Saving Me (TV series)
| Saving Me | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | |
| Created by | Aaron Johnston |
| Voices of |
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| Composer | Daniel Scott |
| Country of origin |
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| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 20 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producers |
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| Running time | 20-22 minutes |
| Production companies | |
| Original release | |
| Network | BYUtv (United States) Family Channel (Canada) |
| Release | October 1, 2022 – present |
Saving Me is an animated science fiction sitcom created by Aaron Johnston for BYUtv. The show follows the adventures of a grouchy senior billionaire named Bennett Bramble, as he tries to teach himself how to be good and make good choices with his childhood self, Young Bennett, like a Jiminy Cricket-like conscience. Despite his attempts at doing so, his plans constantly backfire, usually resulting in bad things happening or chaos ensuing.
The show is the first animated series to be created for BYUtv. It is produced by Sphere Animation (formerly known as Oasis Animation), a Montreal-based animation studio who is known for their work on the last six seasons of Arthur, the Netflix animated series Kulipari, and Riley Rocket, among others.[1]
The show premiered on BYUtv on October 1, 2022, and on Family Channel on March 15, 2023.[2] The series' episodes last from 20–22 minutes, with 20 episodes produced in total. The show's second season premiered on BYUtv on March 6, 2023. The show has been renewed for a third and fourth season.[3]
Overview
[edit]In the far future, 61-year-old Bennett Bramble is lonely and has garnered a negative reputation. He has tried ways to become less hated in the present, to no avail. With no other ways to fix his reputation, Bennett builds a time machine that allows him to travel into the past as a conscience and enter the mind of his younger 11-year-old self.
After doing so, he meets Young Bennett, his younger self from five decades ago. Bennett wants to teach himself the correct choices to make, and he also hopes to repair his grim future. The only problem is that Bennett has forgotten how to be good, so teaching his younger self how to do so causes many bizarre (and often nonsensical) things to happen.
Characters
[edit]- Old Bennett Bramble (voiced by Ivan Sherry) - The main protagonist. He is a grumpy tech billionaire who discovers that he's been despised by everyone in the future. He decides to go back to the past, crossing paths with his younger self in the process. Old Bennett plans to help his younger self become better, unaware that he hasn't learned how to be good in decades.
- Young Bennett Bramble (voiced by Adam Sanders) - Old Bennett's younger, pre-teen self. Unlike his future self, he's more friendly and intelligent. After confronting Old Bennett, he agrees to team up with him so that he can learn how to become a better person, and build up relationships with his family.
- Mark Bramble (voiced by Dan Chameroy) - Young Bennett's father. He and his son are the only people in the family with glasses.
- Carla Bramble (voiced by Ana Sani) - Young Bennett's mother.
- Liam Bramble (voiced by Jonathan Tan) - Young Bennett's older brother. He has a device on his chest.
- Sophie Bramble (voiced by Amariah Faulkner) - Young Bennett's younger sister. She has pink-colored hair, and as such she is the only family member to have her hair dyed.
- Edee 34 (voiced by Cory Doran) - Old Bennett's robot assistant and his only friend in the future. In the past, he has acted as the Bramble family's personal robot. He is not to be confused with the first and second generation models built by Young Bennett that don't speak and do very little house work.
- Commander Crumb (voiced by Jamie Watson) - Mark and Carla's boss at the secret agent plant.
- Penelope Snodgrass (voiced by Stacey DePass) - Young Bennett's friend and also class rival. She has the brains to invent a lot of items but intends to use them to promote her own self rather than help the community. She later becomes Bennett's love interest.
- Flip Nealy (voiced by Jeffrey Knight) - The head local news reporter.
Development
[edit]Saving Me was created by Aaron Johnston. Daniel Scott composed the soundtrack for the show. Production of the series began in January 2021. In August 2022, BYUtv announced that they had greenlit the show for two 10-episode seasons, the first of which was slated to premiere at the beginning of October 2022.[4]
The first season was officially released online at byutv.org and on the BYUtv App on October 1, 2022. A 2-part sneak peek was also shown on BYUtv in-between sessions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints October General Conference. The series then moved to Monday nights and aired its entire season after the 10th Anniversary episodes of Studio C. On October 27, 2022, it was confirmed that WildBrain had signed on as a global distributor for the series.[5]
The second season was officially released in its entirety on byutv.org on March 5, 2023, before premiering the following day on the network.
