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Post by fonebone on Mar 10, 2023 18:59:14 GMT -8
I haven't been able to post my reviews on Toon Zone because the site is down, but the temporary forum means I have a place for people to read them if they like. My reviews can also be found on my Dreamwidth Journal: matt-zimmer.dreamwidth.org/I'll post what I've done in the meantime in this catch-all thread. These reviews will go in the proper talkbacks when Anime Superhero is fixed. Edit: Unfortunately, I can find no spoilers boxes. So I'm post each separate review topic in it's own post. I don't think I'll warned or banned for it, do you? Star Trek Picard Reviews first. Star Trek: Picard "The Next Generation" This is why this is my current favorite show. Pure pleasure. The entire thing is pure pleasure. Picard and Riker's buddy-cop banter is phenomenal. They haven't lost a step. Learning Beverly cut ties with the rest of the crew is surprising. But maybe it's her son (that is probably Jean-Luc's) that did it. I hope he's less annoying than Wesley at any rate. Captain Shaw sucks. Not for the way he treated Picard and Riker. For the way he treats Seven of Nine. By refusing to call her by her preferred name. And suggesting her friendship with Picard simply boils down to them both being ex-Borg is nothing less than bigotry of the highest order. I admire the Kurtzman era of the franchise for showing the reality that sucky people will always be with us instead of the unbelievable fiction that we would magically outgrow them in a fashion about as believable as the average Underpants Gnome business model. I like that about the current stuff. That was just great. I predict the haters of this show are going to have to twist themselves into some knots in acting like this was actually bad. It was awesome. *****. Star Trek: Picard "Disengage" I predict this episode is going to be polarizing. Some people will love it, some people will hate it. Last week was a real crowd-pleaser, so I suspect the fact that this episode's viewpoint and morality is so questionable is gonna piss people off, and make them wonder why we aren't allowed nice things. I get that. I do. But even if a lot of it didn't feel like Star Trek, I thought a lot of it was interesting solely BECAUSE it was Star Trek, and didn't feel like it. People complained about Voyager and Enterprise never showing us anything new. The episode had the bad guys throw a spaceship at the Titan. That's definitely never been done before. Talk crap about the episode if you must, but damn. I think Sneed is also going to create controversy among fans as he is totally unlike any other Ferengi. The main thing I was concerned about hearing there was going to be a Ferengi, was thinking the show might do like Discoery and get the make-up entirely wrong. No, the part of Sneed that feels wrong is that he doesn't remotely speak like a Ferengi. Ferengi speak in very arch tones that run the gamut from confused to malevolent. Even Quark, the most human Ferengi spoke that way. Sneed speaks not just like a human, but a 21st Century human, which is gonna piss people off. For me, instead of declaring that a huge mistake, my inclination is to wonder why that is. Seven Of Nine got rid of her Borg cadences in her speaking voice, and it's hinted that Sneed is really into vintage Earth. It makes me wonder if he adjusted the way he speaks to fit in better with the galaxy at large, the way Seven did. And the reason I'm wondering this is because it seems like he has (or had before he died) legit juice in the underworld. Most criminal Ferengi we've seen on both Next Generation and Deep Space Nine are considered jokes by other criminals and not taken seriously. Maybe Sneed is acting like a scary human from a scary period on our history because it scares people and makes them take him seriously. Instead of me instantly screaming at the show that they are doing wrong by the Ferengi, I'm wondering how Sneed's way of speaking came to be. Vadek is a pretty cool villain in that she has an actual personality, which human criminals were never permitted during the Roddenberry / Berman era. I don't see why. Making her funny and interesting, and having her say crazy and alarming things isn't making me think less of 24th Century humans, or worse, romanticize her actions. I feel like Roddenberry and Berman kept things boring for no good reason at all, and only seeing stuff like this makes me realize how much we were missing then. I love that Raffi's handler was Worf. Good twist. Picard getting around to realizing the truth about Jack, and Beverly confirming he's his son was done extremely well. Personally I though Picard's interrogation of him was terrific writing. I admit I don't like the fact that this season doesn't have a main title sequence at the beginning. The credits are saved for after the episode like a movie. I hope this doesn't become a habit with Star Trek shows because Star Trek is NOT a movie franchise, it's a television one. The main defenses of the show doing that this year is that first off, the theme songs in the first two seasons sucked. Season 2 was actually quite a bit better, but I could never get over or accept how unmemorable the first season's theme tune was. So it's not like Picard is missing out by playing the decent Generations / Next Generation Themes at the end. But the real selling point of doing it after the episode is that they aren't spoiling anybody's surprise first appearance, which is clever. Needless to say, this shouldn't be a problem for any other Trek series or season, so I want everyone else to continue doing theme songs and opening title sequences. This episode is going to get crap for being outside of Star Trek. I think the ways and reasons it's outside Star Trek are personally fascinating if you ask me. My fandom response is usually less "This doesn't fit" and "I wonder how they made this fit". But maybe that's just me. ****. Star Trek: Picard "Seventeen Seconds" This is why this is my current favorite show on television and my second favorite Star Trek series after Deep Space Nine. It's just awesome. I love when Worf tells Raffi everything she wants to hear about them working together from now on and being partners, she's struggling. She's not used to getting what she wants. When it comes to working with other people, specifically legends like Picard, her role is to be his thorn and to complain about every single thing. Worf taking her into confidence instead just blows her mind, and she's surprised into saying "Cool." This is the first situation we've seen Raffi placed in that she thinks is cool. Changelings! Oh, big shout-out to Deep Space Nine and the Dominion War, and this suggests preventing the NEXT Dominion War is the ultimate goal of the season. Worf's contact is obviously Odo and because of Rene Auberjonois' death, he obviously couldn't appear, but hearing Worf refer to him as a friend was amazing. Michael Dorn really, really, REALLY hated working on most of the Next Generation movies, because outside of First Contact, they had the habit of making Worf look silly for the sake of comedy. I'm betting Dorn jumped at the chance to play a version of Worf that is evolved, wise, and just purely awesome on every level. Worf tells Raffi he used to be like her. And he did. He was both Next Generation and Deep Space Nine's resident complainer. To have him turn out so emotionally healthy decades later has got to tickle Dorn pink. Worf was one of those characters that a LOT of people love, but like the Doctor on Voyager, Next Generation (and to a lesser extent DS9) misused him, usually in an effort to show what a bad father and husband he was. I loved Worf. But there were points I was annoyed by him. This version of him just instantly makes me forgive every last gripe I ever had about him. Worf on Star Trek Picard is not as awesome as Garak on Deep Space Nine. But after one and a half episodes, he's my second-favorite Star Trek character after Garak. I'm not joking. Do you know the amazing thing? In the future parts of "All Good Things...", set only a few years before this show, it's shown that that timeline's Worf has sort of emotionally regressed outside of Starfleet after the loss of Deanna. Worf being granted this future instead is a gift. I love Worf calling his dress Casual. Also beheadings are on Wednesday. Worf is cool now. Can you believe it? I love Picard telling Riker to call him Number One, and I felt his shame when he let Riker down at the end. Riker's disgust with him broke my heart after seeing them grow closer all throughout the episode. I love that Riker likes Jack a lot. Seven of Nine had a great moment. After Jack punches out the guard watching her, she calmly says "Oh, you're insane." That kind of joke was frowned upon during the Roddenberry / Berman era. I think probably because the producers back then got it into their heads the show would feel more timeless decades later if the characters didn't speak as if they were from the given recognizable time period the show originally aired in. Sometimes a character would pump their fist and say "Yes!" but other than that, Old-School Trek had them speaking in a very arch, but reserved way. Seven's one-liner there is very much something a person in 2023 would say in those circumstances. And I think the Kurtzman era has more the right of that sort of thinking. I imagine in 30 years people will less notice the out-of-fashion way the characters speak as much as I noticed in 1996 how the Eugenics Wars never came to pass. I think worrying about music, and speech, and zippers was that era of Star Trek worrying about the wrong things that cause things to eventually be perceived as dated. I doubt audiences in 2063 will bat an eye as Seven's line and delivery here. Just like I can't remember which episode Bashir did the "Yes!" thing in anymore because it doesn't actually matter. I love that Picard was furious at Beverly. I think he was right to be. But what I loved was his being angry and offended that she used a fear he told her in confidence about his father against him when making her decision to cut ties. And after seeing last season and how much Picard's childhood hurt him due to both his father and his mother, I think the viewer is much more over to his line of thinking than we would have been if we had seen all this occurring ourselves 25 years ago WITHOUT that context. I know it's Patrick Stewart's show, but I was honestly a bit surprised at how much on his side I was. And that's why making him wrong on the bridge is such a huge dramatic moment that devastated me. I am totally Team Jean-Luc. But he still makes mistakes. Because he's human. Even though he's technically a synth. He's still human. I knew they weren't going to kill Jack off in Episode 3, but that doesn't mean the show didn't play up the dramatic tension properly. At one point my mind stopped saying "There's no way they'll go through with this," and briefly shifted to "I wonder how the show would change if they DID go through with it." If the dramatic tension didn't work, I never would have thought the second thing. My current favorite show on television. You know it's special because it's only the three seasons long. But I will cherish them as they happening (and afterwards as well). *****. Star Trek: Picard "No Win Scenario" A lot of people will be disappointed with that. It feels very much like a filler episode and like the arc is spinning its wheels. As a matter of fact, I noticed this about several episodes of the fourth season of Star Trek: Discovery, and it got so bad there I declared the entire series a lot cause after four years of giving it every benefit of the doubt. Should I be worried here? Even if I were, there were two things about the episode I was starving to see in my Star Trek, and it gave them to me compliments of the chef. Both of these things were problems I had with both The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine in the back of my head, but as far as the DS9 goes, I didn't realize it messed up THIS badly until seeing this. The Star Trek: The Next Generation problem I was gratified to see addressed because The Next Generation didn't seem to be aware it was a problem at all. But when Picard proudly declares in the Ten Forward restaurant to a man he has no idea is his son that Starfleet is the only family he'll ever need, I believed that specific moment was penance for several of the speeches that the Roddenberry era had Picard make that I think are problematic at best (if I'm being totally generous). To Q in particular, Picard would make these grand, pompous speeches about the greatness of humanity and Starfleet, and if you boil down those "Humans have come so far and it's our curiosity that sustains us!" deals to their essence, it's a racist, human supremacist speech. Gene Roddenberry believed humanity was capable of perfection. Whether he was right or not (and he wasn't, by the way) the truth is even if he was, that doesn't change the fact that other non-humans characters exist in the franchise, and every Picard speech about how great humanity and Starfleet is is a bit of shot in the chops to every culture that doesn't think the way Starfleet does, or the way Picard thinks they should. This episode is not actually exploring that specific thing. What it IS doing is suggesting Picard had the habit back in the day of making grand pompous speeches that could be unknowingly hurtful to an outside observer. And damn, that is like the perfect example of why you should never put Jean-Luc Picard on a soapbox. I freaking love that. The weakness to Deep Space Nine is how inferior its otherwise solid Pilot episode "Emissary" now feels next to this. And this is on Rick Berman and Michael Piller. But in the Pilot of DS9, they set Sisko and Picard apart by putting them in conflict because Picard as Locutus of Borg essentially killed Sisko's wife back at Wolf 359. And DS9 played it all wrong. Especially as far as a pilot for DS9 went. We sympathized with Picard and see how traumatized he was by the experience and believed Sisko is out of line. I think that Pilot would have been a LOT better, and Sisko put on the right foot with the viewer a LOT sooner if we had been led to believe Sisko's fury was somewhat justified, or at least understandable. Better yet, instead of seeing Picard shrug it off, it might have been cool to see him acknowledge Sisko's pain and tell him it's all right that he feels this way and he won't hold it against him. It's jarring that Sisko makes an ambiguous accusation against Picard by claiming they met in battle, without having the guts to looks him in the eyes and tell him exactly why he's pissed and what he believes Picard is responsible for. Berman would whine to me, "Yeah, but then Picard would never grant Sisko the command of Deep Space Nine." Of course he could, and would. Because it's fiction and can be written however the writers choose to. In genre in particular, how drama occurs often has little to do with how the story plays out. If writers of fiction were always concerned with making every bit of drama believable and credible, half of fiction would have to be scrapped. Because writers can choose to write fictional nonsense to prop up good drama, Dazzler is allowed beat Galactus. Not because it's remotely credible. But because it's interesting, and deliberately designed to piss some people off. And sometimes, that's okay. If "Emissary" had properly explored Sisko's PTSD with Picard himself, so that both men came to an understanding I could respect them BOTH for, Picard deciding whether Sisko is right for the position or not doesn't really matter. He can make up a b.s. reason to give such an important assignment to clearly broken man just because he's a fictional character. Hell, they could have suggested Picard's hands were tied there because Sisko made an immediately favorable impression with the Bajorans by becoming their Emissary to the Prophets. Seeing Shaw's haunted eyes here, and hearing him tell his tragic story make me realize how clunky "Emissary" actually was about that. And it also suggests that maybe Picard shouldn't be given a free pass. I can accept it's not Picard's fault. But if Locutus' victims cannot? That should actually be all right, and Picard should tell them it's all right too. Shaw's history at Wolf 359 gives added context for why he refuses to address Seven of Nine by her preferred name. Does it ever. The Hirogen once made their way to the Alpha Quadrant and Picard had to deal with them. It sounds like he simply politically outmaneuvered the Alpha. Same trick he pulled on the Sheliak back in the day. I love that the first question Jack asks Picard is about the hair. Because that's really the only question that matters. So while much of fandom is going wring their hands and cry "Filler!" I admire the show for still being the Star Trek show I always wanted, but none of them were ever really allowed to be. Do I love Picard dropping an f-bomb? Not even a little bit. But Picard having to confront a Wolf 359 survivor as well as the fact that his pompous rhetoric hurt his only son IS the Star Trek I always wanted. ****. |
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Post by fonebone on Mar 10, 2023 19:00:02 GMT -8
Review for the Legion of Super-Heroes film.
