It's a Big Big World

• Snook – A pale-throated three-toed sloth, Snook helps his friends learn all about the 'Big Big World' around them. He's slow-moving (but smart) and often takes naps, but is always up for a scientific investigation. He also enjoys singing and dancing with all of his friends in the World Tree. In addition to interacting with the other characters, Snook regularly breaks the fourth wall, often to explain a fact or ask a question. Like Bear from Bear in the Big Blue House, Snook is a full-bodied character, as well as the only one not requiring 3 performers.
• Burdette – Burdette the resplendent quetzal bird sometimes seems like a controlling older sister, who thinks she knows more than everyone around her. However, Burdette is sincere, and while investigating things with her friends in the World Tree, she's sometimes surprised to learn new things about herself too.
• Bob – Bob the southern tamandua loves the ants (eating them really) that live all around him in the World Tree, and he's always trying new things out to make them like him more. Bob also worries a lot about things that he thinks might happen. He also gets a little timid around Greenie because of Greenie's deep, loud voice and gruff demeanor.
• Smooch and Winslow – Smooch and Winslow are two playful sibling monkeys - common marmosets to be exact - who're always stirring things up. Smooch, the girl monkey, is always trying to figure out the mysteries of the world around her, and Winslow is the goofy creative thinker. With such different personalities, these two monkeys don't always see eye to eye, but their little disagreements frequently lead to great adventures.
• Madge – Madge is a Galápagos tortoise. Madge has a map of the world on her shell. She's the oldest and wisest creature in the World Tree, and the one everyone comes to when they have a problem to solve. She traveled all over the world and shares her experiences with everyone. Her library is the place to visit for answers to scientific questions. Madge isn't in Season 2 and is replaced by Riona the baby sloth.
• Oko – An old brown howler, Oko is a trickster who always shows up when least expected. Oko can be grouchy and mischievous, but he also shares mysterious stories and little bits of wisdom with the others. A tai chi master, he carries an old walking stick that he can twirl from his feet to his hands and back again in the blink of an eye. Oko, along with Greenie, appears less often and did not return in season 2. He has a friend named Tsetse, who sometimes gives good advice.
• Wartz – Wartz is a red-eyed tree frog. Wartz has gone through his metamorphosis, growing from a tadpole into a frog. Best friends with Smooch and Winslow, Wartz wants to get along with everyone and will agree with anyone, no matter what they're saying. Although he is seen in the intro on both seasons, he is not in Season 2.
• Ick – Ick is a redtail catfish who lives in the pond under the world tree. In "The Sting," where it's revealed that Greenie is afraid of bees, Ick stirs up a little joke by making a buzzing sound, showing his naughty side. Ick has misanthropic tendencies and isn't in Season 2.
• Riona – Snook's niece, a baby sloth that first appeared in Season 2.

• Peter Linz: Snook/Oko
• Melissa Creighton: Burdette
• Aymee Garcia: Smooch
• Tyler Bunch: Winslow/Riona
• James Godwin: Bob
• Tim Lagasse: Ick /Wartz/Greenie/Oko (pilot)
• Julie Westwood (voice): Madge

Additional puppetry was provided by Carol Binion, Eric Engelhardt, Jim Kroupa, Paul McGinnis, John Kennedy, Jodi Eichelberger, Heather Asch, Amanda Maddock, David Jordan, Lara MacLean.

Many of the puppeteers come from similar shows, primarily Bear in the Big Blue House, Jellybean Jungle, and The Book of Pooh, another show involving Shadowmation, a technique that combines live-action, bunraku-style puppetry, and computer-generated animation.

The show debuted on PBS Kids on January 2, 2006 and aired as part of the Miss Lori and Hooper block, until 2010, when it was replaced by Super Why!. It also aired on Nick Jr. in Australia.[2]

It premiered in Latin America on May 28, 2007 on Discovery Kids, but the series was shortly cancelled afterwards, due to low ratings.

Six DVDs were released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. They're:

• The Sky Above (2007) released January 30, 2007
• Safe and Sound (2007) released May 22, 2007
• Let's Investigate the World (2007) released May 22, 2007 (2007-05-22)
• The Earth Needs You (2007) released May 22, 2007 (2007-05-22)
• You Can Do It (2007) released August 14, 2007 (2007-08-14)
• The Big Big Sleep (2007) released August 14, 2007 (2007-08-14)

Other DVDs:

• Be Healthy and Happy (2008) released March 25, 2008 (2008-03-25)
• Everyone's Different (2008) released March 25, 2008 (2008-03-25)

• Sony TV (2006-2007)
• Stonyfield Farm (2009)

• Archive index at the Wayback Machine
• wainscottstudios.com
• Website