The Space Stars

The Space Stars is an Australian-British-Canadian animated children's fantasy-musical television series featuring directors and staff affiliated with SD Entertainment as well as The Wiggles. The series aired from 2002 to 2006. The series also spawned 2 specials and 1 live show. The Space Stars became quite popular with the demographic through the early and mid 2000s and had since its release gotten a small cult following. The Space Stars throughout its run had received much praise and positive reviews from critics and parents because of its high quality production and values and would receive 2 award nominations. One in 2003 at the ARIA music awards for Best Children's Album "The Space Stars: The Season One Soundtrack" (Losing to Hi-5's Let's Celebrate album) and one in 2005 at the Daytime Emmy Award's for Outstanding Preschool Children's Series (Losing to Sesame Street).

SYNOPSIS
''“This animated musical Sci-Fi fantasy series that all young kids will enjoy takes place in outer space! There is a magical planet of many domains called “Stardom”, a sparkly kingdom ruled by stars. Particularly King Orion and Queen Ursula, who keeps all of the stars in order, leads the pack of stars and looks down upon the earth to light up the sky and give the people of the world lovely dreams. Joining them are the 12 stars that help the king and queen do their job by making sure the galaxy and their home is kept safe and filled with magic, maintaining their powers and domains and sometimes visiting earth to learn more about its wonders. This colourful group of stars not only does that, but they also have magical, musical and fun adventures, get into all sorts of hijinks and are always the best of friends, even if there are ups and downs!”''

- From The Official Website

CAST AND CHARACTERS
Andy Aries (Voiced By: Samuel Vincent): The ruler of the Aries star. Andy is daredevil material, and always loves to take a risk. He’s extremely brave, bold, daring and loves competition. This attitude helps him in many galactic sports and games. However, he can also prove to have a competitive and hot-headed attitude due to that, and sometimes does not know how impulsive or reckless he is as a result. His favourite colour is red, his favourite hobby is playing asteroid ball and his ability is super strength.

Teresa Taurus (Voiced By: Emma Tate): The ruler of the Taurus star. Teresa is a hardworking, independent and generous star who also is ready to help anyone in need. She’s a wise star who knows just how to give her friends the help they need, as well as the motivation to do what they need to do, serving as a mentor figure to the other stars. She has her own intergalactic shop and garden where she sells “Space plants” and space remedies as well as growing and brewing her own to use to her and other’s advantage. However, she can prove to be too stubborn and too dependent on helping everyone, even if they don’t need it more than she does. Her favourite colour is green, her favourite hobby is creating remedies and growing plants and her ability is restoring materials.

Garrett Gemini (Voiced By: Ben Small): The ruler of the Gemini star. Garrett is a prankster. He’s very witty, humorous, expressive and energetic. He loves to tell fun jokes and prank his friends. But most importantly, he loves to spend time with his best friends to let loose and be full of surprises. He has a bundle of ideas and assortments of jokes and pranks whenever he needs to get himself an idea. However, his humor can sometimes be irritating to other stars. Alongside being unpredictable, he can also be too dismissive and restless, but he isn’t to the point of being mean. His favourite colour is yellow, his favourite hobby is pulling off jokes and pranks and his ability is being able to create duplicates of himself.

Cameron Cansir (Voiced By: Morgan Crowley): The ruler of the Cancer star. Cameron is a shy and quiet, but kind-hearted, empathetic and imaginative star. He loves to dream of wonderful stories, and loves writing galaxy stories about fairy tales and types of magics. He can even when given the chance tell wonderful stories himself, if he’s not too shy that is. He has also proven to be protective of his friends, and hates when one of them gets hurt. However, he can still be easily scared, too quiet and sometimes other stars can’t understand what he’s trying to do without having to be blunt, putting him in a bit of a bad mood. His favourite colour is sky blue, his favourite hobby is writing stories and his ability is to stop time for a short period of time.

Lilly Leo (Voiced By: Kathleen Barr): The ruler of the Leo star. Lilly is the diva of the stars. She’s an extremely proud, confident and charismatic star who loves to feel like she belongs with her friends. She is not only an extreme fashionista who is in the know about all of the latest fashion trends and styles, but also loves to feel as if she’s the star. Especially if she is singing or acting, mostly when she’s performing on stage. However, her pride can develop into being too vain and boastful if she’s not careful, as well as caring a bit too much for her looks. This can also result in her loving the centre of attention too much. Sometimes it can develop into being overdramatic when something goes wrong. Her favourite colour is orange, her favourite hobby is performing on stage and her ability is bending and manipulating light.

Victoria Virgo (Voiced By: Candice Moll): The ruler of the Virgo star. Victoria is regarded as a huge bookworm and academic. She’s extremely smart, responsible, observant and resourceful. She’s also very calm and knows when to keep herself and her friends out of trouble. She never goes anywhere without a quill pen nor a book and loves lots of studying and reading. From math to science to geography. From time to time she can also conduct her own science experiments with space materials. However, she is also critical of others' confusions and can be too overbearing of knowledge. She’s also a bit too judgemental. Her favourite colour is pink, her favourite hobby is experimenting and her ability is to read someone’s thoughts.

Lucas Libra (Voiced By: Sam Moran): The ruler of the Libra star. Lucas is a cheerful, charming and thoughtful star with a love of art. Lucas is always looking out for his friends and hopes that they are all happy and safe. He shines the most in his creativity. He has his own relic room where he paints, crafts and does all of his artistic duties. However, he’s not the brightest star when it comes to smarts as he can be a bit too gullible, indecisive and easily confused by what he has to do sometimes. But he does get there. His favourite colour is lavender, his favourite hobby is art and his ability is to summon projections of walls and shields for protection.