Legion Of Super-Heroes (2023)
Oh, there better be some follow-up to that tag.
One of the only good things about having zero positive expectations for the DC Universe Animated Movie line is a decent one can come along and pleasantly surprise you out of the blue. Nothing in the movie's description or the history of these movies suggested I would EVER like this outing. And yet, I did. Weird.
I do have mixed feelings about Brainiac 5. I like that Superman accepted him at the end, but I prefer projects like Justice League Unlimited or the old Saturday morning Legion Of Super Heroes cartoon where he's a valued and appreciated member of the team, rather than this movie's take as an outsider nobody trusts, and who may secretly be evil. The idea that a future Brainiac is respected and loved by his friends makes me happier than this delving deeply into his dirty family history.
I will say this: No disrespect intended towards Corey Burton, who will always be MY Brainiac. But truthfully, this guy I never heard of (Darin De Paul) just delivered the single greatest performance of the character I have ever heard. How the HELL did that happen? Where has this guy been this entire time? He needs to be DC's new House Voice on that character from this point forward.
This might have been a better thing to bring up during The Long Halloween, but I think Jensen Ackles is miscast as Batman. And it's only really something I notice when they go back to him. The problem with Ackles is that he doesn't really have a great, memorable, or iconic speaking voice that voice-over acting can really take advantage of. And while there are no shortages of Batman actors who voice the character crappily (see the awful "Batgrowl" popularized by Christian Bale and Ben Affleck) I think there's a middle point between that garbage and casting a rando CW hunk without a gravelly voice. Somewhere in between exist folks like Kevin Conroy, Troy Baker, and Diedrich Bader.
Supergirl's fight with Solomon Grundy was great. For the record, Supergirl, his name only doesn't rhyme with Monday if you refuse to put in the effort. The poem itself is sound whenever a new version of Grundy invariably recites it.
I don't like this take on Timber Wolf. He's too much like Wolverine. And I don't think that's what the character should be.
I feel like the movie was maybe 15 minutes too long. As it was wrapping up, I felt it should have been wrapping up quicker and sooner. But that's a small quibble.
The movie would have deserved a PG rating if not for the Brainiac stuff at the end. That was surprisingly gruesome, and also refreshingly understated in what was actually shown. The movie earned the PG-13 there, but also didn't go overboard with it either.
Did not expect to dig that, but I did, and I'm glad I saw the movie. ****.
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Post by fonebone on Mar 10, 2023 19:00:49 GMT -8
Reviews for the latest season of The Flash
The Flash "Wednesday Ever After"
If you are wondering if the show is going to up its game for the last season (and I sure was wondering that) we got an immediate answer in the first scene of the final season ever being a rip-off fake-out dream sequence. I imagine my hindsight review of the season will be ultimately be "And it was all downhill from there."
The episode itself was annoying, but not terrible. When Iris wants to spend the day in the time loop getting drunk I think she understood the selling points of those things more than most people do. And let me blunt: Barry's "Time Book" is presumptuous and stupid. Him being dumb enough to think Iris would like that shows Season 9 Flash is exactly as stupid as Season 1 Flash. Character progression in the Arrowverse? Never! We have toddler morals to shove down the audience's throat, and we can't do that unless the characters are total imbeciles! We aren't smart enough to write intelligent characters dealing with problems in an intelligent way. That would involve WORK on the end of the writers, and that simply isn't done. Am I too cynical? The show brings it out in me and has never proved me wrong yet.
I'm glad this is the last season of the show and even gladder it looks like the end of The Arrowverse. Legends Of Tomorrow was almost fun, but single other show got to be a total drag. And The Flash was and is remains worse than most of them. *1/2.
The Flash "Hear No Evil"
Fone Bone review shocker: I liked it a lot. No, that's underselling it. I kind of loved it. Maybe I'm being overly kind because I expected to hate it, but the episode made some good choices that I won't dismiss. I would have liked them even if I HADN'T expected to hate the week.
The first interesting choice is making the third Snow sister utterly unlike either Caitlin or Frost and making her a good and warm person. I fully expected this new persona to be full-on evil and for Caitlin to be one of the (if not the THE) Big Bads of the final season. I have never been happier to be wrong. And I'm almost never wrong when it comes to The Arrowverse. It is a very predictable franchise. And while I do enjoy predictable storytelling as comfort food, the ways The Arrowverse tends to be predictable aren't because they are telling the expected story correctly. But more because I know they are gonna mess up and I know exactly how. The Flash NOT messing up this episode, and keeping both Caitlin and Frost dead (at least for now) shows my rage last season over Frost's "fake-out" death was misplaced. I'm human. I don't love the feeling of being wrong. But when I'm wrong that something is gonna suck and I wind up enjoying it, I'll do the Mea Culpa and move on. Bragging rights would have been nice here, but really, I'm not too petty to simply enjoy a plot turn I liked.
I also like that the show is keeping Hartley on the straight and narrow. His backstory has become extremely muddled due to time travel considerations, but I thought him becoming an ally after Flashpoint was beyond irresistible, and I like that the show still sees value in it too.
I reserve the right to rescind this positive review on the off-chance that the reason Cecile can't read Keon is because she's secretly evil, and Caitlin and Frost are coming back after all. And while, since it's The Arrowverse, I wouldn't rule that out (Black Lightning did dirty with the character of Lightning in a similar scenario in its final season) I truly believe that is far less likely to happen than that it is.
Is this me giving the show a level of benefit of the doubt? Or even trust? Let's just say I don't even think THIS show is foolish enough to walk back these interesting ideas that have breathed new life into the show. I could be wrong. But I don't think they'll walk this back. Which is good and why the episode is something I loved. ****1/2.
The Flash "Rogues Of War"
It was decent. I liked more than I didn't. But still, I had a couple of gripes.
I love Barry realizing the correct solution was to plan to give Hartley the device and then pay off the rest of the Rogues. Him expecting them to do it for free, was actually silly.
Of course we all knew the Red Death was Ryan, or at least a version of her, but Batwoman recently having gone missing sets off alarm bells. Smart narrative move for the show.
Do you know what wasn't? Mark's betrayal. It is ill-advised to make him a series regular if he's going to be working for Red Death. They are gonna have to move unlikely storytelling mountains to keep him in most of the episodes anyways. Bad idea.
Also I was digging Keon last week, until I realized the show simply created a character completely unlike the other two Snows, and have no idea what to do with her. Her role in the show is down to giving relationship advice. One of the smartest / most powerful members of Team Flash has essentially turn into Neelix for Star Trek: Voyager. Another ill-advised plot idea.
So it's clear they are not keeping Goldface an antagonist. He wouldn't have learned Barry was the Flash otherwise. It means he was either going to join the good guys, or get killed off by the end of the episode. Joining the good guys is more interesting.
I expected Hartley to get killed off based on what the chick in the mask was signing to him. You shouldn't use that kind of dialogue if you aren't gonna go through with it. It was a little more more scary and disturbing than simple "I'mma kick your ass" trash talk.
The episode was fine though. I'll allow it. ***1/2.
The Flash "The Mask Of The Red Death, Part One"
Favorable impression this week. It also makes me wonder what the heck happened to the real Ryan Wilder.
Good plan to bring Mark back to Team Flash. His heel-turn would have been interesting if he weren't now a series regular. But he is, so it was a mistake. Bringing him back to the good guys will make it easier to include him in future stories.
Iris was pretty insightful with Red Death in her apartment. And I like that fact, but the truth is it's unusual, and the characters usually run around doing stupid things on behalf of the plot. I am glad the show had her acting clever. But it usually doesn't, so it can argued she's acting out of character.
Iris' Royal Flush Gang trick was good because I certainly had forgotten those details myself. Well played.
The show asking me to believe Cecile is a superhero is still a really big ask. I'm not up to it yet.
The episode did a major mistake, one of the biggest I have ever seen in The Arrowverse, and I'm shocked it made it to air. But when Keon gave her defense of saving Mark, Barry says "Caitlin's right." Now if Keon had corrected him, it would have been an interesting plot-point that the team is still getting used to Keon. Because nobody did, that means it was a continuity and production error not a single person caught before it made to air. The show has never felt as sloppy as it did just then.
But like I said, the rest of the episode was pretty good all things considered. ***1/2.
The Flash "The Mask Of The Red Death, Part Two"
Reasonably satisfying. I especially like that they found a good solution to have Jesse L Martin step back from being a series regular on the show and gave Joe a nice goodbye while they were at it. Nicely done.
I especially love that the solution to learning that Barry believes he was wrong about Grodd turning into a hero, is that he actually wasn't. I love stuff like that.
I see now why the Marvel and Star Wars Disney+ stuff, as well as Star Trek: Picard do their main title cast credits AFTER the episode. Since this show does them at the beginning, seeing David Sobolov's name means Grodd's "surprise" appearance is actually spoiled. I'm seeing the logic of the movie-style end credits because of stuff like that.
If Alt-Ryan truly believed her version of justice was righteous, you'd figure she'd come up with a better name for herself than The Red Death. It's exactly as dumb a name to give oneself as The Brotherhood Of Evil, and stupid for the exact same reason.
