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Episode 68
We’re No Pigeons
Lately, in addition to an
overabundance of pain gags, Goodfeathers cartoons seem to be held back from the
total ineptness and boneheaded moves from the titular birds. It says a lot when Squit, who’s supposed to
be the most naïve and least active in the gang, has the biggest sense of reason
and logic. So far, we’ve seen them hurt
themselves while chasing their girlfriends who want to be alone, make a big
challenge out of egg sitting, and pull pointless stunts to stop marriage. It’s hardly entertaining to watch a conflict
coming from obvious dumb decisions from all members of a group without any
logic decisions to back it up. This trend
kind of continues here in a conflict that plays to the surprisingly true animal
fact that owls eat pigeons.
The
Goodfeathers, while traveling along the dark dangerous city streets find an owl
planning to do just that. The catch to
this whole thing is that the owl is a fledgling complete with a childlike voice
hunting them down. It’s actually a kind
of interesting move that the big opposing force against the protagonists is
someone so small and young. However,
with such bumbling incompetence from the major players, it just makes this
setup feel slightly pathetic.
Bobby and
Pesto take advantage of the owl’s youth and immediately think he’s dumb enough
to believe they’re not pigeons but macaroni birds, who by the way are actually
penguins. Squit points out that there’s
no use in lying, but he’s ignored and doesn’t do anything smart to make up for
his comrades’ denseness. The cartoon
goes for a very routine setup as a result.
The entire runtime is just three strikes of the same thing
happening. The owl asks what a real
pigeon is if the Goodfeathers aren’t actually pigeons. Then the Goodfeathers give a nonspecific
description, and the owl brings back a random threatening animal like a skunk,
a gator, and an elephant. This in turn
forces the Goodfeathers to admit the creatures aren’t pigeons and usually get
hurt. It’s a lather-rinse-repeat
exercise that leaves for no true variety or a very engaging practice for a
cartoon trying to be funny. There’s
practically nothing funny at all about the Goodfeathers assuming they can get
out of trouble by lying to a child, and as usual, the pain gags are
ineffective. There’s also a major
contrivance to why the owl keeps coming back to show the Goodfeathers what he
got. This doesn’t make sense to do so since as far as he knows, they’re not who
he’s after, so why would he bother with them.
It seems like the Goodfeathers are in the clear when their status as
Goodfeathers is said to prevent the owl from hunting them due to a deal with
the Godpigeon. Then that’s wasted when
he hunts them anyway since they could be lying about being Goodfeathers after
lying about being macaroni birds. It
shows how idiotic thinking lying to a child would be a smart move, though
couldn’t they just get the Godpigeon to put in a good word for them? It’s a downer ending that doesn’t need to
be.
I’m not saying this cartoon is bad
since it’s still a decent concept based on real life biology and a few laughs
here and there. With the laughs far and
few between and sheer boneheaded decisions from a usually smartly written show,
this is just another mediocre Goodfeathers cartoon.
C-
Whistle Stop Mindy
There’s something about trains that just enhances the appeal of a story. Watching the vehicles of different designs
and colors travel along tracks to a steady rhythm and pull a variety of loads
are simply one of life’s pleasures. The
nature of trains certainly does its part to make this one of the better Mindy
and Buttons cartoons, even if it is held back for being formulaic.
This time, Mindy is immensely fascinated by
blowing train whistles. When an actual
train passes by her house, she decides she’d rather blow the big whistle than
her simple toy whistle, probably one of the biggest wishes of any child train
fan. Before Mindy knows it, she’s
whisked away onto one of the coaches and sets out to make her way to the engine
to blow that whistle. Of course, Buttons
immediately takes off after Mindy for her safety and is at the brunt of the
hijinks she brings as she makes her way across the train.
Along the way, a good number of elements make
the standard pursuit quite fun and exciting for what it is. There’s a lot of creative liberties to the
designs of the track layout, particularly with sharp angles adding to the timing
of Buttons getting hit by things. The
music is also lively enough to keep things fun with jazzy covers of classic
train tunes in the background. That’s
fitting considering that this cartoon allegedly takes place in the 1940s, even
if it looks no different from a modern day Mindy and Buttons outing.
What really makes the escapade fun is how
train mannerisms are worked in, making for another example of a chase that
makes good use of its setting. We have
one gags brought by believable childish innocence when Mindy takes out the
shiny coupling unaware that it’s meant to keep the two coaches together. Buttons has to keep them together for a long
distance before finally getting the coupling back in. Mindy’s standard “why” conversation with the
conductor is also reminiscent of how actual little kids might want to get how
trains operate given how fascinating the vehicles can be to them. There’s also a look at how train potties work
when Buttons goes up a pipe to one from under a coach, gets flushed after being
mistaken for a water rat, and ends up down a bridge. That’s a noteworthy way of this cartoon
getting into its setting for the chase.
