Did you know I dig Wonder Pets? Maybe it's post-writer's-strike desperation talking (“What's on the DVR tonight, honey?” “Um, looks like Wonder Pets, Blue's Clues, Backyardigans, Thomas, and House Hunters.” “OK, whattaya got for us tonight, Suzanne?”), but I might like it even more than Nate. Heck, I'm not even sure its creator, Josh Selig, likes Wonder Pets as much as I do. So when writing a story for my magazine about a recruiting partnership between two local hospitals, I'm not going to pass up this easy opportunity:
I'm also not going to pass up a chance at a top-10 list. I've seen 49 of the 52 segments that have aired to date, but Little Airplane shows no sign of slowing down production, so I might have to revisit this someday. Until then, here are my favorites:
10. Save the Three Little Pigs
WOLF: “Little pig, little pig, let me in!”
PIG: “Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!”
TUCK: “His chin isn’t so hairy.”
LINNY: “I think it’s just an expression, Tuck.”
Yeah, they bring the snark in this episode, one of the more wink-wink adventures in the gang’s career (More Tuck: “OK, Little Pig #3, flowers are not gonna work”). But an irritable, fairly edgy wolf with a taste for guinea pig, turtle, and duckling (is that the voice of Ollie the bunny, by the way?) keeps it ever-so-slightly-threatening for the wee ones.
9. Save the Tree
Wonder Pets meets Holmes on Homes. Featuring the most distinctive music in the WP canon — a breezy, jazzy theme that would not be out of place on a ’70s urban drama, minus the singing animals — this redecoration of an abandoned big-city garden attracts a bevy of helpful critters, including two dogs, who clearly took care of their business before the opening credits (see #6). Watch for a priceless, split-second double take from Ming-Ming and Tuck when Linny initially admits she doesn’t know how to save a tree; it’s one of the series’ most subtle moments. I swear, if Linny ever kicks it, the other two will have to find new careers, because they are lost without her.
8. Save the Hermit Crab
Wonder Pets meets Design on a Dime. Sporting a less offensive Mexican accent than Bounce from Miss Spider, this cute little baby crab, suddenly shell-less, is threatening to wither and die from direct sun exposure … and Ming-Ming couldn’t give a baby rat’s ass. Because she’s on vacation. That Linny apparently paid for. The crab eventually gets a makeshift, kitschily decorated shell, and there are touching moments of gratitude and tenderness throughout … but exactly none of them from the duck.
7. Save the Sheep
Normally, I don’t mind the toybox dress-up moments on the way to the flyboat, because the animals-in-trouble-somewhere typically aren’t in seconds-to-live danger. Except these sheep, who are probably less than 50 yards from the edge of a Swiss cliff when the gang dresses up like a clock, cheese, and chocolate … and, later, about a first down away from a horrible, graphic death when Linny has everyone try on, and sing about, lederhosen. If this episode had realistic time progression, that song would have gone:
LINNY: “Let’s put on our led-er-hosen!”
TUCK AND MING-MING: “Led-er-who-sen?”
LINNY: “Led-er-ho—”
SHEEP: “BAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…” *crash*
LINNY: *vomits*
TUCK: "Um ... I need a hug."
If it were the Von Trapp family heading for the edge, I’d say, hey, by all means, keep singing and trying on clothes. But those are some pretty cute sheep, so let's step it up a bit.
6. Save the Puppy
Wonder Pets meets A Bunch of Uptight Parents on the Nick Jr. Internet Forum. So it turned out, anyway. I am not an uptight parent, however, so I totally dig watching a bunch of cartoon animals squat and pee — twice. And as for the “pee-pee, wee-wee, tinkle” line, it’s not gratuitious; it’s just including most of the terms that parents might use when potty-training their own kids. It’s not like they’re telling the Long Island puppy to “drain it, take a whiz, urinaaaaate.” Listen, if you're having too much trouble removing that stick, feel free to switch over to Dora. But even then, I make no promises. (“I HAVE TO PEE! WHERE IS MY TOILET? CAN YOU HELP ME FIND MY TOILET? GRACIAS!”)
5. Save the Mouse
Nate walked around for weeks imitating the mouse’s “squeeeeak, squeeeeak” when we first had this saved to the DVR. I didn’t mind watching it a lot, ’cause it’s funny. Linny’s too sick to work, but he has to provide tech support the entire time while a hilariously helpless (and bickering ... what else is new) Tuck and Ming-Ming blow mouse out of a saxophone in the schoolhouse attic. There’s a lovely meta moment for all of us Noggin parents when Ming-Ming encounters a blue cuckoo in a clock and asks, “Excuse me, is your name Pablo?”
4. Ollie to the Rescue
For my money, Ollie the bunny can make guest appearances as many times as he wants to, as long as he’s a little more brain-damaged with each visit. Not content to get sprayed by a skunk in season 1, this time he dons a cape, launches his own rescue squad, and promptly gets lodged along with a squirrel inside a bird feeder, leading to Ming-Ming’s best-ever line, “This … is … hilarious.” But what puts the episode over the top are Ollie’s inanimate rescue partners, and their own little theme song, which begins, “Ollie, Rock, and Mr. Frog too.” Of course, even that isn't enough to spoil Tuck’s non-judgmental streak (“I think Rock is cute”), which, as we know, he abandons only when Ming-Ming is cheerfully breaking his stuff.
3. Save the Caterpillar
Kind of an odd choice, since not much happens during this trip to Greece. But this one’s a keeper for one reason, and that’s the lovely, simple song the inchworm and butterfly sing to each other when the latter emerges from her chrysalis. It goes from heartbreaking (“Want to crawl through some mud?” “Can’t crawl … sorry”) to heart-lifting (“I can’t crawl, but I can fly. Wanna go for a ride?”) in a gut-twisting flash. I have to credit whatever child actors are voicing this pair, because they turn this tentative dance of two delicate psyches into something that shimmers. Oh, shut up. I'm not made of stone.
2. Save the Chimp
This is the single funniest episode in the whole series, thanks to the sheer heights of nuttiness scaled by Ming-Ming (“It’s my spacesuit!”), in what I consider Danica Lee’s best voice performance outside of her showcase episode, “Save the Duckling.” Give yourself over to an insane world where launching chimps into space — and losing them there — is apparently a commonplace pastime for NASA, and where bananas stay edible indefinitely. And if you’re not a fan of the overconfident duck, hear your chest thump as she comes within inches of being blown to fuzzy yellow bits by a relentless asteroid. Houston, we have a very special episode. Almost.
1. Save the Pangaroo
I knew this would be high on the list after first catching it a week or two ago, but it hasn’t left our DVR since, and I can’t think of an episode I like more. In this tale of a two-dimensional children’s drawing (part parrot, part kangaroo) who gets stuck in the trashcan, the rescue happens early on, but the gang’s main task is to find the ever-so-pretentious Pangaroo a home in one of the pieces of art on the classroom walls. They eventually paint him a home and, when he’s lonely, a companion: a butterdeer (whose wings are also very delicate). The meeting of the two friends in their new home is very touching, and the music throughout, bouyant and more contemporary than usual, ranks with the most listenable scores in the Wonder Pets canon. But the episode saves the best for last: in a striking bit of animation, all the classroom artwork comes alive to serenade the squad with a lovely, mellow take on the show’s theme song. If it’s meant to evoke childlike wonder, I can vouch that it works, because Nate always stops what he’s doing to gaze softly at the screen and sing along. As for me? I like it. This will certainly do.