Good to actually see Batwoman, and maybe get a little extra wrap-up we were denied when the show was canceled. But if the Red Death is in prison, it makes it an open question who the Big Bad of the final season (and thus series) actually is. If the show sucks they'll make it Thawne for the billionth time. I predict the show sucks. Hey, I like any episode where the rogues quip THEY are the only ones allowed to beat up the Flash as much as anyone, but history suggests Flash will take the sucky way out. I would love to be wrong. Psst! I'm not.
Checked off all the right boxes for a good night. ****.
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Post by fonebone on Mar 10, 2023 19:02:31 GMT -8
Harley Quinn "A Very Problematic Valentine's Day Special"
Problematic indeed. The stuff with Bane was just plain icky. And he likes the later seasons of The Office? What a freak.
Ivy's admission of her best Valentine's Day was sweet though, and I laughed that Darkseid attends Republican National Convention mixers, but really dude, ick. *1/2.
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Post by fonebone on Mar 10, 2023 19:02:50 GMT -8
Meet The Batwheels "The Knight Shift"
Cute. (Ish). ***1/2.
Meet The Batwheels "Silly Stowaway"
They aren't fooling me. I actually know bats aren't really cute. They're totally gross.
I'll keep the Duckie car though. ***.
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Post by fonebone on Mar 10, 2023 19:03:21 GMT -8
Teen Titans Go! Reviews
Teen Titans Go! "Looking For Love"
It's stupid to do an episode about love songs on a show with such a tiny budget. They can't actually clear the music rights.
The Love Train reminded me how much I miss Infinity Train.
Dracula is kind of cool, and Love is kind of cute, but the ending was neither. Blah. **1/2.
Teen Titans Go! "Teen Titans Action"
Justice League Unlimited did not just produce the greatest DC cartoon of all time. It also produced the greatest DC toyline of all time too. Loved the homage.
And Flash's reason for helping at the end is sound: The Titans can't even win a sack race. "We're pathetic!" cries Cyborg. Oh, so you just noticed?
For the record, this reiterates something I've mentioned before. The action sequences on this flash animated show are better boarded and animated than the original Murikanime from the original series. It's true. Animation techniques have improved, and action sequences have gotten inexpensive enough for a show this cheap to animate them far more cinematically than much of DC animation from its heyday. And that's just a fact.
I'm not sure this needed to be a double episode, but whatever. ***1/2.
Teen Titans Go! "TV Knight 8"
Robin's outfit IS ridiculous.
Gordon and Batman's gay comedy duo bit never fails to amuse me.
I liked the riff of March of the Penguins. Using... the Penguin. Of course.
Pocket Robin suits are the leisurewear in Hell.
Pretty funny stuff. ***1/2.
Teen Titans Go! "A Stickier Situation"
Roger Smith on American Dad had a VERY good measure of when Beverly Hills, 90210 went downhill. When they started giving the guy who ran the Peach Pit his own storylines. "Like I care that Nat can't read."
Take that moral to this show, and I believe once we're dealing in Sticky Joe centered episodes, the show has pretty much run its course.
What was up with that weird He-Man parody? Why? Or better yet WHAAA?!
Haven't seen Kitten in awhile. I'd say I'd missed her, except that would be an easily disprovable lie. Because it's freaking Kitten.
Robin's reaction to Joe cleaning Howdy with his toothbrush is funny enough. But when the rat licks him I love that he acts like Lucy having just been kissed by Snoopy. Blech! Rat germs! Get the disinfectant!
But seriously, Sticky Joe isn't the only thing long in the tooth. The show giving up airtime to him means it is too. **1/2.
Cartoon Network Special Edition All-Star Slam Dunk Contest 2023
Wait, the white dude won? Are we sure this wasn't fixed?
If I produced Scooby Doo, I would be VERY unhappy with how Scooby and Velma were used here. Velma's classic groaner "My glasses! I can't see without my glasses!" sounds even more trite when it's repeated several times in the same damn cartoon. I feel like it was such a mean joke about how bad that show is, that if I produced it, I'd worried it would damage the brand.
Then again, looks at HBO Max's Velma, and decides to keep my mouth shut.
Raven claims Batman is so popular his villains get movies. Let's see. Catwoman. Joker. Harley Quinn. That checks out.
I missed last year's special, and it was impossible to track down. This year's was fun. ****.
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Post by fonebone on Mar 10, 2023 19:03:39 GMT -8
Everything Everywhere All At Once
I haven't seen a ton of movies this year, but if I were the Academy, I'd not only give that the Best Picture nom (and Michelle Yeoh a nom for Best Actress) I'd give them both the win. It is the kind of movie the Academy is starving for. The Oscars' Best Picture is usually won by great films. Sometimes they are shockingly won by bad films (see Forrest Gump). They are rarely won by GOOD films. Films an audience can like and enjoy. That was just weird and quirky enough to check off the Oscar boxes for an art film while still being popcorn enough for general audiences. Basically, it's a rare movie that will appeal to critics and the public at large equally. Nobody watches the Oscars anymore because no films anybody actually likes are ever nominated for Best Picture, and if they are, they almost never win. The last Best Picture Oscar winner I enjoyed was The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King, and looking back on things and the movies I grew up with, and saw the Academy pass over time and time again, that is literally probably the only example within my lifetime.
The Oscars have lost relevance for only praising bummer movies nobody likes. A crowdpleaser like this that EVERYONE is rooting for? The Oscars would be NUTS not to have it sweep and make people brave enough to watch the awards not wind up the night scowling.
My concern is that this is a no-brainer suggestion on my end. And this is the Academy, and Forrest Gump has an Oscar either Pulp Fiction or The Shawshank Redemption (take your pick) were actually robbed of. If the Oscars were capable of being sensible, we wouldn't be in this mess.
One last note: The movie is rated R. First of all, it doesn't deserve that rating. Not really. You can see this stuff in a PG-13 movie from the 1980's, only there are more f-bombs. I don't think a movie with a few f-bombs is something that needs to be restricted from younger viewers. But the R-rating is notable to me, because the movie doesn't need it, and probably could have sold more tickets as PG-13. I like that the movie refused to play the MPAA's game and tone things down even SLIGHTLY just to get the correct rating. The filmmakers decided the film was GOOD as it was, and decided not to let the MPAA make content decisions for them. That's refreshing to me, especially because I believe the MPAA is one step above a criminal organization. I'm kidding. But only a little. But the filmmakers have integrity there.
It's a GOOD movie, and a GREAT, good movie at that. Is the Academy dumb enough to deny us this win we all want? We'll find out. Let's hope we don't wind up as disillusioned with the night as David Letterman wound up in 1995. *****.
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Post by fonebone on Mar 10, 2023 19:03:56 GMT -8
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
I knew a couple of things going in.
1. I probably wasn't going to like it.
2. I wouldn't hold that fact against it.
Truth is I liked it slightly more than I thought I would, but I still didn't like it much. Aside from the fact that it's unreasonable to expect a secondary actor like Letitia Wright to carry the franchise in the same way as Chadwick Freaking Boseman, the truth is, it's a movie about grief, and that's no fun. And it's only about grief because of real-world events. I can't fault the producers for being so shellshocked by Boseman's death that they refused to recast T'Challa. But still, this is not the sequel that was planned or that we were due.
Ross was married to the Contessa? Poor dude. Lucky he got out of that marriage alive. Is Everett Ross related to Thaddeus Ross? I forget if that's ever come up before.
I actually like Namor which is a bit of a surprise considering what a turd every other incarnation of that character is portrayed as upon their introduction. Yes, I would describe his plans and motivations as sinister. But the reason Kevin Feige has value is he understands the character can be sinister, and still civil, reasonable, and likable. Every other cartoon I've seen Namor in as an antagonist goes out of its way to say how much he sucks and what a jerk he is. It's unnecessary. Take note: Recent Marvel Cartoons used to portray T'CHALLA as a jerk of all people, but it never occurred to the Marvel Television producers that "complicated" and "a total bunghole" are not actually synonyms. Kids, your antagonists looking to reform someday on your superhero cartoons don't HAVE to be as unlikable as the adults making the cartoons show them as. They are they way because those adult writers are simply bad at their jobs.
I love that Shuri sees Killmonger on the Vision Quest. And nothing really told me later on that that was inappropriate either.
I love M'Baku. He is a full out villain in other incarnations, but I like that the MCU has put him in the role of Wise Counsel instead. He's the one character besides the Williams kid making me smile.
Is that Ironheart? Weird movie for her to debut in, although it seems weird to debut Namor in a Black Panther movie too (or at least one without T'Challa).
I didn't much dig it. But my epic hate rants against Eternals, and the latest Thor and Doctor Strange sequels simply do not apply to this movie. It's a bummer, but really that's actually through no fault of its own. **1/2.
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Post by fonebone on Mar 10, 2023 19:04:36 GMT -8
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur Reviews
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Moon Girl Landing"
I liked that. Provisionally. I hate to say that, but Marvel animation and television (even Studios Television) have a NASTY habit of delivering an amazing pilot, and then the show itself falls apart from week to week, with diminishing results, until it's turned into pure dreck. I got similar vibes to this show from Ms. Marvel's first episode. Which worries the hell out of me. Granted this show is not gonna "Go dark" or forget it's a superhero show. But I'm at the point where I no longer simply give Marvel cartoons and TV shows the benefit of the doubt. Sorry to say.
But it was promising. I love the moment where time stops when Lunella and Aftershock recognize each other in the classroom. And I love the disqualifier "No disrespect to Jersey", when it does whatever single other show set in New York does, and takes a shot at New Jersey. Sorry, Lunella. You aren't fooling anyone.
The premise is cool. I'm trying to think of another superhero show with a black female lead, and coming up empty. This is going to fill a hole in the void of black girls wanting to be superheroes and being denied it by the rest of the media.
I think the most interesting thing about the show to me are the designs and the way they are animated. It very much reminds me of Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in how chaotic and flawless the action sequences are. Now this is nowhere near as frenetic, or for lack of a better word, BANANAS, as that. But like Rise, seeing how far 2-D animation can go on a TV budget really makes me resent the fact that most current action / superhero toons are CGI animated, and BAD CGI at that. 2-D can look beautiful now. I wish more current stuff would embrace it.
Very well done, Pilot. But Spidey And His Amazing Friends had a promising Pilot too, and that just turned out awful. I don't see any way this specific show should get as awful as that, but the fact that that cute show went downhill so fast is the reason why my praise is measured here, and very much of the "Let's see how this shakes out before declaring it cool" variety. ****1/2.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "The Borough Bully"
I was looking forward to seeing the theme song but it wasn't on the Disney Channel's website when I watched the episode.
I didn't dig the premise because I'm old, but I like the resolution of the kid repenting, and teaming up with Lunella on an antibullying campaign.
For the record, being compared to Michelle Obama is a VERY good thing. For those people at home keeping score about that sort of thing.
Was the alien Symbiote the thing from Spider-Man? Weird thing to crossover to the Marvel Universe with.
I very much feel like the troll's design and animation is something that woulda been cooked up on Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This show's animation is almost as good.
Cute. ***1/2.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Run The Rink"
This show is TOO cute! Devil Dinosaur in the car wash and eating the popcorn was a riot. "Is he dangerous?" "Pssht! Probably." And Gravitas is a spiffy villain. The Day-Glo action sequence in the climax had AMAZING animation.
Very impressive first few episodes for this show so far. ****.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Check Yourself"
I love LOS. They are so cute and charming and the fact that Lunella is such a "dingus" to them upsets me as well. I like that they were saved and fixed at the end by being put in a giant sandbox of rice.
Principle Nelson was funny too especially him ordering the kids not to have any feelings until the new guidance counselor can be found. His favorite qualification of LOS' is that they'll work for free.
