Writers: Various
Directors: Various
Cast: Mel Brooks, Charles Adler, Pamela Adlon, Melissa Disney, Maile Flanagan, Nika Futterman, Peadar Lamb, Tara Strong, Russi Taylor
Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: February 19, 2008
I love cartoons and kids shows. Some might even say I’m a big kid. I’m partial to the shows I grew up with in the 1980s, so it’s rare when I find a modern day show that really tickles my fancy.
Sure, I like some of the preschool aged shows like Max & Ruby, The Backyardigans, and Wonder Pets, because I feel they all have great educational value and preschool aged kids love them. Still, I can’t spend all day watching the Nick Jr. line up, unless a little one is around. I have found that many cartoons, these days, lack that universal appeal shows like Garfield, The Smurfs, and Heathcliff seem to retain.
What I mean by this is that pretty much anyone, of any age group, can get into watching these cartoons. I’m not ashamed to admit I watch all of those cartoons as well as the Transformers, just to name a few. So, when I find a modern day show that appeals to people of all age groups, even if it might be geared towards a pint size audience, those shows are gold. I’m please to announce that I’ve found that in the PBS Kids, animated television series, Jakers! -The Adventures of Piggley Winks.
Release Information:
Jakers! – The Adventures of Piggley Winks first debuted on PBS (and various other stations worldwide) on September 3, 2003. The show has been airing for what IMDB says is 4 seasons and 3-4 years of taping. Jakers! – The Adventures of Piggley Winks doesn’t seem to have ended though it isn’t clear whether new episodes are going to be developed or not. For now, fans can enjoy re-runs at 3:30 PM EST on PBS in the USA. For other countries, check local listings.
Jakers! – Treasure Hunt on Raloo Farm is set to be released tomorrow, February 19, 2008, by Paramount Home Video. The show is designed in CGI, though it isn’t overly offensive like the cartoons that start out as two dimensional figures and morph into CGI. I can deal with the CGI if the show has always been that way, and it has. For everything else, though, I’m an animation purist. Jakers! – Treasure Hunt on Raloo Farm is available for pre-purchase through Amazon. You can order your copy of Jakers! – Treasure Hunt on Raloo Farm for $13.99 USD.
The Plot
Honestly, what’s not to like about Jakers! – The Adventures of Piggley Winks? The format for the show is excellent. I love how each story is told. The plot isn’t anything that is too cerebral, so young children can understand it. It isn’t too juvenile either. It’s a nice blend of storytelling, moral lessons, and adventure. Perhaps that is why, I, as a 27 year old man can watch it with my nearly 30 year old girlfriend, our 13 year old son, and 3 year old nephew. Surprisingly enough, all of us, in our various age groups, enjoy this show.
Each episode starts out with one of three, modern day piglets, having the typical problems American kids seem to have. There’s Meg (Melissa Disney) and the younger twins, Sean (Nika Futterman) and Seamus (Nika Futterman). The piglets are anthropomorphic, as are many of the animals in this show. However, some of the anthropomorphic animals have their own pets and farm animals that do not exhibit human characteristics or talk.
Anyway, always there to lend a helping hand in solving the problem for the piglet kids is their Grandpa, Piggley (Peadar Lamb) who tells them stories about his adventures as a boy, growing up in Ireland. We occasionally see the kids’ mother/Piggley’s daughter (Russi Taylor) though not enough to really matter much.
Once the story begins, the landscape is transported to that of rural Ireland and the town of Tara. Piggley (Maile Flanagan), now eight years old, lives there with his father, Padrig (Charlie Adler), his mum, Elly (Russi Taylor), and his little sister, Molly (Tara Strong). He is often joined on adventures at Raloo Farm, where he lives, by his two best friends, a duck named Dannan O’Mallard (Tara Strong), and a bull named Fernando “Ferny” Toro (Russi Taylor). To add a little fun to the series, there is also one sheep in the flock on Piggley’s farm, that can talk. His name is Wiley, and he’s voiced by the phenomenally talented Mel Brooks.
There are four episodes included in this DVD set. The episodes with a small synopsis of each, are listed below.
1. “Treasure Hunt” - The grandsons of Piggley are hiding outdoors. They don’t want to clean their rooms. Piggley tells them why cleaning can be fun. It can lead to an unexpected “treasure”. He tells them the story of the time he didn’t want to do chores. Piggley, Dannan and Ferny are too busy playing as space invaders outside. Mum calls him in to do his chores, so he has them wait outside. Once he’s indoors, Padrig tells Piggley that if he goes and gets the eggs he just has to have the chores done by the evening. So, Piggley runs out and gets the eggs. Surprisingly, underneath one of the chickens is a box with a clue to find a hidden treasure.
Overhearing about the treasure, Wiley the Sheep decides he’s going to follow the kids then steal the treasure for himself once they do all the hard work. As Piggley, Dannan and Ferny race around the farm, searching for clues, they end up doing all of Piggley’s chores in the process. Tired and ready for their treasure, they make their way to their final destination, only to find a very well earned surprise and the realization that all the chores are done so they can now have fun.
2. “Our Dragon’s Egg” - Sean and Seamus want to keep a baby chick as their pet. Piggley tells them the story about the time he found a dragon’s egg with Ferny and Dannan. Some animals are wild and aren’t to be kept as pets. In the story, after finding the egg, the three try to get the chickens to warm the egg, but it’s too big and the chicken rejects it. Then they try and get Wiley to keep it warm while he sleeps. When Wiley wakes, because he feels something odd under him, he thinks he is able to lay eggs. Unfortunately for him, when he’s bragging excitedly to the other sheep, the egg bounces away, back to Piggley. With no one else to warm the egg, Dannan decides to do it herself.
