Rocket Saves the Day is a 2023 animated TV movie released on PBS Kids, based loosely on the Rocket picture books, written and illustrated by Tad Hills. The story begins when Rocket meets a bird named Little Yellow Bird who had her nest changed into a vest by a mysterious Pest. Though they manage to catch the Pest, he escapes, and soon starts wreaking havoc in Rocket's village by using his magic wand to alter the signs on various shops so that they change to things other than what they were. Rocket and his friends must now unlock the secrets of a book in order to put a stop to the Pest's mayhem.
Rocket Saves the Day premiered on PBS Kids in December 2023. The movie was also made available freely for streaming through their PBS Kids Video service, and on YouTube
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Has nothing to do with Rocket Raccoon.
Rocket Saves the Day features examples of:
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Rocket wears only a collar, while Fred, the owner of the plant store, wears only a tie. When the Pest steals a letter and his store becomes a pant store instead, it's a problem because nobody in town wears pants.
- Adaptational Personality Change: In the original Rocket Learns to Read book, the Little Yellow Bird was a teacher who showed up one day and taught Rocket how to read. In the TV movie, the Little Yellow Bird doesn't know how to read and learns together with Rocket.
- Crash-Into Hello: Rocket and Little Yellow Bird meet by crashing into each other as she arrives in town.
- Edutainment Show: The special focuses on the basics of reading, including the sounds letters make, how words are put together, and how they represent things in the real world.
- Furry Reminder: Rocket has a doghouse, sleeps on a bed outside, and sniffs a lot, but otherwise his behavior is human-like.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard: Rocket and Little Yellow Bird use the Pest's own trick against him, taking away a letter to turn him into a pet. It's said, though, that he really got more-or-less what he wanted, some friends to learn new words with him.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Yoyo only wears a shirt. Likewise, Emma only wears a skirt.
- "I Want" Song: In the opening of the film, Rocket sings about how he enjoys the many smells of his town, but that he wants more, that he wants an adventure and then more after that. "And I know I won't miss it / So long as I sniff it. I gotta find my adventure! Here I go, here I go, here I go!"
- Killer Rabbit: A downplayed example with the Pest. He isn't deadly, but he is a Ridiculously Cute Critter whose potential for mayhem is about as great as it gets for an animated movie targeted towards preschoolers.
- Magic Wand: The Pest uses a magic wand to change letters to something else, thus changing the things associated with them. If there is an existing sign, it simply changes the letters. If there isn't one, then it conjures them first.
- Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: The ringtone of the tin can phone is a voice singing "Ring ring ring, this is the tin can phone!"
- Showdown at High Noon: Rocket, Little Yellow Bird and the Pest standoff against each other in this style after Rocket and Little Yellow Bird return to town.
- Tin-Can Telephone: Bella and her sister Ella use one to communicate between Rocket's hometown and Letter Land. Despite being this, it's also somehow apparently a Video Phone, as Rocket is able to see what's going on in the town when using it from Letter Land.
- Wingding Eyes:
- The Pest briefly gets spiral eyes after knocking its head against a drum.
- When Rocket offers a bone biscuit as payment for the How to Stop the Letter Pest book, Mr. Barker's eyes widen and display shimmering copies of it.
- World of Funny Animals: There are no humans. The characters include dogs of various breeds, a bird, a raccoon, squirrels and an owl.
