Should They Watch It?
Should They Watch It?
Ep. 59: Octonauts with Marshall Escamilla
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This week, we 'dive' into an 'ocean' full of fun with* Octonauts* and special guest, Marshall Escamilla. Marshall is an educator, musician, father, and podcaster. You can hear him co-host Tumble Science Podcast for Kids, a science podcast for the entire family. So who better to help us "swim" through all the science-based knowledge kids can 'fish' for in Octonauts!
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 and welcome to this should day watch a podcast I am Cara Edward. And I'm more or we are so excited to welcome a special guest. I am especially excited because my son and I are huge fans of his podcast. Please say hello to Marshall s Kamiya. He is an educator, musician, father and podcaster. You can hear him as the co host of tumble science podcast for kids. This is a science science podcast for the entire family. One that my son and I listen to Hey, Marshall, welcome.
Unknown:Hey, thanks for having me.
Kara Edwards:I have to tell you, so we stumbled upon your tumble podcast, my son and I and he had just asked me literally the day before we were listening. He was like, Mom, what would happen to Earth if like, we didn't have oceans? Like what what would the earth be like if we didn't have oceans? literally the next day? I'm like, do I have a podcast for you? Because that's one of the topics that you cover in your podcast is what would the earth be like if oceans didn't exist?
Unknown:Yeah. Yeah, we did cover that. We didn't cover that topic.
Kara Edwards:This podcast has been around since what did I read? And it was 2015. Right?
Unknown:Yeah. Yeah, we did our first episodes in 2015. And they weren't very good. So don't go back.
Kara Edwards:We actually did we were scrolling were like, which, which are all the episodes that we're gonna be listening to. But it's interesting, because you guys, like bring in experts. And you really dive in? Because you're a teacher? Correct? Yeah,
Unknown:I mean, when we started the podcast, I had been teaching actually at the same private school in Austin, Texas from 2003. Until my last school year there ended in 2017.
Kara Edwards:Okay, and then your podcast partner is like a science journalist.
Unknown:Yes. Yeah. That's my podcast partner and partner in life.
Kara Edwards:Oh, we'll see. I didn't even put that together. So well, then what? What an adorable team you guys make?
Unknown:I'm glad you think that.
Kara Edwards:We have really, I mean, we are really enjoying listening to this podcast. And I was curious what is okay, what is the thing that sticks out in your mind first, as the thing that you've learned doing this podcast about, like science and space and earth that you had no idea prior to the podcast?
Unknown:Oh, man? Well, I can tell you, at least the most recent thing, I spent most of the summer working on a little mini series that we're working on releasing that's supposed to align with some of the Next Generation Science Standards for fifth grade. Which you know, in in that year, they're supposed to be doing some explorations around brightness and distance. So we created like a five or six, I don't know, it's seven, sorry, seven episode mini series. That's kind of like an audio course that's guiding them through some, some stuff around that. And we tell the story of how we came to know that there were other galaxies in the universe. Okay. starting way back from the 18th century, when a guy named Charles messy AAA, found these things, and he was like, I don't know what they are. They're not comments. But here's a list of all these things. And then, you know, just learning the story of how we came to know that there were other galaxies, because that's not something that we always knew.
Kara Edwards:Yeah, no, that's really interesting.
Unknown:I mean, it's actually like, it's a lot more recent than I thought, you know, up until like, the 1920s, or 1930s. It was like, you know, an open question. Does our universe and with the Milky Way or is it bigger than that? Oh, wow. Did
Kara Edwards:that incredible in just that short amount of time? Look how much we know. And we've got new telescopes like the James Webb you just what we're getting pictures of today. And what we're figuring out like I loved showing Michael, my son, the, the newest pictures that were released in the last few months where it's like, become any galaxies. Like that's the galaxy. That's the galaxy. Yeah.
Unknown:Yeah. I mean, think like, if you go back to like, so 1920, there was this big debate. And they were like, there were two sides that were either, you know, the Milky Way is 30,000 light years across, and that's sort of it in the universe. Or it's like 10,000 light years across. And there's other things that are like much further than that, and we don't really know. And then only like five or six years later, it was Edwin Hubble, who sort of resolved the debate. Yeah, and figured out like Oh, Okay, not only is I mean, the Milky Way is about, you know, 30,000 light years, maybe? I don't remember exactly. But you know, it's big. But not only is there more to the universe, but there's like, there's a
Kara Edwards:lot more like a whole lot more. Yeah, there's and yet, so many people still truly believe that this earth is flat
Unknown:I mean, it's it's a lot.
