Ruffus The Dog – “The Emperor’s New Clothes”

In this notorious version of “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, Ruffus plays a dishonest tailor who takes advantage of a less-than-wise Emperor, preying upon his ego and vanity, to sell him something less than he had before – and more than his loyal subjects had bargained for.

Features the song: “Emperor’s New Clothes”

<4 swirlies

“Life has no meaning if you don’t look good”

This one is a kids’ show. It sort of warms my heart that people are taking the risk of producing web series for kids. Or should I say, “The Kids.” Having said that, I have to admit that I have no intention of researching the producers and this series may have been funded with porn and/or drug and/or Shamwow money and is most likely leftist brain-softening propaganda.

This segment is a re-telling of “The Emporer’s New Clothes” and it pretty much stays true to the themes of the original, while offering enough new content to keep if from seeming like the producers were dumpster-diving in the annals of the public domain, hoping to hit big playing “flip this fable.”  Desperate selfish joking aside, this clip is really good.

Why is this worth watching? The writing and puppetry are really slick, it rolls along smoothly, it has a catchy original song, and it offers at least one penis size joke, in case you were worried that you wouldn’t have an opportunity to feel dirty and weird during the course of the 14 minute tale.

As a cynical adult, I found it a little distracting that the characters were shot on green screen and keyed into the 2d environments but I’m sure children would find that magical and whimsical.  All in all, this is a solid production. Show it to your kids.

Raising Kayn – Ep. 1 The Puzzle of the Coin

The first episode of the popular web series “Raising Kayn”. Vampires, were creatures, ninjas and mad scientists, the Kayn family deals with them all in their search for the source of a mysterious coin.

2 Swirlies

This is an attempt to make a supernatural show for a family audience. Because there’s so many parents and kids watching online videos together?

This series is about The Kayn family and its involvement in supernatural mysteries. The mom is some sort of expert on everything whose biggest challenge in life is getting all her children to sit down for dinner together. The son is a sort of mad scientist who doesn’t like to come out of his lab (insert comic relief here). The older daughter fights things (that’s all we know so far) and the younger daughter is a teenage girl. They’re trying to solve mysteries and be home in time for prayers and bedtime.

This is the first part of the story, we don’t get very far into what’s going on except for a strange coin. Then the Ninjas show up. The production isn’t terrible, but the acting could be a lot better (like most webseries). It reminds me of syndicated series from the 80′s – the kind you’d watch on Sunday afternoon when nothing else was on.

This has that same feel as a tween comedy like Wizards of Waverly Place or iCarly, but not anywhere as clever or funny. (I should point out it is not a comedy). If you’re looking for something to watch with your children for family time, you might want to give this a chance. Me, I’m giving it two swirlies for now and waiting to see if it picks up next episode.