11.02
While you could definitely find my enthusiasm in last week’s entries, I don’t think that I articulated why I have such a particular affection for Cartoon Network’s programming on the 90’s/early 00’s.
Well, the 90’s were a great period for animation. Besides the birth of Cartoon Network, Disney and Warner went through a renaissance, primetime animation arguably started up, and Nickelodeon also started its own collection of animated series. This period started out around the mid-80’s, when Disney, under new creative management by Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg, formed a television animation department, which constantly evolved as the 90’s started.
Granted, by the time Dexter’s Lab came out, this high-creativity period was slowing down a bit. Disney’s film and television departments were delving into mediocrity, as did Nickelodeon, Warner still was producing interesting stuff, but eventually the sting of Kids WB!’s underperforming hurt too much and the block would rely on a series of pocket monsters to stay alive (but hey, their best shows eventually did start to air on CN), and adult animation was stuck with only one or two major hits at a time, one of those always being the Simpsons.
Cartoon Network the channel was a highpoint of animation during the entire decade, right from its inception in 1992. This especially became true when the network did more than air classics, and introduced their originals and later brought in cutting-edge anime to their Toonami block. But this isn’t a Toonami reflection, it’s a look back at four of CN’s classic originals, and I’ll try to talk more about why these shows are so great as I look through their sophomore episodes.
Dexter’s Laboratory:
“Dexter Dodgeball”
Dexter has the holy gym excuse card hidden safe in his lab, the ultimate Get Out of Jail Free card. An easy way to get out of what seems like the toughest gym class out there… until the school’s substitute coach asks “What’s this crap?” (back when crap was a-okay on kid’s shows not rated TV-PG- later repeats would replace it with “crud”, but the DVD and recent Boomerang airings have the original word restored).
So now Dexter has to put on the school’s yellow and green gym clothes and has to go outside. The game? Look at the title.
And as you can guess, a minute or two’s worth of the episode takes place with Dexter getting pounded on by these balls. Hard. There’s your dirty joke for the week, pervs. Ya happy? But what can you expect with what seems like imitations of Jimbo Jones, Dolph Starbeam and Kearney Zzyzwicz?
This causes Dexter to make his own mecha dodgeball fighter, showing off Tartakavosky’s fetish for giant robots. And of course Dexter gets his revenge… until the end.
This is one of the first episodes of Dexter that I remember watching in particular. I distinctly remember hearing the “What’s this crap” line in particular. Seeing it now, I can’t say that it’s one of the best. It’s a pretty one-joke episode, and that joke does get old fast, even with some clever variations. Sadly this won’t be the last time we get a short like this, either.
“Rasslor”
And here’s Monkey!
This week’s title villain, the all-mighty Rasslor (voiced by “Macho Man” Randy Savage), comes down to Earth to face its greatest combatant. Rasslor has a bunch of heroes, including Monkey, join him in a giant stadium and faces each person one-by-one.
This introduces the Justice Friends before they starred in their own segments. It is funny to see that despite being named after the Super Friends, and their lair being a knock-off of the Hall of Justice, the entirety of the members are based off of Marvel characters. Of course, the three main Justice Friends, Major Glory, Val Hallen, and the Infraggable Krunk, are inspired by Captain America, the Mighty Thor and the Incredible Hulk respectively. I’ll get to talk about these three characters again in greater detail later in this series, so I’ll end my say on them here.
But since I probably won’t get a chance to tackle these lesser Justice Friends again, and there isn’t much to talk about in this short, I’ll give you a who’s-who of the others. Sam-R-I, the samurai with the Seuss-inspired name (which Rasslor calls out in a funny scene), seems to be a combination of Moon Knight and villain Silver Samurai. The grey-bodied and yellow-faced dude, bears a strong resemblance to the Vision. The white tiger is an obvious nod to Black Panther. The Globetrotter-like dude is a combination of Luke Cage’s (aka Power Man) street appearance and Giant Man’s powers. And Living Bullet is Iron Man, nat.
And they all get their butts handed to them. Can Monkey top Rasslor? What do you think? A bunch of brief fights is all you get, but I’m sure that Marvel fans will enjoy not only the references to various heroes of their canon, but the little nod to Daredevil #7 by the end. Otherwise, it’s standard fluff.
“Dexter’s Assistant”
Dexter sure likes to show off his elitism. He’s super sure that he will win this year’s science fair… again. Except Dexter can’t reach the button at the bottom of his giant invention while being on top.
Dexter needs an assistant, and needs one fast. Which is why he picks Dee Dee to have a brain transplant to do such. The only problem is that Dee Dee becomes a LOT smarter than before, and corrects a lot of Dexter’s mistakes, and eventually gives up on him, entering the science fair on her own.
This short reminds me of a Pinky & the Brain episode where the Brain increases Pinky’s brain capacity, only for Pinky to realize that all of the duo’s failings come from the Brain’s own misgivings, instead of Pinky’s negligence. It’s a cute, eye-opening story, and despite the similarities between the two, “Dexter’s Assistant” doesn’t really suffer. It has a different take than the P&TB short, while both shows generally have unique pacing and styles of humor from each other, so it’s not like you’d expect them to be entirely identical. While Dexter and Dee Dee’s relationship hasn’t exactly been perfected yet, the short works fine for both characters regardless.
