My son LOVES the original Octonauts; he was obsessed with it, then sort of got bored and moved on, but now he's obsessed again.
Whilst it's cool to see some characters from the original series that were great and we didn't get enough of - like Professor Natquick and Ranger Marsh - several aspects really drag this new series down.
Number of voices changed, and I'm sure I'm not the only one that hates them!
Peso sounds like a stereotype Hispanic accent on steroids - and it just sounds really weird, and his brother Pinto doesn't have an accent! It's just jarring. Dashi, instead of being Australian like her sister (another mismatch), is American and always has like a weird breath at the end of most sentences that end on an UP inflection. Again, subpar.
The idea of 'Octo Agents' is neat, and I feel it adds more variability to the series. But so many of the episodes have a 'global warming' tie in that becomes boring, and Paani? Terrible character! When you first meet him he is trying to steal something, without asking the Octonauts, but he is cast as some sort of noble character and the Octonauts say nothing to him - bad role model for kids, IMHO. "It's okay to steal if you think your needs supersede someone else's, don't bother asking." What the hay, guys!
The voice acting on Paani is also really exaggerated and he seems like a bit of a caricature.
The change of venues so there are more terrestrial adventures and then more gups and variety there is really, really cool however. I wish there had been some follow on toys for the series, because they seem really limited, despite all the new opportunities.
Also, did you REALLY need to continue the cringe 'Creature Report' guys? LOL
Still a decent series if your kid needs more Octonaut content.
