11.09
Another week, another set of Cartoon Cartoons to look over. And yes, I will probably still be this lazy with every introduction for now on.
So let’s just get started.
Dexter’s Laboratory:
“Dexter’s Rival”
At last, the first day of school is compl… er, here.
And poster boy genius Dexter is ready to shine in his class, until the class’s new student (it’s the first day, who cares if he’s a new student?) Astronomenoff, or Mandark for short. This guy is so smart, he can even read Dexter’s thoughts, and crams him hard on the first day.
To add insult to injury, Dexter shows Mandark his world-famous (or soon to be) lab, which doesn’t impress the new kid in town, with his own massive laboratory. Shamed beyond belief, Dexter shuts down his lab.
This could lead to a sad ending for our boy genius, but there’s a sick little twist- Mandark falls in love with Dee Dee, which gives Dexter an idea, and his victory.
Mandark is one of the most popular parts of Dexter’s Laboratory, but he doesn’t really appear that often, at least not during the show’s original run. I don’t think he even appears in the rest of the first season (I’m afraid to spoil myself by checking). While the later episodes would overrun the character well beyond his welcome, Mandark was a likable addition at first. His introduction here is cute, if predictable and not on par with the best uses of the character. Later stories will build on his and Dexter’s rivalry, with greater results.
“Simion”
Speaking of introductions, with this week’s Monkey shorts comes our proper meeting of Agent Honeydew and her S.H.I.E.L.D.-esq agency of heroes. I’d write a little about Honeydew, her boss, Commander General, and their cohorts, but they don’t really have much character at all. Neither does Monkey, for that matter.
We only get to see them briefly in the beginning anyway, as this week’s titular villain requires instant attention from Monkey.
Simion is a fellow primate, a chimpanzee to be exact. Simion was hired to become a space chimp for NASA, but after being exposed to similar cosmic radiations that the Fantastic Four met, became a super-strong chimp, similar to Monkey.
Simion’s goal is to get Monkey to team up with him, and take over the humans, almost like Planet of the Apes in reverse. However, Monkey is too obsessed with the somewhat bestial relationship with Honeydew to think about anything, and comes up with a quick solution to make Simion a happy monkey.
Maurice LaMarche packs a punch playing the title bad guy, but this is about on par with the lesser Monkey shorts that do nothing for me. They just aren’t that funny.
Mmm, triple fudge chocolate cake.
“Old Man Dexter”
This is one of the first Dexter shorts made, commissioned as a test after the show was bought as a series to se if it could work as a show. We’ll see the original two shorts later this season, but we’re not talking about them now.
It’s time for the family’s Saturday night tradition- sitting together and catching the Late-Early Movie. Well, all of the family but wee Dexter, who gets rejected for being the youngest of the clan.
Tired of being denied a part of this family tradition, Dexter decides to use his science to his advantage and ages himself up. The funny thing is that while Dexter planned to age himself up to be a young adult, Dee Dee comes in and messes with Dexter’s machine and turns him into an old man instead.
Thankfully the rest of the family confuses Dexter for the family’s grandfather, as he commutes with the fam. Needless to say, being old is not what it’s cracked up to be, and Dexter misses his youth. Not even the movie can make up for the pain of being stuck in an old man’s body with a young boy’s brain.
“Old Man Dexter” is a cute short, which certainly proves that there’s lie to the concept of Dexter’s Laboratory. It’s also the best of the three shorts in this episode, which is overall decent, if nothing spectacular.
Dee Dee’s scream at the end of the third short makes for this week’s highlight.
Johnny Bravo:
“The Sensitive Male”
Last week we saw an episode directed by Butch Hartman. This week Seth MacFarlane takes his hand at writing an episode. The funny thing is, even if you don’t like MacFarlane’s stuff, you might enjoy this episode anyway. It’s nothing like Family Guy.
Johnny tries his hand at hooking up with a hot mama, in typical JB fashion, and in typical JB fashion, his attempt at getting some falls in his face. A short, pudgy guy gets the girl’s number with only a couple of smooth lines, which just amazes Johnny. So much so, that he starts taking tips.
This episode consists of original songs by this smooth talker, which sounds like a throwback to Schoolhouse Rock! The DVD even comes with MacFarlane’s temp tracks, as he was required to write all of the songs in the episode. They make for a keen listen, if you can still find the DVD. They’re all pretty good, too.
