The Paz Show

Cast and characters

The main character of the series is Paz, a fuzzy five-year-old penguin voiced by Tim Lagasse with an American accent. He is optimistic and curious, and his enthusiasm sometimes leads to obstacles on his adventures, but his mother, Big Penguin, his grandfather, Pappy, and his friends offer encouragement. In a few episodes, Paz plays a trumpeter, an orange kazoo-like instrument with sitar strings that produces a tune matching the show’s instrumentals. He has a black coat and feet, a white face and belly, and a yellow chest and beak. From 2003 until 2010, when Discovery Kids relaunched as the Hub Network, Paz was the mascot of the Ready Set Learn! block.

Big Penguin, voiced by Rebecca Nagan, is Paz’s loving single mother who works as an architect. She occasionally speaks with a British accent, and Paz’s father never appears. Her appearance is similar to Paz’s, but with a yellow lining around her stomach. Starting with the episode Locket, she wears a bronze locket inherited from her own mother, containing a photo of her son.

Pappy, voiced by Anton Rodgers, is a macaroni penguin who is Paz’s grandfather and possibly Big Penguin’s father. A retired explorer, he lives alone in a colorful house that resembles a Mediterranean home, with location-themed rooms shown in Senses, plus a bedroom and guest room seen in I Can’t Sleep. The episode Fun With Pappy reveals that Pappy looked like Paz when he was young, and now resembles his own grandfather. He is talented at playing the tuba and occasionally performs songs for Paz and his friends. He has yellow crests matching a large spot on his chest, and sometimes appears in a red vest jacket and a blue and red explorer helmet.

Pig, voiced by Margot Caroni, is a sassy pig with an Italian accent who plays the violin in Band Wagon and tap-dances in Right Moves. Rabbit, voiced by Charlotte Bellamy, is an outgoing rabbit with a British accent who drums on trash can lids. She has a little sister named Carrot, and is white with an orange right ear and tail.

Production

The series was announced on May 25, 2001, when Danish production division Egmont Imagination partnered with British animation studio King Rollo Films to produce a preschool television series titled Little Penguin based on Mary Murphy's book series, with Egmont Imagination handling distribution. On September 9, 2002, Egmont Imagination and King Rollo Films commissioned the series, now titled The Paz Show, to Discovery's children's network Discovery Kids and TLC for the Ready Set Learn! block. In March 2003, Dutch company Telescreen acquired Egmont Imagination's programming catalogue, including the series, taking over production, development, and distribution rights.