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Go, Judge Dan Mancini, go!

Editor's Note

Our reviews of Go, Diego, Go! Diego's Magical Missions (published March 19th, 2008), Go Diego Go! Fiercest Animal Rescues (published July 24th, 2011), Go Diego Go! Great Gorilla (published July 2nd, 2008), Go Diego Go! Great Panda Adventure (published May 8th, 2010), Go, Diego, Go! It's A Bugs' World (published November 6th, 2008), Go, Diego, Go! Moonlight Rescue (published April 2nd, 2008), Go Diego Go! Rainforest Fiesta (published March 19th, 2009), and Go Diego Go! Ultimate Rescue League (published September 19th, 2010) are also available.

The Charge

Diego saves the world? Let's not get carried away here.

The Case

A spin-off of Dora the Explorer, Go Diego Go! debuted on Nickelodeon in the fall of 2005. Aimed at preschoolers and early elementary school kids, it chronicles the educational adventures of Dora's 8-year-old cousin Diego Márquez. Assisted by his friend Baby Jaguar, Diego rescues endangered animals in the rainforest (and elsewhere). The structure of each episode is rigidly formulaic: Diego hears an animal cry out for help, and then he and Baby Jaguar jump into rescue mode. The duo uses basic problem-solving skills, a few gadgets, and help from their audience to save the troubled critters. During each adventure, viewers learn about the animal being rescued and its habitat, as well as a bit of Spanish vocabulary.

Go Diego Go! Diego Saves the World serves up six episodes from the series:

• "Diego the Hero!"
Reaching all the way back to the series' second season, this episode finds Diego and Baby Jaguar traveling from the rainforest to Antarctica to help some penguins in need.

• "Cotton-Top Tamarin"
In this Season Five episode, Diego and Baby Jaguar set out for Colombia to find a monkey lost in a cave.

• "Bengal Tiger Makes a Wish"
Diego must return Benji the tiger to the Wishing Tree and his mother after he's lost in a rainstorm. The episode is from the show's fourth season.

• "Diego Saves Baby Humpback Whale"
This first season episode finds Diego and a sea turtle rushing to save a baby humpback whale beached on an island.

• "Jorge the Little Hawk Learns to Migrate"
Diego helps Jorge migrate with the help of his hawk plane. This episode is from Season Two.

• "Egyptian Came Adventure"
A Season Three episode in which Diego and his camel friend Jamal seek out the Golden Cloud at the site of the Egyptian pyramids in order to provide rain to Jamal's camel friends and family.

The episodes themselves are typical Go Diego Go! fare, which is to say they will inspire joy in the hearts of most young children, and an urge to commit violent crimes in the hearts of most adults. With six episodes and a 148-minute running time, Diego Saves the World is a far better value than the usual three-episode compilations. It's also a solid sampler of episodes across the show's entire run.

As with Dora the Explorer on DVD, the audio/video presentation is acceptable, but underwhelming. The full frame transfers sport decent color, but are a tad soft. They're also plagued by interlacing artifacts, albeit minor ones. Audio is presented in a simple stereo mix that matches the show's broadcast presentation. All in all, the episodes included on Diego Saves the World look and sound only marginally better than they would on Nickelodeon (if at all). But, hey, that won't stop the show's young fans from enjoying what they find here.

There are no extras.

The Verdict

Not guilty…if you're just out of diapers.

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