Archives for February 2018

Join Angie and friends as they deal with everything from a remote control dance outfit to gravity to moon rocks and more! Hoping to get on a dance show, Von Bolt wears a remote-control dance outfit. But if he lets someone else dance for him, is he really a winner? Next, the Secret Lab Kids are ready to demo their new science song for web entrepreneur, Mook Zookerboom, when he learns that a satellite is coming down out of orbit, panics and heads for the airport. So the team must gather some data on gravity to convince him to return. Then, when Von Bolt accidentally destroys the museum’s new moon rock, the Secret Lab Kids must find a way to replace it. Guided by fun-loving Edison, Angie and friends will show kids just how fun science can be! KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Rohan F. comments, “This is a very educational show. It’s bright, colorful characters and high-level facts make it attractive to most ages.  It manages to be both informative and entertaining.” Talia J. adds, “I am happily surprised by this DVD. I was expecting these episodes to be very child-like and not very humorous. I was very wrong! The episodes kept me interested the entire time.” Damon F. wraps it up with, “

Thomas Edison’s Secret Lab: Rock It to the Moon

By Rohan Foxe, KIDSFIRST! Film Critic, age 12

This is a very educational show. It’s bright, colorful characters and high-level facts make it attractive to most ages.  It manages to be both informative and entertaining.

The DVD has eight episodes that follow Angie, Kent, JD and Nicky as they go on adventures using science. The episodes include Dancing Machine, Murphy’s law of Gravity, Rock it to the Moon, Act Your Stone Age, Von Drop-Out, Freaky Furry, The Monster Not Under the Bed and Nanobots Byte. In each episode the Secret Lab Kids, as they’re called, use their hologram projector to visit a scientist from the past. The scientist tells them a bit about his most famous discovery, which gives them a hint to solve the major problem of the episode. I like their decision to use some lesser known scientists such as Thales, instead of just the most famous scientists like Albert Einstein. However, they could have been more diverse in who they chose. Other than the kids, there are no female scientists in the entire episode set.

My favorite episode is Von Drop-Out. Von Bolt is my favorite character on this show. I like him because he is funny and interesting. In this episode, he feels underappreciated and quits. He gets a new job as a rescue robot and the Secret Lab Kids try to find him so they can get him to come back. I like this episode because its explanation on the science of proportion and measurement is easy to understand and is used in the most practical way that could be used by anyone in the real world. Von Bolt is voiced by Dan Russell. I really enjoyed this voice. He manages to show emotion but still keep the voice robotic.

I like how educational this series is. It teaches science, history, technology, math, vocabulary and much more. This isn’t the only thing children might take from these episodes. The educational values are almost over-shadowed by the wacky, unexplained, convenient items the Secret Lab Kids have.

The music on this show is almost better than the show itself. After each episode, there is a song. These songs teach more science than the stories, teach it faster, are equally entertaining and are amazingly well produced. They are, by far, my favorite part of this DVD and the show as a whole. Overall I give this DVD 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 3 through 14.

Thomas Edison’s Secret Lab: Rock it to the Moon

By Talia J., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, age 15

Thomas Edison’s Secret Lab: Rock it to the Moon is an entertaining DVD gives everyone a better understanding of science.

Thomas Edison’s Secret Lab: Rock it to the Moon is an animated series of science-themed episodes. The show is about a group of friends who find the famous scientist Thomas Edison’s secret lab. Thomas Edison has made a secret lab where he creates a virtual version of himself and a robot named Van Bolt. The friends embark on fun adventures with one another while at the same time learning valuable scientific knowledge of the world around them.

I am happily surprised by this DVD. I was expecting these episodes to be very child-like and not very humorous. I was very wrong! The episodes kept me interested the entire time. The episodes are rather short which I think is fantastic because it keeps the audience attention the whole time. The episodes are silly, but in a way that got me laughing. These episodes are definitely aimed for much younger audiences. Since I am not in that age range, I did not think I was going to appreciate the humor like a little child would. My expectations were definitely wrong. I absolutely love the little jokes and funny characters. The humor gives these episodes character.

These episodes are perfect for anyone interested in science. What surprised me the most about this DVD is that I didn’t even know most of the science related topics. Some of the topics the episodes discuss are Murphy’s Law of Gravity, fossils, and many more. It is very important for children shows to be both informative and entertaining. Thomas Edison’s Secret Lab: Rock it to the Moon definitely incorporates these two ideas beautifully. Each episode helps teach kids that science is actually fun. Perhaps one day it can inspire the next generation of scientists.

I absolutely adore the music in this DVD. There are a total of eight episodes in the DVD. At the end of each episode there is a music video about science. The music is written and produced by Stefanie and Ron Fair. I must say that I am still caught humming some of the tunes. The music is very catchy, and the music videos are entertaining to watch. In the music videos there are always five robots that are doing something crazy. In one episode they float around space and orbit the Earth. The five robots give the music videos a unique touch.

This DVD is a perfect way to introduce children to science. Each episode adds humor and silliness while including a valuable science lesson. I recommend this DVD for anyone between the age of 4 and 9 and give this DVD 5 out of 5 stars. This DVD is out now so go check it out!

Thomas Edison’s Secret Lab – Rock It to the Moon

Damon F., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, age 10

Thomas Edison’s Secret Lab – Rock It to the Moon is a DVD full of episodes about a group of kid scientists who work together on adventures in Thomas Edison’s secret lab. The series is about the group finding problems around their town and solving them by using scientific facts. I always enjoy these episode packs because I like science and they teach us a lot about chemicals and discoveries I didn’t know about before. After every episode there is a song (written by Stefanie and Ron Fair) about the episode that is sung by dancing robots. The songs are very repetitive and younger kids would like that.

The four kid scientists are, Angie (Phillipa Alexander) a modern female version of Thomas Edison, JD (Adam Long), Angie’s brother who  thinks well under pressure, Kent (Shash Hira), who has all kinds of phobias and loves all applications of science,  Nicky,  a scientific genius who is secretly jealous of Angie, and of course Thomas Edison (Livingston Taylor), a hologram of the scientist who is the kids’ inspiring mentor who  doesn’t solve their problems for them, but instead offers advice and guidance.  In the lab they have Edison’s projector which makes his hologram and a virtual reality machine which opens a portal that each episode sends them to a different scientist from the past who teaches them something that will help them solve their current problem. These lessons teach real life facts which I like. This episode pack is about a few of their problems that they solve using all they know about science.

Episodes on this DVD include, Dancing Machines, Murphy’s Law of Gravity, Rock it to the Moon, Act your Stone Age, Von Drop-Out, Freaky Furry, The Monster Not Under the Bed, and Nanobots Byte. My favorite episode is Freaky Furry which is about when Angie accidentally switches brains with her dog during a test. The group must find out what happened and switch the brains back. I like this because it is the only one about the human body which I find fascinating and because I like dogs. My favorite character is Von Bolts, the robot lab assistant, because he is a funny, indestructible machine who features in all the episodes.

The message of this show is that if you work together, you can do anything. I recommend this DVD for ages 4 through 10 because it is funny and very educational but easy to understand. I rate this DVD 4 out of 5 stars because I like to hear facts and some parts are funny. This DVD/Blu-ray is available now so go check it out. This series has its own website called, edisonsecretlab.com which you should also look at because it has a lot of added features.

Credit: KIDS FIRST!