The Wild Thornberrys
A globe-trotting family of wildlife documentarians, and their 12-year-old daughter Eliza, who has a secret: she can talk to animals. Plus her chimp sidekick Darwin, a feral little brother, and a booming, big-nosed naturalist dad.
The Wild Thornberrys was produced by Klasky Csupo for Nickelodeon and premiered September 1, 1998, part of the studio's late-90s Nicktoons wave. It followed the Thornberrys, a family who traveled the world filming nature documentaries out of their mobile home — and their middle child, Eliza, who guards a secret gift.
After a chance encounter, Eliza can secretly talk to animals, a power she has to keep hidden. Around her orbited a memorable cast: her enthusiastic documentary-host father Nigel and camerawoman mother Marianne, her fashion-obsessed teenage sister Debbie, her adopted, jungle-raised feral brother Donnie, and Darwin, the anxious chimpanzee who was her constant companion.
The show ran five seasons and 91 episodes through June 11, 2004, and spun off two feature films: The Wild Thornberrys Movie (2002), which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song, and the crossover Rugrats Go Wild (2003), which teamed the family up with Klasky Csupo's Rugrats. Its mix of exotic settings and gentle conservation message made it one of Nickelodeon's most distinctive cartoons of the era.
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