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[shadowdancer21b]

In this I will review the children's progamming that I am subjected to on a daily basis. The vast majority of the programming will be from PBS and Qubo (an Ion television sub-channel).

Today I am going to discuss "Super Why".

Super Why is a show about learning how to read with the help of the Super Readers, a quartet of infantile "super heroes" who enter books (like Gumby!) and present to us a very simplified version of an established story or original fable (like Gumby!) and affect the outcome of the story in a more favorable light that will illustrate some lesson that a character in the main story arc is in need of (like Gumby!).

I chose Super Why because it is the only program that will capture both of my sons attention for actual measurable amounts of time.

The first episodes were good. They ruined the stories being used as their backdrop but it was within acceptable limits for me. Nowadays, no. Not acceptable. However, my sons still pay attention so I still put it on. On the upside it IS helping my oldest, who is currently three, to recognize letters and words and he gets better at reading from a noticable contribution from this show.

We being each episode by watching a pan of a public library where live children do...library stuff. At the end of the pan, we see a CGI boy of small stature standing on a bookshelf being dwarfed by the books. He introduces himself as Wyatt and becons us to join him in Storybook Village.

Storybook Village is a brightly-colored place where (THANK GOD) no anthropomorphic inanimate objects dwell. Houses are made of books and other strange materials, one house has a dollar bill for a roof. Toadstools are literally knee-high, which makes the Southern Boy in me think of a silly saying regarding one's youth. Wyatt or one of his friends, Red, Princess P, or Pig will have some sort of problem. Every so often it is an ancillary character who has a problem, such as Wolfie, Rapunzel, or Sleeping Beauty. This of course, will be a job for the Super Reader!

Wyatt or the super reader alter-ego who is present, will call the super readers and encourage the audience to help. "Calling all Super Readers! To the Book Club!" the Book Club is not a club at all, but a club house; made of books. Each super reader alter-ego will identify themselves as they arrive. This sequence is recycled exactly in every episode; fom calling the super readers to their arrival at the Book Club. Once inside, the super reader alter-ego who discovered the problem will state the problem for the benefit of...the Book Club Computer?

I honestly don't know why they state the problem. The computer doesn't really do anything or react in any way to this. Princess P will say an incantation requesting that the appropriate book with the "Super Story Answer" present itself to them. The book club computer, which is never actually named and serves no other purpose will then download onto Wyatt's Pilot...I mean Super-Duper Computer a series of blanks. These blanks, when filled with the Super Letters from the book, will provide the Super Story Answer. In the early episodes these came in the form of an answer. Now, in recent episodes, the answer is usually one word. It's so jarring and nonsensical. Then the super readers put their hands in. They put their palms together like a sports team that is. Wyatt encourages the audience to put their hand in too, and they say "Super Readers to the rescue!" and transform.

Wyatt becomes Super Why with the Power to read, Princess Presto with "Spelling Power", Alpha Pig, with Alphabet Power, and Wonder Red with Word Power. It is interesting to note that Red's mode of conveyance is her rollerblades, and Wonder Red also rides on rollerblades but finally puts on a helmet and pads. Wonder Red is the only Super Reader who can't fly. Also with the super readers is "Super YOU with the Power to HELP". Wyatt summons their Why Fliers, which they hop into and fly into the book. They then promptly dismount and float around, walk, or roll from here out, even if it would be easier to ride in their airplanes.

We then meet the protagonist of the story who has a dilemma similar to the one in Storybook Village, and the writers don't care if the REAL lesson of the REAL story has nothing to do with or oposite lesson to the one being taught today. We'll use "the Little Mermaid" for today's review as it is one of the most recent episodes. It's a one-word super story answer and the writer's clearly just threw together a first draft and sent it to the animation department. Pig feels sad because he is different.

All his friends are human. Wyatt is a tan-skinned person, since everyone in his family has European/Caucasian names, I assume he's supposed to be caucasian, Red is a ginger kid who lives with her Grandmother, Princess P is either Latin or possibly African-American ( really don't like using hyphenated words like that but I don't want to offend anyone or come off as racist.). Pig is well, a pig. His three older brothers are also named Pig and their father is Papa. The Little Mermaid looks sort of Caribbean in appearance and hides behind a rock watching a multi-ethnic group of kids playing on the beach. She wants to play with them, but feels uncomfortable because she is different.

The super readers give her a pep-talk and she goes and plays with the children. They are playing some non-discernable "pass the ball" game and the Little Mermaid bounces the ball back to them using her tail. Her different feature is an asset in playing the game! Hooray! The super story answer is "Proud". Be proud to be different is the message. We then get treated to some songs that get re-used from episode to episode, different characters have their own song and it will mix up which songs are song from show to show. The End.

My thoughts: This is an informative show and obviously entertains young children, who are the target audience, but I saw the original episodes as effective and good, and later recent episodes are just lazily written and disappointing. The show doesn't teach bad morals or anything, I just think they should teach the actual lessons of the actual stories they are using. The Little Mermaid is a more complicated story than that by far and should not be used for children this young, and don't even get me started on what they did to Momotaro.
I give it a B+ or 4/5 for early episodes and a 2/5 or D+ for later episodes. Interested to see more of these or should I just let this die like my poetry thread?
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My feet hurt...with DESTINY!

[shadowdancer21b]

Quite a few views, that's nice. No comments though. Should I write up more children's programming reviews? Or should I let this thread die like my poetry thread?
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My feet hurt...with DESTINY!

[sinistermoon]

[shadowdancer21b]

Thanks for sounding off. I guess I'll do one more and move on to something else. I think it would be funny if someone posted just to disagree with you. I seem to recall similar things happpening in the past regarding posts about your videos....
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My feet hurt...with DESTINY!