Kara Edwards:It's really interesting. Yes, I and this is why I really appreciate your podcasts because I have one of those kids that is constantly asking me questions about the universe about the earth about everything under the sun science related. And it's nice to go outside of just Googling the answer and be like, Here, listen to this.
Laura Orr:Yeah, and he has such imaginative creative minds can kids do so their world is expanding so much. And they're taking on all of this new information. And so the curiosity that they have, I think, is is so profound, especially in comparison to us older folks who just kind of see things, as you know, at least for me see a lot of things at face value, right? Yeah. So it's fun to have these resources that they can go to and learn these amazing things. Because science is, it really is a question mark in so many ways, because once you answer one question, it kind of opens the door for all these other Oh,
Kara Edwards:yeah. Do you? Do you find that Marshall that as you guys do one podcast, like that opens the door to the next one. And the next one is questions keep coming up. Yeah,
Unknown:well, I mean, I think what we really try to do and this is all my, my wife's doing, I don't have much to do with it, besides sort of cheerleading. What we really try to do that's distinct from other podcasts about science and really other media about science is tell the story of science as a process. Okay, more than anything else. So it's like, you know, I don't know if you've noticed this, but like, we try to stray away from like, here a bunch of fun facts and more towards like, here's a question that a scientists had, that's pretty similar to a question that a kid had. And then here's how they went about trying to figure out what the answer is. And then here are all the things we still don't know. And, you know, there's always There's always so much stuff. I mean, right? Like going back with the space thing, like, Okay, we know that there are other galaxies, but we don't really know how they form or where they come from, or,
Kara Edwards:or what's contained inside of them necessarily.
Unknown:We know they're out there. Yeah. And so I talked to the scientists for that project, who's trying to classify like, I don't know, 3 million galaxies that are from a survey that like, covered the whole sky. So she's trying to figure out like, all these questions about galaxies, and like, there was this truism that like a galaxy can't be blue and spiral. Oh, forget, forget about what that means. It's, it's they can't be blue and spiral. And then she goes through like, 4 million galaxies. And it turns out like, Oops, turn.
Laura Orr:Amazing. Talk about job security. Yeah. Ground new cover.
Unknown:Yeah, I mean, the way she's doing it is with a citizen science project. That's actually really cool that you could go do right now. Galaxy Zoo.
Kara Edwards:Well, that's really cool. I'm excited for this new series to come out this little mini series.
Unknown:Yeah, I don't know when it's gonna come out. That's okay.
Kara Edwards:We're following her followers. So we're gonna see it when it does. But yeah, which also makes sense, the show that you have chosen to review today on the podcast. I mean, as soon as you said which one you wanted to do, I'm like, Well, science.
Laura Orr:Yeah, I am not at all surprised that you chose Octonauts because you request that people DM you random animal facts on your Twitter.
Unknown:People don't I haven't gotten a single one yet. Really.
Kara Edwards:Okay, so now anyone listening, go to Twitter, you can send them your random animal facts. Absolutely.
Laura Orr:But please do. Yeah. So tell us a little bit more about why you chose Octonauts for us to review today?
Unknown:Well, it's it's really one of the two popular shows in my household, the other one being grizzy in the Lemmings, okay. And it's the one that I try to steer the kids towards. So, yeah, that's, that's most of of what it is. I think like, you know, most kids shows it doesn't. It doesn't. It's not like totally free of annoying features, but it is at least very educational. And I appreciate the the sort of mindset that the show promotes, which is one of being curious and interested in animals as opposed to afraid and concerned. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, like a lot of people will think about, like, it's Shark Week, it's time to see the most creatures at the ocean. You know, like that. That's very much not how they, how they look at things, even though they're talking about like some things that are pretty terrifying, like, giant stinging jellyfish and stuff like that. Yeah.
Laura Orr:I also like that they would. When considering the animals, they did stay true to their personalities. So the sharks may not be menacing. But if it was a nurse shark who has a more mellow personality than they would give the shark, the shark, a mellow personality on the show. And then if it was a tiger shark, which is known as I think it was, the oceans, the garbage disposal, because it will eat anything. They centered the episode around this tiger shark literally can't keep its mouth off of anything. So it's chasing everything and trying to eat it. But at the same time, it wasn't it was it was nobody life was in danger. Yes, it was done more from a playful perspective than like you said this like violent purely, you know, evil. Right animal and so yeah, it does take the fear away from it.
