“SlugTerra: Slugs Unleashed” is a pretty solid animated series for children or the young at heart. Cool characters, well-written stories with plenty of action and humor and a lot of awesome potential! Recommended!
© 2012 Slugterrainea Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
DVD TITLE: SlugTerra: Slug! Power
TV SERIES AIR DATE: 2012-2013
DURATION: 110 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: Full Screen, Dolby Digital English Stereo
COMPANY: Shout! Factory
RATED: TV Y7 FV
RELEASE DATE: September 17, 2013
Directed by Johnny Darrell, Sebastian Brodin, Clint Butler, Blair Simmons, Craig Roberts, Barry Karnowski, Daniel Ife
Written by Rob Hoegee, Scott Sonneborn, Todd Garfield, Jonathan Callan, Rob Hoegee, Eugene Son, Guy Toubes, Asaph Fipke
Executive Producer: Ken Faier, Asaph Fipke, Rob Hoegee, Chuck Johnson
Co-Producer: Nancy Lees
Art Direction by Andy Poon
Music by Brian Carson, Jonathan Evans
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
David A. Kaye as Twist
Kathleen Barr as Shanai
Tabitha St. Germain as Desdemona
Ian James Corlett as Gar Revelle
Maryke Hendrikse as Dana Por
The adventure continues deep down in Sugterra, where the ammo’s alive and only the quick survive! Join Eli, his best buddy slug, Burpy and the rest of the Shane Gang as they explore new caverns, duel some of the meanest slugslingers around, and find cool new slugs to shoot and transform gang races their mechabeasts through at treacherous course, braves the jungle wilds to win ultra-rare slugs, meets up with some mysterious and scary shadow creatures, survives a zombie attack and more! It’s high-octane slugslinging adventure as Eli, Pronto, Kord and Trixie unleash their slugs in the battle to stop the bad guys and bring justice back to this wild underground world!
What happens when the Shane Gang brings in a new team member named Twist? Is he friend or foe? And what happens when the team goes to get help from retired master trick shooter, Mario Bravado?
Find out in the latest third volume of “SlugTerra: Slug Power!”.
What is “SlugTerra”?
In 2012, the 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 22 episodes aired on television, episodes 11-13 for season 1 and episodes 14-15 of season two will be released on DVD titled “SlugTerra: Slug Power!” in September 2013.
“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.
Here are the following episodes featured in “SlugTerra: Slug Power!”:
- EPISODE 11: Mecha Mutiny – The Shane Gang goes to find a Zipper Slug but their mechas begin to malfunction.
- EPISODE 12: Undertow – What happens when the Shane Gang runs into a pirate named Captain Malvolio Drake.
- EPISODE 13: Mario Bravado – The Shane Gang arrive in a town where spitting out gum is illegal and Pronto is captured. But in order to save him, Eli must learn how to do a trick shot like the master trick shooter Mario Bravado, but can they convince him to come out of retirement?
- EPISODE 14: The New Kid, Part 1 – The Shane gang finds a new ally and team member named Twist.
- EPISODE 15: The New Kid, Part 2 – Twist is secretly working with Dr. Blakk and has infiltrated the Shane Gang. Will the team find out that he’s not one of the good guys?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“SlugTerra” 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: Slug Power!” comes with the following special features:
- Behind the Scenes: Producing SlugTerra – (5:21) Rob Hoegee, Writer/executive producer of “SlugTerra and creator Asaph Fipke talks about producing “SlugTerra and building a team.
- Slugisodes – (1:01) Featuring three slugisodes: “A Brief History of Slugslinging”, “Dr. Blakk: The Untold Story”, “The Underworld Beneath Your Feet”.
EXTRAS:
“SlugTerra: Slug Power!” comes with a slipcover.
The continuing adventures of the Shane Gang, “SlugTerra: Slug Power!” continues the adventures of Eli and friends as they look for new Slugs but have to learn new abilities for offensive but also abilities of new slugs.
From the introduction of the Zipper Slug in episode 11 titled “Mecha Mutiny” or Eli learning the trick shot in episode 13 titled “Mario Bravado”, possibly the most exciting episodes were the first two episodes of season two featuring a new member to the Shane Gang!
In some ways, I was hoping to see a new fifth member for the Shane Gang and with the introduction of Twist, it seemed like a very good idea but as you watch it, you find out he is working with Dr. Blakk…or is he?
Featuring a lot of action and fun adventures, having seen series such as “Monsuno” and “Kaijudo” (both are also available from Shout! Factory), 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.
But where “SlugTerra” becomes interesting is its primary antagonist. Dr. Blakks is the person responsible for the death of Eli Shane’s father and he is taking innocent Slugs and converting them to ghoul slugs, making them evil and stronger but doing so against their will. Everyone partnered with Dr. Blakks look evil and hard to beat.
But its the protagonist Eli that makes this series so interesting. He has a lot to learn but his compassion towards slugs and his belief in his team is optimistic. May it be outdueling competition or saving slugs, Eli Shane and the members of the Shane Gang are quite intriguing. Each are different but yet they are able to come together and become one heck of a team. Pronto is clumsy and unpredictable, Trixie is great at observing and Kord is great in upgrades and mechanics. And somehow this team manages to achieve a good level of success.
Each episode is fresh and quite different and so, it’s not as banal as other series. Also, the look and feel of the characters is much different thanks to the use of CG and its pretty cool character and mechanical design.
As for the DVD, picture quality is good, animation is well-done and also the writing for the series is very exciting and fun! And you get a few short special features as well.
Overall, “SlugTerra: Slugs Unleashed” is a pretty solid animated series for children or the young at heart. Cool characters, well-written stories with plenty of action and humor and just a lot of fun! Recommended!