This show is so much fun! ***1/2.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow"
Ooh, a hair episode! The notion of Lunella's hair turning evil after she rejects it made the episode surprisingly topical. And hearing her mom and grandmother talk about loving their hair makes the episode feel especially empowering. ****.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "The Beyonder"
The Beyonder is great.
The Marvel series this most resembles is Big Hero 6: The Series. And yet, with the Beyonder appearing and the references to Wakanda, this feels much more in the Marvel Universe than that does. By the end I felt Big Hero 6 was far more a Disney series than it ever was a Marvel one. I feel there is a Marvelness running through Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur.
Lunella thinks the idea of basing whether or not humanity lives or dies on the outcome of a science fair is shady, but think about it: Is that really any stupider and more pointless than the Secret Wars? If anything, the science fair gag points out the essential ridiculousness of that arc in general.
I really liked the unexpected pathos between Lunella and Eduardo. More of that please. I love it and am here for it.
Delightful episode. ****1/2.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Moon Girl's Day Off"
This show is just the cutest.
I love that Abyss absorbed the moral Lunella just learned, and called her mom and told her she didn't want to be a supervillain anymore. That was very sweet.
Okay, it is VERY clear to me Mimi knows Lunella is Moon Girl.
The Beyonder makes a fun recapper.
This show is living up to its early promise so far. ****.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Goodnight, Moon Girl"
Fun. I think they only used the Moon Girl suit at the end as a formality. There is no villain to fight and it's Lunella's story entirely.
I thought it was cute and funny seeing her and Devil Dinosaur switch bodies. Unlike most dinosaur characters, Devil's demeanor is entirely cute instead of scary. And I like that about him.
This show isn't disappointing me. ****.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Teacher's Pet"
I love this show.
Interesting that Angel's name is pronounced "On Hell".
The Rat villain living in the sewers crazy for pizza is a clear riff on the Ninja Turtles. Do this show's lawyers know there is already a character from Ninja Turtles called the Rat King?
I love that Daveed Diggs goes to a Brooklyn accent when the Rat King strips off his fancy affectations at the end.
The music on this show is wonderful. I especially liked the Rat King's rap and the song they played during Devil's "Walk of Shame" montage.
Hot Dog vendors give Devil Dinosaur free hot dogs. I like that about hot dog vendors.
For the record, hot dogs are MUCH closer to sandwiches than cereal is to soup.
The animation on Rat King's facial expressions was dynamite. There has simply never been a Marvel cartoon before this one capable of such personality in the expressions. Probably because most Marvel cartoons don't need it. But when you actually HAVE it, you truly appreciate it.
The theme song just isn't the same with a hamster.
It's amazing the complex storylines they can give Devil Dinosaur even though he can't talk. The series uses all kinds of cool animation tricks to tell us exactly what he is thinking and communicating anyways.
I loved the episode. ****1/2.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Skip This Ad...olescense"
This episode is a gem. Not just for introducing a science fiction high-concept I hadn't seen before, but for wringing an entirely new and different kiddie show moral out of it. Do you appreciate how freaking RARE that is, that a kids show has something new to say about the world and how kids should perceive it? I'm floored by that.
Maybe being bored is okay. Maybe taking the good with the bad is what life is actually about.
I love that they got Mae Jemison to voice herself. She also appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation back in the day (in a bland and forgettable cameo) and I'm betting she actually had a TON more fun on this show. For the record, she is pretty good actress, which is not something Star Trek tested.
I am in awe of this show. *****.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur "Like Mother, Like Moon Girl"
This is literally the first time I've seen a kiddie cartoon take on gentrification.
Lunella reminds her Mom of Moon Girl. Except Moon Girl's Mom must be crazy to let her run around all fighting supervillains.
Luiz Guzman has had a LONG acting career, so there is no way this is his first voice-over role. But it's the first one of his I saw / remembered.
The music and visuals continues to be beyond cool and funky.
One character visual I loved is when Lunella is sad in her room, and her mom sits down next to her, she scoots away from her a bit. It's a small but believable character detail you rarely find in animation, especially animation made for television. But it gave personality to both their characters and their situation, and added a ton. Little things can sometimes matter a lot.
I'm loving this show. Still. ****.
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Post by fonebone on Mar 10, 2023 19:05:14 GMT -8
Spidey And His Amazing Friends reviews:
Spidey And His Amazing Friends "Clean Power / Doc Ock & The Rocktobots"
Clean Power:
So George Stacey not only isn't the commissioner, he's not even a cop. And he's bald with a gross beard. Why is it the last two things that are really ruffling my feathers? **.
Doc Ock & The Rockobots:
The show really could have done an amusing bit with Doc Ock performing her own version of the theme song but they took shorts cuts because the writers were too lazy to come up with funny, alternate lyrics.
Speaking of lazy, am I the only one who think Doc Ock and Electro's characters designs are confusingly similar? I sometimes actually mistake who Team Spidey is dealing with if they are in the same episode.
Bah. *1/2.
Episode Overall: *1/2.
Spidey And His Amazing Friends "Pirate Plunder Blunder / Bad Bot"
Pirate Plunder Blunder
So apparently nobody can tell the Pirate with the green skin is Green Goblin. The people in this Universe are apparently dumb enough to fall for that. What is an open question is if the producers are cynical (and wrong) enough to believe kids in the audience will fall for it. Because it IS kinda played as a reveal and surprise.
And that level of stupidity reminds me this show and shows like it don't have to be as bad as stupid as they are. They simply choose to be. 0.
Bad Bot:
Case in point: The episode feels the weak need to overexplain that Trace-E and Fake Trace-E are two separate beings who are on different sides. It says something bad about your animated show, when things are so overexplained and explicit in dialogue, it sound even overly obvious than if it were a radio play. And this stuff is about an essentially mute character as well, so making the dialogue do ALL the heavy lifting there is especially egregious.
Again, I believe the only reason this show is this bad is because Marvel and Disney don't believe a toddler show designed to sell toys actually needs to be any good. That's the only reason it sucks. I am positive if the writers of this show were asked to write a good show, they could do it. But the mandate is that Disney prefers a stupid show that talks down to kids. It sells more toys. Am I cynical enough or what?
Cartoons back in the 1980's were horrendous. But mostly due to incompetence on the part of writers, animators, and producers. As far as bad cartoons like this in 2023 go? I actually believe they are this bad on purpose. Doesn't that idea just piss you off? It pisses me off. 0.
Episode Overall: 0.
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Post by fonebone on Mar 10, 2023 19:05:35 GMT -8
Quantum Leap Reviews
Quantum Leap "Let Them Play"
You want to claim it's a little sappy, that's actually on-brand for the franchise. What I did like is that it took a political stand, which is something the old show did frequently, but the new show does rarely. Like it or not the Trump Administration is part of history, and the ban of transpeople in the military was an especially shameful thing. The show goes out of its way not to offend most weeks. It's encouraging it's starting to take a moral stance when it actually matters.
The worst part of the episode for me was the poetry slam. I get what it was trying to get Magic to recognize, but did it HAVE to be so badly written and acted to do it? It wasn't even funny. It was pure cringe. Granted the old show had its share of that, but I won't thank the sequel for bringing it back.
Seriously though, if you check out the original series sometime, it is almost SHOCKING the negative view it (particularly the character of Al Calavicci) takes on queerness. Somebody wants to tell me how inferior this show is to that, I'll just point out a main character here never gave Al's one word reaction to hearing somebody was gay in "Lee Harvey Oswald": "Yuck." Seriously, Scott Bakula. You are remembering your run on the show in fonder and more generous terms than it actually deserved. You are NOT actually too good for this show. You never were.
A second person in the imaging chamber IS a taboo, the old show only violated once in the episode "Raped". It feels right that it's Ian breaking this rule, when we learned the shocking revelation that he will somebody become a Future Leaper.
Random franchise notes: The Leap is set only ten years in the past. The old show was very leery of setting episodes anywhere NEAR 1999. They did 1986 and 1987 once each, I think, but the show very much frowned on putting Sam in recognizable modern settings. Of course, 1999 was the future for that show and 2022 is the present here, so that might make the difference in presentation. We also get a few more ideas what it's like for the person Leaped into during their missing time, but I'd still feel more comfortable about that if The Waiting Room was more clearly referenced and mentioned. While a Leapee's time in The Waiting Room being forgotten could be chalked up to the amnesia both Sam and the Leapee felt, while the Waiting Room is a thing, it's hard to understand how the Leapee could possibly feel like someone else was driving their body. In reality, they are in BEN'S/SAM'S/IAN'S bodies. Ben and Ian's Leapee's could be argued to work a different way, but that doesn't explain Magic describing the same sensation. The Waiting Room was a BIG part of the Old Show. I'm having a hard time believing the producers of this show aren't even aware of it. It was one of the most memorable conceits of the future elements of that show.
The episode did what a LOT of episodes on the old show did, but that this show hasn't done much of. It showed plenty of scenes in the past time period where neither Ben nor Addison were present. Another thing I want to compliment the show on, is that I believe if this premise WERE ever done on the original series, they'd have Sam leap into the transkid and get his reactions to the bigotry. And while it was sort of an eye-opening conceit to watch a white man being targeted with racism and sexism back in the 1980's and 90's, the truth is Sam can't ever really be put in the minority's shoes, and this show understands that part of it and allows Ben the role of her father instead. There was something iconic about Scott Bakula being harassed for either being black or a woman. But the reality is the messaging there is problematic because it's not real to Sam. The audience is made aware of how stupid it is, simply because the assumption is an error on the bigot's part. But it's not the same thing as giving a character like Gia her own voice and story. If Ben had Leaped into her, he wouldn't have actually had that. Worse, he probably would have had to have a huge life-altering discussion with the parents that Gia would first have no say over, and then simply not remember. That part always bothered me about the old show, and so far this sequel is steering clear of giving Ben TOO many life-altering moments with the person the he's Leaped into's loved ones. It's a tricky balance, and having Ben Leap into the father instead of Gia helps that big time.
The episode won't break any molds here, and some if it downright sucks. But it actually does a LOT better than the old show in actually having a trans person write and direct the episode, and basically researching the subject in depth ahead of time, instead of using cliches and generalities. I've never heard of accomplices or some of the terms the episode introduced me to, and that's not something that ever happened on the old show. While the old show was trying to teach the bigots who watched it something, it never taught ME anything. I'm glad to say this episode definitely did. ***1/2.
Quantum Leap "Family Style"
Solid. Heart-warming. Sappy. Decent Quantum Leap, in other words.
I love Ben's nose ring.
And I love how Ben problem-solves at the end and brings the entire family together. I don't think Sam Beckett could have done that. Maybe only because the writers of the original series thought too small about what he could and should be capable of. But Sam's help tended to be very one-on-one and personal. Ben bringing vast groups of people together feels like a different skillset and a different way to approach a crisis.
Although if I may be brutally honest, maybe Sam never swung for the fences because Al was never there for him, or as competent as Addison is. The old show instead of making Al an asset, often made him a hindrance, and a frustrating weak point. Him being a creeper that makes you cringe 30 years later was the tip of the iceberg for how useless he was. Sam could count on him when the chips were down. He was never there enough or useful enough to make it so the chips never fell down in the first place. Addison being there the entire time with info for Ben about the best place to set up the pop-up restaurant is not something Sam could ever have depended on Al for, sad to say.
I like that Ben was essentially able to tell his own mother he loved her at the end.
The part of the episode I didn't much dig was Ian's stuff. I thought it was awesome last week when it turns out he's gonna be a future Leaper, but really his entire arc in the episode was emo. That's something I really don't like about the future stuff on the relaunch.
But it was a nice enough week. ***1/2.
