Should They Watch It?
Should They Watch It?
Ep. 57: Spirit Riding Free
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This week, Laura and Kara discuss the horse-loving mega-franchise, Spirit Riding Free. Are there any potential issues with this series? The internet seems to think so and the ladies are digging in to see if they agree! But first, Kara's voice is currently heard in one of the top movies in the country...but is everyone impressed? (Not exactly) Tune in to this week's podcast to learn more!
The views and opinions expressed by the should they watch it podcast are those of two moms who happen to be a registered play therapist and a voice actor for cartoons. So while they may feel their opinions come from a knowledgeable place, they are still in fact just opinions. Should they watch it? A podcast that takes the task of reviewing your kid's favorite shows up your to do list Hey there everyone and welcome to the should they watch it podcast I'm Cara Edward and
Laura Orr:I'm Laura Orr.
Kara Edwards:Are we jumping straight into the for one? That's one of the rare times that I get excited about the theme song because it's been stuck in my head for so long now. It is a good one. Are you ready? I'm ready. I'm going to write I'm writing free within me Yay. Yay. Oh my gosh, this this this song gets stuck. I literally keep walking around the house. I'm gonna ride and Michael's like, Stop. Just stop at mom. And I'm like, I can't I can never stop this one. No, it is such a good one.
Laura Orr:This is an ever evolving song constantly changing singers. And just like the lifecycle of the butterfly. We don't really know why it evolves. It just keeps evolving, keeps evolving. This song is performed by Cari Kimmel and seasons one and two Maisy Stella in season three and four. Oh, then Prue Abigail and lucky take a stab at it in seasons five and six in ponytails. But we aren't just here to talk about this default indecisive
Kara Edwards:that is amazing and also shows you because you and I started singing different verses so it's that song is all over the
Laura Orr:place. We're all over the place this song is all over the place. Put on your stirrups because we are talking about spirit riding free it's
Kara Edwards:specifically spirit riding free because my goodness is this a franchise? We've got movies we've got spin off series we've got a movie that this whole thing started from maybe kind of ish but I'm not so sure totally. So gonna take your own adventure. Yeah, there's a lot going on with spirit but we specifically are just on the first series spirit writer
Laura Orr:writing free. But before we do that, how the heck are you Kara? You
Kara Edwards:know what I'm doing pretty darn Okay, so I have a cameo a voice cameo in a little movie that came out recently. And we record this podcast about a week before it airs. So as of this exact moment that we are recording this movie is the number one movie in the United
Laura Orr:States. How's it feel cared? It's
Kara Edwards:surreal I'm not gonna lie like it was really fun. Like my mom went to the theater and saw it and loved it and I and we went and we of course went and saw it and it's great and I'm I'm talking about Dragon Ball Super superheroes. And I've always Fidel in the movie and I have voiced Fidel for 23 years and various series and movies and what have you. This is my fourth theatrical release in the Dragon Ball franchise. My sixth theatrical release overall. oh nine. This is the first one to ever go. Number one. We broke a 23 year old record for the highest grossing first day for an anime we beat Pokeyman Whoa, three year old record
Laura Orr:you could chew is pissed right now? That's a big one. Because Pokemon is a huge yeast. That is an app that is a series franchise that we have been avoiding. Yeah, cuz it's scary because of how big it
Kara Edwards:is. Yeah, no, this is a really big deal. Like I do. Silva before the movie came out. I dress elbow was all over Twitter like begging people to go see his movie because he was so worried about our movie beating his Yeah. And like, that's very real. And nitro Silva is this amazing person, a beast of her does a fantastic movie. But I was like, we have to. We have to do this. And then we did like we buy a lot. We didn't like a little bit beat him. We like double beat them.
Laura Orr:There was it was the number the gap was large as the Grand Canyon. It was huge.
Kara Edwards:And it was and I remember like on Monday morning, like waking up and realizing like we really did it. We really have the number one movie and like, this franchise is so huge, and everybody's going to see this movie. And we're driving to school. And I'm telling Michael like, dude, when your teachers ask you like when your friends are asking you what you did this weekend, like you can tell them you went and heard your mom in the movie theater in the number one movie in the United States. And he looks at me and goes now good. It's cool. He's like, he didn't want to go and impress. He loves it. Like he keeps asking me different things about the movie. Like why did this happen? I mean, he was so into this movie. He wants to know everything Dragon Ball, we're gonna start this series together. But then I'm like, you know, that was me. And he's like, Yeah, anyways, so what I really want to know is
Laura Orr:he is not impressed by you ever,
Kara Edwards:like Windows fighters gaming and came out and I'm like, Dude, you can literally, you can have me as a character fighting me as a character. You can literally have me as go tanks fighting me as Fidel in fighters and he was like, Yeah, I don't really want to do that, that boom monsters really cool. He's had enough of you. It's been so unimpressed with me.
Laura Orr:He doesn't care that reminds me so much of. There's like pictures that you'll see every once in a while of celebrities and their kids in a situation similar to that. And so one of them that sticks out for me is Kristen Bell. And her daughter. I want to say it was for Halloween, but I could be wrong about that they could have just been dressing up. But Kristen Bell voices Ana and the frozen, guys, and her daughter loves Elsa. And so there was a picture of like Kristen Bell just looking so disappointed that her daughter chose to dress as Elsa.
