Science Court

Science Court
Also known as	'Squigglevision'
Genre	animation/nontraditional court show
Created by	Tom Snyder
Developed by	Tom Snyder
Written by	Bill Braudis David Dockterman Tom Snyder
Directed by	Loren Bouchard Tom Snyder
Voices of	Bill Braudis Paula Plum H. Jon Benjamin Paula Poundstone Fred Stoller Dee Bradley Baker
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	29 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Bonnie Burns Tom Snyder Niki Herbert (coordinating producer)
Producer(s)	Loren Bouchard Tom Snyder
Cinematography	Ivan Rhudick (post-production director)
Editor(s)	Loren Bouchard (audio editor) Justin Montanino (assistant editor)
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Burns & Burns Productions Tom Snyder Productions
Distributor	Disney–ABC Domestic Television
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	September 13, 1997 (1997-09-13) – January 22, 2000 (2000-01-22)

Science Court (retitled Squigglevision in 1998)^[1] is an edutainment, animation/non-traditional court show from Tom Snyder Productions, which was aired on ABC's Disney's One Saturday Morning block from 1997 to 2000. The cartoon was "filmed" in Squigglevision.^[2]

Overview

"The half-hour program mixed courtroom drama, science experiments, and humor to teach fundamental concepts in elementary and middle school science such as the water cycle, work, matter, gravity, flight, and energy. As each case unfolded, the characters in the trial used humor to highlight scientific misconceptions and model good scientific practice".^[3] In a typical episode, a lawsuit or criminal action would take place based around some scientific point. Humor and musical numbers were used to break down scientific concepts. Science Court earned top television awards for Tom Snyder.^[4] Science Court utilized Squigglevision as its style of animation.

Characters

The primary characters of Science Court were the trial lawyers Alison Krempel and Doug Savage. Alison Krempel, voiced by Paula Plum, was modest, intelligent and kind. Her logical and articulate arguments always lead to the explanations of the scientific points. Doug Savage, voiced by Bill Braudis, was ignorant, arrogant and unscrupulous.

Both Doug and Allison called on a variety of expert witnesses to prove their case. Doug, often to his detriment, called upon child academics Dr. Julie Bean and Dr. Henry Fullerghast to testify. Their scientific testimony usually disproved Doug’s case. Professor Nick Parsons, voiced by H. Jon Benjamin served as an expert for Alison Krempel. He used science to successfully refute Doug Savage's ludicrous and ill-informed claims. Often Micaela and Tim, Miss Kremple's assistant, helped to break down scientific concepts. Comedians Paula Poundstone and Fred Stoller rounded out the cast playing Judge Stone and court stenographer Fred respectively.

• Paula Plum as Alison Krempel
• Bill Braudis as Doug Savage
• H. Jon Benjamin as Prof. Nick Parsons
• Paula Poundstone as Judge Stone
• Fred Stoller as Stenographer Fred

Educational use

Tom Snyder Productions has released twelve of the episodes into a series of educational CD-ROMs with accompanying workbooks and experiment kits for schools.^[5] On December 2, 2004, Snyder, founder and former CEO of Tom Snyder Productions, was inducted into the Association of Educational Publishers Hall of Fame to honor his extraordinary contribution to educational publishing.^[4]

Renamed to Squigglevision

In 1998, Science Court was renamed to Squigglevision in its second to third seasons.

Episodes

Season 1 (1997–98)

Season 2 (1998–99)

Season 3 (1999–2000)

References

External links

• Science Court at the Internet Movie Database
• Science Court at TV.com
• Science Court educational products from Tom Snyder Productions