Originally aired on CBeebies in 2008, it was the first computer-animated television series from Ludorum (who also made the latest series of Dennis and Gnasher and Marvo The Wonder Chicken) and episodes are still being made to this day, airing in over one hundred and seventy five territories in the world.
The latest DVD release for Chuggington includes seven episodes for young fans to enjoy, as well as a special feature on the characters in the series and a toy Action Chugger.
Chuggington is a fictional world where a number of human and train characters live together, with the main setting acting as a big train station for all of the characters to live and interact with.
Using the train tracks to travel to the numerous locations around the world, three Trainee (trains in training) characters Koko, Wilson and Brewster must complete objectives and tasks while learning about teamwork and trying to do the right thing.
As well as the three main stars, there are a wide variety of other characters that they interact with, including film super star Action Chugger, underground train Emery, Eddie the handyman and Hoot and Toot the twin trains.
The colourful and detailed characters offer a varied experience with each episode, giving audiences someone to care about while teaching children simple lessons to help young children develop in their early years of learning. As well as the characters, the wide number of locations also helps to make the series exciting and entertaining for children to see their favorite characters interact in.
The team behind this popular series has done a great job to bring as much detail and design into the animation into each episode, as well as the writing team to use the most out the number of characters and locations.
Using Maya, the animation team managed to take full advantage of the individual designs given to each character that makes them recognizable for children to recognize that also works to show off how they are as well. While I honestly prefer the way that computer animation is used in other shows (such as Octonuats and Tree Fu Tom), this is still a good series that really uses the most out of Maya and has managed to develop well over the years.
As for the writing team, they deserve a big mention in this review as well since they have managed to use the characters really well, carefully selecting the right character for the right situations for them to overcome or work together in order to reach their objective.
I’m happy to see that 2entertain, the distributors for this and many other DVDs, have included a couple of nice additions to keep children entertained and also as a good stepping stone for those who are new to the series.
As well as the option to buy the DVD with or without the toy of Action Chugger (which are both quite cheap), a special feature was added called Meet the Chuggers and introduces us to the characters featured in the episodes on the DVD disc. This is especially nice to see as it is uncommon to see children’s shows released on DVD with any bonus material and is very much welcome.
This is overall a nice release for any fans or newcomers who might be interested if they love their vehicles and nice to see nice little extras that makes it even more appealing.
[Rating:4/5]
