WordGirl: Tricks And Treats Is A Great Treat For Any Family Any Time Of The Year

Courtesy: PBS/PBS Kids/PBS Distribution

PBS Kids and PBS Distribution released a trio of fun new Halloween-themed DVDs for the whole family last month from three of the network’s most beloved series. As enjoyable as all three of those new releases are for the whole family, they are hardly the only pieces that families will find enjoyable this year. WordGirl: Tricks & Treats, originally released in 2010, is another collection that families will agree is just as fitting for their annual Halloween party this year as it was five years ago. The main reason for this is its selection of episodes. While not every episode featured in this collection is necessarily Halloween-themed, that is no loss. Each of the DVDs eight (yes, eight) episodes still offers its own enjoyment, making for plenty of reason in itself for any family to add this collection to its own home DVD library. The writing behind each of the featured episodes is just as important to the collection’s success as the episodes themselves. Throughout the course of each episode, the show’s writers solidly combine a mix of vocabulary lessons and fun, original story lines in such fashion that audiences of all ages will be entertained for one reason or another. Rounding out the set’s positives is the inclusion once again of a handful of bonuses including interactive games, printable coloring pages, and even bonuses teaching material for parents and educators. Each element in its own right makes for plenty of enjoyment from beginning to end. All combined, the noted elements incorporated into this collection make it another great addition to any family’s home DVD library whether it be on Halloween or any other time of the year.

WordGirl: Tricks & Treats is another great addition to any family’s home DVD library and just as welcome in any family’s annual Halloween happenings this year or any year. That is thanks in part to its selection of episodes. Given, only one of the presented episodes—“Tobey’s Tricks and Treats”—is an actual Halloween-themed episode. The episodes that follow are just standard episodes. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, either. That is because each of those remaining episodes still presents its own enjoyable story that will entertain parents and educators just as much as they will younger viewers. On a side note, audiences will be interested to learn that of the eight episodes featured in this collection, two were lifted from the series’ first season and six rom Season Two. Considering that this collection was originally released almost a month after the series’ second season ended, it means that audiences get a relatively solid example of where the show was at the time of the DVD’s release. To that extent, the episodes featured in this collection show yet again—even despite only one episode actually being Halloween-themed—why they are so crucial to audiences’ overall viewing experience with this presentation. They are just part of what makes that experience so positive, too. The writing behind each of the disc’s featured episodes is just as key to the success of that experience as the episodes themselves.

The episodes collected for WordGirl: Tricks & Treats are in themselves plenty of reason for families to add this collection of episodes to their own home DVD libraries. That is even with only one of the included episodes being an actual Halloween-themed episode. Speaking of that episode, it is just one example of what makes the work of the show’s writers so important to the success of the featured episodes. In “Tobey’s Tricks and Treats” WordGirl’s writers obviously make Toby the central villain of the episode. Thanks to his obsession with WordGirl, he thinks that Becky’s friend Violet is WordGirl when Violet dresses up as the young superhero for a costume contest at the kids’ school. When Toby doesn’t win the contest, he orders his robots to steal all of the candy in town on Halloween so that he would have all of the sweet rewards of Halloween instead of anyone else. The writers make the story work surprisingly well. What’s really interesting here is that such a behavior is something more the norm for the Birthday Girl than for Tobey. Yet the writers didn’t go that route in this case. Regardless, the end result will still entertain viewers of all ages especially when Tobey realizes that Violet is in fact not WordGirl. It’s just one example of how the writing behind these episodes makes them so enjoyable for audiences of all ages.

“Lunch Lady Chuck” is another example of the importance of the episodes’ writing. This episode sees Chuck The Evil Sandwich Making Guy actually take on a job working in the cafeteria at Becky’s school. Chuck’s attempt to go straight and make a legal life for himself is nothing new in the world of television writing. But even having been used here, it is no less enjoyable of a story element. Chuck’s admission to Wordgirl that he hadn’t thought about places to get himself a comfortable hair net makes for its own share of laughs for audiences. His realization that he could have found his own hair net shows a certain innocence about him yet again. WordGirl recognizes that innocence, too, which is why she is never hard on him. It leads to so much great banter between the two foes that will have viewers laughing and smiling just as much as in any of the DVD’s other featured episodes. It is yet another way in which the writing behind these episodes proves itself so important. It shows once more that ability of the show’s writers to expertly balance the show’s educational content and its more entertaining side.

