14 hours 26 minutes; $19.98;  Buy Link

It's Saturday morning, but it's nowhere near the Saturday mornings that I experienced during my childhood. I remember getting up bright & early, fixing a bowl of a cereal, and turning on the old television set, so I could watch my favorite Saturday morning cartoons. Now thanks to the Children's Television Act, networks have long since abandoned animated programming in exchange for local news. Yes, many cable channels still air cartoons, but it's just not the same as it was in 1980s and the early 1990s.

One my favorite animated series is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which ran for 10 seasons. The series popularity (as well as the Playmates toyline) started to decline in the early 1990s; just around the time a ripoff of sorts arrived - Street Sharks!

Mattel released a line of mutant sharks action figures in 1994, which was mostly likely inspired by the success of TMNT. Of course to help sell the toys, a cartoon series was created! Produced by DIC Entertainment, the series aired from 1994 to 1997, lasting three seasons with a total of 40 episodes.

The premise of the series centered around two scientist, Dr. Robert Bolton and Dr. Luther Paradigm, who created a "gene-slammer" machine which can successfully mix aquatic creatures DNA with human DNA, creating anthropomorphic hybrids. Dr. Paradigm is mad and plans on using the machine to create his own species. He transforms Dr. Bolton into a creature, who escapes. Later, Dr Luther Paradigm lures Dr. Bolton's sons (John, Bobby, Coop, and Clint) into his lair and splices their DNA with sharks.

To make a long story short, John, Bobby, Coop, and Clint become mutant sharks. Most people would be freaked out by this, but they take it pretty well. Actually, they enjoy being mutants. John becomes Ripster, Bobby becomes Streex, Coop becomes Big Slammu, and Clint becomes Jab. Along with their pals Lena Mack and Bends, the brothers set out to stop Dr. Paradigm's (who becomes a
piranha mutant) evil plans.


A short-lived comic series from Archie Comics debuted in 1996. An animated spinoff,  Extreme Dinosaurs, debuted in 1997 for one season of 52 episodes.

Mill Creek Entertainment released the entire Street Shark series on DVD in 2013, but is now out-of-print. Not to worry, as they re-released "The Complete Series" early this year and for the very first time, the series is also available on Digital through the Mill Creek Entertainment website. A free digital code is included with the three-disc DVD set.

Disney; TV-Y; 144 minutes; Walmart

Available today on DVD from Disney Home Entertainment is computer-animated Puppy Dog Pals, featuring twelve exciting 12-minute episodes! There are no special features or bonus extras on the single disc.

Created by Harland Williams, the series features the talented voice-cast of Issac Ryan Brown as Bingo; Sam Lavagnino as Rolly; Harland Williams as Bob; Jessica DiCicco as Hissy; and Tom Kenny as A.R.F.

The series centers on two pug puppy brothers, Bingo and Rolly, who live with their inventor owner, Bob, a robotic dog named A.R.F. (Automatic Doggy Robotic Friend), and a sarcastic purple cat named Hissy. While their owner is home, Bingo and Rolly act like normal puppies, but when he is out of the house, they slip on their collars and go on adventures around the world.


Episodes on the DVD include:

• Hawaii Pug-Oh - After their owner, Bob, mentions that he would like to feel sand on his toes, Bingo and Rolly travel to Hawaii to get some sand.
• A.R.F. - Bob creates a robotic dog do clean up after Bingo and Rolly.
• The French Toast Connection - Bob wants to make french toast, but he's out of bread; so Bingo and Rolly travel to France to get a loaf of bread.
• Take Me Out To The Pug Game - Bingo and Rolly travel across the city to retrieve Bob's lost baseball.
• A Pyramid Scheme - After the Great Pyramids disappears into thin air, Bingo and Rolly travel to Egypt to solve the mystery.
• Special Delivery - Bingo and Rolly go on a mission to delivery a Mother's Day card to Bob's mother.
• The Go-Long Retriever - Bob creates a self-fetching stick for Bingo and Rolly to play with.
• Pot O' Pugs - After Bob's laptop crashes, Bingo and Rolly go on a mission to find a pot of gold at the end of rainbow, so Bob can afford to get his laptop fixed.
• Design-A-Dog - After accidentally tearing apart Bob's favorite childhood toy, Bingo and Rolly travel across town to repair the toy.
• Ice, Ice Puggy - After Bob runs out of ice for his iced tea, Bingo and Rolly travel to Antarctica to get him some ice.
• Hissy's Big Day - Hissy is having one of the worst days in her life, so Bingo and Rolly take her on a trip around the city to cheer her up.
• Go, Dog, Go! - A.R.F. takes Bingo and Rolly on a road trip to the beach, but after his programming malfunctions, he can't find their way back home.

