Yo Gabba Gabba!: Party in a Box (a J!-ENT Children’s DVD Review)

If your children are big fans of “Yo Gabba Gabba!” or you are looking for a fun, educational DVD… look no further!  “Yo Gabba Gabba!: Party in a Box” is a fun and educational DVD recommended for children and is more musical and dance driven than other educational DVD’s from Nickelodeon.

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DVD TITLE: Yo Gabba Gabba!: Party in a Box

DURATION: “The Dancey Dance Bunch!” (99 Minutes), “Birthday Boogie” (94 Minutes), “Clubhouse” (96 Minutes)

DVD INFORMATION: Full Screen, Dolby Digital – English Stereo

COMPANY: Nickelodeon/Paramount

RATED: NOT RATED

RELEASE DATE: July 12, 2010

Created by Christian Jacobs, Scott Schultz

Written by Scott Schultz, Christian Jacobs and Dan Clark

Executive Producer: Charles Rivkin, Nathan Berrett, Christian Demke, Jon Berrett

Producer: Justin Lyon

Irene Oncley as Line Producer

Ritamarie Peruggi as Supervising Producer

Samson Madsen as Associate Producer

Music by Scott Bucsis

Cinematography by Jay Lafayette

Edited by Jason deVilliers, Matthew Fackrell, Nathan Fackrell

Production Design by Bryan L. Anderton, Chris McDaniel

Featuring the voices of:

Biz Markie as himself

Lance Robertson as DJ Lance Rock

Erin Pearce as Brobee

Amos Watene as Brobee

David Crespin as Muno

Adam Diebert as Muno

Josh Baily as Muno

Christian Jacobs as Plex

Emma Jacobs as Foofa

Lindsey Kraus as Plex

Charme Morales as Toodee

Melissa Rossiter as Toodee

Mark Mothersbaugh as Himself


You’re invited to a Gabba Land Dance Party with DJ Lance Rock and the gang in this three-DVD box set! Tap your toes, stomp your feet, and dance along with Muno, Foofa, Toodee, Brobee, and Plex as you explore everything from animals to eating, from birthdays to sharing, from friends to dress-up … all in these 12 exciting episodes!

In 2007, Nick Jr. and Noggin began airing the children’s TV show titled “Yo Gabba Gabba! created by Christian Jacobs (lead vocalist of the Aquabatas), Christian Jacobs and Scott Schultz. The series has quickly become one of the more popular children’s show on television and even was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for “Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design/Styling”.

The show revolves around a character named DJ Lance Rock and his costumed character friends Muno (red and clumsy cyclops), Foofa (pink character with flower) , Brobee (an emotional, short green monster), Toodee (blue arctic cat dragon) and Plex (the smart robot) that come out of his boom box and come to life when he takes them out.

While DJ Lance Rock oversees his friends in their small kingdom, the characters learn an important lesson with each episode and everyone participates in a musical song and during each break is a short sketch or animation. And each episode is known to have a special celebrity guest.

“Yo Gabba Gabba!” is an educational children’s show teaching children right from wrong, team work and more.

And with the summer time now here, the children may be getting a little antsy and what best to spruce up the mood and make things more fun by giving them something fun and educational.  And so Nickelodeon has given parents a choice between two DVD box sets, “Dora the Explorer – Dora’s Big Party Pack” and “Yo Gabba Gabba! Party in a Box”.

With this all new “Yo Gabba Gabba!” DVD Box Set, you get three DVD’s: “The Dancey Dance Bunch” (2008), “Birthday Boogie” (2010) and “Clubhouse” (2010).

The episodes featured on the “The Dancey Dance Bunch” DVD are:

  • Friends – When playin and dancing, it’s important for friends to respect each other. Special guests: Mya, Mark Mothersbaugh, Marshall Hough
  • Eat – Toodee learns that giving new foods a try is great!  Special guests: Elijah Wood and Marks Mothersbaugh
  • Dance – It’s time to DANCE! Learn how to dance and clap your hands to the beat! Special guests: Hector Jimenez, Yuko Araki and John and Sean Scott, Cool Tricks (tap dancing)
  • Happy – Friends come in many different size, shapes and color.  Hugs make friends happy! Special guests: The Salteens and Gooble, Marks Mothersbaugh and Sukho Lee

The episodes featured on the “Birthday Boogie” DVD are:

  • Birthday – Boogie to the birthday beat as DJ Lance Rock and friends prepare for Brobee’s birthday surprise! Special Guests: Biz Markie, Melora Hardin, Parker Jacobs, The Ting Tings, Mark Mothersbaugh
  • Dress Up – Dress up, play and pretend with the friends in Gabbaland! Special Guests: Mark Mothersbaugh and The Little Ones
  • Talent – Find out everyone’s special talent as the Gabbaland friends get ready for the “Yo Gabba Talent Show!” Special Guests: Mark Mothersbaugh, Jaclyn Paris Jacobs, Mates of State
  • Ride – Explore ways to ride surfboards and roller skates.  Special Guets: Dean and Britta

The episodes featured on the “Clubhouse” DVD are:

  • Clubhouse – Brobee and Muno build a clubhouse and won’t let their friends join them since they are not boys. Special guest: Erykah Badu.
  • Adventure – Muno wants to go on a special adventure and he and his friends discover a secret passageway through a jungle hiding treasure.
  • Summer – It’s summertime and everyone in Gabbaland decide what kind of outdoor activities they can do. Special guest: The Aquabats
  • Animals – The group studies footprints from animals in Gabbaland and wonder what kind of animals they are. Special guest: Jimmy Eat World.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“Yo Gabba Gabba!” is a series featured in full screen and a series shot indoors and is not animated but characters in costume and some skits are animated. The show features plenty of colors and characters that children will easily gravitate too. Audio is presented in English Dolby Digital Stereo.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Yo Gabba Gabba! – The Dancey Dance Bunch” comes with the following DVD:

  • Meet the Dancey Dance Bunch – (:60) An introduction by DJ Lance Rock to the friends of Gabba Land.

“Yo Gabba Gabba!” is a fantastic series for the children and a very good DVD (especially on long commutes) in order to help children with their decision skills but also teaching them about team work and also singing and dancing along to music.

In some ways, the show is similar to “Blues Clues” in which the host DJ Lance Rock looks towards the audience to help out the Gabbaland group, similar to “Backyardigans”, “Dora the Explorer” and “Go Diego Go!” in that the characters go on adventures and similar to “Sesame Street” in that a musical guest can be seen performing a song and you get various non-Gabbaland segments (animated or musical-based).

But the true benefit of “Party in a Box” is the fact that you get three DVD’s with four episodes on each DVD.  So, children get three times the fun and this DVD set is offered at a low price, so it’s definitely worth it and also helps break down that angst during the holiday season or summer break.

If there was one thing that I am a bit critical about Nickelodeon DVD’s thus far is that I wish there were more special features (in this case, there are no special features on two of the DVD’s, one does have a one minute special feature), possibly DVD-rom content or games but other than that, you do get four episodes and the DVD’s are typically sold at a low price, so they are very affordable and very good, safe, educational children’s episodes.

If you are a parent looking for an educational DVD which children can sing, dance and learn from, “Yo Gabba Gabba! Party in a Box” is definitely recommended!