Episode 98
The
Christmas Tree
Once again, an episode contains a Christmas cartoon despite the fact that nothing else relates to the holiday in the slightest. To make things even more baffling is how the entire episode opens with a Christmas variant of the theme song when it’s not a total Christmas show. However, that’s not the only issue with this cartoon.
You may remember that in spite of a few exceptions, Slappy Squirrel has been largely devoid of the cartoon violence edge that defined her since the show’s beginning. Instead of showcasing such acts as an art to live by, most of her performances have involved getting roped into situations that annoy her more than anything. She hasn’t even used anything creative, cartoonish, or extreme to turn things around. For at least the first half of this cartoon, an impression is brought that her cartoonish angle has been dropped entirely in favor of portraying her as an old squirrel and nothing more.
This is a shame because there’s a lot of nice wholesome values in the first few minutes of the cartoon. Scenes of a tree in a Canadian forest getting cut down and later set up and decorated for the Christmas season at Rockefeller Center give a warm feeling of the holiday. It’s also felt with sights of carolers and ice skaters around the center seen throughout the cartoon.
Truthfully, once Slappy is first seen and becomes the cartoon’s focus, things go down significantly. It is normal for characters to end up in sporadically different roles and occupations in this series. That’s the nature of ‘anything goes’ cartoons, and Slappy has had her share of them, but no matter how characters are portrayed, they succeed for being true to their basic role. This is not the case for Slappy in this cartoon. I’m fine with her living in the wild and having her tree uprooted to be in Rockefeller Center. Without an emphasis on her being a master of cartoonish arts though, this isn’t the true Slappy Squirrel. She might as well be any old squirrel hibernating, storing food, being treated like a mad squirrel for animal control to take away, and having always lived in a forest. She’s also portrayed as dumb, blind, and absent-minded which were never traits of her character. When she goes out for nuts she stored for the winter, it never occurs to her that she’s not in the forest, not even when she uses an ax to get to the nuts within a donut shop. When she does notice the cityscape, it still takes her forever to realize she’s not where she thinks she is. She claims they built a city around their tree and mistakes an electric box for the Christmas lights as chipmunk neighbors with tiki lamps. Slappy may not be ethical, but she’s never been this dense.
It’s undeniably frustrating that she’s like this for much of the cartoon, but thankfully, she starts acting true to herself in the second half. When she finds out she’s in New York and not the forest, she’s upfront with her stance and takes it to the Rockefeller Center CEO. She’s like a generic protester on first encounter, but when he blows her off, she really taps into her cartoonish antic side. She and Skippy decide to make the CEO see what it’s like to have his home moved by bulldozing his house off its property into the streets of Time Square. It’s a mildly humorous showing of Slappy’s true comic capabilities and comes with hilarious encounters with homeless people for the CEO. This is what it takes for Slappy’s conflict to be resolved, but nothing is learned as Rockefeller Center just uproots another home for their tree; the Warners’ water tower. At least they’re respectful enough to shut out the lights when they ask.
While this cartoon is enjoyable and decent Christmas material, it’s hard
to get fully invested for how much it strays away from what one of the show’s
best characters is all about. Being the
final Slappy Squirrel cartoon makes this an even bigger sting.
B-
Punchline
Part 1: Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?
Among many characters getting their last time in the spotlight in the episode is Chicken Boo. In fact, I believe that what’s done here is practically the best thing ever done with the character.
Everything unfolds in a spoof on news shows which specializes in finding deep meaning in one of the oldest jokes in recorded history. The simple riddle of why the chicken crossed the road is humorously treated with sophisticated and dignified speculation reserved for the true big mysteries of current events. This alone is a strong enough setup for the following sketch. Chicken Boo himself poses as a news reporter whose microphone apparently needs fixing with his partner, Ted Foppel doing all the interviewing.
Broadening the appeal of the news show is this being another instance of bringing different members of the cast together for the common cause. Ted calls upon a vast assortment of supporting characters to explain why they think the chicken crossed the road. Pinky and the Brain make another surprise appearance in something very telling of their dynamic. Brain gives an intellectual hypothesis of how the chicken crossed the road while Pinky, simply cuts to the truth that one of the reporters is a chicken but Brain thinks nothing of it. The Goodfeathers are welcome additions to the topic as well. Their lack of knowledge on what happened comes with Pesto’s famous rant and Squit beatings based on a misunderstanding. Easily the most surprising character in this matter is Runt who hasn't been in the spotlight for ages. Though he’s arguably the dumbest of all the major players, he’s the one who settles the matter once and for all. Through tracking a scent like dogs tend to do, he exposes Chicken Boo for his true species, answering the question that the chicken crossed the road to get to the news studio. Chicken Boo may be chased away, but it’s impressive that he doesn’t really get ridiculed this time. Brain even tries to insist that his theory is still right even when clearly proven wrong.
