The Penguins of Madagascar is an American CGI animated television series airing on Nickelodeon. It stars nine characters from the DreamWorks Animation animated film Madagascar: The penguins Skipper, Kowalski, Private, and Rico; the lemurs King Julien, Maurice, and Mort; and Mason and Phil the chimpanzees. Characters new to the series include Marlene the otter and a zookeeper named Alice. It is the first Nicktoon produced with DreamWorks Animation. A pilot episode, "Gone in a Flash", aired as part of "Superstuffed Nicktoons Weekend" on November 29, 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. Although the series occasionally alludes to the rest of the franchise, The Penguins of Madagascar does not take place at a precise time within it. McGrath, who is also the co-creator of the film characters, 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."
"When a camera accidentally takes a picture of one of the lemurs at the zoo, King Julien thinks that he's trapped inside of the camera. Using their detective skills, Skipper and the gang search for the lemur before the start of the next zoo tour."
"Marlene, the new zoo otter, meets the penguins for the first time after being startled by a loud noise. Going underground in the sewers, Skipper leads the charge to find the source of the noise."
"When toy dolls are made to look like Mort at the zoo, Julien gets jealous and has them taken back. Unfortunately, this causes the actual Mort to be shipped back with the toys."
"A festive \"King Julien Day\" is held in Juliens honor. Unfortunately, no one will come unless Maurice bribes them with candy. And as much as Skipper doesn't want to join in the party, he can't seem to avoid it."
"After Mort accidentally destroys Julien's floating chair because of his obsession with his feet, the king establishes a law saying that anyone who touches his feet will be banished from the \"kingdom\". Mort disobeys it in his sleep, causing him to be kicked out forever. However, the penguins make him feet-phobic and he stops obsessing. Later, Julien floats away in his chair and Mort has to save him from falling into a hot dog stand. He becomes obsessed again and saves him from death."
"When Julien is taken to the zoo infirmary for acting even weirder than usual, Maurice is left in charge. Everything goes smoothly, until suddenly Maurice starts acting even crazier than Julien ever did."
"Rico the Penguin is known for being helpful for coughing up random items, but today a zoo keeper gives him de-regurgitating medicine, normally this wouldn't be a problem, except that Rico has a time bomb in his stomach."
"Skipper, Kowalski, Private, and Rico are all having fun today driving around the zoo in their small pink car, but trouble starts when King Julien wants to drive a car too, he gets jealous which results in a race to see who's better."
"The penguins perform and display their cuteness to zoo visitors in order to prompt them to feed them with fish purchased from Alice. Julien observes this from his habitat, stating his resentment of the fish odor to the other lemurs."
"The penguins' habitat freezes, so they decide to play a hockey game against each other. They are then challenged by a group of rats (the same rats featured in the Crown Fools episode) to play against them, since the rats cannot go back into their sewer home because the pipes burst."
"Mason and Phil are fed up with the lemurs annoying them. They find out a solar eclipse is coming and tricked Julien by telling him the \"sky spirits\" are angry at him just as the moon covers the sun."
"Skipper runs from the zoo veterinarian in order to avoid getting a shot. The penguins try to force him to do it, but Skipper seems to escape and avoid all they throw at him. Skipper even tries to distract the penguins, as in dancing, trying to attract them."
"Mort quadruples in size after an accident with one of Kowalski's inventions, a super-ray designed to enhance fish. After finally realizing that Mort is super strong, Julien uses him to steal food and supplies from the other animals, like stealing an elephant's peanuts, Joey's (from Assault and Batteries) hay for Julien art work."
"Marlene gets a new roommate named Rhonda, a walrus who is sloppy and has bad manners. Before her roommate arrives, she dances with Skipper and is very excited, but Skipper is paranoid that Marlene's roommate may be a spy, possibly with the intent of stealing Kowalski's newest invention, a device whose function is not yet known."
"The zoo animals order Chinese food. All of the penguins read their fortune cookies and are happy with the results. However, Rico's fortune reads \"You will meet a foul end\". While Rico and the penguins do not believe in curses, Julien tries to make them believe by tricking Rico into believing that he is cursed (makes an elephant land on Rico, sends a popcorn cart in his direction) to the point where Rico hides in a pillow fort."
