The Penguins of Madagascar: Operation: DVD Premiere

The Penguins of Madagascar: Operation: DVD Premiere
The cover of the special release Operation: DVD Premiere
Directed by	Bret Haaland Nick Filippi
Produced by	Mark McCorkle Bob Schooley
Starring	Tom McGrath Jeff Bennett John DiMaggio James Patrick Stuart Danny Jacobs Kevin Michael Richardson Andy Richter Nicole Sullivan Conrad Vernon Mary Scheer
Studio	Nickelodeon
Distributed by	DreamWorks Animation SKG Home Entertainment
Release date(s)	February 9, 2010 (2010-02-09)
Running time	130 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Penguins of Madagascar: Operation: DVD Premiere is a DreamWorks Animation direct-to-DVD feature starring the characters of The Penguins of Madagascar, a spin-off TV show stemming from the popular Madagascar movie franchise. The 130-minute-long DVD, released on February 9, 2010, consisted of both never-before-seen content and select adventures from the Nickelodeon-aired series,^[1] including the show’s first special, "Dr. Blowhole’s Revenge," which made its television debut on Nickelodeon on February 15, 2010.^[2]

Plots

Television special: "Dr. Blowhole's Revenge"

Private tells Marlene, Mason, and Phil of a past encounter that he and the other penguins had had with the evil dolphin Dr. Blowhole, but Marlene does not believe his tale. He tries to then show her a file on the mission, but is stopped by Skipper initially before Marlene begins to look at the documents and is unimpressed by them. Julien then comes by, telling everybody that he wants to be a spy. Soon after, the zoo opens for the day and the animals disperse to their respective habitats. Mort is soon seen to be bound by seaweed, and Julien is seen being taken away by an unknown creature; it is soon revealed that Dr. Blowhole had been spying on the penguins, and he appears to the penguins on their TV, informing them that he had captured Skipper's "best friend," Julien, and that he will "sleep with the fishes" if they try to interfere with his plans. Skipper then insists that he is not best friends with Julien, but that rescuing the lemur is in order, as such is "the penguin way." The penguins soon determine the location of Dr. Blowhole's lair, Coney Island, and set off for it in the air using soda bottle jet packs. Before they arrive, Julien begins sucking-up to Dr. Blowhole, suggesting that they can work together, and when the penguins do arrive, they are soon captured. Dr. Blowhole then reveals to them his plan to use a sinister device to melt ice in the North Pole in order to flood the Earth as a form of payback to the humans who had made him perform tricks through a ring of fire. Skipper vows to stop him, but Dr. Blowhole reveals that he has an army of lobsters that will fight against Skipper and his men. Eventually, Dr. Blowhole's "Ring of Fire" is activated, and Kowalski inadvertently keeps turning up its heat output whilst trying to deactivate it. Julien then reveals to the penguins and Dr. Blowhole that he is a double agent – "a good guy spy" – and proceeds to press the correct button to turn off Dr. Blowhole's contraption. Defeated, Dr. Blowhole escapes the lair inside of a giant bubble, swearing further revenge in the future. Once the group gets back to the zoo, Julien tells Marlene of the mission, but she still thinks that it is far-fetched and does not believe it. Skipper then makes Julien an "honorary penguin" for his efforts during the mission.

"Dr. Blowhole's Revenge" first aired on Nickelodeon on February 15, 2010 as the first-ever special of The Penguins of Madagascar. Since it was also included on the Operation: DVD Premiere release, people who purchased the DVD before it was aired on TV were essentially entitled to a "sneak peek" of the special.

The character of Dr. Blowhole was voiced by guest actor Neil Patrick Harris.^[3]

Never-before-seen episodes

"Truth Ache"

The penguins record video footage of some of the zoo animals engaging in various embarrassing behaviors, including one of Maurice tampering with Julien's smoothie and one of Marlene singing along to a music tape while playing on her guitar, but all throughout the mission, Private does not feel right about all of the spying. The next day, Private seasons his sardines with what he believes is hot sauce, but Kowalski soon reveals that it was actually a truth serum inside a hot sauce bottle, one of three different mind-altering potions he had inside the bottles labeled as typical condiments. Soon after, following a mission to rescue Mort from a popcorn maker, Private begins to reveal to the animals who had gathered around that their most private secrets had been uncovered. The other three penguins then try to both keep Private safe from the animals who want to attack him for revealing their secrets and prevent him from outing any others. But soon after the four are safe in the HQ and Private comes out of his truth-telling daze, Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico are sucked up from the HQ by Burt's trunk, tied together, and are about to be sat upon by Burt's backside as payback. But before this happens, Private remembers one of Kowalski's other potions, amnesia spray, and proceeds to mist it over the zoo animals, including the other penguins, while soaring over them using a soda bottle for jet pack-like propulsion through the air. This results in everyone except Private unaware of what had just gone on, and later, Private blows up the vault in the penguins' HQ that had contained DVDs of the spy footage, thus preserving everyone's secrets once again.

