RIDLEY JONES: Episode 1.1: Ready or Not, Here I Come and Some Like It Hot

If Indiana Jones were a preschool girl who lived in the world of NIGHT OF THE MUSEUM, it would accurately describe the concept of RIDLEY JONES, an animated TV series streaming on Netflix. Ridley Jones is a little girl who lives in a museum with her family of magical caretakers. When she learns that her family has a magical power that can bring the museum exhibits to life, she wants to become one of the museum caretakers. So, her mom decides to teach her how to do the job while going on adventures with a team of her friends from the exhibits, which she calls The Night Eyes.

Basically, each half-hour episode in the first season is broken into two 14-minute stories. Ridley and the other characters, who are museum exhibits, who have come to life, go on adventures together. These friends include the cowardly yet good-hearted dodo bird Dudley, a skateboarding 90s throwback dinosaur named Dante, a space astronaut monkey named Peaches, a hip fashion forward mummy queen called Ismet, and a gender-neutral big-hearted bison named Fred. Over the course of the show, young viewers are exposed to a world of seemingly exhilarating adventure designed to teach children responsibility, problem solving, history, dealing with emotions, and how to grow up.

RIDLEY JONES is exciting to watch. For the most part, children will like the characters and be amused by the animated adventures.

However, although RIDLEY JONES sounds like a fantastic adventure that children should be able to enjoy, the program has some elements of concern for media-wise parents. The first is that the show embraces the “Sexual Revolution” on three main counts. First, the program has a feminist subtext. There is no positive father figure in the title character’s life, only her mother and her grandmother. Also, in the series, Fred the Bison identifies as non-binary, and Ismet the mummy princess has two married mummy fathers instead of a traditional family. These elements could confuse children into accepting same-sex marriage as not only normal but something to be glorified. In addition to embracing the Sexual Revolution, there are many moments where Ridley and her friends go into dangerous situations with rockslides, floods, extreme weather conditions, piranhas, and trash compactors, often without the accompaniment of the adults in her life. Speaking of the adults in her life, one of the program’s positive elements is that Ridley has positive role models who provide advice and help Ridley to grow and deal with problems out of her scope.

Thematically, RIDLEY JONES has some good qualities. There are important lessons that children can learn from the program. Children will learn that when they are in over their heads that the best thing, that they can do is ask for help, especially from an adult. The show also teaches children to be honest about what is bothering them and to tell people when a problem arises. However, the show also offers advice that is questionable at best. For example, the writers stress the Romantic message “Be who you truly are,” which has many negative interpretations in the modern world. Overall, the show presents an interesting and unique concept, but it has so many materialistic and worldly views that warrant caution for children.

The first episode of RIDLEY JONES has some light action and jeopardy. For example, in the first story of Episode 1, “Ready or Not, Here I Come,” Ridley has to direct a stampede of caribou back to their exhibit, but not before they knock down a bunch of objects. In the second story, “Some Like It Hot,” Ridley and her team must evade a dangerous rockslide.