Wild Kratts (stylized as WILD KRATTS) is an American-Canadian educational children's animated series created by Chris and Martin Kratt. The Kratt Brothers Company and 9 Story Media Group produce the show, which is presented by PBS in the United States. The show's aim is to educate children about biology, zoology, and ecology, and teach kids small ways to make big impacts.
The show is broadcast in the US, Canada, Latin America, Australia, Spain, UK, Ireland, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, The Netherlands (Dutch dubbed versions as Kratts in het Wild), Middle East, India and Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia in Serbian language.
Plot
The basic plot of an episode is usually to save the animals or an animal from a situation, be it villains, general human influence, or confusion on a baby animal's part. Most episodes focus on villains, but those that do not usually focus on some real world problem, either directly (as seen in "Stuck On Sharks" where Gourmand captured a shark for making shark fin soup) or indirectly through allegory ("Build It Beaver" had the beaver's dam destroyed repeatedly through various means; an allegory for deforestation). Additionally, some episodes aim to change the way a creature is seenâ€"creatures that are usually considered frightening, such as bats and crocodiles.
Along the way, viewers learn about the animals and their lives as the Kratt brothers and the Wild Kratts gang (consisting of the Kratts themselves, Aviva, Koki, and Jimmy) figure out ways to either right wrongs or to get out of the situations they are in. It was stated in an interview that the villains do not learn about the animals and this is why they are always unsuccessful.
Some of their adventures have put them in grave danger or even brought them seconds away from death. In these episodes, it can be just the nature of the mission, or it can be the cause of a villain. Although in only one case ("Platypus Café") did the villain (Gaston Gourmand) actually intend to cause harm to one of the brothers. In the other episodes, the villain had not thought it through (Zach in "Mystery of the Weird Looking Walrus"), or was not aware of the medical risks involved. They also occasionally enlist the help of the Wild Kratts Kids, children who help the Wild Kratts from their home however they can, whether it is moving animals or helping rebuild habitats (some of which are voiced by the children of the Kratt Brothers).
Background and production
Wild Kratts is the latest of the Kratt Brothers' hit television series, preceded by Kratts' Creatures, Zoboomafoo and Be the Creature. Chris is listed as the Executive Producer, and Martin is listed as the Executive Director. It is written by either the Kratts themselves, Eva Almos (who also plays Donita Donata), or Chris Roy. It is filmed in Canada, the United States, and countries around the world. PBS dedicated nearly $500,000 to developing the series.
The show makes use of comedic devices such as slapstick comedy as per their previous kids' shows (Kratt's Creatures and Zoboomafoo). Wild Kratts debuted on January 3, 2011 on most PBS stations and has currently been signed for a fifth season with both PBS and TVOntario. The series currently has 128 episodes, of which not all have been shown.
The show is both animated and live action, featuring a donut sequence that asks "What If?", that sets up the cartoon segment and introduces the focus animal (or focus trait/behaviour if more than one animal is the focus); the principal cartoon show; and a concluding live action segment that sums up the cartoon. The last segment is then followed by additional clips about other animals that somehow relate to the focus animal. International rights were signed by 9 Story in September 2010, with North American rights being held by Kratt Brothers Company.
PBS shows the episodes out of order. The episode "Polar Bears Don't Dance", being the pilot episode, features an animation style different from the rest of the episodes, and was omitted from the first DVD release. It is also directed by Luc Chamberland, who did not direct any subsequent episodes. Foreign countries seem to get future episodes before US and Canadian watchers. The episode "Caracal Minton" was shown in South America before being aired in English. With the exception of the pilot episode, the animation style closely resembles that of Kim Possible, but no animators who work on Wild Kratts have Kim Possible listed in their IMDb profiles.
On October 15, 2012 in the United States and Canada, Season 2 began with 4 episodes but ran out of order. This is the first season to begin with a view of the Earth before the Kratt brothers are shown introducing the audience. This season focused on the Western Hemisphere, including the rainforest, coral reef, temperate woodlands, and the Sonoran Desert.