"Private sees a killer whale fly over NYC, but no one believes him, more importantly, Kowalski, Rico, and Skipper think he's gone crazy because of the amount of sugar he had ingested prior to spotting it. In an attempt to prove that he's not crazy, Private heads out to find the whale he knows he saw."
"When the penguins bring Marlene with them on a sno-cone mission in the park, she can't handle the freedom of being outside the zoo walls. Skipper and his team must capture the crazed Marlene before she goes permanently wild."
"Max the cat is on the run from evil animal control Officer X, and he comes to the penguins for help. With the zoo on lock-down, the penguins decide to give Max a makeover and hide him in plain sight."
"A female chimp named Lulu arrives at the zoo for a short stay, and Phil is smitten. Unfortunately, Lulu falls for Mason, and the penguins must step in to help Phil win her heart."
"When the penguins are interrupted mid-operation by a nosy scientist, they leave the zoo in danger. Unfortunately, the scientist has radio-tagged them, so they must rely on the lemurs to complete the mission and save the zoo."
"At closing time, the penguins hear a little girl crying that she has lost her doll, Private goofingly thinking Skipper was crying. Skipper quickly informs Private that is not him. The penguins try to throw it to her, but this backfires when the doll hits the girl and bounces into the sewer, making the girl cry."
"At the zoo during night, King Julien's boom box gets stolen. Everyone gathers up and starts to complain about their apparently stolen items. Soon, Rico talks to Private and Private tells Skipper that their television has been stolen. Skipper and the penguins go off to confront the masked thief."
"Furious with King Julien skunk bombing them the baboons steal his groove, using so called \"magic\" so he can't dance anymore and put it in a jar. Desperate for help Julien seeks the help of the penguins to get his groove back. But when fighting over the jar that contains his groove it breaks and enters Skipper's body. The baboons will only help if King Julien apologizes. But given his stubbornness King Julien still refuses to apologize."
"When a beautiful falcon crash lands in the zoo, Skipper insists that she stays to recuperate. But once she tries to eat Marlene behind their backs, Skipper and the others try to put her to a stop."
"While the penguins are visiting with him in his sewer home, Roger, their alligator friend, states that he hates having to live there, but that he loves being in New York so much that he is willing to endure it. The penguins soon decide to help Roger find a better place to live in the city. They first hide Roger inside a log in a nearby pond, but a lady sees him and screams. They try hiding him as a display in a museum next, but Roger blows his cover by becoming \"alive\" when a boy pokes him. Following this, the penguins try to hide Roger on a rooftop as a gargoyle, but Roger, afraid of heights, soon falls into a public pool below. Throughout all this, the attempts to relocate Roger make TV news headlines, in a segment called \"Gator Watch.\" While trying next to evade humans, Roger unwittingly enters onto a stage via a building's backdoor and is soon captured by animal control. The penguins then set off after the van transporting Roger to break him out, but they fail to do so before the vehicle arrives at its destination: a well-suited habitat at the Central Park Zoo."
"In anticipation of the arrival of the zoo commissioner, a security detail quickly examines the zoo and its animals for threats. But as they leave, Skipper believes that the agents have done an inadequate job, so he and the other penguins take it upon themselves to ensure the zoo is safe for the commissioner's arrival to cut the ribbon on a new children's zoo. In doing so, they soon uncover that a pigeon, Frankie, has plotted to \"drop one\" on the commissioner's suit in retaliation for his implementation of anti-pigeon park regulations. Skipper then tells the other penguins about how he had failed to act under similar circumstances when the previous commissioner had been attacked with bird droppings containing blueberries, vowing to not let the same happen again. The penguins then chase after Frankie, with Skipper flying through the air using a jet-pack, but the pigeon soon ends up releasing his blueberry-infused vendetta. Skipper dives in and takes the hit for the commissioner, and his team is horrified at the resulting look of their leader. Fortunately, however, Skipper reveals that he was wearing a \"pigeon-proof vest\" as he pulls it off his body. The vest is soon launched at Frankie via a makeshift cannon, resulting in the pigeon suffering the same fate he had intended for the commissioner."