Shane Scorpio (Voiced By: Matt Hill): The ruler of the Scorpio star. Shane is a very interesting star. At first he’s a bit mysterious, but once you get to know him, you’ll see he’s quite an indulgent star with a “Deep” personality. His personality is similar to that of gothic archetypes. He’s a serious star who cares about being by himself most of the time. He can also be pessimistic and very sarcastic, getting annoyed when he can’t be alone. When that happens, he can resort to a few tricks up his sleeves to make sure he gets what he wants. However, he is actually a very good friend with a sense of compassion and will get his friends out of trouble when it calls. He loves the rock n roll life, and loves shredding on his guitar. His favourite colour is crimson, his favourite hobby is playing his guitar and his ability is to turn invisible.

Sophia Sagittarius (Voiced By: Ashleigh Ball): The ruler of the Sagittarius star. Sophia is Shane’s sister who is almost the complete opposite of him. Sophia is a tomboy who loves an adventure and wants to make sure everyone is in the mood for one. She’s very optimistic, outspoken and always looks on the bright side. She is also very brave and always takes the scary with a smile, in her words. Because she loves to go on adventures, she loves to travel and be an explorer. However, she doesn’t think before she acts and can jump to conclusions a lot. She can also prove to not be organised and hasty at times. Her favourite colour is purple, her favourite hobby is exploring and her ability is to use super speed.

Connor Capricorn (Voiced By: David Holt): The ruler of the Capricorn star. Connor is the king and queen’s advisor. He’s very organised, practical, reliable and helps keep his friends in line. He is also very mild-mannered and classical, desiring for the other stars to be mature enough to understand the rules of their duties. He is a wonderful collector who loves to collect artefacts of space and earth. However, he can be very critical of the way certain stars act and can get overly stressed by the events unfolding. He’s also very cautious and overly observant, but he means well. His favourite colour is turquoise green, his favourite hobby is collecting artefacts and his ability is supersonic hearing.

Antonio Aquarius (Voiced By: Keith Wickham): The ruler of the Aquarius star. Antonio is a quirky and idealistic inventor. He is a clever, independent and unique star who always has the perfect idea for an invention to use to help out other stars. His innovation shines the most as he has the perfect materials and ideas needed to create his next big thing. Unfortunately, they don’t always turn out a success due to him not realising at the last minute, mainly because of his excitement. He can also be too aloof to criticism and though despite his quirkiness, thinks it’s best he is distant from others. His favourite colour is blue, his favourite hobby is inventing and his ability is to change size.

Penelope Pisces (Voiced By: Robyn Moore): The ruler of the Pisces star. Penelope is a very sweet and innocent star who is always kind and friendly to everyone she meets. She is a very loyal friend who never lets anyone down. Dancing is her favourite thing to do, especially ballet as well as loving very sweet and sparkly things. However, she’s easily emotional and sensitive, and is prone to being easily worried about her friends, showing her emotions a lot. But that’s her way of showing how much she cares for everybody. Her favourite colour is light cyan blue, her favourite hobby is dancing and her ability is to have an enhanced jump boost.

King Orion and Queen Ursula (Voiced By: Mark Oliver and Carolyn Ferrie): The rulers of Stardom. King and Queen duo Orion and Ursula are very well-meaning, wise and compassionate rulers who always look out for the other stars. Though they can be strict and over-protective, the rulers always know what's best and how to operate their planet. King Orion is described as the more light-hearted, humorous and optimistic of the two while Queen Ursula is the more strict, calm-headed and sweet of the two. Their favourite colours are silver and their abilities are to watch over constellations and move them around.

Octavia Ophiuchus: A recurring character introduced in Season 2. King Orion and Queen Ursula's niece who is a ruler of the Ophiuchus star. Octavia is a kind and resourceful peacemaker with a huge curiosity of the world around her. She always loves exploring the galaxy, finding new friends and has her own way of thinking. She can be a bit moody at times as well as still not understanding her surroundings, but she's getting there. She is very skilled with animals and knows how they are feeling and what they are saying, which is why she has a Corvus for a friend. Octavia never has a voice in the series and never speaks, due to her having a hearing impairment. As a result she cannot hear what other people are saying. However, she can still communicate and understand others through sign language. Her favourite colour is chartreuse green, her favourite hobby is taking care of animals and her ability is to understand them.

Scori (Voiced By: Alyson Court): A recurring character introduced in Season 2. Scori is not a star, but a Corvus (A rabbit constellation) who serves as Octavia's best friend and communicator. Scori is a sassy, energetic and clever friend who always knows what Octavia is thinking and thinks she has everything under control. Scori however can talk back whenever provoked and can be a feisty friend, but she's still a great lil rabbit to be around.

PILOT (JANUARY 2001)

 * Episode 0: Meet The Space Stars! (Air Date: January 2001)

SEASON 1 (APRIL - SEPTEMBER 2002)

