There's lots of shows where drab subjects have been made cool. Science has been pretty cool before, take "Bill Nye the Science Guy", "Popular Mechanics for Kids" or "Beakman and Jax" in the 90s, or "Mr. Wizard" in the 60s. "School House Rocks" has also left an indelible impression on a generation in multiple subjects like civics and math. There's been many great, fun, light-hearted educational shows over the years. But social studies, you know history, that sort of stuff, has pretty much been left untapped.
Up to now, it's just been avoided. Now, however, there's a new comedic venture, exploring this topic. The most clever aspect is that the lessons are then related to today.
Producer-writer Wilson Coneybeare found history "as dry as toast" in school. So then why use history to answer questions like "Why do need to lock our doors?" Coneybeare shares the belief that history is core to everything. So through learning the history behind something, you learn the complete reason.
The 13-episodes of this series for 7-11-year-olds follows Shakira, a curious 13-year-old, who questions lots of aspects of everyday life (Jasmine Richards). Her two tour guides through history reenact what things were like for her. The characters, Sam (Mike Ackerman) and Jen (Heidi Leigh), are essentially just figments of her imagination, illuminating the past. They slowly unravel the answer to her question throughout the show, helping her come to a conclusion.
In the premiere, we meet Shakira as she arrives home after school. She's misplaced her house keys, so she sets of to her friend's house to get her spares.
Right from the first couple minutes, I must admit I was hooked. You wouldn't think one question could sustain a whole thirty-minute kids show, without being dragged out, but it does shockingly well.
The episode comprised of three segments in self-protection.
The first segment deals with one of the world's first great inventors, going by the name of Oof. What did caveman Oof do? As we see through a series of events, Org has continuously bashed him with a wooden club to steal his chicken legs; in turn, Oof builds the first fence.
We turn next to the burning question of— how do you capture a castle?
Sam then starts to attack Jen's castle; but for every new weapon Sam pulls out, she has an answer to. In all, we learn about at least thirteen clever weapons and protection methods for castles, ranging from trebuchéts and crenels, to siege towers, battering rams, and armor.
