The Metric Marvels is a series of seven animated

Animation

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...

 educational shorts featuring songs about meters

Metre

The metre , symbol m, is the base unit of length in the International System of Units . Originally intended to be one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earth's equator to the North Pole , its definition has been periodically refined to reflect growing knowledge of metrology...

, liters

Litre

pic|200px|right|thumb|One litre is equivalent to this cubeEach side is 10 cm1 litre water = 1 kilogram water The litre is a metric system unit of volume equal to 1 cubic decimetre , to 1,000 cubic centimetres , and to 1/1,000 cubic metre...

, Celsius

Celsius

Celsius is a scale and unit of measurement for temperature. It is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death...

, and gram

Gram

The gram is a metric system unit of mass....

s, designed to teach American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 children how to use the metric system

Metric system

The metric system is an international decimalised system of measurement. France was first to adopt a metric system, in 1799, and a metric system is now the official system of measurement, used in almost every country in the world...

. They were produced by Yohe & Newall, the same advertising agency which produced ABC's

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 popular Schoolhouse Rock!

Schoolhouse Rock!

Schoolhouse Rock! is an American interstitial programming series of animated musical educational short films that aired during the Saturday morning children's programming on the U.S. television network ABC. The topics covered included grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics...

series, and first aired on the NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 television network in September 1978. Voices for the Metric Marvels shorts included Lynn Ahrens

Lynn Ahrens

Lynn Ahrens is an American writer and lyricist for the musical theatre, television and film. She has collaborated with Stephen Flaherty for many years...

, Bob Dorough

Bob Dorough

Bob Dorough is an American bebop and cool jazz pianist, composer and vocalese singer.He worked with Miles Davis and Allen Ginsberg, and his adventurous style was an influence on Mose Allison, among other singers...

, Bob Kaliban, and Paul Winchell

Paul Winchell

Paul Winchell was an American ventriloquist, voice actor and comedian, whose career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s...

.

Origins

On December 23, 1975, President Gerald Ford

Gerald Ford

Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...

 signed the Metric Conversion Act

Metric Conversion Act

The Metric Conversion Act is an Act of Congress that then–U.S. President Gerald Ford signed into law on December 23, 1975. It declared the Metric system "the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce", but permitted the use of United States customary units in...

 into law; this act gave official sanction for the United States to convert to the metric system of measurement. (Traditionally, the United States has used — and continues to prefer — the British Imperial system

United States customary units

United States customary units are a system of measurements commonly used in the United States. Many U.S. units are virtually identical to their imperial counterparts, but the U.S. customary system developed from English units used in the British Empire before the system of imperial units was...

 over metric measurements.) Ford's presidential successor, Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

, began to implement this law in earnest, helping to set up the U.S. Metric Board as a task force to determine when and how the U.S. would convert to metrics

Metrication in the United States

Metrication is the process of introducing the International System of Units , a metric system of measurement, to replace the historical or customary units of measurement of a country or region...

. The USMB suggested that the transition ought to be voluntary and gradual, taking place over at least a ten-year period.

As part of this gradual transition, the USMB sponsored a number of public service announcement

Public service announcement

A public service announcement or public service ad is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media...

s on radio and television. The Metric Marvels was one such television PSA, aired during NBC's Saturday morning cartoons. The shorts featured four animated metric superheroes: Liter Leader, Meter Man, Super Celsius, and Wonder Gram. Each superhero performed songs designed to teach children the difference between the old English system and the new metric system.

Episodes

• 1-1 "Meet Meter Man" (superhero Meter Man helps people convert length and distance to metric terms)
• 1-2 "Mara-Mara-Marathon" (the difference between miles and kilometers)
• 1-3 "I'm Your Liter Leader" (superhero Liter Leader explains the difference between gallons and liters)
• 1-4 "Eeny, Meeny, Miney Milliliters" (Liter Leader uses recipes to explain milliliters)
• 1-5 "Super Celsius" (superhero Super Celsius explains the Celsius temperature scale)
• 1-6 "Wonder Gram" (superhero Wonder Gram expresses her weight in grams)
• 1-7 "Wonder Baby" (a young Wonder Gram converts pounds to kilograms)

Effectiveness

Ultimately, The Metric Marvels failed to convince Americans to convert to the metric system. Although it shared the animation style, song quality and voice actors of the more popular Schoolhouse Rock!, the series had many fewer episodes and was relatively short-lived. Americans largely ignored governmental attempts to push them in the direction of metrication, and the USMB was eventually disbanded in 1982.