PAW Patrol

Rocky, Rubble, Chase, Ryder, Marshall, Zuma and Skye (over)

In a post-apocalyptic world with a vanishingly small population of precocious children and incompetent adults, the town of Adventure Bay is defended by 11-year old Ryder and the puppies of the PAW Patrol. Each puppy has a backpack full of gadgets and a kennel that turns into a vehicle - leftover tech from the world before, I'm sure; perhaps once property of the MASK organisation - and together they protect Adventure Bay from disasters ranging from life-threatening to trivial, assigning equal importance to all*.

Seriously popular and deceptively weird, PAW Patrol is my daughter's latest favourite. One of her friends told her it was just for boys, and we felt we have to be supportive of her assertion that it is in fact just for girls too, but damn the music is catchy and damn the world it presents is weird. Adventure Bay is run by an incompetent mayor who keeps a chicken in her handbag, presumably elected by the five adults in the equally gripless electorate. The neighbouring town of Foggy Bottom is run by a silent movie villain - seriously, he has his own villainous piano sting - who apparently has a team of nefarious felines to support his corrupt regime. Perhaps it's less surprising that Adventure Bay stands behind the inept but harmless rule of a hapless chicken fancier.

Everest the Snow Pup brings the male/female ratio
to 3:1 (in pup terms, Ryder's nearest distaff
counterpart is still Katie at the pet salon.)

The pups are Rocky the Recycling Pup (who also does maintenance,) Rubble the Constructor Pup, Chase the Police Pup and Marshall the Fire Pup (together constituting 100% of Adventure Bay's official emergency services, as well as being part of the Patrol,) Zuma the Water Pup and Skye the Air Pup (also the only female pup until season 2, who wears pink but is on the other hand a pilot.)

Season 2 (not yet on UK Netflix) is set to expand PAW Patrol to a global remit, with episodes set within the (former?) Antarctic Treaty Area and South American rain forest, and introducing a Snow Pup (Everest, a second female character huzzah!) and Spanish-speaking characters. I'm torn whether the series as it stands has a diversity issue, but I think it's doing all right. The pups are all clearly different - and specific - breeds (in order as listed above, mixed breed, bulldog, German shepherd, dalmation, chocolate lab and cockapoo**.) I can't speak for the voice actors, but the Mayor is black and one of the farmers ambiguously Asian.

PAW Patrol has some decent problem solving and its heart is in the right place, but it's a bit overwhelming and its music sticks in your head for days. At least Arya hasn't started asking for the toys.

* When a call which ultimately provides an important clue is dismissed as 'not really an emergency' it feels like the sickest burn ever.

** Why is a cocker spaniel/poodle cross not a cockadoodle?