04.26
I love these shows as much as I always have, but I’m looking forward to making it to the second season for these shows. Ah well, at least I’m just about to hit double digits, and there’s some great stuff to look over here.
Dexter’s Laboratory:
“Doll House Drama”
Ho man, this is one of the most memorable stories from the first season. Well, it’s one of mine at least. How else are you going to see a macho manboy like Dexter play with dollies? Well, there is something later on in the show where that similarly occurs, but for now, let’s look at this one.
In this one, Dexter uses a shrink ray to find out why Dee Dee isn’t messing with his room, only to discover she’s playing with dollies. The shrunken Dexter is unwillingly coerced into portraying Dee Dee’s soap opera fantasies, but not just out of Dee Dee’s request. This is how the episode plays out- Dexter’s shrink ray gives him delusions into believing that he’s really a pawn in the Doll House Drama storyline, and he plays along.
What makes this so fascinating is that one of the key elements between Dexter and Dee Dee’s relationship is how they perceive reality vs. fantasy. In one hand, Dexter is the more grounded, as he sticks down to earth, and portrays cold, heard evidence in his scientific endeavors, while Dee Dee is so much more playful and joyous.
The way this is flipped is, however, is true to their ages- Dee Dee is a pre-adolescent, still childish in many ways, but has lived long enough to know when play time ends, and when it’s time to act serious. In this regard, Dexter still has some growing up to do and often reverts to playtime when the real world is calling. Dee Dee may fool around in her brother’s room, but this is merely her playtime, how she lets out energy and expresses herself. To her, she and Dexter are just playing dollies.
But right now, Dexter can’t see that. Whether this is actually a kink from one of his inventions which needs fixing, or his mentality coming into play is debatable, but Dexter does believe that he’s a soap opera character, complete with tan evil (robotic) twin and the ghost of his old love. He can’t see beyond Dee Dee’s clichéd narrative, and nearly wrecks everything in the process.
Dee Dee the big sister doesn’t come into play here during the episode, as this character trait of hers later will, but as an example of their different worldview points, this episode works. And as a comedic story, it’s a damn fine one as well. Already the show has hit into a sweet groove for the two characters as Dexter plays muse to Dee Dee’s auteur. Even without Dexter’s trademark pretention, this is a classic standard of the show’s form that uses both characters splendidly. Dee Dee also isn’t dumbed down, which is another appreciated change of pace which starts this half-hour off well.
Oh, and kudos for the Monkey jack in the box. I want one!
“Krunk’s Date”
Let the Marvel fanboy name-drop the other spoofs in this episode before I get to anaylsis. Now obviously this episode starts with the Justice Friends fighting their foes, the Injustice Fiends, a Masters of Evil of sorts. The leader is named Comrade Red, possibly Major Glory’s archenemy and a dead-ringer for Baron Zemo, who also lead the Masters of Evil’s greatest storyline against the Avengers. Then there’s Von Hellen, who I had to look up. An obvious foe for Valhallen, he seems to be a cross between Ulik the Invincible and Malekith (the villain you probably don’t remember from The Dark World) as opposed to a more obvious Loki reference. And hey, Leaping Bullet is back with the Justice Friends! Remember him from the Monkey story “Rassler”? Probably not.
There’s one more obvious super hero reference here- the titular date for Kronk. But She-Thing, the Injustice Fiend’s answer to the Friends’ ultra-powered buddy, does form a quick connection to good old Kronk. Granted, I never recalled She-Hulk being a villain, but that’s neither here nor there.
As a genuine love story, this is kind of hard to take too seriously, since it’s so brief and the two barely form a connection together. Even Disney movies take longer for their leads to fall in love. On the other hand… when are these two goofballs going to find someone else nearly as compatible as one another? There aren’t too many big, bulky purple radioactive brutes out there. And at least S&P spares us from a hulky sex scene.
