The Charge

"We're not too big, and we're not too tough, but when we work together we've got the right stuff!"

The Case

The Wonder Pets are: Ming-Ming (duckling), Linny (guinea pig), and Tuck (turtle). They live in an elementary school and love to sing and rescue animals. Wonder Pets!: Save The Beetles! features four episodes from the first two seasons of the series:

"Save the Beetles!/Three Wonder Pets and a Baby!"
"Save the Chameleon!/Save the Platypus!"
"Save the Duckling!/Save the Kitten!"
"Save the Sheep!/Save the Hermit Crab!"

Geared towards pre-schoolers, Wonder Pets is formulaic to the extreme. The beginning, middle, and end of every episode follow the same rules. First, the phone (a can with a string attached) rings, indicating that an animal is in trouble. The pets assemble, singing the phone song: "The phone, the phone is ringing!" The animal in question is then identified. The pets then put on their Wonder Pets costumes and jump into their makeshift rescue vehicle, singing about teamwork: "What's gonna work? Teamwork!" After this, the pets go off and perform their rescue operations, typically featuring a failed attempt before success. Everybody rejoices and sings upon resolution of the crisis. The pets then return to the school and their normal pet lives.

Technically, the audio and video are fine. There are no detectable defects.

There is one extra: the "Kelp!" video from the "Save the Beetles!" episode.

As noted above, Wonder Pets is for pre-schoolers. It is formulaic storytelling with cute characters that sing. The kids will love it. Most adults will not. However, it teaches children about teamwork, friendship and animals in a manner that they will enjoy.

Not guilty.

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