As for the whistle, Mindy ultimately gets her wish just as an engine
from the sheds at the end of the line takes over for the return trip. This way, it feels like something was gained
for Mindy after causing so much trouble for Buttons. That said, it is contrived that the engine’s
driver doesn’t notice the child in the cab with him. He’s just ridiculously oblivious here. Also, while Mindy does end up in the tender
at one point, she really doesn’t look dirty enough to justify her mom’s
scolding of Buttons at the end.
Arguably, the scolding’s never justified, but it’s a more pressing issue
here for not having a genuinely clear reason for it.
Despite that, while this is the same old
thing with these characters, it’s a solid instance of making the chase fun from
where the cartoon chooses unfold. It will
certainly help matters if you happen to have a fondness for trains.
A-
Katie Ka-Boom: The Broken Date
So far we’ve had a pretty dumb
Goodfeathers cartoon and an honestly fun Mindy and Buttons cartoon. Sadly, to end things off, we don’t just have
a Katie Ka-Boom cartoon, but perhaps the worst of her as well as the
entire series.
She doesn’t even turn
into a monster and she’s already acting edgy when questioned about a date of
hers. Then, when the time goes
unnaturally fast past when Katie’s date is supposed to arrive, she goes all
monster mode. Once again, there could be
some humor in exaggerations of teenagers being overly emotional. However, with the genuine threats and fearful
reactions from Katie’s family, finding humor is just impossible. The part where she’s moments away from
assaulting her little brother in her rampage and he’s cowering in fear is
especially disturbing. This is madwoman
behavior that innocent people are powerless to stop, and all humor is
nonexistent. The best thing we have is a
back talk towards a suggestion that she’s acting out of hormones, but that
hardly matters. Then, when her date does
show up and Katie acts like it doesn’t matter, we’re supposed to take it like
her out of control rampage can be excused.
If these cartoons choose to treat Katie’s destruction like a big deal,
they totally should not be excused. That
girl belongs in a mental institution in accordance with this tonal setup.
Not helping is a very sloppy display of
animation by Freelance Studios. They’re
known for the worst looking visuals of the show, but the very look of everything
just takes you right out of the experience.
It’s bad animation even for them if you ask me, and coupled with bad
story and character material, it’s the show at its least engaging. I give credit for its short length not
dragging out this unpleasant premise longer than necessary, then it would truly
be one of the worst animated products.
Even so, we’re further left with the impression that the show would be
better off without even conceiving Katie Ka-Boom in the first place. No offence to the writer for basing her off
his own personal experiences, but in my eyes, it’s simply a concept that failed
to be executed well.
D-
Cartoon Ranking
1. The Warners’ 65th Anniversary Special
2. Baloney and Kids
3. Ragamuffins
4. Frontier Slappy
5. Woodstock Slappy
6. Wakko’s Gizmo
7. The Warners and the Beanstalk
8. Brain Meets Brawn
9. Morning Malaise
10. Meet John Brain
11. Yes, Always
12. Drive Insane
13. Lookit the Fuzzy Heads
14. Take My Siblings Please
15. Karaoke Dokie
16. Witch One
17. Of Course, You Know This Means Warners
18. No Face Like Home
19. Meet Minerva
20. The Chicken Who Loved Me
21. Scare Happy Slappy
22. Smell Ya Later
23. A Gift of Gold
24. Ups and Downs
25. The Helpinki Formula
26. The Mindy 500
27. Les Boutons et le Ballon
28. Whistle Stop Mindy
29. Gold Rush
30. Up a Tree
31. Cranial Crusader
32. Mermaid Mindy
33. Katie Ka-Boom: The Driving Lesson
34. With Three You Get Eggroll
35. Kung Boo
36. Pigeon on the Roof
37. The Brave Little Trailer
38. Girlfeathers
39. Super Buttons
40. We’re No Pigeons
41. Miami-Mama Mia
42. Katie Ka-Boom: Call Waiting
43. Katie Ka-Boom: The Broken Date
Song Ranking
1. Schnitzelbank
2. I’m Cute
3. Dot’s Quiet Time
4. Coo
Miscellaneous Ranking
1. Branimaniacs
2. Macbeth
3. Oh, Oh, Ethel
4. Spike
The next Animaniacs review is of a song originally released to theaters, as well as far simpler works of the Goodfeathers cheering up Bobby, the Warners watching wrestling, and a Katie Ka-Boom cartoon that is almost the same as the one in this episode.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is "The Question" from Steven Universe.
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