Bob The Builder: The Big Dino Dig

Bob The Builder: The Big Dino Dig

Bob The Builder has been fixing it since 1998 and was originally produced using stop start animation with clay models. The series has since moved to CG-animation which adds a certain gloss to proceedings as well as busy presumably a faster and cheaper way to produce the series.

The latest release from Bob (Neil Morrisey) is The Big Dino Dig, where Bob and his gang of anthropomorphised vehicles and equipment, joined by new heavy truck Rubble, are contracted to build a theme park. The gang are also asked to help think of a theme for the park as the owner, despite designing it and having the money to build it, is having problems thinking of a theme.

This becomes less of a problem when the gang manage to discover the remains of a giant Diplodocus dinosaur on the grounds of where the theme park is due to be. Whilst Bob's main focus is on completing each of the rides, each of his gang becomes obsessed with finding dinosaur remains to show off or be a part of the team, sometimes forgetting that the job comes first. Typical British construction workers, really - only thing missing is a shovel to lean on and a norgie of tea,

Anyway, as each ride is completed, so another dinosaur skeleton is uncovered. Eat your heart out Tony Robinson, who needs geophys when you can just use sulky and excitable diggers and an ego-driven steam roller? Yeah, I know Time Team aren't interested in dinosaurs but it wouldn't have worked otherwise, ok?

The discovery of each dinosaur is punctuated with one of the characters explaining a bit more about each of the dinosaurs including what they looked like and what they ate. This appealed to my six year old son, who is quite interested in dinosaurs himself and knew most of the names, at least when he saw the picture of what they looked like.

As is the usual for kids TV programming these days, the crux of the story is about learning lessons about team work, friendship and the importance of telling the truth. Who knew that construction equipment was lacking in self-esteem and confidence? Still, the discovery of a dinosaur and warm, comforting words from Bob the boss and fellow team members seem to be enough to sort out these behavioural problems.

Normally an episode on TV is approximately 11 minutes long, this release is a single 60 minute episode so it may well be a push for younger viewers. Saying that, my son managed to watch the whole thing without fidgeting or getting bored (which couldn't quite be said for me…), so it does work in a feature length format.

Extras for this include activity sheets that can be printed off for your young 'uns and a web link. I'm never convinced at the latter being included on DVD's as they only have a limited lifespan and also it means using this on a PC and I'm not a fan of watching DVD's anywhere but on a big TV screen.

Quite enjoyable when watching with kids, and let's face it unless you're a lentil-eating student who'll watch anything to avoid going to lectures or studying, it's the youngsters this is firmly aimed at.