Disney Junior’s Eureka! Centers Inventiveness & Imagination

At a Dublin coffee shop on the back of a piece of paper, Niamh Sharkey and Norton Virgien jotted down a concept that would eventually become Eureka!, a music-filled preschool series that made its debut on Disney Junior earlier this week. The series’ creators and executive producers, who had previously worked together on Henry Hugglemonster, an animated program based on a children’s book Sharkey wrote and illustrated, had been searching for an idea that would enable them to team up once more—and were inspired by the influence of Disney Junior’s Doc McStuffins.

“The character ended up touching so many people and inspiring little girls to dream bigger than they might have on their own to grow up to become doctors,” explains Virgien, who directed Doc McStuffins. “We were getting very positive feedback about all that. We started thinking about what would be a similar character who fell in love with science and inventing.”

Sharkey had been working on an idea for a short film about a prehistoric couple. “We kind of just went: What if these guys had a kid and this kid was the smartest kid and she invented the wheel?” explains Sharkey. “We just had this ‘eureka’ moment, where we said, she could be called Eureka! We got excited about having that untouched world and having this 8-year-old kid inventor at the center of it.”

In Eureka!, the titular character, voiced by Ruth Righi (Sydney to the Max), uses her creativity and critical thinking skills to make innovative contraptions for the good of her hometown of Rocky Falls and the world. She’s supported in her endeavors by her parents Roxy and Rollo, voiced by Renée Elise Goldsberry and Lil Rel Howery, and accompanied by her best friends and pet mammoth.

“It’s been a revelation for me, as one of the directors, to work with an amazing voice cast that has brought such uniqueness to the series,” says Virgien. “It’s fun to see that chemistry develop. Both characters in their different ways just love their little girl and are inspired by her, [and Righi] just brings so much energy and fun to it that the animators can’t help but get some juice from that, some excitement, and we’re thrilled with what we put together as a cast.”

Virgien also notes that each episode has its own pop song that helps to move the story along, with Kari Kimmel serving as the series’ songwriter. Among the songs featured in the series is “You’ve Gotta Fail It to Nail It,” which underscores an important lesson in Eureka!: It’s OK to make mistakes.

“We didn’t want to make [Eureka] perfect,” says Sharkey. “Kids watching will see that sometimes she fails, but she tries again and she might fail again. In the end, I think that’s an important thing to show kids. Don’t be afraid of trying things, you never know.”

Featuring STEM/STEAM elements, another goal for Eureka! for Virgien and Sharkey was to show how the worlds of science and engineering can be fun. “My own father is an engineer and I have two brothers who are engineers, but I was always more the ‘imagineer,’” says Sharkey. “We were very excited that Disney got excited about mixing imagination and engineering and STEM. With Eureka, she’s exploring those ideas. You know those types of kids, you get to meet them and they’re always drawing, always coming up with ideas, trying things out. That’s what we wanted to embrace in her.”

Sharkey and Virgien also wanted to reach kids who are hesitant to show the world just how smart they are. “Eureka is not only the spark, the brightest one who has so many great ideas, she’s also the leader of her little bunch of friends and respected throughout the town,” says Virgien. “You can be smart and popular at the same time. That’s one of the lessons of our show. It’s cool to be smart!”

As an 8-year-old girl who invented the wheel—so that she and her friends could get around via skateboard—Eureka, with her fun, out-of-the-box thinking, is a natural role model for young girls.

“She thinks differently than anybody else who’s in Rocky Falls and anybody else who’s been in the town before,” says Sharkey. “She sees things differently, she sees the opportunities. If a meteor lands in the town, she’s not afraid of it. She’ll come with curiosity and try to figure out: What is this thing? What is it for? And she always tries to bring her friends with her.”

Both Virgien and Sharkey believe that not only will Eureka! resonate with young girls around the world, but with young boys as well—and even perhaps entire families.

“There are as many cool boys in the cast as there are girls, and they get along great and they have a good time together,” says Virgien. “The mammoth and the dinosaur and the unspoiled world to explore and the surfing at the beach and skateboarding around a world that has no roads, no traffic, nothing to worry about, is going to be idyllic and exciting for all the kids.”

Sharkey adds, “As a picture book creator, as a show creator, I want there to be universal appeal. I don’t want it to be a show for girls or a show for boys. I think it should be a show for everybody. Your hope, always, with these shows is that people will sit down as a family and watch it together. Maybe the older siblings will get something from it, the younger siblings will, too. It’s that idea of sharing it together [that is] really appealing to me.”

Kids around the world stand to be inspired by Eureka!, believes Sharkey, who points out that it’s all about a child devising inventions to make her world a better place while embracing new things. And as Virgien notes, the series takes place in a world of endless possibilities.

“Because it’s a prehistoric world, it’s not bound by the way we live in modern times,” says Virgien. “Kids can run free, they don’t have to worry about crossing the road. It’s like going to Neverland or someplace. Anything is possible in Eureka!’s world.”