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"The Gecko Effect" is the 38th episode of Season 1 of Wild Kratts, originally airing on PBS Kids on October 23, 2012. The episode was written and directed by Martin Kratt.
In this episode, the Kratt brothers wonder why a gecko is able to walk on glass surfaces. They gather the crew and mini-size themselves in order to get a closer look at the gecko's ability, but Zach Varmitech sees this as an opportunity to sneak into the Tortuga HQ to steal the Wild Kratts' inventions.
Plot[]
The episode begins with a live action segment, in which the Kratt brothers narrow the characteristics of animal feet to the feet of geckos. Afterwards, they ask their "What if?" question and the show transitions into the cartoon segment.
The Kratt brothers notice a gecko climbing on the Tortuga's sunroof. Not understanding how they are able to do that, the Kratt brothers decide to begin an experiment. They think that gecko feet have suction cups on them, so Martin and Chris sneak into the garage and Martin grabs two pairs of suction cups. He places a pair on his hands and the other on his boots. He bounces up onto the sunroof via trampoline, successfully sticking to the sunroof. However, he is unable to move because the suction cups tightly cement him to the sunroof. Chris concludes that suction can't be released if it's too strong. He lassos a bungee cord around Martin's chest and tries pulling him off the sunroof, but the cord snaps, and he falls into the garage and sets off the alarm. The alarm wakes Aviva and Koki up, in which they assume the inventions have been stolen by Zach. However, it was only Chris, who set off the alarm. Aviva and Koki wonder what they're doing. Chris tells them that they're figuring out how geckos climb and they're also trying to get Martin down. Aviva suggests that they let it wait until morning, but she and Koki decide to help Martin. With the help of Chris, they successfully pull Martin off the sunroof. The force, however, causes all four to roll out the Tortuga and into the forest, where they are surrounded by geckos. Meanwhile, Zach Varmitech finds out that the alarm in the Tortuga has been set off, and prepares to land his jet nearby so that he can steal the inventions inside.
Aviva analyzes the toe pads of one gecko and finds out that the "secret" is too small to see, so she, Koki, and the Kratt brothers head back into the Tortuga. Aviva grabs her newest invention: the Mobile Invention Kit, or M.I.K, a backpack that holds everything she needs to make Creature Power Discs. Martin also wakes up Jimmy Z by whispering into his ear that he lost his controller. All five then miniaturize and return to the forest. Martin distracts a gecko as Aviva gets a closer look at the gecko's toe pads. The Wild Kratts find out that geckos can stick to countless surfaces because they have feet that allow them to "electrically attach" to the surface, and to remove that tension, they peel their toes off from the tips inward. But then, two moonrats chase the Wild Kratts and the gecko into the Tortuga. The Wild Kratts run inside the Tortuga to get back to real size. Once they are inside, they find out that the Miniaturizer is missing.
The Wild Kratts then find out that Zach took the Miniaturizer when he suddenly appears right in front of them, holding it in his hand, and then he encloses them in a glass container. Zach then explains his plan, keeping the Wild Kratts as his little trophy pets and miniaturizing all the animals in the world for them to play with. Aviva tells everyone that she was always afraid of her inventions falling into the wrong hands. Chris tries to climb out, but he is unable to. He then realizes that they need the "Gecko Effect". Gecko powers would get them out of the glass container. Koki tells them that the gecko is outside. Knowing that geckos can climb on glass, Martin convinces Zach to drop a gecko into the container, because that's the only way to free them. He explains that he is fine with all the mini animals he has thrown in the glass container, but hopes Zach doesn't throw in a real-sized gecko because that freaks him out. Zach, overhearing what Martin said, orders his Zachbot to throw the gecko in with them, so that it freaks mini-Martin out. Sure enough, when it falls into the container, Martin freaks out, in which Zach also laughs at him and calls him a "scaredy Kratt". Martin retorts that they'll see who gets the last laugh. Aviva crafts the Creature Power Discs, and the Kratt brothers activate their Creature Power Suits. In the meantime, Zach has a conference call with the other villains, claiming that he invented a new Miniaturizer, which is obviously false. The rest of the crew grabs onto Chris's tail as they climb up. While they start climbing, Martin is unable to convince the gecko to go up with him, because the gecko doesn't understand what "up" means. Later, while the rest of the crew is hanging, Realizing that Jimmy forgot to tie his shoe, a tiny Aviva falls down, screaming. Luckily, Martin is able to catch and save her, in which she holds on to his tail. Martin is finally able to climb up with the gecko also cooperating with him. The Wild Kratts eventually get out of the glass container and return to normal size with the Miniaturizer without Zach knowing.