"Truth Ache" later received its Nickelodeon debut on November 27, 2010.

"Command Crisis"

Skipper praises his men after a successful mission to retrieve a boy's lost balloon, but wonders if they are ready for the "Big One," an event of unknown proportions that Skipper says will occur that afternoon at around 4:00. Skipper informs his team that he prepared plans over the course of several months for the Big One and buried them in a remote area of the zoo. Unfortunately, Kowalski reveals that this site is about to undergo momentary groundbreaking for a new children's zoo, so the team sets off to retrieve the plans before the ground is broken. When they arrive, they find a news crew already on site, and when Skipper enters a news van to create a diversion, an accident occurs inside, and he emerges confused before being taken back to the HQ by the others. There, Skipper begins to believe that he is Chuck Charles, the anchor of a local news program, suffering from a condition that Kowalski dubs "anchormanesia." After initially hoping that they can cure Skipper from his condition, the team decides that they will have to retrieve the plans for the Big One without their leader, who winds up tagging close by anyway. After Kowalski, Rico, and Private use a bulldozer to dig into the ground to find the plans, the foursome is buried alive when a construction worker recovers the hole with dirt. Trapped, the penguins open the box with Skipper's plans, finding a message recorded by Skipper on a cassette player inside which reveals that the so-called Big One concerned the issue of Skipper "inexplicably acting like a pompous anchorman." Skipper then states that his belief that he was Chuck Charles was all a ruse and that the others had passed his test. Rico then detonates an explosive charge, blasting the penguins out of the ground and back to their habitat.

"Command Crisis" later received its Nickelodeon debut on November 27, 2010.

Series-aired episodes

"Go Fish"

The penguins perform and display their cuteness to zoo visitors in order to prompt them to feed them with fish purchased from Alice. Julien observes this from his habitat, stating his resentment of the fish odor to the other lemurs. When the zoo visitors feed the penguins, the penguins soon notice that they are not being fed their regular fish, but rather fish-shaped cake imitations. While Julien revels in not having to smell the fish, the penguins find the new cakes to be terrible in taste and hope that the substitution is just a one-time trial. When they are fed the fish cakes the next day, however, they assemble to plan a mission to obtain real fish on their own from a fish delivery truck as it travels down the road, which includes using Pinky, a flamingo, for aerial support. When Julien observes the penguins preparing for their mission, he tells the other lemurs that the real fish cannot be allowed back into his kingdom. The penguins put their plan into action and obtain several crates of fish from the delivery truck, but when they return to the zoo, Julien tells them that he secretly switched the crates of fish with crates of the fish cakes. Julien and Skipper then engage in a series of attempts to one-up each other in terms of who last switched the crates around. But when both sets of crates are opened in an attempt to settle the disagreement, both contain the fish cakes. Kowalski then says that he has a theory on where the real fish ended up, and it is revealed that Pinky had taken them.

"Go Fish" first aired on Nickelodeon on May 30, 2009.

"Roomies"

Marlene is getting a new roommate. Before her roommate arrives, she dances with Skipper with excitement, but Skipper is paranoid that Marlene's roommate may be a spy, possibly with the intent of stealing Kowalski's newest invention, a device whose function is not yet known. The penguins point out to Marlene that the new arrival weighs at least 1,500 pounds, enormously heavier than she is, and suggest that multitudes of otters might be on the way. The new roommate turns out to be a walrus named Rhonda, who is sloppy, has bad manners, bullies Marlene and uses her as a live tissue. She also farts in the water constantly as well as in Marlene's home. After faking her approval to the penguins several times, Marlene finally asks them to ship her somewhere else. But when she learns that a labeling error resulted in Rhonda being headed for a polar bear reserve in Alaska, her guilty conscience causes her to save the annoying roommate. Marlene ends up using Kowalski's invention, which turns out to be a plasma cutter, to free the crate at the dock where Rhonda is being shipped out. Once the crate gets back to the zoo, Marlene and the penguins arrange for Rhonda to be transferred to the Hoboken Aquarium. Rhonda ends up being a spy after all, and she steals Kowalski’s plasma cutter and discusses it with Dr. Blowhole, Skipper's unseen dolphin arch-enemy, en route to a new zoo.

"Roomies" first aired on Nickelodeon on June 26, 2009.

