Great Lakes Ships: Volume 1

The 2000 VHS Cover

**Great Lakes Ships** (later retitled as **Great Lakes Ships: Volume 1** since its mid-2001 rerelease, and also commonly known as its full title **Plets Express: Great Lakes Ships**) is the 1st Plets Express video in the series ever to be released and the one that started it all. It was released to the public on January 31, 2000 and was later reissued in late-2001. Great Lakes Ships: Volume 1 features fifteen ships working at various Great Lakes ports, but is not meant to teach people about ships and is actually meant "to stimulate portions of the brain that are largely ignored". It is also the video where the Plets Express franchise was named after.

## Ships

* Charles M. Beeghly
* Alpena
* Canadian Enterprise
* Paul R. Tregurtha
* Edward L. Ryerson
* Algomarine
* Presque Isle
* Federal Rhine
* Armco
* Kinsman Independent
* Tadoussac
* Wolf River
* Adam E. Cornelius
* Badger
* John G. Munson

## Trivia

* This is the very first Plets Express video ever made.
* This is the first video with toddlers.
	+ This video, along with Great Lakes Ships: Volume 3, are the only videos not to feature any official Plets Express puppets.
	+ It is also the only video to not have any puppets at all.
	+ Because the Plets Express puppets make their debut in Great Lakes Ships: Volume 4.
* This is the only video that doesn't have any classical music, except the CD has classical music composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and the CD was released three years after the video was originally released to the public.
* Originally, it was released under I Think I Can Productions, along with Great Lakes Ships: Volume 2.
* Some of the toys in this video were later seen in other videos: both versions of the Casey Toy Train Engine, People Car, Smiley Face Gondola and Circus Caboose, as well as the 2004 Big Blocks were later seen in Great Lakes Ships: Volume 4; and the Curious Creatures: Happy Starfish was seen in Great Lakes Ships: Volume 2 and Baby Lullaby (Bonus Features).
* A Korean 1999 VHS was made as a combo of Volumes 3 and 1.
* This is the only video to have a Gymboree logo at the beginning.
* This is the only video to not have any classical music until BNSF North Dakota Coal Line and Missabe T-Birds.
* Around 1998, the Hebrew was re-recorded by Iris Zinger, replacing Lynne Albertson.
* Gabriele Rewis re-recorded most of her dialogue for later releases, with only the two songs she sang remaining untouched.
* The Japanese release of the video replaces Hebrew with Chinese, read by Angela Kung-Mei Young. It also features re-recorded dialogue from Miyuki Takaya-Paisley.
* Starting with the 2000 DVD release, the Japanese dialogue was re-dubbed by Miho Mettais, though she remained uncredited until 2004.
* Starting with the 2000 DVD release, the French and Spanish voices were re-dubbed by a company called Voice Productions International, though they remained uncredited until 2004.
* The cat seen near the end of the video belonged to Bradley Plets.
* Bradley A. Plets hired Erica Silva, an employee at a local Mexican restaurant, after he fired the original Spanish narrator for not being conversational enough.
* The 2004 DVD saw many changes, including the replacement of several toys, redone page transitions, etc. Bradley Plets and his family's voices were also muted during the credits scene.
* The original title of Great Lakes Ships: Volume 1 was Great Lakes Ships, this is especially because it was the original work of the entire franchise, it was retitled "Plets Express: Great Lakes Ships" in mid-2001 to avoid confusion with the entire franchise as a whole. Around 2003, some photos featured the 2003 VHS with a label of "Ships Around the Lakes". This could mean that Great Lakes Ships: Volume 1 was gonna be renamed until they decided not to.
* In the 2000 DVD, this is the first Concert Hall to have classical music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Ludwig van Beethoven. All versions of the VHS from 2000-2003 come with the Great Lakes Ships: Volume 1 CD except 2004, which comes with the Language Audio Sampler CD.
* Lynne Albertson's version of the Hebrew Alphabet scene features music while the foam blocks are being stacked, along with a falling noise when they are knocked over. Iris Zinger's version has no music, but the falling noise remains. In addition, Albertson sings the letters, while Zinger recites them normally.