Worth the trip to Tiny Planets
Written: Dec 15 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Eye-popping, award winning computer animation, engaging topics capture the imagination of kids and parents alike.
Cons: Too short! Episodes are only 5 minutes. Only PAL-format videos have been released.
The Bottom Line: One of the most inspired and captivating kid's shows on the air today.
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| porphyrous's Full Review: tiny planets |
Tiny Planets is a TV program geared towards kids ages 3 to 5 that teaches exploration and problem solving. It was developed by British animation house Pepper's Ghost and American kids TV producers Sesame Workshop. In America, it airs on the Noggin cable TV channel. It stars Bing and Bong, two white fuzzy aliens who blast around their solar system of "tiny planets" on their white fuzzy sofa. The introduction alone -- of Bing and Bong on their sofa being catapulted through space with a huge bungee cord trailing behind -- is worth the effort to track this show down. Bing is the big one, thoughtful and thorough. Bong is the little one, energetic and impulsive.
Each 5-minute episode centers on Bing and Bong solving a particular problem on one of their system's planets. Each planet has a theme around which each episode revolves. For example, the Planet of Light and Colour (sic, it's an English show after all) was the setting for the episode on animation, where Bong manages to break what looks like an old zoetrope and Bing and Bong must put the pictures back in order so the animation machine works again. In another short, Bing and Bong go to the Planet of Nature to find and photograph a Flocker -- a bird-like alien whose intelligence can best be described as "dim". Other characters include Locals, little sphere-like aliens who aren't much sharper than Flockers. Many episodes center around Bing and Bong helping Flockers or Locals get out of trouble.
The plots are simple and straightforward, as is appropriate for the 3-5 age group. There is no dialogue, only non-verbal communication except for Bing's humming and Bong's frequent sonic outbursts. I'm sure that kids will be initially drawn to Bong, with his humongous, head-dominating eyes and wide, expressive mouth. Bing will take a little longer to grow on kids, but it's clear that he's the brains of the operation and he's the one who guides kids, Bong, Flockers, and Locals to the solution.
Visually, the animation in Tiny Planets inspires bugeyed stares of disbelief. In contrast to some other CGI kids series such as Disney's Rolie Polie Olie, the imagery is detailed, lush, and fluid. It's probably only surpassed by animation that usually appears in cutting edge theatre movies like Monsters Inc. Underneath it all is a truly addictive, peppy synthpop soundtrack that adds the icing to this cake.
My main complaints have nothing to do with the quality of the show. The 5-minute run time has the young kid attention span in mind, but it would be nice if Noggin would run them in blocks instead of one at a time tucked in between shows. The other complaint is marketing: the only videos of the show that are available are in European PAL format. I hope that American-format videos and DVDs are coming soon.
You might have to rummage around in your digital cable listings to find Noggin, and then wait around for an episode to come around, but it's worth it. Tiny Planets is a bullseye that I hope will become a modern classic in kid's TV.
Recommended:
Yes
Type of Program: Cartoon or Animated
Program Quality: Thought-provoking, original material
Best Suited For: 3 to 5 Years
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Epinions.com ID:
porphyrous
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Member: David Vessell
Location: Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
David Vessell is an instructor of web technology, amateur musician, and father of a toddler.
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