Zach tells the villains what he is going to do with the Miniaturizer and concludes that the villains are jealous after ending the call. Aviva tells him that they must be jealous of an invention thief, like him. Zach orders the Zachbots to get Chris and Martin, only for him to immediately remember that he miniaturized the Zachbots earlier as a demonstration, in which Chris and Martin blow the Zachbots back at him, causing them to break after they hit his forehead and fall down. He swears to get back at the "Wild Rats". Chris and Martin correct him again, but Zach says that he's referring to the same two moonrats that were following the Wild Kratts earlier, which must have entered the Tortuga and jumped onto the Miniaturizer causing them to enlarge. Martin and Chris tell Zach that he was kind of right. Zach freaks out and runs out screaming, admitting defeat. At the end, the Kratt brothers trap the moonrats by closing the garage doors on them that prevent them from leaving and prepare to return them to their original size. Chris reminds Martin that he forgot to name their gecko friend. Martin tells him that he didn't. He has been calling the gecko by its name the whole time. Chris tells Martin to tell him the gecko's name. Initially pretending to tell him, Martin eventually replies that the gecko's name is Okay (short for Okay Tokay) and everyone laughs at the pun.
The show transitions into the ending live action segment, The Kratt brothers watch as geckos climb on glass walls. Afterwards, they conclude the episode by saying "Keep on creature adventuring; we'll see you on the creature trail!"
Characters[]
- Chris Kratt
- Martin Kratt
- Aviva
- Koki
- Jimmy Z
- Zach Varmitech
- Zachbots
- Donita Donata (no voice)
- Dabio (no voice)
- Gourmand (no voice)
Animals[]
Animation[]
Note: Featured animals are in bold.
- Tokay Gecko: Okay
- Moonrat
- Large Conehead (called Conehead katydid)
Mentioned[]
Note: Mentioned animals are linked to Wikipedia.
Live Action[]
Note: Live action animals are linked to Wikipedia.
- Aardvark
- Canada lynx (called Cat)
- Little brown bat (called Bat)
- Crested gecko
- Voracious four-clawed gecko (called Banana gecko)
Trivia[]
- This is the first episode where a villain sneaks into the Tortuga HQ.
- Zach is revealed to be a thief in this episode, with the Kratt brothers first mentioning that with the security system in the invention garage, Zach would not be able to steal their inventions without setting off an alarm. Later, Zach stole the unguarded Miniaturizer. This is because the alarm was off due to Chris accidentally setting it off.
- This is the first time Zach steals any invention. In this case, it's the Miniaturizer.
Key Facts and Creature Moments[]
- A gecko uses its electrostatic toe pads on each of its feet to climb glass and stick to other surfaces, they can bend their toes backwards to let go of the surface they are clinging onto, as well as to lift each leg for moving from place to place..
- Geckos use their tongues to clean their eyes since they don't have eyelids.
- Geckos are the only kinds of lizards in the world that make musical sounds and are one of the most vocal lizards as well.
- Tokay geckos are one of the largest geckos and are named for their call which sounds like "Tokay tokay".
- Tokay gecko hunting and eating a katydid.
- Moonrats are actually more closely related to hedgehogs despite their name.