Reviews: TV

Firefighters' Headquarters

This animated series is surprisingly good, offering some handy information on fire prevention and fire fighting in an unusually interesting way.

The children and the firefighters are depicted as animals. Xiaoxiao, a young dragon, takes the lead and this is reasonable, dragon is a mystic figure that controls water and fires the imagination.

In the past few years, many Chinese cartoons targeting elementary school students and younger audience drew inspiration from mythology, such as The Legend of Nezha aired before the Firefighters on CCTV.

Based on an old book about the founding of the Zhou Dynasty some 3,000 years ago, the 52-installment Nezha lacked imagination, particularly with magical powers and stereotyped portrayal of the good and the evil.

In contrast, Firefighters is far more convincing and close to life. Most of all, the cartoon, which is shown at the China Central Television (CCTV) Children's Channel, teaches youngsters not to play with matches or gas stoves.

LJ

(China Daily 03/20/2007 page20)