Mike, Lu & Og
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| Mike, Lu & Og | |
|---|---|
 From bottom to top: Mike, Lu and Og |
|
| Format | Animated television series |
| Created by | Mikhail Shindel Mikhail Aldashin Charles Swenson |
| Directed by | Elena Rogeva Aleksandr Tatarskiy |
| Voices of | Nika Futterman Nancy Cartwright Dee Bradley Baker S. Scott Bullock Corey Burton Martin Rayner Kath Soucie |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Cartoon Network |
| Original run | November 12, 1999[1][2] – August 18, 2001 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Mike, Lu & Og is a short-lived American animated television series that ran on Cartoon Network, produced by Kinofilm Studios. The show was the seventh Cartoon Cartoon, based on a short for The What-A-Cartoon! Show. Created by Chuck Swenson, the show follows a girl named Mike (short for Michelene), who is a foreign exchange student from Manhattan, a stuck up island princess named Lu, and a native boy named Og who is a gifted inventor. They go through a series of wacky adventures as Mike learns the customs of the island and the natives learn the customs of the United States. 26 half-hour episodes were produced, featuring two stories per episode. The series aired from 1999 to 2001 on Cartoon Network, and featured voice actors Nika Frost as Mike, Nancy Cartwright as Lu, and Dee Bradley Baker as Og. It began airing on Boomerang in May 2006.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Mike applied as a foreign exchange student, and on a lark asked to be sent to a tropical island (which has the strange capability to sink and pop up "like a cork" a few moments later every "few hundred years or so"). She found herself dumped on a forgotten, barely mapped island populated by descendants of a British shipwreck (which is why Lu and Og, and their parents, speak perfect English). This island may be based on the real-life Pitcairn Island. The Castaways have "gone native" and are trying to behave like Polynesians, with varying degrees of success. Amongst other things, this explains Og's name and his (un)dress sense.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Mike
Manhattan-born Mike enjoys the sun, the beach, and the relaxed (school-less) atmosphere, but misses kosher Delis, all night neon lights, skateboards, inline skates. In "A Learning Experience" Mike admits to also missing her old school life -- "strict disciplinary Teachers, stressful tests, lunches made of gray-things and brightly colored gelatin desserts, and the peer pressure to conform". Fortunately, Og seems able to improvise anything out of coconut husks and sea shells. On one occasion he even managed to build a television set. The set only ever showed static because there were no stations in range, but that did not prevent the fascinated islanders from watching it all day and neglecting their other activities.
In "The Tube", Mike recalls that back at "St. Albine", Sister Mary Magdalene told her that being an exchange student would be a learning experience. At the end of "Hot Couture", when Og displays ... "the Og", Mike, just before almost passing out, cries out, "Sister Mary Francis, where are you now?"
In "Buzz Cut" she tells Og that Sister Ignatius would have loved to have him in science class, and in "Scuba Dooby Doo" tells him that her friends Melissa and Max stood with her when Sister Ignatius accused Mike of having a terminal smirk. This all suggests that back in New York Mike attended a parochial school. If so, "St. Albine" may be named for Stéphanie Félicité Ducrest de St-Albin, comtesse de Genlis, a French writer and early proponent of modern methods of education.
Although Mike's last name is given as "Mavinsky", everyone (including Mike herself) pronounces it "Mazinsky".
Lu reveals on two occasions and Marge, when she is being stern and correcting Mike's behavior, that Mike's real first name is Michelene.
[edit] Princess Lulu
Lu (more properly Princess Lulu), being a "princess", is often naughty and arrogant and looks down on Mike, but usually learns a lesson in humility by the end of each episode. Lu also has a long-suffering pet turtle named Lancelot. She also makes Og work his fingers to the bone.
Although she titles itself herself "princess", she is, in fact, not a member of any royal family, but simply the daughter of the Island's governor, Wendel. On one occasion, she even offered herself to become the adoptive daughter of "King Bob", so she could become a real princess, not knowing that "King Bob" was only the man's slogan-name, as he was a salesman.
She is very spoiled and is seen to be disobedient of her father, who is unable to exercise any parental control over her whatsoever. Because of this, Mike often calls her a "royal pain in the pajamas".
Her mother is never seen nor mentioned. She is a cousin of Og.
[edit] Og
Native Islander Og, is much more advanced than most people would expect him to be. Og would rather be in the Lab than out hunting with his father, Alfred. Mike often relies on Og to invent things.
He owns three animals; a pig, a goat and a hedgehog who are, in fact, able to talk and well learned in philosophy -- everyone except for Og are completely oblivious of this. Og's parents are worried about Og because he has tea with his animal friends. Little do they know that the animals discuss philosophy with Og. Sometimes, the animals mention that Og might have a crush on Mike.
He is Lu's cousin.
[edit] Wendell
Lu's father and the Governor of the Island. He has a wiery, weak will (as seen when he ate so many chocolates that he returned into his former, "pre-workout" shape in the course of a few hours) and is seemingly unable to control his daughter and of delivering any sort of punishment to her. He is then adept to start crying. He has been the island's Governor for many years. This was mis-interpreted by Mike, who thought he was an American-esque governor, which lead to an "election" on the island, not realising that the Islanders came to the island from England (and, as seen in the episode with "King Bob" - they hold the "King of England" in great respect).
He has a large collection of "tea-pot cosies".
