Thursday, January 30, 2020

Princess Quasar Caterpillar and the Magic Bell / Ghost of Butterfly Castle (Star vs the Forces of Evil Season 4 Episode 9) - 'Toon Reviews 38

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Princess Quasar Caterpillar and the Magic Bell



It’s very disappointing that after being a major antagonistic force in the first two seasons, Ludo has been cast away to the sidelines following the Season 3 premiere.  He’s literally only had one major starring role between then and now, and it hardly feels connected to any other important elements.  For that, it’s disappointing as well as devaluing to a threat the audience has gotten to know way back in the show’s beginnings.  As for Ludo’s starring role here, while it is an appropriate end to his series long character arc, without a lot of material to back it up, it hardly feels earned. 
Relating to the title, he starts off continuing his obsession of stealing magical objects. In particular, he winds up in an alternate reality consisting of a warped version of the events of “Bon Bon the Birthday Clown.”  The alternate reality angle though only lasts for a short time and Ludo soon finds himself back in his home dimension.  His taller younger brother, Dennis, the only member of his family who truly loves him, and his minions Bird and Spider, are waiting for him.  As Ludo laments about how obsessive he’s been with trying to steal magical objects, especially the Butterfly family wand, Dennis is excited to show his brother a surprise. 
He’s bought back the family home that Ludo had locked everyone out of and refurbished everything to its original glory.  However, Ludo finds himself disturbed by what Dennis has done as the whole place reminds him of his old habits he’s trying to move away from.  Dennis thinks nothing of this, even going as far as to call upon Ludo’s henchmen seen for the first time since Season 1 to help with the building.  Then as Dennis leaves, Ludo only further sinks into his older habits as his henchmen inform him about everything regarding the wand.  They talk about how Eclipsa now has it and think of many plans to get it.  There are actually a few potential good ideas for the season climax, from Ludo breaking into the castle to steal the wand to even him proposing to Eclipsa.  They’re also enough to officially snap Ludo back into his scheming. 
Out of this though is an issue when Dennis returns, discovers what’s become of Ludo, and is mad that he’s back to stealing the wand.  At least Ludo quickly calls Dennis out that he brought this on himself by rebuilding things that remind him of the wand.  Suddenly all this is forgotten when a rich rat shows up claiming that he owns the castle property considering that Dennis signed away the family fortune to rebuild it.  Sloppy transitioning to a different topic as this is, this event along with Dennis leaving in a huff does unlock a genuine change in heart in Ludo.  Perhaps it’s not a big change in heart as he resolves the issue by ambushing the rat, and having his henchmen eat him.  It’s very demented in getting his way and shows that Ludo is still diabolical in some areas, but it's just using it under healthier pretenses. 
In the end, he becomes accepting of going back to his old life, rebuilding the old family home not just for him and Dennis, but his entire family as well.  This is a good conclusion for Ludo, but it’s still disappointing that this is pretty much all there is to his arc now.  With this episode as his only big role for Season 4, he feels like an afterthought to get out of the way and not give any major plans other than potential ideas that go nowhere.  Once again, it’s disappointing to see him fall so much in importance.  While these feelings are prominent throughout the episode, I at least give credit for concluding Ludo’s role in the most appropriate way.

B

Ghost of Butterfly Castle


The focus is back on Moon and River trying to live simple lives away from royalty.  I for one consider this a welcome path and a good way of showing them support their daughter’s decision and accept changes in Mewni society.  This is especially true for Moon who’s reigned as queen for so long and has only just learned that the Butterfly legacy has been majorly botched.  However, while she has grown accepting of other Mewmans settling near her, things are unfortunately not any easier. 
Because the Mewmans were so dependent on her when she was queen, they still have no idea how to take care of themselves.  Even with these understandable circumstances, it’s still frustrating to see them argue over chores and force Moon out of her peacefulness to settle everything.  Also, from my way of understanding, they don’t even have much of a good reason to need to find a new place to settle anyway.  They make claims about Eclipsa only caring about monsters and doing nothing for them, the catch being they never actually heard her say those things, which they flat out admit.  They’re also very simple-minded when all it takes is a simple chart to settle a lot of their chore problems. 
On that subject, Moon is prompted to go back to the original Butterfly castle to get her day planner so chores can be done on the settlement easily.  Once her mind is made up there and rumors of ghostly happenings surrounding the place arising, the episode does start to get interesting.  The village adjacent to the castle is in ruins.  Mewmans say that the destruction is the work of monsters, but Moon clearly feels that this can’t be. 
When she finally gets to the castle, there’s a variety of feels of Moon exploring her old home.  She takes in some sentimental value over the broken statues and especially the tapestries, one of which seemingly of her mother who was killed by a monster.  Then things like a petrified crow and what appears to be a threatening ghost replace the sentiment with legit fright. 
It isn’t long for Moon to discover the truth though as she finds that the castle is now where the crazed warrior Mina Loveberry is residing.  Now, Mina, for all her entertaining eccentricities, was already bordering on unlikable in “Monster Bash” but starting here, anything likable is tossed aside.  Not only is it revealed that she’s the one who tried to take Eclipsa down with yada yada berries, but so is a lot about her background.  She’s a supporter of one of the Queens of Mewni, Solaria, who’s known for being a major danger and force of destruction.  Not only that, but while most of them fell out of power, Mina’s the only original Solarian warrior who managed to survive for so many years.  The thing is that Moon knows of how bad that era was, so when Mina tries to appoint her in helping to usurp Eclipsa from the throne, she wisely refuses.  Mina leaves a threatening speech of how treacherous Moon, who’s always queen at heart, is acting before setting off.  Nevertheless, the episode ends with Moon still accepting she’s not queen anymore, and lets Eclipsa handle Mina herself.  For the most part, this decision is mostly concerning from the very idea of deliberately doing nothing about a crazed warrior.  Though there's one solid point of Moon accepting her new role in life out of this, it really stings knowing what Moon later does about the Mina situation in episodes to come.  All I’ll say about that here is that it’s really devaluing of anything good to this conclusion. 
For now, the audience can easily enjoy the atmospheric experience stemming from attempts at a simple life that this episode is.
A

The Ranking

1.      Escape from the Pie Folk

2.      Swim Suit

3.      Yada Yada Berries

4.      Moon Remembers

5.      Ghost of Butterfly Castle

6.      Ransomgram

7.      Butterfly Follies

8.      Kelly’s World

9.      Surviving the Spiderbites

10.  Princess Quasar Caterpillar and the Magic Bell

11.  Down By the River

12.  Out of Business

13.  Lake House Fever

14.  The Ponyhead Show

15.  The Curse of the Blood Moon

 
 
 

 
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where resolving the prejudice of monsters finally gets some progress with a game of cornball, and Glossaryck gives baby Meteora a lesson in the history of magic.
If you would like to check out other Star vs the Forces of Evil reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

1 comment:

  1. Ludo's arc mainly suffers from the show trying to do much all at once. Maybe if they only had 2-3 major stories, they could've found a way to make him a bigger player.

    Also, I haven't seen the episode in awhile, but I believe this is the first time Star didn't appear in either segment of an episode.

    One more thing, the Princess Quasar character is voiced by Amanda C Miller, who's done voice work on recent Sailor Moon projects.

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