The writers of Total Drama Island approached it a few ways.įirst, we have the teams. We need them to get screen time and create a satisfactory trajectory for an inevitable end - either when they leave the show or when they win. In just over an episode per character, we need people to fall in love with each of these characters. Over the course of 26 episodes (it would end up being 27, but I’m guessing that came when a second season was ordered), we have to develop 24 characters. That is the 22 contestants and the 2 hosts. So, we’ve got 24 characters who need their screen time. This narrative needs to be really clear, enough to be digestible by kids.Every character has to be someone’s favorite, and almost all of them have to get cut.Every character needs screen time, and that’s already limited.So, for TDI and every other work of fiction with an ensemble cast, there’s a few problems ahead: They did a great job handling their characters, but struggled to hit arc beats in rhythm. This was an issue with the other Netflix hit Squid Game, which oddly shares a similar premise. If the writers are struggling to keep things straight, you can bet that the readers are going to. At various times in the story, an inattentive reader is lost in the multiple perspectives.Įven without the perspective switching, too many cooks in the kitchen creates these issues. A common criticism is that there’s too many characters: “I had trouble keeping the dozens of characters straight,” remarks a GoodReads reviewer.

They need to get their screen time, make their joke, and fill their role.įurther, a cartoon has to maintain a digestible narrative.Ī classic issue, sometimes a feature, of the ensemble cast is how muddy it can make a story. And a necessary part of a cartoon is every character needs to get their lines in. Total Drama Island is meant to be like a reality show, arguably a satire of reality TV, but before that it’s meant to be a cartoon. Imagine watching The Lord of the Rings but after Boromir dies he monologues for 3 minutes then never gets mentioned again.

Imagine watching Spongebob, but they never give Sandy screen time and she gets cut from the show without a decent write-off. And finally we have the less hot, still attractive person with a good backstory - they’ll be the main character before long.īoom. Next is a person who’s taking this Way Too Seriously™, we’ll follow them. Then there will be a person who acts a fool, we’ll center on them. The person who gets eliminated in the first episode is going to take up a lot of that episode, that’s a way to demonstrate stakes. In reality TV, you don’t have to invest in everyone. Survivor has an advantage here, though: it’s a “real” reality show. Survivor rivals the size of the TDI cast with 16 contestants for most seasons. It’s common in fiction from any period, and even more common for elimination based reality TV. Of course, Total Drama Island didn’t invent the concept of the ensemble cast. That’s a little under 2.5 times as many POV characters as Game of Thrones, and around 3 times as many cast members as are on most seasons of The Real World. The exact size of the group is 22 contestants. To add a twist, there’s usually an additional challenge to win immunity. The losing team must then vote off one of their team members. Each “week” there’s a challenge that the contestants have to face, which 1 team wins. The contestants are broken up in 2 groups at various points in the show, first in 2 teams, later into boys and girls, then finally the show becomes a free-for-all. The cast are a group of teenagers, presumably high school seniors, who have signed up to win a chance at 2 prizes: $100,000 and (more importantly) fame. Chris teams up with Chef, camp chef and narrative enforcer, to challenge the cast. Total Drama Island is a fictional, animated reality show hosted by a Hollywood has-been, Chris.

And even if you have seen it, I’m going to synopsize it quickly to support my argument. There’s a slight chance that you clicked on this article without having watched Total Drama Island.

Total drama characters