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"Slider: The Otter", sometimes styled as "Slider, the Otter", is the 3rd episode of the Season 3 of the PBS Kids show Wild Kratts. It is the 69th episode of the series overall. It premiered on July 22, 2014.
In the episode, a river otter pup is sucked into a ship's hold and taken from its home in Northeastern North America to the Florida cypress swamp. After it escapes, the Kratt brothers find it and, thinking that it is from the cypress swamp, set out to reunite it with its family and to help it learn how to survive in the cypress swamp. However, when they return the otter with its family, the otters are not happy to see them and they start chasing them off their territory. Therefore, it turns out that the otter pup is not from the cypress swamp. The Kratt brothers eventually find out that the otter pup is from Frogwater Pond in the Northern Woodlands which is far up north from where they are right now. The Kratt brothers have to bring the otter pup back to its home without using the Tortuga or any of the flying vehicles. They use Osprey Powers to bring him back home and eventually reach Frogwater Pond and they reunite Slider with his family.
Plot[]
The episode begins with a live action segment. The Kratt brothers hang out with Asian small-clawed otters. Afterwards, they ask their "What if?" question, and the show transitions into the animated segment.
In Northeastern North America, a river otter pup follows its family out of a river and onto the riverbank. When a pine cone falls into the water, the otter gets distracted and slides back down to play with the pine cone. However, a large ship sails by, and the otter gets sucked through a porthole and into the ship's hold. The ship sails downriver into the Florida cypress swamp, where the otter escapes when the porthole opens.
Chris and Martin Kratt, who are climbing cypress trees and floating under cypress roots, respectively, see the otter and swim towards it. Realizing that the otter is lost, the Kratt brothers set out to reunite it with its family. The first thing they do is teach it how to catch fish. However, the otter is much too young to catch fish on its own, so they decide to herd a school of fish towards it. The otter dives down and catches a fish and slides back down into the water. The otter's habit of sliding around convinces Martin to name it Slider. Additionally, he decides to name Slider's mother Splash when he meets her. The Kratt brothers then introduce Slider to their teammates. They compliment him and say he's cute. Aviva says that she wants to play with him when he gets in the Tortuga. Martin and Chris tell her that he can't because he needs to go back to his family. That's when Aviva decides to make River Otter Power Discs for them. Slider's graceful moves in the water inspire her to do it.
The Kratt brothers continue their search for Slider's family. In the meantime, Aviva is finished with the power discs and throws them to Jimmy. He starts teleporting them, but realizes that the teleporter is not on, which will take a minute for the teleporter to be set up. Slider slides down what he thinks is a slide, however, the slide is bumpy and it has eyes, which means he is actually sliding down a gar, which starts attacking Slider. After saving Slider from a gar, which Slider swims towards and not away from, Martin thinks that Slider has never seen a gar before and may not be from the cypress swamp. Chris, however, thinks Slider is too young to understand that gars are predators. Jimmy teleports them to the Kratt brothers, who activate their Creature Power Suits. Using Otter Powers, the Kratt brothers save Slider from an alligator and help him catch his first fish.
Afterwards, the Kratt brothers find a family of river otters. Thinking that they must be Slider's family, the Kratt brothers nudge Slider towards them, but they find out that Slider is not happy to see them. In fact, the otters are not happy to see the Kratt brothers and Slider either. Therefore, instead of a welcoming embrace, the family of otters attack Slider as well as the Kratt brothers and they chase them off their territory. It turns out that that is not Slider's family. Chris brings Slider to the Tortuga while Martin fends off the otters.
When Chris returns to the Tortuga, however, Slider freaks out and swims away. Chris tells Martin that Slider doesn't like the Tortuga, he's terrified of it. Martin, hearing what Chris said, concludes that Slider must be afraid of giant ships. Aviva overhears what Chris and Martin said and wonders why Slider is afraid of the Tortuga. She hugs Slider and swabs his throat and does a DNA test of the saliva, which is not an exact match. The Kratt brothers then realize that have been looking for his family in the wrong place and that Slider is not from the Florida cypress swamp. Koki compares Slider's genetic pattern to the other patterns of river otters from all over North America. Koki's database shows that Slider is actually from the northern woodlands in Northeastern North America instead of the Florida cypress swamp, which is 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) north from the cypress swamp. It would have been impossible for him to walk or swim that far. Martin and Chris then wonder how Slider ended up in the cypress swamp in the first place.
Koki messages Wild Kratts kids in Northeastern North America. Jimmy, impatient to hear back, tells everyone to board the Tortuga so that they can start flying north, only to be reminded that Slider is afraid of it. Martin and Chris make a plan to bring Slider back home without swimming in it because it'll take too long. Flying is the only option, just in someplace other than the Tortuga. Aviva offers the Rocket Jet, but Slider still doesn't like it. Jimmy offers the Buzz Bikes, but Slider is not interested in them either. Koki eventually receives a message from Wild Kratts kids Gavin, Ronan, and Katie, who tell them that an otter pup has been missing for two weeks, and the missing otter pup had a swirl mark on his forehead and the brothers confirm that the otter pup is Slider. They've now solved the mystery and now they know that Slider is from Frogwater Pond.
Aviva is wondering how they are going to fly Slider up north and return him back if he's afraid of all the vehicles. Just then, Martin and Chris come up with an idea to use Osprey Power to return Slider back. To return Slider back, the Kratt brothers touch an osprey and activate Osprey Power. Although they are ready to take off, they are unable to find Slider. They are worried that Slider probably went back into the water, which is full of predators. They decide to find him and by turning on anti-glare osprey vision. They grab what they think is Slider, but they realize that have picked up a gar and an alligator instead and they immediately drop them. Aviva calls the brothers and tells them that Slider was with them the whole time. Chris comes back to pick up Slider before heading north with Martin. Although Slider is terrified with machines, he likes Osprey Powers though. It takes a while to get there, but the Kratt brothers eventually arrive at Frogwater Pond and meet the three kids, and together they reunite Slider with his family.
The episode transitions into the concluding live action segment. The Kratt brothers continue playing with the Asian small-clawed otters, in the water and out. Afterwards, they conclude the episode by saying "Keep on creature adventuring; we'll see you on the creature trail!"
Characters[]
Chris, Martin, and Slider the otter
Animals[]
Animation[]
Note: Featured animals are in bold.
- North American River Otter: Slider
- Bluegill
- Eastern Mosquitofish (called fish)
- Largemouth Bass
- Alligator Gar (called gar)
- American Alligator (called alligator)
- Osprey
Live Action[]
Note: Live action animals are linked to Wikipedia.
Trivia[]
- This is the first time the Wild Kratts find a lost animal in a different region than they're supposed to be in.
- When Gavin asks the Kratt brothers if they remember them from Frogwater Pond and the Kratt brothers ask how the frogs are doing, this is a reference to the episode "Aquafrog", which is the last time they saw them.
Key Facts and Creature Moments[]
- Otters are mustelids built for swimming, they have smooth and flexible streamlined bodies, rudder-like tails and webbed feet to move through the water with ease.
- Otters can use their swimming speed and agility to avoid underwater predators like alligators.
- Otters are very playful animals, but are also very territorial.
- Young otters have to learn how to catch fish from watching adult otters.
- An otter pup hunting fish on its own.
- Lots of mammals such as otters don't learn everything from instinct, they have to be taught about the dangers of their habitat and learn what to eat and what to fear and get away from.
- An alligator gar trying to hunt an otter pup.
- Gars are one of the most ancient type of fish, being around since the time of the dinosaurs.
- An American alligator hunting an otter pup.