Piggley and Ferny set Dannan up in the barn. They leave her with a bucket of water to drink and set out to find the dragon food, so when it hatches it will have something to eat. Having drank too much water, Dannan has to go to the bathroom so she must abandon the egg, which hatches right after she leaves. Finding the egg has hatched and Dannan no where to be found, Ferny and Piggley, who have been joined by Molly, mourn Dannan’s loss.
They are scared as they hear the dragon, honk, from somewhere in the barn. When Dannan returns, they realize the baby is harmless. They trap it in a bucket and bring it in the house. When their dad sees the “dragon”, he tells them it’s really a baby swan, and that they need to take it back to its mother. They end up finding the Momma swan, but not before the baby bonds with Piggley.
3. “Dannan Does a Jig” - One of the twins wants his brother to do karate, but the other one isn’t as interested and doesn’t feel he is as good at it. Grandpa Piggley tells the boys about the time Dannan tried to learn to do a jig. Dannan’s grandma, who she lives with, comes to school to teach the kids to dance. Dannan can’t seem to get it right so Piggley decides he’s going to teach her to dance. After his methods don’t work, Dannan tries everything she can think of to learn to dance, but she keeps failing at it.
That night, she has a dream her grandma comes back to school. Dannan dances so funny, everyone laughs at her. Dannan wakes up from her nightmare and grandma comforts her. She tells Dannan that as long as she tries to do her best, grandma will be proud of her. Dannan is reassured by grandma and doesn’t care what people think when she does her jig the next day. The twins decide they both have some good moves and decide to practice karate, together.
4. “Growing Pains” - Meg, who just had a birthday, gets to stay up later. The twins have their same bedtime and it’s not fair. Grandpa Piggley tells them about the time he wanted to be a grown up. They get to have all the fun, he says as an eight year old. Piggley doesn’t want to do his homework. He wants to listen to the radio show, but his mum won’t allow it if his homework isn’t finished. At school the next day, the mailman comes in to the schoolhouse to tell the teacher Piggley’s father sprained his ankle. With his mother out for the day, Piggley needs to come home to help run the farm.
An excited Piggley is ready to be an adult, but Dad just wants him to watch Molly. Piggley convinces him he can run the farm, so Dad has him do the chores. Every chore Piggley does, something goes wrong. He makes the well pump overflow, he makes the animals mad by not feeding them fast enough, and the list goes on. Finally, an exhausted Piggley comes in to have to make Dad and Molly lunch. He makes them sandwiches with peanut butter, sardines, and a bunch of other stuff.
Molly spills her food all over herself, and Piggley is trying to clean it up when Mum calls. He ends up overflowing the sink and leaving the wet rag on Molly’s head. Once he finishes up, it’s outside for more chores. Dannan and Ferny spend the day lamenting about how lucky Piggley is and how much they miss him, but Piggley realizes that being a grown up is quite hard, so he’s ready to go back to being a kid. Unfortunately, he can’t do that until after one of the sheep give birth to a lamb he has to deliver.
It’s easy to see why Jakers! – The Adventures of Piggley Winks is an award winning show. It subtly teaches children life lessons, while entertaining it’s audience. This audience can be in any age group. The message and enjoyment of this show is universal. I loved Jakers! – The Adventures of Piggley Winks and I loved this DVD. The voice actors rocked and the whole series of episodes held my interest from start to finish.
Storyline/Plot: 
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Acting:
Directing:
Audio/Visual:
The video quality was near perfect. An anamorphic transfer really gives Jakers! – Treasure Hunt on Raloo Farm the oomph it needs to look stellar. The video quality is transferred at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The entire picture quality is excellent. Everything is clear. Colors are vibrant, contrast is sharp and the visual CGI animation is ideal for this entire series. Overall, I am quite pleased with the video.
The audio quality is nearly as good as the video. Jakers! – Treasure Hunt on Raloo Farm offers Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Surround in English, French, and Spanish. Closed Captioning is available and supported. Everything from the catchy theme song to the Irish accented voices come through loud and clear. For a 2.0 soundtrack the sounds are surprisingly rich and full.
Visual:
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Bonus Features:
I’m really impressed because Jakers! – Treasure Hunt on Raloo Farm has some different special features. I normally expect kid’s shows to not have any, but this DVD has multiple bonuses.
The first feature is “Piggley’s Storyteller Playhouse”. This has several segments. It’s a live action performance, which features adult actors. An audience of children gets to help the actors brainstorm about writing a story and then seeing it acted out through rap, rhyme, singing, or group participation. There is another feature, “Meet the Grandparents”, where a grandparent tells a story to her grandchildren about an incident that happened when she was little.
There is a read along story called “The Great Fairy Test”. This can allow a child to read it on their own or they can follow along with the narrator. Finally, there are previews for other Jakers! DVDs including Jakers! - Sheep on the Loose.
Bonus Features:
Bottom Line:
Jakers! – Treasure Hunt on Raloo Farm is truly a delight to watch. If you have kids or if you don’t, you can check out the series on PBS, weekdays at 3:30 PM. If you like it, you’ll love this DVD. If your kids already love Jakers! – The Adventures of Piggley Winks you need to buy Jakers! – Treasure Hunt on Raloo Farm. Both you and your children won’t be disappointed.
Overall Rating:
Technorati Tags: DVD Review, Jakers!, Treasure Hunt on Raloo Farm, PBS Kids, Ireland, Piggly Winks, Adventure
Written by Dominick Evans - Visit Website
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Dominick is in his late 20s. He lives in Michigan with his life partner, Ashtyn, their 14 year old son Robert, and their Shih-Tzu, Oliver. Dominick is a writer and the head editor for both LI Kids and Literary Illusions. He enjoys composing music and is an aspiring director/screenwriter. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his family, playing and watching sports, playing video games, watching movies, and singing.
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