Kara Edwards:So okay, so we're already kind of diving into what we love about this show. Yeah. And Laura, I'm, I'm a little surprised that we've made it I don't know how long we've been recording. But we've made it this far into a podcast without Laura making sure that we sing the song that goes the law
Laura Orr:issue to especially our poor guests who has not had to sing any of our songs before. But since you are dying to get
Kara Edwards:into IV this is one that because my son was so into the show from the time he was two years old, and still sometimes watches it today. This is like etched into spaces in my brain that I will never be able to remove. Would you like
Laura Orr:to lead us creature apart? Creature? We're done with the mission. Do use until Thank
Unknown:you. There's another song they do, too. I forget. I forget what it is.
Kara Edwards:There's actually a lot of singing in the show. There's a lot of music in the show, which I'm not going to dive into yet. But I found a five day
Laura Orr:ocean pun, not to be the last. Because we are reviewing.
Kara Edwards:But there's also a lot of thoughts that I have on there on the voice acting. Um, nothing, not the voice actor specifically. But as I was. I mean, I guess I need to dive into it because I'm already here is a dive. You know, let's go deep here. Is is as I was listening, I was like, okay, hold on. So some of them are British. This feels like a British show. This feels like sure enough, this show did originate in, in the UK. Okay, it was brought over to the United States so that you have all of the original UK actors there singing voice actors are often not the voice actor, which happens a lot. This happened in a show that I voiced for PBS, I was on a show for a number of years called rags. And I was the voice of a dog. But I was not the singing voice of that dog. Never even given the option. Like go the singing is already recorded. Now we're casting new as which happens a whole lot in voice acting. So the singing voice actors are different than the talking voice actors. But when they brought the show to the United States, they only recast a handful of the actors, they actually kept some of the original UK voices in there, which is why like the captain is a bit British. But some of the other actors like one of them has a super southern accent. So they were like, we're just gonna randomly pick and choose and put in some US voice actors come in to dub over the UK voice actors, which I was as a voice actor, I was sitting there the whole time. Like, okay, who's British who's not British? Where did this come from? I had to do and there's articles about it. You can find online if, if this is something you find interesting, but
Laura Orr:I kind of like that because if you're going to live in this world these are and we'll get into the premise of the show, but I guess we can now but it is a show that follows Captain barnacle who is British and his crew of talking animals as they explore the worlds many mysterious inhabitants and so if they are going to explore the ocean, then they're going to hit other parts of the world and maybe pick up a crew member here and there. Yeah, then unless either missions originated in one place,
Kara Edwards:I just found it interesting because we have shows like Peppa Pig and what have you that stay British the entire time and I'm like, I guess they just felt that they wanted. They wanted to mix it up. I wonder if Australia has their own voice actors too.
Laura Orr:I love Well, I
Unknown:mean, they have kind of like an international thing. Yeah, kind of vibe. You know? Yeah. Yeah. International sort of vibe. Now wonder like the Well, I was gonna ask the the one who plays the bunny rabbit? Yep. Like the one who's like, like, she's got such a, an American accent. But it sounds very much to me like, like a British person's idea of what an American accent sounds like.
Kara Edwards:So our beloved tweak has two voice actors. For the US version. We have Jamie Kelton. And Joe Wyatt is currently the provider of the character's voice in both the US and the UK. But I don't know if JOANNE I don't know if her current voice is British or American. But there was a bunch. I mean, there was as I was going through the list, like Shillington, who's the like, the bear or whatever?
Laura Orr:Are you talking about the octopus? No, it's that guy. Oh, um,
Kara Edwards:Caesar bear, shelling tins, voice actor is the voice actor across the board. Yeah. So a bunch of the voice actors have one single person and some of them don't.
Laura Orr:Guys, we need to answer the question. Should they watch it? Kara?
Kara Edwards:Well, I mean, I'm gonna say this is a pretty easy. Yes. I mean, it's a it's a science based show. It's for younger children. That this wasn't as an easy one. For me. I'm super curious. Martial. What do you feel? Should they watch it?
Unknown:I think absolutely. I'd say definitely, they should watch it. The thing I like the most about it is the orientation. The mindset that that the show is promoting, which I think is really positive. towards being curious about animals and wildlife and trying to protect animals and wildlife and the ocean. I think that's, that's, those are some values that I think really should be imparted to the next generation.
Kara Edwards:And then Laura, should they watch it?
Laura Orr:I'm a yes, I agree. I think to create empathy, you need exposure. And so exposing kids to these animals, and also, every once in a while, they would put in there that oh, this this is this habitat is is in trouble because of litter. I mean, they don't do that too often. That's not like a lot of human blaming in here. But every once in a while they put it in there. And I think that that was also a really cool message, just kind of piggybacking off of what Marshall said. So I really appreciated all of the the intent, and the approach that they used for the show. I think it's a definitely definite yes. And it's entertaining. The show's subject matter has been compared to that of Star Trek and Thunderbird, blended with Jacques Cousteau. Did y'all ever watched Thunderbird?
