Mole Miner

 is a Japanese-American animated television series produced by, Jazz Television Media, Latikuu Edacra, , (seasons 3-7), and  with animation produced by Soup Cup Cartoons (seasons 1–6), The Roelandts Group (season 7),  (seasons 1-5), and  (seasons 6-7). The series premiered on November 5, 2001 on.

The series ran for 7 seasons from 2001 to 2007 and ran for 200 episodes, being one of the longest-running PBS Kids series.

Mole Miner received widespread praise from critics throughout its run, and the series proved to be an extremely popular draw for PBS. The series received multiple Daytime Emmy and Annie Award nominations, as well as a Humanitas Prize nomination for the episode "Rochester's Dad".

Currently, the franchise is owned by Seagrounds Financial Group, who acquired the series in 2014 after distributor Alfred Haber Distribution Co. wrote the series off for tax purposes.

Synopsis
Darren, an anthropomorphic mole miner, works the mines in the Rockies, a fictional mineral-rich mountain region in the state of. He work alongside other moles and at the same time teaches the audience middle school-level knowledge about geology, engineering, history of mining, and industrial uses of different minerals.

Production
Creator Phelan Morkel was only a high schooler when his comic Darren the Mole Miner was featured in the school paper of in  in 1996. The comic gained national attention for its teaching of geology and the history of mining and Morkel soon signed a deal with to release collections of the comic. In 1999, Morkel was approached by to produce a television series adapted from the comic. Lear and Morkel pitched the series to in 2000. Executives from the broadcaster immediately greenlit the series for a initial season of 20 episodes.

Lear's Act III Productions worked with -based Jazz Television Media (a division of the Asheville-based advertising agency HRV Advertising, who made donations for funding PBS programming through their charitable arm The Harry R. Voskanyan Foundation) to produce the series, and hired two firms, Soup Cup Cartoons and, to produce the animation for the series, as well as the -based to provide the voice recording and casting.

Morkel originally wanted the series to run for 5 seasons, but the series ended up running for 7 seasons and 200 episodes due to it's popularity with PBS member stations, audiences, and even critics. One of the changes that came about with the "uncancellation" of the series was a change in animation studios, as Group TAC was replaced with for seasons 6 and 7, while Soup Cup Cartoons stayed on for season 6. According to Phelan Morkel, the -based P.A.Works was found to be much cheaper than the -based Group TAC by the producers at Act III and Jazz Television Media. The Roelandts Group (based in, ) was hired as the third animation production studio. Soup Cup Cartoons left the production in Season 7, and as a result the season was animated solely by P.A.Works and Roelandts.

Episodes
The following seasons were aired:
 * Season 1 (2001) - 40 episodes
 * Season 2 (2001-2002) - 25 episodes (combined with Season 1's 40 episodes - this made 65 episodes - which the series was originally scheduled to end with)
 * Season 3 (2003-2004) - 30 episodes
 * Season 4 (2004-2005) - 15 episodes (originally aired exclusively on the satellite-only PBS Kids Channel)
 * Season 5 (2004-2005) -  30 episodes (aired on the regular PBS Kids blocks)
 * Season 6 (2006-2007) - 30 episodes
 * Season 7 (2007) - 30 episodes

United States

 * (November 5, 2001 - reruns until August 2, 2009 on national feed)
 * Original Version: November 7, 2001 - September 26, 2005
 * 2017 Version: reruns since June 2, 2020 - present
 * (reruns from August 2012 - May 2014)
 * (reruns from August 2012 - May 2014)

Japan
The series was aired dubbed in Japanese as Moru Kōfu
 * (November 8, 2001 - March 19, 2007)
 * (September 4 - October 9, 2011)

Canada

 * (November 18, 2001 - reruns until May 3, 2011)
 * (November 8, 2001 - present)
 * (November 11, 2001 - reruns until June 2013)
 * As SCN: November 12, 2001 - reruns until May 2010
 * As Citytv Saskatchewan: reruns from June 2015 - May 2017
 * (November 8, 2001 - August 15, 2008)
 * (November 8, 2001 - present) (dubbed in French as Le mineur taupe)
 * (November 2001 - December 2009) (dubbed in French as Le mineur taupe)
 * (November 2001 - December 2009) (dubbed in French as Le mineur taupe)

El Kadsre

 * ETVKK (April 23, 2002 - May 5, 2009)
 * El TV Kadsre Japanese (May 9, 2007 - July 30, 2010) (dubbed in Japanese as Moru Kōfu)

Eruowood

 * TechEruo Kids (June 4, 2002 - May 9, 2008)

Poland
Series was aired dubbed as Kret górnik. The Polish dub was made by Studio Dolby in.
 * (October 3, 2002 - April 4, 2004)
 * (January 3, 2004 - October 7, 2008)
 * (November 2, 2004 - January 22, 2008)

Hungary
Aired dubbed in Hungarian as A vakondbányász.
 * (March 3, 2003 - December 31, 2009)

Czech Republic
Aired dubbed in Czech as Krtek horník
 * TV KAO (August 2002 - May 2009)

Kuboia
In Kuboia, only one segment would be broadcast under a ten or fifteen minute time slot.
 * KT (13th January, 2003 - 16th November, 2008)
 * Boomerang (15th January, 2010 - 14th April, 2013)

Italy
Series was dubbed into Italian in. The Italian dub kept the English name, but was also known as "Mole Miner - Lavorare il giorno di distanza nelle miniere" (the name of the custom Italian theme song by used for the dub's airings on  channels)
 * (December 1, 2003 - October 27, 2007)

Germany
Aired dubbed in German as Mole Miner - Der kitschige Bergmann!
 * (December 2001 - present)

France
The first airings used the Quebecois dub Le mineur taupe, airings since then have used a European French dub titled Darren le mineur
 * (August 2002 - May 2011)

Brazil

 * Surtiopouio (June 7, 2003 - October 31, 2010)

Andere

 * ToonPlus (December 9, 2004 - October 1, 2012)

Reception
Season One holds a Metacritic score of 95 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim".

Trivia

 * It was the third most watched program on the Eruowoodian children's television channel TechEruo Kids in 2002, behind House of Mouse (2nd) and SpongeBob SquarePants (1st).