Episode two of Dexter’s Laboratory is just fine. None of these segments are classics, but each one does have their moments. The first suffers the most from early-run fatigue, while the last is the pick of the litter. I try to not spoil my appetite by finding out what episodes are planned next for each consecutive week, but I’m sure that there will certainly be stronger segments in the long run.
This week’s highlight comes from the last segment, featuring the boy genius’s infamous “MY HAIR IS ON FIRE!” chant.
Johnny Bravo:
“Super Duped”
Hey, Little Suzy! While I’m just sticking to the DVD’s order of episodes, rather than checking the original airdates, I’m a little surprised to find that Johnny’s precocious little next-door-neighbor appears in the series before his mama does. But hey, stranger things have happened in the world of TV appearances.
Bunny Bravo is mentioned briefly though, as Johnny’s on a quest to get some groceries for his mama, which forces him to cross Suzy’s school, where she apparently has a show-and-tell project today. Naturally, she wants Johnny to be her subject, and while he is reluctant, after catching an eye of Suzy’s teacher (Miss… Babe), he accepts.
Suzy introduces Johnny as a super hero, and just like the zookeeper in the pilot, everyone in her class, including the teacher, believes her. Johnny gets the class’s attention, when all of a sudden, the bank across the street is robbed. Sounds like a job for a super hero, right?
Despite Johnny’s protesting, everyone, including the cops of the town and villain robbing the bank, believe that he is a super hero. Aaron City sure is full of morons, huh?
The bad guy is named Sweet Cheeks, a creepy guy obsessed with candy that’s even dressed like a candy cane. It’s like that one Lex Luthor meme you see around, but totally legit.
Johnny eventually saves the day, kinda, but it isn’t a happy ending after all. Thankfully the whole short is a hoot though. It’s a very strange short, but there’s a lot of strange JB shorts, and this feels like a precursor to some of the best.
“Bungled in the Jungle”
And now we go to the return of Jungle Boy, this time in his first team-up with Johnny.
Being a part of the “No Class”, our protagonist gets kicked out of a flying airplane and falls into the jungle, crashing into Jungle Boy and breaking his leg. Johnny officially becomes the pariah of the jungle, which leads to the attention of King Raymond. The gorilla schemes to trap Johnny and use him for his own scheming, but in typical cartoon fashion, things do not go as expected. At first. The inhabitants of the jungle do get a chance to have their vengeance, and Raymond’s plot comes to fruition.
Thankfully Jungle Boy turns out okay, and Johnny is saved. But it wouldn’t be Johnny Bravo if he had a happy ending, now would it?
This is a lot better than the Jungle Boy pilot, and Johnny doesn’t even do much in his appearance. Jungle Boy still isn’t too strong of a character, but the interactions between the creatures of the jungle more than make up for it, and surprisingly, King Raymond makes for a good whipping boy, an appropriately loathsome character whose punishments are never out of line. His charisma could use some work to become a perfect foil, but I’m starting to doubt my previous statement of Jungle Boy not expanding to be a good thing.
“Bearly Enough Time”
Butch Hartman? Where have I heard that name before?
This segment takes us to the forest, where we briefly meet a deer and rabbit similar to Bambi and Thumper, before going over to Johnny and his mama Bunny, as she makes a sweater out of pinecones for Johnny. Mama Bravo runs away to get some more, leaving Johnny to stand with a bunch of pinecones on his person, until he runs away.
Johnny runs right into the lair of Cronos, the bear master of all time! Since Johnny woke him out of his hibernation, Cronos is mad and is now out to eat JB.
Now Johnny has to make Cronos go to sleep, or face being dinner for this bear, and Yogi he ain’t. Johnny doesn’t succeed and has to face Cronos’ wrath, with a classic ending.
While “Bearly Enough Time” ends up being the weakest of the three segments, this makes up to be a great episode regardless, setting up for some of the show’s eventual best stuff. I can’t decide if I like the first or second short more, though. I might have to come back to you.
I think this week’s highlight goes to a line from the second segment, “Everyone who’s poisonous, please raise his or her hands”. You need to see it to find out just why.
My question of the week- does anyone know how to fix a VCR clock?
The Powerpuff Girls:
“Insect Inside”
Okay, serious bug haters can skip this one. See ya in the next segment.
Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup may be very different from each other, but there’s one thing that the sisters have in common- they fucking hate cockroaches. Can you blame them though?
Thankfully, Professor U is here to show the girls in the right direction and give them a nice history lesson- until he delves into their future. Yeesh.
Well, it turns out the cockroach that invaded the Utonium household is a pet of the heinous Roach Coach, an owner of seemingly thousands of cockroaches, decides to use this new-found knowledge of the Powerpuff Girls’ dislike of bugs to his advantage- now, the cockroaches of Townsville will team up to take over the town, and then, the world!
