The Penguins of Madagascar

*The Penguins of Madagascar*
The Penguins of Madagascar
Genre	Comedy; Action; Adventure;
Based on	Madagascar characters; by Tom McGrath; and Eric Darnell
Developed by	Mark McCorkle; Bob Schooley;
Directed by	Bret Haaland; Nick Filippi;
Voices of	Tom McGrath; John DiMaggio; Jeff Bennett; James Patrick Stuart; Danny Jacobs; Kevin Michael Richardson; Andy Richter; Conrad Vernon; Tara Strong; Nicole Sullivan; Mary Scheer;
Composer	Adam Berry
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	80 (149 segments) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Mark McCorkle; Bob Schooley;
Producers	Dina Buteyn (S2); Dean Hoff (S2); Andrew Hubner (S3);
Running time	11 minutes; 22 minutes (long-length specials: episodes 48, 55, 79, 98, 110, 122, 146, and 147); 44 minutes ("The Return of the Revenge of Dr. Blowhole," episode 99);
Production companies	DreamWorks Animation; Nickelodeon Animation Studio;
Original release
Network	Nickelodeon (2008–12); Nicktoons (2015–16)
Release	November 28, 2008 –; January 4, 2016
	Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

The Penguins of Madagascar is an American animated television series produced by DreamWorks Animation in collaboration with Nickelodeon Animation Studio. It stars nine characters from DreamWorks' animated film Madagascar—Skipper (Tom McGrath), Rico (John DiMaggio), Kowalski (Jeff Bennett), Private (James Patrick Stuart), King Julien (Danny Jacobs), Maurice (Kevin Michael Richardson), Mort (Andy Richter), Mason (Conrad Vernon), and Phil. Characters new to the series include an otter named Marlene (Nicole Sullivan) and a zookeeper named Alice (Mary Scheer). It is the first Nicktoon co-produced with DreamWorks Animation. The series was executive-produced by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle, who were the creators of the animated series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (a spin-off of Pixar's Toy Story franchise) and Disney Channel's Kim Possible.

The pilot episode, "Gone in a Flash," aired as part of "Superstuffed Nicktoons Weekend" on November 28, 2008, and The Penguins of Madagascar became a regular series on March 28, 2009. The series premiere drew 6.1 million viewers, setting a new record as the most-watched premiere.

The Penguins of Madagascar aired after Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa was released, but it does not take place at a precise time within the franchise as it is unknown as to how the penguins and lemurs arrived at the zoo without the other characters from the Madagascar movies, although the series does occasionally allude to the rest of it. The show started production before an ending to Escape 2 Africa had been established. McGrath, who is also the co-creator of the film characters and voice of Skipper, has said that the series takes place "not specifically before or after the movie, I just wanted them all back at the zoo. I think of it as taking place in a parallel universe."

At the end of 2010, the show was the number two animated program on television among kids age 2–11 and in basic cable total viewers. The show received praise for its animation quality, regarded as very good for the time.

In December 2014, DiMaggio stated that the show ended production. The show's executive producers, Mark McCorkle and Bob Schooley, later served as executive consultants for DreamWorks' next Madagascar spin-off series (All Hail King Julien).

A revival of the series was pitched by Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse artist Kade Byrand, but ended up being rejected.