Chuck & Friends Running On All Cylinders In Their Latest Compilation

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 21^st.  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.

Pound Puppies’ Latest Compilation One Of The Show’s Best Yet

Courtesy: Shout! Factory/Hub Network/Hasbro Studios

Shout! Factory has teamed up with Hasbro Studios and the Hub network once again another compilation of episodes from Hub’s Pound Puppies.  Pound Puppies: Holiday Hijinks is one of the best compilations from this family and kid favorite series to be released yet.  That is largely because of each episode’s writing.  This compilation offers viewers some of the series’ most heartfelt episodes to date.  Just as noteworthy in this compilation is the guest voice talent.  Both parents and kids alike will recognize the celebrity voices that are included in some of the episodes in this set.  Something more subtle, but just as worth noting in this collection of episodes is that each one features its own musical number.  It’s something that hadn’t been seen (or rather heard) in previous collections.  It’s a nice touch to the episodes in question.  The reason for that will be discussed later.  All things considered, Holiday Hijinks is one more great addition to any family’s home DVD library, whether it’s their first introduction to the new Pound Puppies or not.

The latest compilation of Pound Puppies episodes includes five more episodes from the Hub network’s hit children’s series.  This follows the same format as the previous DVD compilations that have been released.  The episodes collected for this collection stand out because they are some of the series’ most heartwarming episodes yet.  The collection’s opener, “I Heard The Barks on Christmas Eve” is the collection’s only actual holiday themed episode.  It’s still a wonderful story, nonetheless.  For the first time ever, viewers see that Mr. McLeish actually has a heart and isn’t the mean middle aged man that he comes across as being in most episodes.  It presents those classic messages that everybody needs somebody and that everybody deserves somebody, especially during the holidays.  Audiences will appreciate how writer Joe Ansolabehere expanded on the show’s central theme of family in the set’s second episode, “I Never Barked For My Father.”  Lucky meets his long lost father and brother for the first time ever in this episode.  These are two of the collection’s finest.  What’s more, older audiences will appreciate the guest vocal talent shared here.  That is another positive to this set of episodes.

The episodes collected for Pound Puppies: Holiday Hijinks offer plenty of heart and laughs.  The writers behind the show are to be applauded for their work.  Just as worth noting of these episodes is the guest vocal talent recruited for these episodes.  Lucky’s father is voiced by none other than Gary Cole in “I Never Barked For My Father.”  And his long lost brother is voiced by one Gary Cooksey.  Cooksey is best known for his time on Diff’rent Strokes as well as voicing Montana Max on Tiny Toon Adventures and portraying Robert “Buddy” Budnick on Nickelodeon’s hit 90s series, Salute Your Shorts.  Older audiences will recognize Gary Cole from his roles in Office Space, Dodgeball, Talladega Nights, and Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law just to name some of his work.  Cole and Cooksey are just a couple of the well-known names that grace this collection of episodes.  Fred Stoller (Wordgirl, Everybody Loves Raymond) guests on the collection’s opener as the voice of Ralph.  Ralph is a stray that has lost his Christmas spirit because he has never had a single owner.  That all changes thanks to the Pound Puppies.  Wayne Knight (Seinfeld, Scooby-Doo & The Goblin King, Jurassic Park, The Exes) also shares his talents as the voice of Ralphie, Mr. McLeish’s old friend in “Good Dog, McLeish.”  If that isn’t enough, then the addition of both Tress MacNeille (Futurama, The Simpsons) and Charles Shaughnessy (The Nanny) as guest talent in “Prince and the Pupper” will certainly convince parents to check out this latest collection of Pound Puppies episodes with their kids.  The list of guest talent included in Pound Puppies: Holiday Hijinks is only a glimpse of the big name actors and actresses that have lent their talents to this series over the course of three seasons.  And it’s just one more reason for families to enjoy this collection together.  There is one more reason that families will enjoy the episodes presented in this set.  That reason is that each of the set’s five episodes includes its own musical number.  It would have been so easy for the writers to go over the top considering the history of musical numbers in shows that aren’t known for musical numbers.  Instead, the show’s writers made each episode’s musical number respectable and within limitations.  They didn’t make them big, cheesy tongue-in-cheek numbers.  They actually add a certain amount of emotion and comic relief where necessary.  Just as with the guest vocal talent and the equally enjoyable writing overall, the musical number become one more part of the whole that makes Pound Puppies: Holiday Hijinks well worth the watch any time of the year.  It is available now on DVD in stores and online.  It can be ordered direct from the Shout! Factory store at http://www.shoutfactory.com/product/pound-puppies-holiday-hijinks.  More information on this and other Pound Puppies DVDs is available online at http://www.shoutfactory.com and http://www.facebook.com/shoutactoryofficial.  To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment reviews and news, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it.  Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment reviews and news in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.