On the other hand, let’s reconsider their romantic bonding together. Besides the humanized dating tropes of eating outside on a picnic blanket (something few people do anymore), going to a movie (where they can’t talk, unless they want to aggravate everyone in the cinema, and taking goofy pictures, their bonding gets wackier. The two compliment each other as one another smashes their teammates’ heads into the ground, practice their roars, and compare damage done. Now this trip into the mindset of the Kronks is far more fascinating than seeing the purple buggers act like humans.
Since this short is kind of vanilla, instead of talking much more about it, I’ll take this chance to lament about the fact that Gennedy didn’t take the chance to have the Justice Friends shorts have a different art style. The UPA/classic Hanna-Barbera –influenced look that Dexter has works fine for the show, but imagine the Justice Friends being made with a Kirby or Romita-influenced layout. Not only would it make the shorts feel more authentic to their silver age spoofs and set itself apart from the rest of the show, this would STILL work in comparison with Dexter. The silver age looks isn’t too far off from the handsome designs of Hanna-Barbera’s earliest creations, even if your average Marvel comic had more detailed-looking characters. A slight dumbing down of Kirby’s iconic structural influence would have made these shorts pop.
“The Big Cheese”
I called “Doll House Drama” one of the most memorable episodes from season 1, but all of a sudden, this gem came back into my life. I can’t say that I remember the exact scenario in which I saw this short for the first time, but I remember incessantly bugging anyone in my zone with references to omelette du fromage!
But why a cheese omelet? Well first of all, that’s not even how you pronounce even spell the thing, but think about French stereotypes. They’re romantic, and omelette du fromage sounds kind of frisky in the right phrasing. They like cheese and wine, and this is definitely cheesy, but you kind of can’t mention alcohol in kids shows. And they’re supposed to love Jerry Lewis, but that’s actually a massive overstatement which the French want you to forget immediately. And that has nothing to do with this episode, so I’ll leave that be.
This is a damn funny cartoon whose joke relies on one word, repeated over and over again to massive success, only to end in failure. This probably wouldn’t have worked at all if Christine Cavanaugh wasn’t so fantastic as Dexter. It took her maybe two lines to fully transform her raspy voice into this shrubby little boy genius, and she sells each line perfectly. Each repeating of the episode’s iconic phrase has a slightly different reflection to it, which is what makes the episode and performance so damn memorable.
Johnny Bravo:
“Substitute Teacher”
We haven’t seen Johnny at his karate studio yet, have we? It says a lot about the character that he’s a 20-something year old in a class full of kids who have to be 10 and under, but I would argue that this is part of his charm rather than a creepy factoid. Johnny’s basically a little kid at heart, but he means well. At least with kids and karate. I wouldn’t defend Johnny’s attitude towards women for a second.
Mr. Goodman, Johnny’s instructor, is rightfully annoyed at the dolt for his general buffoonery, and this endeavor won’t do Johnny any favors in winning him over. No one would be surprised to find out that Johnny hasn’t seen or read too many burglar stories, since he doesn’t recognize the suspicious looking man in a bandit mask, even after poor Mr. Goodman’s tied up.
Such a silly episode, this one. Johnny’s naiveté often gets in the way from letting him see the truth for the majority of the time, but that does result in some of the show’s best material, and this is a decent one. It takes no time at all for Johnny and the burglar, the substitute teacher in question, to evoke many of the most recognizable action tropes, yet somehow not touch any from your most notable martial arts films. They even run through a fruit stand!
As an embracement of the reluctant buddy adventure movie, I say he short succeeds. Of course, Johnny is the Lennie, while the burglar is George, which is where the likability comes in Johnny’s sincerity. He honestly believes that he’s learning great martial arts secrets, which proves how stupid he is, but makes for delightfully wacky situations.
This adventure is Johnny at his wackiest, most gullible, as he believes everything the baddie says, only for him to rightfully get his ass handed to him. Already the audience has grown accustomed to the fact that Johnny is a moron, and this isn’t telling us anything too different, but just playing more with the laughs.
“A Wolf in Chick’s Clothing”
The first season of Johnny had a high number of random episodes in which Johnny befriends (or sometimes even dates) an unlikely ally, and has to deal with the ordeals of trailing along with them for the episode. The previous story had him do crimes with a burglar, for example. This is a formula that was more or less dropped the following season, with Johnny usually teamed up with a lady of higher intelligence or one of his supporting characters instead.