Episodes
[edit]| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| 1 | 10 | October 1, 2022 | December 5, 2022 | |
| 2 | 10 | March 6, 2023 | April 3, 2023 | |
Season 1 (2022)
[edit]| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Super Mega Sophie Kapow!" | Greg Bailey | Aaron Johnston | October 1, 2022 (BYUtv & byutv.org) | |
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Young Bennett Bramble ignores his sister when she says she's scared of the ghosts in her closet. Shortly thereafter, he gets a visit from his 61-year-old self who has invented time-travel through the mind. He's there to help Bennett become a better person so he won't be alone in the future, but when he motivates Young Bennett to build a fear-free helmet out of Sophie's bicycle helmet, he ends up turning her into a stunt woman who wants to be a superhero. Can Bennett turn off the helmet before Sophie ends up hurting herself? | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Moose Ninja Vanish!" | Greg Bailey | Aaron Johnston | October 1, 2022 (BYUtv & byutv.org) | |
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When Young Bennett and his older brother Liam get into a feud over a vlog sponsorship, Old Bennett convinces Young Bennett to create a Moose Ninja as a form of truce that'll help smooth things over. When Moose Ninja tries to drink bottled water though, it shorts him out and as a result, he goes on a rampage. Can the Brambles find a way to save their brother, or is Bennett about to learn what real life loss is all about? | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Man's Best Friend's Enemy" | Greg Bailey | Aaron Johnston | October 1, 2022 (byutv.org) October 17, 2022 (BYUtv) | |
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Old Bennett tries to convince his younger self to not get a pet after Penelope's father changes their apartment's animal code to allow her to get a pet cat, but Old Bennett worries how his younger self will take things if his new pet runs away. Realizing what his older self is worried about, Young Bennett decides to create some smart earmuffs which will allow his dog to become smart, but when Edee's holovideo mob battle plays instead, it creates the Mob Dog, turning Duke from Man's Best Friend to Man's Worst Nightmare. | ||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Snowmageddon" | Greg Bailey | Sam Ruano | October 1, 2022 (byutv.org) October 24, 2022 (BYUtv) | |
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When Young Bennett hogs all of the questions at the Star City Quiz Bowl and never lets his friends have a turn, the Quizzards decide to kick him out of the group. To try to win back their friendship, he decides to build a robot named Mr. Sorry that will appease each of them, but when Mr. Sorry steals all the Climate Controls and decides to create a Snowmageddon, the Quizzards must figure out how to stop him and save their former member. | ||||||
| 5 | 5 | "The Shampoo Sham" | Greg Bailey | Dave Dias | October 1, 2022 (byutv.org) October 31, 2022 (BYUtv) | |
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When Young Bennett exaggerates on what his father does as a chemist, he is slated to receive a failing grade unless he goes out and spends the day with his dad at work. Seeing no other choice, Mark accepts, leading his undercover agency to take over the local shampoo factory for one day. However, when a secret compound Mark is supposed to be studying gets mixed in with some shampoo, it starts to turn all the undercover agents into sasquatch monsters, forcing Bennett and his dad to come up with a new chemical to reverse the cause. Meanwhile, Carla agrees to let Liam and Sophie stay home for the day under one condition- they learn through self life lessons what true work is. | ||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Engineer Club" | Greg Bailey | Paul Stoica | October 1, 2022 (byutv.org) November 7, 2022 (BYUtv) | |
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Young Bennett wants to attend his Engineer Club, but an argument with his sister makes doing so a hard time unless he can first learn to get along. In order to help him do so, Old Bennett invents a device that will cause the mind to change all negative responses into positive ones, but when a group of convicts escapes and goes undercover at the Engineer Club, asking for a laser and promising a monetary reward, Young Bennett and Sophie decide they should dive in full throttle without worrying about any consequences that may occur. | ||||||
| 7 | 7 | "The Shoes Make the Man" | Greg Bailey | Miles Smith | October 1, 2022 (byutv.org) November 14, 2022 (BYUtv) | |
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Young Bennett is forced to play sports by his school, but his only choices left are the dangerous sport of Boot Ball or ping pong. Old Bennett warns him not to join ping pong because his dad's a ping pong champion that'll never let him rest, so Bennett joins Boot Ball thinking that he'll never have to play. After five of his teammates get hurt, however, Bennett is forced to play and he learns his mom was a boot ball champion. Not wanting to let anyone down, Young Bennett decides to reprogram his boots to win at any cost, but they go haywire and refuse to listen to any command other than win at all costs. Now Young Bennett must find a way to fix his predicament before it's too late. | ||||||
| 8 | 8 | "Mind Trip" | Greg Bailey | Sam Ruano | October 1, 2022 (byutv.org) November 21, 2022 (BYUtv) | |
