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"The Other Martins" is the 6th episode of Season 4 of Wild Kratts, originally airing on PBS Kids on April 26, 2016. Overall it is the 98th episode of the series. On May 7, 2024, "The Other Martins" was first released on DVD as part of PBS KIDS: 15 Sibling Stories.
In this episode, the Kratt Brothers encounter two different animals that share Martin's name; The purple martin and the pine marten. Chris is not pleased with this particular adventure, and his day goes from bad to worse when a red squirrel accidentally steals his Creature Power Suit. Martin must save the day by using the Creature Powers of the Pine Marten to save Chris's vest.
Synopsis[]
When a bird called a purple martin keeps dive-bombing Chris, Chris complains to Aviva, Koki, and Jimmy Z about it. At first, the team is confused, thinking Chris is talking about his brother, Martin. When they discover Chris is talking about a bird, the Wild Kratts decide to creature adventure with both the purple martin and a member of the weasel family called the pine marten. Martin is delighted to hang out with animals that share his name, but Chris is unhappy due to a series of unfortunate events that happen to him, one of which is a squirrel stealing his Creature Power vest. Martin must save the day by using Pine Marten Power to get Chris's Creature Power vest back from the squirrel.
Plot[]
The episode begins a live-action segment. The Kratt brothers visiting the Ecomusuem Zoo to meet a pine marten. And Martin is especially excited about this because it's his mustelid namesake. Together, he and Chris examine the pine marten's body design and how it's perfectly suited for life in the trees. The brothers then wonder what it would be like to have the powers of other animals called "martin" and the show transitions into the cartoon segment.
In the North American woodlands, Martin Kratt is lounging on a floatie in a pond while Chris is climbing an apple tree to pick an apple for a snack. But then, the branch he is hanging on to breaks, sending him falling into a pile of old apples on the ground with a splat. The younger Kratt brother now has applesauce staining his shirt which attracts some houseflies. As Chris tries to brush the applesauce off, a flash of purple darts right past him. That flash turns out to be a bird, a purple martin to be more precise. And he's continuously darting at Chris almost like he's targeting him on purpose. The green Kratt brother ends knocking himself against the apple tree, hard. And a couple apples fall on his head. At this point, Chris is at the end of his rope and retreats into the Tortuga, feeling really grumpy. He angrily rants about what happened to the Wild Kratts crew and at first, his friends are confused. They know Martin can be rambunctious and even Chris has his limits, but dive bombing his own brother seems strange. So the crew decide to investigate. They can see Martin laid-back and whistling to himself on the pond. But the younger Kratt brother stubbornly stands up the fact that a martin is pestering him, a fact that's proven true when the bird swoops in again and the crew ducks for cover. The martin is actually going for the flies that are buzzing around Chris's stained shirt, often narrowly missing his face. His big brother is immediately alerted by all the talk about purple martins and the gang can't help but admire how fast the swallow is when snatching insects in mid-flight. Even Chris finds that purple martins don't annoy him so much anymore. His brother, on the other hand, still bothers him occasionally.
Martin convinces Chris to go on a purple martin creature adventure with him, and the two convince Aviva to begin working on a power disc. The crew observes the purple martin's flight habits, and later sees how the bird's feathers refract light to make it purple in sunlight. Aviva completes the Purple Martin Disc, and the Kratt brothers activate their Creature Power Suits, and minaturize to purple-martin size. In spite of Aviva''s earlier statement about the suits' color, the brothers find that the Martin Power Suits are their signature colors, and they quickly fly off after the purple martin flock hunting a swarm of mayflies above a river. The bros then find the flock nesting in natural cavities amongst the riverbank, a rare occurrance in comparison to them occupying man-made bird-houses. Martin names a purple martin chick Martin Jr., annoying Chris once again.
The peace is disrupted by a predator in the area that alarms the flock, spooking them from the riverbank and causing the chicks to hide. The predator turns out to be a weasel known as a pine-marten. Although Chris is annoyed at yet another animal named "Martin," he can't resist a creature adventure with a pine marten, and flies after the marten, losing him in the trees. A red squirrel comes in and bumps into Chris, deactivating him and accidentally putting on his Creature Power Vest. The pine marten returns and chases the squirrel wearing the Power Suit, knocking over Chris in the process. Martin flies to the rescue to save his brother, and, after learning of the predicament, returns Chris to the Tortuga whilst he goes after the squirrel.
Aviva begins production on a pine-marten-inspired Creature Power Disc to help Martin catch the squirrel, whilst Koki and Jimmy convince Chris to help Martin rescue his suit. Meanwhile, Martin comes across a pine marten and her baby, presenting the observations of the weasel's climbing abilities that allows them to hunt squirrels. This gives Aviva enough material to complete the Creature Power Disc, allowing Martin to activate Pine Marten Power. Using the suit's acute sense of smell and agility, he chases the squirrel all throughout the trees and manages to capture Chris's vest, and give it back to his brother (who fell into the river).
That evening, Martin wants to continue the adventure, but Chris, who's had enough excitement for one day, decides to relax and think of animals named "Chris." As he tries (and fails) to do so, Martin runs off into the sunset with the "other Martins" of the creature world, "Martin-ing free and in the wild!"
The episode transitions into the concluding live action segment. The Kratt brothers approach a colony of nesting purple martins, and witness pairs of male and female martins raising chicks in the summer, and preparing for their migration to the Amazon rainforest. 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.
- Purple Martin: Martin Jr.
- American Pine Marten (called pine marten): Lil' Marty
- Spiny Softshell Turtle
- American Bullfrog
- Housefly (called fly)
- Globe Skimmer
- Small Minnow Mayfly (called mayfly)
- American Red Squirrel (called red squirrel)
Mentioned[]
Note: Live action animals are linked to Wikipedia.
Trivia[]
- This is the third time an animal stole a Creature Power Suit, after "Octopus Wildkratticus" and "Neck and Neck".
- This episode appears to have been aired out of order; Martin Jr. and the Pine Marten Power Suit are introduced in this episode, but previously appeared in the one-hour special, “A Creature Christmas.”
Key Facts and Creature Moments[]
- The purple martin is the biggest swallow in North America.
- Like all swallows, purple martins hunt insects in mid air by catching them with their mouths wide open.
- Purple martins colours appear black in the shade, but when exposed to sunlight they are a bright purple hue.
- Peregrine falcons are fast, hummingbirds can hover, but not many birds can pull off the high speed aerial maneuvers of the purple martin.
- It's rare to find purple martins nesting in natural cavities anymore. Today, purple martins on the East Coast only nest in gourds and houses put out for them by people.
- Pine martens are agile tree climbing mustelids that are built for arboreal hunting, with long flexible bodies, sharp claws and great speed and agility.
- Pine martens can catch red squirrels by cornering them in the trees.
Home Media[]
DVD[]
- PBS Kids: 15 Siblings Stories
Gallery[]