"When the penguins hear the scream of a child, they soon learn it was the result of a boy having been bitten by a sheep at the zoo's petting zoo. Appalled by the sheep's attack, the penguins set off at night to retaliate against him. However, the sheep, Randy, soon tells the penguins that he was provoked to bite the boy because the boy had, among other things, beaten on him and had pulled out a clump of his wool. Convinced that they had wrongly judged Randy, the penguins decide to help him out to prevent further abuse by rowdy children. When their attempts at applying a slippery polymer, building up static electricity on Randy's wool, and hypnosis fail, the penguins decide to transport Randy to a farm to live out the rest of his life. Randy is soon taken to a farm by the penguins in a truck, but shortly after his arrival, Randy is horrified at the appearance of the other sheep there, who are sheered and appear to be in a cult-like trance. Consequently, Randy ends up back at the petting zoo, but when the same boy approaches him to attack him again, Randy kicks him away. It is then revealed that Skipper and Rico had taught Randy some of their commando fighting moves."
"While the penguins are engaged in a training exercise, Eggy the duckling enters the HQ, acting in a commando-like fashion. His mother soon locates him there, and tells the penguins that Eggy has been behaving that way ever since their egg-watching adventure. As requested by Eggy's mother, the penguins agree to work with Eggy to convince him that he is not suited to engage in their para-military operations. But when he persists in desiring to become a commando, Skipper leads Eggy to believe that he needs to have a \"Penguin Commando License\" in order to partake in their operations, and that being able to tackle all the zoo has to offer is requisite for obtaining such. Although briefly successful, this plan soon backfires when Eggy begins to take down all the zoo animals, using the specialized characteristics of each of the penguins that he had learned from them while still in the egg state. Eventually, Julien is the last animal that Eggy had not yet beaten, and thus the only thing standing between him and his \"license.\" But Julien, upon learning that \"[his] J.J.\" (Eggy) wanted to become a penguin, begins dancing to music, and Eggy fails to bring him down as a result. Eggy is then cured of his commando desires but, to the dismay of the penguins, now has taken up Julien's behaviors."
"The opening of a time capsule buried at the zoo a century ago forces the penguins, Julien, Maurice, Mort, Marlene and Fred into a search for the legendary cursed treasure of the Golden Squirrel, which they must find and destroy before the rats claim it for themselves, but matters are complicated when the treasure includes a curse that will drive those who seek it to fight each other until one who is 'pure of heart' claims the treasure. This episode was originally scheduled to be aired in the U.S. on April 25, 2010, but remains unaired there. However, it aired on April 25, 2010 on the Canadian Network YTV as part of a \"Penguin Marathon\"."
"The lemurs interrupt the penguins playing computer solitaire in the zoo office in order to sneak a peek at the zoo's new advertising campaign photo, which features the lemurs. After being chastised by the penguins for creating a threat of being seen by humans, Julien points out that the penguins can be seen in the background of the approved ad photo in commando fashion, seemingly unaware that their photo was being taken. Back at their HQ, the penguins decide to set out to digitally remove themselves from the image before it is sent to the ad agency. Whilst attempting to do so at the photographer's house, however, Kowalski inadvertently sends an enlarged version of the incriminating area of the photo to the ad executives. Their situation is made progressively worse when their visit to the ad agency results in the photo being sent to the printer with the caption \"Killer Commando Penguins,\" and then when their attempt to reconfigure the 10,000-copy print job at the print shop instead results in a 1,000,000-copy authorization. When their final attempt to stop the presses results in the foursome being caught up in and inked-up by the machinery, they retreat to the HQ, convinced their covert ops will soon be exposed. However, the new ad which Alice reveals, of penguin body shapes splatted on a white background, keeps their operations secret."
"Private must pass a difficult test on the New York streets in order to move up in rank and share a classified joke. In order to move up ranks Private must face a \"haunted bus\" but he is forced to safe the lemurs as they have been caught by the \"haunted bus\"."
"When a boy on a school trip sees the Penguins in action, the team scrambles into action to steal his notebook; meanwhile, Julien attempts to form his own team to claim his old backscratcher from the museum (Mort=Skipper, Fred=Kowalski, Maurice=Rico, and Julien=Private). This episode was released only on the Nickelodeon website."