On October 25, 2012, the Season 1 finale of the show was shown on PBS, along with all other unaired episodes in the following week.
On January 21, 2013, a special in which two Season 2 episodes called "Speaking Dolphinese" and "Blowfish Blowout" was aired. These episodes later aired separately, with "Speaking Dolphinese" airing on February 5, 2013 and "Blowfish Blowout" airing on February 7, 2013 on most stations.
During the second half of May 2013 and the first 4 days of June 2013, some channels like OPB aired episodes differently until the airdate of "Attack of the Tree Eating Aliens". The Season 2 finale, "Groundhog Wake-Up Call", was aired on January 31, 2014.
On April 7, 2014 in the United States and Canada, Season 3 began with 5 episodes, but ran them out of order. This is the second season to begin with a view of the Earth before the Kratt brothers are shown introducing the audience. This will focus on habitats of the Western Hemisphere, such as the jungle and forest habitats of Madagascar, beach and coastal habitats of the Caribbean, prairie or Great Plains habitat of the central United States, ocean habitats of the Caribbean, and the cypress swamp habitat of Florida. On July 7, 2014, "Back in Creature Time" aired. On April 20, 2015 a "Spring Special" aired with episodes such as "Chameleons on Target" and "Lemur Stink Fight". The "Summer Safari" started July 1, 2015 with a "Back in Creature Time" repeat, as well as some Madagascar episodes like "Aye, Aye" "Lemur legs" and other Madagascar episodes that marked the end of Season 3.
Season 4 premiered on July 29, 2015 with "The Last Largest Lobster" and "Stars of the Tides". Some possible Season 4 habitats are Chinese bamboo forests, the Amazon rainforest, the Arctic, and the rocky intertidal zone of the Atlantic Ocean. On November 25, 2015, a holiday special known as "A Creature Christmas" aired on television.
In late April 2016, new season 4 episodes started airing on PBS Kids such as "Box Turtled in" "The other Martins" and "Sea Otter Swim".
Cast
The cast is listed in alphabetical order by the character's last name (when applicable).
Protagonists
Chris
Chris Kratt: himself
Chris is the exact opposite of his brother and the more methodical brother of the two. Unlike Martin, he likes to take his time testing animals' DNA to understand the animals better and save them from the villains. Chris is organized, intellectual, and calm. He is an experienced climber, although in one episode, he falls from a tree and develops acrophobia that later subsides. After this episode, there is a running gag that he falls from a tree unharmed.
Martin
Martin Kratt: himself
Martin likes to give names to animals he finds, allowing the audience to bond with the animal. Martin is more the jokester of the two Kratt brothers. He is also often rushing and impulsive, unlike his younger brother, Chris. Martin is a little disorganized, emotional, and excited but knows when to be serious. In contrast to his brother Chris' climbing skills, Martin is a more experienced swimmer. He also likes to get into the mind of the animal at various times, saying such things as "Be the walrus!" He has a childish heart, due to his fun and humorous nature. He enjoys playing tricks on his brother.
Aviva
Athena Karkanis: Aviva Corcovado
Aviva is the leader of the Tortuga gang, second in command to Chris and Martin. She designs all of the inventions the Kratts use, usually inspired by nature. She is an engineer and inventor. Once she has made up her mind, it takes appealing to her emotions and overwhelming evidence to change it. She is also competitive, rivaling Zach in invention contests, the Kratts, and even nature itself, most notably in "Cheetah Racer", where she bet that she could invent a land vehicle that was faster than a cheetah, although she was proved wrong. Her Creature Power Suit color is purple. For instance, she used this to become a Lawes's parotia in "Birds of a Feather", a groundhog girl in "Groundhog Wake Up Call", a Thompson's gazelle in "The Amazing Creature Race", and a giant female preying mantis to humiliate Zach in "Praying Mantis."