Kara Edwards:That's really so true. It's so funny. And sure enough, the first teacher we walked up and they were like, Monday morning like Michael, how was your weekend? And he's like, I went rollerskating for the first time. And I'm like, and you saw your mom and the number one movie in the internet? No, nobody knows. Nobody cares. Kids are
Laura Orr:really good at bringing us down a peg for sure.
Kara Edwards:Life is like I gotta tell you kinda like you can have these huge things going on. And like, it doesn't change anything. Ever. You know. And like roller skating has been this big thing in our house for some reason the past like five days because we went to a roller skating party. And so the kids were so psychotically into it. Immediately. We bought them roller skates. I used to be really serious about rollerblading. I used to teach inline skating when I was in high school in college. Like I was a serious inline skater like you would see me flying down the street. And you taught it I did like I was serious about my inline skating and I have had these skates. For for 25 years. I have had the same pair of skates. Okay, and I could not wait to put these skates on with my kid and be like mom was good. Mom is gonna finally impress you watch this. This is gonna be so great. Do you know that those daggone skates fell apart? Like they literally disintegrated as I started skating, like pieces of plastic were falling onto the skating rink. It's so symbolic.
Laura Orr:It's just so symbolic of like that stupid movie. Never just like caught our confidence in ourselves. Yeah, appealing. Just falling our sense of like,
Kara Edwards:of, you know, self. It's like my streets alone where like you are 45 years old. What are you doing putting on 25 year old skates have retired. I have done with you woman like literally I all of a sudden I'm like, Why didn't my ankles feel so unsafe? Why does it feel like I'm wearing flip flops with wheels? Oh, because I'm literally littering plastic.
Laura Orr:Oh, my gosh, you're like took them out of the retirement. And it was like, I'm not doing this. But
Kara Edwards:they will they are now permanently retired in a landfill somewhere far far.
Laura Orr:Whereas they should be. Back to you teaching in line skating. Yeah, quick. Okay. So,
Kara Edwards:this is more important than having the number one. Okay, go ahead. Go ahead. Congratulations.
Laura Orr:No, but did you teach like advanced skills? Or was it just like no,
Kara Edwards:I taught beginners? Nope. I taught. I taught like first people ever putting on a pair of skates. And that's why it's been really frustrating for me, because as Mike was in
Laura Orr:my head, Kara. You were teaching them tricks? No, I
Kara Edwards:just know how to like backwards skating. Yes. Yeah, you did. I do. Teach? Yes, I did.
Laura Orr:What about the thing? Could you do anything? Were you running and going batted on one foot and ducked down with your other leg pointing I
Kara Edwards:was this was for real. This was this was like the parkour of inline skating. This was like getting through a park and the high speed this wasn't this wasn't looking good at a at a rink
Laura Orr:with the disco light on now. Oh, it's real this sorry.
Kara Edwards:I could. So that's actually no it actually yeah, we used to do some racing. Yes, fascinating.
Laura Orr:But it was. But Michael doesn't care about that either. I'm sorry, Kara. Nobody. It's just, it's a fine. It's fine. I'm trying to think of a time where my kids genuinely showed interest in anything that I did. And I can't they kind of don't write maybe the movies that we used to watch or music that we used to listen to, but as far as like personal stories of achievement, I don't think that they could be any more bored. But like anything? No, yeah, they don't care. Have you
Kara Edwards:ever heard your kids brag about you ever?
Laura Orr:Keep thinking, keep thinking. Not to my face. Not while I was president. Not no. Yeah, no. Yeah. It's fine. Whatever.
Kara Edwards:Like literally somebody like a kid came up to Michael at school and recognized Michael has these little charms on his shoes and running crocs. Yes. Crocs with the little charm. Yeah. So one of the charms he has because I think, I think his dad, like bought it for him or something. But one of the charms he has is from Dragonball Z. And a kid came up, I was like, Oh my gosh, it's Fajita. It's not my character. So know that. He's like, Oh, my gosh, it's Fajita. I know. Vegeta. And so Michaels telling me this story. And I was like, did you tell him that your mom is like one of the big character two of the big characters and drag? And he was like, No, why would I have told him that?
Laura Orr:I think I brag about you more than Michael.
Kara Edwards:I assure if you've ever bragged about me, then you brag about me more than Michael. You don't care. And they don't remember like and they don't remember. Like they it doesn't. They don't
Laura Orr:remember anything that we do for them.
Kara Edwards:Like they doesn't spark any little part of their brain to hear Dragonball Z and be like, Oh, my mom is a part of that. Or yeah, yeah, no, or I did that once upon a time. Like
Laura Orr:it's gonna be okay though. I don't know. I don't know. I just had to tell myself that right as a mom, I don't know. So many ways. We hope everyone's having a good
Kara Edwards:day. Oh, are you how are you are your children proud of you?
Laura Orr:Well, speaking of remembering Yeah, this show spirit hear it right. You're writing for you. Has was for a very long time. good segue, by the way. Oh, thank
Kara Edwards:you. You're welcome. Oh, boy. Getting better. Yeah, here. It's we're starting to sound like we know what we're doing. Okay, go ahead. We
Laura Orr:have our moments. It went from like, 5%
Kara Edwards:of the time till I interrupt you again. And we go down
Laura Orr:another one. Yeah, right. Where were we? Where were we? Oh, so Daphne, this is spirit riding free was one of Daphne's favorite shows for a good solid year I would say I think probably when she was about I don't know three and a half. And I mean, this song writing free we would play it all the way to school my husband and I had a joke like how many spirit riding free songs did you like did it take for you to get from one location to another Okay, instead of saying five minutes it would be like it took me two spirit riding to get to school. And so that's how much we listen to the songs really it was just it was it was her choice of show to watch. So I told her that we were reviewing this flash forward to I mean a good two years probably since she has seen it I told her we were doing this reviewing the show and she just looked at me like what's that? She just said that to me. Well, what is that? What is Spirit?
