Be A Knight, Do It Right! is the slogan used in this adorable kids cartoon that airs on Nick Jr. Hit Entertainment and NCircle Entertainment took that saying to heart with an impressive DVD release. With a runtime just shy of an hour for the main feature, the $7 MSRP provides a solid value, and the production values of this release are more than you might expect for such a low price.
So what exactly do you get with Mike The Knight: Mike’s Treasure Hunt? Five episodes, or actually six when counting the bonus episode. The main five episodes are as follows: “The Smiley Treasure,” “The Tricky Trail,” “The Buried Treasure,” “The Wizard’s Treasure,” and “The Jewel of Glendragon.” You can play these individually, or, if you Play All, they play back-to-back seamlessly — no end credits roll, as soon as one episode ends, there is a ‘clear screen’ effect and the next one fires right up. I appreciated that design, although I could have done without the extra trailers and filler when the disc first starts up.
As is typical with TV series, Mike The Knight’s show format follows a predictable pattern whereby Mike and his friends, normally Sparky the fire-breathing dragon and Squirt, the water breathing dragon, “introduce” the episode’s plot. Then, usually between two and five minutes into the show, Mike goes through a scripted sequence where he decides it’s time to get into Knight form and he states his mission for that episode. This event looks and sounds the same in each episode, but it’s a fun and nicely done sequence so it’s not something that becomes annoying (unlike Sparky and Squirt who do get a little grating). This event is similar to Team Umizoomi getting their math powers ready or Captain Planet and his crew preparing to stomp out pollution. Later in the episode, there is always a moment where Mike realizes he needs to “be a knight and do it right,” at which point his magical sword turns into some kind of object that is relevant to the situation that he and his friends are facing.
Production values for the show are high. It looks and sounds great on DVD too, supporting English, French, and Spanish language tracks as well as several subtitle tracks. The image quality is impressive; it’s a very softly animated cartoon that’s very colorful. Facial expressions of the characters are nicely done, as are the voiceovers for all of the characters. The menu features the theme song and colorful icons representing the different options available. Speaking of features, Mike’s Treasure Hunt includes three, including a full bonus episode called “The Special Knightly Things.” Two music videos — “Huzzah for Glendragon” and “Theme Song Karaoke” run 2m48s and 44s, respectively. The theme song karaoke extra includes the lyrics listed as subtitles on the bottom of the screen, too. The “Huzzah” feature is a jolly sing-a-long tune about the series, and the town of Glendragon where it takes place.
With that, let’s get to the summary…