 * Episode 1: The Stardom Sweep/Running Late (Air Date: April 5th 2002)
 * Episode 2: Connor Capricorn's Double Check/Can Connor Remember? (Air Date: April 12th 2002)
 * Episode 3: A Magical Makeover!/Lilly Leo On Stage (Air Date: April 19th 2002)
 * Episode 4: Shane Scorpio's Ready To Rock/Perfect Tune (Air Date: April 26th 2002)
 * Episode 5: The Telescope/Antonio Aquarius Has A New Invention (Air Date: May 3rd 2002)
 * Episode 6: Cameron Cansir Tells A Story!/Camping (Air Date: May 10th 2002)
 * Episode 7: Some Extra Help/Teresa Taurus's Cosmic Cauldron (Air Date: May 17th 2002)
 * Episode 8: Spectacular Planetarium Show/Victoria Virgo's Book (Air Date: May 24th 2002)
 * Episode 9: Penelope Pisces's Lost Ballet Shoes!/Ready To Dance? (Air Date: May 31st 2002)
 * Episode 10: Magnum Opus/Lucas Libra Paints Something New (Air Date: June 7th 2002)
 * Episode 11: Garrett Gemini Is Full Of Surprises!/The Magic Remote (Air Date: June 14th 2002)
 * Episode 12: Astroball/Andy Aries Has Competition (Air Date: June 21st 2002)
 * Episode 13: Sophia Sagittarius's Adventure/Strange Spaceships (Air Date: June 28th 2002)
 * Episode 14: Let's Start A Band!/Aliens?! (Air Date: July 5th 2002)
 * Episode 15: Planning A Fashion Show/Collection Of Artefacts (Air Date: July 12th 2002)
 * Episode 16: The Meteor Shower/Astronaut Food (Air Date: July 19th 2002)
 * Episode 17: King Orion Loves A New Dance!/Queen Ursula Casts A Spell! (Air Date: July 26th 2002)
 * Episode 18: Space Race/Sailing On Saturn (Air Date: August 2nd 2002)
 * Episode 19: How Does A Garden Grow?/Going Both Ways (Air Date: August 9th 2002)
 * Episode 20: Take It Easy Connor!/Photography (Air Date: August 16th 2002)
 * Episode 21: Cameron And Penelope Dance The Cygnet/Saying Sorry (Air Date: August 23rd 2002)
 * Episode 22: Constellations/DJ Sophia (Air Date: August 30th 2002)
 * Episode 23: A Visitor Visits Stardom/Making A Flag (Air Date: September 6th 2002)
 * Episode 24: Lights, Camera, Action!/A Rocketship For Antonio (Air Date: September 13th 2002)
 * Episode 25: Throwing A Slumber Party/Cameron The Prince (Air Date: September 20th 2002)
 * Episode 26: Fireworks/The Cosmic Tea Party (Air Date: September 27th 2002)

SEASON 2 (MAY - OCTOBER 2004)

 * Episode 1: Octavia Ophiuchus/Learning Sign Language (Air Date: May 1st 2004)
 * Episode 2:

DEVELOPMENT
The earliest The Space Stars was in production was in 1999. This was when ideas were beginning to be pitched by staff and primary members of popular Australian children's music group The Wiggles as an attempt to branch into different media. According to Paul Field, one of the creators of The Space Stars and the managing director of the band:

"The Wiggles has always been our biggest effort. It has been our biggest dream for a long time. But we were for a while very tempted to branch out into new territories of... Showcasing our experience with early childhood education through other mediums. That's why producing an animated series based off our works was always an interesting thought. It didn't have to be solely for boys or solely for girls like a majority of others for very young kids. That is never our biggest concern, our biggest concern was how we would approach what we always strived to do for young kids and if it went well. We wanted kids to learn, but to also be entertained."

Throughout 1999 to 2000, ideas were drawn for what the premise of the series would be, with a few artists being brought in to showcase their ideas for the premise and theme. Eventually they would be approached by animation director Davis Doi, who had previous experience with directing for Hanna-Barbera productions. Doi had just finished TV work for Cow And Chicken and was looking to find a new studio once he would complete his job as producer for the Scooby-Doo direct-to-video movies, since he wanted to continue working in some sort of art medium. Sometime in December of 1999, Doi would meet with former MGM Animation employees Paul Sabella and Jonathan Dern, who were looking to form their own company. Sabella and Dern had previously heard of Doi's work to use as basis idea's for their productions. The three will soon be acquainted and eventually would meet with Robert Winthrop, a former film producer for Dreamworks. Winthrop would assist the three in forming their company, and eventually, Sabella Dern Entertainment (Or SD Entertainment) was founded. However, they would still need to find a workplace and work so they can properly be a studio. Winthrop had been informed by Sabella and Dern about how The Wiggles were looking to develop a new animated series and needed idea pitches. Given that Doi had the most experience in that medium, he was encouraged to try out for the company. According to Doi:

"It was through Paul, Jon and Rob that I was introduced to The Wiggles. We had just formed and yeah we were a studio, but we didn't have a proper workplace and we didn't have a project either. The guys seemed to have been familiar with them (The Wiggles) as they told me they were really popular and had a big following. The US seemed to have just gotten involved with them, and with their new concept it would be a great opportunity to showcase our efforts and upcoming original plans. The moment I heard that we would finally be given a new original project to work on I immediately asked in excitement "So do we go to them or do they go to us?". One of the best New Year's Eve's I experienced I'll tell you that."

In February of 2000, Doi would book a flight to Sydney, Australia to meet the Wiggles at their formal studio from 1997 to 2004 Electric Avenue Studios to discuss the pitch for the animated series concept. Prior to the flight, Doi had spent a month developing his pitch bible for the series. Doi's vision of the series would be a Sci-Fi themed children's oriented musical series called "The Space Stars", it would be set in space and revolved around stars living among the galaxy. His inspiration for the theme was due to the rise of the "Y2K" aesthetic of the late 90s and early 2000s, that sparked an interest in futuristic art and the intergalactic imagery of that time. Not only would the target demographic be extremely interested in those themes, but also be invested with the settings, characters and premises. After looking through the pitch bible to see if it's what they were looking for, Paul and Anthony Field were extremely pleased with the concept, especially the premise and theme, as well as the extremely focused detail on how the series would interact and target it's demographic. In Doi's words "This was the one!". With the confirmation that the pitch had been green lighted and would be used for the series, the crew would if they could take a flight later in April to California to further be acquainted with SD Entertainment's work, which Doi happily agreed to. When he returned to California and broke the news that the studio had been green lit to work on the project, they celebrated. According to Sabella:

"It felt like we were celebrating Christmas all over again! We couldn't thank Doi enough for helping us. We went for dinner and we couldn't stop talking about the series pitch!"

