PETRI PLACE

Created, Designed and Written by William D. Wolff

Illustrations by Jason Dorf

Color by Nancy Wilkins

Overview

Genre:

A half-hour animated children’s TV show.

Description:

Petri Place tells the adventures of a colony of bacteria living in Petri Place, a town in a Petri dish located deep in the bowels of a top-secret CIA microbiology research lab. Like us humans, the bacteria have such modern amenities as cars, TV, cellphones and social media. And, also like us, they have all the annoyances that accompany these conveniences: gridlock, constant technological breakdowns and a bloated and corrupt bureaucracy.

Rating:

TV-PG.

Target Demographic:

Five- to fifteen-year-olds, equally male and female.

Petri Place also appeals to parents and other grownups, by employing pop culture references and a slightly satirical tone.

Tone:

Light-hearted and frequently silly; gently subversive and edgy.

Recurring Thematic Elements:

Moby has a very active imagination, slipping into such personas as a top-secret international spy, an astronaut or a big-time movie director.
Moby has a huge crush on drop-dead gorgeous Lisa the Paramecium. But Lisa, though very fond of Moby, doesn’t share his romantic inclinations...for now, at least.
Cyrus is Moby’s hapless sidekick, constantly getting sucked into Moby’s wilder schemes and often ending up with the short end of the stick.
Microbiologist Hilda subjects the Petri dish to occasional onslaughts by new top-secret pathogens, wreaking havoc on Petri Place’s unsuspecting inhabitants.
The lab contains many other Petri dishes, each containing its own colony of microorganisms. And Petri Place is occasionally visited by these “extraterrestrials,” with unpredictable results.
Much of the action takes place at the big-box store called PlasMart. There, Moby and his pals suffer under a typical corporate bureaucracy, headed by Spiro, their anal-retentive Store Manager.

View/Download Script (PDF)

Characters

Moby the Amoeba

Our intrepid protagonist, Moby works at the Customer Service desk at PlasMart, Petri Place's big-box store.

His personality is a combo of Don Quixote and Ralph Kramden. He's always coming up with wild schemes, few of which actually turn out as planned.

Moby has a hyperactive imagination and is given to wild flights of fantasy, in which he imagines himself to be an astronaut, a suave ladies man, a big-time movie director or an intrepid spy.

He has a huge crush on Lisa the Paramecium. He plays a mean guitar and loves to go surfing at Agar Beach.

Moby has a debilitating phobia about fungi.

Cyrus the Virus

Moby's dimwitted wiseacre sidekick, Cyrus works as a Stock Boy at PlasMart.

He is generally skeptical of Moby’s wilder schemes. But Cyrus inevitably gets sucked in himself, usually coming out with the short end of the stick.

Lisa the Paramecium

The drop-dead gorgeous Check-Out Girl at PlasMart, Lisa is as worldly as Moby is impractical.

Lisa is very fond of Moby but isn’t really interested in him romantically...for now, at least.

Spiro the Spirillum

The officious Manager at PlasMart, Spiro is a fussy, petty bureaucrat who is constantly flummoxed by the barely contained mayhem around him.

Sporgy

Moby’s pet spore is a fiercely loyal protector of Moby and his pals...except when he’s getting into mischief.

Hilda and Eddie

Microbiologists Hilda and Eddie periodically subject the inhabitants of Petri Place to onslaughts by malevolent pathogens.

Hilda, a stone fox, and Eddie, a perpetually adolescent sleazeball, have their own contentious relationship.

Lumpy

A garrulous Diplobacillum, Lumpy can always be counted on to see the bright side of things. But, weighing in at a massive 300 nanograms, Lumpy is one guy you definitely don’t want to mess with.

Dizmo

Dizmo is Petri Place’s resident slacker.

Petri Place

Locations

PlasMart

The humungous big box store where Moby and the rest of the gang work. There’s a break room at PlasMart, where Moby hangs out with his pals.

Moby’s apartment

Moby shares his apartment with Sporgy, his pet spore. His living room is cluttered with his hobbies, such as his musical equipment, his surfing gear and his various scientific ventures, including his amateur chemistry set and his homemade rocket ship.

Algae Bar

A Tiki bar where the microorganisms hang out after work.

Agar Beach

When the agar is breaking, you can't beat it.

Slime Row

You don’t want to be caught here after dark, because there’s always a chance you’ll run into some menacing pathogen.

Microbiology Lab

The top-secret CIA lab where microbiologists Hilda and Eddie work, subjecting the inhabitants of Petri Place to periodic invasions by a variety of toxins.

Future Episodes

Fungus Amungus

Moby enters group therapy, in an attempt to deal with his crippling phobia about fungi.

To Serve Microbes

Moby builds a HAM radio and makes contact with an alien life form living in another
Petri dish in a remote corner of the microbiology lab.

Protoplasm Plus

After a bully at the beach kicks agar in Moby's face and accuses him of being a 90-nanogram weakling, Moby orders a new high-protein drink he sees on TV. Soon, he is developing muscles in the strangest places.

Culture Clash

Moby comes to the rescue, when Petri Place is invaded by evil pathogens from the badlands of the Petri Dish.

Battle of the Bands

Moby assembles his pals to form a band, in order to compete in the annual Petri Place Talent Show.

Moby the Sophisticate

After being featured in a Microbe-on-the-Street interview, Moby becomes insufferably self-important, wearing an ascot and affecting a British accent.

Mr. Amoeba and the Infield Fly Rule

Moby and his fellow employees square off against Spiro and management in the annual PlasMart softball game.

Invasion of the Cytoplasm Snatchers

Moby must come to the rescue when Microbiologist Hilda infects the Petri dish with a new experimental C.I.A. virus, and the inhabitants of Petri Place begin to exhibit strange and frightening behavior.

Have Your Corpuscles Call My Corpuscles

Moby gets his hands on a movie camera and sets out to make a blockbuster film, only to discover that his pals are not exactly A-list actors.

Mutants Run Amok

Moby goes on a canoe trip to the boondocks of the Petri dish, where he encounters a terrifying clan of inbred bacteria.