3-2-1 Penguins! is a series of Christian computer-animated (direct-to-video until 2003) cartoons launched on November 14, 2000. The direct-to-video series by Big Idea, Inc., the same producers of the long-running VeggieTales movies, held the top spot on the Soundscan kid video sales charts for its first 18 weeks of release. and has sold 1.5 million videos to date. It was the #1 seller on Christian Booksellers Association's video list in 2001 and the #2 (and occasionally #1) ranked show on NBC's qubo Saturday morning kids block in 2008. Along with VeggieTales, 3-2-1 Penguins has generated millions of dollars in revenue for Big Idea After the release of six direct-to-video episodes by Big Idea from 2000–2003, 3-2-1 Penguins appeared on NBC's Qubo from 2006–2008 and featured 20 new episodes. The newer episodes appear on DVD as compilations with three episodes per package.

Twins Jason and Michelle are spending summer with their English Grandmum in The Poconos region of New York. Grandmum has a collection of kitschy ceramic figurines, the most prized of which is four penguins in a rocket ship (a honeymoon gift from her deceased husband). In the first show, the twins accidentally drop the ship, but instead of breaking it flies into the air and reveals the four penguins are actually the crew of a real spaceship - the United Federation Rockhopper. The twins are then pulled into the ship, using the crew's Gileezle gun, and taken on a galactic adventure. The adventure that ensues then ties into whatever moral dilemma that Jason and Michelle had struggled with in the shows opening scene. For example, in the episode Trouble on Planet Wait-Your-Turn, the twins are struggling with taking turns playing a new video game and looking through their Granddad's telescope. Subsequently, Jason and the penguins are called upon to help an alien planet that is in danger of burning up in its sun because the indigenous race is incapable of waiting their turns-thus the ".

3-2-1 Contact is an American science educational television show that aired on PBS from 1980 to 1988, and an adjoining children's magazine. The show, a production of the Children's Television Workshop, teaches scientific principles and their applications. Dr. Edward G. Atkins, who was responsible for much of the scientific content of the show, felt that the TV program wouldn't replace a classroom but would open the viewers to ask questions about the scientific purpose of things.

3-2-1 Contact was the brainchild of Samuel Y. Gibbon, Jr., who had been the executive producer of The Electric Company for CTW from 1971 to 1977. (Gibbon actually left CTW before Contact's production began, though he was still credited as "Senior Consultant.")

The first season of 65 programs began airing January 14, 1980 on select PBS member stations; it featured a cast of three college students who discussed science in an on-campus room known as the Workshop. The first season came to an end on April 11, 1980, but funds for more episodes were not sufficient until 1982.