TV-Y7; 267 minutes; Amazon

Now available on DVD from Disney Home Entertainment and LucasFilm Ltd. is LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures: Complete Season Two, featuring 12 action-packed episodes. The DVD comes with an "Exclusive Darth Vader Pin."

The voice cast includes includes Nicolas Cantu (Rowan), Vanessa Lengies (Kordi), Eugene Byrd (Zander), Matthew Wood (R0-GR), Trevor Devall (Emperor), Dana Snyder (Graballa), Vanessa Marshall (Hera), Yvette Nicole Brown (Lt. Valeria), Corey Burton (Quarrie), James Urbaniak (M-OC) and Matt Sloan (Darth Vader).

Developed by Bill Motz and Bob Roth ("Penguins of Madagascar"), the series is set between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and focuses on the Freemaker siblings - Zander, Kordi, Rowan (a twelve-year-old Jedi-in-training), and their battle droid, R0-GR.

Season Two finds the Freemakers working with the rebel fleet, under the command of Admiral Ackbar. After Rowan has a vision about building an "arrowhead" ship that's controlled by an oversized kyber crystal, his siblings seek the help of a ship builder named Quarrie to assist them in the creation of the ultimate weapon against the Empire.

Meanwhile, Emperor Palpatine is obsessed with capturing Rowan. He creates a bounty hunter droid, M-OC, which has only one purpose - capture Rowan.

Bonus Features on the DVD include:

• 5 Adventure-Filled Shorts
• Home One
• Thrown Into Battle
• Rowan's Secret Adventure
• Zander Freemaker: Superstar Pilot Guy
• Beware The Gamorrean Flu 

Disney; TV-Y; 96 minutes; Amazon

Now available on DVD from Walt Disney Home Entertainment is Minnie: Helping Hearts, featuring 8 Happy Helpers episodes. There are no special features or extras on the single disc.

The 11-minute Happy Helpers episodes air as the second half the Mickey and the Roadster Racers, a computer-animated children series that airs on Disney Junior. The Roadster Racers segments involves Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Daisy, and Minnie racing around their town Hot Dog Hills and the world. The Happy Helpers segments centers on Minnie, Daisy, and Cuckoo-Loc helping the citizens of Hot Dog Hills with odd jobs.

Since Valentine's Day is next week, the Minnie: Helping Hearts DVD does contains one Valentine's Day episode called "The Happiest Helpers Cruise!," which centers on the Minnie and Daisy taking a job as cruise directors on the Hot Dogs Hills Harbor Cruise.

The other seven episodes are:

The Big Broadcast - Minnie and Daisy cover for Billy Beagle as race announcers, as he races against the Roadster Racers.

Adventures In Buddysitting! - After the Hot Dog Hills Play Center closes for a day, the Happy Helpers babysits several kids, including a shy goat named Buddy McBilly.

Lights! Camera! Help! - The Happy Helpers are hired to be assistants to a movie star named Portia DeHoun.

Grandpa Beagle's Day Out - Billy Beagle hires the Happy Helpers to babysit his grandfather, Grandpa Beagle.

Artful Helpers - The Happy Helpers fill in as the security staff for the Fancy Art Museum. Their main job is to guard the Mona Goof painting.

Cuckoo LA-LA - Cuckoo-Loc's cousin, Cuckoo La-La, asks the Happy Helpers to assist her in the upcoming fashion show.

Figaro's New Friend - The Happy Helpers are more than glad to babysit Pluto for an entire day, but Minnie's cat Figaro isn't too happy about Pluto's visit.

Mill Creek Ent., 150 minutes; $9.98; Amazon

Now available on DVD from Mill Creek Entertainment is Trick or Treat Spooktacular Collection: 13 Haunting Tales. As an added bonus, the DVD comes with a digital code that can be redeemed at www.millcreekent.com/redeem.

Yep! It's that time of year when you'll be finding many different Halloween themed DVD titles in the stores, and many of these will most likely be in the $5 bins!

Trick or Treat Spooktacular Collection: 13 Haunting Tales features four Casper shorts (1945-1954) and 13 other cartoons, which three of them were produced by Fleischer Studios in the 1930s, and the others are part of the Storybook Series. The shorts running time spans between 9 to 15 minutes.


The shorts on the single disc are:

• The Friendly Ghost
• There's a Good Boo Tonight
• Boo Moon
• A Haunting We Will Go

• The Cobwell Hotel
• The Fresh Vegetable Mystery
• Magic Mummy
• Sleepy Hollow
• Ghost in the Shed
• Noises in the Night
• Misunderstood Monsters
• Three Golden Hairs
• The Boy Who Couldn't Shiver