For a few years at the end of the 20th century, kids in America had Recess on a weekend! The animated comedy premiered in 1997 as part of Disney’s One Saturday Morning programming block on ABC, with viewers following the schoolyard misadventures of a lovable group of fourth graders.
But Recess was anything but elementary, combining complex characterization, capitalism critiques, and counterculture and Cold War callbacks. TV critic Matt Zoller Seitz called it “one of the smartest, most prankishly playful adult cartoons ever passed off as children’s entertainment.”
Now that we’ve known these characters for 25 years — and now that the show is streaming on Disney+ — let’s put faces to voices in the gallery below. Warning: These red carpet pics come from the 2001 premiere of the theatrical film Recess: School’s Out, so brace yourselves for some dated fashion!