Kara Edwards:What I had the exact same experience with Michael because we watched a lot of it same thing he was probably like three or four. He never loved it back then. Okay Did did not hit him like it did my stepdaughter Remy. But I asked him I was like, hey, remember the show with the you know, the and I said spirit that we and he was like, Oh, I hate that. I hate that show. It terrified me. And I was like, What? What are you talking about? Long story short, all of a sudden it hit him. He goes, Oh, I thought you were talking about that movie soul. That's right. He's like, he goes That's terrifying. When the guy falls in the great and then finds out he's dead like terrifying. But oh, he was spirits. The one with the horse. Right?
Laura Orr:spirit soul. Okay, I can totally see why he Yeah, he was like, Oh, he doesn't even he doesn't even like it doesn't resonate him at all
Kara Edwards:did not at all until it's like the horse and he was like, Yeah, and I said, Do you remember any of it? And he's like, not really.
Laura Orr:So kids just don't remember anything that we do for them. Basic
Kara Edwards:is basically the point we need everybody to understand. Yeah, is that every effort you are making? All
Laura Orr:of it agonizing that you have done up into this point is for not because they will not remember the nice things. They will remember the
Kara Edwards:mistake like like you wouldn't believe Oh,
Laura Orr:yeah, if I forget to put like a dessert in her lunchbox that will be the thing she goes to therapy over for sure. Yep. But apparently listening to spirit for a number of times that might drive some to the brink. She will not remember that. The things that we do for them. It's just It's a thankless job care. I think that's the moral of this check. They're not going to brag about us. They're not going to remember anything that we do for them. They just take they did take it and take until we're whittled away. Oh god.
Kara Edwards:Oh, It's depressing start during podcast ever,
Laura Orr:but I love them so much. They are really cute. I used to say, I don't know if I should say, but I used to say this when when I was sleep deprived. And I tried to and I was saying it jokingly was that I feel like I have Stockholm syndrome because I'm in love with my captors. And I was kind of laughing, but anyone I said it to would just be like,
Kara Edwards:is everything okay? No, it's just what it feels like. No, it
Laura Orr:does. It's just like, you love them so much. They're so cute and fun and sweet. And all these wonderful things. And then at the same time, like they just don't, they don't care. They don't care. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. Right.
Kara Edwards:But yeah, of course, I think it's just parenthood. I think that all through the generations, everyone would feel the same. And we have this little finite amount of time, that that we are the like, caregiving loving, everything is devoted to them. And then they go off and do their own thing. And then we get to actually think about ourselves again, get to and then miss the parts where we're like, I wish we could go back to that time that my dad didn't care about any of my successes. Exactly.
Laura Orr:People tell me people whose kids are grown tell me all the time that this is the best time. And I get why they're saying that. And I really try to listen to that. In those moments where things are hard. Yeah, but because it's like, this is the best. This is supposedly the best. I'm hearing that from people who've been through it, you know. But yeah, and I gotta say,
Kara Edwards:it doesn't actually like, like, when Michael says, It seems like yeah, whatever. I'm good. I don't need to talk about anything you do. In many ways, I also very much appreciate it. Yeah. As it is very, it's like, you know what, I will be humbled for all of eternity. And I'm kind of okay with that at this point in my life. Yeah. It's
Laura Orr:like it's it's parenthood is such an interesting experience. It really is. Because at the same time, I mean, literally, like, they could say something that's like kind of soul crushing, but the way that they say it, it makes it adorable,
Kara Edwards:and you're kind of proud of them for having their own. Yeah, you just take that as your success. Instead of the reels. I did speak siree, someone who will speak his mind. It's great. It's great. And then I look at my friends without children. And I'm like, and you also sure made great choices in your life, too.
Laura Orr:It's great both ways. Yeah. How
Kara Edwards:was your vacation?
Laura Orr:Yeah. Do you say? Did you sleep in today? Was that nice? No, I think it's like no matter what life you choose, it's just the meaning that you make out of it.
Kara Edwards:Absolutely. You're not going to make a wrong choice. You're not going to make a wrong choice. Should
Laura Orr:we talk about spirit?
Kara Edwards:Yeah, we should actually talk about spirit sorry, everybody. Spirit Netflix. Yeah,
Laura Orr:we always say that. We're going to shorten our check ins and
Kara Edwards:then and then we started talking and this is by the way, why it takes us like two hours to even start recording the podcast. Oh, yeah, we we've already gone through so much. So spirit came out in 2017.
Laura Orr:But Kara, but she'll watch it. Oh,
Kara Edwards:snap. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, yes. Okay. Should they watch it? Sure.
Laura Orr:Yeah. Yeah, I will say I will say that this is not the original movie and we can get into that when we talk about the premise but I did see a lot of complaints online about the story kind of taking a hard left from the movie and this disappointed a lot of people who were loyal to the original movie, so I will give it that like a caveat that that is if you're coming in here expecting the original original spirit movie. This is not it does have spirit in it but this is very much he does take a backseat Luckey is the main character.
