Template:Episode updated V.2"The Lovely World", alternately as "The Lovely World — Part One" and "The Lovely World — Part Two", is the collective name for the series premiere of the animated television series Lovely World. Directed by Max Lane, Ollie Jordan, Christopher Burke and Jacob Lloyd and written by Blake Thomson, Billy Mcconnell and Kian Richardson, the episodes followed a average-level high school student named Edward, who while working for a group that explores abandoned buildings, he is teleported through a door-style portal to a new universe. Both episodes originally first aired in the United States on the children's network Children's Avast Television on February 5, 2011, to positive reviews.
Collins had expressed interest in developing an animated television series based on his Lovely World books following the success of the second book that he had worked on in February 2008. The following year, in November, Collins pitched the idea to Avast Television with Finley Hamilton and Jocelynn Maldondao having worked on a story draft with him, where it was green-lit. The episodes included several changes from the original books to match the explanation for Edward's cause to be in the world.
Plot
Part 1
Edward is an average-level high school student at Pacific Grove High School who works for an organization that roams the city and enters abandoned buildings. On a Wednesday afternoon, Edward and the crew he works with are tasked by the leader to go to an abandoned school, piquing Edward's interest in the mission that awaits them, and they proceed to the school. After determining the exact location, Edward and the crew arrived at the school, where he realized that it was his old pre-kindergarten school that he had previously attended. Curious, Edward and the team go inside, where they investigate desks inside classrooms and discover a series of backpacks. Larry, one of the members, explains to the school that one day, a powerful force violently shook the building, causing confusion and upset among the teachers and students. Despite efforts to locate the main source of the incident, they were unable to do so and therefore closed the school.
Following that, the entire team decided to separate to gather more information to present to their leader, while Edward went his own way. Edward discovers an interesting room and uses a flashlight to find a secret door. He opens it out of curiosity rather than fear of encountering the force, and discovers a portal. Edward backs away, startled by the door, and takes another look to ensure that it was real. Edward decides to go inside the portal because he is both shocked and excited about it. Except for going to a small world, he falls through and is teleported to a different universe. After landing, Edward freaks out and begins crying uncontrollably while the animals watch him. Scared, he began to scream for the names of his teammates and his family, but received no response. After calming down and believing it was a dream, Edward began looking for something to help him get through the rest of the day in his new universe. However, he becomes very confused and worried, and despite his best efforts to build wooden houses, he fails and collapses.
As night falls, Edward discovers a small cave nearby and hides inside of them. Edward cries to sleep throughout the evening, as he realizes no one is nearby. Despite this, Edward remains hopeful that there is a way out of the world he is in and spends the next few days attempting to find a way through another portal that leads to the real-life universe. However, he struggles to find one, and after a difficult afternoon, Edward accepts that he is trapped in the world and screams for his mother.
Part 2
After a few days of acceptance in the new world, Edward realized that he is afraid of repeating the experience and decided to go find a location in the new universe where he can permanently live for the rest of his life. However, Edward is taken aback by how vast the world is in front of him, but out of curiosity and wonder, he decides to go out and explore the rest of the planet. After walking and spotting a few animals, Edward notices that there is water and realizes he needs a boat. He is able to make one from wood and travels to the ocean alone. After landing, Edward is taken aback by the sight of a wrecked house, and believing that at least one person is trapped in the same universe, he rushes to the house, but upon entering, he finds no one. Edward is about to leave, thinking the person has gone somewhere, when he hears a cracking noise, and after checking above him, the entire roof begins to collapse. Edward is almost out, but he becomes trapped in the collapse.
Now injured and covered in dust and wood, he steps out, worried that the owner will return. Edward decides to return. After determining the route to his destination, Edward decided to hide in the caves for his own safety. However, much to his horror, he begins to feel extremely hungry and searches for food for the next few days. However, he only finds a few pigs and cows with food inside of them. However, Edward found himself in tears after killing them and blaming himself for becoming trapped in a world he was not supposed to be in. However, in an incident, Edward became so hungry that he could not take it anymore and killed a cow. He is emotionally shocked and runs away with the body parts, and while it is being cooked, Edward hits himself and blames himself for the animal's death, bringing the episode to a close.
Production
"The Lovely World", like all episodes of two seasons from the Lovely World television series, was produced by Starlight Productions and is based on the Lovely World books. The episode was directed by Max Lane, Ollie Jordan, Christopher Burke and Jacob Lloyd and written by Blake Thomson, Billy Mcconnell and Kian Richardson. Based on John Collins’s The Lovely World and A New Lovely World books, the idea of an animated series originated from the success of the latter in February 2008. Initially planned as a live-action series, Collins opted for animation, believing it would better convey the “soul and joy” of the story and its characters. In 2009, Collins collaborated with Finley Hamilton and Jocelynn Maldondao on the series’ plot development. The resulting concept was pitched to Avast Television in November of that year and subsequently green-lit for production. Both episodes were written from a story by John Collins, who wanted to keep the original charm, while introducing a new look to the animated series. John opted to create brand new characters for the series.
Collins felt like the Lovely World books lacked an explanation for the reason that Edward, originally referred to as a "young teenager", was teleported to the world. As a result, Collins with Blake Thomson, Billy Mcconnell and Kian Richardson developed an original idea throughout a one-week period, which was that Edward worked for a member of a team that explores abandoned buildings. According to Collins, both episodes are based on the first Lovely World book and not the second one. To showcase the topic of Edward's struggles with murdering animals for food in the second episode to a young audience, Collins and the production team discussed "seriously about how they were going to handle the scene as a whole". Prior to the airing of the series premiere, Avast Television expressed fear of outrage from parents of children, but Collins promised to them that "they would see the feedback from the older audience" and make their way to the "youngest of the group". For the music, the opening theme song was "The Lovely World!" by Calvin Matthew and Louie Brown and was only used for both episodes. No ending theme was included in the series until episode 18.
Critical reception
"The Lovely World" was met with a highly positive reception upon its debut. The episodes originally premiered in the United States on Children's Avast Television on February 5, 2011, as a one-hour special. It was watched by a total of 987,921 and 1,046,253 viewers, respectively. Both parts had been well received by television critics, with praise for the animation, writing, voice acting and charm of the original Lovely World books.