I consider these to be improvements, since the side characters on the show (besides Mama and Suzy, we’ll meet some more next year) are rather well defined characters, and most of the women Johnny goes on adventures with are given actual personalities for him to combat with. Opposed to the writers hoping that him spending time with a camel will instantly come with some inspired comedic bits.
Another thing the first season of JB had a surprising abundance of were Halloween-themed episodes. The Scooby-Doo crossover kind of counts as one, but he’d have to deal with other supernatural creatures during this year, and CN wisely would air one or two of the half hours where these episodes came from each October for a good while.
This is one of those. And it does make sense that one of the few women who would willingly date Johnny Bravo is actually a werewolf. In her defense though, the lady’s human design is quite handsome.
It’s actually kind of depressing to see Johnny have a successful date end up being as much of a waste as it is. Johnny keeps his chauvinistic ways out of the equation tonight as he tries to give his date a nice time, only hoping that in return she successfully returns to human form when sunrise comes. Johnny usually deserves what’s coming to him, but sometimes everyone deserves a happy ending. Even Tom and Jerry secede every now and then!
Thankfully, this is a funny episode, even with the jokes mostly revolving around doggy humor. Sometimes it’s just funny to see a werewolf try to act like people, and not eat people for a change. Johnny gets a good reaction here and there to let the audience in on how well aware he is of the insanity going on.
“Intensive Care”
I mentioned Suzy earlier, but we haven’t really seen her all that much lately to my recollection (I think episode 6 was the last time she showed up to my knowledge. Wait, she had a very brief role in “The Day the Earth Didn’t Move Around Very Much”, but that’s not what people remember from it).
Here, she features somewhat prominently, as the poor little girl just had her tonsils taken out, which causes Bunny to get her son to dress up as a clown for her. Embarrassment often adds onto more embarrassment, so it’s no surprise that after Johnny comes out in his clown suit, he meets Suzy’s sexy nurse and… we all know what’s coming.
After finding Johnny somewhat relatable in the previous short, it’s nice to see him delightfully repugnant here. Delightful in that watching his ass get handed to him is a hoot, especially as the nurse’s co-worker, the slimy, Peter Lorre sound-alike Alphonse, doles out the punishment. And he doesn’t let go.
In some ways, this is treated like a strange cross between a cartoon from the golden age and a Corman-esq horror film, with traps for Johnny becoming increasingly elaborate. The further Johnny gets into the pit, the more he is tortured. The fact that he could easily get out and avoid any more pain up at any time yet doesn’t only justify the short’s humor, as he lets himself get punished.
It’s even better as we see Suzy feel better after her tonsillectomy being juxtaposed to Johnny being put in increasingly harsher situations. Mostly, at least. His pain is only beginning. This episode can be viewed as twisted if you look at it in that regard.
Me, I find it to be one part of a solid half hour of cartoons. The werewolf short is the odd one out, but still enjoyable. The other two shorts play with cartoon tropes and succeed at their ambitions.
The Powerpuff Girls:
“Bubblevicious”
One clear distinction that the end credits make when it comes to the girls is that Buttercup is “the toughest fighter”. Not the strongest girl, but just the toughest in combat. I like this, since I stick to the belief that the girls are equal in strength, but Buttercup is the one who asserts herself in combat the most. Just like Blossom asserts herself the most in terms of intellect, which is why she is considered the smartest.
This is important to remember, as we’ll see Blossom and Bubbles both proof their equal merits in the battlefield as the show goes on. This is one of Bubbles’ earliest examples, and it’s also one of the most popular episodes, for good reason.
Think about Bubbles. Despite the girls being the same age, she’s always being treated as the baby, primarily due to her naiveté. As a result, the professor and her sisters constantly restrict her. It makes sense that Bubbles is tired of being the baby, especially since she is the same age as Blossom and Buttercup. She’s cute, but has feelings too, and is more than capable to hold her own when it comes to fighting crime.