Quantum Leap "S.O.S."
The old show RARELY did Leaps that effected Sam or Al's immediate family. They saved those for special occasions. I like that big moments like those on the sequel means it doesn't live or die by the season premieres / finales. Regular episodes are allowed real emotional stakes.
Brandon Routh is perfect casting as Addison's father in a way the viewer can appreciate (but Addison cannot). Her father is literally Superman, and she doesn't know it, and could never see it. I think Routh was a VERY deliberate casting choice for that reason.
The stuff with Martinez at the end threw me, and is another pile of questions added to the ongoing mystery. What the hell is actually going on here?
I love the moment where Magic says he doesn't believe the Leaps are random, and that they are the "Moral Arc of the Universe" as described by Martin Luther King. Not to get too much into religion, but that's the way Sam Beckett saw it too. And it's clear Magic is the missing Dr. Beckett's biggest living acolyte.
I love that an episode that big, with that much at stake for Addison, didn't just occur outside of a premiere or finale. It was outside of Sweeps month too. It means the show believes delivering big, personal stories is something it should normally be doing from week to week, which is the correct mindset.
This episode highlights a plothole constantly inherent in Quantum Leap, and something that could be leveled at many episodes. But if whoever is controlling the Leaps wanted to make Ben's job as easy as possible, Ben would have Leaped into the Commander who screwed things up. It's more narratively interesting for Ben to have to change hearts and minds as an outsider. In reality, it would be better for all concerned if he Leaped into the person who made the mistake in the first place.
I loved Quantum Leap back before loving Quantum Leap was cool. And yet, it contained some very real narrative faults, that hit me wrong at the time, and have only looked even more appalling to me with 30 years hindsight. I like this show because it's everything I love about the old show, while fixing every single problem I ever had with it. Am I going there? Am I saying this iteration of the show is better than the original series? Unequivocal YES. I know the controversy I am stirring by saying that. But I say it because I believe it to be true.
That was a great episode. Quantum Leap has always been a bit of a fan favorite. And deeply flawed at the same. I love the sequel for reminding me of everything I loved about the original series, without ever once making me feel bad for watching it because it's dated and offensive. I love being allowed to love Quantum Leap again. Not being able to love this show as much as I used to actually hurt a bit. This show is a refreshing salve on that mental wound for that reason. ****1/2.
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Post by fonebone on Mar 10, 2023 19:06:32 GMT -8
The Mandalorian Season Three Reviews
The Mandalorian "Chapter 17: The Apostate"
Some Mandalorian rite of passage at the beginning. Didn't have Kaiju alligators on my "This Is The Way" bingo card.
Grogu is too adorable to be allowed. First him spinning in the chair then grabbing that little guy. He's not a pet! Bad baby!
I would have said Dune died off-screen if I wrote the show, but the producers of this show are far kinder than I am.
Katee Sackoff has a starring role this season. Interesting.
I've missed this show. As far as Star Wars goes, This Is The Way. ****1/2.
The Mandalorian "Chapter 18: The Mines Of Mandalore"
That Dark Saber is still cool.
So Bo Katan bathed in the waters of the Caves of Mandalore WITH her helmet on. Am I the only one thinking Din is gonna try and get her to retake the oath? It would be narrative malpractice if he didn't.
The fact that Grogu is sentient enough to follow Mando's instructions to go to Bo for rescue makes his eating of those eggs last season unforgivable. The more capable the show makes the Child, the more culpable he is for that. I think it's probably a mistake.
It was a pretty cool episode. I really liked learning all the Mandalore, uh, lore. ****.
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Post by fonebone on Mar 10, 2023 19:07:07 GMT -8
Star Wars: The Bad Batch Reviews
Star Wars: The Bad Batch "Tribe"
A kid Wookiee is a cute enough idea, but he's also a Jedi! Good deal!
And he mistrusts Clones (for good reason).
On the downside I found the Wookiee platitude at the end of the end meaningless and a case of the producers trying to tack on a satisfying ending to a scenario where one isn't actually possible.
But Junior Wookiee Jedi! Too cute! ***.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch "The Clone Conspiracy"
Another episode in which NONE of the Bad Batch appear. Have they been pushed out of their own show or has this show simply always been larger than them? I'm leaning towards the second idea.
That poor foolish Senator Chuchi has NO idea what she is dealing with, and is in way over her head. In fairness, this is pretty much true of every single critic of the Empire before the actual Rebellion was formed.
I told myself I was going to be disappointed if one of the Bad Batch didn't step out of the smoke at the end after rescuing Chuchi. I was wrong. Rex was a MUCH better surprise.
For the record, Galactic Senate scenes remain this franchise's poison and I don't see why they keep going back to them, even knowing how much fans hate them. It's almost as annoying as them repeatedly bringing back Jar-Jar Binks on The Clone Wars just to spite the audience, but worse because at some point they simply stopped doing THAT when they realized it was gaining them nothing. Senate hearings under the Empire are exactly as dull as Senate hearings under the Republic.
Solid week otherwise though. ****.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch "Truth And Consequences"
Two episodes this week! A treat!
Rex cynically say Palpatine has been several steps ahead of them this entire time and that they just played right into his hands. I have a different interpretation.
That was NOT the outcome the Emperor wanted or planned. It's because he's such a devious bastard he can improvise a scapegoat and excuse on the fly, but if you ask me, he NEVER wanted the truth of that massacre to become public knowledge. Him actually appearing in the Senate shows how badly things have actually gotten outside of his control and plans. Yeah, Palpatine's a slippery viper with the Devil's luck. But don't tell be he planned that or that he's David Xanatos. He's just super lucky, and when he was going up against the Jedi, going up against a group of stupid people. I refuse to give Palpatine more than he's due. He's not exactly what you'd call a subtle villain with that cloak and voice, is he?
I think the Clones damaged him so badly he actually had to put in a personal appearance to smooth things over. That's unheard of and shows that this was NOT his plan all along. It's a pity the Clones are too cynical to see it that way.
Dee Bradley Baker is a voicer-over wizard. It's amazing all of the different voices, tones, and inflections he can give all the different Clones. The most impressive thing is the dude isn't even British and his fake accent is flawless anyways. More credible than Klaus' German accent on American Dad! at any rate.
This show is more of the high quality of The Clone Wars, rather than the skakey quality of Rebels, and poor quality of Resistance. Although to be honest, the nice thing about it is it isn't repeating many of The Clone Wars' most obvious mistakes. I like it. ****.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch "The Crossing"
Maybe Tech was a little insensitive as to what he said to Omega, but the truth is, they were in a life and death scenario and she was focused on the wrong thing.
That being said I like their heart-to-heart at the end and his clarification that although he reacts to things differently he still feels things.
At this point I'm trying to think of a redeeming virtue Cid possesses and coming up entirely empty.
It was all right but only all right. Not great or anything. ***.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch "Retrieval"
I like the constant contrasts the episode does between how Makko and the Bad Batch do business and treat their respective crews. Truthfully, it feels a bit heavy-handed, and like Bennie should be getting the message sooner than he does. But it's obviousness can be forgiven because it IS a kids show, and I only think it's obvious as an adult viewer. For kids the clarifications might be necessary, and I think the contrasts are certainly not going overboard in preachiness either.
I like Bennie saying they obviously weren't Epsiem miners and Omega quipping he stole the wrong ship.
I never heard of the guy who played Mokko before but he has a great voice.
The cool thing about Hunter's trapeze rescue of Omega is that she trusts him to make it. It's a crazy stunt for a kid to do unless they totally trust the adult. And it's edge-of-your-seat exciting for that reason.
A good week, I think. This obviously isn't "Andor" or anything, but not everything Star Wars needs to be. It was Good Enough. ***1/2.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch "Metamorphosis"
Jimmi Simpson gave a fabulously understated performance as Dr. Hemlock. He whispers his lines which makes him scary. That was the exact reason we loved Thrawn. Now Hemlock does NOT have a spooky design to go with the creepy voice. But as far as Thrawn goes, it you ask me, the voice actually did 90% of the work. The spooky design was just gravy.
When I saw the monster for the first time I was like, "Feed me, Seymour!"
The bananas climax affirms that there are two types of CGI shows done on a TV budget: Badly animated cheap ones, and Lucasfilm. Those are the only real types of variety there are.
Pretty damn good week. ****.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch "The Outpost"
Amazing on every level.
For those keeping score at home, this show IS technically a TV-PG kids cartoon. That just delivered THAT. It's not that the show is inappropriate for kids. It just believes kids can handle different things than most action cartoons used to believe.
I can't take people talking smack about the Disney era of Star Wars seriously, as long as this show remains superior to The Clone Wars in every way. Honestly, I think it's mostly the dialogue. I don't believe you'd hear the following exchange on The Clone Wars.
Mayday: "I don't know what's more disturbing, the fact that this guy is wearing the gear of one of my men they killed, or the fact that they left him behind."
Crosshairs: "He just would have been dead weight to them."
Mayday: "Remind me not to die on your watch."
That dialogue snaps. It crackles and pops. It's part of a complete breakfast. It's my everything and everything I wish Star Wars was 20 years ago and more and never was. I will seriously argue this episode is of a higher quality than the original film or The Empire Strikes Back. Those seem to be the go-to for Disney haters to throw in our faces. Without being able to admit that Disney+ episodes have topped BOTH of those films on multiple occasions. In almost every one of the Disney+ series.
Also want to give special attention and praise for the great facial expression the CGI animates Crosshairs with. CGI is a notoriously bad medium for animating facial expressions. The fact that Lucasfilm is the only other studio besides Pixar and SOMETIMES Dreamworks that can regularly pull them off well is the selling point of Lucasfilm.
Great episode. I love this show and defy anyone who watches it to call the Disney era of Star Wars inferior. It's not. It's amazing. *****.
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Post by fonebone on Mar 10, 2023 19:08:14 GMT -8
Animation Domination Reviews (Reviews for The Simpsons, The Great North, Bob's Burgers, and Family Guy)
The Simpsons "The Many Saints Of Springfield"
Great couch gag. They didn't actually NEED to get Paul Fusco for Alf but it's funny that they did.
Rod and Todd's idea of mischief is blinking.
Ned discusses his teaching career using the actual episode number because we totally forgot about it.
I like Johnny Tight-Lips pointing out the mob had a lot of judgmental names. That's great.
Is Fat Tony in prison the new status quo a la Sideshow Bob or will it be easily forgotten and dropped when necessary? We'll see. Also waiting to see more of Moe and Maya and Bart's new teacher while we're talking about concepts the show has slacked off about.
Nice! ***1/2.
The Simpsons "Carl Carlson Rides Again"
The Simpsons has been on the air for so long that I believe its long-term health is in danger as long as they only try to come up with new Homer and Marge, Lisa and Bart, or Lisa and Homer stories. There is only so much you do with those characters, and since the show refuses actual character growth, having those character learn the same things over and over again is tiring.
So recently The Simpsons decided to see if centering episodes around minor or joke characters could possibly be interesting. This experiment has been a truly mixed bag. I want to slap Al Jean over the head for ever consenting to giving Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel his own episode. But the question remained: Could Carl Carlson, as a character famously devoid of a single personality trait outside of some vague homoeroticism with Lenny, carry an entire episode on his own? Frankly the idea probably wouldn't have worked before Alex Desert took over the character from Hank Azaria due to racial sensitivities (which is ironic because Carl was one of the few characters of color, along with Lou, that Azaria voiced with no offensive racial stereotyping whatsoever). But when Desert took over the role, maybe the fact that Carl is missing his own racial identity would be a good hook for an episode.
