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"Red Panda Rescue" is the 13th episode of Season 4 of the PBS Kids show, Wild Kratts. It is the 105th episode of the series overall. It premiered on July 22, 2016. On April 11, 2017, "Red Panda Rescue" was first released on DVD as part of Wild Kratts: Panda-Monium.
In this episode, Chris finds a red panda cub who has been separated from her mother. As they search for the cub's mother, she is captured by Zach, who plans to her to Donita Donata as a birthday present.
Synopsis[]
Chris is accidentally catapulted out of range and lands on a tree, where he finds a red panda cub. He later realizes that it is lost when it follows him back to the Tortuga. He then shows the rest of the crew, who come back only to be asked by Martin about what kind of animal the red panda is. However, Zach Varmitech finds out about the lost red panda and plans to give it to Donita as a present for her birthday.
Plot[]
The episode begins with a live action segment. The Kratt brothers are in the mountainous forests of China to check out the mysterious and endangered red panda. They witness red pandas climbing and wrestling, and then ask many questions about the red panda, of which they are short for time on. Afterwards, they ask their "What if?" question, and the show transitions into the animated segment.
The Tortuga HQ flies over the bamboo forests of China, gaining the attention of a red panda cub, who wanders away from her mother. Aviva, Koki, and Jimmy Z. exit to the Tortuga to find Chris and Martin making a catapult, desgined to launch them into the river. Chris first launches Martin, who dives into the water, then Aviva launches Chris. However, Chris flies out of range and hits a tree, where he finds a red panda cub, who follows him back to the Tortuga.
Meanwhile, Zach Varmitech is flying in his jet and is in a call with Donita Donata. It's Donita's birthday, and she wants something fashionable as a present. Knowing that Donita likes using animals as fashion, he decides to hack into the Tortuga's computers and research animals in the weasel family that he can use as a stole. Zach's attempts to hack the Tortuga are intercepted by Chris. A brief conversation between the two gives Zach the impression that the animal on Chris's neck is a stole, which he plans to steal.
Chris calls the crew to head back to the Tortuga and meet the little red panda. They then debate over what family of animals a red panda is in. Martin, who figures out the answer, turns it into a guessing game. Koki guesses that the red panda is related to the giant panda due to their similar names, and thus must be in the bear family. Jimmy guesses that the red panda is related to the fox due to their similar coat patterns, and thus must be in the canidae family. Aviva guesses that the red panda is a type of weasel in the mustelid family. Chris guesses that the red panda is in the Procyonidae family, consisting of raccoons, kinkajous, and coatis. However, all of these answers are incorrect. Martin then reveals that the red panda is in its own family; Ailuridae.
The crew then searches for the red panda, who has gotten lost in the Tortuga. Eventually Chris finds her outside of the Tortuga on bamboo leaves. Martin finally decides to give the red panda a name; Lost and Found. They observe how Lost and Found uses her special wristbone, the panda's thumb, to hold onto bamboo whilst she eats. Chris and Martin go out into the forest to find Lost and Found's mother, whilst the gang babysits the baby red panda. Whilst Chris and Martin head off, Zach, who has been spying on the crew and has landed in the forest, rolls out with his Zachbots to attack the Tortuga. The bots disable communications, imprisons the crew, and captures Lost and Found. He is about to escape, but he is stopped by the Kratt brothers, who came back to the HQ looking for Chris' Creature Power Disc collection. As the Zachbots circle around Zach to protect him, he gets an idea. He hides the red panda in one of the Zachbots, and orders them to fly away. The Kratts, with Chris' disc collection, tail the Zachbots, whilst Jimmy disables Zach's energy field, allowing the crew to chase him away from the Tortuga.
Chris and Martin chase down the Zachbots on the Buzz Bikes, and decide to use their Creature Power Suits. Martin activates Golden Snub-nosed Monkey Power, while Chris activates Giant Panda Power, and they use their suits to crush two Zachbots, finding nothing in them. They're able to beat the last Zachbot to Zach's jet and destroy it, freeing Lost and Found. Defeated, Zach flies off, and the crew is able to return Lost and Found to her mother. Aviva begins her programming of a Red Panda Power Suit, and the brothers are willing to wait, having no intention of leaving China just yet.
The episode transitions into the concluding live action segment. The brothers are still in the bamboo forest, and they compare and contrast the red panda and the giant pandas, right down to their preferences in bamboo. Afterwards, 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.
Live Action Images[]
Note: Live action animals are linked to Wikipedia.
- Red fox (called fox)
- Weasel
- American pine marten (called pine marten)
- American badger (called badger)
- Black-footed ferret (called ferret)
- Kinkajou
- White-nosed coati (called coati)
Mentioned[]
Note: Mentioned animals are linked to Wikipedia.
Live Action[]
Note: Live action animals are linked to Wikipedia.
- Raccoon
- Red-fronted lemur (called lemur)
- Golden bamboo lemur
- Greater bamboo lemur
Trivia[]
- At the end of the live-action opener, the Kratt Brothers mention that they only have half an hour to answer their questions about red pandas. This refers to the length of the episode.
- This is the first time Chris and Martin ride their Buzz Bikes while in their activated Creature Power Suits.
- This episode pays homage to Wild Kratts Live!, in which Zach "rounds up" the crew, hides Lost and Found in one of his Zachbots, prompting the Kratt Brothers to use Creature Power Suits based on Asian animals to find her; not unlike how in the live show, Zach's Zachbots trap the crew in an energy bubble, hides the miniaturizer in a Zachbot, and the brothers must use Creature Powers in Asia to find it.
- This episode appears to have been aired out of order; Lost and Found, the baby red panda is introduced in this episode, but previously appears in the one-hour special, "A Creature Christmas."
- "Red Panda Rescue" takes place on Donita Donata's birthday. This marks the second episode to feature a character's birthday, the first being the Season 1 finale, "Quillber's Birthday Present."
- This also indicates that Donita's birthday takes place prior to Christmas, when she eventually captures Lost and Found.
- Martin uses the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey Power Suit, which has been repaired since the events of the previous episode.
- At the end of this episode, Aviva begins programming the Red Panda Disc for the Creature Power Suit. This is confirmed in the next episode, "The Colors of China."
Key Facts and Creature Moments[]
- The red panda is in its very own family, Ailuridae.
- Just like a giant panda, red pandas have a panda's thumb too.
- Red pandas really like the youngest, most tender bamboo shoots.
- Giant pandas can crunch through any part of the bamboo. In fact, the reason the giant panda has such a large round head is because they have huge jaws used to crunch through bamboo stalks.
- Bamboo is a poisonous grass that red pandas are capable of digesting.
Home Media[]
DVD[]
- Panda-Monium
Gallery[]