2 months later, The Wiggles crew would fly to California to be introduced to Doi's studio. The meeting was to be acquainted further with those involved as well as to go over the pitch to make sure everything was set. Realising that the studio didn't have a workplace, The Wiggles opted to give the studio a share of money so they could find their own studio to use for their projects, giving them enough time before production began to get settled. Dern would go on to state that the Wiggles personalities exceeded his expectations highly, describing them as: "Just nothing but extremely positive and kind. Now I see why everyone loves them so much." Eventually they found their studio at Warner Center Lane in Woodland Hills, California. Before production, the studio would begin to look for more in the animation and television medium to be appointed to their studio and find work. They would manage to find additional animators, designers, writers, composers and producers to be appointed for future projects. It wouldn't be until August of 2000 that production would begin on The Space Stars. This is due to the workload the Wiggles have been receiving for concerts, video recordings and album recordings. Production would be occurring in two different studios, each having communication with each studio. One would be at Electric Avenue Studios in Sydney, Australia and the other would be at SD Entertainment's headquarters in California.

Work would begin on a test pilot showcase to present to TV networks during production. This showcase would also feature concept art for settings and characters, early episode premises and an introduction to staff involved. The pilot was intended to be 5 minutes long, would feature animation from SD Entertainment as well as composed music by Anthony Field. The test pilot would not feature any voice actors, as the pilot was only supposed to be a test to see how well it did with investors and networks. As a result, the pilot would be fully narrated by Field himself. Winthrop would also introduce the rest of the crew to American Toon Disney writer Jymn Magon, who previously worked on Disney television shows such as Talespin and Ducktales. Jymn was brought into SD Entertainment to work in the writing department. This would be Magon's first writing role for an animated series outside of America. Since the Field brothers were also working in the writing department, they helped assist Magon in what would need to be used in the script as Magon would present his way of writing to the brothers. The test pilot would finish production in November of 2000, once editing had been completed. At the time, the team would not have their pilot licensed by ABC Kids in case the pilot did not get green lit. In January of 2001, the presentation would be showcased to western investors and network producers. According to Winthrop about how the pitch went:

"The test video only lasted for 5 minutes, and we still had to present the rest of the concepts. But already a minute in I could see a few of the audience just gawking with interest at the screen. Then I whispered to Anthony "I think they wanna put this to TV!" A way too obvious response but all I could care about was those faces."

The test pilot and presentation was a success for the team, with the manager in charge telling the crew that they would green light the project, finding a suitable network looking to air the first season once production was completed. The test pilot would later be shown at MIPCOM 2001 to further attract investors. With the series green lit for Season 1 production, the studios got to work later in March. A new director would be brought in to manage the show alongside the Field Brothers, Jenifer Watts. Watts had just finished working on her trio of home videos from her own franchise The Fairies, a passion project inspired by her young daughter's interests. While her remaining videos were at the time awaiting sales and popularity enough to continue her franchise, she would wait for confirmation by working on further children's projects at the time. Watts had been familiar with the Wiggles and the group became friends, with Watts helping advise the Field Brothers on the approach of the series. Other companies and sets of staff would also be hired to help assist in composition, animation and writing as well as to help manage the workload many of the other staff members were dealing with. Hong Kong based animation studio Colorland Animation would provide additional animation services for SD Entertainment, sometimes taking over for their company in case of a work overload. All animation, storyboards and backgrounds would be completed digitally hand drawn. British investors from Playhouse Disney would also accompany work and budget for the series, bringing in their own voice actors. Main character voice actors would all originate from Australia, Britain and Vancouver, Canada. Many of them veteran voice actors. The voice actors auditioning were required to not only have capturing vocal ranges and a wide variety of emotion, but would also require a background of professional singing. If they did meet those requirements they would be casted, and would also be given a singing instructor to help assist them in vocal range and pitch. Voice actors confirmed before airing were Vancouver veteran voice actors Sam Vincent (Andy Aries), Kathleen Barr (Lilly Leo), Matt Hill (Shane Scorpio), Ashleigh Ball (Sophia Sagittarius) and Mark Oliver (King Orion), British veteran voice actors Emma Tate (Teresa Taurus), Ben Small (Garrett Gemini), David Holt (Connor Capricorn), and Keith Wickham (Antonio Aquarius) and Australian veteran voice actress Robyn Moore (Penelope Pisces). Introduced in her first voice acting role would be Australian actress Candice Moll (Victoria Virgo). Actors and singers affiliated with the Wiggles would also be cast in the series. These included Irish singer Morgan Crowley (Cameron Cansir), Australian actor, singer and Wiggles cast member Sam Moran (Lucas Libra) and Australian actress, singer and Wiggles cast member Carolyn Ferrie (Queen Ursula). New song composers would also be brought in collaboration with Anthony Field to compose the score and music for the series. These included Australian composer Sue Scott and American singer, lyricist and songwriter Lorraine Feather. The three would guide each other with composing the correct instruments, lyrics and melodies for songs and instrumental soundtrack.

Production on most of season one would be completed the next year in 2002. Though the staff were successful in having ABC Kids license the production and it's future development, the series still needed a network to broadcast on. In mid March, investors would confirm that global kids networks have picked up the first season of the series and each Network would air the first episode next month on April 5th. The series was set to air on the Nick Jr block in Australia, Treehouse TV in Canada and Playhouse Disney in both The United Kingdom and The United States. With confirmation that the first season was finally set to air, an interactive flash operated website was placed in development to be expanded on when the show was beginning to air. Before the season began to air, the website only had an about page of the history of production and a 3 minute preview video made by The Wiggles and SD Entertainment, which introduced the series and showed a sneak peak of the series. The networks The Space Stars were set to air on would also broadcast promotional commercials for the series.