Jimmy Z
Jonathan Malen: Jimmy Z
Appearance: orange hair, blue eyes. Always wears a gray short-sleeved shirt with a video game character emblazoned on the front over a long-sleeved shirt and plaid shorts. He also wears a green baseball cap backward. He has a sparse goatee growing in.
Jimmy is the Shaggy Rogers-inspired pilot of Tortuga HQ. Jimmy Z is not as knowledgeable about animals as the rest of the Wild Kratts crew are. He is shown to be nervous. He cannot live without his game controller, which he uses to teleport items and Creature Power Disks to the Kratts when they are on their adventures. He sometimes helps Aviva with inventions by handing her the items she needs as she works, and usually has hilarious results when he helps her test the prototype, as when they were testing bioluminesce and his hair turned green in the episode "Fireflies." He does not have a creature power suit, but his creature pod color and scuba gear both are orange. He becomes afraid easily.
Koki
Heather Bambrick: Koki
Appearance: black hair, brown eyes. She wears yellow pants and a reddish maroon shirt with black sleeves that has a yellow star emblazoned on the front. She has pierced earrings.
Koki works on the computer database of the Tortuga HQ, researching animals for the brothers, and often uses the computer to track the villains via satellite. She manages the communications system of the Tortuga, keeping in touch with Chris and Martin throughout their missions. She sometimes receives signals from other people who want to communicate with the Wild Kratts, and intercepts signals sent by the villains to one another. She is not afraid to speak her mind and tell the truth as she sees it. She is easily grossed out, however, and had trouble researching the Tasmanian devils in the "Tazzy Chris" episode. Her Creature Power Suit color is brown, as shown in the episodes "When Fish Fly", "A Creature Christmas", and "The Amazing Creature Race."
Antagonists
To foil the villains, one brother usually acts as a distraction while the other saves the animals. Other episodes have them outsmart the villains in some way. Sometimes the plot deals with one brother being captured by the villain (usually with the element of surprise on the villain's part, but sometimes due to poorly thought-out plans by the brothers themselves), and the other has to rescue him. Until "Birds of a Feather", when Aviva was kidnapped, none of the other crew members was captured by a villain without one of the Kratts present.
There are only six villains in the show, the most prominent being Zachary Varmitech. Donita Donata and her henchman Dabio are the second most recurring villain, with Gaston Gourmand being featured in some episodes. Paisley Paver and her intern Rex are the newest villains in the series. Some episodes feature none of the villains, however, and the primary focus is on the wildlife, its habitat, or its behavior. It is presumed that the Wild Kratts sometimes hand them in to the government offscreen so they do not cause any more mayhem to the animal kingdom, but they always escape either in panic, revenge plans, or defeat.
Zach Varmitech
Zachary Bennett: "Zach" Varmitech
Appearance: black hair, green eyes. He always wears a black turtleneck sweater and gray jeans. He has a small goatee. He has extremely pale (some say white) skin. In a flashback to his childhood, he was seen with a normal skin tone, freckles, and braces. In "Polar Bears Don't Dance", his eyes were shown to be a lighter green than in subsequent episodes. In "Mystery of the Weird Looking Walrus", Aviva says that he has six toes on his left foot, but in another episode he was depicted with five toes.
Zach is a robotics inventor with a vocal impression of Gilbert Gottfried, who has a rivalry with both Aviva and the Kratt brothers. He grew up alongside the Kratts and met Aviva at summer camp. He claims to be the world's greatest mind. He tries to develop hotels and vacation spots all over the world by controlling creatures' minds and using them as workers. His plans are always foiled by the Kratt Brothers. He almost always screams when he sees an animal, hinting that he has a fear of all animals. He does not know much about the animals he captures, often mispronouncing their names. Zach usually calls Martin "Blue Boy", especially when Martin is in his creature power suit. As a running gag, he calls the Kratts "Wild Ratts", with the Kratts usually correcting him.
