Wonder Pets: The First Rescue

Nickelodeon’s lovable superhero pets are back with another round of all-new adventures, this time celebrating a couple of key milestones. The leadoff episode is a double-length tale that recounts how the Wonder Pets met, came up with their gear and theme songs, and rescued their first animal, while a subsequent episode is a celebration of their 100th animal rescue. In between episodes zero and 100 are a handful of other charming adventures sure to captivate the younger viewers as well as their parental units.

As we learn in “How It All Began”, Linny the guinea pig was the founder of the group, meeting turtle Tuck and Ming-Ming duckling upon their arrival in her school classroom home. The three worked together to build and name their flyboat vehicle, and came up with the idea of helping other animals in trouble when they were accosted by recurring obnoxious guest star Ollie the rabbit. As if the Pets weren’t cute enough already, this episode shows them as younger, smaller, even cuter versions, and it’s great fun to see them come up with their theme song, telephone hot line, and costumes as they embark on their ongoing mission.

The 100th episode is mostly a rehash clip show with a brief rescue of a mouse, and as such is a fairly weak outing. There’s also a Mother’s Day-themed episode with no actual rescue, although the Pets visit a few other animal mothers on their way to Linny’s grandma’s house.

The Pets venture outside the animal kingdom with their assistance as well, helping out with entertainment at their returning space alien friend The Visitor’s birthday party and counseling a mermaid with an identity crisis. That leaves only two fully traditional animal assistance efforts: a sun bear and a rhino. The rhino episode is one of the strongest thematically as it explores shyness in kids as the young rhino struggles to reach out to make friends with an elephant.

Wonder Pets isn’t the most educational of shows when it comes to readin’, writin’, or ‘rithmetic basics, but as an introduction to manners, teamwork, and interpersonal relationships it’s hard to beat. It’s also got some of the strongest and catchiest songwriting of any show, with each episode operating as a mini-musical.

Of special note, this DVD is actually a DVD-R, and although I received no documentation about this change in format with my review copy, it appears to be an environmentally-conscious effort to burn on demand rather than oversupply the marketplace. That’s fine for most people, but if you have an older DVD player or PC drive, you may be unable to play this release. There are also no bonus features, trailers, or even copyright warnings before the title screen, making this disc feel even more like a bootleg. I’m happy to get right into the episode action when I load the disc, but a disclaimer may be warranted next time around to assuage any parental anxiety about this diversion from the Nickelodeon norm.

Wonder Pets: The First Rescue is now available.

Article first published as DVD Review: Wonder Pets: The First Rescue on Blogcritics.org.

Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! A Tale of Tails

Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! takes place in a candy-colored land where almost everything including the characters is made out of rounded-off right angles, giving it a highly distinctive and fresh look. Its title character is an adorably squat yellow critter with an abnormally long tail used to great effect to punctuate his speech, convey his mood, and bounce around town like a modern-day Tigger. The “Wow” comes from his most common expression, one that never annoys thanks to sparing use. His best friends are a handyman pink rabbit named Widget and a brainy little purple creature named Wendell.

This debut selection of episodes released on DVD is consistently entertaining and surprisingly educational, with a strong emphasis placed on teaching proper manners and the consequences of poor actions. It’s a sweet-hearted show with no violence and a relatively gentle pace in spite of its occasionally manic nature. In brief, it’s feel-good fun for the whole family, with visual flair and a cheery nature that make it completely unobjectionable for many repeat viewings.

Each half-hour episode contains two shorts. The new DVD contains a total of four episodes. One of them is labeled as a bonus episode, but it plays in sequence immediately after the others so viewers don’t have to navigate anywhere else to find it. Episode summaries as follows:

A Tale of Tails - Wubbzy can’t find any kids willing to play kickety-kick ball with him because of his freakishly long tail, so he asks his pal Widget to fix it, but eventually has to use it to help Wendell dismantle a malfunctioning robot chicken.

Special Delivery - Wubbzy receives a Tooty-Toot Turbo Train intended for Walden and can’t resist opening it, setting off a chain of misadventures when the speedy engine gets away.

Widget’s Wild Ride - Wubbzy asks Widget to fix up a car for a race, but Widget can’t resist obsessively tuning and re-tuning it until it barely resembles a car.

Attack of the 50-Foot Fleegle - Wubbzy gets a tiny new pet but doesn’t pay attention to how to take care of it, leading to disastrous results.

Come Spy With Me - When Walden won’t tell them what he’s doing, Wubbzy and Widget pretend to be spies to follow him, ruining the surprise he was planning for them.

Wubbzy Tells a Whopper - Wubbzy tries to convince his friends of the existence of a scary monster in town, a classic “boy who cried wolf” tale that ends as expected.

Mt. Fizzy Pop - The gang ventures to the top of Wuzzleburg’s local mountain where their experiment results in some delicious results for the townfolk.

Puddle Muddle - a focus on Wubbzy’s individuality, as he’s well-known for his interesting fashion sense and never afraid to try new things. The episode ends with this disc’s most catchy song, “Kooky is Cool”.

Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! A Tale of Tails is available on DVD on September 23rd. In addition to the episodes, it includes one of the songs recut as a music video, a ring toss game, and some handy printable art for coloring fun, connect the dots, colored decorations, and a customizable invitation. Its DVD case is also housed in an eye-catching lenticular slipcase, providing some external eye candy to match the visual delights inside. For more information, visit http://www.wubbzy.com/.