The logo
The Zimmer Twins was a Canadian children's website and broadcast animation project. The project was created by producer Jason Krogh and artist Aaron Leighton and was produced through Lost the Plot Productions Inc. and the zinc Roe company.
Originally developed with a Canadian animation network, TELETOON, it had launched versions in partnership with Rollercoaster in Australia, as well as qubo, and Bejuba in the United States.
The Zimmer Twins was known for its unique format which combines online participation and broadcast delivery. Children were invited to create and share two-minute animated episodes using a story editor and library of animation. The audience had the option to create endings to short, professionally produced story-starters, or they could make a movie from scratch. Users told their stories by choosing actions, characters, props and backgrounds. They could also add their own dialog and text clips. New clips were occasionally added.
On the Air
A selection of the user-generated episodes were produced into broadcast shorts and air on Teletoon. Jumeaux Zimmer was the French-language version of the show and website.
The original Zimmer Twins website launched on March 14, 2005. A total of sixty broadcast spots were produced and broadcast in the 2005-2006 season. By the end of the first season, over 100,000 user-created episodes were created by over 50,000 registered members. A major revision of the site was launched March 1, 2006. A total of 120 broadcast episodes were broadcast in the 2006-2007 season and thirty-two more were broadcast in the 2007-2008 season. In the United States, qubo aired Qubopics from 2007-2010, starring James Arnold Taylor as Edgar, Lacey Chabert as Eva, and Seth Green as 13.
As of July 2011, the website had 191,634 users. The site's membership passed 200,000 on November 5, 2011, with a total of 200,032 users. In May 2013, the website's membership exceeded 250,000, and on January 31, 2015, Zimmer Twins membership hit 300,000.
In 2007, on TELETOON, the online audience voted to select the three most popular user-generated movies. The winners’ movies were incorporated into a half-hour awards show special known as The Golden Idol Awards (French: Les Prix Chadorés) which aired on September 20, 2008 in English and September 26, 2008 in French.
The French and Canadian English versions were shut down because the site moderators did not want to moderate three sites simultaneously, and wanted more popularity for the .com version.
Jumeaux Zimmer
Les Jumeaux Zimmer was the French version of the site. It aired on the French TELETOON. jumeauxzimmer.ca as well as zimmertwins.ca, had more clips than the zimmertwins.com version. When both the Canadian sites shut down on May 28, 2010, those clips were added to the .com version through VIP memberships.
Previously, when one visited the .ca sites, they would be greeted by a screen giving the news that the sites had been shut down.
As of at least September 13, 2019, both sites were taken permanently offline. On December 2, 2019, the zimmertwins.ca domain was bought and repurposed into a real estate site.
VIP Memberships
On March 29, 2010, a major update of the site took place, offering VIP memberships. For US$3.95 per month, or US$19.95 for six months, VIPs could write their own comments, access exclusive animation clips to create their movies, make customizable profile pages, and review movies by other members.
Starting in October 2007, new clips and backgrounds were slowly added to the Movie Maker. New characters (Madame Psycho, Wizard, and the Delivery Boy) and new backgrounds were added, and made exclusively for VIP members.
In August 2019, six-month memberships were pulled from sale. On July 28, 2020, VIP memberships as a whole were removed, as part of the planned shutdown.
Shutdown
On August 1, 2020, JCee, the last remaining moderator on the site, announced that the site was shutting down within one week. Comments on new movies were disabled, and any remaining memberships were refunded.
The site was expected to shut down on August 8, 2020, but the actual shutdown date was August 10, 2020.
Awards
Zimmer Twins won the following awards over its lifespan:
- Webby Award Nomination, Youth Website
- Banff World Television Festival, Nomination, Interactive Television
- Horizon Interactive Awards silver, education
- HOW design Annual outstanding achievement
- South by Southwest Interactive Awards Nomination
- International interactive Emmy Awards winner cannes