Where's Waldo?
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Where's Waldo? is the North American book and media franchise first adapted for United States audiences from the Where's Wally book by Martin Handford.
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[edit] Origins
The franchise was created by Martin Handford. As a young adult, Handford illustrated crowds and other comic scenes for clients. In 1986 he was approached to create a book of his artwork. To tie each scene together he came up with the idea to insert a distinctive traveller into each scene for readers to find. For the initial UK release of his book in 1987 he titled the character "Wally". The "Where's Wally" trademark was adapted for 28 countries: In addition to language translation, each franchise gave a new name and personality to the character. He became Charlie in France, Walter in Germany, Holger in Denmark and Willy in Norway. However the most successful of the franchises, even surpassing the original "Wally" brand, was the North American adaptation, "Where's Waldo?"
Whereas the early Waldo books were identical to the simultaneous Wally releases - except for the character's name - merchandising and spin-off productions expanded the Waldo franchise and character. Although Waldo and Wally are identical in appearance, their characters and personalities developed differently - Waldo became a hip and tech-savvy American world traveler, while Wally became intellectual and somewhat goofy.
Waldo became a huge pop-culture sensation in the early 1990s. The US was swept with "Waldo-mania". Aside from the translations of Handford's books, the US franchise grew to include licensing of Waldo for video games, spin-off books, magazines, dolls, toys and a Waldo television series. Many of the Waldo products were later reworked and translated for other national markets - including turning "Waldo"-created productions into "Wally".
Although Wally is the name used in Handford's home country, and was the first title used, Handford and his publisher refer to the character and franchise in many press releases and interviews as "Waldo". In the publishing world the "Wally" brand has become inferior, dwarfed by merchandising and huge success of "Waldo". And although the wordplay was lost on audiences outside North America, the name of the intrepid traveller's nemesis was even derived by Handford from spelling "Waldo" backwards to create Odlaw.
On January 22, 2007, the "Where's Wally" franchise - and thus "Where's Waldo" as well - was bought by the UK-based children's company Entertainment Rights.
[edit] Books
- Where's Waldo
- Find Waldo Now?
- The Great Waldo Search
- Where's Waldo?: The Ultimate Fun Book
- Where's Waldo?: The Magnificent Poster Book!
- Where's Waldo in Hollywood?
- Where's Waldo?: The Wonder Book
- Where's Waldo?: The Great Picture Hunt
[edit] Characters
[edit] Television Show
- See main article at Where's Waldo? (TV series)
A 13-episode animated series, with Townsend Coleman as the voice of Waldo, was produced by DiC and CBS in 1991. The show was later translated for international markets - usually renaming the character to fit the name used in the books of that country. The dialogue and theme song were recorded in alternate “Wally” version, with the same voice cast of the original US production, in order to later market the show to the UK market. The distribution rights to "Where's Waldo", and its international dubs, are currently held by HIT Entertainment
[edit] Other media
[edit] Video games
A number of American video games were developed using the Waldo version.
- Where's Waldo?:
- The Great Waldo Search
- Where's Waldo at the Circus
- Where's Waldo?: Exploring Geography
[edit] Comic
For several years in the early and mid 1990s, "Where's Waldo" was turned into a Sunday newspaper comic/puzzle, distributed by King Features Syndicate. The comics were also released in book form in the US.
[edit] Cereal boxes
In the early 1990s Quaker Life Cereal carried various "Where's Waldo" scenes on the back of the boxes along with collector's cards, toys and send-away prizes.
[edit] Movie
A movie based on the "Where's Waldo?" series of books has been pursued by various studios. Nickelodeon was the most recent studio to take an interest in the idea but when the regime at Paramount (Nickelodeon's parent company) changed, the project was cancelled. At the moment, a new bid for the rights is under consideration with a new movie outline due. One of the fears of the American producers in filming a live-action Waldo movie is how to market it to the international audiences that know the character as Wally (without using awkward dubs or incurring the cost of filming alternate dialog and creating an alternate "Wally" edit).
[edit] See also
- Where's Wally
- Where's Waldo? (TV series)
- Where's Waldo in popular culture
- List of international variations of Where's Wally?
[edit] External Links
| Books: |
Where's Waldo • Find Waldo Now? • The Great Waldo Search • The Ultimate Fun Book • The Magnificent Poster Book! • Where's Waldo in Hollywood? • The Wonder Book • The Great Picture Hunt |
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| Characters: |
Waldo • Wizard Whitebeard • Wilma • Woof • The Waldo Watchers • Wenda • Odlaw |
| TV Series: | |
| Other: |
