Hello Kitty Saves the Day: Save My Day from the HK

People were shopping for my daughter's fourth birthday just as Zany Brainy was going out of business. As a result, she got more things than by all rights she should have, three Hello Kitty videos included, which still warrant retaliation.

::: The Basics :::

Hello Kitty has been around in some incarnation or another since I was a child (and a quick check at the Sanrio website at http://www.sanrio.com/main/charactersection/kt.html says that she first appeared in 1974). Her image is ubiquitous on toys, children's dinnerware, clothes, accessories, and apparently, these videos, which were put out in 1987 as compilations of the short-lived television series Furry Tale Theater.

In Hello Kitty Saves the Day, you get five episodes of Furry Tale Theater, all based on some fable or another, with the exception of Crocodile Penguin, which is based on the movie Crocodile Dundee. Between each episode, Hello Kitty and all her friends come out for bows.

Peter Penguin

Hello Kitty and Chip are playing pirate before bed when Peter Penguin (Tuxedo Sam) swoops in through the window. Hello Kitty is skeptical that he's the real thing until he begins to fly. Captain Claw (Catnip) has kidnapped Dinglebelle (My Melody), and Peter asks Helo Kitty and Chip to come with him to Never-Say-Never Land to help him rescue her. In Never-Say-Never Land, he tells them, they can never say the word "never" or terrible things will happen.

Captain Claw is shown with Dinglebelle, about to eat dinner when she hears a ticking clock, which she realizes is a crocodile (Grinder) that took her tail. She tells him he'll never sneak up on him again and kicks him off her boat. As she tries to start her meal again, Peter Penguin, Hello Kitty, and Chip are spotted by Captain Claw's crew, who begin firing pies at them. Peter uses magic to reverse the pies, which then hit the crew. However, Peter loses his pouch of magic dust, and the three are soon captured and forced to walk the plank. Peter, however, tricks Captain Claw into saying "never" and a storm comes in and knocks the mast down, damaging the ship. As it begins to take on water, it starts to sink, with Dinglebelle trapped below deck.

Captain Claw and her crew take off with the only lifeboat, but Peter is able to find his magic pouch to fly himself, Hello Kitty, and Chip off the boat. He goes below deck to rescue Dinglebelle, who is unconscious. His magic dust doesn't work, so he tells everyone to wish her well with all their hearts, and she makes a miraculous recovery as Captain Claw's ship sinks. Dinglebelle's wings seem to make her go backward, and she capsizes Captain Claw's lifeboat.

Tar-Sam of the Jungle

Chip (as Baby Tarzan) is washed up on the shore as a baby. He was raised by apes, but wasn't able to quite fit in. A quick segue shows him older and helping his friends, then crashing into a tree, a la George of the Jungle. Apparently, he crashes quite a bit.

A ship arrives at the dock with two hunters (Catnip and Grinder) who are planning on capturing apes for their carnival. After their arrival, Hello Kitty arrives looking for Tarzan. Tarzan is at a cafe when the parrot who gave the explorers directions sends him off to help someone just as Hello Kitty arrives. As it turns out, Hello Kitty is there on behalf of Tar-Sam's grandfather, who wants him to come back to civilization.

Tar-Sam saves his aunt and uncle, but sees apes chasing Hello Kitty, whom he runs out to save after My Melody (as the bartender/waitress at the cafe) tells him why Hello Kitty is there. Hello Kitty is rescued by Tar-Sam, who teases her for speaking to him in the "Me Jane, you Tarzan" lingo. He gets her new clothes after promising his mother that he won't let the hunters capture the apes. As he is showing Hello Kitty a "special place" Chip (dressed as a monkey) comes to tell Tar-Sam that the hunters have captured his mother.

Hello Kitty and Tar-Sam head off to rescue Tar-Sam's mother, but are captured by a snake. Chip helps free them by getting the snake to laugh. After the snake frees Hello Kitty and Tar-Sam, it falls to the jungle floor and captures the hunters, who are then caught in their own trap with the snake.

Tar-Sam decides that he doesn't want to leave his home, and Hello Kitty decides to stay with him and they invite his grandfather to visit the jungle instead of Tar-Sam returning, since everything he needs is right there.

Paws of the Round Table

This episode opens with the sword Excalibur in a stone. Merlin encourages the tiny Arthur (Chip) to try to pull the sword from the stone, and of course, he succeeds. The Black Knight (Grinder) insists that Arthur did it with Merlin's help, and tries to replace the sword and pull it himself, but it won't budge. Arthur removes the sword again, but discovers that no one will follow him even though he does have the sword.