It’s understandable that Bubbles feels left out when her training sequences are cut down in comparison to her sisters or she’s still being given little pushes, but does that really justify her rampage here? In no time, Bubbles becomes a monster of sorts and gets pretty violent. Among whoever’s doing wrong She even beats up poor Talking Dog!
This episode is kind of intense, all things considered. Not in terms of tension, but the violence level is crazy, especially when you compare it to other cartoons of its kind. There’s a bit early on where Bubbles knocks the eyeball out of one of the monsters she faces which I still can’t believe they got away with on the show. I think the show was able to get away with its butt-kicking as Cartoon Network was still kind of skewed towards adults as well as kids during this phase of its history, and the show’s sense of humor also helped to ground it a little as well.
I feel that “Bubblevicious” resonated with as many fans as it did since there are many people in Bubbles’ position. It’s not uncommon to feel unappreciated or misrepresented like Bubbles often does, despite proving her worth by saving the day along with her sisters. Her rebellion is rough, but even at her most violent, she’s trying to help. She even gets out of Mojo Jojo’s hands okay when he abducts her, and doesn’t give into his plot. As a trip into her character, this episode is a total success. This isn’t the funniest short, but it’s a fantastic one regardless.
“The Bare Facts”
I’ll lay this out for a reminder now- of the four shows I’m writing about here, 3 of them have done Rashomon-inspired episodes. This is the first of these three, and I’d call it the second-best. The previous episode was a little fierce, but this is a complete farce from start to finish, one that I’m very grateful for.
Here, the girls, after saving the day, are asked by the Mayor to explain why they’re laughing now that he’s out of Mojo Jojo’s hands. There’s an easier way to tell him why, but instead, the girls decide to tell him the long, hard story.
The thing that makes this story gel is how varied the girl’s versions are of the recap. Blossom is trying to stick to just the facts, but her self-gratification gives her some pronoun trouble, and as a result, tends to leave her sisters out of the story. This is indicative of her character by showing her elitist side. Blossom is usually the one who is most in check, and is often the first to congratulate herself. She clearly loves her sisters, but their battle against Mojo was a success entirely thanks to her, as far as she’s concerned. The artwork is even tinted redish pink, in keeping up with her mentality and favoritism.
Buttercup’s side, meanwhile, is more stylized, with a heavy dash of green added to a mostly black and white mix. The artwork here is almost comic book –like, keeping with her tomboyish tendencies. She tells the story mostly straight, but speeds up the pace to get things over with. Buttercup is smart in some regards, but she rushes into things too fast, which is one of her weaknesses.
Bubbles is seemingly the anti-Buttercup, however. The artwork portrayed in her take on the story are literally crayon drawings, which should surprise no one. She doesn’t skimp out on the details, but rather doles on them constantly. She’s the youngest-acting of the three, even if she doesn’t always like being treated as the baby. And unlike her sisters, there isn’t an over-abundance of Bubbles’ dress color in her mind. There is plenty of blue, but not any more than other colors. She has always been the least selfish of the girls, which is where her usual strength comes in. While Blossom and Buttercup often fight over leadership issues, Bubbles is fine with not being in control and just using her energy to help people instead. She truly is the heart of the show.
We learn a lot about the girls’ thought processes here, as each have their own skewed, yet uniquely hilarious way, to tell the Mayor what happened. The other thing that makes the direction of the episode so unique is how it’s done from the Mayor’s point of view. We see through his eyes during the episode, until the very, very end. Unlike the girls though, we don’t learn much about him that we don’t already know- it’s already been proven that the Mayor isn’t very bright, and has help from Miss Bellum a lot for his job, as well as his ambivalence to his wife. But the ending does reveal a little too much regardless.
These two stories are great contrasts to each other. “Bubblevicious” leans the heaviest towards the show’s action side thus far, giving Bubbles and her sister plenty of butt-kicking opportunities while also having a strong joke here or there as well; “The Bare Facts” meanwhile, is primarily a yuk-fest that has brief flashes of action in it. Both are fantastic though, and make for what is easily one of the show’s best episodes, period. A lot is offered into the mind of the Powerpuff Girls, making for some of the most memorable moments the show has done. It’s episodes like these that keep me coming back to these series well after my childhood.
