Tractor Tom: Season 3 & 4 (DVD) – Series Review
Once in a while, we review animated series as parents need to be informed of these as well. This time, we’re reviewing the third and fourth DVD of Tractor Tom, which is a series for toddlers about a tractor named Tom who goes on many adventures with his friends – other vehicles one can find on a farm. The series shows that life is not only about working hard, it is also about having fun from time to time. We’ve reviewed season 1 and 2 a while ago, which you can read right here.
Tractor Tom revolves around the red tractor Tom and other vehicles you may find on a farm, such as Buzz the quad bike, Wheezy the mower, Rev the pick-up truck and Lora the motorcycle. Aside from Tom’s friends, you’ll often find the owner Farmer Fi and her farmhand Matt popping up here and there. A farm wouldn’t be a farm without animals, so you can often find chickens, ducks, sheep, horses and cows in the picture as well as the dog Riff and the cat Purdey.
Every character in the series can speak but the main narrative is told by an off-screen storyteller. Even the animals can speak. However this is a rarity and the emphasis is truly on Tom and his friends. Each episode is completely different from the previous one, each with their own narrative. One episode shows a creative game of hide and seek, where Tom hides himself in the middle of some haystacks. It takes the others quite a while to find him, in fact they haven’t found him at all thus Tom leaves his hiding place and finds the others who are trying to rescue Rev. They finally succeed when Tom lends a hand, or in this case a wheel.
In another episode, the story involves Buzz who wants to help Tom but every time he does, it all goes horribly wrong. Tom loses his temper and Buzz walks away from the scene. Once the work has been done, Tom wonders what has happened to his friend. After a long search, he finally finds Buzz and offers his apology.
Aside from nurturing the creativity of children and showing them how to deal with certain situations, the series also educates them in other ways such as counting the farm animals. It also teaches the children that there is a solution for every kind of problem, no matter how small or big the issue is. Whether or not this is clear for the toddlers is doubtful as they would need to be slightly older to understand but the series offers it anyway.
Many of the narratives are quite realistic, offering the toddlers a chance to deal with certain situations better but certain scenes are downright goofy – such as a cow in a tree. This shows that the series is not meant to be very educational such as Dora the Explorer. It is meant to be a fun series which children can enjoy nonetheless.
The bright colors used in Tractor Tom are a joy for small toddlers, which is ideal as the show is meant to be for toddlers of ages 2 and up. The characters, both the vehicles as the animals, are quite detailed but the surroundings are less detailed. All-in-all, this is not entirely negative as the emphasis lies on Tom and his wheeled friends. The animations are fairly smooth but once in a while, especially when Tom or his friends drive fast, the animation will become jolted. You’ll have to understand that the series first aired ten years ago, thus the animations and details are not as advanced as the modern series.
The voice-overs in Tractor Tom are quite superb as each voice has a good amount of intonation, at least in the Dutch version, and each character has their own unique voice. This makes it easier for toddlers and parents alike to instantly know which voice belongs to which character. Downside is that many of the words are often words used in Dutch, not so much in Flemish.
Conclusion
Tractor Tom is a fun series for toddlers that shows that while working hard is a necessity, having fun is allowed too, which is shown in the many adventures of Tom and his friends. The voice-overs are great for children as they have plenty of intonations, albeit quite some Dutch words are used. Visually, Tractor Tom is vibrant but not as detailed as the modern series and certain animations aren’t as smooth as they should be. However this can be overlooked at since Tractor Tom is a series that has been aired over ten years ago but it continues to intrigue toddlers.
Tractor Tom: Season 3 & 4 (DVD) - Series Review,
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