Unknown:I have no idea what
Laura Orr:that is. I haven't either. And I Googled it. It's a show from the 1960s. And it involves puppets, but basically, it's puppets exploring things. Okay. super bizarre to look at. But apparently, it's a cross between the two and I can see it with the Star Track with the setup that they have inside of their little ship or not, you know, under the sea. What's it called submarine submarines are terrifying. By the way. I don't know how anybody gets in one of those without worrying about a leak. But that's just my own issue. But yeah, Thunderbirds, puppets care. I know you don't like animatronic animals, at least not up close. But what do you think about humans in puppet form?
Kara Edwards:Oh, I mean, I am puppets are not upsetting for me. I can I can handle some puppets? This sounds I mean, here's the thing. So I have a good friend who is a puppeteer. And I adore going to his shows when they put on they do us a lot at the state fair. The Texas State Fair they'll put on these amazing shows. And I love seeing the art of puppetry. I love seeing the performances. I don't know that I want to go back and watch a TV show with my kids from the 1960s it is based on exploring puppets. Well, and
Laura Orr:the thing is that they're human foreign puppets to like yeah, this isn't Sesame Street. This is like Team America type puppets. But for children.
Kara Edwards:Yeah, probably pass on that. It's
Laura Orr:pretty bizarre. That's pretty bizarre. There are four seasons. Each episode is about 15 minutes long. You can stream it on Netflix, Google Play Amazon Prime and YouTube. Who is the audience? You guys?
Kara Edwards:Marcia. What do you think?
Unknown:Um, I mean, I'd say children about my kids age. So you know, as young as three and as old as I'd say. 1011. Yeah. That would be at the outside. You know, there's some 1011 year olds who like little kid stuff still,
Kara Edwards:for sure. And that's what I was seeing like Michael started Watching this so young and loves the show. And and I like and I am so pro anything that's educational, while also being entertaining, so he doesn't feel like he's having the knowledge shoved down his throat. And now it's seven years old. He's he, I mean, when I went back to watch it again, just for this review, he was right there with me ready to go. So I agree this, this can absolutely go on up. Because it's cute. It's fun. It's an easy watch, you don't, it's not one of those sequential shows that you're going to have to get into and spend the rest of your life finding out what happens. You can literally jump in at any point in any of the seasons, and you'll be fine.
Laura Orr:Yeah, my, the way we watched it is, we would scroll through the menu and just decide which animal we wanted to learn about. And that was really fun for us. I think it's what I also like about this show is I do agree with the age range. And I think that kids at three, and kids at five would and kids at eight would experience this show very differently because of where they are developmentally so it's fun because if you have kids of multiple ages, you can get have them engaged in the show. And then when they get older, they could revisit this show and see it through a different lens. Because at three they're going to be more interested in the fact that there's a talking cartoon, and the singing and and some of the visuals but then as they get older five or six, they're gonna be really interested in learning about the animal. Yes. And, and an older as well, if if they're interested in
Kara Edwards:martial, you already mentioned probably my favorite part about the show. As far as like the educational element, the promoting exploration, what other good things did you find in this show?
Unknown:I mean, I just think learning about animals is always interesting and valuable, right? Like, I can't tell you how many times my eight year old has brought up some random sea creature that I'd never heard of before. And he'd be like, you know, it's like this thing. And I'm like, I guess? Yeah. I guess
Kara Edwards:I've encountered this with so many shows that we've reviewed, as we're watching them where my kids are like, Well, you do know that it is possible to eat blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, Kay, where did you what?
Unknown:Like, where did you learn about that? Was it at school? No, of course not.
Laura Orr:Yeah. You were right there, too. That's fine, too, is whenever they learn something right in front of me is I'm like spaced out for a second. Yeah, like you were there. Mom, they set it right in front of you. Tomorrow, I
Unknown:have to confess like a healthy percentage of the time when I'm watching Octonauts. With my kids, I drift off.
Laura Orr:Yes, no
Kara Edwards:question. No question. I have to actually which is why I had to go back for this review. Even though my son has watched the show for years. Yeah, this has been on in my house for ever. I had to go back and watch it because I had never actually sat down. And and even if I was sitting next to him while he was watching it, I promise I wasn't engaged. But as like we're reviewing this, I'm going to sit down, I'm going to observe it. And even then I would find myself like, oh, I need to be doing that thing that I know you're gonna sit here.
Laura Orr:Focus. They're saying something about squids, what are they saying about squid? I know that. That just means that that's because this is a show that you can trust. Yes. There there. I mean, we'll get into any potentially problematic things that we noticed. But for the most part, this is a show that you could, you know, do the laundry.
