“SlugTerra: Heroes of the Underground” is a pretty solid animated series for children or the young at heart. Cool characters, well-written stories with plenty of action and humor! Parents looking for a safe animated series on DVD for their children who love action and sci-fi, will definitely enjoy “SlugTerra: Heroes of the Underground”. Recommended!
© 2012 Slugterrainea Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
DVD TITLE: SlugTerra: Heroes of the Underground
TV SERIES AIR DATE: 2013
DURATION: 110 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: Full Screen, Dolby Digital English Stereo
COMPANY: Shout! Factory
RATED: TV Y7 FV
RELEASE DATE: March 4, 2014
Directed by Johnny Darrell
Written by Rob Hoegee, Scott Sonneborn
Executive Producer: Ken Faier, Asaph Fipke, Rob Hoegee, Chuck Johnson
Co-Producer: Nancy Lees
Art Direction by Andy Poon
Featuring the voices of:
Sam Vincent as Eli Shane
Lee Tockar as Pronto
Shannon Chan-Kent as Trixie
Michael Dobson as Maurice
Andrew Francis as Kord
Mark Oliver as Dr. Blakk
Join Eli Shane and the Shane Gang as they venture further into SlugTerra’s 99 caverns! But the further they go, the more trouble they seem to find. From an icy drive-in theatre to the Shane Gang Hideout itself, danger lurks in every cavern. Our heroes find themselvs confronted by ice ogres, thieves, con artists, a cyclops and robots, but it’s not just a simple matter of slugging it out to protect the underground world. Eli will have to work with his enemies, duel without Burpy and his best slugs, and reveal his most precious secret in order to protect the underground world from both everyday troublemakers and the fiendishly ambitious Dr. Blakk!
In 2012, the new sci-fi action animated series “SlugTerra” made its debut on Disney XD in October 2012.
An American/Canadian co-production created by Asaph Fipke (co-founder of Nerd Corps Entertainment and worked on series such as “Beast Wars”, “Beast Machines”, “ReBoot”, “Heavy Gear” and “Max Steel”), the animation is produced by Fipke’s Animation studio Nerd Corps Entertainment.
With 39 episodes aired on television (three seasons), the latest volume of “SlugTerra” titlted “SlugTerra: Heroes of the Underground” (episodes 16-20 from season two), will be released on DVD!
“SlugTerra” is a series that begins with Will Shane, the protector of SlugTerra taking on his arch nemesis Dr. Thaddius Blakk. As Dr. Blakk tried to unleash an evil power using a ghoul slug in SlugTerra that would envelop Will Shane, Will uses his blaster to shoot out his slug Burpee to find his young son Eli to find a letter before he is enveloped.
Burpee shows young Eli a letter that his father left to him, just in case something bad has happened to him. Will wrote about how many in the long line of the Shane family had ventured to SlugTerra, to protect the area which is located 100 miles below Earth. But the condition if he chooses to accept, is that he can begin his adventure as a Shane in SlugTerra when he turns 15-years-old but also that he must keep the existence of Earth as he knows it, a secret from those living in SlugTerra.
Fast forward to a teenage Eli, who decides to venture to SlugTerra, knowing that he may not be able to get back home. And upon arriving, he arrives to his fathers hideout where his weapons, gear and mecha beast vehicles are located.
While his father left him a blaster, he must find his own slugs which is a key to surviving in SlugTerra. How each slug has a special ability and gets stronger over time. If the owner bonds with the slug, the better the relationship.
Eli eventually meets several people who try to teach him the way of living in SlugTerra and join him as part of the Shane Team. Pronto the Magnificent is a molenoid tracker, so he says. But he seems to get everyone in trouble but also manages to help him the team once in awhile. Beatrice “Trixie” Sting is filming a documentary on slugs but she is also wonderful in fighting competitions and is great strategist. And there is Kord Zane, a huge cave troll who loves technology, and is a mechanic who loves upgrading blasters and vehicles.
