Madeline Fretz - Today I'm reviewing "Lend a Helping Hand," one of HiT Entertainment's compilation videos for kids released in 2010. Starring
The Sunny Side Up Show's Kelly Vrooman and Chica, this piece was in a video duology called "Let's Grow," named after the first generation slogan, which also included another video called "Safety First."
The video teaches you about ways you can help people out through helping-themed episodes of HiT's Sprout shows (unlike SSU and The Good Night Show on TV, which focused on a different theme for the continuity links while the episodes aired were completely different from the theme), and at the end of each episode (complete with split-screen credits), Kelly hands them the Good Egg Awards. They even have the second generation SSU screenbug! Let's get started!
Kelly Vrooman starts the video by saying it's time to learn about helping hands. Chica asks what a helping hand is, and she explains that it's someone who's being kind by helping others. Chica gives ways of how you can be a helping hand. So…this is a second generation video judging by the release year and screenbug, but has the first generation logo on the computer screen? This was probably filmed between January and September 2009.
Now it's time for Barney & Friends, in which Riff invents a robot who picks up litter and learns about taking care of the earth.
Now, I don't like the show, but this episode teaches a pretty good lesson, which Kelly Vrooman explains during the split-screen credits and gives Riff the Good Egg Award.
Today's Barney episode was called "Litterbot," and Kelly Vrooman and Chica made their own Litterbot and explained to the viewers what he was made up of - such as paper plates and cardboard tubes. Chica asks what the green thing on his stomach was, and Kelly Vrooman explains that it is none other than the recycling sign and what it's there for.
In this video as well as "Safety First," they do stuff they regularly do on SSU - except for the viewer-submitted material. I feel that both videos were only made to promote Sprout to those who didn't have it, so people would get interested in the channel and ask for it right away. Man! They should've made more of those, not just SSU, but also ones of The Sprout Sharing Show, Sprout's Wiggly Waffle, and even The Let's Go Show!
The Good Night Show got a DVD in 2014 called "Goodnight Stories," released by NCircle, who also released DVDs of other Sprout shows.
In today's Bob the Builder, Bob and the Can-Do Crew prepare for a grand opening and meet a street cleaner named Bristle, whose name rhymes with "whistle." The episode is called "Clean as a Whistle Bristle," so that kinda makes sense.
Cut back to the Sunshine Barn. Now that was a very special event, so Bob, you get the Good Egg Award! Riff, you’re not alone!
Kelly Vrooman and Chica also play Dress Chica using the costume carton as always. They dress Chica up as a train conductor. Chica doesn’t want to clean up, but Kelly explains that it's important to clean up after playing dress up.
This isn't really "Dress Chica," as they got to chose Chica's costume rather than having the viewers do it as always.
Chica was dressed as a train conductor, and speaking of trains, now we get to Thomas & Friends. Today, James the Red Engine learns about helping others.
Kelly Vrooman gives a brief explanation about the Thomas episode, and hands James the Good Egg Award.
She and Chica then draw a firetruck during Draw With Chica, leading to Fireman Sam, since he drives firetrucks.
In today's Fireman Sam episode, it's Cleaning Day in Pontypandy and Sam saves Mike's house from a fire started by his iron.
Fireman Sam is always a hero. Kelly Vrooman and Chica present him with the Good Egg Award.
Chica is dressed in a tutu and wants to do ballet, so with help from the viewers, Kelly Vrooman helps her reach up to the sky … and we see Chica's feet!
It's interesting that in this video, the links relate to the shows coming up next, which I believe they rarely did on the blocks on TV.
It's always a thrill when we see Chica's feet. I wonder how they did that. Well, puppet magic!
Since Chica learned ballet, it's time to see everyone's favorite ballerina … Angelina Mouseling! In today's Angelina Ballerina, Angelina helps a character I've never heard of named Mary.
Kelly Vrooman explains what happened in today's episode of Angelina Ballerina, so she presents our rodent hero with the Good Egg Award. She then explains who we gave Good Egg Awards to today.
On TV, they present kids who submitted kind acts online with the Good Egg Award. Here, they present characters with the Good Egg Award.
And at the end of the DVD: How can you print out your own Good Egg Award? By going to Sproutonline.com of course! Or nowadays, you can go to broken archives on the Wayback Machine. Man, great DVD! Great linking footage. Great everything! Except maybe Barney. Overall, a great video.