Kara Edwards:Yeah, but if I if I read it correctly. So this is it's set out in a small frontier town of Mira Mira Darrow, we have our 12 year old girl. Her name is fantastic Fortuna lucky Esperanza Navarro press Gosh. Who has relocated from the city out to the country she has all of these you know New Girl problems that she has to go through she ends up meeting a horse a Mustang that is named spirit Jr. And according to what I read, is the son of spirit and rain from the 2002 movie spirits stallion of the Cimarron
Laura Orr:that spirit that's in spirit riding free is the son yeah he's a spirit Jr
Kara Edwards:Yeah, so he's like spirit Jr. Oh, okay like to tie to the movie but there is no similarity to the movie whatsoever. Okay,
Laura Orr:no, not only independent. He is very much like his father though from I did not watch spirit um, What is it stallion of the Cimarron but he was also a wild horse that didn't that couldn't be broken. And so I think ultimately he's like free to be his wild, beautiful self and the Cimarron spirit of the Cimarron or stallion of the Cimarron. And then in this one his son apparently, he is also very, you know, he's wild. And instead of lucky that a little 12 year old girl trying to break him, she befriends him and she doesn't try to change him. So this results in a friendship between the two of them. And that kind of sets the groundwork for the rest of the show as spirit and lucky. And her two friends pure Prue and Abigail embark on these adventures together.
Kara Edwards:Yeah, and this was I mean, right off the bat spoke to my heart. I remember when we started watching it the first time this was the show, I wanted to keep watching even though Michael was kind of like, can we go back to pokimane? I'm like, No, it's spirit or nothing.
Laura Orr:What stuck out for you. Why
Kara Edwards:do you know a girl in her horse? I know. I gotta just I'll get through it quickly. I grew up on a farm and so I had a horse.
Laura Orr:Yes. I was gonna ask you if you had owned a horse I had.
Kara Edwards:Yes. So we had a horse on our farm Toby. That was actually my grandfather's horse, but Toby was the horse that we were all able to ride okay. Then my grandfather got all of the grandchildren at one point had their own horses and I had mine angel that was half paint half Palomino. Angel was a spirit. Okay, Angel was Angel could not be broken. Angel actually broke many men who had been hired to try to break her. And she was just as wild as they come. She was known for biting. No, I loved her. I loved her endlessly. She she never bit me. Okay. It was always when I was when I got to write her a couple of times under great supervision. She was never a riding horse. So Toby was our horse. The horse that I grew up riding and Toby was one that as soon as we got to the farm, I never I never rode with a saddle. I always rode bareback. So I've learned how to at five years old, I would climb the fence jump on Toby's back, they always kept unbridled if they knew I was coming. And Toby and I would be off to great adventures for the entire day. And nobody ever like the amount of freedom that I had as a kid that would not exist in today's world. But I literally just all day being gone. And then at the end of the day, as the sun was setting, you got to come home and they would see me run, they would see me and tell me what you're not allowed to run it. So you never run a horse home. And of course I would because I was a little girl and they'd always I'd always get yelled at Horse home. Why don't you run a horse home? You never run a horse home because then they know like the horses aren't like Cray we're going riding like that's the part of spirit that it was like, come on, no horses, like I'm wild and free. But by all means, get on get like ride me and let's go off on adventures that would never happen in real life. Horses would rather be like doing their own thing just right. Sorry, sorry, but it's a fact. And if you turn a horse and you like repeatedly run them home, then they will never be able to walk home. Oh, they will just like I'm gonna run home and get you off of me get to my oats and be done with this day. Yeah, so, huh? So there's all these fun little horse facts like the right sides the wrong side, you always get on the left. You never get on the right. Like I can remember all kinds of stuff growing up, but so this spoke to me. I mean, a girl I
Laura Orr:can see why Kara. You're like, you're like a real life. I
Kara Edwards:am a little lucky. I was lucky. Like if you look at pictures of me. Growing up like that was 100% me I had a giant spirit myself. And so I love so much about the show.
Laura Orr:For that reason. Yeah, I bet that's amazing. Kara. Did this was at your dad's farm.
Kara Edwards:This was my grandpa. So yeah, my grandpa was a cotton farmer. Gotcha. And in West Texas, just outside of Lubbock and a little town called Smar.
Laura Orr:Okay, well, I can see why this would speak to you. Um, did your dad ever stuff a horse that I know of.
Kara Edwards:No, no, he only kept that to pheasant. Specifically. He was
Laura Orr:okay. What's the biggest thing you ever stopped?
Kara Edwards:He went through a phase of stuffing raccoons holding beer cans. That was the largest mammal that I remember my taxidermists father. Did you imagine having to do a horse that's why you only see the heads on walls guys. That's why Do you know what take a really long that would take a lot of stuff? And I actually don't even know I was a little girl. So I don't even know how that stuff is possible. But no, I don't think anybody's ever. Unless it's like, I know there's like that weird thing that some people do and sorry if you've done this, I don't mean to call you weird. Maybe it's just something I don't
Laura Orr:like putting beer cans in the hand of a stuffed raccoon. I
Kara Edwards:wasn't going there. But yes. When you preserve your animal, people who've like they stuffed their animals, and then they have like the dog sitting in the corner. Yeah, that's something I would never be able to do. But maybe somebody's done that with a horse before.
Laura Orr:I would love to talk to that person.
Kara Edwards:I would love to talk about anything else.
