Animation
Thomas & Friends
Over 24 seasons, Thomas & Friends has taught young viewers important lessons about being helpful, teamwork and admitting your mistakes.
All the evil Dr. Fuzzleglove wanted was to make a nice, tasty lunch. Instead, he accidentally set his oven to the “super-duper” setting, sending super-duper energy across the city and hitting six ordinary rabbits. So instead of a delicious grilled cheese, he ended up with a bunch of adorable, talking, super-powered bunnies. Isn’t technology so complicated?
So, who are these new super bunnies? There’s Dr. Annabelle, who’s now incredibly smart. Handsome Steve can fly, and he also has super strength. Bex can control lightning, Derek can grow really big, and Middy has shadow powers.
Then there’s Stumpy, who doesn’t seem to have gotten any powers at all—until he discovers that he can stretch really far. Handy!
But the bunnies don’t want to use their new powers to help Dr. Fuzzleglove and his evil schemes. Instead, they form the Super Duper Bunny League, and they vow to defend the citizens of Important City against anyone who wants to harm them—even the guy who accidentally created them. No hard feelings, right?
You may recognize the bunnies’ powers from other iconic superheroes (well, the shadow one is a little unique), but good luck finding another super team that’s so relentlessly kind. The team is always looking out for each other, and teamwork is priority number one.
Even before Stumpy discovers his powers, the other bunnies happily take him in and waste no time becoming his friends. It’s the kind of heartwarming optimism you can only get from a cartoon about superhero bunnies.
Of course, since the team is defending the city from bad guys, they sometimes find themselves in situations of peril. These are never very dangerous, and nobody’s lives are at immediate risk (one supervillain has a dragon with sour breath; another freezes people in chocolate). The bunnies are sometimes thrown around or knocked into buildings, but they get back up on their lucky feet (paws?) in no time.
Parents may want to be aware of some mild action and danger, but overall, Super Duper Bunny League is a fun, wholesome, adorable adventure with great themes of teamwork and friendship. Move over, Avengers, the bunnies have arrived.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
In “Super Duper Bunnies!”, a scientist named Dr. Fuzzleglove accidentally gives six ordinary rabbits super powers. Instead of turning evil like Dr. Fuzzleglove, they form the Super Duper Bunny League to defend Important City against bad guys. In “Ye Olde Sourbreath!”, the bunnies must stop an evil wizard from infecting the world with his dragon’s sour breath.
Very mild violence occurs when the bunnies fight villains, but it’s limited to the heroes being tossed around or thrown into walls. Most physical altercations are covered by a comic-book style animation, so we don’t actually see the bunnies getting hurt. Bex, a bunny with electric powers, accidentally zaps herself with her own lightning. Dr. Fuzzleglove threatens to “smush” the rabbits.
In “Ye Olde Sourbreath!”, the main villain is a wizard who uses magic spells.
In “Super Duper Bunnies!”, Dr. Fuzzleglove exclaims “oh, fuzznuggets” when defeated.
Lauren Cook is serving as a 2021 summer intern for the Parenting and Youth department at Focus on the Family. She is studying film and screenwriting at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. You can get her talking for hours about anything from Star Wars to her family to how Inception was the best movie of the 2010s. But more than anything, she’s passionate about showing how every form of art in some way reflects the Gospel. Coffee is a close second.
Over 24 seasons, Thomas & Friends has taught young viewers important lessons about being helpful, teamwork and admitting your mistakes.
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