Puffin Rock
Episodes watched:
Season 1, Episode 1: “Puffin Practice / The Mystery Egg / To See The Moon”
Season 1, Episode 3: “Beach Rescue / Lost Berries / Night Lights”
Season 2, Episode 1: “Back to the Pond / The Fallen Rocks / Homesick Hoglet”
Where I watched it: Netflix
Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s day, so this week I watched an Irish show: Puffin Rock. Puffin Rock is an animated show made for younger children. It’s about the animals who live on Puffin Rock, a small, fictional uninhabited island. More specifically, it’s about a puffling sibling duo, Oona and Baba. Even though the animals can talk and are animated in a cutesy way, it’s an educational show about wildlife.
The problems in the story tend to be small and get resolved quickly (each twenty-minute episode is actually three episodes, so there isn’t time for a whole lot of dramatic build). I can’t really imagine the show being terribly exciting to younger kids, but I understand why the show’s creators chose to make a story world that’s always a safe, peaceful place.
However! At one point, one of the characters mentions protecting himself from being eaten. It’s done in a very light, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it way, but it gives me questions. Do real-world laws of the food chain still apply in this utopian universe? Is everyone just pretending to be fine while secretly knowing they might end up having to kill or be killed? Will Otto the Owl eat Mossy the Shrew? Also, how come the seagulls and the hedgehogs don’t talk, but the puffins and the rabbits do? Truly, under Puffin Rock runs a current of dark mysteries (okay, maybe not really, but it’s the teensiest bit strange).
One of the ways that the creators make the world of Puffin Rock feel safe is by making the characters’ relationships loving and supportive. Oona and Baba are a particularly positive portrayal of a brother/sister relationship because even though they occasionally annoy each other, they’re still best friends who care about each others’ feelings. The rest of the relationships between the characters are similarly supportive, and the show uses the fact that all of the animals have different abilities to highlight that everyone has different strengths that make them special. I think the show does a good job modeling kind, encouraging language.
In theory, I should have really enjoyed Puffin Rock, and it wasn’t until the third episode when I figured out what wasn’t working for me: the narration. The narrator in this show cracks jokes and talks to the characters, and it makes sense that the narrator can share some facts that may not naturally fit into dialogue. All of that is fine, but the narrator talks so much, and some of the narration is really obvious information like “Oona was worried,” or “it was beginning to get dark.” This condescends to the kids watching the show and slows down the story.
The show does a good job with the educational side of things, and it’s also really lovely from an aesthetic point of view. It’s not the kind of show that I could see kids getting really enthusiastic about. That being said, if you’re looking for something that teaches about nature or if you’re looking for a kids’ show with a very calm atmosphere, this is a good pick.
Detailed content advisory for Puffin Rock:
(Note: I have only watched 3 episodes):
Language:
No profanity or offensive language to speak of.
Violence:
A few moments where characters feel threatened by other animals, but no real violence.
Sexual content:
None.
Questionable content:
The theme song has been stuck in my head all week. Consider yourself warned.