Laura Orr:I apologize. I can cut back. No. Okay, so from from spirit riding free, there are two seasons of something called ponytails, and two seasons of riding Academy, which is basically just spin offs of the original if you like the original spirit riding free, then you will like the other spin offs are pretty similar. There's also a movie that was released in 2021 called Spirit untamed that, honestly, I it was a really odd watch if you've already watched the show, because it was already a lot of the same characters, okay, from spirit riding, because it was the same spirit characters from spirit riding free, but it was just it kind of borrowed from the existing stories that you had already seen in the show. Okay, so it was kind of a weird, I don't know, it was weird that Jake Gyllenhaal in it. I don't know, if you want to just tell you Jake Gyllenhaal and yeah, he was the dad jet. Okay. So if you want just a little taste of spirit, but you don't want to, you know, have to have your kid commit to the entire show. You could watch the movie.
Kara Edwards:But in CNN that if they like that, then maybe you could commit to
Laura Orr:the show. Yeah. Did you know that Carrie Waldron is in this one too? Okay, she's at Coral.
Kara Edwards:Do you know what's really interesting? So, Kari Wahlgren. And I did a convention together. 12 years ago, I don't know is a long time ago. And and at that point, I mean, she was already a really big deal in the voice acting industry. But at that point, I was a lot younger and my ego was a lot bigger. Okay. And so I remember doing this convention and she's telling these really cool stories and I felt myself at that point, like we're equals sitting on a panel talking about our careers together. And I remember just thinking she's so great. And now literally, Carrie Walgren is in every single show we review. Oh, yeah,
Laura Orr:I feel like we could just go to her IMDB page and just watch the shows based on her list is in everything thanks. She's like the Samuel L Jackson a voiceover isn't everything it but like
Kara Edwards:you don't realize like the differences when you see Samuel L Jackson. You're like Oh, cool. Samuel Jackson's in this show? Yes, sir. You have to go look at the cast list to go oh my god carry Walgren is a Acorah Yeah, first says Realty versatility is unlike any human. I know. Like she is so talented and so and so forth. Like, she is so professional and honest to goodness, one of the nicest people I've met.
Laura Orr:I was wondering how like that is like
Kara Edwards:one of the nicest like, I love that she has this level of success because when I met her and again I've met her once and she was just one and she made me feel like I was an equal sitting on that panel with her. Well, I think that that I was not nor will I ever be excuse my voice acting hero.
Laura Orr:I think that that just goes to show how cool she is also that she gets I mean she is obviously very talented but easy to work with. Maybe not also goes into it right that's why
Kara Edwards:Oh, question. She's not getting all of these parts. Yes, she's very talented. But she's great to work with. And she gets the work done. I'm guessing like she knows what she's doing. Never has any issues. No, she's she's literally like, every time we review a show I'm like, Oh my gosh, Carrie Walker and send it again. Yeah, I'm so proud. I'm so happy for her and she deserves it.
Laura Orr:I think all of the voice acting is really good. I think that contributes that along with the storyline contributes to why there's eight seasons each are 23 minutes long.
Kara Edwards:The eight season thing really quick, they it season thing kind of threw me because I was like, Whoa, there's eight seasons, but it says it's on the air from like 2017 to 2019. The seasons are short,
Laura Orr:and they did spin offs like 2017 to 2019 is spirit riding free and then they started doing the spirit riding Academy and the spirit ponytails after that, so the franchise or the series itself, quote unquote, ended. But the it kind of continued at the same time. Yeah, so it's really big. Yeah, you're right. They cram in a they use RAM in a year. I remember that. That was around the time that Daphne was Watching it was in that 2017 1819. And I remember like, a, another cluster of shows would come up and we were like, what we just this just happened? Like, how did this just happen again? I don't know. But you guys gonna say I interrupted you so you can find it on Netflix? Who is the audience?
Kara Edwards:I have to tell you. I liked watching this shows, even though I'm definitely not the audience. I feel like their target audience was preteens. But I think you can go down to as young as four, three or four. If your kids interested in this sort of show and all the way up to adult I think adults are going to be able to watch this as well.
Laura Orr:I agree all of that I've I've seen a wide range online to have what other people think it went down as low as two. But yeah, I would agree for I think a four year old, it's because it's a show about a girl and her horse, right? Like what what little kid doesn't want a horse like that's like tail is oldest time. And so you're watching this play out on TV. And she's literally doing all of the things that a person would dream of doing, aside from showing them in like a pony show, right? Like all of the wild adventures that you would imagine is happening on this. So I'm not surprised. That younger, you know, kids like it so much. But for tuna lucky. She is 12. So
Kara Edwards:I think pretension, I think yeah, I think that's what they were hoping to target was that preteen audience
Laura Orr:she herself is gonna they, they include that in the storyline, like the things that a typical preteen would be going through. And so I think that can be relatable, which is great, because if you have kids that we've said this before, who will vary in age, this will be something that they could probably sit down and watch together.
Kara Edwards:And they go on. I mean, they really confront a lot of things that that pre teenage is going through specifically, I think kids in general, but there's so much problem solving that takes place in the show, the girls really have to work together to figure these things out. They're not afraid to say I'm sorry, which I really liked. There's a lot of apologizing when they do something wrong. It really has a lot of like, having courage and being brave and stepping outside of your fears. talks a lot about loyalty. Oh yeah. Loyalty to your animals loyalty to your friends taking care of your animals. That's that's something that comes up a lot. And just general like being a good person, even the discipline like it shows parents disciplining the children. But it's done in a very thoughtful way I felt.