Chris and Martin’s rivalry with Zach is surprisingly friendly and comedic, due to the Kratt brothers’ forgiving nature, even though Zach has tried to kill them several times throughout the series. He is always designing robots, usually around animals. His most frequently seen invention is the Zachbot. Although he has a house in a neighborhood, he also has a skyscraper located in New York City (as seen in "Falcon City"). This skyscraper is where the Zachbots are produced. When traveling long distances, he uses his jet. Otherwise, he usually rides on the shoulders of a Zachbot.
He is scared of the dark (as seen in "Platypus Cafe"). He gains fear of animals such as moon rats in "The Gecko Effect" and a Gila monster in "Gila Monster Under My House." His favorite soup is tomato soup, as shown in "Skunked", when he smelled it and ordered a Zachbot to retrieve it, even though it chases him when he was sprayed. In most episodes, Zach attempts to commit acts of crime, including piracy, in "The Gecko Effect", "Race for the Hippo Disc", and "Skunked"; portable hacking in "Creature Power Challenge"; attempted breaking and entering in "Bandito: The Black-Footed Ferret"; and skyjacking in "Osprey", and he acts like a hacker in "Mosquito Dragon." He also attempts to get rid of the Kratts along with Donita and Gourmand in "Under Frozen Pond."
Sometimes Zach calls animals various names just because he doesn't know what they are. For instance, he calls a polar bear "Sasquatch" in "Polar Bears Don't Dance", the walruses "Seal Thingies" in "The Mystery of the Weird Looking Walrus", the hippopotamuses "Pig Thingies", and the tadpoles "Fish Thingies" in "Aqua Frog."
Donita Donata
Eva Almos: Donita Donata
Appearance: brown hair, golden eyes. She wears a red collared shirt with various colored dots adorning it and 70s-style waist-high pants. She keeps her hair styled in a braid.
Donita Donata is a fashionista and is always setting trends. She travels in a pink jumbo jet and a pink boat with a pool and a lounge chair, and is never without the best comforts life can afford. Her main purpose is her clothing line, Donita Donata's Live Jewelry of Nature. She uses a paralyzing beam to freeze animals alive and sell them as jewelry or clothing. Some viewers have raised the point that the animals are still fully conscious while paralyzed. She calls Chris "Chrisangelo" and Martin "Martino." However, Aviva and Jimmy also call Martin "Martino" sometimes.
Dabio
Cory Doran: Dabio
Appearance: blond hair, blue eyes. He is usually seen wearing a sea-green shirt and white pants, and is extremely muscular.
Kronk-inspired Dabio is treated as a servant and fails in the simplest of tasks. He is portrayed as unintelligent to the point that he cannot function alone. He does whatever Donita tells him to do. He hardly ever speaks except to say, "Yes, Donita", and when he does, he comes across as childlike. He tries to help Donita design her fashions, but she is unsatisfied with his suggestions. Due to his perceived low intelligence, he is extremely patient and cheerful, even under Donita's dictating ways.
Gaston Gourmand
Zachary Bennett: Gaston Gourmand
Appearance: shaved head, green eyes. He almost always wears a typical chef outfit (black pants, white button up jacket, puffy white hat).
Gourmand is a specialty chef with a heavy Southern accent. He cooks and serves only endangered animals (except in the episode "Honey Seekers" he says that he once served an endangered mushroom salad), which has caused him to lose his chef's license and to be fired from his gourmet cooking job. He can pair up foods with the perfect spices by smell alone. In "Honey Seekers", he says he never cooks the same dish twice. He travels in a camper that features a fold-out restaurant, accessed by pulling a wire (although in "Stuck on Sharks", "Hermit Crab Shell Exchange", and "The Last Largest Lobster" he was depicted to be in possession of a boat featuring a built-in kitchen). When it folds out, it reveals an outdoor restaurant on a deck complete with full kitchen, at least one table, and chairs. He prefers to cook his patron's meals in front of them, and charges a heavy price for it. He also has a jet, seen in the episodes "Raptor Roundup" and "To Touch a Hummingbird." In "Platypus Cafe", he hinted at cannibalism. He calls the Kratt brothers names based on their favorite colors: Chris has been called "Green Grape", "Green Bean", and "Green Pea", while Martin suffers with "Blueberry."
