When something involves camping or the dark woods, it’s most appropriate to expect a frightening atmosphere. This show is typically good with capturing all kinds of tones, so when tackling this setup, it’s an interesting and worthwhile experience.
This time, the escapade features another appearance of the local scout troop, the Urban Rangers. Led by Rolf though only consisting of Jimmy, Jonny, and Plank, they’re known for sporting stylish uniforms and earning badges for the most menial tasks. They’re preparing for an annual camping trip which most would expect to see this scout troop do sooner or later. The Eds stumble upon them while playing around and are quickly belittled. Eddy in particular doesn’t take this well, and is instantly reminded of the humiliation from them that came from the time he tried joining them. As he watches the Urban Rangers go into the woods, he decides to sabotage their campout. The motives behind this course of action are honestly pretty weak, maybe even nonexistent, so the Eds’ ultimate role ends up suffering.
In spite of that issue, the atmospheric vibes from camping in the woods is very pleasing. There’s lightly interesting ways the Urban Rangers set up camp. Their campsite is set up much like a living room with furniture, and their fire is a makeshift one with cardboard cutouts of flames and lots of extension cords to power it. It’s surprising to see from a troop run by a rural traditionalist like Rolf. Other than that, the camping trip has the usual tropes such as the Rangers trying out for different badges, mainly one for telling ghost stories. Once the focus shifts to that camping activity, it’s easy to sense the fright factor. It’s felt with the one ghost story shown during the campfire sequence with Jonny living it up with a tale of a creature who eats belly buttons.
This in turn is where the Eds enact their trick in spite of any reluctance. A cacophony of moans and wails is a good start at scaring the Urban Rangers, but that’s not all. When the cords to the troop’s makeshift fire are pulled and the screen goes dark with screams from the rangers accentuating this sudden occurrence, the fright factor’s realized. It’s after this grand frightening display when the pettiness of the Eds’ scheme works in the story’s favor. Through thorough deduction, Rolf figures out the culprit of the ambush, and throwing a quarter into a bush confirms his suspicions.
What follows is an interestingly staged sequence to add onto the spooky tone as well as Rolf’s unusual customs. Individual shots of him rubbing dirt on his face, pulling up his pants, pulling out a nose hair, and howling at the moon are divided by sudden cut to black. It’s strange, but at the same time, feels like something dark is about to unfold.
What’s more, how Rolf faces the Eds is a major enigma. He’s only shown in the shadows, and it’s unclear what he does to Double D and Ed apart from trapping them in a pit. When Eddy is all alone, there’s a strong sense of helplessness as he runs through the woods scared for his life. The fact that Rolf’s actions are entirely unknown is the perfect culmination of this attempt at a scary scene. Not to mention, the Eds seem to have the perfect reaction to this by locking themselves in Ed’s closet for days. So we know they’re all right, but the lingering mystery of what exactly Rolf unleashed onto them still begs many questions.
The cartoon ultimately has
familiar setups when it comes to scary stories, but it really excels in execution.
A
See No Ed
In the past, there was a cartoon about how the Eds, mainly Eddy, would react if the neighborhood kids weren’t around. To some extent, it would be believable what to wonder what would happen in the opposite scenario. With this cartoon, such an opposite scenario is fully realized.
It begins with everyone hanging out with Kevin being the center of attention with awesome bike and skateboard moves. The rest of the group have their own ways of reacting to the display of skills with Rolf wanting in on the action; Sarah making sure Jimmy gets a turn while he’s decked in safety gear; Jonny getting his head stuck in the ramp; and Nazz as just the casual nice observer. All of this is a reminder of how varied the cast is when it comes to personality. Then Kevin points out that no matter what they do, the Eds will eventually come to spoil the fun. However, everyone else points out that the Eds actually haven’t been seen all day. They even decide to take advantage of this and celebrate, complete with a backyard party.
All the while, only Kevin is suspicious of the Eds’ sudden disappearance and is on guard for an eventual scam. It’s like he’s afraid of their attempts to get everyone’s cash. So when the kids suddenly find peculiar things like a monkey mask and a glove with white fluff, Kevin sees this as the Eds up to something. A search is organized to find the Eds, and when there are no results, complexities are revealed.