Kara Edwards:Laundry, so you can totally safely go do your laundry, go do your chores, and know that your kids are watching something that is not going to hurt them. Yeah, it might even benefit them.
Laura Orr:And at the same time, you could sit down and watch it with them. And you could enjoy the silly parts of this or marvel at the facts that they give because the facts that they give are truly unique
Kara Edwards:and interesting. If so if you can make it to the Creature Report, you're gonna have something interesting to learn about. And even
Laura Orr:even as like when they so I'm thinking about the episode where they approach a walrus colony in the walruses are not very friendly. And so they have to be very careful and so while they are approaching this walrus colony, they are just throwing out these interesting facts about the walrus says and I was enjoying it so much. I did not know that walruses say hello by blowing into each other's faces. And I didn't know that they like to cuddle. Like I the fact that they would show these animals And then gave you facts that I mean, you know, we all know a little bit here and there, but they were throwing in things that I
Kara Edwards:never heard of I wrote down a cookie cutter shark eats their own teeth because they're full of vitamins. Lobsters chill on the ocean floor and they travel in packs. There's all kinds of faceted, like, as you're watching our teeth full of vitamins to know that's why they just Therese otherwise we'd eat or D we got the good ol multivitamins. Yeah, but so fast. So there was all these, like, as you're watching it, I love that it talks about ocean and water pollution, it talks about underwater storms, how those can happen, and what that is the effect that that's going to have on the sea creatures. Although again, the Creature Report is when they break it down, and they'll show a picture of the actual creature. Yeah, and sing a little catchy song with some additional facts in there. It's, you know, this is a short little show. It's a safewatch cute characters. There's also social emotional learning going on here. There's working together, there's taken care of each other. They talk a lot about how to stay safe making safe choices. There's again it did they did a good job writing it. Yeah,
Laura Orr:they did. They they also talk about I think Marshall, you had said earlier about like a very rare animal that maybe you hadn't heard about, but they talk about a lot of very rare animals on here. Yeah, I looked up the yellow bellied sea snake and Google Images and, and pictures of Octonauts of the Octonauts episode actually appeared as like one of the first five oh, that's only rarely This snake is talked about. And so I thought that was also super cool. Yeah, that they took the time to put to highlight or, or focus on animals that we just, we don't talk about. And, again, that was a cool one, too, because they, they put their personality into it. The snakes are very venomous, but they're also very docile. So these were really sweet snakes.
Kara Edwards:The bottom line is, the more that kids are learn about animals, the more that kids learn about the ocean, the more they're going to care about animals, and the more they're going to care about our oceans. And that can open up conversations about maybe we don't need to put so much trash out there. Maybe we need to use less water. Maybe we this can open up really good conversations about just consciousness of the earth.
Unknown:Yeah. Well, since I'm on the line with a voice actor, one thing I'm I'm really curious about is what did you think about the sort of, like, kind of randomness that they choose accents for the animals?
Kara Edwards:i And that's okay, so that's what got me started on looking at the voice actors to begin with, because it was like, why the because it really is all over the board with your main characters. And with the guest characters that come in, I did not see an episode, because this is where it can get very scary as a voice actor is doing something that would be offensive. So applying an accent or applying a certain personality or applying a cultural reference to a character in a way that could be deemed offensive. I'm, I am a voice actor that I shy away from doing accents, there's a few that I can do that I feel really confident doing very well. I would not want to do an accent in a way that would be offensive. So I just shy away from it completely. But it was interesting. And I would have been interested to be in the casting room to go, why did why did this sea serpent sound like that? Why were the lobsters put in that accent? Why we're that would be an interesting, I would not want to be in charge of that casting
Unknown:it because it's very, it's interesting, because they don't necessarily line up with the region that the animal is from,
Kara Edwards:right.
Unknown:Like, you know, they I can an example doesn't really come to mind. Right.
Kara Edwards:But I know I know what you're talking about. And I also wonder, you know, this show has was recorded several years ago, where this show originated and cast today, would there be more awareness of that? Because I feel like I feel like as a voice actor, our industry has made leaps and bounds in the last four years, especially for five years. As far as representation, and really thinking about if the character is from a certain region, what would they sound like and casting an actor from that region? And so, which has been really exciting? I don't know, when you watch more current television shows there is so much more, again, correct representation. And so if this show were recorded today, would that be something they'd be more conscious of? Or would it still be like No, it's just a cute little sea serpent that originates in wherever but you know, we'll just give them a funny accent. can go. Yeah,
Unknown:yeah. Or that for some reason, you know, to like South Asian sea serpent that for some reason sounds like they're from Scotland,
Kara Edwards:right. And again, I you know, was the casting choice just make it cute just make it interesting, or was it let's be geographically regionally Correct.
