Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Animation, Noggin
Likes: Stars who do kids programming
Dislikes: Most kids programming, Dora
Hates: The meager content on Nickelodeon DVDs

The Story So Far...
A cousin of the popular kid's cartoon star Dora the Explorer, Diego has a show of his own, where he rescues animals in some sort of vague South American setting, using direct address to teach kids about animals, as well as some Spanish words and phrases, and other basic skills, concluding things with an entertaining test of what was learned about the animals. Basically, it's a male Dora, but with a touch less repetition. From the on-going TV series, Nickelodeon has released at least 14 DVD collections to date. DVDTalk has reviews available here.

The Show
Up first in this themeless collection is "Diego and Porcupine Save the Pinata!," a third-season episode. Diego and his sister Alicia introduce their pal Porcupine, who's celebrating his birthday with a special pinata. Unfortunately for him/her, the Bobo Brothers, a pair of mischievous, moronic monkeys, tied balloons to the pinata and sent it sailing. So it's up to Diego to help Porcupine get it back, along the way getting kids to shake their thangs like a porcupine, test their shape recognition and learn the Spanish word for swing. Aside from some odd things you'll notice (How come Diego needs gloves to hold the porcupine, but hugs it to his chest just fine? A birthday cake in a pinata?) it's a decently varied episode with those out-there touches kids enjoy, like a jet pack for Diego and a talking rain cloud.

The first of two egg-based episodes on this disc, "A New Flamingo Mami" shows how careless new parents can be. Instead of hanging around to see her new baby hatch, she wandered off into a cave and is now trapped by a fox. On top of that, the egg is poorly positioned by a flooding lake and an erupting volcano. Seriously, this kid has no chance in life. Of course, Diego arrives to save the day, accompanied by the usual physical activities and the Spanish for "go away." Above anything else, you'll never forget when Diego sings a lullaby to a volcano. Is this show secretly made for stoners?

For some reason I've seen "Macky the Macaroni Penguin," the second egg-focused episode, far more than any other episode of "Go Diego Go," and the "theme song," sung by Diego, sears my ears each time I hear it. It's probably because it sounds so much like a jingle for some bad macaroni product, or perhaps it's because the actor singing it just isn't that good. Set amongst snowy mountains, it's a but different than your usual Diego show, but the structure hasn't changed much, with a focus on identification and matching, and the Spanish vocabulary for hop. Though the Macky song is bad, when Diego channels his cousin Dora and berates you into getting on your stomach to slide down a hill, it's well beyond annoying.

Surprisingly, the disc isn't based around the final episode, "Linda the Llama Saves the Carnaval," since it includes a special guest star, Dora the Explorer (who oddly isn't even mentioned on the package.) While Dora, and her monkey pal Boots, preps for the big Carnaval celebration, they can't find Linda the Llama, who has the food and instruments for the parade. That's because she's stuck in some mud and it's up to Diego to save her and then find the baskets she was carrying. Along the way, you get to learn about llamas and how to say faster in Spanish. But the true lesson I learned was a simple unlocked gate will stop a puma and no one should be named King Momo.

The DVD
This single-disc release is packages in a standard keepcase, and features a static full-frame menu with options to watch all the episodes, select individual shows, check out the special features and adjust the set-up. Audio options include Dolby Digital 2.0 English, French and Spanish tracks, but there are no subtitles, only closed captioning.

The Quality
The full-frame transfers on this disc are excellent, offering a crisp image with bright colors, and no noticeable dirt, damage or compression artifacts. The level of detail is pretty good as well, making the textures easy to see. As is oft the case with animation on DVD, there's some slight pixilation along black lines, but it's not too bad.

The audio tracks are Dolby Digital 2.0, which present crisp, clear dialogue and good separation between the music and speech. It's your usual TV cartoon delivery, with everything dead center, as it originally was on TV.

The Extras
Beyond the usual promos, there's an actual extra here, a set-top game called "Count, Diego Count." Each screen shows Diego with some animals, and you select the correct amount shown, from a display of 1 to 10. Easy enough for little ones to enjoy, yet I actually got one wrong. Get all five questions right (do-overs included) and you are shown a cute celebratory animation.

The Bottom Line
Thanks to Diego being a bit less aggressive and repetitive than his cousin Dora, "Go, Diego, Go" is a more acceptable series, with plenty to teach about animals, as well as some other worthwhile activities. But, as I said last time, the important thing is my daughter enjoys watching the cute animals and singing along with the simple, catchy songs. The DVD looks and sounds fine for a Nickelodeon show, but as usual there's only four episodes included, plus a short game to play. As a result, you have to decide if the price you pay is worth the content you get.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.