Time Warp Tri Vol 1 and 2 cartoon

Facts, fantasy and fun, lus a kickin' theme song.
IMDB Review: 7 September 2006 8/10

Based on the Time Warp Trio book series by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith, the adventures center around Joe, a magician wannabe and his friends Fred, the sports fanatic, and Sam, a timid intellectual. On his tenth birthday, Joe receives an unusual book from an enigmatic uncle. The book, which is known simply as "The Book," turns out to be a time-travel device. The boys don't really understand how The Book works, the result of which is that they can find themselves anywhere in time, past or future.

This is where the "educational" aspect of the show kicks in. The boys always encounter some historical figure, whom they help out while trying to locate The Book and get back home. Enough facts are inserted into the story to make this a fun history lesson.

Joe, Fred and Sam do not appear together in all of the episodes. The Trio could actually be described as a Septet. They are sometimes accompanied by their future great-granddaughters: Jodie, the complainer and heir to The Book, Freddi, the worrywart, and Samantha, the eccentric one. Joe's younger sister Anna, who might just know more about The Book than anyone, pops in on occasion. The episodes can contain any combination of these seven characters.

Production-wise, the show combines limited-animation characters with computer-generated effects over sometimes detailed backgrounds. The theme song by punk band Riddlin' Kids is catchy and infectious. The dialog is witty and includes enough "gross-out" humor to appeal to a wide range of viewers. One flaw I noticed is that the historical facts are not always accurate; one example is the episode with Leonardo Da Vinci: his grocery list from 1503 includes tomatoes, a New World plant not cultivated in Europe until the 1540's.

In my opinion, the strongest point of Time Warp Trio is in the selection of historic personages. A figure from any era or continent may be featured. It is refreshing to learn new facts about rarely-mentioned Asian, African, South Pacific or pre-Columbian American cultures.

If you like history, time travel and clever banter, most likely you will enjoy Time Warp Trio. You'll laugh. You'll learn.