Insect Land

Insect Land is an American-Canadian animated series based on the book series "Adventures in The Insect Forest" and its animated adaptation found on Petalboy 64's Extra Menu. It made its debut in 1993 on CBS and later Fox Family starting in 2005. Created by Lillian Rainbow and produced by Michael Hirsh, Clive A. Smith, Molly McCain. The series made its debut on March 20, 1993, on CBS as a part of the Saturday Morning lineup (and later CBS Kidshow). Following CBS Kidshow's discontinuation, the series moved to Green Daze and Fox Family in 2005. The series concluded on March 20, 2013, with a total of 20 seasons and 520 episodes.

On all three networks, Insect Land was seen as a rather successful show for both children and adults alike. The series also became the highest viewed show on CBS Kidshow due to the success it has among adults. The series was also seen to be fairly popular on Green Daze and Fox Family as well. While not as popular as when it was on CBS Kidshow, but during the 2003-04 season, it was the third most popular show on Green Daze (behind Puyo Puyo and Beverly Hills Teens). The series also received three movies in 1999, 2004, and 2019. With a fourth movie in production. The series has also known to have reruns on Qubo, MeTV, and Disney XD. Currently, the series airs on Red Princess and can be streamable on Disney+.

Setting
The show is about the adventures of three larvae who appear to be the best of friends. Greenee, a ladybug larva who is seen as the smart one. Princess, who is seen as the cute one, and Gus, who is seen as the laid-back one. They often have their adventures in Mariposa Forest, a forest located in central Maryland.

The Green Family

 * Greenee (voiced by Denis Akiyama) - A 14-year old ladybug grub. He is often portrayed as incredibly intelligent and is seen as one of the smartest students of Insectoid High School. His dream job is to work as an engineer.
 * Sweetie White - Greenee's 5-year old sister. She is a tiny white grub who sees Greenee, her older brother as a role model. She often gets into tantrums whenever Greenee has to go to school.
 * Lady Green - Greenee's mother. She is a ladybug in her mid-40s and works as a nurse.
 * Electro-Bug - Greenee's father. He is a ladybug who works as an electrition. While stricter than his wife, he loves his children and hopes they grow up strong.
 * Kaiju - Greenee's pet cat. He is a golden mane coon who has a high-pitch meow. He was named Kaiju because Sweetie White thought he was a dinosaur.

The Red Family

 * Princess - A 16-year old caterpillar. She loves cute and beautiful things. She also works at a part-time job as a clothes designer. She also has a huge diet and has a tendency to eat more than her body can take.
 * Flowers - Princess' older sister. She is a blue cocoon who loves to wear Princess clothing. Though despite being a cocoon, she has paper-thin tentacles and can move them.
 * Lady Mariposa - Princess and Flowers' mother. She is Butterfly who is a pop star singer and is considered an idol. She likes praise, but not too much. No one knows the whereabouts of her husband.

The Blue Family

 * Gus - A 15-year old maggot. He's blue and he appears to be the "dumb one" of the group. While seriously unintelligent, he likes to go at his pace. It's a mystery how he is successful at Insectoid High. But he always answers with "Maybe they like me?" He is also laid-back and doesn't get into fights often.
 * Sister Maggot - Gus's adopted sister. She is a yellow larva with a red bow on her head. She is roughly around the same age as he is and typically spies on Princess.
 * Daddy Long-legs - Gus's father. He is a tall and bulky father for Gus and is seen at the gym. He's also an athlete.
 * Flyette - Gus's mother. She enjoys the heat and loves tropical things. However, she is prone to anger and often snaps.

The Yellow Family

 * Lilian - An antlion larva. She is 17 years old and lives underground. She is notably creative and enjoys dancing.
 * Samuel - Lilian's younger brother. He is extremely easy-going and sleeps most of the day. Though despite his easy-going attitude, he is extremely vigorous when it comes to eating. The two are often seen caring for each other after their parents were killed by the Spider Sisters.

Rivals

 * Minty - Princess's rival. Whenever the two encounter each other, they get into a fashion fight. Thought unlike Princess, Minty is more competitive and can easily get carried away. She is also 16.
 * Goblin - A cockroach. He is Gus's rival and likes to do scavenger hunts. He tends to call Gus a "lazy dude with no life".
 * Shadow - Greenee's so-called "rival". Shadow is a 17-year old Hercules beetle larva and is one of the strongest students in Insectoid High. While he is much friendlier to Greenee now, they were rivals during their childhood.

The Spider Sisters

 * Madame Arachnid - The main antagonist of the series. While dim-witted, she, along with her younger sisters are known to cause a lot of trouble in Insect Land. She is 27 years old. She is green and wears a white wig.
 * Fabopod - The middle sister. She is 19 years old and can be notably shy. Though despite this, she is much friendlier than her siblings and wishes that they were less evil. She is orange and has a blue bow on her head.
 * Pinksweet - The youngest sister. Despite being a part of the spider sisters, she is actually a lacewing larva. She is 15 years old and has a crush on Greenee. Although cute in appearance, she can be quite a jerk. She also loves to pick on Princess and Lilian because she thinks they're in love with him.

Devolpment
The series started production in 1990 following the success of their previous show Babar, Nelvana announced that they would be working on an original series with 20th Century Fox for CBS's Saturday morning lineup. During this time, they also partnered with Cinar and Petalboy Productions (known as DIC Entertainment Japan until 1994) to produce a show about teenage insects in a sitcom-type show.

It started production in 1991 and was described as a "cute show from Fox". At this time, the big three networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) were going nuts for the broadcasting rights for the show. It was a fierce battle but NBC was the first to drop out of the battle due to their programming struggling in ratings and later ABC dropped from it in favor of Madeline's animated series. Leaving CBS. CBS picked up the rights and copyrights for the show in July of 1992.

The pilot episode was broadcasted during the night of September 22, 1992, on CBS and revolved only around Greenee and his family. Unlike the final series, Greenee was a female caterpillar and wore a red cap. He was later changed into a male ladybug larva after the pilot's airing when Princess was added to represent the "feminine caterpillar" role. Syo Tortellini, who was one of the executive producers, made Greenee's gender male because he thought "wouldn't be crazy to see a ladybug thinking it was female but we were wrong this whole time?".

The show was originally set for a primetime slot on Tuesday nights on CBS but was changed to Saturday morning during the last minute. Once the pilot episode aired on CBS and had a home media release by CBS/Fox Video, Nelvana promptly begun production of the first season.

The show originally used cell animation until season 7 (2000) where the series changed to a hybrid. In season 18, it was fully digital. Season 20 used CGI in some scenes.

Episodes
Insect Land has 520 episodes and 20 seasons. Running from 1993 until 2013.

Reception
During its run, Seasons 1 to 9 gained a positive reception. Critics praised the animation and fun plots. It was also worth noting that during the season 4 run in 1997, CBS would often take first place. In 2000, following CBS Kidshow's conclusion, the series got less ratings due to its migration from CBS to Green Daze. Seasons 10 to 17 gained a mixed-to-positive reception. Fans of the show did say that episodes were less unique and the departure from CBS could be the reason. Season 18 however, received a Mixed-to-negative reception due to the cast acting very strange and most of the season being "torture episodes" to the main three. Seasons 19 and 20 got a mixed Reception.

Controversy
Season 5 (1998) is often considered to be the most controversial season due to six episodes from the season, which were pulled from air because of their controversial themes involving child abuse, body images, and bullying. These six episodes were dubbed "The Serious Six" and never got to air on linear television until 2011 where they aired on DarkFox.