Musical Fiesta at Dad's House

I slept in this morning. It was well past noon before I made it over to Dad's with this week's laundry load. No one was home when I arrived, so I put the laundry in the washer and settled down on the soft new carpeting in the den. I ran several different Nickelodeon stations all afternoon, catching various shows.

The first up was Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids. The Haddon Township Library has several DVDs of episodes for this show, but I'd never rented them. As far as I can tell, a pair of spiders (including the title lady) has a very large brood of insect children of various species and teach them the ins and outs of a bug's life. In the first episode, one of the boys bring home a tiny mushroom, despite being told that spores could get into their tree home and grow everywhere. When mushrooms start invading Sunny Patch, he worries that it's his fault.

The second story was very sweet. An Australian lifeguard cricket whose job requires flight is devastated when a windstorm permanently damages one of his wings. I really liked how, instead of suddenly finding a way to fix the broken wing, the Miss Spider and her brood look for other ways for their Aussie friend to fly. I really enjoyed this episode and may have to try some of those DVD sets now.

Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go! both revolved around music. Dora, Boots, and their buddies travel to a small town that was about to have a musical fiesta...until Senior Shush took their instruments and locked them in a box. The box can only be opened when music is played, which brings in the kids and their adorable mini-orchestra. Diego and a pair of red-eyed tree frogs gather various animals from their homes and invite them to help with the Rainforest Concert his older sister Alicia is preparing for.

The next one was the brand-new version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I'd only vaguely heard about this until yesterday, when I saw some of the action figures at the Happy Hippo. Most of the story seems to be the same. The Turtles are still four hip-talkin' teen mutants who live in the sewers under New York City with their rat mentor Splinter. Shredder is still a metal-covered villain who is backed by his band of Foot Soldiers.

Quite a few things have changed in the decade since the second, darker comics-based version debuted. The biggest change is April O'Neal, who was a reporter in the original and a tech geek in 2003, is now a teen not much younger than the Turtles who is looking for her father. And Krang, the pink alien brain who was the sarcastic main villain for most of the 80s series, seems to have multiplied into a whole race of genius pink alien brains in robotic suits. Oh yes, and this is in CGI...but CGI that's made to mimic both the feel of the comics and the anime that's become popular in the US. Characters get little rectangles over their heads when they're surprised, and tiny hearts around their heads when they're in love.

In this episode, Donatello, the mechanically-minded Turtle, is tired of the Krang aliens always managing to get around his staff. He creates a small but very well-stocked robot turtle he calls Metalhead to replace him in battle. That's all well and fine...until one of the Krangs get a hold of the machinery. Meanwhile, a restless April takes off in an attempt to find out more about her missing father.

I really liked it. The tone seems to be somewhere between the goofy 80s show and the tough 2003 incarnation. Raphael is sarcastic, there are jokes and wisecracks and spoofs, and Michelangelo is still a bit of a ditz...but the villains, including the Krangs, are a genuine threat. Love the new design for Splinter - he looks so regal. I'll have to look for more of this on Nick's site.

Of course, the biggest star at Nick is Spongebob Squarepants. Spongebob is Nickelodeon's numeral-uno, constantly-run cash-cow franchise. The trouble with Spongebob is, though the show is funny in small doses, it loses its charm and gets annoying quickly when seen in succession. I kept it to a very strange early episode about Spongebob falling in love with a Krabby Patty he'd made at work. No, really in love. He takes it on "dates" and treats it like a woman...at least until Squidward and Mr. Krabs point out that "she" is starting to smell a little nasty...

I had just enough time to get home, run some Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and get ready for work. In the double-length episode that opens the set, Peter Pan returns after exploring Neverland...but he's lost his shadow and his ability to fly in the process. The kids have to rescue his shadow from Hook and his crew and try to improve the gloomy Peter's mood. Other episodes involve the kids learning to not look a gift elephant in the mouth and pursuing a puppy who has run off with Hook's shoe.

One of the managers called me right before I went to Dad's and asked me if I wanted to come in an hour early. No problem. The laundry was the only thing I needed to get done today; I had no other plans, and I could use the extra hour. As it turned out, it probably wouldn't have mattered if I came in early or not. We were steady with rush-hour customers when I came in, quiet as can be when I left.

It had been damp and cloudy all day. It was sprinkling lightly when I got out of work. The rain was just starting to pick up as I made my way into Oaklyn. It thankfully waited to come down harder until I was already at home and online.