Courtesy: Shout! Kids/Hasbro Studios/Hub
The writers behind Hasbro Studios’ The Adventures of Chuck & Friends have made a habit of crafting episodes that are both entertaining and that have heart at the same time. Watching the episodes contained on the show’s previous DVD releases, one sees just why this series is a favorite among both children and their parents. Now families have yet another new compilation of episodes front loaded with even more fun and heartfelt episodes in The Adventures of Chuck & Friends: Trucks Versus Wild. This latest compilation, the fifth so far from the series, contains ten more episodes from the hit Hub network series. That brings the total number of shorts to fifty so far. The show has actually produced thirty-nine full length episodes with a total of seventy-eight shorts and one special, bringing the total to forty episodes. That the series has reached forty episodes especially on a digital network is a major statement about this latest compilation. The episodes themselves are collectively another reason that families will enjoy thanks once again to the work of the show’s writers. And despite the fact that the show is based in CG animation, the animation still maintains a difference from that of other computer animated based children’s programs that fill the television spectrum today. These factors together make The Adventures of Chuck & Friends: Trucks Versus Wild one more fun filled collection of episodes from this family favorite Hub network series.
Hub network is not a network that is available to every family. Most cable and satellite service providers carry Hub on one of their many digital tiers. That means that in order to take in Hub network’s programming–Chuck & Friends included—families have to pay an extra monthly charge for the whole tier on which it sits. They might even have to pay an extra secondary fee for a digital box each month so as to receive said tier. So what does this have to do with the fact that audiences now have fifty of seventy-eight shorts from The Adventures of Chuck & Friends to watch? It has plenty to do with this fact. Not every family has subscribed to or even will subscribe to their provider’s digital television service. That means that whatever percentage of audiences would only see the show via its DVD releases. The combined DVD sales and digital subscriptions have provided enough of a fan base for The Adventures of Chuck & Friends that they have offset those without subscriptions to necessary digital services. It’s a testament to the series’ ability to entertain families even solely through DVD sales. Put into simple terms, it shows that the series is simply that popular among audiences whether they have the chance to see it on TV or not. And the series remains so popular largely because of the work done by its writers.
It’s quite the feat for The Adventures of Chuck & Friends to have reached a total so far of forty episodes and seventy-eight shorts. That is a lot for a cartoon series; especially one that is carried on a digital tier rather than standard cable networks. Luckily its shorts have been made available for families to enjoy on DVD, too. This allows even more audiences to experience the enjoyable work done by the show’s writers. That is the central point of what makes this show so successful, whether viewed on its digital tiers across the country or on DVD. And this latest compilation of episodes is a prime example of that. Trucks Versus Wild presents in its ten episodes lessons about getting over one’s fear of doctors, not growing up too fast, and not taking advantage of one’s friends and families among many others. These are timeless lessons to which every generation of children has dealt with. The series’ writers are to be commended for having taken the noted lessons and made them relevant to the current generation of young viewers. It’s one more part of the whole that makes this latest compilation of shorts from The Adventures of Chuck & Friends as enjoyable as the series’ previous DVD releases.
The latest compilation of shorts from The Adventures of Chuck & Friends offers families loads of fun and important life lessons. That is hopefully clear by now. There is still one more factor in this set that makes it enjoyable. That factor is the shorts’ “animation.” While it may be computer based, that “animation” still helps to maintain the series’ identity from all of the other computer-based children’s programs on television today. The similarity to the likes of Pixar’s Cars and Disney’s Planes is there. But it is only an incidental similarity at best. For the most part, it really manages to maintain its own look. That is thanks to the work of those that bring the series to life behind the scenes. Together with the work done by the show’s writers in the episodes culled for this set, it makes the compilation all the more worth buying when it hits stores later this month. It will be available in stores and online Tuesday, January 21st. It can be ordered directly from Shout! Factory’s online store at http://www.shoutfactory.com/product/adventures-chuck-and-friends-trucks-vs-wild. More information on this and other releases from Shout! Factory is available online at http://www.shoutfactory.com and http://www.facebook.com/shoutfactoryofficial.
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