Both “Tobey’s Tricks and Treats” and “Lunch Lady Chuck” are clear examples of what makes the writing behind this collection’s episodes so important to their enjoyment. They show in their own separate way the ability of the show’s writers to balance the show’s educational content with its more entertaining side. “Class Act” is one more example of what makes the writing in this collection’s episodes so important to their enjoyment. This episode stands out perhaps more than any of the set’s others in regards to its writing because not only does it promote literacy among the series’ younger viewers but the importance of literacy among adults, too. It seemingly promotes adult literacy by having The Butcher go in disguise to a night class in order to better his vocabulary. Viewers will note that The Butcher’s classmates are all adults. This raises that possibility, again, that the writers were promoting adult literacy in this episode. If they were in fact leaning in that direction, then the subtle manner in which they did that is wholly worthy of applause. That is because it showed just as much as in any of the collection’s other episodes the expertise of the show’s writers to balance the show’s entertaining and educational content. What’s more it shows that the writers pay just as much attention to the show’s older audiences just as much as its younger viewers in every one of its episodes. Adult literacy is a hugely important topic in America today that sadly is not addressed as much as it should be. So even if it was unintentional here, viewers of all ages will be glad to see that it is tackled. It is yet another way in which the work of WordGirl’s writers proves to be just as pivotal to the success of the episodes featured in WordGirl: Tricks & Treats as the episodes themselves.

The episodes chosen for WordGirl: Tricks & Treats and the writing behind said episodes are both key in their own right to this DVD’s overall viewing experience. The featured episodes do a solid job of showing where the show was at at the time of the DVD’s release. The writing shows from one episode to the next that the writers paid just as much attention to the show’s older audiences as they did its younger fans. Both elements work together to give audiences of all ages plenty of enjoyment. As important as they both are to the whole of the DVD, they are still not all that makes it work as well as it does. Though, they do lie at the heart of that enjoyment. The bonus material included with the disc rounds out the package. Included as bonus material in this presentation is a handful of printable coloring pages and a couple of interactive flash games for kids as well as background information on the show for parents and teachers. The coloring pages feature WordGirl, Captain Huggyface, and a number of villains that WordGirl faces on a daily basis. They include: Graay May, Doctor Two-Brains, Tobey, Lady Redundant Woman, The Butcher, Birthday Girl, and Chuck The Evil Sandwich Making Guy. Of course what set of coloring pages would be complete without a page for WordGirl herself? She is there, too. The two flash games included as bonus material offer their own vocab building lessons for kids. The first of the pair gets kids to line up Captain Huggyface’s picture with a given word. If kids get three words right, they get to see Captain Huggyface dance just like he does at the end of each episode of WordGirl. The second of the bonus flash games gives kids four separate short stories in which they have to find the word that will help her beat her given opponents. Both games combine with the presented printable coloring pages to make the bonus material in whole a clear positive way to finish off WordGirl: Tricks & Treats. Together with the episodes chosen for the DVD and each episode’s writing, all three elements come together to make this DVD another treat for any family any time of the year.

WordGirl: Tricks & Treats is a great treat for any family both during Halloween and any time of the year. Even at five years old, this DVD still proves to be a great addition to any family’s home DVD library. That is thanks in large part to the episodes chosen for the DVD and the writing behind each episode. The bonus printable coloring pages and flash games included in the presentation round out the package and prove once and for all why it is a great treat for any family any time of the year. It is available now on DVD and can be ordered online via PBS’ online store at http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=4217783&cp=&kw=wordgirl+tricks+and+treats&origkw=WordGirl+Tricks+and+Treats&sr=1. More information on WordGirl is available online now along with even more WordGirl games, activities, and more at:

Website: http://pbskids.org/wordgirl

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/WordGirl

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Nickelodeon, Shout! Factory Finishing Off Another Classic Nicktoon Next Month

Courtesy: Shout! Factory/Nickelodeon

Shout! Factory and Nickelodeon established a partnership only a few years ago that has seen some of the network’s greatest classic series, called Nicktoons, get full, proper releases. Almost all of those classic Nicktoons has seen releases in separate seasons and complete series box sets. Now what is one of the last of those series sets will be released next month in the form of CatDog: The Complete Series.

CatDog: The Complete Series will be released on DVD Tuesday, October 14^th. The series’ complete four-season, sixty-eight episode run will be released in one complete multi-disc set. It will retail for MSRP of $29.93. After this release, the only full series sets that are left to be released under the companies’ current partnership are The Wild Thornberrys: The Complete Series and Hey Dude: The Complete Series. Audiences can keep up with the latest on all of these releases online at:

Website: http://www.shoutfactory.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/shoutfactoryofficial

To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it. Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.

PBS Kids Releases Release Date, Info For New WordGirl DVD

Courtesy: PBS Kids/PBS/Scholastic

PBS kids will release another new DVD featuring episodes of its family favorite series WordGirl this summer.

Wordgirl: Monkey Business will be released Tuesday June 10^th. The upcoming DVD will feature four more shorts from the hit animated vocabulary-building series from Scholastic Media. The first of the DVD’s four new shorts sees WordGirl’s trust sidekick Captain Huggyface having to face Chuck The Evil Sandwich Making Guy on his own after having accidentally been left behind by WordGirl early in their day. Huggyface decides to do what he wants after being left behind (again), which leads to his face off with Chuck.

“The Meaty Dimension”, the second of the DVD’s shorts features The Butcher. In this episode, WordGirl and Captain Huggyface have to face off against The Butcher once again. What they don’t know is that The Butcher has a plan to trap them and take over the city after discovering a portal to the dimension where all of his meat is stored. It’s up to them to outsmart The Butcher and close the portal in hopes of stopping The Butcher once and for all.