Laura Orr:Yeah, yeah. Especially proves dad. Is that who your thing? Yeah, yeah, that's who does the most disciplining for him is a little laissez faire at times. Yeah. After Luckey runs away and joins the circus and season five. I can't even with that part of it. It was weird. It was such a hard left in a way I would not be on board with and you know me, I usually chased the hard left and I love it so much. That was so freaking weird. Yeah. I do understand why they chose why they had her do that it was in the midst of her finding out that her dad was going to get remarried. And she still had this connection to her mom, but because she was so young when her mom died, she really doesn't have a lot of memory of her. But she still has obviously and understandably so this want and need to know her better. And so when she finds out that her extended family is a part of this circus, she wants to join them so that she can have that closest with her mom as she starts to feel growingly detached from her dad as he you know, grote, you know begins this new chapter of his life
Kara Edwards:she thought was a good minus the joining the circus, I thought was a really important topic for a lot of I mean, a lot of children are either they've lost their parents or their children of divorce, and one of your parents falls in love and ends up getting married. And all of the I mean, I know that our children went through something very similar when we blended our families and decided to get married. And it's like, well, who is this person to me? And what does that mean, with my relationship to my parents,
Laura Orr:it's super relatable. And I don't think there are a lot of shows out there that are tackling this kind of an issue in the way that they did. When they show a child struggling with that adjustment. I feel like usually, if this type of family exists in a TV show, a lot of times the adjustment phase is gone. And so we just know that it exists, which there's also room for that too, because it creates hope for kids to see a child who is well adjusted into a blended family, but to also be able to pay attention to somebody who is initially going through that struggle and having to find that adjustment and having to figure out what her relationship is going to be like with this new mom in her late in her life and in her father's life. I think it was a really smart choice. Does she need to join the circus? Probably Probably not.
Kara Edwards:We a little dream gym.
Laura Orr:I just love it like like when she comes back. Her dad is just like, Honey, you know, if you ever need to talk to me about something, you know, you can you don't have to join the circus. And she's just like, Yeah, Dad. Cool. Thank you so much. Yeah, next time, next time I won't. And it's like, oh, that's where we're going with that. Like, that's is a discipline. But yes, I do agree with you proves dad does is a really cool example of this, you make a mistake, you you know, get grounded. You fix it, that is something that I really appreciated, too, because I think in discipline, a lot of times we think about, you make the mistake that you know, you have the punishment, but then the repair that you need to make, sometimes doesn't get factored into that. And so, you know, having them make it right, having a child making it right, I think is a huge part of the experience of making a mistake, because that's what we have to do and we make mistakes as adults. We got to fix this. We got to fix what we did. Yeah, so you don't pay your car payment on time. They don't just like tell you you're bad. You know you did down that now you've got to do it, pay it back with your little with your you know, what's it called? Where they pay your late fee or whatever anyways, blah, blah. Is it fluffy or educational? Kara?
Kara Edwards:Definitely fluffy. I mean, this is all adventure and fun. And you know, even though there are things that I think can lead to good discussions with your kids, the the point of this is not to be educational. No, it's
Laura Orr:definitely focuses on storytelling, but like we were just saying, it has a lot of social emotional issues that it likes to
Kara Edwards:and like a lot, you would definitely be able to grab on to and, and open that up to some really great conversations with your kids.
Laura Orr:Yeah, we already answered whether or not we think parents will like it. At least you did. Yeah, I enjoyed it. Jeremy, my husband enjoyed it. Okay, which I think was pretty cool. He really enjoyed the dynamic between snips and seeing your carrots. The name, that's one of the friend's little brothers who is like, very precocious, and he likes to get into a lot of trouble. But it's you know, all in good fun, I would say. And then he has a pet donkey because he is too little to ride a horse and he is named, it's in your carrots. I really enjoyed Maricella as well.
Kara Edwards:Oh, she's great. That character is a great character. I
Laura Orr:think the characters there's enough going on with the show for parents to stay entertained. Because of all of the
Kara Edwards:strong character development throughout, you really do know who each of these characters are. And the way that their stories are interwoven and that they interact with each other is definitely very entertaining. Yeah,
Laura Orr:super entertaining. So you touched on some of the things that you liked about it. Was there anything else?
Kara Edwards:Oh, yeah, I have a list. So I love all the social emotional stuff. Kindness to animals, there's a lot of they really show the juxtaposition of the bad guy who's being mean to the animals versus the people are being true to the animals of course, I like this whole concept of we're not going to cage you, we're not going to break you. It always bothered me growing up that they called it breaking a horse we need to break her Yeah. And that's very much kind of in a way what they do is breaks the spirit and I love this idea of these animals that do get to live their best life you know, the whole concept of like never giving up we're going to keep going no matter
Laura Orr:what. Back to what you say I like it the idea of I think that they really focused on this idea of working with nature instead of trying to conquer it. So yeah, so this each individual animal has like a personality has needs and they show that also with fowl that they try to raise like that he also couldn't he wasn't meant to be living in you know in the stalls or whatever. And so I liked that concept as well.
Kara Edwards:I really also liked that they took the lucky learning how to ride spirit was a very lengthy process and because proves dad came in several times to be like, she is not ready to ride a horse you need to be responsible for making sure she understands she's not ready and her pushing it too far lead to a lot of really scary and dangerous situations. And I appreciated that as an animal lover as a former horse owner. Yeah. Because so many shows depict I jumped on the horse and we ran off you have to learn how to gallop on a horse you don't get to just jump on and go especially a wild horse. That well first of all, you're not going to ride a wild horse. And I think a lot of people go horseback riding on these trail rides where it's you know, we always called it nosed about riding.
