Sunday, August 11, 2019

We're No Pigeons / Whistle Stop Mindy / Katie Ka-Boom: The Broken Date (Animaniacs Vol 3 Part 18) - 'Toon Reviews 32

If you like this review and want to stay updated for what else I have in store, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter. Now on with today's review:
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.
If you would like to check out other Animaniacs reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

No comments:

Post a Comment