"Needle Point"

Skipper runs from the zoo veterinarian in order to avoid getting a shot. He tries to hide his fear from the other penguins, until Private asks Skipper why the doctor didn't take off his ankle tag. The other penguins all understand, and say they will be beside him the whole time. Skipper still refuses to get the shot. The penguins try to force him to do it, but Skipper seems to escape and avoid all they throw at him. Private rips off Skipper's hospital ankle bracelet by accident. When the penguins finally give in, Private has an idea. Private says that he could pretend to be Skipper and get it all over with, and he wants to take the risk of getting another shot. Private waddles over to Alice, who is searching for Skipper, with Skipper's hospital ankle bracelet on, and she takes him to the veterinarian. When the chimps inform Skipper a second shot could make Private become sick, or worse, Skipper goes back to the veterinarian's office, and tells Private that he'll take the shot. Private tells Skipper that he doesn't mind taking another shot, but Skipper tells him the things that could happen to him if he takes another needle. After Private leaves the office, Skipper is given the shot and screams in pain, but is proud about it afterwards. At the end, Alice tells the penguins they have an appointment with the dentist, and shows Kowalski has an extreme fear of the dentist. Private states, "But we don't have teeth."

"Needle Point" first aired on Nickelodeon on June 6, 2009.

"Launchtime"

The penguins build a rocket to go to the moon after being annoyed by King Julien and the other lemurs too much. However, thanks to a miscalculation made by Kowalski (who later says he "Forgot to carry the two"), they end up on top of a building with a cat named Max trying to catch birds for food. Meanwhile, Julien and the other lemurs deal with the booby traps in the penguin's habitat while trying to "borrow" their TV. When the penguins return and discover this occurring, Rico coughs up a hammer for Skipper, who declares "Operation: Hammerhead" in retaliation.

"Launchtime" first aired on Nickelodeon on March 28, 2009.

"All Choked Up"

Alice unveils a robotic zoo guide that the penguins immediately see and process as a threat. Assuming that they will be replaced by robotic animals, Skipper tries to get Rico to regurgitate a weapon that they can use to destroy the robotic guide. Rico eventually regurgitates a time bomb that Skipper then activates. Meanwhile, Alice has noticed that Rico is regurgitating constantly and heads toward the penguin enclosure. When the penguins see Alice coming toward them, they hide everything that Rico regurgitated, with the exception of the activated bomb, which Rico then swallows. Alice forces Rico to drink a strange liquid that keeps him from regurgitating and the penguins must try to get him to regurgitate the bomb before it explodes. After numerous failed attempts, including hooking a rope to their miniature car and taking Rico for a ride around a lamppost, watching 'Carnage of the Penguins' a gory nature documentary, having Rico drink a bucket of "#12", and even forcing Mort down Rico's throat, the penguins give up and say their goodbyes. But Rico (as seen in the beginning) has a "gooey love mush sensitivity", so the penguin's farewell words and poetry make Rico vomit. Rico then finally regurgitates Mort and the bomb. Mort is uninjured but the bomb lands in the robotic zookeeper's hands, and explodes, destroying the robot.

"All Choked Up" first aired on Nickelodeon on April 24, 2009.

"The Hidden"

Marlene and Mort visit the new neighbors at the zoo to welcome them but the new neighbors take Mort. Meanwhile, Kowalski is having problems because he thinks out everything too much, never acting on instinct. Marlene reports Mort's disappearance to the penguins who set off to rescue Mort. They find that Julien and Maurice are also present in the new neighbors' enclosure. One by one, the animals disappear, leaving only Kowalski to rescue them all. Kowalski captures two of the hostiles, who turn out to be friendly chameleons.

"The Hidden" first aired on Nickelodeon on April 18, 2009.

"Tangled in the Web"

The penguins don't like the new webcams that have been installed around the zoo and rebel, but Julien plays to the cameras, because he wants to be voted most popular animal. When Private accidentally slips and falls into the fish bowl he becomes incredibly popular and is taken away to entertain his fans on stage. Julien's attempts to become more popular result in Mort being flipped onto Private's stage, destroying it. All of the cameras are knocked down, with one ending up pointing into the zoo kitchen, where Alice is dancing while using a banana as a microphone. Private is rescued but the ultimate winner is Alice, who is voted most popular because of her kitchen antics.

"Tangled in the Web" first aired on Nickelodeon on April 8, 2009.

References

1. ^ http://news.toonzone.net/articles/32066/penguins-of-madagascar-operation-dvd-premiere-arriving-feb-9-2010
2. ^ http://www.comingsoon.net/news/tvnews.php?id=62522
3. ^ http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2010/01/20/2010-01-20_neil_patrick_harris_chews_up_role_as_dolphin_in_the_penguins_of_madagascar.html