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"Mystery of the Squirmy Wormy" is the 5th episode of Season 1 of Wild Kratts, originally airing on PBS Kids on January 7, 2011. The episode was written and directed by the Kratt brothers.
Synopsis[]
Aviva builds the Kratt brothers a new machine, the Miniaturizer, allowing them to shrink down to virtually microscopic levels. After a rainstorm, the brothers decide to use it to solve the mystery of why earthworms come up to surface after a rainstorm. They then spend the day with an earthworm named Pinkie, tunneling underground, and observing the everyday life of a worm, and their struggle to survive. But after their new worm friend is carried off by a bird and left on the sidewalk to die, Chris and Martin race to save the worm before the sun dehydrates him. Will Chris and Martin save Pinkie and solve the mystery?
Plot[]
The episode begins with a live-action segment. In the rain, the Kratt brothers talk about the nature of the earthworm and ask the question: "Why do worms come out when it rains?". Afterward, they ask their "What if?" question, and the show transitions into the cartoon segment.
As it showers in a park, Chris and Martin avoid stepping on worms, when Jimmy teleports them Aviva's new invention: the Miniaturizer. Martin tries it out first and safely shrinks. Chris gets excited, and he miniaturizes as well.
The Kratt brothers get back to finding out why worms come out when it rains. Then the sun comes out, and the worms enter their holes. The Kratt brothers hop on a worm that Martin had earlier named Pinkie as it dives down into the wet and moist underground, but Chris starts having trouble not slipping. The Wild Kratts first hypothesize that worms come out of their tunnels so they will not drown, but this was refuted when Chris slips through the tunnels and into a pond, where he discovers a live worm underwater. The Kratt brothers return to the tunnels and ride a worm as it bores through the dirt. They later end up above-ground, even though it is not raining. They realize that worms like darkness because it is like the underground. As they return to the tunnels, a bullfrog hops onto Martin, pinning him down with its foot. As Martin calls to Chris for help, the frog spots another worm and catches it with its tongue, swallows it whole, then jumps away. As both brothers go back down the hole, a third worm crawls to the hole, only to get eaten by a raccoon.
Back in the tunnels, Chris starts slipping once again. To help Chris get around the slippery tunnels, Aviva, Koki, and Jimmy build an invention Aviva calls the Worm-Mobile. Jimmy teleports it to Chris. Now Chris can use toe Worm-Mobile to catch up with Martin and Pinkie as they make their way through the tunnel systems.
Not long after, they hear vibrations from a star-nosed mole, Chris cannot hear it, but he moves out of the way in time, outmaneuvering the mole as it tunnels. They exit the underground. They quickly head underground again, since worms cannot take the sun. After hearing more vibrations, Pinkie and the Kratt brothers head up again. But they find themselves in the clutches of a robin, which snatches Pinkie, with Martin holding onto him. Another robin tries snatching the Worm-Mobile, but it ends up splitting it in two. Chris then gets chased around by blue jay and brown thrasher. He avoids them, and he subsequently uses blades of grass to fix what is left of the Worm-Mobile.
The robin takes Pinkie and Martin to its nest. They avoid being food for the robin's chicks, and they parachute down on a leaf to the pavement. Pinkie starts burning up after being exposed to sunlight. To prevent further loss of slime, Aviva builds the Sliminator, and Jimmy teleports it to Chris. Chris and the Worm-Mobile arrive, and Chris blasts slime on Pinkie and Martin. They try carrying Pinkie to safety but it feels like forever and Pinkie can't take any more. Wild Kratts kid Ellie picks the Kratts and Pinkie up, and she carries them to a nearby wormhole. Pinkie enters the worm world and steadily moves away. The Kratt brothers then realize that they solved the mystery: worms come above ground when it rains because it turns the surface into a wet world where they can survive in. Afterward, the Kratt brothers play with worm-slime in the rain.
The show transitions into the concluding live action segment. After it stopped raining, the Kratt brothers and a couple of kids bring worms stuck on the pavement back to the grass. Afterward, they conclude the episode by saying: "Keep on creature adventuring; we’ll see you on the creature trail!"
Characters[]
Animals[]
Animation[]
Note: Featured animals are in bold.
- Earthworm: Pinkie
- Largemouth Bass
- American Bullfrog (called bullfrog)
- Raccoon
- Star-nosed Mole
- American Robin (called robin)
- Brown Thrasher
- Blue Jay
Mentioned[]
Note: Mentioned animals are linked to Wikipedia.
Trivia[]
- In this episode, the father of the Kratt Brothers is mentioned.
- This is the first episode where a Creature Power Suit is not used at all, although the Walrus Power Suit was shown in a case where Jimmy got the harness and straps from. This is a possible reference to "Polar Bears Don't Dance" where Chris's Walrus Power Suit malfunctioned.
- The Miniaturizer was first seen in the first episode, "Mom of a Croc", but was not invented until this episode.
- It's likely that this episode was a prequel to "Mom of a Croc", or that PBS Kids aired the episodes out of order.
- This is the debut of the Worm-Mobile.
- This is the first episode to have Wild Kratts kids.
- The Tortuga was not seen from the outside in this episode.
Key Facts and Creature Moments[]
- Worms usually come above the ground when it rains because they are able to do so. This is because worms need to be wet and slimy, and the underworld helps keep them that way, unlike the dry and sunny ground above, unless there is rain, which produces an environment to their underground one.
- Sometimes worms come up above the ground even when it's not raining. This would usually happen when it's nighttime because it's safe.
- Worms sometimes come up in the sun. This would only happen due to a life or death emergency.
- Worms don't like the sun. They can lose their slime and potentially die.
- A worm moves through the dirt with contracting segments, slime, and a torpedo-shaped head.
- A worm's brain is smaller than a pinhead.
- Worms dig up to the surface to escape moles.
- Robins peck at the ground to make vibrations just like the ones a digging mole makes. A worm will react thinking it's a mole and goes to the surface, and when it gets there, a robin is waiting to grab it.
- A worm has special setae hairs that help it hold onto the ground if a predator grabs it.
- The ecological topics shown in the cartoon segment are predation and dehydration.