The Learning Company

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The Learning Company (TLC) is an American educational software company, founded in 1980. The company produced a grade-based system similar to Knowledge Adventure's JumpStart series. The products for preschoolers through second graders feature Reader Rabbit, and software for more advanced students features The ClueFinders. The company also purchased Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium.

The original The Learning Company became the target of larger software firms interested in purchasing it. In 1995 a "bidding war" took place between Brøderbund and SoftKey, with the latter eventually acquiring TLC for $606 million in cash. SoftKey took up The Learning Company's name and continued acquiring other software companies including Mindscape, Inc. in March 1998 for $150 million and, ironically, former rival Brøderbund in June of the same year for $416 million. Mattel purchased the company in 1999 for $3.8 billion [1], renaming it "Mattel Interactive", but eventually sold it.

TLC, along with Brøderbund, is now a subsidiary of Riverdeep, however some of the acquired entertainment holdings were sold to Ubisoft.

Contents

[edit] Software

[edit] Reader Rabbit/ClueFinders series

[edit] Zoombinis

[edit] Super Seeker series

[edit] Super Solvers series

[edit] Carmen Sandiego series

[edit] Other games

Reference: The Gizmos & Gadgets! User's Guide Back Outside Cover

[edit] Continuity in the Learning Company World

While it may not seem like it at first, many of the series of games do, indeed, involve each other in subtle ways that the developers may just want to sneak in, or otherwise. The ClueFinders games, although part of the same product line, appear to be set in their own universe.

[edit] The Master of Mischief and Morty Maxwell

The most obvious one is the discrepancy between The Master of Mischief and Morty Maxwell. Both appear to be the same character, sporting the same voice and art. Also, in many of the Super Solver and Super Seeker series' help files, it refers to the Master of Mischief as "The Master of Mischief, Morty Maxwell". However, the Master of Mischief, the antagonist of the Super Seeker series, is characterized as more of a whimsical trickster, blending to the magical themed world in and around Treasure Mountain. He seems to cause problems just for fun. Morty Maxwell (the antagonist of the Super Solver series), on the other hand, seems to take over facilities in hopes of making profit. Again, this seems to be a bit more mischievous than greed, but his intentions are much more grounded.

Take this example: In Treasure Galaxy!, the Master of Mischief invents a device that transforms asteroids into evil, menacing Disasteroids. He then proceeds to watch as they wreak havoc on Crystal City. Conversely, in Gizmos & Gadgets!, Morty Maxwell makes a hostile takeover of the Shady Glen Technology Center, and challenges you to beat him in 15 races. Morty usually has a more active, fighting role, but the Master of Mischief sits back and watches mayhem ensue.

[edit] Locations

The primary locations of the Reader Rabbit series are in Wordville. On the Wordville map in the front of the Reader Rabbit 3 User's Guide, Treasure Mountain can be seen. This seems to suggest that the two worlds are located relatively close to one another. Another location is Shady Glen, where all the Super Solver series take place in.

[edit] Subtle crossovers

  • Though Operation Neptune seems to be outside of the fantasy realm of the other games, one of the prizes in the Circus in Math Rabbit is the Neptune.
  • In one of the data logs found in Operation Neptune, one of the scientists references Ancient Empires as one of the ways the scientists on the space exploration journey like to pass the time.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Larry Dignan (1998-12-14). Mattel/The Learning Co. in $3.8B merger. Ziff Davis.

[edit] External links

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Carmen Sandiego
Elements
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Developers
Brøderbund • The Learning Company • WGBH • WQED • DiC Entertainment • Artificial Mind and Movement
Publishers & distributors