Review: Octonauts “Emperor Penguins”; “Tiger Shark”

Penguins and sharks, oh my.

Spoilers Below:

In ‘Octonauts and the Emperor Penguins’, the Octonauts visit Antarctica to monitor emperor penguins. One half of the team observes the father penguins watching over the eggs, and the other half observes the mother penguins hunting for food. As the father penguins are waiting for their mates, the eggs hatch.

One of the mother penguins accidentally snags Kwazii’s tail while he’s diving. She apologizes and explains that it’s her first time diving as a mom. When all the mother penguins resurface from their dive, the team notices that one penguin is missing. Emperor penguins can only hold their breath for twenty minutes, so the team dives back down to find the missing mother.

They spot the same mother from before and bring her into the ship. She explains that she accidentally hit a chunk of ice, which broke her foot and sprained her flipper. The team resolves to bring her back. Along the way, the ship treads over some weak ice, and the team is forced to evacuate. Barnacles nearly falls into a ravine but manages to climb back to safety. Unfortunately, the ship is lost, and their compass is frozen. However, the mother can sense which way to go, and they continue on with their journey.

All the other mother penguins reunite with their families— all but one. The baby penguin calls out for her mother, and soon, the remaining team arrives. The family happily reunites, and the Octonauts congratulate themselves on a job well done. Tweak asks where the ship has gone, and when Barnacles admits that the ship fell into a ravine, she faints.

In ‘Octonauts and the Tiger Shark’, Tweak works with Sandy the turtle. By attaching a camera to Sandy’s shell, Tweak is able to see everything underwater. Through the camera, Tweak sees several fish and dolphins running away, and spots a tiger shark approaching. The camera goes dark and Tweak panics, knowing that tiger sharks will eat anything, including turtles. She takes one of the ships and sets out to find Sandy.

The remaining team is returning from an expedition to the coral reef, and they spot Tweak leaving. The shark appears and is happy to eat up everything in sight. He chases down Tweak, not caring whether the ship she’s in is made of metal. She tries disguising the ship as another tiger shark, but that doesn’t deter the shark. Next, she tries flying fish mode, but that doesn’t work as well. Her only option left is to use turbo boost, but she’s afraid it will destroy the reef. In the middle of the chase, she meets up with Sandy and realizes that she’s safe.

As soon as they are clear, Tweak hits the turbo boost but ends up rocketing into a cave. The shark follows her, but before he can eat her, he feels sick and collapses. He introduces himself as Tom and admits that even though he eats a lot, his stomach doesn’t feel good. Tweak strikes a deal: if he leads her out of the cave, then she will bring him to a doctor. Tom leads her out of the cave, and she introduces him to Peso. Peso digs out a lot of garbage from Tom’s stomach, including a boot, a tablet, and a camera. Tom says he feels much better but is still hungry, and Tweak shoots out carrots from her ship. Tom finds that he likes the carrots, and leaves satisfied.

Overview:

The Octonauts is a pretty fun kid’s show. The team members all work together and are dedicated to observing and documenting animals in nature. It has a balance of action and humor in each episode, enough to keep young children entertained. The episodes end with a “Creature Report”, a song about the animal highlighted in the show, so kids can learn through both the information delivered during the episode and in a fun manner. The show stands apart by targeting specific species, instead of just ‘penguins’ or ‘sharks’ overall. By narrowing their focus, they can deliver more interesting trivia. Most kid’s shows that discuss animals tend to keep things general, so this is a nice change.

Any show that teaches kids about nature and science is greatly appreciated, so it gets a stamp of approval.