RELEASE
The first season of The Space Stars would be broadcasted on its respective networks on April 5th 2002. New episodes of the first season were broadcast once a week every Friday at 4pm, while re-runs of older episodes aired on other certain days at the same time to wait out new episode releases. Each episode was 30 minutes long and consisted of 2 12 minute story driven segments. All of the segments would have one song each. The first segment would be followed by a 6 minute interactive interstitial program that would play in between the main 2 segments. 6 different interstitials would be played in between the episodes and would have a rotation on which one's would be aired. These interstitials would be:


 * Dancing On The Stars (With Cameron Cansir and Penelope Pisces)
 * The Galaxy Band (With Shane Scorpio and Sophia Sagittarius)
 * Starry Sing Along (With Lilly Leo and Connor Capricorn)
 * Comet Crafts (With Lucas Libra and Antonio Aquarius)
 * Moon Jump Exercise (With Andy Aries and Garrett Gemini)
 * Celestial Smarts (With Teresa Taurus and Victoria Virgo)

Audience and critics reception was positive. Adults and critics praised the series for it's effective use of education as well as communicating and interacting with it's target audience, the effective use of the musical numbers and sequences, it's quirky and original characters, premises, script, voice acting and animation, going on to state that not only the background and character designs were unique, vibrant and nicely detailed but also saw the effort of transitioning choreography for musical sequences and dance into animation. One critic would state:

''"I have a 4 year old niece, and when I had her over to babysit she turned on the TV to Playhouse Disney. That's when I saw the show. When it came on she was dancing to one of the songs that they were singing. She was full of energy! Jumping up and down and trying to mimic the dance moves. I had a bit of a background in music and I heard of kids TV that had songs and premises that were just painful to sit through. Usually this song would be a really irritating ear worm. It was but it was the good kind. In fact the song was really catchy and at some point I was bopping my head to it! The next day the episode was re-airing on the channel, so I decided to give it a watch to see what was so riveting to me. This show aimed for kids surprised me because of how much effort was put into it. The animation followed choreography and design well, the characters were all unique and had personalities that didn't feel over the top, the premises were nice enough to be captivating towards the young demographic and the music was very catchy. It was a musical so there were gonna be songs that the characters would sing. And I also gotta mention that the voice actors seemed to be really well instructed. They had emotion and good pitching and vocal ranges that made their singing voices nice to listen to! But after I saw the credits I realised why there was so much effort to begin with! If you ever wanna make a show for young children that would help them learn but get them on their feet to be entertained then whatever you do, you gotta hire The Wiggles!"''

Another critic would state:

"What surprised me about this show was its effective use of communicating to its target audience. At times the show would dive into educational routes and even interact with the audience. But it never felt like they were talking down to them, but instead they understood how children could properly understand and communicate through learning. In a way it was like they were caring and helping them. They also got to the point quickly enough so the demographic wouldn't get annoyed and I must applaud the people behind the series for the effort they put into this series. If I had a child then I would definitely show them this!"

After a few episodes had aired on the series respective networks, the official website would be updated to have more features. The website would have a set of online games, activities, videos, music, a horoscope page to learn more about stars, an about page to learn more about the series and a news page. The website was mainly aimed at the target demographic for the series. The first season would continue to air up until the season finale on September 27th 2002. After that re-runs would continue to air of the first season. In April of 2003, the Space Stars website would announce that an hour long Direct-To-DVD Christmas special based off the Space Stars was in the works, and was scheduled to be released in November of the same year. The Christmas special would also be broadcasted on its respective networks the next month. The website had also announced that network investors had renewed the Space Stars for a second season and would be in production the next month. The second season was set to be completed sometime in 2004. The Christmas Special would eventually be completed and released on DVD as promised in November of 2003. The special called "A Down To Earth Christmas" was an hour long musical special with 7 songs. The synopsis is that The Stars were sent on a regular mission to Earth, but accidentally landed near the North Pole, where Santa's workshop resides. When the stars find out that the Workshop is experiencing a blackout, with the one item of power to work on all of the deliveries and preparations missing, it's up to the stars to find it and save Christmas before Santa has to deliver the presents. This would be the first Space Stars video to have a guest star, a trend which would continue in Season 2 onwards. This would be the character Mistletoe, the new elf on the job who is shy and easily scared of ruining Christmas, but wishes to face his fears. Mistletoe would be voiced by Canadian singer Michael Bublé. The Christmas Special would later make its first TV appearance on the Space Stars respective networks on December 21st of the same year.

The second season of The Space Stars would air its first episode on May 1st 2004. Season two of the Space Stars saw some new changes. The time of when the episodes aired and re-ran was the same, but this time each new episode premiered every Saturday instead. This season would introduce 2 new recurring characters. These characters would be Octavia Ophiuchus and her rabbit sidekick Scori the Corvus. In the series, Octavia was an animal lover with a hearing impairment and as a result didn't speak, but communicated through sign-language, with Scori being her communicator. Audiences had positive reactions to Octavia and were very pleased with her personality, especially with how she didn't let her impairment define her. She and Scori would be continued to be used as recurring characters up until the end of Season 3. Octavia and Scori's appearances would introduce a new interstitial segment called "Follow The Star!" which would be used to teach the audience sign language. From this season onwards, The Space Stars would not only be seen in space, but would also be seen travelling down to parts of the earth to learn more about the world and how people celebrate, spend their time, their culture, working together to solve simple problems. Artists and animators paid close attention to the backgrounds and characters in order to accurately detail the locations they are in based off basis photos. Chinese based animation studio Wang Film Productions would be introduced to help supervise additional art and animation whenever other animation studios had a full workload. They would continue to be used in the animation department until the end of Season 3. After the Christmas special, the series would continue the tradition of having one off guest stars to voice in many of it's episodes. These include famous American voice actor Tom Kenny, Irish music ensemble Anúna, American ballet dancer of The New York City Ballet Maria Kowroski, Australian pop singer Nikki Webster and British actor Sanjeev Bhaskar. All 26 episodes would complete airing on October 23rd 2004. The website would also be updated to feature new games, videos, music and activities.