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Mother's Day has arrived, and once again Young Bennett has forgotten to do something for her because he doesn't remember everything she did for him. To remedy the situation, Old Bennett creates an entry to the brain's inner sanctum where they can see everything she did for them, but when Carla accidentally awakes Young Bennett, Old Bennett gets trapped inside his younger self's brain, meaning that if Young Bennett can't find a way back, his older self could be destroyed. To make matters worse, he still needs to figure out what he's going to do for his mom for Mother's Day. | ||||||
| 9 | 9 | "Genius At Work" | Greg Bailey | Dave Dias | October 1, 2022 (byutv.org) November 28, 2022 (BYUtv) | |
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Young Bennett decides that he must fix the AC when it goes haywire at his house, but in the process, he gets caught by the cops and Mr. Snodgrass, the latter of whom realizes that Bennett appears to have a genius IQ and decides to offer him an internship, but Old Man Bennett is worried because he realizes that it is a year before it was supposed to take place. Now Old Man Bennett must figure out the best way to teach Young Bennett how to spend time with his family while balancing an internship. Can Young Bennett learn how to work with Penelope though when they've been lifelong enemies? | ||||||
| 10 | 10 | "Rebel with a Cause" | Greg Bailey | Aaron Johnston | October 1, 2022 (byutv.org) December 5, 2022 (BYUtv) | |
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Young Bennett decides to join a club to find out who the mystery soldier that continually saves the city is, unaware that he's not the only one interested. Reginald Snodgrass commissions a giant robot that will strike fear into the city and reveal the identity of the mystery soldier- Count Dentist. When Old Man Bennett refuses to answer his younger self, Young Bennett decides to become a rebel and starts acting out in school, but when he accidentally joins the local crime syndicate, the mystery soldier is forced to do battle with the local syndicate and with the Count Dentist. In the end, Count Dentist is able to dissolve the soldier's suit, revealing its identity as Carla, but she gets away safely without anyone realizing that it is her. Shortly after, Young Bennett finds the secret entrance and must decide what to do. | ||||||
Season 2 (2023)
[edit]| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 1 | "Grounded" | Greg Bailey | Miles Smith | March 5, 2023 (byutv.org) March 6, 2023 (BYUtv) | |
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Young Bennett has been suspended, in spite of the fact that he has found the secret entrance to where his parents work. Seeing no choice, Commander Crumb decides to have Nira's mom watch Bennett while the group figures out how to make the secret soldier fights look like part of a publicity stunt. A problem to being grounded though is that Bennett can't get the parts to rebuild Edee. Old Bennett decides to help him build a device in which he and Nira will swap minds, but when the device begins to short out, Bennett must do everything he can to get home so he and her don't lose their minds forever. | ||||||
| 12 | 2 | "Anger Mismanagement" | Greg Bailey | Amanda Joy | March 5, 2023 (byutv.org) March 6, 2023 (BYUtv) | |
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Sophie is a big fan of fictional artist Trill and likes to pretend she can play her instrument. During a Trill concert, Young Bennett loses his temper and he ends up breaking Sophie's instrument. Old Bennett comes to the rescue and helps Young Bennett make a replacement that can even play Trill sounds and calming music. However, the two soon discover that Trill is actually an evil musician who seeks to control all of Earth with brainwashing music. The only thing that can beat her is calm music, but unless Young Bennett can overcome his temper there'll be no way to stop her when she hypnotizes his entire family. | ||||||
| 13 | 3 | "The Candidate" | Greg Bailey | Ian MacIntyre | March 5, 2023 (byutv.org) March 13, 2023 (BYUtv) | |
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When the lone mayoral candidate, Maureen Dullvers, announces she plans to extend the school day, Young Bennett decides to create an AI candidate to oppose her (because he needs more time to invent items). However, when the Bennetts' AI, Abraham Trutherman, takes over the web and declares he must run the entire world, it's up to the guys to convince him that not all humans tell lies and there are individuals that can be trusted. | ||||||
| 14 | 4 | "Fishzilla" | Greg Bailey | Miles Smith | March 5, 2023 (byutv.org) March 13, 2023 (BYUtv) | |
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Bennett and Liam decide to place a wager on who will catch the bigger fish at their first ever Father/Son fishing trip, but when an alien seahorse gets loose in the water and gets enlarged by the former's fish enlarger, the group must put aside their rivalry and figure out how to save everyone without being eaten. | ||||||
| 15 | 5 | "Clash of the Horns" | Greg Bailey | Dave Dias | March 5, 2023 (byutv.org) March 20, 2023 (BYUtv) | |
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Sophie reveals that a Unicorn Commando film competition is about to take place, and the winners will get cameos in the upcoming Unicorn Commandos 8 film. Young Bennett is determined to win, but when he reads Sophie's script, he fears that it goes against UCCU (Unicorn Commando Cinematic Universe) lore too much. He decides to become the film's director and correct everything he feels is wrong with Sophie's film, but when Sophie realizes what he's done, it just might break her heart. Meanwhile, the parents find their work facility under inspection, but when Young Bennett's special effects create a galactic scare, it could very well end up costing them all their jobs if they don't do everything by the book. | ||||||
