This Month Is Huge For Kids' Entertainment Launches on SVOD

The new year may be just weeks old, last week already saw not one but two major kids' releases on streaming video platforms...with a third coming this week.

Martin Luther King Jr. weekend is traditionally a big one for children's television – and this year "BIG" is the appropriate word.

On January 18, two huge new shows launched: Carmen Sandiego, featuring the voices of Gina Rodriguez (Jane The Virgin) and Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things), will premiere on Netflix. At the same time, Gigantosaurus (from former execs at The Jim Henson Company, home to such hits as Fraggle Rock and Dinosaur Train) and featuring a theme song written by Scooter Braun's latest proteges, The BeatBuds) debuted on Disney Channel.

This week week, Rooster Teeth will launch the star-studded sci-fi, anime series genLOCK, featuring the voices of Michael B. Jordan, Dakota Fanning and other A-listers.

With three shows of this magnitude premiering over an eight day span, I thought it might make for an interesting round-up story to run over MLK weekend, letting your readers know about all of the BIG programs, BIG stars and the world's BIGGEST animals that will soon be on tap for their kids.

Carmen Sandiego

Since the mid-1980s, fans have been captivated by the question, "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" Now, Netflix is rebooting the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning series to let fans know the answer to a slightly different question, "Who is Carmen Sandiego?."

With Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin) voicing the title character and Stranger Things' Finn Wolfhard voicing Carmen's accomplice and friend, the animated series follows her new international capers as well as past escapades that led to her becoming a super thief.

Gigantosaurus

Based on Jonny Duddle's bestselling book of the same name, Gigantosaurus from Cyber Group Studios stars four fiercely-fun dinosaur friends who will take preschoolers on exciting, comedy-filled adventures as they dare to be themselves and explore the world beyond their nests.

The series features a distinctly lush look and will captivate young audiences with a vast array of dinosaurs and true-to-the-period flora and fauna. From long-necked Brachiosaurus and huge Triceratops to verdant jungles, raging rivers, and the tallest trees, the wondrous world of Gigantosaurus invites preschoolers to dig in!

genlock

Rooster Teeth's biggest animated production since RWBY, genLOCK features a voice cast led by Michael B. Jordan (Black Panther, Creed), Dakota Fanning (The Alienist, Twilight Saga), Miranda Worth; Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones), and David Tennant.

In genLOCK, Earth's last free society is on the losing side of a global war, and recruits a diverse team of young pilots to control the next generation of mecha – giant, weaponized robot bodies. These daring recruits will find, however, that their newfound abilities come at no small cost. As Chase leaves behind his life as a fighter pilot to become the first candidate for the program, he finds his endurance, as well as his very identity, will be tested beyond anything he ever imagined.