[Maniac]

Do a Daddy Review of Heavy Rain!
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Note to my neighbors, those rumblings you heard earlier was not an earthquake, I now have nuclear power.

[shadowdancer21b]

Interesting you mention that. I've been watching Benzaie's Let's Play of Heavy Rain where he makes Ethan the worst father in the world and it actually made me depressed as a father. I think I kinda should do it, but I'd have to have a PS3 first. Next Daddy review will be Jim Henson's Dinosaur Train!
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My feet hurt...with DESTINY!

[Maniac]

Rest assured that you can actually be a good father in the game (there's even some trophies you get). Benzaie's probably just doing it for comedic effect.
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Note to my neighbors, those rumblings you heard earlier was not an earthquake, I now have nuclear power.

[shadowdancer21b]

Dinosaur Train is a show that got hyped up for a while before its release (Like Super Why!) and it's brightly-colored CG animation (like Super Why! I promise I won't recycle that joke anymore.)

I don't know exactly how Jim Henson is involved in this project or how involved Jim Henson Studios is (does Jim Henson Studios even exist?) but they sure claim it in the title card.

This program has pretty decent animation. The backgrounds are wretched but the principle characters and most secondary characters look quite good; facial expressions and movement are noteworthy. The voice acting does leave a bit to be desired but there has yet to be a problem with the audio syncing. The soundtrack is a wretched hillbilly pop kinda theme. I REALLY don't like the music, except for the actual theme music for the dinosaur train itself it's a short little automated ditty that has a cool "Blue Man Group" sound to it.

Now to discuss the program itself. This is an edutainment show with more focus on entertaining than educating, which isn't necessarily bad, but I certainly don't enjoy the show. Our protagonists are the Pteranodon family: Mr. Pteranodon, Mrs. Pteranodon, Tiny, Don, Shiny, and Buddy who is actually a Tyrannosaurus whose egg just sorta showed up in the nest ala cuckoo's egg. This is never questioned or explored in any way shape or form. To quote the opening theme song: "Well Dear Old Mrs. Pteranodon said' This is your family and I'm your mom! We may be different but we're all creatures. Different dinosaurs have different features.'" They travel around in time and space to visit the various dinosaurs around the world, not to seek out Buddy's family, or learn anything like that, but simply to study different dinosaurs.

Why should I expect a show where dinosaurs not only roam around coex-sting rather than eating each other but have a time-traveling steam locomotive? I am a jerk, that's why.

So, most of the characters aren't really developed much. Buddy seems to be the main character and he forms hypotheses about dinosaurs that they will learn about that day and occasionally sings. Mr. Pteranodon is just there to be awkward and say cheesy "dad" things. He's essentially the dad from Charles in Charge. Mrs. Pteranodon is just a supportive mother archetype. Shiny's only defining characteristic is the fact that she is a different color than the rest of her family, actually has rosy cheeks (SHE'S A REPTILE!) and is easily frightened. Tiny is only slightly smaller than her siblings but has an inferiority complex big enough to submlimate any other character traits. Don is the only other character who does anything but he's more goofy. He has a potbelly, an underbite (somehow)and his crest points the opposite way from the rest of his family. Don collects things like fossilized teeth and feathers. His catchphrase is "La la looooo!".
Mr. Conductor (I miss George Carlin...) is a vaguely Southern troodon. He gets WAY too excited about everything. His enthusiasm could warp physics.

So, in your average episode, one of the siblings will talk about something, the rest of the family will weigh in on the subject and then a detachement of Team Pteranodon (they actually call themselves that) will go to some such place to learn about such subject, usually involving a specific species of dinosaur. In this world Stegosaurs are surfer dude cliches! Very rarely does the whole family go. Usually Mr. Pteranodon and one sibling will stay behind. Buddy is never the "stay behind" child. Then after the show proper, Doctor Scott the paleontologist will tell us about which dinosaur we learned about already and have some children "adorably" attempt to pronounce the dinosaur's name with variable success. Sometimes a guy will step out of a chromakeyed door and make a point of fact, for example, "Northern Troodons did not play ice hockey". Thank you Point of Fact Guy! How can we repay thy service? Then if they still have product to burn, they'll play some musical segment. Most commonly and most despised by me, the song "Hungry hungry herbivore"
Here's a link so I don't suffer alone! That is to say, for your enjoyment, yes...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-Cgw_UXP-w

Have fun getting THAT out of your head!

Overall I give it a C+ or a solid 3.
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My feet hurt...with DESTINY!

[shadowdancer21b]

I will take a pause on the children's programming for now and discuss instead, "Daddy Gaming".

My oldest son, Roland, who is incredibly cute and barely looks like me( he's lucky and got all the good genes.), plays games with the wife and me. When he was five months old, he helped me play Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube version for those playing at home). No, really. He grabbed my thumbs and moved the stick and pressed buttons. I killed two ganados via headshot. He never duplicated this feat. Now he has trouble using the control stick in any useful fashion but it was cool as hell when it happened. He likes playing Mario Party and Mario Kart with us, and still likes watching us play "scary games" He first leaned the term when I was playing a Splatterhouse ROM on my laptop and I asked him if he was sure he wanted to watch me play a "scary game". He seems okay with it. We take time to explain to him about monsters and how they are just pretend and make-beleive. He doesn't get scared. I'm not sure how far I want to go with exposing him to horror. I think video games are okay because the censorship is a bit stronger than in films (on the consoles I own at least) and I'll wait until he's pubescent before I show the seriously horrific horror films. I think the classics will be good for him as he grows. Universal Classics that is. He may even not have any interest in horror movies. We'll see. Discuss please?
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My feet hurt...with DESTINY!

[shadowdancer21b]

[Cyborcat]