Featured TV on DVD Review: Martha Speaks: Martha Says It With Flowers

March 7, 2010

Martha Speaks: Martha Says It With Flowers - Buy from Amazon

Martha Speaks in an animated TV series that airs on PBS as part of their lineup aimed at building kids' vocabularies. The show stars Martha, a dog who learned to speak when her owner fed her alphabet soup. This week the show makes its home market debut with Martha Says it With Flowers. The first DVD release contains eight stories, starting with...

  • Raiders of the Lost Art
    TD hates art, because he prefers the world of science. His assignment from his art teacher is to draw something he sees every day (the back of the head of the kid that sits in front of him). However, he accidentally hands in a mocking picture of his art teacher and now he has to get it back before the teacher sees it.
  • Martha Says it with Flowers
    Martha is eager to please, but she always seems to mess things up when it comes to Grandma Lucille. When Lucille's birthday approaches, Martha sees this as the perfect opportunity to make up for her past mistakes with the perfect gift. But it might be hard for a dog to figure out what a human would really want.
  • Martha Gets Spooked
    Mrs. Parkington asks Martha to deliver some flowers that were ordered by the new owners of an eerie house that hasn't had occupants for years and years. In fact, when Mrs. Parkington was a kid, she and her friends thought it was haunted. Now Martha thinks the same thing. And so do the new owners.
  • Martha Changes her Luck
    After learning was a superstition is, Martha tries to prove them wrong by walking under a ladder. But when she accidentally spills some paint on herself, she's convinced there's bad luck and tries to break the curse.
  • There Goes the Neighborhood
    A new kitten moves into the neighborhood. This will not do. Will Martha learn look past her prejudices and learn to live in harmony with the cat?
  • Ice Scream
    Alice finds out that Truman hates ice cream, even though he's never tried it. Now it is a battle of the wills between the two. Will Alice convince him he is being narrow-minded for never trying ice cream, or will Truman resist the peer pressure?
  • Martha Sings
    Martha goes from speaking to singing, and she can't stop! It seems to be a catchy tune. After the vet can't help them, they decide to find musicians to help her stop.
  • TD Makes the Band
    Another musical episode. This time TD tries to battle a catchy tune about a sea lion by starting a band and writing a catchier song... about Belgium. (He has to do a report on Belgium for school, so why not combine the two?)
There are some coloring pages you can print out and a parents guide, but that's it in terms of extras. Also, there are no subtitles nor proper chapter placements. For a show about vocabulary, subtitles would have been very handy. Also, since each episode is two stories, they should have at least put chapters at the beginning of each story.

The Verdict

The first DVD release for Martha Speaks, Martha Says it With Flowers, is exactly what one would expect for this type of release. If you have a child that is a fan of the show, then the DVD is worth adding to your DVD collection, especially if you've picked up previous PBS kids shows like Super Why.


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