[edit] Alfred
Og's father.
He fancies himself to be the island's hunter (who uses suction-cup arrows and is protective of the wombat) who persistently chases a wombat who evades him at every turn. Alfred and the wombat have a love-hate relationship.
[edit] Margery
Og's mother and Alfred's wife. Frequently works hard preparing meals.
Margery fancies herself to be an artist and a writer -- particularly a historian. Throughout the series she is working on a book about the island's history titled "Cuzzlewits End".
The majority of Margery's artwork has to do with the island's famous ancestors. She is building a sculpture of several ancestors on the side of a mountain (reminiscent of Mount Rushmore).
Margery is also the island's chef, preparing meals and tea for everyone on her side of the island, as well as preparing buffets and elaborated meals for special occasions.
She is level headed and gets Alfred out of trouble. She wears the pants in the family but allows Alfred to think that he's the head of the household.
[edit] Old Queeks
The Island Elder and Medicine-Man, the Islanders seek advice from him. He is also seen to be able to perform a kind of magic, summoning dead spirits. He is opposed to Mike's innovative ways.
Old Queeks claims to be psychic and "to know all-see all". In one episode Mike becomes suspicious of Queeks and decides to investigate him. She climbed up the opposite side of the mountain and found that Old Queeks was not psychic but that he spied on the Islanders through a telescope. Even after Mike informed the Islanders about Old Queek's telescope, they still held onto their beliefs that he was psychic and communicated with a higher power(s).
He lives on the top of a mountain in a cave, and enjoys using "bat products" (ie: products made with bat guano). This includes everything from toothpaste to snacks.
[edit] Lancelot
Is Lu's long-suffering pet land turtle. Lancelot is always running away from Lu, that is why she has to keep him on a leash. Lancelot tends to run away from Lu when she goes overboard and he has had enough of her misbehavior.
Lancelot tends to be the savior of the Islanders and Mike (especially Lu) when they're in trouble.
Lancelot follows the trend of the rest of the pets, where they seem to have more common sense than the Islanders.
[edit] The Pirates
Living nearby are three pirates, descended from the pirates who caused the Brits to be shipwrecked in the first place but were then shipwrecked themselves. Their leader is a captain with two wooden legs and two eyepatches. Despite these handicaps he seems to get around without any problems. The pirates sometimes attempt to catch and eat Lancelot but are always foiled by the three children.
Their captain is known to force his men to put on eyepatches, to he can sneak into his treasury and put a stuffed animal finger puppet on his hand, engaging in conversations with it, speaking for it in a squeaky voice.
[edit] Cuzzlewits
The other inhabitants of the island, whose very existence Lu eagerly denies, live on the other side of the island. Although they are shown to live in caves, one of their number, Hermione, a Cuzzlewit girl, is seen to be an extremely experienced thinker. She is accompanied by two Cuzzlewit boys, Haggis and Baggis, who constantly batter each other with clubs and appear to be dimwitted.
In the only episode taking part on the Cuzzlewits side of the island, they are revealed to have a far greater number then the people on the side of the island, where Mike lives.
The parents of The Cuzzlewits and The Islanders do not get along. That is why they live on opposite sides of the island.
In "The Three Amigas", Lu becomes envious of the fact that Mike and Hermione become best friends, have sleepovers, and have left her out of their fun.
The Cuzzlewits are shown to all have the same genetic characteristic - an underbite which causes their 2 center lower teeth to be bucked teeth.
[edit] Voice actors and their characters
- Nika Frost - Michelene "Mike" Mavinsky
- Nancy Cartwright - Lu
- Dee Bradley Baker - Og
- S. Scott Bullock - Wendell
- Corey Burton - Old Queeks
- Martin Rayner - Alfred
- Kath Soucie - Margery
[edit] Episode list
[edit] Season 1: 1999
- The Tube/Roller Madness
- Sultans of Swat/Tea for Three
- Losing Lancelot/Buzz Cut
- Elephant Walk/Palm Pet
- Yo, Ho, Who?/A Boy's Game
- Whole Lotta Shakin'/Mother of All Marathons
- Hot Couture/Opposites Attack
- Scopin' It Out/The Good Ship Bad
- High Rise/The Great Snipe Hunt
- JuJubombs/Turtle Stew
- A Bicycle Built For Me/Crowded House
- Nobody's Nose/Scuba Dooby Doo
- High Camp/Sneeze Please
[edit] Season 2: 2000
- A Learning Experience/We the People
- Money/Repeat After Me
- Thanks, But No Thanks/Hot Dog
- That Sinking Feeling/Founder's Day
- Giant Steps/Night of the Living Ancestors
- For the Love of Mike/Sparks
- Brave Sir Lancelot/The Big Game
- Flustering Footwear Floatsam/Fathers and Pies
- Queeks, Queeks, Who's Got the Queeks?/Alfred, Lord of the Jungle
- The King of Curtains/Margery the Duck
- A Freduian Split/Fitness Fever
- The Hunter and the Hunted/To Serve Lu
- The Three Amigas/Sleeping Ugly
[edit] Notes
- ^ Barbara Ensor (November 15, 1999). "On Screen Armchair Perestroika". New York. (Available at kino-film.com.) Accessed 2007-11-09.
- ^ Jefferson Graham. "Cartoon networking from Moscow". USA Today. (Available at kino-film.com.) Accessed 2007-11-09.