I am impressed and appreciate the show remembers that Carl was adopted and raised by white Icelandic parents. Not only had I forgotten that, nobody would have begrudged them for ignoring it. I don't just mean retconning. I mean totally pretending it never happened. But despite the show's continuity usually being shady, I like that they actually remembered one of the few unusual facts they already established about Carl's history. And regardless of whether you think the recasting of Carl was necessary or not, you have to understand they can't have a story about Carl exploring his black identity while he's voiced by a white guy. (The Cleveland Show did it with Mike Henry and it was just as appalling as you could imagine). Do I think the recasting was unnecessary myself? I think Carl is one of the few people of color Azaria voices without malice in his heart. But the fact that that malice exists for near everybody else means it best to move on from that specific actor. The good news is I think this episode is a turning point in that Desert is starting to sound a LOT more like Azaria than he did. And I was always annoyed that Family Guy went for a total unknown who sounded exactly like Mike Henry, and The Simpsons just opened the trusty voice actor rolodex and got "sort of, maybe, if he has a cold". In fairness I'll get used to Desert as Carl. I probably won't ever get used to Kevin Michael Richardson as Dr. Hibbert.
I like that Dr. Hibbert goes to the barbershop on Their Side Of Town, because it's been established in the past he's a Republican. Maybe Hibbert is due his own focus episode because just based on the contradictory things he does, and places we've seen him in, I still can't figure the guy out after 30 years.
I like that none of Carl's friends want to talk about his racial identity crisis. The entire selling point of Carl for them is that he never talks about his blackness and makes them uncomfortable and guilty. As such he is afforded the same privilege as the white guys in the group. For once, this not an exaggeration. He's not merely treated as an equal among the Moe's Patrons or Power Plant workers. He's considered an extremely respected member of that specific clique, probably second in deference to only Homer himself. Moe and Lenny might think they're Number Two material, but nobody really listens to or respects what they have to say. As far Carl goes, his opinions have gravitas. And the fact that his friends don't see his color makes them especially uncomfortable when he asks them to.
I like his new girlfriend for sure. She one of those characters like Superintendent Chalmers who actually talks like a real person. But there is still a cartoony archness behind Chalmers, particularly when dealing with Skinner. Carl's new girlfriend seem Earthy, real, and grounded. Totally refreshing. She yells at the TV for him to mention the name of the restaurant, and when he does, the place erupts in cheers. That felt authentic to me in a way Carl being surprised people in barbershops talk trash to each other did not.
Speaking of the barbershop, I not only like that Bart gets his hair cut on Their Side Of Town, but that he's on a first named basis with Clarence who likes the boy even though he's white. Why does Bart get his hair cut here? If you ever saw the cartoon in the Tracy Ullmann Show of him using Homer's elderly white barber, you might have an inkling. That was damn near 35 years ago, but having seen it makes me totally unsurprised Bart has searched elsewhere for his look. I don't like too much current Bart stuff but I liked this scene.
I think the thing I didn't like about the episode is that it never gave a good or plausible reason why Carl's parents abandoned him. On the tape they clearly loved him. So the doorstep thing makes even LESS sense. If I were Carl that would raise MORE questions and recriminations from me, not less. But The Simpsons is a 22 minute show, and they gotta wrap things up in the allotted time. I'm just pointing out they didn't wrap up this specific thing WELL. Because they didn't.
If the show wants to do an episode for Eddie and Lou next, that's a great idea. How about the Old Sea Captain? Or damn it, Dr. Hibbert? The show may have been on the air for 30 years, but it still has a TON of characters it still hasn't fully explored.
Just no more Otto, episodes, okay, Matt Selman? Those just plain suck, so don't bother trying.
But I liked this week and thought it was a worthy attempt of the show branching out. ****1/2.
The Simpsons "Bartless"
That hit the correct emotional beats and explored a genuine problem about the series that the audience sort of took for granted. But I still didn't like it. I guess because although I love it whenever Bart is taken down a few pegs and his behavior is treated as harmful instead of mischievous, I feel like this episode couldn't make up its mind about that, and the messages it did have weren't all that credible.
I understand it was a dream sequence. But while part of me understands and believes the idea that the Simpsons would be rich, successful, and happy if Bart didn't exist, it doesn't wash. Bart is responsible for a LOT of the family's hardships (and I'd argue most of its unhappiness), but Homer is problematic person on his own with or without Bart's help. Bart's nonexistence cannot change the fact that Homer is both stupid and harmful. I can lay down much of the family's unhappiness on Bart. I can. But the fact that the parents are unsuccessful? That's mostly down to Homer. The show is kidding itself if it thought I'd ever believe otherwise.
And the idea it was a dream sequence bothered me so much because it was had by the both of them. I could have accepted it if it were Marge's, and I could have accepted it (admittedly less) if it was Homer's. But making it BOTH of theirs makes no sense, especially since neither of them are spooked by that fact, and believe they just experienced a psychic experience for the first time ever. And that's not what the episode is about, and I get that, but it makes it feel unrealistic and poorly written.
I am of mixed feelings about the idea of Bart ruining 25 library books turning out to be a net positive. First of all, it's nice to see his new teacher again. Second of all, even if Homer and Marge were too hard on him, and saw the worst in him because they dislike him, the truth is whether or not that was an actual mistake or bad action on his end, I felt like everything they said about how damaging and frustrating he is was true, needed to be said at some point, and them being wrong undercut the necessity of them actually telling Bart how impossible he is to live with. I understand on some level the show cannot let Homer and Marge speaking to their son so harshly and cruelly simply stand. But I've watched this show for over 30 years, and have been more and more disgusted as the decades have worn on that Bart's sociopathic cruelty has been treated by the writers as supposedly cute. Hearing his parent lay into him was cathartic to me as a person who hates him, and to have them have to rethink the rant and their opinion about the little creep makes me unhappy. Whether Bart's actions were a net positive for the kids and the library or not, I agree with every foul thing Homer and Marge tag-teamed him with.
I'll tell you something I liked. And it's not something the show ever bothered to do before. But I betting I'm not the first fan to notice. Didn't the Itchy & Scratchy cartoon look great? They actually animated it in a more fluid and flailing style than the show itself is animated in. The characters in the cartoons previously have always had simpler designs and backgrounds. But the animation level to the show used to be truly identical, which frankly makes it feel less like an entirely different cartoon inside the world than it should. The show put up the money to make it look and feel different here, and like an actual big-budget cartoon. And Itchy & Scratchy cartoons on the show are a rarity now, so I doubt the show saw upping their game and potentially having to do that for every potential future Itchy & Scratchy appearance is as daunting as it would have been while the characters were still appearing several times per season.
I've rambled on in this review. I feel like the episode was well-made and properly explored a long-standing problem. But I disagreed with the conclusions it reached so strongly that I couldn't actually bring myself to, you know, actually ENJOY it. **.
The Great North "Enough Bed Adventure"
The Bouchardverse is NOT good for Trilogy themed episodes so that was a bust.
I have another gripe. The idea that Wolf and Honeybee find the fruit bouquet delicious and irresistible is pure nonsense. Family Guy took a shot a fruit bouquets a couple of years ago, and called them slimy and gross and the worst present possible. That is the actual truth of them. **.
The Great North "Sister Pact Too Adventure"
A mixed bag.
I like that Honeybee insists the Ghost reference is a good thing. Because I personally don't see it that way. Her and Judy have some Swayze movie binges in their future though.
I love the Trump pinata.
The thing is, I hated Beef's story. I thought it sucked. What Zelda did is played for laughs but it is the most inconsiderate thing another person could do to a person they barely know. The most detestable part about it is she does it KNOWING it's bogus, but she's clearly hoping that Beef is too chicken to correct her. The thing that pisses me off is he almost is. There is actually a debate involved, which makes me absolutely furious.
When Alyson says "She seems nice," yeah, that's a great laughline, but it's a reminder that this show's greatest strength has the potential to be a great weakness. The characters on the show are unusually nice. But that can lead to bad people taking advantage of them. Judy and Honeybee can take care of themselves when the feminist scammers lower the milk balloons, but it pisses me off that Beef is too nice to tell this rude wretch, "Get the hell out of my house. I never want to see you again. You are pathetic." Granted Bob Belcher would never say those words. But he'd also never let her in the house. (She'd only get in if Linda and the kids were there.) But the drawback to having nice characters is they can be portrayed as total losers and doormats. And the reason The Great North is so popular is because the cast is so nice. And despite taking place in a red state, it's nonpolitical, and whatever weak political stances it does take (like Wolf being a fan of Michelle Obama) are not the ones you'd expect. It's SUCH an easy show to like and enjoy, when it's just the cast goofing with each other (see the pickle runner at the end). Having an outsider barge in and create a crisis none of them want or deserve is not actually funny. It's annoying. It's infuriating. And it's the selling point of the show being used as a drawback, which is a red flag for any good show. It doesn't qualify as a shark jump. But the fact that it happened tells me the writers might believe the episode was dramatically interesting, and do it again a LOT. Peggy Hill wasn't originally envisioned to be the obnoxious buffoon should wound up as on King Of The Hill. But it got a HUGE laugh in the writers' room, and from that point forward that basically likeable show was essentially ruined. The good news for The Great North is that the show does not seem to be looking to make the Tobins themselves meaner or stupider. But this episode means they could be exploring conflicting them with those sorts of characters more often which is a HELL of a mistake.
I liked the stuff with Judy and Honeybee. I did. But I was disgusted with the Zelda stuff. **1/2.
The Great North "Boy Meats World Adventure"
Not feeling it. Why? I think Lone Moose values and celebrates stupid things.
And you know, when Honeybee is offering comedy suggestions to Wolf, you can pretty much tune out whatever she's saying the second she advises him to remember the workshop by Carlos Mencia they attended. That joke is done to make Honeybee sound stupid and low-rent, but why would I appreciate the show doing that?
Annoying episode. *1/2.
Bob's Burgers "Oh Row You Didn't"
For an episode celebrating a milestone (the 250th episode) it felt a little frivolous. It was all right, and I like Gene's origami frog being hung up at the end, but I wasn't really into this week. ***.
Bob's Burgers "Stop! Or My Mom Will Sleuth!"
This is one of those shows that can still surprise you on occasion, but this wasn't one of those episodes.
I guess the one line I really liked was Ms. Selbo asking Linda if she's never seen interesting things. It is both the wrong question (Linda is b.s.ing her), and considering Linda's interests and what impresses her, the most right question anyone who doesn't know her could ever actually ask.
The song sucked, per usual. The show needs to stop this. It feels like a cry for help at this point.
The show's done better but it's also done worse. ***1/2.
Bob's Burgers "These Boots Are Made For Stalking"
Tina is an extremely frustrating character and I wish I could go through my TV and shake her and yell at her, and tell her what she is doing wrong.
First of all, she is absolutely right that that group of teenagers is cool. And they are some of the first cool characters ever seen on the show. There is a cool adult here and there, granted, but very few younger characters on the show.
Tina's problem and the reason she frustrates me is she misidentifies why they are cool. She thinks it must be the music or the clothing. They are cool and outside of the rest of the people at Tina's school because they are refreshingly normal and sane. That is the thing Tina is actually responding to, and I could have told her worrying about the music and the clothes is counterproductive. Those kids are cool because they talk and behave like real people instead of ill-mannered or gross cartoon characters. And stalking and hovering around that type of person is UNCOOL. Linda's means well in her advice, but she is missing the forest for the trees. Probably because Linda is so uncool herself. She can't be any help there for that reason.
