My reaction to Wild Kratts: Hercules - The Giant Beetle
Martin blatantly not helping and also ignoring Chris saying he could use some help is super funny to me, idk why.
Also Martin likes to read, awesome, we love a guy who’s a book-enjoyer. It’s good for your brain, it makes you smarter. (That’s a simplification of it but it’s kinda true!)
Also Martin likes Ancient Greek mythology! Hmm… something tells me he would love the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books if he read them. (Any other fellow PJO fans out there?) I mean the main character loves the color blue, has a connection to water and the ocean, and is super ADHD. They already have so much in common!
IT’S HERACLES NOT HERCULES.
His original Greek name is Heracles. Hercules is his Roman name. The reason why Hercules became the more popular name is because of the Disney movie, where they decided that Hercules was a better sounding name despite being mythologically inaccurate considering the rest of the movie is Greek and not Roman.
Since they were using beetle pheromones to attract the Hercules beetle, that means the beetle came here specifically because he believed he was gonna find a lady beetle to make babies with.
They really pulled a “hot beetles in your area!” 😭
Poor guy must be so disappointed that he got scammed.
ATLAS DID NOT HOLD THE WORLD. HE HELD THE SKY/HEAVENS.
Atlas was the leader of the Titans in their war against Zeus, so when they lost, Zeus punished Atlas by making him hold up the heavens, for if something or someone didn’t hold them, they would fall down and crush the world. (I initially learned this from Percy Jackson, lol. You should read it if you like Greek mythology cus it’s pretty dang accurate for the most part.)
I kinda wish the writer (Chris Kratt) would’ve actually researched these myths before putting them in the episode. Cus like, these are both common misconceptions that a single online search can easily correct. It’s not like it’s hard. No harder than researching beetles.
I suppose I can kind of understand keeping the name Hercules instead of Heracles despite the inaccuracy simply bc Hercules is the more well-known name, so they don’t have to worry about viewers being like “wait, who’s Heracles? Never heard of that guy.”
But Atlas could’ve been changed to say he holds the heavens and it wouldn’t have mattered. The point they’re trying to make, that he holds something very heavy and therefore he’s very strong, and that’s why the Atlas beetle was named after him, remains unchanged. So why not make it accurate?
Ah well at least Hercules found himself a girlfriend after all.
YOU FOOLS. What is about to happen is entirely their own fault.
They shouldn’t have left the miniaturizer out in the first place.
And they shouldn’t have let a creature climb onto it like that.
What did I tell you??? This is what happens when you aren’t careful with powerful technology!!!
Jimmy: “They’re probably overreacting,”
Why would you think that? When have the Bros ever overreacted about anything serious like this? They’re really not the type of people to panic or lose their heads easily.
Kinda sounds like somebody’s projecting…
I know you’re trying your best guys, but do you really think you can hold back a Hercules beetle? They are one of the strongest insects on earth. I really think you’d be better off trying something else.
Do they not have seatbelts in there????
There’s so much I like about this scene.
The comedic value of Chris feeling great in his new power suit, just to get instantly crushed by a boulder.
The angst and fluff value of Martin freaking out for his Bro, and desperately trying to save him.
And then when Chris turns out to be fine, and he practically begs Martin to get the boulder off of him.
And then he’s all like,
this beetle is a freaking Avengers level threat.
AVIVA THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO BE FASCINATED BY INSECTS.
YOU SHOULD BE FOCUSING ON FIXING THE MINIATURIZER BEFORE HERCULES DESTROYS THE ENTIRE CITY.
Chris: “By my calculations, a Hercules beetle the size and weight of a human should be able to lift about a hundred times their weight!”
Chris doing some crazy math on the spot all in his head is super impressive. He must be really smart.
Chris: “We restored the natural order, and saved the city!”
Well… except for that one car that got destroyed. (Which they’ll probably end up having to pay for the damages, since this is all their fault in the first place.)
But other than that, sure.
It’s a good thing Aviva warned the city ahead of time so everybody was able to evacuate before Hercules got there.
But anyway, if this was real life, this incident would’ve gotten the Wild Kratts team cancelled SO FAST. There is no way you can come back from this. I mean, an entire city almost got destroyed, people could’ve been killed, all because of their negligence. All of this just from leaving the miniaturizer out, and letting a bug crawl on it.
Oh also not to mention all the rainforest trees Hercules tore up on his way to the city. If this was protected land, that’s even worse.
Sure they defeated Hercules in the end, thereby saving the city, but it was their fault the city was in danger in the first place, so cleaning up their own mess was the bare minimum they could’ve done. In fact, I wouldn’t even call it “saving”, bc that implies that they’re heroic for doing it, but they’re not. It’s like, you don’t get to grab a person and deliberately dangle them over the edge of a cliff, and then pull them back and say “I saved you!” NO YOU DIDN’T.
Sure they didn’t cause this problem on purpose, but still.
Realistically, they shouldn’t be allowed to continue working with such powerful technology like the miniaturizer. It’s simply too dangerous. One little mistake could result in horrific damage or even death. They’re simply too careless with it. There are no rules or regulations for why, when, and how the miniaturizer is to be used. They could do absolutely anything with it, whenever they want, for any reason. And that’s what makes it so dangerous.
But, this doesn’t take place in the real world. Thank goodness the Wild Kratts universe seems to be far more lenient than ours, as the Crew got off Scot-free.
Alrighty, now here’s 5 fun facts about Hercules beetles, the episode doesn’t tell you:
1. Hercules beetles are in the same family as dung beetles. (Source A)
2. A slight inaccuracy in this episode, they say that the Hercules beetle is the strongest insect in the world, but that’s incorrect. The title really goes to the dung beetle. Some species like the Taurus scarab or Bull-headed Dung Beetle can lift up to 1,141 times their own body weight. Meanwhile, according to the episode, Hercules beetles can lift “at least 50 times their body weight”. Yeah they’ve got nothing on the dung beetle. (Source B)
3. Hercules beetles change colour from a greenish or yellow in a dry state to a black when it’s humid in the air. Scientists still aren’t sure why this happens, but it could have something to do with predation or mating. (Source C)
4. They spend most of their lives in the larvae stage, which can be around 2 years. The adult stage of their life as a fully formed flying beetle only lasts 3-6 months. (Source C)
5. When metamorphosing from a larva to an adult, the larva will form a casing out of feces and solidify itself into a beetle-shaped cocoon, even having a mould for the horn and having a segmented abdominal area, allowing it to wiggle around as it pupates. (Source C) Here’s a video (which is included within Source C) of the life cycle of a Hercules beetle, if you’d like to see how they transform from a grub to beetle! (I find it quite freaky, but interesting nonetheless)