Merlin suggests that Arthur perform a brave feat to prove his worth, and shows him the story of Lady Bunnyvere (My Melody) in a newspaper, and suggests Arthur rescue her from the dragon. In the meantime, The Black Knight returns to Morgan Le Fay (Catnip), who demands he go get her Excalibur, a task he has already failed. He fights with Arthur on a bridge, and Excalibur falls into the water below. Arthur, now unarmed, is saved by Sir Lancelot Penguin, who escorts Arthur to the Kitty of the Lake (Hello Kitty), who returns Excalibur to Arthur.

Morgan, after chastising The Black Knight again, goes to warn the dragon that Arthur is on his way to save Lady Bunnyvere. Morgan steals Excalibur from Arthur when he tries to fight the dragon, but Lancelot saves them both by using his shield to turn the fire back on the dragon. Of course, the dragon has befriended Bunnyvere, and helps Arthur, Lancelot, and Bunnyvere to chase Morgan away and retrieve Excalibur.

Crocodile Penguin

Hello Kitty and My Melody are sent on assignment as reporter and photographer to meet Crocodile Penguin (a sort of Crocodile Dundee). Hulk Alligator (Grinder) is a wrestler, and his promoters hope he can beat Crocodile Penguin. Hello Kitty and My Melody go into a bar, and see Crocodile Penguin wrestling a "croc" which turns out to be an inflatable toy. They begin their interview, and Crocodile Penguin takes them out in a boat while Catnip lures his promoter into the fight they want to take place with Hulk Alligator.

Out on the boat, Crocodile Penguin saves Hello Kitty's purse from a crocodile, while Chip and Catnip are on another boat that ends up going over a falls, which leads them right to where Hello Kitty and My Melody are picnicking with Crocodile Penguin. Hello Kitty tries to convince Crocodile Penguin not to fight Hulk Alligator, who fights dirty, but the contract is already signed. Once Crocodile Penguin is in New York City, we see the "fish out of water" fun as he uses too much bubble bath in the tub.

Of course, Crocodile Penguin wins the wrestling match as expected, and returns to the outback.

Grinder Genie and the Magic Lamp

The story begins with Catnip extorting Grandpa, Hello Kitty, and all the friends. They are so poor they are sharing a single small fish, and yet they are supposed to come up with more money for Catnip. Hello Kitty opens a lemonade stand and makes a lot of money, but the bag of gold rips and the coins go down a sewer. Hello Kitty and Tuxedo Sam try to reach the coins, but fall down the sewer instead, where they find a lamp, which produces Grinder as a genie.

Their first wish, which they aren't careful about, lands them in Catnip's hot tub. Their next wish is to "just split" which results in Hello Kitty and Tuxedo Sam split in half, then put on each other's bottoms before they wish to be fixed. Wish after wish is said in slang, with frightening results. They finally read the instructions on the lamp, which tells them to "Wish at your own risk." They then learn that they have to be careful with how they word things in order to get what they want.

They finally get back to Grandpa and family, where they wish for food with the same results that Tuxedo Sam and Hello Kitty got at first. They manage to get the wishing right apparently, because Grandpa shows up to pay Catnip with a bag of gold driving a yacht. Once Catnip figures out what's going on, she manages to steal the lamp after they mistakenly wish for a "rock" concert on the boat. Of course, her first wish is for a ton of gold, which arrives in a one-ton block and lands on her.

Of course, they trick Catnip into wishing to be the genie, and she switches places with him, ending up trapped in the lamp and granting wishes for Hello Kitty and friends.

::: Anyone Surprised This Was Canceled? :::

The animation in Hello Kitty Saves the Day looks exactly the same as the dated animation from the rest of the recycle 80s television shows turning up now, such as the Care Bears. The colors are flat, and the animation lacks detail, but I suppose I've gotten spoiled watching some of the newer videos my children have.

The plots of the episodes feel forced, and many of the references are fairly dated, including light sabers appearing in Paws of the Round Table in a scene very reminiscent of Luke Skywalker moments in the original Star Wars movies, and the Crocodile Dundee plot, which means absolutely nothing to my children. There also seems to be a lesson to be learned buried somewhere in each episode, but it's so hard to figure out that I'm sure my kids miss it.

Parental griping aside, my daughter LOVES Hello Kitty Saves the Day. She's a fan of absolutely everything that involves Hello Kitty, and the blah animation and cheesy retelling of fairy tales doesn't seem to phase her. I'm assuming, however, that this love of the video can be applied only to Hello Kitty fans, because my two boys aren't fans of the video, and can be heard to audibly groan whenever it's Beanie's turn to select a video and this is the one she chooses.

I'd recommend Hello Kitty Saves the Day to the most diehard Hello Kitty fans, but it's definitely something that can be missed for everyone else.