Beat Bugs

I find myself wondering which of them will be known to history as 'the fifth
Beat Bug.'

In an ordinary garden - well, ordinary apart from its terrifying, tentacle flailing purple octopus sprinkler of death - live five invertebrate chums. Rainbow Dash expy Jay, inventor and engineer Crick, eager young Buzz, optimistic slug Walter Walrus, and Kumi, who is kind of the normal one, although she does sometimes design things for Crick to build. Each episode, these alleged insects (and a slug) face the kinds of rudimentary friendship problems that microequines would scoff at, but then the dilemmas of life are really just vehicles in this series, the central purpose of which is simply and solely to introduce young children to the music of The Beatles.

I am not even joking.

Each episode features a particular song reinterpreted by the cast, and the plot is mostly built around the lyrics. So in 'Help!' Jay acts all cool and independent, then gets stuck in a jam jar and finds that he does need help, while in 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' Buzz is so scared by a story Zumi tells that they have to call on the assistance of a dragonfly sleep therapist named Lucy, who has kaleidoscope eyes and a really unhelpful visiting address. And is voiced by P!nk.

Perhaps the oddest thing is the way that the lyrics have been trimmed to a) fit the plot, b) be less about drugs and getting old, and c) not require parents to try to explain what 'pornographic priestess' means; at least until they play them the original tracks. On that front, it definitely seems to be doing its job, and Arya is delighted to listen to and sing along with The Beatles in the car now, so props to creator Josh Wakely for following through on his vision, getting the rights to so much of the catalogue and achieving his goal. Hell, it's introducing us to Beatles songs we don't know.