Re-runs of the first and second season would continue airing as normal after the release of all 26 episodes of the second season. During the second season broadcast in September, the Space Stars website news page would confirm that the staff had been approached by Vee Corporation (Now known as VStar Entertainment) to assist in the production and touring of a live on stage musical that would be set to tour in 2005. They had also confirmed that they had been approached by networks to produce a second hour long special and would be in the works. In December of 2004, Jenifer Watts would announce she would be departing from The Space Stars after the ABC had green lit her original project for a remake TV series as it received enough popularity, set to be released in 2005. According to Watts:

"Though I am more than delighted that my passion project is finally getting the recognition it needs so I can move forward with my new ambitions, I am saddened that as a result my time working on The Space Stars has come to a close. This franchise has been nothing but fun and joy to be working on and now it has transformed into something new. I am very proud of the work put into the series as well as proud of how far it has come. Seeing everyone come together to sing, act, dance, create and direct felt wonderful. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for the Space Stars. Even though it will continue without me, I have high hopes and know that the team can do it! I want to thank everyone from The Wiggles and SD Entertainment for the hard work bringing this series to life and giving me a new project that was amazing to work on! See you all soon!"

After Watts departure from the series, production would continue as normal with work going into both the second special and the live show. The second hour long special titled "Galactic Mystery Birthday!" would eventually be released on April 10th 2005. However, unlike the first special, last minute changes were made to how the second special would be released. It was decided that Galactic Birthday would not see a television broadcast, but instead be released solely direct-to-DVD. Instead of 7 songs the special would be reduced to 6. The story was that the Stars get an alert of someone's birthday being today, but no one knows who's birthday it is. However, the stars decide to go ahead with plans for a surprise party for the mystery birthday. However, things don't seem to go as planned with many antics and problems, and they only have until the full moon to get everything prepared. Meanwhile, a search is in order to figure out the mystery birthday. This special would guest star American actress and singer Bernadette Peters as Larissa The Loveliest Party Planner In Space. This would be the last hour long special to be produced for The Space Stars.

In August of 2005, The Space Stars website would announce that Pre-Production on The Space Stars live-on-stage musical had been completed and came to a close, ready to begin touring. To promote the show, a new page on the website would be created that would discuss information and material of the musical as well as give out contact and paying info for tickets. Tickets would begin selling the same month through Ticketmaster, with plans to begin touring in November of 2005. Merchandise would also be sold online and in show venues. The live show would be titled "The Space Stars: The Ultimate Adventure!". The story being that The Space Stars would be sent to earth to find a "Magic Orb" that would help light up the night sky for their Lights Festival on a magical adventure. The show was 70 minutes long, had 18 songs and would feature the reprise of the voice actors in pre-recorded audio, synced up to the costume movements. A new character would be an exclusive to the live show and would have his only appearance in the show. This was the character Professor Moon. Professor Maximilian Moon, an astronomer who would help the stars find the orb. Professor Maximilian Moon would be voiced by Wiggles veteran Paul Paddick. The live show would tour throughout Australia, New Zealand, Japan, United Kingdom, Italy, Greece, United States, Canada and Mexico through November 2005 to its last show in January 2007. Merchandise would also be sold. In September of 2005, it was announced that The Space Stars was renewed for a third season that was set to be completed some time in 2006. This would be the first and only season without Watts as director. Production on Season 3 would be completed in May 2006 and was set to be broadcast the next month. The first episode of the third season would air on June 4th 2006, with new episodes airing every Sunday.

The third season would continue the changes that occurred in the previous seasons, including the recurrence of characters Octavia Ophiuchus and Scori, more focus on travelling to earth in episodes and the inclusion of one off guest performances. This season would include guest performances of American music duo They Might Be Giants, Canadian actor Rick Moranis, Australian children's entertainer Peter Combe, Australian children's entertainer and magician Christine Hutchinson and Spanish singer Marta Sánchez. The third season would conclude with it's final episode on November 26th 2006. For a short period of time the Space Stars would continue to air re-runs, produce DVD's, CD's and small sets of merchandise and wrap up it's live show run, with the show getting a DVD release on February 8th 2007. On February 15th of the same year, The Space Stars website's news page would announce that the series would not be renewed for a fourth season and was ultimately cancelled, further stating:

"It's very unfortunate that we all must fly back down to earth and say goodnight to the stars given that the show is no longer in production, but we aren't sad. In fact, we are more than delighted that we have managed to entertain and make great friends with those who tuned in to the show and have quickly become overjoyed with the wonderful stories shared, the friends we made and the songs we sang and dance. We guarantee you that though this is the end of production, it's far from the end of The Space Stars. Everyone involved with the production of this project would like to thank all of you for being there to see how the franchise has involved. We put all of our hard work into this series for all of you. Our dream was to make an animated project that would catch the hearts of audiences alike, and we did just that. So once more, we would like to give the biggest thank you in the entire galaxy!"

After the cancellation, re-runs of The Space Stars would continue to be broadcasted on their respective networks up until 2009 when the show was eventually taken off air. The Space Stars website would continue to stay open to the public, but seemingly abandoned up until 2010 when the website was shut down and sold off. Merchandise would also halt outside of home video and soundtrack production. DVD's and CD's still would be produced and released up until 2012, with the last DVD released being a box set of the complete series to celebrate The Space Stars 10th anniversary in 2012. After that, the franchise would be in a limbo state. Though The Wiggles and former workers at SD Entertainment still have very fond memories of working on the series, they have moved on to new projects and do not seem to be focused on the franchise anymore. A few other staff members have despite expressing fondness and love for The Space Stars, do not intend to revive or continue working on anymore material. The full website would be archived on the Wayback Machine and on Flashpoint, but after the retirement of flash in 2021, the website no longer appears to be operational outside of Pale Moon and Flashpoint.