Shabio
Cory Doran: Shabio
Shabio is Dabio's ancestor and Shonita's henchman, who appears in "Back in Creature Time, Part 2: Tasmanian Tiger." He lived in the 1800s. He is an Australian/English assistant sheep farmer. He helps Shonita with her plan to wipe out the Tasmanian tigers so that she can build a fashion clothing factory that makes clothing out of the wool of her sheep.
Animals
Tools and gadgets
- The device most often used is the Creature Power Suit, that take Creature Power Discs modeled after a creature. On the disc, the creature's DNA is coded onto the disc, and the disc is inserted into a slot just behind the activation button. An actual DNA sample is required from the animal to activate; the source of the DNA is not important and has varied. Simply touching the animal is enough; they do not have to gather materials from the animal (such as hair or feathers). When activated, the Creature Power Suit transforms the user into a clone of that animal, allowing the Kratts access to the animal's abilities (but also their disadvantages). To turn off the Creature Power Suits, they need only to press the button again, and they will return to human form (unless the button is jammed or inaccessible).
The button is arranged in the form of a three toed paw, with the activation button being the main paw pad, and three smaller buttons being the toe pads. There are vests with gloves and slip on over the Kratts' usual clothing. They also have boots that have the activation logo on them. The vests themselves are black, but the buttons are colored â€" Martin's are blue and Chris' are green, keeping with tradition from the Kratts' older shows (Martin has always worn blue, and Chris has always worn green).
There has been an inconsistency with the way the power suits work, as they have been shown to activate with and without discs (or with a disc from a creature somewhat related to another, such activating the gharial crocodile disc with African crocodile DNA), with a button (standard) or vocally (happened once), and with primary DNA (from the physical animal) or secondary DNA (from one activated power suit to another). Also, it does not matter how the button gets pressed, and the buttons are very sensitive.
This has been played for laughs in some episodes â€" Chris tripped over a walrus and fell on the activation button, causing the suit to transform; once accidentally leaned on his activation button and a pigeon pecked his nose, causing the suit to activate; Gourmand once deactivated Chris' suit by hitting the button with a ball of pastry dough; a Tasmanian devil bit the button to his suit, causing it to activate without a disc, and causing a malfunction where he uncontrollably transformed between a Tasmanian devil form and his human form; and a blue jay once pecked Martin's activation button while he was holding an acorn, causing a malfunction where he turned into an acorn, was buried, and grew into a tree. In the episode "Elephant In The Room", Thornsley played with the Tortuga and wrecked the entire jet. In the episode "Kerhonk", both of the Kratts fell down and hit a tree that activates the Creature Power Suits. In the episode "Zig-Zagged", the Kratt brothers talked about their malfunctions in "Tazzy Chris" and "The Blue And The Gray". In the episode "Creature Power Challenge", Zach sent his latest invention, the disrupt-o-bots to the Kratt Brothers' Creature Power Suits, turning them into various creatures in wrong kinds and wrong places. In "Happy Turkey Day", Martin lost all of his tail feathers during the adventure to stop Gourmand and to protect the turkeys and in the same episode, Gourmand dumped gravy on Chris's suit so he can't activate his turkey suit again. In "To Touch A Hummingbird", the Kratt Brothers tried to touch a hummingbird with their harpy eagle and spider monkey creature powers, but they both crashed to each other which causes weird deactivation. In "Speaking Dolphinese", Martin's too scared during the shark attack so the shark attacked his Creature Power Suit and he lost his dolphin creature power disk and has to be human for the rest of the adventure. In "Attack Of The Tree Eating Aliens", Chris felt very weird when he has woodpecker powers. When he pecked, he got out of control and fell, leaving him deactivating and feeling dizzy.