Though the kids were happy that the Eds were gone at first, there being no trace of them leads them to genuinely worry. This shows that despite how they feel about their scams, the kids do have hearts and good potential to actually respect the Eds. However, Kevin still thinks this is an act.
At that moment, there’s another peculiar sight with a trail of bananas. They lead the group to a newly built attraction in the lane, a monkey-themed park called Chimp World. Though Kevin can easily tell that this is the Eds’ scam for the day, nobody else cares as they’re taken in by the fun of the attraction. Really, the looks of the place make it enticing enough for this very mindset. That’s just the way it is with the Eds’ scams; regardless of their purposes, they have a lot of clear effort put into them to be legitimately good attractions. Still, the fun of the attraction doesn’t account for various safety mishaps with Jonny dangling from a rope; Sarah and Jimmy dangling from a bridge; Nazz caught in a tire without pants; and Rolf trapped under bananas. For how creative these things go wrong, the staging with the believable cries for help make the whole thing feel like a crisis; it's actually kind of horrific.
All Kevin, the only one standing, can do is cower at being the only one left, selling more paranoia about the Eds and their scams. In fact, when he leaves, it’s not even to get help which is concerning given the legit danger everyone’s in. While everyone’s left in this situation, the cartoon ends with a reveal of where the Eds have been. Chimp World was their idea, but they clearly didn’t intend to put the kids in danger. All they’ve been doing was trying to complete Ed’s chimp costume without knowing where the mask and glove were, and have stayed behind a fence all this time. They never even consider that they can just make a new mask and glove instead of standing around. To further show their cluelessness, the last scene has them strip themselves naked to find the costume parts, completely unaware of the ensuing chaos. There are some concerns over priorities, but it’s still a decent laugh to end the cartoon on.
Plus, it’s overall an interesting approach in
setup with solid use of personalities, plot escalation, and complexities to
relationships.
A
Series Ranking
1. One
+ One = Ed
2. A Glass of Warm
Ed
3.
It Came from Outer Ed
4. Rent-A-Ed
5.
Once Upon an Ed
6. Fa
La La La Ed
7. Urban
Ed
8.
Laugh Ed Laugh
9.
Dawn of the Eds
10.
Wish You Were Ed
11.
Dueling Eds
12. Mirror,
Mirror On the Ed
13. Ed-N-Seek
14. Keeping
Up With the Eds
15. Who
Let the Ed In
16. Avast
Ye Eds
17. Flea
Bitten Ed
18. Fool
on the Ed
19. Ready
Set Ed
20. The
Ed-Touchables
21. Who
What Where Ed
22. Dear
Ed
23.
Momma’s Little Ed
24. Hot
Buttered Ed
25. Stop
Look and Ed
26. See No Ed
27. Shoo
Ed
28. Ed
in a Halfshell
29. Scrambled
Ed
30. Vert
Ed Go
31. Oath
to an Ed
32.
Ed, Ed, and Away
33. Button
Yer Ed
34. An Ed in the Bush
35. Read
All About Ed
36. Rambling
Ed
37. Home
Cooked Ed
38. Honor
Thy Ed
39. Floss
Your Ed
40. Quick
Shot Ed
41. Look
Into My Eds
42. Knock,
Knock Who’s Ed
43. A
Boy and His Ed
44. Eds-Aggerate
45.
Three Squares and an Ed
46.
Will Work for Ed
47. High
Heeled Ed
48. Know-it-All
Ed
49.
For Your Ed Only
50.
Dim Lit Eds
51. Cry
Ed
52. Eeny
Meeny Miney Ed
53. A
Pinch to Grow an Ed
54. Pop
Goes the Ed
55. Hands
Across Ed
56. An
Ed Too Many
57. Sir
Ed-a-Lot
58. Over
Your Ed
59. A
Key to My Ed
60. It’s
Way Ed
61. In
Like Ed
62. To
Sir With Ed
63. Nagged
to Ed
64. Tag
Yer Ed
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Eddy experiences his first pimple and showcases a petty grudge against Kevin.
If you would like to check out other Ed Edd n Eddy reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
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