Cyberchase (seasons 1-8)

This page is dedicated to Len Carlson (1937-2006) and Gilbert Gottfried (1955-2022).

Cyberchase is an ongoing Canadian-American animated television series that aired on PBS Kids and is produced by Nelvana in Season 1-5 then was produced by Canada-based Title Entertainment Inc. in Season 6-present. The show represents that math is everywhere.

Plot
After being warped into Cyberspace from a library computer, Jackie, Matt and Inez, along with a wacky cyberbird named Digit, become the Cybersquad. With live hosts Bianca and Harry, the team must protect Motherboard from the evil Hacker who wants to rule Cyberspace. Using gadgets and following clues, the team solves math mysteries and any other problem that comes their way.

Why These Seasons Will Beat Hacker at His Game

 * 1) The premise itself is very interesting. As the show is about 3 kids who got transported into another dimension in the Internet to save the world from an evil doer.
 * 2) The show has some pretty clever lessons about math and geometry and how they work such as going through patterns, measuring, and balancing the right numbers.
 * 3) The artstyle is very unique.
 * 4) There are great locations which are called cybersites that based around different cultures such as Frogsnorts (which is a homage to Harry Potter’s Hogwarts), Happily Every After (a land of fairytale stories), and many more.
 * 5) The Hacker is a very entertaining villain as he is the egotistical scientist with personality trying to take over cyberchase.
 * 6) Amazing voice acting, especially from Christopher Lloyd as Hacker and Gilbert Gottfried as Digit.
 * 7) The main characters are very likable. As they have a good relatable relationship to another and work together to save Cyberspace and their sites.
 * 8) The animation is decent, especially in Seasons 1-5 where it’s in its traditional form.
 * 9) Awesome CGI, especially from the portal.
 * 10) Not only does it teaches math but it also gives some positive messages such as teamwork, friendship and forgiveness.
 * 11) Good pacing.
 * 12) Catchy theme song.
 * 13) Nice adventure scenes.
 * 14) The Cyberchase for Real segments where also decent.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The show began to go a bit downhill after season 8. However, some people may still like these seasons. Below are a few problems with seasons 9-present.
 * 2) *Hacker is being less feared from the characters in the show as everyone is less afraid. Which makes him less entertaining than he is before.
 * 3) *It shifted from one learning source to another as it focuses more on learning about the environment instead of math after it went for a long hiatus. However, there are still some aspects that do teach math.
 * 4) *Current seasons are also focusing less and less on the story arc of Motherboard’s virus, making it unclear if she will ever be cured before the show ends.
 * 5) *There was a LONG hiatus between seasons seasons 8 and 9, lasting three years (2010-2013).
 * 6) *The animation got a lot worse in season 10.
 * 7) *It goes on for far too long, especially for a plot-based show. This isn’t always a good thing considering it might run out of ideas, or worse, risk the show be cancelled before the conclusion.
 * 8) There is some repetitive dialogue that might get old sooner on such as Inez keep saying, “This is not good, this is not good at all!”
 * 9) The show switched to flash animation in Season 6. At least it’s passable until Season 10, as it drastically changed the intro to Flash.
 * 10) *Speaking of flash, it is very stiff, lackluster, and slow-paced compared to the animation used in Seasons 1-5.
 * 11) In Brazil, they only dubbed the first three seasons, due to unknown reasons, they didn't dub Season 4-onwards.

Trivia

 * One episode, “The Poddleville Case” was originally the show's pitch pilot made in 1999 but then got re-animated and added in as the 7th episode of season 1.
 * This is the 3rd longest running show on PBS Kids, behind Sesame Street and Arthur.
 * Christopher Lloyd and Gilbert Gottfried later worked together on the 2009 adaption of Jack and the Beanstalk.