Laura Orr:I did that yeah, I wouldn't have done it but I did first
Kara Edwards:year. It's great and are in the kids love it and it's such a great way to expose children to animals. That is not a realistic way to show someone how to ride a horse because it is a very, very different process when you're actually in control and actually out there writing. So I love that they took the time to show that process. Yeah,
Laura Orr:I agree with you. I think that there was a lot of caretaking into that. So lucky is 13. And so there are episodes that deal with these difficulties related to the tween to teen transition. Yeah. And so there's a Halloween episode where Lucky's aunt tells her that she's too old for trick or treating. And I was just wondering if you have an opinion about that?
Kara Edwards:Oh, I absolutely do. Okay, your opinion, I do not think you ever get too old to trick or treat. I think, you know, people get upset when they have teenagers who come to their houses and take the candy to me, what else would you rather those teenagers be doing? I will give you all the candy that you possibly want. If you want to put on a costume and come to my house. I don't care how old you are.
Laura Orr:I agree. And I think that that's becoming I think there was a time where people were really critical of that. But I've seen some things on social media where people were like lay off of these teens, they just want to like live in that time for a little while. And I think it was really cool that they put that in here too of just like that is one of those moments that kids I think do deal with of like, how it's weird to say like Halloween. How do I look at Halloween? How do I celebrate Halloween? Do I celebrate it as a kid? Or do I celebrate as a teenager who doesn't get who isn't? Technically this isn't what who it's for it's right. It's trigger training. So I thought that was kind of cool how they used Halloween and that way. I mean, I went trick or treating in college. So okay, but think about this as
Kara Edwards:adults. We all love to get dressed up and go to parties, right? You think of how many times like costumes so what you're only allowed to celebrate Halloween if you're a young child or an adult. But what are the what is that age range of teenage early college like what are they supposed to do and that's when they go get in trouble. So keep them out of trouble. Let them go trick or treat. It's fun and fine as long as they're not doing anything bad. That's
Laura Orr:Smashing Pumpkins wasn't just a band name, right? These kids are gonna do because they're not allowed to trick or treat they're gonna destroy your exactly, nope,
Kara Edwards:the eggs down
Laura Orr:just come up to the door. Don't throw your eggs at my house. Just come get some candy. It's fine.
Kara Edwards:There was one year that uh, for Halloween we were gone. And I put a large bucket on the front door with a sign that said please take one and full of candy and I was in the whole time I was just waiting. I'm like, somebody's going to steal the bucket of candy they have to steal it. And at the very end at the very end of the night it was probably like an eight or nine year old ran up poured the bucket into his bag gave out this great laugh and ran off and I like it made me so happy I was like I didn't want that candy it was the end of the night well done right oh take your candy and go man he had a good night. Like let's let kids be fun and be kids they probably got in trouble when they got home who cares?
Laura Orr:Right It was worth it to them you know it was worth it to them with their with the chocolate rimmed mouth or eyes the biggest saucers vibrate from all the sugar the good old day I remember those days Okay, potentially problematic.
Kara Edwards:I only have a couple of things. And this was stuff I read a lot in the reviews which was I agreed with this is in no way shape or form. Is this an accurate portrayal of wild horses? In no way shape? Or form? Is this an accurate portrayal of animals in general? Wild animals do not fall in love with you. They do not want to be your best friend they do not want to show back up and hang out.
Laura Orr:Are you telling me Cara that if I say something clever around two horses, they won't look at each other with confused looks on themselves at what I
Kara Edwards:mean they may but not in relation to you know and if a wild animal you are able to tame them to the point that they come and take food out of your hand. That does not mean they are tame it means they're intelligent and they've learned how to get food. Wild animals are wild. Let them be wild so that is obviously going to be problematic for me. Dear children do not go to the Outer Banks in North Carolina and track down a wild herd of horses and think that they're going to be your buddy because they're not let them be wild. This did not bother me but I saw this in the reviews a lot. This is also not an accurate depiction of the early settler days.
Laura Orr:Oh my gosh, can I read it can I guess? Yeah. Okay. I think it's time for a one star review. I am ready time. This is actually two star review. Type. This is what it was titled, perfect for children of millennials. If you love denying history or the American west of the 19th century, then this is the show for you. If you like believing there were modern battery operated wall All clocks in schoolhouses, or girls who were who wore short sleeved T shirts, or blouses with pants, then this is the perfectly flawed piece of fluff. You've been waiting for. Sidenote, did you notice these word fluff? I did. Do you think they listened to the podcast? Maybe? Just kidding. They do have a point though. Yes, there there is like Jeremy and I often debated when we were watching this, like when this was set. It's supposed to be set in 1890. But saying I noticed that the clocks, they have electric clocks on the wall. The outfits are the outfits
Kara Edwards:are kind of comical. Nobody was wearing jeans, and no.
Laura Orr:If this if that bothers you, and you're going to be annoyed, there's no bonnets, no one's ever in a bonnet and this no one's wearing like a huge dress. They're they're not really trying to be true to the time with the certain details. But could you imagine Kara if they were true to the time? Oh, he's trying to make this the colonial clothing that they would have to wear
Kara Edwards:the clothing the way the women would have been treated? Even those girls first of all with the girls have even been in school for I don't even know,
Laura Orr:even know how to for you. Right? Or would they be riding horses? They were girls they would be churning butter
Kara Edwards:seriously, like they would have had their they would have been riding sidesaddle. Nobody was riding a horse off and to go do adventures?
