The topic of this page has a wiki of its own: Astroblast! Wiki.
Astroblast! is one of Sprout's original series, created by Children's Network LLC and Turbo Dogs' Bob Kolar, based on a book he wrote.
Plot[]
The old plot description had said:
- "See that twinkling little speck in the night sky – three stars and two light years to the right of Al- pha Centauri? That’s no meteor... it’s the Astroblast Space Station! The Astroblast Space Station is like an intergalactic clubhouse... where everyone is welcome! Visitors flock from planets near and far. Why? Because it’s the perfect place to gather with old friends while making new ones!" (link)
In 2015, this was changed to:
- "When you look at the night sky, you might notice three stars to the right of Alpha Centauri. That's the location of the Astroblast Space Station, a cosmic clubhouse where visitors flock from planets near and far to play with old friends and make new ones. An animal team -- Comet, Halley, Sputnik, Radar and Jet -- runs the station under the watch of Sal the Octopus. While the animals have disparate personalities that sometimes lead to strife, the crew members learn to accept their differences, help one another and become friends." (link)
History on Sprout[]
To promote the show, the characters from the show would interrupt other Sprout shows such as Justin Time, shrink the screen, and comment on the action for 5 to 10 seconds. The network received no complaints about this unorthodox advertising, similar to how, when The Chica Show was about to premiere, characters would squeak like Chica. According to Andrew Beecham, Sprout took care to insert these "cut-ins" only when action in the series they would interrupt was at a low point. Additionally, Sandy Wax said that the network has heard no outcry about the inserts.[1]
Astroblast premiered on July 12, 2014 at 1PM ET (exactly four years after Chloe's Closet premiered) during an extended version of The Sunny Side Up Show and again at 8PM, later at 6:20, The Good Night Show, and aired seven days a week. Additionally, two episodes of Astroblast! were made available on Sprout On Demand on July 1. The series later aired at 4:30PM. In the early mornings, it aired at 12AM.
In advance of the series premiere, Sprout promoted the show with "Astroblast! Space Camp Tour," bringing the world of Astroblast! to kids and families across the country.
The seven-city tour offered children and their families the opportunity to participate in an interactive space experience in the spirit of the series. Complete with a Zero Gravity Station, Bungee Bounce and Moon Bounce House, the Astroblast! Space Camp immersed kids in the Astroblast! universe at each tour stop. Additionally, kids could engage in meaningful play at the Space Challenge Activities Center, which included a Moon Sand Creative Play Zone, Custom Worm Holes, and Shooting Star Toss. In addition, Sprout hosted a launch party at New York's Sugar Factory.
A digital photo station with social sharing would help children and their parents commemorate the event and provide a shareable souvenir of their visit to outer space with the Astroblast! crew. Free and open to the public, the tour touched down in Fairfax, Virginia; Atlanta, Georgia; Houston, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Phoenix, Arizona; and Los Angeles and San Diego, California.
On Sprout Control Room, Meeka and M'Goats played a video where Chica (in Chica Show style) visited the Astroblast! Space Station. Meeka and M'Goats also visited Chica to promote the show's premiere. Also, there was a special broadcast of The Good Night Show taking place in the Sunshine Barn instead of the You and Me Tree. This was due to the fact that the Good Night set either didn't exist or was impractical for live airings. Segments from the broadcast would air during regular Good Night Show episodes afterwards, but by the series' sixth season, they were replaced by a normal intro from Comet.
Carly and Chica broadcast six episodes of the show on Syfy and appeared on The Today Show to promote.[2]
The characters appeared in a The More You Know PSA with Nina, Chica, Carly, Carly, Tim and Emily in 2014.
The show premiered on NBC Kids on October 4th, 2014.
As the show was one of Sprout's originals, it made it past the tenth anniversary rebrand, however it stopped airing on the channel on March 10, 2017, sometime in 2018, the show returned to Universal Kids On Demand until leaving sometime later in that year.
Notes[]
- Footage from the show's pilot is used in 2014's Everyday Moments commercial.
- Astroblast! was the final show to be produced by Soup2Nuts before they shut down on December 31, 2015.
- The show was originally going to be math-based and the main characters looked different. They wore orange outfits instead of color-coded outfits that they would wear in the final show and they stayed true to their book counterparts. The alien characters also looked similar to their book counterparts but in the final show they would have different designs so that kids can recognize them. Comet's name was also different as well. In the books, he was named "Apollo". But in the final show, this was changed to "Comet".
- The show is currently available for free on Sling TV, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Tubi, and Redbox.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
