Nickelodeon has done very well carving a niche for itself in the cable market.  It has created many popular children's shows, produced popular movies, and even has a children's magazine.  One reason for their success it that they anticipate what their audience wants and then gives it to them.  Their ability to produce something that their viewers don't even know they want yet is uncanny.  Case in point, Nick's latest television event had two popular shows switch main characters, in the Jimmy Timmy Power Hour.  It was a stunt that both of my young children found terribly exciting.  Now this show, which recently aired on cable, is available on DVD.

The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron:  Boy Genius is a syndicated TV show based on the 2001 movie Jimmy Neutron.  For those that might have missed the movie or the show, it involves the misadventures of a young boy who is a super-genius.  He has a hidden lab and spends all of his time inventing strange new gadgets; devices that often go awry.

Timmy Turner is a normal, average kid.  He hates school, plays video games, and hangs out with his friends.  But he also has on thing that most kids don't have: a pair of fairy godparents.  These fairies, who disguise themselves as his pet fish, can grant him anything that he wishes, as long as the wish doesn't break any of "da rules."  Of course, these wishes often cause more trouble than they solve. That's the premise of Fairly Oddparents.
 
In this adventure, Timmy has neglected to complete, or even start, his science project.  He turns to his fairy godparents, but "da rules" state that they can't win a contest for him.  Armed with his Autopoofer, that will magically return Timmy to his room whenever he presses the button on the handle, he wishes that he were in the greatest laboratory in the universe.  Faster than you can say *POOF!* Timmy turns up in Jimmy Neutron's lab.  While looking through Jimmy's lab, Timmy puts down his Autopoofer.  Jimmy finds it, presses the button, and gets transferred to Timmy's room.  Presto-Chango!

Unfortunately, Timmy starts messing around Neutron's lab, and accidentally causes the robot dog to transform into a monster from a video game.  Meanwhile Jimmy, trying to discover the secret of the Autopoofer's transportation ability, goofs up.  He accidentally gives the fairies nemesis, Mr. Crocker, the means to reach the fairies home world.  Can the two boys work their way out of these messes and back into their own worlds?

My sons really enjoyed this show.  There were a lot of funny gags, especially the way that the transported kids made fun of the animation styles in each cartoon.  Jimmy Neutron's friends call Timmy "small-headed Jimmy" (not realizing that he is a different person) and Jimmy comments on how thin he is.  They poke fun at each other's setting, and basically have a good time.  Another event that was very amusing to my boys was the fact that Timmy and Jimmy Neutron's enemy, Cindy, actually liked each other quite a bit!

As an adult, I was mildly amused at a few situations, but I didn't think that the show was outstanding.  But these types of things rarely are.  For younger viewers though, it was the source of great enjoyment.

There are also three 15-minute episodes of Jimmy Neutron and Fairly Odd Parents included on this DVD.

Jimmy Neutron Episodes:

Crime Sheen Investigation:  Sheen's Ultralord action figure is stolen from the park.  He turns to the brightest person he knows, Jimmy Neutron, to help solve the crime.

Sleepless in Retroville:  Jimmy has a sleepover at his house.  When his friends arrive, he unveils his latest invention, the Slumbertron 9000!  A device that can create the perfect slumber party.  But things go horribly wrong when Carl pushes all the buttons at once.

Maximum Hugh:  Jimmy and his dad have entered the school child-parent competition. Since his father is so athletically challenged, Jimmy invents a headband that turns his father into a super athlete.  But will he be able to fool Cindy?

Fairly Odd Parents Episodes:

Cosmo Con:  Cosmo is selected to put on this year's Secret Fairy Convention, and he decided to hold it in Jimmy's bathroom.

Timvisible:  The school bully is after Timmy so he asks his fairy godparents to make him invisible.  Timmy is ecstatic when he finds out all the things that he can do when no one can see him, but he also discovers that there are some drawbacks too.

The Switch Glitch:  Timmy's parents are going out to the annual "Mother-Father No Kids Allowed Cook-off" and have hired Timmy's nemesis, Vicki, to baby sit him.  He wishes that Vicki was only five and that he was babysitting her, with disastrous results.
 

This DVD is arranged a little differently than most.  When you first pop in the disc, there is a static menu that offers you the choice of going to the main menu or viewing the previews.  If you select the previews a seven-minute reel of trailers run, and the menu button is disabled.   It is a pain to fast forward through them.

Audio:

The English language stereo soundtrack is pretty good.  There isn't any hiss or distortion, and the sound is full.  There could have been more bass, and a 5.1 soundtrack would have been great, but this sounds fine as it is.

Video:

The full frame video quality was pretty poor for such a recent show.  The colors were bright and the detail was fine, but there were a large number of digital artifacts.  Aliasing was a major problem, with many lines having a stair step effect when the camera moved over them.  Fine lines shimmer and sometimes disappear altogether.   In several scenes the background shimmers even when the camera isn't moving.  This gets really annoying after a while, though I have to admit my children didn't notice it, even when I asked the how it looked afterwards.  Given the fact that there is only a little more than two hours worth of video on this disc, and only a single soundtrack, there isn't any excuse for these defects that are so prevalent.

The Extras:

This DVD also includes a demo for a Fairly Oddparents video game that you can access with a computer that has a DVD-Rom drive.  My outdated computer couldn't run it though.  In addition, there are complete storyboards for the three Jimmy Neutron shows that are on this DVD.  These storyboards run 11-12 minutes and have the voice actors dialog (without music or sound effects) over them.

There is also a 7-minute reel of previews.

Final Thoughts:

This combination of tow popular shows is sure to please the children.  It plays like an above average extra-long episode of either show.  There are a good amount of laughs and gags, and I'm sure my kids will be popping this disc in often.  Fans of either show are sure to get a kick out of it.  Recommended.