Johnny follows this guy around, in hopes for some way to get a girl, but fails along the way. It’s a bit of a one-joke episode, but it makes for a great joke regardless.
Damn, this guy really gives a D. Oh baby. Also, never leave the house without pants.
“Bravo Dooby-Doo”
We only get two shorts this week, since both stories are a little longer than usual. It’s totally worth it, though.
So, this one. Johnny is on his way to his Aunt Jebedissa’s house, but his car breaks along the way. What’s a poor babe magnet to do?
Thankfully, a van passes by this otherwise deserted road. Not just any van though. The Mystery Machine stops by to catch up on Johnny, and after learning that his aunt lives in a spooky house, they agree to give him a ride. So yeah, Scooby and the gang are joining Johnny Bravo to his aunt’s house.
Matters only get worse when Johnny and the mystery gang step into the house, and not only is it empty, but a spooky voice can be heard. In hopes of finding a closet full of snacks, Shaggy and Scooby open a broom closet, only to find a ghostly farmer.
In typical Scooby-Doo fashion, the six team up into groups of three to find clues about this supposedly Ghostly Farmer. Along with Shaggy, Johnny eventually does find the ghost, and a classic chase scene occurs with the whole gang.
Do I even need to say that the Ghostly Farmer isn’t actually a ghost, and that the gang find Aunt Jebedissa? If I do, you haven’t seen an episode of Scooby-Doo before, which I just find hard to believe.
Oh wow. Three episodes in, and we already hit the promised land. The best episode of Johnny Bravo. This isn’t hyperbole, and I know that nothing will top it. “Bravo Dooby-Doo” is as close to perfect as you can get. Taken as either a celebration, modernization, or destruction of Cartoon Network studio’s original Hanna-Barbera influences, this works perfectly, and contains far too many great scenes to possibly name. Nearly every gag works, no matter how you spin it, right down to the classic ending. I’m afraid to say more.
The whole episode is great, with both shorts living up to be classics. Just watch it. You’ll be thankful. Oh, and a fun fact- “Bravo Dooby-Doo” is the first piece of Scooby-Doo material to have Casey Kasem reprise the role of Shaggy, after taking a few years off when asked to play the character for a Burger King ad earlier in the decade. Kasem, a loyal vegetarian, refused to have the character be anything but a herbivore as far back as on the original Where Are You?, and he stood by this with his time off from the character.
Guys in drag rarely make for great gags, but there’s a hilarious scene in the first segment with Johnny in a dress that makes for an easy highlight.
The Powerpuff Girls:
“Octi Evil”
Another early episode, another introduction. Here we meet the androgynous baddy, known only as Him. Him seems to get off at watching the girls playing jump rope with a giant snake (ho-ho), although it does seem more like the devilish creature is looking for a weakness from the girls to exploit.
He succeeds after seeing Blossom and Buttercup fight, like your average sisters would, only they fight about which one of them should lead. Poor little Bubbles ends up crying as a result, which gives Him his new idea.
Later that night, another fight between her two sisters makes Bubbles cry alone in their room. Shortly after, Bubbles’ Squiddly Diddly-like plush, Octi, talks to her in an attempt to calm her. Octi suggests to Bubbles that Buttercup should be leading the girls in action, which gives Bubbles the initiative to help Buttercup succeed.
Disastrous results occur, obviously, but surprisingly on both sides. Blossom’s straight leadership skills are too modest for the girls to succeed, while Buttercup is just too brash to be a leader. And Bubbles, as sweet as she is, just doesn’t have the strength to take on such a task herself (not yet, at least).
All of this just causes the two to fight even more, which gives Him the incentive to use Octi for his own gain against them, by having the plushie grow to giant size to attack Townsville. And thanks to teamwork, the girls get to save the day!
This is a pretty good short. Him is one of the show’s strongest villains. His ominous powers and questionable demeanor helps to give the character a bit of an edge over other villains, and crack into the girls’ psyche. This story introduces Him into the show in a strong way, and gives off potential for more great stories with the devlish crawfish.
“Geshundfight”
Ah, the Amoeba Boys. We met them in one of the original What-A-Cartoon shorts, but since I won’t be tackling them, I’ll just remind you that they’re easily the world’s lamest villains.
