What: "X-Power"
Where:PBS stations, American classrooms
Length: Ten episodes of 15 minutes each. 2.5 hours total.
Premise: Five young adventurers and their alien guide, Holon, the team solve problems with algebra. Their adventures span both space and time with the "Others" always right at their heels.
Think: "Cyberchase" meets the chalkboard
Notablility: Along with the minor first of being the first "nationally aired 3-D animated television series ever created by a Utah based company", this show also has a great feat. Never before has an animated television series targetted junior high school level mathematics.
Historic Cast: Includes Rene Descartes (philospher, created Cartesian geometry), Abu Jafar al-Khwarizmi (introduced decimal system, rules for solving equations), Pythagoras (first pure mathematian), Albert Einstein (theory of relativity), Thomas Harriot (creator of modern algebraic symbols, binary numeration, first to factor an equation set at 0), and Euclid (leading math teacher of all time, writer of The Elements).
So, is the show any better than just a normal lesson on the chalkboard?
Yes, I'd say that it's pretty darned good. For some visual learners, chalkboard-style math is just glaringly tedious to learn. Believe me, I went through it just a few years ago. Introducing a visual element to such an abstract concept can only do a world of good, tying together the concepts previously discussed in the child's teacher's actual lesson. From an entertainment standpoint, supposedly students that were used in screening the series were requesting more.
Who made it?: Seven years old, Eggington Productions has produced content for video games, interactive media and television commercials for a wide range of clients. They've been hard at work on "X-Power" in their basement office in Pleasant Grove, Utah for two long years. for After this project, Eggington plans to tackle movie or short films, and are currently looking for investors. "X-Power" was produced by Slim Goodbody Corp. and is being distributed by GPN Educational Media.
Review: As I have only yet seen supplementary materials for the show, I'm withholding my judgement. However, it seems a hard situation for the folks at Eggington to mess up. Harder to mess up than to solve one of those convoluted algebra questions, anyway.
Nicktoons
US digital cable channel Nicktoons is set to add four new shows to its line-up in 2004. This pushes the network further along to its goal of being 25 percent original by 2005.Cyma Zarghami, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Nickelodeon comments that, "The goal of this new channel is to create a home for the next generation of animation, a laboratory for new talent and animation styles."