The girls save the day by trapping all of the cockroaches into a giant jar… at first. Until Roach Coach combines himself with all of them to take on the girls. Of course they save the day, but is it worth seeing all of these nasty kakerlakes?
This is pretty okay stuff, with some really funny stuff. And the Professor gets a great ending, too.
“Powerpuff Bluff”
You thought the last segment was weird? Check this out.
A trio of petty thieves keeps on hitting the town, with the girls stopping them dead in their tracks each time. Tired of constantly being arrested, they take up a new method- become the Powerpuff Girls! How convenient that the robber’s jail cell contains costumes of the girls. They promptly escape and plan their new scheme.
While the trio are making up for their past failures, the real girls are having their naptime, with a special guest star alongside them. The robbers get the bank, the jewelry store, and even wreck havoc in the Mayor’s house. This causes the Mayor to call SWAT and get the girls locked up, for these thugs’ actions. The girls escape prison and take on their counterparts.
Do the girls save their honor and get them rightfully arrested? I shall not say! Trust me, you don’t want me to.
Episode 2, or 1, is pretty good, if odd. I think the second segment is the stronger, if only for the sheer insanity factor of seeing three grown men dressed up as the Powerpuff Girls. It’s just a trip, man.
Highlight of the episode? Primarily from the Mayor’s attempt to call the girls in the first segment, but failing each time Bubbles answers.
Ed, Edd n’ Eddy:
“Pop Goes the Ed”
Since the first episode was somewhat scamless, at least this short starts off with a classic scheme of the Ed’s- Ed’s Hive Bee Gone, a bee-swatting service. Unfortunately, it failed right on their face. Well, on Ed and Double D’s faces, which get damned by those bees.
This almost feels like a cold opening, as the rest of the segment doesn’t relate to it. It’s super hot on this summer day, as the Ed’s try to find some shade, and continue to fail at each turn. Until dork-hating Kevin tells the boys of Nazz’s sprinkler party. Despite not being invited, the Ed’s get ready for this party by strapping on Eddy’s brother’s old speedos, the first reference of Eddy’s sibling issues. Eddy even draws chest hairs on himself.
Now they’re totally ready to crash Nazz’s party, and mingle. We didn’t get much time for the rest of the Cul-De-Sac to shine last week, but we get great introductions to everyone else here. Kevin and Eddy’s antagonistic rivalry is well displayed, Nazz ‘s well-meaning ignorance is shown, and we get some early potential for great stuff with Rolf. You just gotta see what happens with him.
The Ed’s don’t seem to catch a break in their attempt to gain attention, and their desire to do so fails when the boy’s already-tight speedos crash out on them and leaves the Ed’s butt-naked. Ho boy.
Thankfully we don’t see any Ed dick this week, but they don’t get a happy ending. Would you really expect them too?
Something the first season of Ed, Edd n’ Eddy did very well was play on the Ed’s attempts and constant failures of trying to fit in with the rest of the kids. At first, it seems like they just want nothing to do with the Ed boys, but as the show progresses and we devolve more into their psyches, it’s easy to understand why they fail so hard. Both methods work well for the sake of the show and characters, and this is a great example of the earlier method.
“Over Your Ed”
This short’s opening offers a great compare-contrast for the three Ed’s, by looking at how they bathe. Double D is VERY meticulous, and doesn’t feel complete until every. Last. Stain is removed. Eddy likes to jam in the shower, to the point that he even occasionally swallows his soap. Ed… doesn’t do any kind of cleaning.
This becomes a problem when Ed’s stench ruins their energy (sorry, En-O-Gee) drink stand. A shame, since it seems like it’d actually work this time, too. Look at how Double D acts after a drink. But it isn’t even just his smell, either. Ed’s entire demeanor just seems to be a nuisance to their scams, which is a pretty astute point to bring up so soon in the show’s run, but hey, Dexter’s Laboratory did the same thing in its third segment this week.
Eddy takes it upon himself to clean up Ed and change his entire persona, first by bathing him, than giving Ed some of his clothes. And after learning some great moves and lines from Eddy and Double D, it works, and Ed becomes the toast of the town.
It all works, until the Kankers come by. Does the ending ruin the short? Only slightly. The show’s gorgeous animation has improved a lot since the first three segments. While there would still be squigglevision-esque layouts during the first season, this short looks surprisingly clean, and the show’s brilliant use of colors and character detail has really come into its own with this one episode. Check out the scene where Eddy trades moves with Ed. That’s a really smooth little bit.
The first segment is a little stronger, but I still enjoyed episode 2 of the show quite a bit. The best part is that there’s so much more great stuff to anticipate from here.
In the first segment, Eddy tries to get Ed and Double D to converse with the kids, which causes them to talk about their television viewings last night. Bad call, considering their tastes, but a highlight regardless.
Overall:
As expected, week two’s selections definitely showed signs of improvement over the first. I’d probably throw my pick of the week to “Bungled in the Jungle”, which surprised me in how well it holds up. Also, I already got a brief idea of what to expect next week, and let me just say that I’m going to review some GREAT stuff when I get to there.
Ah well, until then. I wish I had a fence post.