The Backyardigans - Mission to Mars (2004) Review

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(More customer reviews)Many, many thanks are extended to Nelvana and Nick Jr. for bringing back the Backyardigans for another season. This DVD has four episodes from the second season (which will reportedly have twenty episodes) and although the musical genres are rather obscure (at least I've never heard of some of them), the quality of entertainment exceeds the first season.
"Mission to Mars" starts it off with Kenyan High Life music, one of the genres I've never heard of before, but which sounds like a cross between calypso and Latin music. Uniqua, Pablo and Austin are astronauts who head off to Mars to investigate a mysterious audio signal. Tyrone and Tasha remain behind to man mission control.
"Samurai Pie" is my absolute favorite episode of the whole series so far. Far East meets Western in this wonderful combination of spaghetti western music (a genre I HAVE heard of before), and kung fu / ninja action movies. The settings are very similar to those in the movie "Spirited Away", mixed with some "Karate Kid", "Kung Fu" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". Tyrone makes the world's greatest samurai pies, and is teaching his apprentice Austin the tricks of the trade. Their task is to make the Great Pie for Empress Tasha, and get it to her royal table before the pie-stealing ninjas Uniqua and Pablo make off with it.
"Scared of You" has Tasha as a mad scientist, with Austin as her henchman. Even though it's his birthday, she sends him out on a mission to deliver secret letters to three monsters, Tyrone the mummy, Uniqua the werewolf and Pablo the vampire. The letters are actually invitations to a surprise birthday "Monster Party" with lots of singing and dancing to a `50s small band theme.
"Whodunit?" is an Agatha Christie-type mystery adventure, set in Mystery Manor, on the Misty Moors of Scotland, with detective Pablo trying to find Lady Tasha's stolen jewels. Is the thief neighbor Mr. Austin Frothingslosh, unexpected visitor Uniqua Underhood, or did Butler Tyrone do it?
Cute, but never annoying; imaginative, but still simple enough for young children to enjoy; informative without being preachy, lots of singing and dancing to new musical genres, plus now (ta-dah!!!!!) with Alicia Keyes on board as a singing mommy Martian - what more could you possibly ask for in children's entertainment?Amanda Richards, October 26, 2006


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"Mission to Mars" will be a day/date release and is tied into a TENTPOLE event on Nick Jr. The main episode takes the Backyardigans to outer space and an underground Martian city.The main program of the DVD will include 4 episodes, each approximately 24 minutes in length, for an approximate total runtime of 100 minutes.This DVD release also features the voice of Grammy award winning singer Alicia Keys as Mommy Martian.Alicia Keys also sings one song titled "Boinga" on the main episode.

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Mythbusters: Collection 2 (3pc) (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)Mythbusters is a great show for everyone! The hosts, along with their team, crack myths and urban legends using science. This DVD Set is a great value for the money. 4 Discs for $20. I also found it was much cheaper than the Boxed versions sold on the discovery channel site which retailed for $50 each. The show is funny and you will learn from it whether you realize at the time or not. Great for kids, teenagers, and adults. I feel like it is a parallel to the fun science shows of my youth like "Bill Nye the Science Guy".

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Ever wonder if human teeth could stop a speeding bullet? You're about to find out! Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage are back to test a host of the most insane and dangerous myths ever dreamed of. No theory is safe from the scrutiny of the MythBusters, who take on the Hindenburg disaster, Tesla's Earthquake Machine, the Mentos mint-Diet Coke Internet myth and much, much more! From the wacky (can a hurricane blow the feathers off a chicken?) to the death-defying, Hyneman and Savage go where no reasonable people have gone before in separating the reality from the ridiculous! EPISODES: Helium Football: Field test helium-filled footballs to find out if they stay aloft higher and longer than regulation air-filled balls. Then face a firing line to discover the bullet-halting capability of human teeth. Bullets Fired Up: See if celebratory bullets shot into the air can kill when they return to Earth, and find out whether low-grade vodka can be transformed into a top-shelf spirit with an ordinary household water filter. Killer Whirlpool: Literature is filled with nautical tales of ships being sucked to deathly ocean depths by killer whirlpools, but could such a thing really happen? Then discover whether snowplows can blow a car off the road or if that?s just a snow job. Crimes and Myth-demeanors 2: Test the most high-tech home alarm systems on the market, including stripping down to birthday suits, getting sprayed with dry-ice and donning a Big Bird-like yellow rug to evade burglary detection. Deadly Straw: Test burning barnyard myths like whether a hurricane can blow the feathers of a chicken.Earthquake Machine: Take on Nikolai Tesla, one of the greatest scientists and inventor of all time. Unbelievably coming up with a working prototype of Tesla's Earthquake Machine, the pair put a California bridge to the test.Diet Coke and Mentos: Inspired by an Internet myth, the MythBusters pair various sodas and candies together until they create the most explosive cocktail possible. Then: Can putting a postage stamp on a helicopter's rotor blades send it into a tailspin? Anti-Gravity Device: Celebrate the magic of the holiday season by loading strings of hot lights on a Christmas tree to see how long it takes for the tree to burst into flames.Firearms Folklore: Test the likelihood that a criminal's bullet could hit and then jam the chamber of a policeman's revolver and whether a sniper could kill another by shooting straight down the enemy gun scope.Holiday Special: Yodel to an avalanche in this special episode, then exhaustively test for the best Christmas tree-water cocktail to keep the needles from falling off.Pirate Special: Test period swords, cannons, guns and the laundry-cleaning capabilities of grog.Hindenburg Mystery: It's generally accepted that the hydrogen keeping the Hindenburg afloat sparked the infamous inferno, but could other chemical reactions actually have caused the blaze?Underwater Car: The team willingly recreates many people's worst nightmare: being trapped in a car submerged in water after a crash.

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Charlie and Lola, Vol. 1-8 (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)Okay, so I loved Charlie and Lola the first time we flipped on Disney for Baby Jane, but if it's possible, I have fallen further in love with this show since I bought the first two seasons in boxed set. Here's why:
***The children are thoughtful and kind to one another (no bratty sass);
***Charlie and Lola are loving brother and sister in an age where siblings are rivals;
***They work through their problems together;
***They use their imaginations, in fact, the show's foundation is based on using the imagination;
***The kids are adorable, realistic to their ages, and have wonderful senses of humor.
16-month old Baby Jane watches an episode before bedtime with a big grin and smiling eyes, and I feel good about what she's absorbing. Heck, it's even soothing to have on in the background while I'm doing dishes. We've watched through volume five, and so far picture and sound quality has been excellent. I'll be watching this show when I'm fifty, it brings such a good feeling of love and humor into our home.
Thank you Lauren Child. You must have a beautiful heart.

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Item Name: Charlie and Lola, Vol. 1-8; Studio:BBC Warner

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