Groundling Marsh
Groundling Marsh was a Canadian children's television series featuring puppets. The show was produced by Portfolio Film & Television Inc., Children's Television Workshop and J.A. Delmage Productions. It included songs and animated segments, and enjoyed a certain amount of success and popularity at during its time. The only merchandise produced for the show were videos and they are now exceptionally rare and no longer produced. In the United States, it aired on PBS and the Disney Channel. It received funding from the International Production Fund, formerly the Maclean Hunter Television Fund. This series premiered October 1, 1995. Groundling Marsh was nominated at the 12th Annual Gemini Awards for Best Preschool Program or Series. John Pattison was also nominated for a Gemini for the episode "Bah Hegdish". The show had its series finale on November 28, 1997. The show is still seen on Bell Media-owned educational station CTV Two Alberta in Canada.
Episodes
In this first episode co-produced for Disney Channel, Eco is accidentally shrunk when Mud/Slinger test their size-altering invention.
The magic in Eco's amulet is stuck, and she needs Mud/Slinger's polish to release the magic. Maggie, determined to prove she's grown up, takes the amulet to Mud/Slinger. Before the amulet is ready, Hegdish constructs a false amulet, which he switcheroos the next time Maggie walks by. It leads to a double-edged dilemma: Maggie, in her haste, crushes the fake amulet, thinking it's the real one, while Hegdish can't get the real amulet to work in his favor. Eco, for her part, sees through the dilemma immediately and takes steps to remedy it.
Galileo tries to keep secret the fact that he ate all the jingle reed cookies. In desperation, the others employ Hegdish, of all groundlings, to find the culprit.
Eco reveals a secret that has troubled her since childhood—which she feels is the reason she has been summoned to meet the Tree Elders.
Hegdish suffers an accident and is laid up at Mud/Slinger's, expecting to be waited on all the time.
Stacks is ready to go on an adventure in the name of nature.
Hegdish hears of a music box that plays wonderful music that makes everyone feel giddy. He hopes to hear this music firsthand, but when he does, he discovers the importance of moderation. Eco's story reminds us that ""Too much of a good thing can really be a bad thing.""
Entering the marsh is a groundling who looks almost identical to Galileo, but he has a mean streak – more disagreeable than even Hegdish. The visitor hurts the other groundlings' feelings. Just as Maggies becomes distraught over what she thinks is Galileo's total personality change, Eco tells her the story of the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing.
Stacks saves Galileo from the clutches of mischievous vines, only to get trapped himself. It's now up to Galileo to get Stacks out alive.
Maggie dencounters a bird who can talk only to her. Through that bird, Maggie discovers how special she really is. But will the other groundlings believe Maggie's story?
Hegdish spots a vine of increasingly-large berries slithering into a cave – a cave he knows he can't navigate himself. Thus, he tells one lie after another to fool the other groundlings into following him into the cave. When the other groundlings are frustrated over Hegdish's stories in the name of gorging himself, they decide not to believe him anymore. Eco tries to warn them about the danger of this mindset by retelling the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf.It all comes to light for Hegdish when Galileo gets struck by a falling stalactite in the cave. Will anyone believe Hegdish now?
Mud/Slinger believe they have done everything wrong. First, they get distracted from cleaning the wheels on Stacks's grocery cart in an effort to open a cave door. When they get all their tools, they accidentally shut the cave door – with Crystal inside the cave. Hegdish and Galileo offer to help, but Mud/Slinger, in their anxiety, ruin the other groundlings' plans. But Eco informs Mud/Slinger not to quit. Eventually, they turn disaster into a workable solution.
Galileo cannot accept the fact that Crystal's best friend is invisible.
On a starry night, Galileo sees a shooting star seemingly land on the other side of the lake. He is determined to sail his boat across the other lake to catch a shooting star. Everyone laughs at his idea. So determined to go off on his journey that Galileo fails to prepare himself adequately. He also doesn't plan for Hegdish, who becomes the invited stowaway.
The annual glisten berry search produces a quandary. Everyone is supposed to search for glisten berries with his or her special friend. Crystal feels left out because every other groundling (except Hegdish) has already found a special friend for the search. At Galileo's suggestion, Crystal asks Stacks to be her special friend. This produces a misunderstanding for Galileo, as Stacks and Crystal go off on their own adventures. What Crystal does next, informs Galileo that the more friends one has, the better.
Told of the legendary gold rock that marked the source of Groundling Marsh's water, Maggie and Galileo, along with Hegdish, set out for a cave where the long-lost rock may be.
Crystal is put to a test that she must solve herself to prove her wisdom, but she falls prey to the advice of some other groundling.
Maggie is upset because she cannot find an original way to show her appreciation for Eco. Everyone else takes Maggie's ideas, except one: Mossy Bear. Wll Maggie give up her favorite toy to show Eco her appreciation?
Mud/Slinger turn their lives amuck stumble upon a clover that grants five wishes. Each wish produces a disaster, mainly because they can't agree with each other. Galileo tries to help Mud/Slinger with a song, but they accidentally wish him away.
Maggie accidentally provides Mud/Slinger the inspiration they need to make one of their inventions successful. Inspired, Mighty feels superior to the others. She tries to prove her superiority by besting the other groundlings at contests. Not even Hegdish can outduel Maggie, who will ultimately outduel herself.
Crystal sets free a friendly wind that freezes everyone who comnes in contact with it. When virtually all the other groundlings are frozen in place, only Crystal can lure the Ice Wind back to its place deep inside the caves.
A choir of musical flowers falls into disharmony when Hegdish steals one of the chorus.
Hegdish is about to leave the marsh–again. His plan is thwarted when the other groundlings put on a stage show for him.
Crystal's high-powered ears pick up only parts of conversations, leaving Maggie to conclude that she isn't appreciated. Distraught, Maggie withdraws into Crystal's cave. All the groundlings are intent to find Maggie, except for Hegdish, who's more determined to search for food.
Eco thinks she is unappreciated since everyone in the marsh is capable of doing jobs well. But what if Eco had not been at the marsh all this time? Eco is taken on a Jimmy Stewart path to a nightmarish scene: Hegdish has the power to commnunicate with Nature's creatures, and uses this power for his own ill means.
When Stacks breaks down in an attempt to start the lights for Twinkletime, Hegdish is reluctant to give away the pellets needed for Stacks to regain power. That night, Hegdish revisits his past, present, and a Dickensian nightmare of a future in Groundling Marsh.
