Ed Edd n Eddy's Boo Haw Haw - 'Toon Reviews Shorty

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I may be pretty far behind with my looks at Ed Edd n Eddy, but I still feel like now is a great time to look into some of its later material.  Before the final season started airing, three holiday specials were produced and introduced audiences to major differences from how the majority of the show was presented.  Instead of the summer, they would take place in the fall or winter, and there would be major glimpses into what school would be like for the cast.  They would be further explored in the final season, but for now, it’s one of those holiday specials that will take the forefront.  Unlike regular episodes, they’re standalone works not meant to be seen as part of any of the seasons.  As we’re in the month of October at this point in time, now is a perfect time to look into the series’ Halloween special for a special MC Toon Reviews Shorty:

Ed Edd n Eddy’s Boo Haw Haw

(October 28, 2005)

As far as special works go for the series, the expected trademarks are very in place.  The art style is still very unique and visually appealing. The visual gags are highly inventive and hilarious.  The emphasis on favorite childhood pastimes is given a fresh perspective.  Basically, you can easily get a feel of this as a real work of Ed Edd n Eddy.  However, working in the traditions of a holiday allow for something more unique than average.  From the visual aesthetic alone, you can tell the special goes all out with the spirit of the holiday.  The opening credits feature monstrous scenes and a music score that just have Halloween figuratively written all over it, easily investing the audience for a holiday experience.  Then there’s the actual story that further gives the series as we know it a fitting Halloween enhancement.

The Eds are setting off to find a special Halloween neighborhood known as Spook-E-Ville which Eddy knows all about from his secretive brother as the best place to trick-or-treat.  All the way there are very imaginative costumes to all three Eds expressing individuality amongst the group.  Eddy is dressing as Elvis to showcase his push for a cool reputation.  Double D, mixing his nerdy intellect with a desire to fit in, dresses as a bacteria that could be to any disease, but he refers to it specifically as the Bubonic Plague.  Ed, with his knowledge of monster movies and fighters goes as such a figure, a Viking known as Lothar. 

In addition, it’s Ed who really drives the special’s conflict.  One of his defining traits has always been his love for horror movies and randomly referencing them whenever he gets the chance.  In this special, this trait is taken to the ultimate extreme when it turns out he’s been majorly binge-watching all sorts of horror movies for Halloween.  As Double D warns, this much exposure can lead to losing touch with reality, and with someone like Ed, this happens fairly quickly and creatively.  When going out for Halloween, he sees things that aren’t there that represent the movies he saw.

What happens is that certain kids from the cul-de-sac are minding their own business.

However, in Ed’s mind, they take on the form of Halloween monsters causing him to react with fright or provocation.  It starts when he comes across the Kanker sisters actually conversing civilly while toasting marshmallows.  In Ed’s mind, they’re witches inflicting a nasty Halloween curse by casting a spell on Ed and the others by sending all sorts of monsters after them.  The hallucinations that drive his action are also fittingly staged for the holiday.  There’s a grainy filter over the scenes with the film jittering from exposure and deteriorating through age.  The monsters themselves also have an identity to them with more details in their designs than the usual brand of animation for the show allows.  Still, the music, Ed’s oddball mindset, and extreme reactions to what he sees keep what’s shown in the usual Ed Edd n Eddy spirit.

This in turn sets into motion what happens for the rest of the special.  Ed sees a cul-de-sac kid in a creative Halloween costume or doing a favorite Halloween activity, perceives them as an actual monster, and attacks them hard.  The variety to every element makes the experience creative and the Halloween atmosphere felt.

Jimmy for instance is seen in a childish alien costume, innocently trick-or-treating as most young kids would on this very night.

Though the costume is simply made, Ed is convinced that Jimmy is a real alien, and doesn’t hesitate to attack.

The thing is, through attacking Jimmy, Ed gets far more brutal than average.  Though his hallucinations don’t get him to realize it, Jimmy ends up beaten down into the pavement, and it’s not taken the least bit likely when Sarah finds out.

As Ed has also stolen Jimmy’s candy when beating him, Sarah approaches him and his friends to demand it back.  Unlike most of her aggressive moments, this is an instance where it’s completely warranted.  For that, it’s simply bad timing that Ed has his hallucinations and sees his sister as a violent vampire.  Her beating does have a humorous touch to it though as Ed says a steak will defeat her, and he uses the meat steak instead of an actual stake.

As a touch of bizarreness, the steak somehow places her in a plant pod Double D has to water her out of.

The next victim is Nazz, sporting a relatively nice Medusa costume.  Being one of the friendlier kids of the cul-de-sac, she actually treats the Eds well at first, even inviting them to trick-or-treat with her, well Double D at least.

Since she’s dressed as Medusa, it’ not surprising that Ed sees her as the real thing, and at one point acts as if she’s really turned him to stone.

