Parents' Guide to

Packages from Planet X

By Joyce Slaton, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 9+

Alien gadgets and rude humor in fast-paced, iffy toon.

TV Disney XD Kids' Animation 2013
Packages from Planet X Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

Community Reviews

See all
age 10+

Based on 1 parent review

Creative Thingking
Creative Thingking Adult
July 18, 2013
age 10+

Knowing this show from the point of Veiw

This show has some crude humor such as burping, farting, Toilet humor, spiting and etc. It is a good show that young kids should watch from 10 and up. There is a lot of positive messages, but some kid stuff evolved around the show. Although is could be a show mostly for young boys to watch girls could also watch this show. There is hardly any swearing from the teens, or people. There is some violent contact such as exploding, punching, kicking, shooting but really this is not as bad as anime in terms of violence and sex. It's a show really for young kids for just fun and entertainment, but if you want education for the kids have them watch Cyber Space of PBS. It's a great way to learn math and positive messages. This show is evolved around a group of 3 teens probably around 13 or 14 years maybe. It has adventure, action and humor. It has good animation, but could have fast images and bouncing around in the action scenes of the show. But over all it's a good show that your kids will want to see.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
Too much violence
See all 1 parent review

What's the Story?

Dan Zembrosky (Vincent Tong) is an ordinary teen with an ordinary life. That is, until he begins receiving mysterious PACKAGES FROM PLANET X, which contain pieces of alien technology that changes his life somehow, such as a pair of underwear that makes him smart enough to compete in an academic competition with his best friends Amanda (Brittney Irvin) and Troll (Ty Olsson, Ord from Dragon Tales). However, with each small gain of abilities or coolness, there's generally a price to pay: The underwear overheats to the point where it detonates a school, and a cooking gizmo accidentally creates a meatball made of monsters. But Troll, Amanda, and Dan manage to muddle through somehow, and it's all smiles and one-liners at each episode's end.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (3 ):

Loud, brash, and somewhat rude and crass, Packages from Planet X is the kind of show tweens love and parents wish they wouldn't. The sci-fi aspects of the show are fun, but the humor is awfully lowbrow, with jokes about underpants and burping and smoke emanating from one's underpants having to do with a spicy curry. The trio of friends at the center of the show are competitive and (jokingly) nasty, trying to one-up each other with sarcastic quips and pranks. And the action is so tediously sitcom-trope-ish. If there is a bicycle and a pier, that bike will soon be in the water. If there is a trashcan, someone's going into it, probably butt-first. Yawn.

Of course, young kids haven't seen the same sitcom jokes over and over, so they'll find Packages from Planet X fresher and more amusing than their parents, rather on the order of a junior Futurama. Parents will want to check out the show first, however, to make sure they're okay with the show's level of crude humor, its energy level, and the way its characters are depicted.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about why so many TV shows and movies revolve around aliens and space travel. Why is this such a perennially fruitful concept? What does it say about us that we like to think about finding new words and forms of life?

  • Troll is given a body that is larger than those of Dan and Amanda. What do you think the animators' purpose was in drawing the character this way? Is it significant that he goes by an unflattering nickname? What about the fact that no one else depicted in the show has a larger body type?

  • How are viewers of Packages from Planet X supposed to feel about Dan, Amanda, and Troll? Are we supposed to like them? Envy them? Criticize them? What about the way these characters are presented brings you to this conclusion?

TV Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

See all recommended tv lists

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate