Eureeka's Castle is an American children's puppet television series created by Debby Beece and Judy Katschke. R. L. Stine developed the characters and was the head writer of the show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block from September 4, 1989, to November 10, 1991. The program featured various puppet characters who live in a giant's wind-up music box. The show was a joint development by Nickelodeon, animators Kit Laybourne and Eli Noyes of Noyes & Laybourne Enterprises, and the puppeteers at 3/Design Studio.[2]
The show follows various puppet characters including Eureeka, a sorceress-in-training. Eureeka and her friends live in a wind-up castle music box owned by a friendly giant. Other characters include Magellan the dragon, twin moat dwellers Bogge and Quagmire, Batly the bat, and Mr. Knack the handyman. There are also various appearing creatures such as mice, singing fish statues called the Fishtones, Magellan's pets Cooey and the Slurms, and Batly's pet spider Webster.
Halfway through the episode, an animated short based on a children's book was shown. Also featured were shorter animated and live-action short films and European imports such as Animal Fair, Roobarb, The Shoe People, Towser, James the Cat, Le Piaf, Plonsters, Philipp, Bojan the Bear, Lilliput Put, Zeno shorts, and Gran. Musical guests also appeared on the show, performing either in one of Mr. Knack's postcards,[3] or at the castle in person.[4]
Eureeka's Castle's ending credits state the show comes from an original concept by Debby Beece and Judy Katschke. In 1988, development of the show began by staff members at Nickelodeon and animator Eli Noyes and his partner Kit Laybourne, whose wife Geraldine Laybourne was the Head of Programming for Nickelodeon.[2] "Jovial Bob Stine", best known for his children's horror novels written under the pen name R. L. Stine, was hired as the head writer to develop the concept, characters and episode scripts.[5] The puppet design and construction for the characters were done at 3/Design Studio where the puppets were built by Jim Kroupa, John Orberg, Kip Rathke and Matt Stoddart.[6]
Nickelodeon ordered 65 episodes of Eureeka's Castle, and Beece called it "the most ambitious program for preschoolers since the premiere of Sesame Street 20 years ago".[7] The first episode of Eureeka's Castle premiered during Nickelodeon's Special Delivery block on August 27, 1989,[1] before debuting on Nick Jr. on September 4. In May 1990, Eureeka's Castle was renewed for a 35-episode second season.[8]
From 1990 to 1991, Nickelodeon created 52 half-hour episodes of Eureeka's Castle, compiling clips from the first two seasons, for international distribution and their participation in the Cable in the Classroom service. Nick Jr. continued to air the original hour-long episodes, which were shortened to half-hour episodes in 1994. Production on Eureeka's Castle ended in 1991; some of the show's crew later worked on Gullah Gullah Island.
Tom Chapin performs "Uh Oh, Accident".
Magellan wants to get out of practicing a dance with Batly for the castle talent show. The mice tell jokes. The main characters sing "Dem Bones". Magellan and Batly question how they sleep during a sleepover. Batly sings about his habit of crashing.
Magellan wants to walk on his toes like Batly and asks Eureeka for help. The main characters perform a rap number about themselves in the castle. Towser is dared to stay in a haunted house. Magellan and Batly sing about the noises of the night.
Batly shames Magellan for trying to hatch birds from birdseed, then the gang performs a rap version of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm". Eureeka and Batly sing "I've Been Working on the Railroad" with Magellan blowing his horn. Towser tries to help a conjuror regain his confidence. Magellan acts as Mr. Knack's supervisor while he's hammering.[10]
After the Moat Twins fool Magellan and Batly with scary noises, they try to scare the twins back. The Moat Twins sing about causing mischief. Bogge's attempt to take Magellan's peanut butter sandwich results in him getting none. Batly finds his caterpillar missing, but Eureeka and Magellan show him the caterpillar turning into a butterfly.
Mr. Knack wants to borrow the Moat Twins' "turnie turnie twisty twisty all the way down thing", but he needs Magellan's help. Eureeka teaches Magellan about animals found in an aquarium. Magellan wants to know from Batly what a friend is. The Moat Twins try not to trick Magellan out of eating his peanut butter sandwich.
Magellan and Batly compare Cooey and Webster. The Moat Twins attempt to clean up their messy room.
The series premiered on September 4, 1989 on Nick Jr. Reruns of the show continued airing on Nick Jr. until July 12, 1996,[11] and again from November 16, 1998, to January 29, 1999, and on Noggin from February 2, 1999, to September 6, 2000.
Two Eureeka's Castle direct-to-video specials ("Sing Along with Eureeka" and "Wide Awake at Eureeka's Castle", both produced in 1990) and the "Christmas at Eureeka's Castle" special were released on VHS by Sony Wonder in 1995, and Paramount Home Video in 1997. The series has not been released on DVD or Blu-ray.
On April 21, 2021, 26 half-hour episodes of the show were added to Paramount+.[12] This marks the first time the series had been legally available to watch in 20 years. Nickelodeon's master tapes of the hour-long episodes and "Don't Touch That Box" are thought to no longer exist.[citation needed]
In 1990, Eureeka's Castle won an Ace Award for best children's program.[13][14][15]