I think Bob and Linda were acting TOO cool in this episode, actually. They are doing their daughter no favors by humoring her doing something this nuts. I would actually see the logic of indulging this if Tina were the type of kid who asks for so little and just this once NEEDS this. But Tina is constantly doing crap like this, as are Gene and Louise, and Bob and Linda are entirely too permissive and understanding. And that frustrates me too, especially because for the most part, Bob himself is a good parent.
Gene and Louise were revolting this episode. I give any episode where Gene creepily mentions his "wein" a negative grade on general principle. People LOVE this show, but I can't get over the fact that I seem to be the only one to complain about how gross Gene Belcher is. It's not funny or cute. It's creepy, especially with his adult voice.
So here's that negative grade for an episode that isn't terrible, but is still frustrating on every level. **1/2.
Family Guy "Old West"
I love that Quagmire is underwhelmed by Alan's vaccine stance at the end.
The bit about the ass-hitting door was funny. Now Old West is actually worried about that.
The horses playing videogames were great too.
The Giant Chicken is rich and Quahog has the richest group of chickens in the country. The more I learn about the Giant Chicken, the more confused I am by him.
Joe having the fake app and not really having any sponsors for his podcast is on-brand for Joe Swanson.
I have personally never had an Al Pacino moment. I think I consider myself lucky.
Cleveland Junior confused for Lizzo? Mean, but part of me can see it when they animate him like that.
Principle Shepherd's advice to never become a principle seems sound when you consider how he, Skinner from The Simpsons, and Lewis from American Dad ended up.
Stewie seemed kind of "Just there" this episode, and wasn't given much to do.
Pretty funny episode. But still, Wild West doesn't really compare to Adam. ***1/2.
Family Guy "Single White Dad"
I've been having a minor problem with Family Guy this season, and I figured I'd take this review to talk about it.
Except this specific episode was a gem. Maybe next week then.
I think Donkey Kong is a better game than it's described as here. But the truth is, it WOULD make a killer house. You can call Peter the worst father on television. He is. He's also the only one who would ever do Donkey Kong House. While we're keeping score of the important things.
Lois rubbing Brian's face in the reality of "The English Patient" was cathartic on every level. I love it when the show gives Lois empowering moments against Brian's horribleness, and since he's now constantly horrible, they are pleasurably frequent. But yeah, the dude sucks, and watching her literally rub his face in how much he sucks feels DAMN good. It's not just the audience who hates and is sick of Brian. It's not just us at all.
I love that everyone always yawns when Becky talks about Scott. I especially the last bit when we realized it's not just Peter.
What would Scott think? Give Becky a break. She was acquitted. That is a freaking fabulous joke.
Lois pointing out Becky could do better is something that really shouldn't need to be said. In other words the entire premise of the episode was a stretch.
Kirby makes a good name for pink videogame marshmallows.
Yeti Coolers are the right coolers for guys without personalities.
When Quagmire says that golf takes 6 hours to play, out of town, in a different shirt, suddenly the entire sport sounds suspect, doesn't it? Really insightful and alarming joke. I hope every husband who makes their wives watch this show laughs EXTRA nervously at that joke, while darting their eyes away from them. They're onto them now. Gulp!
The climax was a wonderful comedy of errors. Bonnie and the thing with the washing machine was an amazingly goofy and random complication to the whole thing. Well timed comedy nonsense.
I love that the Prowler is still on the roof during the last shot.
Hilarious episode. I'll save my gripe sesh for next week. *****.
Family Guy "White Meg Can't Jump"
Gilbert Gottfried had a role on Family Guy before he died! And he poked fun at himself! The Fox airing dedicated the episode to him but the Hulu version didn't.
I like the self-aware joke of Family Guy saying it's only on Britney's side now because it's popular. And really, that's Family Guy's entire problem regarding celebrities. Some of their slams (and even compliments) have aged MEGA poorly. Not as bad as The Simpsons venerating Elon Musk. But ballpark.
The Stewie stuff didn't do much for me because I think the B story couldn't decide what it was about, which is usually why bad Family Guy stories are bad. The good thing is it WAS the B story, but still it felt a bit aimless going from conspiracy theories to Stewie with multiple personalities.
I thought the ending of Peter telling Meg he never wanted her, and them both knowingly smiling at each other was a little too dark and cynical, even for this show and those characters.
The episode was decent overall though. And looking over the rest of the night, this three star toon is the only one to get a passing grade from me, and shockingly won the night of Fox toons. I can't believe it either. That's how off their game everyone else was. ***.
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Post by fonebone on Mar 10, 2023 19:09:07 GMT -8
Animaniacs: Season 3 Reviews
Animaniacs "Season 3, Episode 1"
Previously On:
So the credits listed the recap as a separate cartoon, so I need to review it. But it's a freaking recap, new spit-take animation or not. **1/2.
Season Three And WB: Part 1:
Maybe not do movie parodies to escape if the new guard ran the studio in question and saw all the movies.
True note: The Dark Knight Rises is worse than The Dark Knight in every nearly respect. But it DID have the more memorable set-piece. Doesn't stop it from sucking, but it was a true observation from Yakko.
Meatball Man felt too far outside the franchise. And since I didn't like the original show too much, I don't tend to mind that. But when it gets TOO far outside it, it's noticeable, and noticing things like that makes the viewing experience worse. It's not bad per se, but the fact that it feels "wrong" makes my enjoyment less anyways. Does that make sense? ***1/2.
How To Friendship:
The Pinky the Brain cartoons on the relaunch are really getting in the psychological underpinnings of the codependent relationship between Brain and Pinky. It's such a conundrum that Pinky ruins everything Brain tries to do, and for some reason Brain still can't function without him.
I could be wrong, but I think Maurice La Marche played the catch-phrase at the end entirely differently for the first time ever. I don't recall him using this specific tone before. Usually when Brain does the "The same thing we do every night, Pinky" he's sort of low-key sinister followed by ambition and falsely earned triumph. Here, his voice has a measure of disgust in it. The undertone is, "How many times do I have to say this, and when are you going to stop asking me the same damn question?" That was an interesting thing, for sure. ***1/2.
Season Three And WB: Part 2:
I could be wrong, but this hit me wrong tonally too. I don't like that it turns out Nora actually beat the Warners last episode. They had to beg her for mercy, and it turns out it wasn't a con on their end, they truly cut a deal with her and held up to it.
Yeah, that's... new. But it's totally outside of the premise. The Warners are always supposed to win against their antagonists. That's the whole bit of the show. I understand Bugs Bunny lost to Cecile Turtle on occasion, but Bugs Bunny was not a franchise that had been around for nearly 30 years when Bob Clampett was messing around with the tropes. Again, this felt wrong to me. Am I crazy for thinking that? **1/2.
Episode Overall: ***.
Animaniacs "Season 3, Episode 2"
Soda-Pressed:
Before I review the cartoon, I will offer a brief opinion of Jojo Siwa. She is one of those celebrities that absolutely makes my skin crawl. She dresses like Punky Brewster, and no lie, has a voice like Baby Huey. Everything she says and does project utter stupidity and vapidity. I'm not saying my generation didn't love stupid things. But I am hard pressed to think of a thing as obviously stupid and repulsive as Jojo Siwa gaining a huge amount of screaming fans. To me, it's obscene.
So I was looking forward to a cartoon taking shots at a stand-in for her. But it's a toothless parody instead, throwing her undeserved sympathy for supposedly not being allowed to be a kid. That annoyed me, but whatever. But the episode can't even stick that landing and makes her a psycho at the end. So what's the point of the cartoon anyways? What's the message? What is its stance?
What it is, is an utter mess in both premise and execution. *.
A Starbox Is Born:
I think they aged up Cindy so they wouldn't have to change her voice actress.
And yeah, I always love that these shorts use different animation. ***1/2.
Royal Flush:
Talking about how the stand-in for Megan Markle's horse farm resides on stolen Aboriginal land raises a HELL of a lot more political questions for me than the cutesy idea that gosh, I don't understand WHY this woman of color could possibly feel like an outsider in aristocracy / monarchy. People give Megan Markle SO much crap. If that Aboriginal Lands thing is true, this is the first time I've seen anyone give her crap for a legit reason. But since I never heard of this before, I'm loathe to take it at face value. Sorry, I'm not just gonna take this show's word for it. I'll do some research later on, probably after this damn review has already been posted elsewhere. But it's sort of weird I've never heard of that.
Is Pinky actually in love with Brain? The cartoon is hinting at that, and I feel like maybe that's the show going a little too far with the fact that they like to make Pinky effeminate as a joke. I don't find that idea funny. Considering the way Brain treats him, if that were so, I'd find it tragic.
Also, why the hell did Brain randomly confess to being the paparazzo at the end? Are we sure it's Pinky who is the stupid one who always ruins everything? There was no reason, or even logical benefit to Brain doing that other than plot-related stupidity that would allow him to be "properly punished". And I am not a fan of that. Although the original show sure as hell did its share of it too.
I didn't like this cartoon either. *1/2.
Episode Overall: **.
Animaniacs "Season 3, Episode 3"
Planet Warner:
Future seasons? Fat chance. The episode also basically admits the old episodes without Pinky And The Brain are inferior, but was clearly written and animated before anybody knew Hulu would take the original series off the service.
In fairness to the cartoon at hand, I like Hamster Hog Heron Boy. ***.
Talladega Mice: The Ballad Of Pinky Brainy:
See if I were Brain at the beginning I wouldn't be chastising Pinky for playing an anti-mouse game. I'd be praising him for actually getting the damn Mouse Trap toy to work. Does he have any idea how near-impossible this is? Seeing Brain max out Pinky's stress levels is also another clue that Pinky might be halfway competent if Brain didn't treat him like crap.
I love Brain's Christopher Lloyd and Morgan Freeman impressions. I also laughed at his panic at not knowing how to do Orson Welles. Right. Here's how you do Orson Welles, Brain: Sound like you are the cast member of Transformers: The Movie most embarrassed to be there and then you're all set.
Good cartoon. ***1/2.
DIWhy:
I like the fan art. I wonder what part of Wakko on it was big.
I will never tire of a character pointing out that money is an artificially agreed-upon, fictional construct. Yakko is my people.
Funny. ***1/2.
Episode Overall: ***1/2.
Animaniacs "Season 3, Episode 4"
Fantasy Cold Open:
Not too many cartoons where the Warners and Pinky and the Brain interact. The opening animation style is neat. ***.
Uber Nachtmare:
You know what? I thought this was a little too mean. I DID like the mule who spoke like a New York cabbie though. **.
Mad Mouse: Furry Road:
Sorry, Dexter. There IS no season four. You are finished.
Still can't believe that's the same guy who voices Mickey Mouse. ***1/2.
Episode Overall: ***.
Animaniacs "Season 3, Episode 5"
Teeniacs:
And yet, still not as dumb as Riverdale. ****1/2.
Dog Days:
Starbox And Cindy Arc? Why not? ***1/2.
Groundmouse Day:
Two-Parter? I love it.
Great Garfield slam.
I love when Pinky talks about something Furry, Brain's worried they're playing things a little too close to that side of the fandom. And people wonder why Minerva Mink has been entirely absent on the relaunch.
The Board Store is running out of that guy! Constanza exits room.
Thinky is a funny name, but truthfully there IS every possibility that Pinky is the genius and Brain is insane. Remind yourself what the textbook definition of insanity is and yeah, Brain's not looking so hot there.
So Stephen Tobolowsky played the DJ. If I ran the show, he'd have played Egwind.
Great stuff. *****.
Episode Overall: ****1/2.
Animaniacs "Season 3, Episode 6"
Animaliens:
Not the timeliest parody, for sure. ***.
Murder Pals:
This Lassie / Flipper parody felt like the randomest trio of interstitials EVER. And then the title reveal at the end of the episode hits, and it's pretty much perfect comedy.
