Background Edit
Origin and development Edit
On February 16, 2005, Kids’ WB’s unveiling of its new Fall schedule for the 2005–2006 television season was announced by The WB Television Network, featuring its returning series Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokémon, The Batman, and Xiaolin Showdown, with the inclusion of four new series introduced and to be added to its weekly fall lineup. Among the former three shows, Loonatics Unleashed, Coconut Fred’s Fruit Salad Island, and Transformers: Cybertron, was none other than Johnny Test. The aforementioned schedule was announced by The WB/Kids’ WB Entertainment President David Janollari, Kids’ WB Senior Vice President and General Manager Betsy McGowen, speaking to advertisers and the media press during the Kids’ WB upfront sales presentation in New York. Johnny Test was created and executively produced by Scott Fellows, the creator of the two Nickelodeon live-action series Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide and Big Time Rush, and the head writer for The Fairly OddParents and ChalkZone. The show premiered on September 17, 2005, on Kids’ WB’s Saturday morning lineup of its weekly fall schedule, alongside Loonatics Unleashed and Coconut Fred’s Fruit Salad Island. The episode pair, “Johnny to the Center of the Earth” and “Johnny X”, marked the series premiere.
When the show first progressed on its original first-run on Kids’ WB (season 1 only), it captured top posts for second straight week in total and was very well received in the Nielsen ratings. It ranked as the #1 broadcast program in Girl 2-11 (garnering 2.2/10), and ranked as the #2 broadcast series in Kids 2-11 (gaining 2.3/11 in the process) and Girls 6-11 (2.4/11), and ultimately ranking #3 in Kids 6-11 (receiving 3.0/14). Its second season received a slightly more number of viewers in average in the United States: 2.6 million viewers per 2nd season episode. Its 3rd season’s average number of viewers in the United States was 3.1 million viewers. Its 4th season got an average number of viewers of about 4.3 million viewers per episode in the United States. Its 5th premiere attracted over 4.7 million viewers in the United States.
The series was developed for television by Aaron Simpson, with a brief, slightly longer pre-existing pilot short produced by Simpson as well, before the show was picked up as a full series by Kids’ WB. Based on Episode 1A “Johnny to the Center of the Earth”, the pilot episode was animated roughly in Adobe Flash, but retaining the same plot, and used the same, similar color schemes as the aforementioned episode, and was recorded with an American voice cast (retaining James Arnold Taylor, as the voice of Johnny Test) instead. The original production design (including character designs, prop designs and background designs) was created, provided and contributed by Matt Danner and Marc Perry, and then later worked upon by producer Chris Savino and art director Paul Stec. Fellows, the creator of the series who had interested the network to the series’ premise, based the titular character on himself when he was a young boy, with Johnny’s twin sisters, Susan and Mary, being based on his own two sisters, also named Susan and Mary. In the original pilot and early promotional material of the show, Dukey was referred to as “Poochie”.
James Arnold Taylor said that he was not Fellows’ original choice for the role of Johnny Test, he had previously voiced the lead character in the initial test pilot. After the show got picked up by the WB network as a series, he was initially going to be replaced by a different voice actor, with a Canadian voice cast instead. But of course, the studio had trouble finding Johnny’s initial voice convincing for the first six episodes, so they gave Taylor back the role to redub his dialog for the rest of the first season, and managed to keep him on the cast for the rest of the series. Aaron Simpson, who had developed the series and produced the pilot, was the creator and executive producer’s first choice to serve as the producer of the show, before he turned it down.
Production Edit
The remainder of the first season was produced in-house by Warner Bros. Animation, but since this show was a utilized U.S./Canada co-production, some of the animation production service work was outsourced to Canadian animation studios Studio B Productions and Top Draw Animation, and as well as South Korean animation production company Digital eMation, which also provided the original main title animation opening, storyboarding of some of the episodes was done by Atomic Cartoons.
Nearly much of the original writers, storyboarders, and art crew of the series’ first production season was recycled of mostly and notably that of familiar Cartoon Network Studios and Nickelodeon Animation Studio alumni, as well as some from WB Animation, Walt Disney Television Animation and DiC Entertainment, and even the comic book industry, including Chris Savino, Marc Perry, Paul Stec, Matt Danner, Joe Horne, Mike Kazaleh, Brian Larsen, Jun Falkenstein, Scott Shaw!, Nora Johnson, Milton Knight, Ray Leong, Chris Battle, Casey Mitchum, Pat Ventura, John Derevlany, J.C. Cheng, Aliki Theofilopoulos, George Cox III, Frederick J. Gardner III, Allan Penny, Justin Schultz, Christopher D. Lozinski, Dane Taylor and Rita Cooper. The original version of the show’s theme song and all of its underscores were both written, composed and conducted by Kevin Manthei, with creator Scott Fellows having written and provided the lyrics to the theme song. Voice recording was provided by Voicebox Productions, Inc., with voice direction by Terry Klassen.
The merger of UPN and The WB into The CW Television Network had resulted in many budget cuts for the show, and resulted in hiatus. Cookie Jar Entertainment, another Canada-based entertainment company, decided to take control of the series’ production. Due to this change, the writers, storyboarders, and art crew who worked on the first season were let go, resulting in an entirely new crew managing the show. In addition, the budget of the show dropped dramatically, leading seasons two and three of the show being animated in Adobe Flash by Collideascope Digital Productions. The show’s opening theme was later changed for the second season, later for the third season and once again for the entire latter remainder of the series, with the opening being made of recycled episode footage. On March 1, 2008, the episode pair, “Johnny X: A New Beginning” and “Johnny X: The Final Ending”, aired. It was originally intended as the series finale; however, James Arnold Taylor had stated that it was renewed for a fourth season.
The fourth season was animated at Atomic Cartoons with animation assistance from Seventoon Inc. and Philippine Animators Group Inc., which are both located in the Philippines. It finally premiered in high-definition on Teletoon on September 10, 2009, and on Cartoon Network in the U.S. on November 9, 2009. Later, on August 24, 2010, it was announced that Johnny Test was renewed for a fifth season. Like the fourth season before it, it would be a full set of 26 episodes with a 27th episode added to the end; the renewal brought the series total to 92 episodes. The fifth season premiered on Cartoon Network in America on June 13, 2011, along with a new theme sequence with the same song used from seasons 2–4. Starting with the fifth season, Trevor Devall would become the new voice of Dukey, causing Louis Chirillo to leave the series. Similarly, Ashleigh Ball retired as the voice of Mary, Sissy and Missy at the end of the 4th season, due to her work on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic; as a result, she was replaced by Brittney Wilson, Mary’s original voice.
On March 12, 2012, it was announced that the show was renewed for a sixth season. Like the fourth and fifth season before it, it would again be a full set of 26 episodes; the renewal brought the series total to 117 episodes. Ashleigh Ball also returned for the roles in this season. The sixth season premiered on Cartoon Network in America on April 23, 2013. With this season, the show reached its 100th episode (and 200th segment), making it one of Teletoon’s longest-running original series (Total Drama has produced 118 episodes and two specials, while Totally Spies! was co-produced for its first five seasons and 130 episodes).
The show was renewed for a seventh season, on June 11, 2013, which would have consisted of 13 episodes and a 3-part special. However, on June 25, 2015, James Arnold Taylor, the voice of Johnny Test, stated that he was unaware of any plans for season seven.