In 2017, 15 years after the first release of The Space Stars, free streaming service Tubi would receive the rights to stream The Space Stars on their platform, and would release the full series as well as the specials and live show on their platform the same year.

MERCHANDISE
After the first season ran its full airing, Spin Master would sign a deal with the team responsible for The Space Stars to produce and release merchandise based off the series. This included toys, accessory and craft sets and plushies, all designed to encourage children safe and fun lifestyles. Merchandise would be released from 2003 to 2005. The plush toys were designed to look like the characters from the series a short lived fashion doll line. These dolls were the same size as a Bratz Doll, which was also popular at the time. The dolls were fully articulated, had brushable, light up, glitter hair (Which was called star hair), a built in voice that could be activated with a button (When pressed the dolls would sing a pre-recorded song), 2 different dress up sets, a comb, a stand and small booklet that told more about the character in the box such as personality, likes and dislikes and even a small activity page for young children to do. These dolls were made less for young toddlers and preschoolers and more so for early grade schoolers. Spin Master would release 14 dolls. These included the main 12 stars and King Orion and Queen Ursula and would be launched in March of 2003. The dolls would be promoted in catalogues and commercials.

In June of the same year, Spin Master would release plush toys of the same 14 characters. Unlike the dolls on the other hand, the plush toys were aimed at smaller children and were made with safe design and materials. These plush toys also had glitter in their hair. The plush toys were never advertised unlike the fashion dolls. It wouldn't be until the next year in 2004 when the second season aired that new toys would be released. These toys were accessory sets. Unlike the dolls, the accessory sets were more activity oriented and to be used outside as well, as a way to help kids be out and about more. 12 accessory sets based off the 12 stars would be released in July of 2004. The accessory sets were all based off a certain star's interests and had 7 items. The 7th item would be included in all of them, which was a small book about a certain star. The book would not only have pages of info on the star, but also included a short story with them as the main character. These sets would be:

In May of 2005, Spin Master would release 12 different craft sets called "Comet Crafters" based off one of the interstitials of the same name. These sets were once again each based on characters from the series. These toys were made to introduce the young audience to early STEM and creativity concepts, as well as promoting fun and healthy lifestyles. Each set came with it's own craft to do as well alongside instructions and a re-release of the accessory set books. These sets included:
 * Andy Aries's Sport Set (Features a soft rubber throwing ball painted like an asteroid, a light up electronic frisbee, plastic asteroid bowling ball with pins, a soft sports bat, a basketball hoop, softer juggling balls and a character book)
 * Teresa Taurus's Craft Set (Features a plastic shovel, a plastic rake, a plastic ladle, gardening gloves, an electronic operated brewing cauldron, a small set of plastic jars of remedies and a character book)
 * Garrett Gemini's Joke-Around Set (Features an electronic joke noise remote, a sticky hand, a small box of magic tricks, a fake plastic snake "Star Seeds" can, a small booklet of jokes and a character book)
 * Cameron Cansir's Story Set (Features an activity book, an electronic story generator pad, a blank notebook, a light up pen, a set of colouring pencils, a collection of short stories and a character book)
 * Lilly Leo's Superstar Set (Features a working light up electronic microphone, a small karaoke machine, a small set of hair accessories, a bracelet, plastic shoes, a small makeup compact and a character book)
 * Victoria Virgo's Study Set (Features an electronic light up toy computer, fake glasses, fake headset, a whiteboard with marker, a small set of fake science accessories, a factoid book and a character book)
 * Lucas Libra's Art Set (Features a light up paintbrush, an electronic sketch pad with pen, a set of painting paper, a set of watercolour paints, a small set of art tools such as crayons, markers and glitter gel, a light up carry case and a character book)
 * Shane Scorpio's Rockstar Set (Features an electronic light up guitar, a small set of drums, a tambourine, a toy piano, a set of cymbals, a toy trumpet and a character book)
 * Sophia Sagittarius's Adventure Set (Features an electronic light up compass, a light up telescope, flashlight, a magnifying glass, a map, a light up backpack and a character book)
 * Connor Capricorn's Royal Set (Features an electronic toy staff, a light up star crown, a stick on molecule, a space themed tea set, a working watch, a book of space royalty and a character book)
 * Antonio Aquarius's Invention Set (Features an electronic toy phone, an electronic walkie talkie, an electronic light up camera, an electronic "space globe", small set of tools, goggles and a character book)
 * Penelope Pisces's Dance Set (Features an electronic working toy radio, a dance outfit, dance shoes, a dance mat, a ribbon wand, a dance bag and a character book)

This would be the last piece of main merchandise made for The Space Stars, as sales for the toys would go down after the Comet Crafters release. However, Spin Master and The Wiggles would continue to re-release old merchandise and release new smaller sets. These included stationery, keychains, party items, bags and even special exclusive items of merchandise made to sell the live show. By 2008, Spin Master's merchandise was no longer in production as the deal had expired. This would be almost 2 years after the last episode of the series. However, these items would still be on sale until 2010.
 * Andy Aries's Mini-Asteroid Ball Kit
 * Teresa Taurus's Conservatory Kit
 * Garrett Gemini's Joke Fortune Teller Kit
 * Cameron Cansir's Story Switcher Kit
 * Lilly Leo's Nebula Bracelet Kit
 * Victoria Virgo's Space Slime Kit
 * Lucas Libra's Meteor Marble Kit
 * Shane Scorpio's Orion Belt Kit
 * Sophia Sagittarius's Binocular Kit
 * Connor Capricorn's Pottery Kit
 * Antonio Aquarius's Rocket Blaster Kit
 * Penelope Pisces's Ballerina Twirl Kit

Outside of Spin Master's items of merchandise, ABC and The Wiggles team would produce and release DVD's and CD's of the series. Between 2003 to 2012, multiple DVD'S and CD's would be sold in stores. The DVD's would feature a compilation of videos or in some cases a full special release with bonus features. These included sing along songs and a DVD activity. The CD's would have a similar format, instead being a soundtrack compilation of songs featured in the series.