Meanwhile, when Dr. Thaddius Blakk and his group find out a Eli is back in SlugTerra, he is determined of ridding Eli as he did with his father. But Blakk has found away to convert innocent slugs to evil ghouls and trying to recruit people to cause havok in SlugTerra.
Can the Shane Gang find a way to defeat the evil in SlugTerra? And what will happen when Eli’s secret of coming from “The Burning World” (the surface) is revealed to the members of the Shane Gang?
Here are the following episodes featured in “SlugTerra: Heroes of the Underground” (Season 2):
- EPISODE 16: Snowdance – The Shane Gang take on the Hooligang and with the Hooligang upset about being fired by Dr. Blakk for losing against the Shane Gang the first time, now they want revenge.
- EPISODE 17: Inheritance – Danna Por, the daughter of Will Shane’s old partner, Tom Por, wants treasure which she believes, belongs to her.
- EPISODE 18: A Distant Shore – An adventure tries to go on an expedition to “The Burning World” (the surface where Eli is from). Eli tries to stop him.
- EPISODE 19: The Journey Home – Eli takes on Much without some of his trustworthy Slugs.
- EPISODE 20: Roboslugs – The Shane Gang takes on Quentin, a mad scientist who has created Roboslugs.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“SlugTerra: Heroes of the Underground” comes is presented a series that blends CG animation with hand draw animation. Produed by Nerd Corps Entertainment, the style of “SlugTerra” almost has an anime mashed with Disney style. Colors are vibrant and colorful, character designs for the humanoid characters are well done but also for the slugs which are cute or crazy or mean looking slugs. But the characters are well-shaded and art backgrounds are also nicely done.
Mechanical design is also created quite well from the beast vehicles to the blasters, for the most part, “SlugTerra” is a series that looks good as one can expect on DVD.
The series is presented in Dolby Digital and dialogue and sound effects are clear. And while there are no subtitles, closed captions are included.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“SlugTerra: Heroes of the Underground” comes with the following special features:
- Creating Your Own Slugs– (4:18) Learn how to draw a slug by Andy Poon (art director for “SlugTerra”).
- Slugisodes – The Right Slug For the Right Job – (1:01) Trixie talks about using your Slugs.
- Slugisodes – Getting Around in SlugTerra – (1:01) Trixie talks about getting around in SlugTerra.
EXTRAS:
“SlugTerra: Heroes of the Underground” comes with a slipcover.
I have to admit that when I first hear about “SlugTerra”, the first thing that came to my mind was “not another Pokemon type of anime series”!
Having seen series such as “Monsuno” and “Kaijudo”, I was curious to see how “SlugTerra” would differentiate from these other titles. And sure enough, “SlugTerra” turns out to be a fantastic animated series.
It does have the similarity to Pokemon, in the case of “SlugTerra”, collecting Slugs with special abilities and dueling other competitors with their slugs.
The adventures of the Shane Gang continues in the latest volume of “SlugTerra” with episodes 16-20 from season two as the gang continues to go further into SlugTerra’s 99 caverns. But as the gang continues, they run into the Hooligang again, but also other sorts of rivals.
But this time, it becomes more personal as secrets of Eli’s father start to emerge, especially Dana Por, the daughter of Eli’s father, Tom Por, who tells him how Will Shane was responsible for the breakup of their working relationship, when Will tried to hide treasure from Tom.
But as the Shane Gang starts to have their doubts about Eli’s father, Eli must make a difficult decision…should he tell the Shane Gang the truth of where he comes from and the secret that he and his father had tried to protect?
Overall, “SlugTerra: Heroes of the Underground” is a pretty solid animated series for children or the young at heart. Cool characters, well-written stories with plenty of action and humor!
Parents looking for a safe animated series on DVD for their children who love action and sci-fi, will definitely enjoy “SlugTerra: Heroes of the Underground”.
Recommended!