Unknown:Yeah, I mean, what is interesting is they, you know, it seems like they like if they have a species, they'll pick an accent for it, and then be consistent with that accent for all the characters of that species. So like, you know, all the green bellied sea serpents will all sound like they're from Scotland, right? Yeah,
Laura Orr:yep. Yep. They all came together.
Kara Edwards:Interesting. Again, I It's so hard without being in the casting room to know what they were thinking or what the discussions are about that word. But I assure you there were discussions, like, like, none of it is just done haphazardly. Because even if it's simply between the actor and the director, they had to make a choice. Someone made a choice and someone approved that choice. And what's the thought process? Let's make the accents completely non regional, so that there's no chance of offending anyone? Again, I think if it were cast today, it would have been cast with more appropriate actors for more appropriate representation.
Unknown:That's interesting. Yeah.
Kara Edwards:It's just there's so much more thought put into it than I've ever seen in the past, and I've been doing this 25 years.
Unknown:Well, there we go. There we go.
Kara Edwards:That's my thoughts. Okay, so now I'm curious. We've talked about all these things we love about the show. What do we find problematic? Martial?
Unknown:Um, I mean, I wouldn't say I find anything problematic, per se. You know, there's nothing where I'm like, Oh, I don't want my kid to know about that. I do have kind of like a little bit more of a laissez faire orientation towards media when it comes to kids than I think most though. That being said, you know, I just sort of feel like, let let him see it. And then we'll talk about it. I don't know. Yeah, but I will bring up one thing that is like a very minor pet peeve of mine, which is during the Creature Report song. The way they animate the animal handclaps and stomps I can't. I can't explain why I find that so annoying. But
Laura Orr:what did I do?
Kara Edwards:I know you actually know what you're talking about. What did I do? I'd like to Google a video so you can see
Laura Orr:that's so funny.
Kara Edwards:Oh, that makes me laugh. Funny when it's like little things like that will get in or you're just you're like, oh, every time they do the Creature Report. I'm just mad. They're clapping. I
Unknown:love Yeah. You know, because there's just that rhythm like duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck. There's just something about the way those little like chunky 3d animated animal cars come together for the clap, but I'm just like,
Kara Edwards:okay, similarly, I was so annoyed that there were vegetables. Why are there vegetables? What is the deal with the vegetables? Like there's a turnip that like hangs out with what all of these land animals that are inside of a submarine?
Laura Orr:They're working for them, too. They're like, they're like, like a serpent. Yeah. There's like different classes of animal vegetable. Yeah, I know. Where did they find them too?
Kara Edwards:Why is their vegetables? What's with a vegetable? Yeah,
Unknown:they're never given an origin story. And there's also the character who's like, half like, he's got it like a dog face. And then yes, a plus body guy.
Laura Orr:I gotta tell you, that bothered me. That is an actual animal. I googled it. I found it. It is a huge dog to post. It's called a dumbo octopus. And it is an actual living octopus with Dumbo sized ears. Is that insane? Because I was characters. Yes, I was with you Marshall. I was like, Why do they have a dog octopus hybrid? I do not get this. So I don't know how I found it. But I ended up finding it. And yes, that is the thing about this show is they find the most random
Kara Edwards:read do they need to do and then that needs to be one of the like, he needs to talk about
Laura Orr:being bought. Because that's a really fascinating animal, you know? Yeah, I know. And he's really tiny in real life. Yeah, they don't ever mention it in that interesting. Yeah. Okay.
Unknown:So did you also Google the origin story for the vegetables right?
Kara Edwards:No, should we are there such a thing as like Steve? Well, there's we might get Cumbers and be okay if they were all cucumbers, but like they're not they're turnips.
Laura Orr:We might be thrust into the dark web if we google that but I am. I will put on my my flashlight and
Kara Edwards:but it did. I couldn't just like you couldn't get past the chubby clap pause. I couldn't get past the vegetables.
Laura Orr:Yeah, why are they or why are they allowed to go out and explore?
Kara Edwards:Yes. And then and then the other things on my bad list, I said that it's probably not as engaging for adults, this isn't one that you may want to sit down and watch and your kids are going to age out of it. They just are.
