Everyone has a happy place, and for 10-year-old Craig Williams it’s the creek. But this is no humble trickle of water. The sprawling, overgrown world of the creek is a thrumming mini-society for Craig and his fellow kids, where they establish tribe-like peer groups while finding their individual footholds in the world.
That’s the simple premise for Craig of the Creek, a hugely popular Cartoon Network show that might prove just as appealing – and all the more poignant – for adults. The show’s central message is about challenging yourself to push beyond your comfort zone, something that arguably becomes even tougher in adulthood. In the very first episode (Itch to Explore), Craig and his two closest friends set out to penetrate the daunting Poison Ivy Grove in order to put their own mark on Craig’s hand-drawn map of the creek, which doubles as a handed-down history of the local kids’ boldest exploits.
Unfolding in brisk 12-minute episodes, the show was created by Matt Burnett and Ben Levin, both former writers for the like-minded Steven Universe. It debuted in 2018 and recently capped its fourth season, with a fifth season and a prequel movie to come. And there’s a spinoff in the works for pre-school audiences, starring Craig’s little sister Jessica. It’s easy to see why the show has struck such a chord: the characters are diverse and highly relatable, earning plenty of laughs as they navigate each new obstacle.
The supporting cast starts with Craig’s two best friends. A year younger, Kelsey is a voracious reader whose heroic inner monologues are inspired by her love of fantasy sagas. She totes a sword fashioned from PVC pipe and is fiercely protective of her ever-present budgerigar Mortimor. Meanwhile, JP is a year older than Craig and plays the dreamy oddball to Craig’s inventive tinkerer. JP reliably gets the funniest, sweetest lines in the show, especially during an episode where he convinces himself that he’s an alien (“Jextra Perrestrial”), which would explain his trouble fitting in.
In the same episode, JP’s older sister Laura (voiced by guest-starring comedian Fortune Feimster) is shown to be openly gay. The non-binary character Angel José is also introduced in the third season. But the writing doesn’t make a big deal about it: this is a show that casually foregrounds people of colour, and bakes deeper inclusivity directly into its big-hearted storytelling. There’s also a strong DIY message throughout, not just in Craig’s elaborate contraptions but in its plots. In Vultures Nest, for instance, a local punk band – played by the real-life Washington DC quartet Bad Moves – is forced to find a new practice space due to oversensitive neighbours.
That’s just one of many musical highlights on Craig of the Creek. The eccentric rapper Del Tha Funkee Homosapien appears in two episodes in a version of his time-travelling Deltron 3030 guise, and the modern punk icon Jeff Rosenstock contributes both the adrenaline rush of the show’s opening theme and the gentle comedown of its closing. There’s also a full-blown musical episode (In the Key of the Creek), when Craig is stuck inside due to rain.
The creek itself is a major character, home to rival factions and the daily mythologising of childhood rites. There’s the girls who pretend to be horses, the tyrannical champion of the Four Square court, the girl who runs the Trading Tree and the little-seen Timekeeper: a band kid who blows her enormous sousaphone at 5pm every day to signal dinnertime for the creek’s far-flung inhabits.
The creek stands in for school and often home for these kids, though a few breakout episodes see Craig and his friends dealing with the world at large. When the gang heads to the beach with Craig’s family, Craig’s jokey dad threatens to steals his son’s thunder. And when Craig tries to graduate from the kids’ table at Thanksgiving, he earns Wonder Years-style narration from his future self, played by Keith David. Especially touching is an episode (The Takeout Mission) in which Craig and his friends have to order takeaway all by themselves – and then go retrieve the meal in the pouring rain.
Celebrating everyday imagination and spontaneity, Craig of the Creek slots in comfortably alongside current animated shows like Hilda and Bluey. It becomes all the more endearing as one keeps watching, thanks in part to savvy pop-culture references and repeated callbacks to past episodes. The setting may be a fictionalised version of the Baltimore/Washington DC area, but the thickly forested, adventure-rich backdrop could be anywhere. No matter who you are or what you’re going through, escape is always just as close as the creek.
Craig of the Creek is available to stream in Australia on Binge and Foxtel, with seasons 1-2 also on Stan
