitch Larson Adam Pava
Directed by	Timothy Cahill Gary Hartle (supervising director, Season 1–2) John McIntyre (supervising director, Season 3–4)
Voices of	Nika Futterman Tom Kenny Rick Gomez Grey DeLisle Maurice LaMarche Phil LaMarr
Theme music composer	Tom Sheppard Pat Irwin
Opening theme	"My Gym Partner's a Monkey"
Composer(s)	Tom Sheppard (original songs)
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	52 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Julie McNally-Cahill Timothy Cahill
Producer(s)	Victoria McCollum (Season 1–3) Haven Alexander (Season 4)
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	Cartoon Network Studios
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original network	Cartoon Network Teletoon (Canada)
Picture format	1080i (16:9 HDTV)
Original release	December 26, 2005 (2005-12-26) – November 27, 2008 (2008-11-27)
External links
Website

My Gym Partner's a Monkey is an American animated television series that was created by Tim Cahill and Julie McNally Cahill and produced by Cartoon Network Studios. It aired on Cartoon Network from December 26, 2005 to November 27, 2008. The story revolves around Adam Lyon, a human who, after a clerical error listed his surname as "Lion," is forced to transfer to Charles Darwin Middle School, a school for local anthropomorphic zoo animals, where he is partnered with Jake Spidermonkey in gym, and quickly becomes best friends with him. Two DVD volumes have been released in 2007 and 2008.

My Gym Partner's a Monkey was a ratings success for Cartoon Network, gaining millions of viewers. The series was met with generally positive reviews from critics. It was nominated for four Annie Awards and won an Emmy Award.

Summary

Adam Lyon is transferred to a middle school established for anthropomorphic zoo animals due to a spelling error making his surname "Lion". There, he is befriended by a mischievous, eccentric spider monkey named Jake, hence the title of the series, along with a sassy toucan named Lupe, a giraffe named Ingrid, who is infatuated with Adam, the intelligent, wise gorilla Windsor, and Slips the easygoing python. In spite of his usual kindness and fondness for his friends, Adam despises being banished to Charles Darwin Middle School because of something beyond his control and longs for his previous human middle school.

Usually, the episodes are focused on Adam's experiences at Charles Darwin Middle School due to his inability to fit in with his anthropomorphic schoolmates, the challenges that he must face (such as the presumed stupidity of his peers, being schooled in subjects of use only to animals, the introductions of new students of odd, dangerous, or fictional species to the school or the misadventures that Adam stumbles into with them, or the common effects of adolescence as they are experienced by zoo animals).

Episodes

Characters

Main

Adam (left) and Jake (right)

• Adam Michael Lyon (voiced by Nika Futterman)
• Jacob Pablo "Jake" Spidermonkey (voiced by Tom Kenny)
• Windsor Thomas Gorilla (voiced by Rick Gomez)
• Slips Arlo Python (voiced by Rick Gomez)
• Guadalupe Sofía "Lupe" Toucan (voiced by Grey DeLisle)
• Ingrid Alice Giraffe (voiced by Grey DeLisle)
• Virgil Brendan "Bull" Sharkowski (voiced by Phil LaMarr)
• Principal Poncherello Pegone Pixiefrog (voiced by Maurice LaMarche)

Broadcast history

The series began its regular run with a three-episode premiere on Cartoon Network's "Fridays" block on February 24, 2006.^[1] The My Gym Partner's a Monkey-based television film The Big Field Trip aired on January 14, 2007, as part of season 3.^[2] A special episode, "That Darn Platypus", aired on Cartoon Network on May 18, 2007,^[3] as part of Cartoon Network Invaded, a mini-series that aired 5 specials of different series from May 4 to May 28, 2007.^[4] The series ended its 4 season-run on November 27, 2008, with the episode "A Thanksgiving Carol".^[3] Reruns of the series are shown on the revived block Cartoon Planet since April 27, 2012.^[5] In Latin America the series currently airs on Tooncast since 2013. In Ukraine, the series aired on Novyi Kanal. The show runs in India on channel Cartoon Network by the name "Samsher Sikander Chuddie Buddie".^[6]

Home media

Two DVD volumes of the series have been released in Region 4. The first, My Gym Partner's a Monkey – King of the Jungle (featuring 6 episodes, a total of 150 minutes), was released on April 4, 2007,^[7] and the second, My Gym Partner's a Monkey – Monkey Business (featuring 7 episodes, a total of 154 minutes), on January 23, 2008.^[8] There have been no further volumes released.

Reception

My Gym Partner's a Monkey was a ratings success for Cartoon Network. On the series' Cartoon Network "Fridays" block two-episode premiere at 9:00 and 9:30 P.M. EST, the first episode was seen by 1.2 million and the second by 1.3 million children ages 2–11, according to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research.^[1] The 9:30 P.M. telecast ranked as the #1 telecast on all television, broadcast and cable, with both boys 6–11 and boys 2–11 in the time period.^[1] The series went on top the Fridays block ratings, gaining millions of viewers.^[9]

My Gym Partner's a Monkey received generally positive reviews from critics. William Barker of Web Wombat gave the King of the Jungle DVD a positive review, awarding it with a score of 70%, saying: "With an original – dare I say unique? – premise, My Gym Partner's a Monkey makes for a somewhat refreshing change from super heroes and mutants, and the cut-out animation style is captivating, though far from novel. It's not the most impressive cartoon show I've ever seen, but it's quite cute and fairly amusing – even for the older primates among us."^[10] Larisa Wiseman of Common Sense Media awarded the series three out of five stars, saying: "It's difficult to tell what age group the show's producers were aiming at – the animation style and slapstick by themselves would seem to appeal mainly to grade-schoolers, while the jokes and life lessons are definitely aimed at the tween set. The sly humor may even give some adults the occasional laugh-out-loud moment. Overall, My Gym Partner's a Monkey is commendable for its effort to include a subtle message in each episode. Younger viewers will probably find Jake's sometimes-annoying goofiness amusing, and will definitely find the story lines entertaining."^[11]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: My Gym Partner's a Monkey

• Official website
• My Gym Partner's a Monkey at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• My Gym Partner's a Monkey on IMDb
• My Gym Partner's a Monkey at TV.com