Laura Orr:Right. Marshall, I like what you said, though, about being more of a laissez faire parenting when it comes to watching content because I feel like Kara and I have found ourselves in this position, as we review these podcasts of very rarely are we saying no, don't watch it. Most of the time, our reviews are also just about having parents be aware of the content that the kids are watching to create an opening for them to have additional conversation with the kids. Yeah. And so I like that you said that, because I feel like that goes in line with kind of what our mission has become, as
Kara Edwards:we really had kids again, so many of these shows, I mean, unless there's something truly problematic, and that's going to give us a no, sometimes we give a Yeah, like it's not gonna hurt your kids. But it's also not like, good. Yeah, that happens. There's
Laura Orr:so many myths, especially when it comes to shows that cater to little kids. Because sometimes it can follow a format that's just not really adding value to the experience, ya know that there's material out there that does add value to the experience, because now psychologists are studying the impact of TV shows on children and their development and behavior. And so knowing that that's out there, when you have stuff that's just kind of schlep together, you know,
Kara Edwards:which was why martial, I was glad that you chose Octonauts. Because it's been on my list for a long time because I always think of this as a show that's like, okay, even though it's not going to be my favorite show that I've sat down and reviewed. It is it has always been one I felt really good about my son watching,
Laura Orr:and people recommended it. I have recommended it to us several times. So this is a very popular show. Lots of kids are watching it. There's a couple more things that I feel like, you know, we could warn parents about there is some name calling. The names aren't cuss words. It's like for example, in the walrus episode again, apparently I loved that episode, they call they call a walrus a whiskery lump. So it's all appropriate name calling, but I mean appropriate, is it not cussing, right? But it happens. There's an episode where quasi and Shillington steal the little cups, which is their boats to go on a joy ride. So there's a you know, like a sneaking out and stealing, even though they aren't, like children sneaking out of their parents home, it does happen. So you could you could mention that if you notice that episode, and then they trashed the boat. And they lie when they get caught and there's really no consequences for their action. Everyone kind of forgives them. So I think when you some of the episodes with them, quasi I think he's just a little bit more rambunctious. So if you wanted to, I mean, he is a pirate so without an origin story also might I mentioned if we're talking about like the why of these characters? Like I would love for us to visit Clauss original home find out how the heck he became a pirate, right?
Unknown:They do need a little childhood of abuse and, and yeah, deprivation.
Laura Orr:What if they did show an episode of how he lost his eye that is left?
Unknown:Yeah, like how quazy got into recovery after many years of addiction and then ended up protecting animals.
Kara Edwards:Totally like an HBO Max okDo not
Laura Orr:yet. We gotta get HBO to pick this up. How did he get that hole punch in his ear? Right? Like, what is
Unknown:so many things? I think like one, you know, going back to the topic of sort of, like, you know, being laissez faire versus not I was thinking like one thing where I, I feel kind of conflicted about that. And I'm curious to hear your insights as sort of, like issues of maybe snark. You know what I mean? Like, there's so many kid shows where the kids just behave like jerks, like, respectful to people. Yeah, yeah. And like, you know, I mean, my older son is a big fan of Captain Underpants. And I think Captain Underpants is hilarious, but it's also so snarky and paints such a negative picture of school and education and teachers. And I don't know I, I think about like, you know, the struggle so many people have with summoning a correct level of reverence for, for society and for each other, and also humility about what they know and what they don't know. And And I wonder if the prevalence of kind of that snark, whatever in kids shows, and also adult shows, quite frankly, like, is that something we should be on the lookout for as parents?
Laura Orr:Well, I think that it's definitely influential. I mean, I feel like if we can all remember a time where we were sucked into a TV show that we were streaming, and then or binging, and then we walked away with some of the mood of the show, you know what I mean? And so even as adults, I can admit that I have felt emotionally influenced during the watching of a show. And of course, it fades with time as I am busy doing other things. But when you think about a kid whose brain is so malleable, much more so than ours, it makes sense that you would wonder, just to what extent is this person on the show or character on the show influencing my child's behavior? And I would say it can influence your child's behavior if they're watching a kid misbehave, and disrespect their parents. As we have experienced me personally, when my child watches Masha and the Bear, she does turn around and start acting disrespectful towards me. And so we have talked a little bit about ways to manage that. Because, again, we don't we were a no on Masha. But
Kara Edwards:yeah, we're hard, no unwanted. For those reasons, is because we felt like they were teaching our kids really bad behavior. Yeah.