DVD'S RELEASED

 * The Space Stars: Out Of This World! - 2003 (Includes 4 episodes of The Space Stars S1, 8 sing along songs and a bonus DVD game "Who's Your Star?")
 * The Space Stars: Best Friends In The Galaxy! - 2003 (Includes 4 episodes of The Space Stars S1, 8 sing along songs and a bonus DVD game "Garrett Gemini's Ultimate Prank Game")
 * The Space Stars: Sing And Dance! - 2003 (Includes 4 episodes of The Space Stars S1, 8 sing along songs, 3 segments of Dancing On The Stars and a bonus DVD game "Penelope Pisces's Dance Studio")
 * The Space Stars: The Sky's The Limit! - 2003 (Includes 4 episodes of The Space Stars S1, 8 sing along songs and a bonus DVD game "Victoria Virgo's Trivia Test")
 * The Space Stars: A Down To Earth Christmas - 2003 (Includes 1 hour long special, 2 bonus episodes of the Space Stars S1, 11 sing along songs, a blooper reel of S1 and the special and 2 bonus DVD games "Sophia Sagittarius and Santa Claus's Christmas Search" and "Shane Scorpio's Rock n Roll Christmas"
 * The Space Stars: Exploring Earth! - 2004 (Includes 4 episodes of The Space Stars S2, 8 sing along songs and a bonus DVD game "Lilly Leo's Dress Up Game")
 * The Space Stars: New Friends! - 2004 (Includes 4 episodes of The Space Stars S2, 8 sing along songs and a bonus DVD game "Andy Aries's Racing Game")
 * The Space Stars: The Complete First Season! - 2004 (Includes 26 episodes of The Space Stars S1, behind the scenes footage, a re-release of a season 1 blooper reel, a sing along jukebox and a bonus DVD game "Antonio Aquarius's Gadget Game")
 * The Space Stars: Galactic Mystery Birthday - 2005 (Includes 1 hour long special, 2 bonus episodes of the Space Stars S2, 10 sing along songs, a blooper reel of S2 and the special and a bonus DVD game "Connor Capricorn's Perfect Party Plan Game")
 * The Space Stars: The Complete Second Season! - 2005 (Includes 26 episodes of The Space Stars S2, behind the scenes footage, a re-release of a season 2 blooper reel, a sing along jukebox and a bonus DVD game "Teresa Taurus's Remedy Recipe Game")
 * The Space Stars: A Story To Share With The World! - 2006 (Includes 4 episodes of The Space Stars S3, 8 sing along songs and a bonus DVD game "Cameron Cansir's Story Game")
 * The Space Stars: Lift Off! - 2006 (Includes 4 episodes of The Space Stars S3, 8 sing along songs and a bonus DVD game "Lucas Libra's Masterpiece Game")
 * The Space Stars: The Ultimate Adventure LIVE ON STAGE! - 2007 (Includes 1 70 minute film, a bonus episode of the Space Stars S3, a mini live show documentary, 20 sing along songs, a bonus DVD game "The Musical Melody Game" and a small bonus plush toy of Scori the Scorvus)
 * The Space Stars: The Complete Third Season! - 2007 (Includes 26 episodes of The Space Stars S3, behind the scenes footage, a season 3 blooper reel, a sing along jukebox and a bonus DVD game "Octavia Ophiuchus's Follow The Leader Game")
 * The Space Stars: A Chance To Shine! - 2008 (Includes 12 episodes of The Space Stars, a sing along jukebox, a re-release of a DVD game "Who's Your Star" and a bonus interactive storybook)
 * The Space Stars: Double The Adventure! - 2009 (Includes 2 hour long specials of The Space Stars - A Down To Earth Christmas, re-releases of behind the scenes footage and blooper reels, a sing along jukebox, a bonus interactive storybook and a bonus activity pamphlet)
 * The Space Stars: The Complete Series Box Set - 2012 (Includes 3 DVD discs of each Space Stars Season, a favourites sing along songs list, re-release of behind the scenes footage and blooper reels and a bonus activity pamphlet)

CD'S/ALBUM'S RELEASED

 * The Space Stars: The Season One Soundtrack - 2003 (Includes 52 songs from the first season comprised into 2 CD's)
 * The Space Stars: A Down To Earth Christmas Soundtrack - 2003 (Includes 7 songs from the movie as well as 3 bonus soundtrack-exclusive songs)
 * The Space Stars: The Season Two Soundtrack - 2004 (Includes 52 songs from the second season comprised into 2 CD's)
 * The Space Stars: Galactic Mystery Birthday Soundtrack - 2005 (Includes 6 songs from the movie as well as 4 bonus soundtrack-exclusive songs)
 * The Space Stars: The Ultimate Adventure LIVE! Soundtrack - 2005 (Includes 18 songs from the live show as well as 2 bonus soundtrack-exclusive songs)
 * The Space Stars: The Season Three Soundtrack - 2006 (Includes 52 songs from the third season comprised into 2 CD's)
 * The Space Stars: Best Of The Soundtrack - 2008 (Includes 15 songs from the series)
 * The Space Stars: 10 Years Of Song! - 2012 (Includes 3 CD's of all 3 season songs)