- Usually, they travel the world using high-tech gadgets, but some episodes focus on Canada or North America. When traveling globally, they use the Tortuga, which is a turtle-shaped aircraft that provides the team temporary shelter while away. It also serves as their base camp and laboratory. It uses solar power as its main energy source. (The Tortuga, when featured in the second season, has a different design and new features such as a head that can shrink into its 'shell' when in danger (like a real turtle does) and a sunroof, although this was unofficial since in 'Raptor Round-Up' Gourmand was taken upwards by the sunroof, but it was later announced in 'Bad Hair Day' by Koki and Aviva that it was a sunroof.) Otherwise, they use creature power (the animals' innate abilities), the Createrra (a Jeep-like vehicle with James Bond style transformations), buzz bikes (motorcycles that hover instead of travel on wheels), or other means.
Jimmy Z has a teleporter which the Wild Kratts Crew uses to send Creature power disks to Chris and Martin. An elephant that the Kratt brothers rescued teleported Jimmy's sandwich in the episode "Elephant in the Room".
- They also use the miniaturizer to shrink themselves and some vehicles to creature size in order to travel with the animal directly, although the power suits usually "creature size" (automatically shrink or enlarge the user to the target animal's size) the brothers. It is also portable, it can shrink small enough to fit in one's pocket when not in use, and expands to full size when needed.
List of episodes
Error
In the episode "Tenrec Treaure Hunt", Aviva says that the mouth of a river is where it begins, yet the mouth of a river is actually its terminus.
Broadcast
Wild Kratts airs on PBS Kids in the US. In Canada it is shown on TVO Kids in Ontario, Knowledge Kids in British Columbia, and Tele-Quebec/Le Skwat in Quebec. In Australia is shown on GO!. It is also available on Netflix in the US and UK. In United Kingdom is shown on POP.
DVD releases
Creature Adventures - April 5, 2011
- "Mom of a Croc"
- "Whale of a Squid"
- "Aardvark Town"
- "Flight of the Draco"
- "Mystery of the Squirmy Wormy"
- "Platypus Café"
- "Build It Beaver"
- "Voyage of the Butterflier XT"
- "Honey Seekers"
- "Bass Class"
Predador Power - March 20, 2012
- "Stuck on Sharks"
- "Mimic in the Grass"
- "Little Howler"
- "Raptor Roundup"
Jungle Animals - July 10, 2012
- "Walk on the Wetside"
- "A Huge Orange Problem"
- "Birds of a Feather"
- "Googly-Eye: The Night Guru"
Lost at Sea - January 22, 2013
- "Speaking Dolphinese"
- "Blowfish Blowout"
Rainforest Rescue - April 9, 2013
- "Rainforest Stew"
- "Shadow: The Black Jaguar"
Bugging Out - February 25, 2014
- "Secrets of the Spider's Web"
- "Attack of the Tree-Eating Aliens"
Tiny Trouble - June 10, 2014
- "Termites vs. Tongues"
- "Bugs or Monkeys?"
Shark-Tastic! - April 14, 2015
- "Octopus Wildkratticus"
- "Tortuga Tune Up"
- "Speaking Dolphinese"
- "Stuck on Sharks"
Super Sprinters - June 23, 2015
- "Falcon City"
- "Cheetah Racer"
Australian Adventures - January 6, 2016
- "Koala Balloon"
- "Kickin' It With the 'Roos"
- "Platypus Café"
Wild Animal Babies - May 3, 2016
- "Elephant in the Room"
- "Bad Hair Day"
- "Zig-Zagged"
- "Let the Rhinos Roll!"
Wild Reptiles - August 23, 2016
- "The Gecko Effect"
- "Crocogator Contest"
- "Rattlesnake Crystal"
- "Chameleons on Target"
A Creature Christmas - October 4, 2016
References
External links
- Wild Kratts at the Internet Movie Database
- Wild Kratts on TVO Kids
- PBS Kids official site
- Discovery Kids Asia
- Wild Kratts on POP
- Wild Kratts at Super3
- Wild Kratts at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- [1]
- [2] on [TVO Parents]