Laura Orr:And just having persistent problematic behavior, where a majority of this child's attitude behavior is centered around being a certain way, I think we have come to have more take more issue with that. But then if you have a character who is inherently good, but then they also have these other traits that are, you know, selfish, or they act out, that's just nuance. And that's something that I think you can, as a parent, just remark on, as your kids are watching it. And, and and, and then move forward. Because that stuff exists in this world. And so to protect them from it on TV isn't necessarily going to protect them from that in the real world. And so, I think if you view it as more of an opportunity to have discussion around what they're watching, I think that would be beneficial. I don't know what do you think, Kara? Do
Kara Edwards:you I totally agree with you. And I was thinking of Daniel Teicher, we talked so much about how you can use some of these shows to point out behaviors or point out good behaviors versus bad behaviors. Sometimes, like the shows we've already mentioned, you want to just stay away from completely because it is consistently bad behavior. But I think the occasional snark like, that's just, I mean, I feel like the kids are gonna come across that in real life. Like, I mean, I know I can be really snarky, and Michael and I are able to joke back and forth like that. And so it doesn't bother me if, if a character like would and specifically we're talking about Octonauts, where a pirate character comes in and is slightly more, you know, rambunctious or misbehaved. Yeah. When you see that, in contrast to the other characters making the good decisions. I don't see that as problematic. It's just in the other case,
Laura Orr:and even just having subtle making subtle commentary, right about what they're watching can actually helps to switch their brain and categorize the behavior a little bit. So for example, this cat is a cat. So even just saying, Wow, he is he is way more rambunctious and he breaks you know, quasi breaks a lot more rules than the other ones. I guess that's because he's a cat. And we all know cats are a little rambunctious.
Unknown:They also don't follow any rules of any kind. Yeah, they're
Kara Edwards:kind of their own version of pirates. Right?
Laura Orr:Right. I mean, cats will you will adopt a cat with a hole in its ear and we will never know how that happened. Because they've had a whole past that we don't know about because they'll just show up on your porch and now they live here and so but even just in their mind making having a little commentary like that, you know, allows a kid to categorize it Okay, that is why he's acting like a cat. I am not a cat so I will not be inspired to act in that way. So you know little things like that I
Kara Edwards:think are totally helpful when you're watching shows as a guy you that's going to be whining and then just turns around and lets him have his way every single time and then teaches them that oh whining gets you what you want and
Laura Orr:pinching your sister is fine. All around jerk Can you tell Yeah, we
Kara Edwards:there shows we actually do have hate for usually a yes. Or show so we we know For quite recover from that so
Unknown:that's funny I you know at the risk of like alienating vital allies in the kids media space I have negative feelings about Daniel Tiger so we have you as
Laura Orr:we can talk about that offline Yeah,
Kara Edwards:I was gonna say and actually if you ever want to listen to our podcast I had some issues with it as well.
Unknown:Oh man
Kara Edwards:well this is really interesting stuff and again, Marshall I'm so glad that you brought the show to us.
Unknown:Well, thank you. It's it's a show I regularly fall asleep to so
Kara Edwards:these are our favorite to review this new this snoozers we live for a good snoozer. Again, I call him the laundry shows your reason.
Unknown:If you need to do laundry, that's what you need to do. Yeah, exactly. Yep. It's
Laura Orr:good for when you're cooking dinner. Marshall, where do you want people to find you on social media or elsewhere? Is there anything you would like to promote?
Unknown:Sure, yeah. You can find me at my twitter at Ms. Camilla 1980. That's ESCA? Am I double L A. Or you can also follow tumble cast at tumble cast on Twitter or find us at science podcast for kids.com. And we're actually releasing a new show on Friday or sorry, new show, releasing a new season on Friday, September 16. So that's our first episode coming out, which is all about the first five weeks of this new season are going to be about synthetic biology. Oh, wow. Engineering is going to really change the future. And it's astonishing the things you can make bacteria do nowadays. I can't
Laura Orr:wait to hear though. That sounds fascinating. I
Kara Edwards:know. We'll be hearing it. Like I said, my kiddo is all about the science. So we love your podcast. So look
Unknown:forward to it on Friday. I've got a lot of music to make before then. So Oh, yeah. I feel that
Laura Orr:awesome. Well, Marshall, thank you so much for listening. Everybody send him any animal fun facts that you think he would? Yep, follow him
Kara Edwards:on Twitter. Give him back. Yeah,
Unknown:if I get one then this podcast appearance was a success.
Laura Orr:Make it worth his while make it worth his while and you can follow us. Should they watch us on Instagram. You can email us if you have any recommendations podcasts that should they watch it.com And we finally
Kara Edwards:have a Twitter page. Finally, it took me a long time but we finally got a Twitter page up there.
Laura Orr:So leave us five star reviews on Apple please. Thank you for those who have done it so far. We appreciate
Kara Edwards:it. All right. Thank you Marshall. Thank you.
Laura Orr:Hi everyone. Scribe and follow us on Instagram