Mack
& Moxy: The Great Helpee Heroes (2016/NCircle DVD)/Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles: Beyond the Known Universe (2016/Nickelodeon
DVD)
Picture:
C+/B- Sound: C+/B- Extras: D/C- Episodes: C+/B+
Here
are two of the latest children's titles for you to know about.
Mack
& Moxy: The Great Helpee Heroes
(2016) is the latest new series where humans interact with non-human
characters, but in this case it is the likes of the title characters
(actors always in the character outfits) that will remind many of
such TV shows going back to The
Banana Splits
and New
Zoo Review.
We get four main tales (though expect promos for the organizations
the show supports to be on these copies of the show), running 75
minutes in all, with (as the title of this collection indicates) is
helping other in need. Though we've seen some of this before, I was
impressed at how ambitiously and explicitly the show teaches the
meaning of help with its urgency.
I
wished this were longer, but it is a really good introductory
collection worth your time and yes, it is very child-friendly and
intelligent. Can't wait to see where this franchise goes, including
character development. There are no extras.
Now
for a look at Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles: Beyond the Known Universe,
a new adventure with adversaries you may not have heard of.
The
Triceratons are a race of alien dinosaurs race that believe anything
is worth destroying the Kraang aliens, including destroying the Earth
and here, they have destroyed the Earth. Only at the last second the
Turtles were rescued by the mysterious android Fugitoid. Now, they
travel through space and back in time to stop Triceratons from ever
finding and building the Black Hole Generator. But in order to find
the 3 pieces of the generator, they'll have to travel from one end of
the galaxy to the next.
Along with Casey Jones and April, the
Turtles were able to travel 6 month back in time with their new
friend Fugitoid. But now, they face and find new allies and enemies
all across the galaxy.
Just when you thought TMNT
can't get anymore epic, the story continues on with alien
dinosaur/insect races, time travel and star ships. It seems like
there are no limits to where the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles can do
or go, now they have to save the Earth and bring peace to the entire
galaxy. Extras include TMNT: Kicking Shells and Taking Names.
Episodes
are...
Beyond
the Known Universe
- The Turtles travel with Fugitoid to another planet, only to meet
the evil Lord Dregg.
The
Moons of Thalos
- The Turtles travel to an ice planet to fix their ship and meet the
Salamandarians. Raphael falls in love with Mona.
The
Weird World of Wyrm
- The Turtles investigate a ghost spaceship with an evil space
genie.
The
Outlaw Armaggon
- The Turtles are hunted down by a bounty hunting space shark.
The
Riddle of the Ancient Aeons
- The Turtles search for the first fragment of the Black Hole
Generator on a planet where a mysterious powerful race once
lived.
Journey
to the Center of Mikey's Mind
- The Turtles must enter and save Mikey's mind when his mind gets
invaded by nano robots.
The
Arena of Carnage
- The Turtles get captured and thrown into the Triceraton's battle
arena. They escape with help from an unexpected ally.
The
War for Dimension X
- The Turtles meet the Utroms and learn there are good Kraangs as
well as bad.
The
Cosmic Ocean
- The Turtles must prove themselves to an alien queen they are worthy
of receiving the second piece of the Black Hole
Generator.
Trans-Dimensional
Turtles
- The Turtles meet Turtles from the '80s and the original Ninja
Turtles.
Revenge
of the Triceratons
- Donatello must fix Fugitoid when he gets broken by the
Triceratons.
The
Evil of Dregg
- The Salamandarians are forced to betray and fight the Turtles by
Lord Dregg.
Both
DVD releases offer anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 images and lossy
Dolby Digital, everything that looks good, decent and consistent on
Moxy
is going to be a notch better on the animated Turtles
as they have more money in the production. However, that is what we
expected and they look and sound as good as we expected them to here.
-
Nicholas Sheffo & Ricky Chiang