Except for this episode.
The boys just want to commit a legit crime to rally up the girls, but they’re so inept that they can’t succeed at all. They even stand by a “keep off the grass” sign all night, falling asleep over the pouring rain. When they wake up, the Amoeba Boys get sick, and considering their parasitic demeanor, a simple sneeze or two is all that it takes to get the rest of Townsville to get sick.
Literally, everyone in Townsville gets sick. Even the girls, at a point, fall accursed of this disease. After a meeting from the Professor helps to give the girls the idea that the Amoeba Boys are responsible for this outbreak, the girls search for the boys, until they pass out. The boys find the Powerpuff trio on the ground, and eventually a compromise is met between the heroes and ne’er-do-wells.
“Geshundfight” is okay. The Amoeba Boys are kind of forgettable, but do have their moments. Thankfully they aren’t used too often over the show’s run, and don’t end up as overused as, say, Mojo. The first segment is definitely the stronger one, but this is a solid episode all in all.
I think this week’s highlight has to be in the second short, when Blossom has to remind the Mayor that the Powerpuff phone is not a toy. The fact that a little girl has to tell a grown man something like that is just hysterical.
Ed, Edd n’ Eddy:
“Sir-Ed-a-Lot”
You know, as much as I love this show and have actively watched repeats on Cartoon Network and my own DVDs, I don’t think I’ve seen this episode in years, but I still recall the whole thing.
One aspect of the show that tends to be overlooked is how Eddy’s dad works for an auto dealership. We know intentionally little about the parents of the kids in the Cul-De-Sac, but Eddy’s dad is one of the few whose profession is revealed in the show. It’s important to the series as a big part of Eddy’s scamming comes from the tricks he learned from his old man, as a desire to live up to his family. Eddy’s Oedipus Complex is never mentioned very often over the show, but his constant attempts to live up to his brother is another big push towards his desire to make his family, especially his father, proud.
I bring this up because the episode starts with Eddy playing with a random car, which ends up not being his dad’s. Somehow Eddy knows how to pull out its hydraulics, which makes for a cute opening scene.
Double D eventually shows up to the car, as the two Ed’ss begin to search for big Ed. They go to his house, only to find out that Ed is all dressed up for princess Sarah’s tea party, and now Double D and Eddy are required to join them. Dress, hats and all.
After prince Jimmy comes over, the games begin! Sarah and Jimmy use the Ed’s for horses, and later a fool. Eddy is easily annoyed by Sarah’s games, until he finds out that Ed is getting paid for taking care of his little Sarah, which causes Eddy to go crazy to please the prince and princess. All of which destroys Ed’s house as a result. But don’t worry, the Ed boys have a solution to make it seem like everything is a-okay when Ed’s parents come home.
This short is fine, but nothing too spectacular. It contains a couple of big laughs, but also gets predictable fast. It’s nice to have Sarah and Jimmy’s characters flesh out a little and have some fun with the Ed boys, though.
“A Pinch to Grow an Ed”
Poor, tiny little Eddy. He just can’t get a break, being the runt of the group. And everyone is giving him hell for his height in particular, even the other Ed boys.
Double D decides to build something to help Eddy with his height issues, and goes to work on it, while Eddy waits outside. It turns out Edd made height-inducing boots for Eddy, which helps to make him look taller than he actually is. After a few missteps, Eddy is able to successfully use hi newfound height to his advantage.
Eddy sure seems to be on top of it all, literally. Until those damn Kanker sisters come in and ruin everything. Oh well.
This is a pretty good short, especially in the first half, when it builds on the ageless fear of inadqueacy, particularly in height. Eddy’s shrinkage issues is something that we’ve all gone through in our lives, at one point or another, and it easy to relate. It becomes increasingly wackier when Eddy gets the boots on, but in a mostly good way.
This was a solid episode of the show, but far from its best. But hey, we’re only three episodes in, right?
“A toast to my big mouth!” Damn straight, Eddy. This first segment line makes for the episode’s highlight.
Overall:
Great week! Johnny and Powerpuff were especially on a roll, with “Bravo Dooby-Doo” being a masterpiece of modern animation. The rest is easily recommendable, though.