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Publisher's Site

Network: DisneyXD
Age Recommendation: 6-13
Genre: Fantasy
Subject Matter: Magical animal battles
Rating: TV-Y7 FV (Fantasy Violence)
Street Date: June 18, 2013

Overview:

Slugterra is another cartoon for kids where people throw magical animals in various containers at one another. I like to call it "The Pokemon Formula". This DVD, the second volume of the show, contains five episodes from the popular DisneyXD series.

The slugs are cute and the "battle" is pretty low-key, making this a good show for even the younger adventure seekers. There is also a popular mobile game to go with it.

Episode Synopses:

The Slug Run: Eli wants to race in the Slug run, in which Slug Slingers race their Mechabeasts, with the prize being a rare slug. During the race, Eli finds out that the three-time champion, Vance Volt, is being sponsored by Mr. Blakk, who would likely harm the little rare slug prize. Pronto also wants to race, but only to defeat his "nemesis", Sido, who doesn't even remember who Pronto is. When Eli eventually loses the race, Vance Volt sees how much he was willing to risk to keep the slug out of Blakk's hands, and decides to give it to him. However, Sido actually does work for Blakk, and they battle for the fate of the little slug. Pronto wins the duel and saves the slug, as well as has the pride of beating his nemesis.

Shadows and Light: The Shane gang meets a group of people trying to deliver some Fandango slugs to the Bullseye cavern, which has gone completely dead, but Blakk's men are stationed nearby and fight them.

The slug energy from the Fandangos will revive the area, and the Shane gang offers to deliver the slugs to save the cavern. However, they are diverted through the territory of the dreaded Shadow Clan in the dark periphery. They are captured by the Shadow Clan, but the firey slug Burpee somehow manages to convince them to let his friends go. When they reach Bullseye cavern, they release the slugs, but the slugs quickly run away. Trixie discovers a pool of dark water, showing that Blakk wanted to turn the whole cavern into a Ghoul area, especially since the cavern is at the center of Slugterra. Eli uses his healer slug and the energy from the Fandangos to cleanse the dark water and save the cavern.

Dawn of the Slug: The local Slugterra mall has become overrun with Zombies. The mall Security Slinger tells the Shane gang about the zombies just appearing. Pronto, on the search for the perfect handbag, gets zombified by a voodoo guy who goes by the name of Saturday. Saturday is using a Hypnoslug turned ghoul to brainwash the local mall-goers into shoplifting for him. Eli is sure he knows all about zombies because he loved watching zombie films with his father. The mall cop deputizes the gang and they track down Saturday. Eli's healer slug Doc cleanses the Hypnoslug and they use it to reverse the mind control on the mall patrons.

Club Slug: Pronto sees a late night commercial for a camp that trains useless slugs for slingers, while the slingers get to relax, and spends half of the gang's gold to have the whole group attend. The club owner shows them how the slugs are "trained", by repeatedly firing and re-firing them in a continuous machine. Eli is skeptical, but allows his slug Banger to take a spin in the machine, after which Banger tries to bite him. After he talks to an old club client, Eli finds out that the "trained" slugs require monthly "maintenance" sessions, costing their slingers even more money and senses a scam. The "trained" slugs are tough to control and tire easily, and the club owner loses in a duel to Eli's properly trained slugs. Eli has the club shut down and teaches others that slugs must be trained gradually for a reason.

Endangered Species: Trixie finds out online that the Enigmo slug is real and wants to be the first to fire it to see what this rare, elusive slug (once thought only to be a legend) actually does. However, when the gang arrives in the habitat of the slug, they are met by several slug hunters, who are all there to capture it and sell it to a couple of super rich slug collectors. The hunters aren't careful about the environment and seem to be bent on destroying the forest to find the Enigmo. The meanest slug hunter in Slugterra, Gerhard Stalker, joins the hunt for the slug, but his traps could harm it and Eli becomes worried. When Eli finds the Enigmo, he fires it and it rebounds, causing him to lose his sight. The Enigmo gets away, and the gang goes on the hunt again, with Eli out of commission. The slug is pretty dumb, and ends up being caught by Stalker instead. Eli saves the slug from the hunter, it fixes his sight, and he decides to keep it for himself instead of sell it.

Bonus Features:

Behind the Scenes: Writing Slugterra: A five minute short in which the writers talk about the series and what their various writing and editing jobs entail. They also discuss the process of writing an episode: from idea, to "loglines", to premise, and then drafts--all in all, a ten week long process.

Slugisodes: Cute little one minute animated shorts featuring Trixie teaching viewers about the slugs. In "Our Friend the Slug", she discusses the slugs themselves, what they like, and how to get them to return to you after a duel. In "Know Your Ghoul", she talks about what it means for a slug to be "ghouled" and how they can be cured with a Healer Slug. In "Slug Retrieval", she has Cave narrate for her, which he does as a "monster truck announcer", about the different ways slugs can be retrieved after a duel.

Publisher's Site

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