- This page is about the episode. For the species of heron, see Great Blue Heron.
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"Blue Heron" is the 11th episode of Season 5 of the PBS Kids show Wild Kratts. It is the 127th episode of the series overall. It premiered on June 15, 2018.
Synopsis[]
While exploring marshes, the Kratt brothers find a heron, and the Wild Kratts team begins studying herons in order to make the creation of Heron Creature Power Discs as soon as possible. However, unbeknownst to them, Zach Varmitech, hoping for an opportunity to steal the Wild Kratts' technology, plans to miniaturize the Tortuga HQ.
Plot[]
The episode opens in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed where Chris and Martin Kratt are looking for great blue herons. Upon finding some, they briefly discuss the bird's features and behaviors. The Kratt brothers then wonder what it would be like to have the powers of the great blue heron and the show transitions into the cartoon segment.
In the salt marsh of the Mid-Atlantic, the Tortuga is rolling around in giant wheels for faster mobility on land. It's a perfect day for creature adventuring. Just then, Martin spots a great blue heron flying nearby and shares his discovery with the rest of the team. The older Kratt brother is ecstatic to see a creature of his favorite color. Unfortunately, Chris doesn't exactly share in his brother's enthusiasm. He loves Martin, but when he constantly brags about the animals he really likes the most, it can get really irritating for the younger Kratt brother. Chris would much rather look a green creature, like a green heron. But so far, there don't seem to be any in sight. That's when Martin wisely tells his little brother that it doesn't matter what color a creature is because creature powers are way more than skin deep. And right now, the bros are eager to get some observations for the promise of Heron Power, with Aviva tagging along. Once the trio is in the marsh, they spy on the blue heron through the grass as he hunts a fish. Aviva needs all the information she can get in order to program Blue Heron Powers, even though Chris is still itching for powers based on green herons. Meanwhile, Martin has finally decided to name his new blue friend, Blue Beaky, which has some mixed opinions, but it works for him. Aviva decides to head back to the Tortuga to get a jump-start on programming Blue Heron Power while the bros continue to gather more information.
Meanwhile, Zach Varmitech is irritably spying on the Wild Kratts inventor through his spyglass as she heads into the ship. He then wonders what it would be like if the Tortuga was small enough to fit in his own two hands. This would allow the evil inventor to steal all the Wild Kratts technology inside in one fell swoop. So Zach decides to send three Robber-bots to snatch the Miniaturizer from inside the Tortuga and bring it back to their master, who would be waiting beneath the ship's underbelly.
Inside the headquarters, Aviva talks to Martin and Chris on the big screen and watches Blue Beaky, observing the blue heron creature powers as she works on the suit. She works on programming long legs (for wading in water), excellent muscle control (to move slowly to not scare the fish), and eyes with great depth perception (to spot fish deep in the water.) These features are all meant to help blue herons be great at catching fish to eat! And then there's extreme patience. Chris, Martin, Aviva, Koki, and Jimmy keep their eyes glued to Blue Beaky, who, like all blue herons do, stands motionless, waiting for the fish to come close enough to rapidly grab with his beak.
Meanwhile, Zach's tiny Zachbots sneak in and steal the miniaturizer. Underneath the Tortuga, Zach sets up the miniaturizer. "Once upon a time, there was a turtle ship. Then one day, the greatest inventor in the world..." Zach says with a grand sweep of his arms, and he clarifys to his little Zachbots, "...that's me...made it a tiny turtle ship."
The Wild Kratts crew was so absorbed in watching Blue Beaky's hunt, they didn't notice anything that happened. The three of them soon decide to join the Kratt brothers and bring them the new creature power discs, only to discover that the grass is suddenly bigger than they are. And then, the crew sees a giant Zach and run back to the safety of the ship. So Zach can't steal anything, they put the Tortuga in lockdown mode.
Aviva has Jimmy Z teleport the now-ready disks to Martin and Chris, telling the brothers that they need help. However, they can't use them because they are tiny. Aviva hadn't been thinking.
Meanwhile, Zach takes the Tortuga to his plane and tries to cut it open! Jimmy Z takes the Tortuga off of lockdown mode and escapes from Zach, flying away. Zach sends his Zachbots after the Tortuga. Koki has an idea for her and Aviva to make a huge disk to send. When it is finished, Aviva asks Jimmy Z to teleport it. "I can't teleport while I'm driving.," he replies. "And I can't stop driving, because we're being chased by Zachbots." So Koki has an idea to attach rocket boosters to the disk and fly off on it.
"Whoa!," she yells, navigating it through the air.
Chris spots her with binoculars. "Is that a mini Koki riding on a creature power disk?"
"A creature power disk is not easy to ride.," Koki says when she lands on Chris.
Martin, being the blue brother, touches the blue heron and activates blue heron powers. He uses his lightning fast neck to jab the Zachbots with his beak and throw them away. One almost hit Zach at one point, and he yells, "Watch it blue boy!"
Aviva made Chris a blue heron power suit so he could help, too. Unable to spot a green heron, Chris touches a blue heron to activate his power suit, saying, "Please come out green." Chris is extremely disappointed when his heron suit comes out "really, really blue." He helped Martin defeat the Zachbots, and he plucked the miniaturizer from Zach's pocket.
With all the Zachbots broken and the Tortuga back to normal size, Zach admits defeat. "I'll get you next time Wild Rats!," he yells as he goes back to his plane.
"That's Wild Kratts!," the Kratt brothers call after him.
In the live-action closing segment, Chris and Martin sum up the blue heron's creature powers, and they also take a look at two other herons: the tri-colored heron and the snowy egret.
Characters[]
Animals[]
Animation[]
Note: Featured animals are in bold.
Live Action[]
Note: Featured animals are in bold, live action animals are linked to Wikipedia.
- Tricolored heron
- Snowy egret
- Deirochelyine turtle (called turtle)
Trivia[]
- This is the fourth time Zach has tried to steal the Miniaturizer. His previous attempts were shown in "The Gecko Effect", "Praying Mantis", and "Liturgusa Krattorum".
- This is the first time the Tortuga wheels are featured.
- This is the second time the Tortuga has been miniaturized.
- Martin reveals that he and Chris were born in New Jersey, which is also the birthplace of their live action counterparts. This was hinted at in the episode "Speaking Dolphinese".
- This episode marks the returning appearance of the Disrupt-o-bots, however, they are now referred to as the Spy-bots.
Key Facts and Creatures Moments[]
- Great blue herons are one of the world's largest herons, and one of the largest in North America.
- Green herons on the other hand, are one of the smallest types of herons.
- Great blue herons, like all herons, hunt their prey patiently to get their meal, they can stand and wait for hours before getting a meal.
- Great blue herons can fly long distances to search for new feeding grounds.
- Herons have long necks and spear-like beaks to quickly grab and skewer fish as well as other prey, eyes that have great depth perception, and long legs for wading in deep water when stalking for prey.