WordGirl and Captain Huggyface have to stop The Whammer from ruining Mr. and Mrs. Botsford’s anniversary in “Whammer Anniversary”, the third of the shorts included in the new WordGirl DVD. Becky is left to babysit her brother TJ when their parents go out for their anniversary. But then Becky has to figure out how to keep her identity secret after The Whammer starts whamming at the same ice cream parlor where Becky’s parents are enjoying their anniversary. This is another “sweet treat” short for viewers.

In the last of the shorts included in the new WordGirl DVD, WordGirl has to once again face off against Chuck The Evil Sandwich Making Guy. This time, Chuck has added a new weapon to his growing arsenal. His weapon? Peanut butter! When he shoots it at his victims, a giant ball of peanut butter envelops them. And WordGirl becomes one of his victims. So she and Captain Huggyface have to figure out how to get her out of her *ahem* sticky situation and save the day once again.

WordGirl: Monkey Business will be available Tuesday, June 10^th on DVD. It can be pre-ordered now via Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Wordgirl-Monkey-Business-Tom-Kenny/dp/B00IVLRBHU/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1400375319&sr=1-1&keywords=wordgirl+monkey+business. More information on WordGirl is available online at http://www.facebook.com/WordGirl, http://www.pbskidsgo.org/wordgirl, and http://www.scholastic.com/wordgirl. Parents and kids can also go to http://www.pbskids.org/wordgirl to check out more episodes of WordGirl and to play WordGirl games. To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it. Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.

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.

Rocko’s Modern Life Series Box Set Is A Modern Hit

Courtesy: Shout! Factory/Nickelodeon

Shout! Factory and Nickelodeon have completed the course for one of the best of the network’s original Nicktoons.  On Tuesday, February 26^th, the two companies will release Rocko’s Modern Life: The Complete Series on DVD.  The set contains all four of the show’s seasons in their entirety on eight discs.  This set is a must for any true hardcore Nicktoons Nostalgic.  It is without a doubt one of the best box sets of 2013 all the way around.  From its packaging to its episodes and even the new original artwork by series creator Joe Murray, this brand new upcoming set is everything for which fans of Rocko’s Modern Life have waited for so long.

Rocko’s Modern Life: The Complete Series is a winner from the very moment that it’s picked up in store or ordered online.  Shout! Factory has shown once more why it continues to be the leader in releasing box sets with this set’s packaging.  Rather than place the series into a large, bulky box set, all eight discs are placed onto opposing sides of four separate inserts.  Placing the discs in such fashion gives each disc its own backing, thus helping to increase its longevity.  Adding to the longevity factor is a small “lip” placed at the top and bottom of each insert.  The “lip” allows for each disc to be smoothly removed and replaced safely.  And being on separate inserts, audiences can flip through each insert effortlessly to get to the disc that they want to watch.  Being that the set includes eight discs, the box overall is a little larger than the standard double disc.  But in comparison to the size of other multi-disc boxes still being released today, the overall packaging is still a space saver for any Nicktoons Nostalgic’s DVD rack.

The packaging of this new upcoming box set is a major positive. The episodes are just as much a positive.  As already noted, all four original seasons of this modern classic are contained in this box set in their entirety.  And the transfers to DVD are highly impressive.  The quality of each episode’s footage has been fully maintained.  What’s more, now that the show’s original audiences are all grown up, the show’s episodes will present even more enjoyment as they will get many of the jokes presented.  They’re like a fine wine, for lack of better comparison.  They’re that much more of a joy now that the original audiences can look back on them with a whole different take on them.  And making them even better, those same audiences can now share these laugh riot episodes with their own children, thus preserving the legacy of this outrageous cartoon for a whole new generation of fans. 

In relation to the jokes and the quality of the footage contained on these discs, the original hand drawn animation simply cannot be ignored here.  This has already been noted with the previously released first three seasons of Rocko’s Modern Life.  Having all four seasons together now, audiences can really see how the hand drawn animation served to give this cartoon its own original identity.  This was really a landmark of cartoons during the 1990s.  It’s something that has by and large been lost in the Twenty-first century.  Given, there are still hand drawn cartoons out there.  But for the most part, this generation’s cartoons are created via computer.  It makes them sterile and unoriginal.  In comparison, this show’s animation serves as a reminder of everything that once made cartoons great, and hopefully will again one day both for the show’s original viewers and today’s younger audiences.

Staying on the same vein of hand drawn animation, fans that pick up this new set will even be presented with brand new hand drawn animation both inside and outside the set.  The new box art was drawn by series creator Joe Murray.  It adds that much more vintage feel to the set, thus making it that much more special and a must have for the show’s original viewers.  This new eight-disc set will be available in stores and online Tuesday, February 26^th.  To sweeten the deal for fans, the first 200 who order their copies of this new box set at Shout! Factory’s online store at http://www.shoutfactory.com will receive an 18” x 24” autographed lithograph of an all new original illustration from Joe Murray himself.  Fans can pre-order the set online at http://www.shoutfactory.com/?q=node/216544.

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