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"The Colors of China" is the 14th episode of the fourth season of Wild Kratts, originally airing on PBS Kids on July 25, 2016. Overall it is the 106th episode of the series. On April 11, 2017, "The Colors of China" was first released on DVD as part of Wild Kratts: Panda-Monium.
In this episode, Chris and Martin are still in China, and they encounter many colorful animals whose pigments play a huge role in their lives and survival. But when the fashion designer, Donita Donata, captures many of these animals and steals their color away, the Wild Kratts must rescue the creatures and their color.
Synopsis[]
While Chris and Martin are looking for cool creatures in the bamboo forest of China, they encounter golden pheasants. The vivid colors of the male pheasant cause the Kratt brothers to wonder why golden pheasants-and all the other amazing animals of China-are colored the way they are. But when Donita Donata captures several different species of Chinese animals and fades their colors, planning to use the now-gray animals as statues in a fashion show, the Wild Kratts must rescue the creatures and restore the animals' unique colors and patterns. Along the way, the team discovers the important roles that color plays in the lives of animals everywhere.
Plot[]
The episode opens with a live-action segment. The Kratt Brothers are in China, talking about brightly colorful and uniquely patterned animals in the creature world. Such creatures range from striped zebras and spotted giraffes, to multicolored chameleons, tropical fish, and birds (mostly male.) And China has many colorful creatures too like the golden pheasant, a bird with a rainbow of colors. The brothers then wonder what it would be like to know what creature color is all about and the show transitions into the cartoon segment.
Chris and Martin Kratt are hiking in China, admiring the country's ornate and beautiful artwork, much of which is inspired by nature. As the bros delve deeper into the wilderness, they're nearly blinded by a golden flash. But as soon as their eyes adjust, the duo discover a golden pheasant. And golden pheasants aren't just gold. They also have blue, red, green, chestnut, and orange. Just then, the pheasant nibbles on a few berries from the sunlit bush and quickly scurries to the shade again. This behavior baffles the brothers until Aviva explains that the sun's ultraviolet light can bleach color. So male golden pheasants take a lot of pride in keeping their feathers bright and colorful for the sake of accessing the female pheasants, who are attracted to their color. The bros soon realize that every creature relies on being colorful for a lot of different reasons.
Meanwhile, Donita Donata, who is also in China at the moment, is completely overwhelmed by the bright colors and elaborate patterns and is favoring a more neutral color scheme. So much so, she's even changed her typical attire for more subtle, earthly tones. However, the evil fashion designer still plans to use animals in her line, regardless of patterns and color. To accomplish this, Donita aims to use a device of her creation; The Fader Wand. This device enhances the power of ultraviolet radiation, bleaching colors with just a flick of the wrist. Donita uses the wand until the entire interior of her jet is stripped of color entirely. To prepare for her fashion show, she wants to capture the animals of China, pose beam them, and then drain them of color. So, Donita sends her henchman Dabio to apprehend as many Chinese creatures as he can get a hold of.
In the bamboo forest, the Kratt brothers encounter animal friends from previous adventures in China: Lost and Found, the red panda cub, Stuffo, the giant panda cub, and Blue Goggle, the snub-nosed monkey. Additionally, they encounter a leopard gecko as well as a luna moth. They concur that the pandas' colors are for species recognition, the monkeys' for social dominance, the gecko's for camoflauge, and the moth's for defense.
The crew is amazed at the colors and patterns of Chinese fauna, and they soon head back to the Tortuga to take a break with snack-time. During their break, the brothers convince Jimmy to head to the grove and bear witness to the colorful fauna. However, whilst they're gone, Dabio makes his move to attack, capturing the animals in a net and running off to Donita's jet. When the crew reaches the empty grove, they discover Dabio's footprints, and realize that Donita's up to no good. They attempt to contact Donita, but she ignores them, and erases the animals' color (inadvertantly taking away Dabio's as well). She then flies west to Paris in order to display the bleached animals in a fashion show. Jimmy revs up the Tortuga to follow her.
The Tortuga manages to tail Donita whilst the brothers gear up to board the plane. Because a gecko stowed away in Martin's shirt, the brothers are able to activate their Creature Power Suits with Chinese Leopard Gecko Power. Aviva and Koki are able to cloak the Tortuga in order to get close enough to Donita's plane for the brothers to sneak aboard. Using the gecko's electrostatic abilities, they can sneak aboard the plane without getting blown away by the wind. As they climb, they are spotted by Dabio through the window, who tries and fails to alert Donita of their presence. Eventually, Donita detects them on the ceiling, and is incensed by their colors. They try to rescue the animals from her, but she uses the Fader Wand on them to drain them of their color, as well as their Creature Powers. They refuse to give up, and they make their move for the animals, dodging Dabio in the process.
Martin and Chris re-activate their Creature Power Suits with Panda Powers; Chris activates Red Panda Power, whilst Martin activates Giant Panda Power, gaining new powers and re-gaining their colors. They fight Dabio, but lose their colors to Donita again. They re-activate their suits once again, this time with Golden Snub-nosed Monkey Power, and although they lose their colors a third time, they're able to capture the Fader Wand, grab the animals, and jump into the Tortuga. Because the animals have lost their color, they're confused and have trouble recognizing each other. Aviva reprograms the Fader Wand into a Color-Infusion Wand in order to return color to the animals. However, she struggles to bring color back to the Kratts, and repeatedly uses the wand until she gets the right results.
The episode transitions into the concluding live action segment. They examine the many colors of chinese fauna, including red pandas, giant pandas, and snub-nosed monkeys. 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.
- Red Panda: Lost and Found
- Giant Panda: Stuffo
- Golden Snub-nosed Monkey: Blue Goggle, Golden Ice
- Golden Pheasant
- Lichtenfelder's Gecko (called Chinese leopard gecko)
- Chinese Luna Moth (called Luna moth)
Live Action[]
Note: Live action animals are linked to Wikipedia.
- Grant's zebra (called Zebra)
- Rothschild's giraffe (called Giraffe)
- Jaguar
- Ring-tailed lemur
- Parson's chameleon (called Chameleon)
- Princess parrotfish (called Reef fish)
- White-necked jacobin (called Hummingbird)
- Blue jay
- American flamingo (called Flamingo)
Trivia[]
- This is the second time the Creature Power Suits have been malfunctioned by a villain, and the first time it was done by Donita.
- At the end of the episode, "Red Panda Rescue", Aviva was programming Red Panda Power Suits, but the Kratt Brothers were never seen using them. In this episode, Chris activated Red Panda Power to get the color back, indicating that Aviva programmed the suit.
Key Facts and Creature Moments[]
- Many animals have colors for camouflage to hide from predators or prey, like the Chinese leopard gecko.
- Some animals have warning colors that indicate they are poisonous like the Chinese lunar moth.
- Some animals are theorized to have colors for interspecific recognition.
- Some animals have colors that are sexually dimorphic, male golden pheasants are more colorful to attract females, while the females are duller colored to camouflage and protect their eggs.
- A male golden pheasant trying to attract a female by displaying his colorful feathers.
Home Media[]
DVD[]
- Panda-Monium
Gallery[]