Laura Orr:No, no, they would the kids would not be doing adventures, they would be fighting off smallpox and tuberculosis. snips, snips would be working in a coal mine. And that's what is this what people want the show to be like, That's what I want to know from this two star person who apparently listens to the show because they use the word fluff. Would you please tell me? Did you want to see sniffs in a coal mine during watching the show? Well, what did you want the show to be? And they can't send it in now times, right? Because it's in the middle of nowhere, that this doesn't exist. This doesn't make the sound does not exist in now time. So they
Kara Edwards:be a school house that everybody would go to, to, you know, with their little lunch bag, right?
Laura Orr:Yeah, no, I think that the choices they made were understandable, given the content they were trying to create. There's no way they could have made this historically accurate. There's just no way like it wouldn't exist. Yeah,
Kara Edwards:they it's, it's like colonial light. It's, it's like, it's like there's a sprinkle in there. There was one other problem. And this has actually really been bothering me. And this is dumb. And I'm just gonna say I can't wait. In the very first episode of the entire series when Luckey goes to school for the first time and she goes and she meets the horses, and I think it's her first time meeting spirit and she ends up giving him her apple from her lunch bag that she was taking to school. But then when it's lunchtime at school, she goes out into the yard. She's eating by herself. She opens the bag and it's empty again. She goes, Oh, that's right, because I gave my apple to the horse. Why is a 12 year old girl only getting an apple for lunch for an entire school day. You know what this is really bothering
Laura Orr:that actually sounds historically accurate.
Kara Edwards:To fit into your course of deer, the whales.
Laura Orr:I ever imagined scarcity back then.
Kara Edwards:That's true. Maybe that's what it is. Maybe that part was historically accurate. You get an app you get an apple and that's all you get for your entire day. Oh,
Laura Orr:Mike, could you imagine if she'd opened like a bento box and there had been like, cucumbers cut out with the star cucumbers were I'm Oh my god. She that's true though. There's no yeah, that's weird.
Kara Edwards:That was like I was like, Why did they only give her an apple? Why does the girl have to starve for the rest of school?
Laura Orr:A little bit more time guys on on adding like a sandwich in there. It doesn't have to be historically accurate. You know, it really put a hot dog in there and we'd be like, okay, yeah, she's got a
Kara Edwards:prune sandwich again. I think it's something gross. Oh,
Laura Orr:I'm speaking of lucky she probably honestly packed her own lunch because she's kind of disorganized. There are so many episodes where she just can't get it together.
Kara Edwards:So we identify with her as
Laura Orr:I was just about to say she has
Kara Edwards:ADHD. We're like, these are people. That's why we love this so much. Yeah, we felt it. This is a show for moms like us.
Laura Orr:Moms with ADHD. Yeah. Horse love. Yeah, yeah. Horse horses boy. Yeah,
Kara Edwards:that's actually why did we just start this whole podcast by describing the show like that? Yeah. It's ADHD. Meet beats horses. Yes. work good. Everybody's good.
Laura Orr:And it's interesting because she does have this hyper focus on writing that makes it hard for her to concentrate on her work, which I feel like is also a characteristic of somebody who might have ADHD because they get they get like, very preoccupied with a certain hobby that they have, which is why a lot of people who have ADHD are very talented. because they get very,
Kara Edwards:you know, distracted by tunnel vision,
Laura Orr:I really have focused on one thing and so they become really good at that one thing but but they, you know, might forget to eat or brush their hair or pack more than an apple pack more than an apple. She's just thinking about horses. All right. So yeah, so you see, you're daydreaming a lot at school and things like that. So I was, my therapist brain was diagnosing her a little bit. But anyways, other than
Kara Edwards:that, and so aligning with her in many ways. Totally.
Laura Orr:Yeah, this is me. This is Kara. This is all of us. Yeah. So in some ways, she is, you know, a good role model, but she has her flaws. And don't we all? Yeah, don't we all? Don't we all? Isn't that the role model that you want your kids to have? Anyways, you don't want them to be perfect, right? Because perfection is chasing the wind, guys. So Lucky's great.
Kara Edwards:I agree to Okay. On that note. Like, yeah.
Laura Orr:We also just revealed that we have really bad ADHD.
Kara Edwards:Yeah. Welcome to the show, everybody.
Laura Orr:I think if anybody has ears, they probably already knew that about us. So yeah,
Kara Edwards:our ability to stay focused on one topic is it's very difficult for us.
Laura Orr:It's a challenge, but it's a fun ride that I'm glad to be on with you, Kara. And so question, and I'm so glad for everyone listening. If you've stuck around, and
Kara Edwards:you're one of our ADHD sisters or brothers, you're still here with us. We appreciate you so much for listening you for listening, spirit riding free. Oh, and next
Laura Orr:week we're going to be reviewing a beloved movie that has also traumatized many people much like the Neverending Story. We are reviewing The Land Before Time I am
Kara Edwards:so ready to sit down and watch this movie again. I mean, I've seen it so many times but you were talking about another one that turned into a franchise yet to beast it. I want to look at that very first one. Yeah. And dissect it
Laura Orr:to pieces. I cannot wait to revisit and, and just hang out with Sarah and her mood is going to be following me for the rest of the week. I just know it. Oh, I can't wait. And so we hope you guys look forward to it too.
Kara Edwards:We'll see you next week. Bye, my God.
Laura Orr:Scribe and follow us on Instagram.