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Category:    Home > Reviews > Children > Television > Travel > Animation > Puppets > Rabbits > Dora The Explorer – Dora’s Slumber Party + Max & Ruby – Everybunny Loves Winter + SpongeBob Squarepants – 10 Happiest Moments (Nickelodeon DVDs) + Fraggle Rock – Scared Silly (Jim Henson/Lionsgate DVD

Dora The Explorer – Dora’s Slumber Party + Max & Ruby – Everybunny Loves Winter + SpongeBob Squarepants – 10 Happiest Moments (Nickelodeon DVDs) + Fraggle Rock – Scared Silly (Jim Henson/Lionsgate DVD)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C (D on Max)     Episodes: C+

 

 

The latest round of children’s DVD singles we want to look at are from two different companies and sensibilities.  Three come from Nickelodeon and involve three of their animated series, while the other is a Jim Henson Muppet production that shows different sensibilities in approaching children’s entertainment.

 

Dora The Explorer – Dora’s Slumber Party is the only one of the animated shows that talk directly to the audience throughout its six episodes, which is the idea of breaking the fourth wall to encourage child viewers to directly participate, something we get to a lesser extent on and only on Fraggle Rock – Scared Silly, their Halloween entry with three related episodes.  Fraggle is further away from Sesame Street than Dora, but both are meant to entertain and enrich the viewer.

 

That leaves Max & Ruby – Everybunny Loves Winter and SpongeBob Squarepants – 10 Happiest Moments, which are more traditional in approach (watch and get lost in the stories of the other characters) and are just as effective in taking that approach.  The SpongeBob disc is essentially a best of set, while Max is a charming, basic DVD with 12 adventures in four episodes that work as well as anything here.

 

That I did not dislike any of them says something about their quality, though Fraggle never totally worked for me and all are hits.  Adult collectors want whole season box sets, but little hands can only hold so much so these singles will continue to be produced no matter what.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image has some aliasing errors and smaller flaws in each set, but all look good enough for the format and Fraggle is the only one definitely produced in low definition NTSC analog videotape.  Each also has Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo and they all sound just fine, no matter what their age.  All but Max have extras, including bonus episodes of other shows in the case of SpongeBob (the Help Wanted pilot) and Fraggle (an animated Fraggle installment and Henson’s Animal Show episode), with Fraggle adding a sing-a-long and Dora only offering more teaching extras.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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