Take note: I think the TV-PG rating of the relaunch is bogus. And yet, I am well aware these dark Lassie and Flipper gags could NEVER be done on Fox Kids or Kids WB. And that title would certainly have to be changed as well.
I think this is brilliant. *****.
Groundmouse Day Again:
The original show did this a couple of times too. And it's sort of both important to show and depressing in equal measure. Brain taking over the world is not a pipe dream. It is possible. It's just that he's too incompetent to do it under normal circumstances.
Take this episode. If he hadn't blown his stack with Pinky at the end, and destroyed the proto time machine, he could have ridden a final loop, taken over the world, THEN destroyed the machine, and then he would be Master of the World for good. Maybe Brain isn't insane. But he sure as hell isn't a genius, and is probably stupid deep down.
My favorite bit in the cartoon was the DJ telling us Brain took over the world once simply by claiming he was the ruler and everybody just went with it. I think that's kind of how most people saw the Trump Presidency too. While we are taking shots at Brain's intelligence.
Pssst! Show! Hillary won Colorado! Hillary stand-in FAIL.
I liked it though. ****.
The Island Of Dr. Warneau:
Kind of a dark and gruesome cartoon. And the implications of the Warners having done away with Scratchensniff's brother without him ever being aware of it gives me the willies too.
The joke I liked was Yakko telling his island stand-in that he likes that he's the tallest so they can tell he's the oldest. I would like to think our Yakko has more to him than that (and he does) but the show poking fun at the superficiality of the design is interesting.
The animation was good too.
But that's a darker ending than freaking Murder Pals. **1/2.
Episode Overall: ****.
Animaniacs "Season 3, Episode 7"
Global Warnering:
"Cleft In Twaining" is a good one.
Josh Polar has a great design.
"Here Comes The Sea" is a DAMN good song, considering Randy Rogel had nothing to do with it.
Was the ending too political? Well, yes. But if it wasn't, they couldn't really tackle the topic at all, could they? Maybe they shouldn't have. But the song tells me any uneasy preachy morals are probably worth it. At least this time. ****.
Lawn In Sixty Seconds:
Cynical cartoon that I dislike simply because it makes Murder Pals feel less special. **.
All's Fair In Love And Door:
Julia continues to have the best cartoon character design and animated facial expressions on the show. I hear people taking shots at this show's animation for supposedly being worse than the original series. And in fairness it's been awhile since I've seen it. But I was an animation fan as a teenager. If they had ever animated a character as perfectly back then as they do Julia now, I would have noticed it. No question.
No, I think the series is just seriously underrated as far as animation goes. ****.
Cute Things That Can Kill You:
Again, another differently animated interstitial I'm resentful for because it takes the wind out of the sails of Murder Pals. The noive. *1/2.
Episode Overall: ***1/2.
Animaniacs "Season 3, Episode 8"
WARner GAMES:
Cameos from the Goodfeathers, Slappy Squirrel, and Chicken Boo.
Those guys look like Wakko smells. I love Wakko telling Yakko to punch up for once, why don'cha?
I also laughed when Yakko points out he's technically a Boomer. I totally forgot that. The old-timey nature of the Warners has been largely ignored on the relaunch.
What would be amazing would be if someone on Reddit liked the reboot.
By the way, it's not a reboot, it's a revival. Reboot is the most misused word in popular culture. Animaniacs 2020 does not fit its definition.
Jackass Monkey? Okay, I'll concede that legit earned the ep a TV-PG rating. It's normally unnecessary.
I liked some of the Terminator sequels. I thought Genisys was a lot of fun.
Funny stuff. ****.
Starbox And Cindy: Bedtime:
Surprisingly sweet ending.
I also should probably say that the more I hear it, the more I think the Starbox and Cindy theme tune ("Alien Chorus") is excellent.
Weirdest Cindy line (in a show where she says nothing by weird lines) was her saying she was born with a tail, but it fell off, and that's how you can tell if a person is a monster. She then looks at Starbox's butt and tells him he's just a guy.
Turning these shorts into an arc this season has made them extra interesting. ****1/2.
WARner GAMES2:
The "sucks" and Beastwipe trying to "seduce" Wakko are more TV-PGedness.
I got the battle videogames they were parodying but I kind of think it would have been more fun to instead of seeing the Warners as 3D CGI videogame characters, for them to turn into 8/16-bit sprites instead. Granted that's been done before, but Animaniacs actually HAD a Super Nintendo game, so it would probably have felt more appropriate. ***1/2.
Crumbly's Moment:
This is essentially the Animaniacs version of a Pixar short. It's a bit of a goofy premise, but the animation is cool and it feels shockingly sweet and sincere too. Not too many Animaniacs cartoons I'd call "nice". That qualified. ****1/2.
Episode Overall: ****1/2.
Animaniacs "Season 3, Episode 9"
How The Brain Thieved Christmas: Part One:
Bringing up "A Pinky And The Brain Christmas" was smart. Not only is it great to acknowledge one of the best episodes of the original show, but doing so allowed them to manage expectations about this one and perhaps not have to do something quite as heartwarming. There is some of that here, for sure. But we'll get to that soon enough.
My favorite bit in the first part is Robot Pinky asking if we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys, and Brain deadpanning that's TOO stupid. I don't think everyone in the audience is going to get that joke, but it's hilarious of you are of a certain mind. Let's keep it at that. ****1/2.
Santamaniacs:
I'm not going to say Animaniacs ripped off my Santa from Gilda And Meek, but... No, you know what? I AM gonna say it. Mine was online in 2017. Make THOSE guys defend it. Eh. I'll give them this one because I'm kind: My ripped Santa is way better and funnier. If they really ripped it off, their version would be cooler.
This show makes the excellent musical numbers look effortless. Although truth be told, they may actually be. I have a sneaking suspicion great original musical numbers aren't actually hard. Bob's Burgers just makes them LOOK hard. ***1/2.
How The Brain Thieved Christmas: Part Two:
I love that they do the same thing every Boxing Day: Finish off the nog before it goes bad, and try to take over the world.
There is a slight element of tugging at the heartstrings. But unlike the classic special it doesn't feel genuine. That's actually all right (A Pinky And The Brain Christmas was EXTREMELY unusual for an Animaniacs related project) but it's hard to take Brain's redemption at face value when the characters are literally deconstructing how the Whoville chorus works on a manipulative emotional level out-loud. But Brain doesn't have to love and appreciate Pinky this year. Him accepting part of the holidays is disappointment and regret is another valid response. And I'm glad the two Christmas specials, decades apart, reach different conclusions. And that's okay. Because some Christmases are better than others.
It feels nice to get an Animaniacs Christmas special again, but the fact that it streams on Hulu is a double-edged sword. We get all the episodes at once, but it means the Christmas special drops in February. It was a good one though. ****1/2.
Episode Overall: ****1/2.
Animaniacs "Season 3, Episode 10"
International Mouse Of Mystery:
Good intro. ****.
Aliens Resurrected:
That's sort of the videogame sprites in the opening I was looking for.
And yes, I appreciate the show giving the audience a clearer picture why Hello Nurse and Minerva Mink are gone. Do you really miss them? Really? I'm gonna save my rage against dumb and pointless arguments for the last cartoon, but I think Slappy has me unleashing my inner curmudgeon today.
Also, psst! Warners? The aliens are not actually coming back. ****.
Joe:
Eh. Some of these random jokes are good. This one added nothing. Although the Australian accents gave it a bit of international flavor. But if you want good parents with Aussie accents your best bet is Bluey. **1/2.
The Stickening:
The Gnome In People's Mouths makes his one brief appearance of the season here. I'm less surprised he sat the rest of the season out, and more surprised he was brought back at ALL in season two. ***1/2.
Slappy's Return:
Slappy was a fan demanded character, and I think I like the fact that she thinks that's stupid. It was nice to throw Sherri Stoner this bone when they suspected it was the final episode, but I think Slappy finding fan outrage at her absence annoying entirely appropriate.
The irony is beside the Warners and Pink And The Brain, Slappy Squirrel was the one decent sketch on the original series. Literally everything else was awful. I'm not exaggerating my opinion. I truly think it all sucked, and I did as a teenager too. Goodfeathers, Rita and Runt, Buttons and Mindy, Hip Hippos, Chicken Boo, Katie Kaboom ALL of it sucked ass. If you didn't think so, you were young. Goodfeathers in particular confounded me. Who the HELL was that cartoon geared towards anyways? How is one pigeon repeating the line from Goodfeathers even a joke? How was this such a major recurring sketch they were in the damn theme song? What the freaking hell? Crap.
Slappy always struck me as hit and miss. When she did stuff like takes shots at Bonkers, I cringed, but mostly she was all right. And I felt the same way about the Warners, so I actually didn't really see the logic of not bringing her into the relaunch too. But damn, she was hardly an unimpeachable cartoon genius, no matter what Spielberg smugly told the kids at home at the time via obnoxious, unfunny meta jokes. I was like "Man, get over it!" to the fans whining about her absence. Maybe they didn't bring her back because the old show told every interesting story with her worth telling. That makes more sense than some massive conspiracy on the end of the producers to ruin your childhood and Tom Ruegger's legacy that his kid likes and retweets.
And yeah, I'll tell you one thing I won't miss about the reboot. The dirty laundry being aired behind the scenes. The show getting it from the fans of the old show is understandable. That goes with the territory. The show never had a remote shot so long as Tom Ruegger was turning fans against it. I found the actions of both Ruegger and his son completely unprofessional. And it strikes me as a good thing he wasn't invited back. He obviously is not a good team player or willing to share credit with anyone else. Maybe if the show had his blessing it would have either gotten a bigger fanbase or not been such a lightning rod for fan-hate. But his behavior towards the show was completely unprofessional. You think Don Rosa likes DuckTales 2017 or that Scott Bakula likes Quantum Leap 2022? They don't, but they said their piece, and that was the end of it. They didn't have their kids online nitpicking every little thing and trying to sabotage the show week by week. I'm not gonna miss that. At all.
Also should point out that math does in fact exist. Therefore even if you accepted that the reboot's versions of the Warners and Pinky And The Brain are worse than the original series' take (which is debatable, if you ask me), the fact that all of those awful cartoons I mentioned, that ate up SO much of the original series' runtime, are enirely absent, makes this show ten times better than the original. And that would be so if the Warners and Acme Labs were twice as bad. And I don't think they are, so it pisses me off the guy who let the Hip Hippos on the air is always whining about quality control. Give me a freaking break.
Wait, didn't I say I was gonna ONLY start arguing against stupid stuff in the last cartoon? I'm trying real hard to be the shepherd here, Ringo... Okay, maybe that joke's as played out as the Joe Pesci thing. But see, I'm only telling it once in this review. *****.
Everyday Safety: Giant Adirondack Chair:
Well, that's it, isn't it? I don't want to hear complaints about the ending and how it's cliffhanger and unresolved or the Warners died. Don't be stupid, okay? Please? Just this once, don't make me argue against nonsense. Let's pretend a comedy ending on a joke is acceptable. Because guess what? It is.
As the last cartoon, I guess it will be important to talk about what the show did right and wrong. I know the series probably wished for more seasons, but I don't like that Julia's Arc on Pinky And The Brain wound up totally unresolved, especially since it was just warming up. Similarly, I was delighted Starbox and Cindy sort of became a bit serialized this season. But it just stopped and we're left hanging. I object to that far most than the Warners being hit by a comet they would survived had the series been renewed. Like, I have Starbox QUESTIONS, man. Don't do that to me.
So That's All, Folks. Or more like, Those Are The Facts. ****.
Episode Overall: ****.
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