Sid the Science Kid

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Sid the Science Kid
He has a lot of questions and big ideas, but this show has aged very poorlyǃ
Genre: Education Running Time: 30 Minutes Country: United States Release Date: September 1, 2008 – March 25, 2013 Network(s): PBS Kids Created by: The Jim Henson Company Seasons: 2 Episodes: 92 (26 unaired)

Sid the Science Kid is an American computer-animated children’s television series on PBS Kids. It aired from September 1, 2008, to March 25, 2013, with a total of 66 half-hour episodes produced over two seasons, and lasted for four years.

The production began in January 2003 within 42 half-hour episodes of Sid the Science Kid having been ordered. On March 25, 2013, a full hour movie called "Sid The Science Kid: The Movie", marked the finale of the series. Two years after the series ended, a computation composed of 26 unaired episodes of the show, called "Sid the Science Kid: Encyclopedia of Discovery" was made in 2015.

Bad Qualities

1. The CGI animation while impressive for its time for its motion-capture animation (as this was the second show to use it) didn't age well, as some of the character's faces can tend to look weird at times, especially for some moments in the show such as Sid saying "Breakfast Time!" while running towards the screen.
   • There are also some various animation errors, such as a character's eyebrows spazzing out, various weird expressions the characters make, and models clipping, or teeth being inconsistent, especially in "A Brush With Teeth".
   • As for the use of motion capture, the technology was still flawed and it was not all the way ready yet during the time of production. And it is rather a easy and cheap way to make the series quicker.
2. Misleading title: Despite the title of the show being "Sid the SCIENCE Kid" many of the episodes do not teach specifically science to its viewers. As most of it is pretty much about math, health, and life lessons instead. A few examples would be:
   • The Sticker Chart: Not even the first episode of the series is science related, as this focuses on charts, with is more so math.
   • Enough With Seashellsǃ: Estimation and numbers focus more on math.
   • The Whale Episodes: Measurement also has more to do with math topics.
   • Grandma's Glasses: Eyes are more so on senses rather than science.
   • I Want Cake: Nutrition is more of a health topic rather than science.
   • A Brush With Teeth: Teeth is quite literally just dentistry, barely science related.
   • Getting a Shot: You Can Do It!: A another health topic.
   • Special Mom Day Meal, I Have Muscles Where?, Sid's Amazing Lungs, How Did My Dog Do That?, and Now That's Using You Brainː These neck to neck episodes all focus on the human body which once again, relates more to health.
   • The Reason Sid's Sneezin': Allergies have little to nothing to do with science, and is more of a topic about bodies. The only science related thing was a survey in the episode.
   • The Amazing Computer Science Toolǃ: Computers focus more on computer science and technology.
   • Sleep? Who Needs It?!: Not only is sleep a health topic, it also more so focuses on relaxing yourself and stress revealing.
   • Encyclopedia of Discovery: Primary colors is rather an art topic than a science subject.
3. Many of the topics are pretty much reused in multiple episodes, such as many of the episodes talking about weather.
4. Not to mention, even though it's on purpose, the episodes tend to be tedious with their formulas, with only a few episodes breaking of from this section.
5. Most of the animation from the segments is pretty much recycled from previous episodes, most notably the "Looking for my friends" segment, but with the dialogue changed to focus on the subject of the episode.
6. Some of the jokes featured in "Good Laughternoon" are pretty mediocre.
7. Some of the voice acting while good, are pretty questionable as some of the kids sound more like adults rather than kids.
   • In fact, the motion capture was provided by adults rather than kids. Similar to Mars Needs Moms, they were later dubbed over with different voice actors. Unlike Mars Needs Moms, they did not get any child voice actor to voice the kids in which would fit the characters better.

Good Qualities

1. Great voice acting, despite some of them sounding pretty questionable.
2. Keep in mind that this show is the second to use motion-capture animation, which is experimental for the time. Before that, the only show to use the software was Donkey Kong Country.
3. The CGI animation did improve in the second season.
4. Most of the music and songs are memorable, mainly being the theme song and Susie's song.
5. Sid The Science Kid: The Movie, despite being rather meh, is at least an improvement over the original show.
6. None of the characters, such as Sid himself, are unlikable at all, which is good since other bad shows tends to have a lot of unlikable characters in it

Reception

Sid The Science Kid received mixed reviews from viewers and parents. Most of the praise of the show went to the concept, teachings, and songs. Criticisms include the dated animation, tedious formula and teaching stuff that isn't science related, well most of the time but still. The show currently holds a rating of 5.5/10 on IMDb.

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