"Disappointed at Skipper's refusal to allow him to use his explosive talents, Rico begins working for King Julien as a demolitions expert, but the new lack of restraint imposed by the other penguins results in Rico destroying Julien's habitat before he is contained. This episode was originally scheduled to be aired on March 27, 2010 but remains unaired."
"When Kowalski invents a helmet that turns thoughts into actions- essentially granting the wearer the power of psychokinesis-, Julien steals it to use its power for himself, only for the entire zoo to be imperiled when Julien turns the helmet's power up to such an extent that he summons objects to him with mere casual thoughts. This episode was originally scheduled to be aired on March 27, 2010 but remains unaired."
"Skipper's old puffin enemy Hans comes to the zoo, claiming to be interested in friendship while really seeking to steal the penguins' lair for himself. While it has not aired in the United States, the episode aired with \"The Penguin Stays in the Picture\" on YTV (in Canada) on April 17, 2010 and again on May\ufeff 1, 2010."
"After getting a kid's balloon back, Skipper mentions something about The Big One. He explains he has been waiting for it to come for months and he hid some plans in a remote area of the zoo for when the big one comes. But it is revealed that they are building a children's zoo on the spot he hid the plans, so now they try to get the plans before The Big One Comes. But Skipper then starts acting like a news reporter. Can Skipper stop acting like a reporter, and can they get the plans in time before the Big One comes?"
"After spying on everyone with the others, Private accidentally drinks Kowalski's Truth drink that makes you spill the truth and now Private starts telling all the animals secrets! Can the penguins fix this before Private spills everyone's secrets?"
"When the zoo closes for the Christmas holiday, the animals gather to begin work on Kidsmas, their annual holiday festivities mainly designed to delight the younger animals. Each animal is assigned a Kidsmas preparation task to perform, but Julien, desiring a different one, rearranges each animals' task."
"Julien suspects a plot to overthrow or kill him is being orchestrated by Maurice after he overhears Maurice conversing with other animals about an ill-sounding plan."
"A fax with horrible news arrives at the Zoo: Maurice has only 24 hours left to live. So all the animals decide to make his last day unforgettable and treat him as a king. Even King Julien ! How will this day turn out eventually?"
"The penguins plan a vacation on the high seas but a storm blows them off course onto the streets of Hoboken, New Jersey.\n\nAfter being taken to the Hoboken Zoo and meeting some old friends, Skipper is adamant the zoo holds a sinister secret."
"Skipper falls into a trap set by Dr. Blowhole (voice of Neil Patrick Harris), who then extracts Skipper's memories and uses them to find the other penguins and transform them into villains. Four musical numbers are featured."
"After witnessing a scout perform a good deed at the zoo, the penguins decide to up their good deed quota, however they learn that not all good deeds go unpunished."
"Private and Mort are trapped in a vending machine.\n\nWhile they attempt to escape, King Julian believes they have been kidnapped by TV personality Professor Quimby."
"Private helps a young leopard seal return to Antarctica, and his pals follow him in a submarine. However, danger looms when they get to their destination."
"Marlene gathers the zoo animals together for 'Game Night', but things that don't go quite as planned when Kowalski, Maurice & Mort go on a snack run that ends in a police stand off"
"Thanks to am impromptu bouncy game, Julian is launched onto a city bus that drops him off downtown.\n\nHe is snatched from the street by Gladys who believes he is a stray cat and taken home to live with her other 'cats'."
"When the Zoo Commissioner's toupee gets stuck on Maurice, Julian & Mort believe it's a monster trying to eat him. Meanwhile the penguins attempt to track down the missing hair piece."
"The penguins need Private's hypercute to escape Alice in order to see their favorite action star at the cinema, but Private's molting renders him unable to engage the talent."
"Fred seeks financial advice from King Julien when he stumbles upon an oak tree loaded with acorns, but the Red Squirrel has his own plans for the loot."
"Chuck Charles loses his job as a news anchor and gets a new one at the zoo, but tries to get his old one back by exposing the penguins' operation to the world."
"Private accidentally frees an ancient spirit from its urn, allowing it to wreak havoc on planet Earth in an attempt to destroy it. But much to the spirit's misfortune, instead of possessing Private, it possesses his Lunacorn doll."