Ed, Edd n’ Eddy:
“It’s Way Ed”
Fads. They’re always a part of life, from clothing, to entertainment, food, or in today’s case, pastimes. The Eds have always been a little behind what the rest of the Cul-De-Sac are up to, and here, they miserably try to catch up with what Sarah, Jimmy, and the rest are doing to pass the time with each other.
Many kids would struggle to follow each new phase their peers are juggling through, even if they can’t catch up, but what sets Eddy apart is that he chooses to invent the next fad himself. Eddy may not be the brightest at school, but his intellect shines when it comes to invention.
And just look at the Fad Freaky. I can just see some A-list celeb’s kids wear something like this.
Both of these episodes explore Eddy’s mind, what makes him tick. It makes me realize that the first season relies pretty heavily on his character, but that does definitely change as the show goes on. For now, Antonucci and crew want us to believe that he is the leader of the Ed boys, and give an idea of just how he works.
In this half of the episode, Eddy is overcompensating for his failure to be right there for what everyone else is fawning over by going a step ahead, and telling them WHAT they should fawn over. It’s a method that isn’t always successful, and can linger onto creepy, but Eddy is a salesman at heart. A salesman who thinks up his products. Unfortunately, he gives up too soon and walks off. The joke does end up on Eddy though, as we the audience will soon find out.
I wouldn’t call this one of the better stories the show has done, although I do find it interesting. Ed and Double D have some funny bits, as they help Eddy try to keep up, but they’re almost like accessories here rather than important characters, while the rest of the kids don’t really do anything but shun the Eds. There are clever moments scattered throughout, but it’s only the ending that truly shines as a bit of inspired depressive humor.
“Laugh, Ed, Laugh”
While the previous short attempted to remind the audience of Eddy’s mental virtues, this one straps him away from likability and makes the kid snap.
If there’s one thing that Eddy doesn’t seem to like at all, it’s boredom. He’s always doing something, consistently in motion, especially during the summer. Whenever he sits down and relax, it’s to take a much-needed break from fulfilling his needs to live the summer to the fullest. It’s the model that most kids want to say they’ll accomplish during the summer, but end up spending half their free time watching TV or playing video games instead, until school creeps back up on them.
And that’s another thing which sets Ed, Edd n’ Eddy apart from other shows about kids doing regular kid things. They gang rarely ever just sits down and talk, they’re always in motion, be it coming up with scams or joining in on activities with the other kids. We’ve already had an episode where the basic storyline is that the kids are just playing hide and seek together. Yet it’s not just a straight game- there are plenty of killer lines and gags throughout, always sticking to a classic cartoon methodology. Ed, Edd n‘ Eddy is very much the best of both worlds from the old and new schools, and it’s all the better for it.
But take away the rest of the kids, and what do the three Eds have to do with each other? As it turns out, not much. There aren’t any kids to scam, no balls to kick around, and they’ve already traveled through every place that they can. Ed and Double D seem to take this quiet day fine, as they seem to want to stay home and have a lazy day for a change.
But not Eddy. Without any other kids to scam or play with, he snaps and makes a nuisance throughout the neighborhood, in a way that only Eddy can do. Conversely, Ed and Double D’s attempts to bring him back to sanity are very much inventions of their warped, unmatched minds. This isn’t so much a battle of wits, but rather fighting fire with fire to a broken kid.
Just like “It’s Way Ed”, this ends with the joke being on Eddy, but I’d argue that the jokes are better here. Eddy’s lack of mental balance is an easy way to crack up here, since little makes sense to the guy now. Take away basic logic, and you have the potential for some fantastic laughs. Eddy’s early meltdown in particular is one of the most memorable moments from the first season, if not one of the most memorable episodes period.
Overall:
Great week! Even the weakest shorts have great stuff all around. Both Powerpuff shorts are the winner of the week, and I can’t even decide between then. It’s crazy that I’m almost done with the first , but these are still as fun as ever to watch.