| 16 | 6 | "The Emplifier" | Greg Bailey | Ian MacIntyre | March 5, 2023 (byutv.org) March 20, 2023 (BYUtv) | |
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When Old Bennett realizes he has no empathy, he returns to the past and helps his younger self create a device that can read emotions. His ultimate goal is to develop empathy when Liam gets heartbroken by a girl named Jessica who he's afraid doesn't see him. However, when the machine short circuits, it begins making the city infatuated with Liam. At the same time, Ambassador Cogentor visits the Bramble parents job to learn if Earth is a good place to leave their planet's technology, but their entire species specializes in not showing emotions. | ||||||
| 17 | 7 | "Disabler Enabler" | Greg Bailey | Miles Smith | March 5, 2023 (byutv.org) March 27, 2023 (BYUtv) | |
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When the entire family becomes obsessed with devices, Carla decides they need an intervention and paces the entire family on a device free lockdown for the entire week. Young Bennett decides to invent a bracelet that will knock out any device he gets near for a 10 hour period unless it gets destroyed. Unexpected consequences arise though when it knocks out the power to the Undercover Base, the school, and Mama Robber soon learns of it and decides to use Bennett to break her son out of prison. Now it's up to Carla and a returning Duke to find a way to rescue Bennett from the robbers and keep the city safe from a massive power failure. | ||||||
| 18 | 8 | "The Not-So Fun Fundraiser" | Greg Bailey | Ian MacIntyre | March 5, 2023 (byutv.org) March 27, 2023 (BYUtv) | |
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In an attempt to stop himself from being greedy, Old Bennett once again travels to the past to prevent his younger self from becoming a billionaire from a wild-scheme fundraiser. However, his entire future is altered when Young Bennett becomes a chocolate connoisseur and changes his future self from being a scientist to the new Willy Wonka. It also changes Edee from being an assistant robot to being a singing Oompa Loompa robot. Now Old Man Bennett must find a way to get the future back on track and prevent himself from owning the world's largest chocolate empire. | ||||||
| 19 | 9 | "Bennett The Grouch" | Greg Bailey | Miles Smith | March 5, 2023 (byutv.org) April 3, 2023 (BYUtv) | |
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Young Bennett is having problems sleeping while Mark is having problems staying awake. To resolve both problems, Bennett invents a sleeping helmet that allows him to accomplish needed takes in his sleep. When his dad takes him to the secret base and unleashes a dangerous specimen from the vault, however, it creates a time conundrum which may unite enemies in Bennett and Penelope while also revealing the existence of the vault to the public. | ||||||
| 20 | 10 | "The Vault" | Greg Bailey | Aaron Johnston | March 5, 2023 (byutv.org) April 3, 2023 (BYUtv) | |
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After Young Bennett discovers his parents' secret elevator, he learns he must protect it from Reginald Snodgrass to keep the world from falling into chaos. Elsewhere, his older self must avoid future Penelope as new laws preventing all time travel, including that within his own mind, come into effect. Meanwhile, a work trip for Carla goes awry when the newest members of the Galactic Alliance decide they want everything in the vault moved to their own planet so they can use its technology to protect their world and destroy all the worlds of their enemies. | ||||||
Reception
[edit]![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2023) |
On IMDb, Saving Me holds a rating of 8.9/10.[6] It is also receiving favorable reviews among fanboards,[7] including one that calls it a clean version of Rick and Morty that the entire family can enjoy.[8]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ BYUtv (March 19, 2023). "Saving Me － BYUtv". BYUtv.
- ^ "Saving Me - Family.ca".
- ^ "Sphere Media lands Saving Me renewal and fact-ent commissions from Bell".
- ^ "BYUtv orders Saving Me series from Sphere Animation". August 24, 2022.
- ^ "WildBrain signs on as global distributor for Saving Me". October 27, 2022.
- ^ "Saving Me (TV Series 2022-) - IMDb". April 22, 2024.
- ^ "The New Animated Series 'Saving Me' Explores Changing the Past Through Time Travel". October 8, 2022.
- ^ "BYUtv's Animated Series Saving Me: Why This Cartoon Is a Perfect Child Friendly Version of Rick and Morty". March 28, 2023.
External links
[edit]Categories:
- BYU TV original programming
- 2020s American animated television series
- 2020s Canadian animated television series
- 2020s American comic science fiction television series
- 2020s Canadian comic science fiction television series
- 2020s American sitcoms
- 2020s Canadian sitcoms
- 2022 American television series debuts
- 2022 Canadian television series debuts
- American children's animated comic science fiction television series
- Canadian children's animated comic science fiction television series
- American animated sitcoms
- Canadian animated sitcoms
- Canadian English-language television shows
- Animated television series about children
- 2023 American television series endings
- 2023 Canadian television series endings