This is an overall great take on news shows and shows what can be done
with a simple joke with the proper execution.
There’s still more to this concept, but first here’s another cartoon…
Prom Night
At first glance, it can get upsetting that the penultimate episode of the entire series features a cartoon starring the worst character in the cast, Katie Ka-Boom. However, as the final cartoon of this kind for the series, measures are taken to make it bearable. In fact, it may be among the most bearable instances of Katie mercilessly threatening her ‘wonderful family’ with her extreme temper.
She’s pleased to announce that she’s been invited to the senior prom despite the fact that she’s only a sophomore and technically too young for such an affair. The catch is that she doesn’t plan on stopping at just the prom. She also wants to go all out with her preparations and stay late after the prom for other festivities. Her parents are actually in the right to point out that there’s something wrong with her excessive demands and insist that she follow a curfew.
Given how Katie has been written for much of the series, Katie doesn’t take not getting exactly what she wants well. Just the mere suggestion of a curfew is enough to put her in the monster mode. The subject of a prom fittingly has Katie take the form of a roaring green creature in a purple dress with corsages as a disco ball appears overhead. As for her family, like in all the other cartoons, they’re unjustly at the mercy of this anger, treating it like a legitimate war situation with no shred of humor.
When Katie really gets out of control though, the standout element of this performance occurs. Her dad knows that a curfew is what’s most appropriate and no matter how Katie rampages, he sticks to it. This gets Katie to actually back down and slowly start to go along with the curfew right down to suggesting an appropriate time. A compromise is met, and Katie goes from monster back to human in the calmest manner ever. It hardly matters since her family is still in fear from her and the house still gets destroyed, but it is noteworthy growth from many of her other starring roles.
Katie Ka-Boom is still a major
sore spot in the series, but thanks to her family being brave enough to stand
up to her for once, at least the cartoons have a good finish.
B
Punchline
Part 2: What Came First? The Chicken or the Egg?
This
is just a short segment continuing off of the idea of Punchline, this time
giving an extensive news coverage approach on determining whether the chicken
or the egg came first. All it takes is
an egg falling on Ted Foppel to convince him that it was the egg that came
first, and it’s further proven with Chicken Boo falling on him afterwards. That’s all there is to it, but it’s still a
very funny take on a very standard riddle.
After
seeing Punchline in just one episode, I kind of wish it became a recurring
segment, at least for the last season.
The concept is fresh, what’s done with simple riddles is ingenious, and
allowing core supporting characters to offer perspectives is a nice
well-rounded touch. Even if these
segments exist here and only here, I can at least consider them one great way
to send the series off…at least until the true series finale coming up next.
A+
Cartoon Ranking
1. This Pun for Hire
2. The Brain’s Apprentice
3. Magic Time
4. Bully for Skippy
5. Wakko’s 2-Note Song
6. Go Fish
7. From Burbank with Love
8. A Very, Very, Very, Very Special Show
9. Valuable Lesson
10. The Sound of Warners
11. Night of the Living Buttons
12. Dot’s Entertainment
13. Pitter Patter of Little Feet
14. Boo Happens
15. Buttons in Ows
16. Cutie and the Beast
17. Boo Wonder
18. Star Truck
19. The Sunshine Squirrels
20. Boids on the Hood
21. Back in Style
22. Our Final Space Cartoon We Promise
23. Yabba Dabba Boo
24. The Boo Network
25. The Carpool
26. The Party
27. The Girl with the Googily Goop
28. Mindy in Wonderland
29. Jokahontas
30. Gimme the Works
31. Ten Short Films About Wakko
32. Hooray for North Hollywood Part 1
33. Papers for Papa
34. My Mother the Squirrel
35. One Flew Over the Cuckoo Clock
36. Hooray for North Hollywood Part 2
37. Amazing Gladiators
38. Prom Night
39. Cute First (Ask Questions Later)
40. Soda Jerk
41. The Christmas Tree
42. Hercules Unwound
43. Belly Button Blues
44. No Time For Love
45. Acquaintances
46. Oh Say Can You See
47. Soccer Coach Slappy
48. Anchors A-Warners
Song Ranking
1. Dot – The Macadamia Nut
2. The Ballad of Magellan
3. Hello Nurse
4. Bones in the Body
5. Noel
6. The Big Wrap Party Tonight
7. When You’re Traveling from Nantucket
8. Panama Canal
9. Multiplication
10. Here Comes Attila
Miscellaneous Ranking
1. Punchline
2. It
3. Gunga Dot
4. Mighty Wakko at the Bat
5. Ralph’s Wedding
6. End Credits
7. Moosege in a Bottle
8. Rugrats Parody
9. The 12 Days of Christmas
10. Flavio Commercials
11. The Return of the Great Wakkorotti
12. Pinky and the Ralph
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