It’s therefore a total random yet interesting outcome that Ed beats her by encasing her in a cement block.  In turn, it’s a fine example of a good way Nazz is moved from friendly to aggressive towards the Eds.  It all happens when their antics legitimately become too much or too harmful to provoke her.

Among the kids who actually make sense to be a target of Ed’s hallucinations is Kevin who spends Halloween egging anyone passing by.

As a touch of class, he’s seen as the Headless Horseman.

Still, the tone of the series makes the reference stand as something all its own when the Headless Horseman is seen holding an authentic Kevin head.

Ed responds by taking out the horse.

However, the horse turns out to be Kevin’s bike. Given how much he cherishes it, he’s enraged beyond belief no matter how repairable it usually is.  Plus, let’s not forget that he’s far more deserving of a beating than any other neighborhood kid.

As it turns out, Ed doesn’t see all the monsters as evil.  He later sees a spider creature he claims is simply misunderstood.  He ‘appeases’ him by offering the candy he stole from the Jimmy alien much to Eddy’s dismay.

Keeping in touch with reality, this monster is actually Jonny climbing trees and waiting for his pal Plank to return.

The usual Halloween customs get more interesting when the group comes across Rolf following an unusual tradition by using the night to look for mushrooms and offer them to others.  If you think this is a real oddball tradition, just wait until you see how he celebrates Christmas.

 

Even with this strange but friendly ritual, Rolf still can’t escape Ed’s hallucinations as to him, he’s an evil troll, bringing to mind a cyclops.  After much erratic behavior to avoid Rolf, Ed responds by taking out his eye, resulting in Rolf writhing in pain requiring a bandage.  All throughout, it’s hard not to feel sorry for this resident foreigner.

Plank can’t even escape Ed’s hallucinations as he’s seen as a huge Frankenstein monster.  Although the beatings he gets are harmless whacks from a stick, they’re enough for Jonny to get enraged over later on.  That’s a major example of this simple hunk of wood being more aware of things than he seems.

As aggressively violent and genuinely inconveniencing to others as Ed is, what he’s put through is still pretty fun to watch.  The idea of him getting his visions from too many horror movies is creatively staged, the staging is comparable to such films, and there is some solid comedy to them.  It also doesn’t overpower the other subplot of the special of the Eds looking for Spook-E-Ville as his friends offer interesting perspectives on all the hallucinations Ed gets along the way.  Double D, as the only sane one in the group, is vocally concerned about the harm Ed is causing while Eddy only cares about Spook-E-Ville and opts not to think much of Ed.  When looking for the place though, a lot of things seem to be off.  Some landmarks like a dented stop sign only appear after Ed dents one when beating one of the kids and he places it in front of his friends.  Others appear a little too easily in a sequence, like the Eds were expected to go in this direction.  Then Spook-E-Ville turns out to be a scam made just for the Eds as after close observations, Eddy finds that they’re back in the cul-de-sac.  It should be noted that this coming from his brother is a major contrast to the noble older sibling figure Eddy constantly builds him up as.  Where this leads to in the series is huge, but that’s another work of this show for another time.

As creative and humorously staged as Ed’s hallucinations are, as they were completely unwarranted and unprovoked, he should get some consequences for it.  The way they’re presented though is not very satisfying and brings down the fun.

They start out fine though as the kids proceed to mob the Eds for ruining their Halloween with violence and in Ed’s mind, they’re seen as all creatures coming together.  This time though, instead of facing them, he has him and his friends hide in a pit.  Hiding from monsters is certainly not in the nature of the Viking warrior Ed has portrayed himself as all through the night, and it also doesn’t help at all.  The kids eventually find the Eds, and the one time Double D and Eddy could benefit from Ed’s violent rampages, Ed doesn’t go through with them.

He just claims himself to be done with Halloween for the night and relaxes on a convenient armchair.

There is one last hallucination though, but it’s of Double D and Eddy frolicking in flowers, contrasting them actually getting beating mercilessly.  That right there makes the ending totally unsatisfying.  Ed was the one who’s really to blame for all the kids getting beaten up, yet his friends are the only ones who face any sort of consequence.  As looks at other seasons show, all Eds get punished even if one is to blame very frequently, but this takes it too far.  This time, the true instigator isn’t involved in the consequences at all, and instead only the ones who followed him but didn’t support what he was doing get beaten.  How is this fair?  The fact that this is also a case for other works of the show is telling of how big an issue for the series it is.

The ending of the special does diminish the fun quite a bit and also doesn’t make sense.  While this does keep the whole thing from standing as a grand achievement, it does successfully capture the feel for Halloween.  The premise is creative, there’s fitting atmosphere from the costumes, the nighttime setting, and Ed’s hallucinations, and it’s fun to see how many characters celebrate it.  Things may not all come together tonal wise, but it’s a sold fright fest on the whole.

Recommended

 

 

That’s it for this ‘Toon Reviews shorty.  Next time, we’ll return to our currently scheduled reviews.  Until then:

 

Stay Animated Folks, And Happy Halloween!