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Is There an Ed in the House?
In spite of his lack of social graces and healthy habits, Ed has many good-hearted moments within his community. His dumb demeanor may be the reason the Eds' scams fail a lot of the time, but that never stops him from being a good lovable individual. This goes for people who don’t deserve it like his own sister who’s, to put it bluntly, a total brat.
This example of care and love towards a total burden starts with the Eds in the middle of a scam when Jimmy suddenly appears asking for things to treat Sarah who apparently has a cold. The moment Ed hears that Sarah is sick, he abandons the scam to tend to her. Throughout the cartoon, it feels almost as if it’s a natural instinct of his as a big brother to be there for his sister. Keeping the setup interesting, it’s not just Ed tending to Sarah that gets focus.
The cartoon also shows the impact of Sarah’s condition on other fronts. Because of Ed’s need to look after her, scams are more subject to failure whenever he suddenly leaves or carelessly reveals them as a fraud. This certainly isn’t taken well by Eddy. As for Double D, his concern is the contagiousness of Sarah’s cold. He’s paranoid to the point of insisting on observing the ailment, which from his perspective could just be a minor cold at best. He also gets a rare aggressive moment when he sets up a bell for Sarah, and she blows a raspberry at him, spreading her germs.
These approaches to the situation help make the premise amusing, but the main focus of Ed rushing to look after his sister has strong entertainment too. In doing what he can to take care of Sarah, Ed reveals a more competitive side to him against Jimmy. Whatever Jimmy has in mind to treat Sarah, Ed always rushes to do the same, and at times, one-up Jimmy’s treatment. In fact, trying to one-up Jimmy is where the cartoon gets especially fun in the ways Ed tries to offer better care. When Sarah needs to blow her nose, while Jimmy has a tissue, Ed tries to unstuff Sarah’s nose with a vacuum cleaner. For food, Jimmy has a single grilled cheese sandwich, but while Ed initially has soup, when he drops it, he lets Sarah have a whole refrigerator. There’s even an amusing clash in taste in stories to treat Sarah too with Jimmy reading something cute and innocent while Ed reads one of his gory comic books. All of this makes for an interesting setup with one treating Sarah as a genuine friend while the other seems to be doing it out of obligation despite not being well-liked.
This even ties into other parts of the cartoon as this still means Ed is distracted from the daily scams. To ease his competitiveness, Eddy ropes Jimmy into being a part of the scam so Ed won’t have to worry about him treating Sarah better. However, Jimmy manages to escape causing Ed to keep on letting Sarah occupy his priorities and a second scam of a driving lesson to crash. Finally, Eddy convinces Ed to be tough on Sarah to squash any threat of distraction, and it’s a force to be reckoned with. Ed is assertive for Sarah to stay in bed and even straight-up throws Jimmy out the window. As dramatic a shift as this is, Ed shows he can’t keep up the demeanor for long. When Sarah cries out of sadness, he’s quick to console…even if he ends up getting beaten shortly afterwards. With this conclusion as well as Double D catching Sarah’s cold after all, there’s a surprisingly fitting end to all this with Eddy just deciding to go watch TV.
While this cartoon is very basic in setup, it
still says a lot when it comes to character portrayals and craftsmanship of
scenarios.
A-
An Ed is
Born
This entire series is, to put it simply, something all its
own. Like many great animated shows, it
stands out with a dynamic cast and a way of bringing major entertainment out of
relatable areas of life. Setting it
apart from the rest, however, is how far it goes with interpreting how crazy
things can get while getting by and making a name for oneself. The over-the-top antics, staging, and even
the visual style perfectly compliment the random things the stories center on
and sell the characters as an ultimate experience of personality. At the center of it all are three misfit boys
with similar names serving as the personification of three parts of a single
relatable unit. Consider this cartoon as
the ultimate celebration of this show’s strengths.
It sets itself up with an antic to serve as a running gag
that also establishes the Eds’ status as a nuisance to the neighborhood. Rolf tracks Ed and Double D stealing his
chickens for their own crazy stunts, resulting in justified, yet hilariously
staged rage releases. This first
instance of the gag is cut off when Eddy suddenly arrives with a package from
his older brother, someone he’s been shown to idolize and try to emulate. Unfortunately for him, the package is full of
baby stuff, indicating that he’s looked down upon as immature and far below his
brother’s leagues. As a bonus point of
interest, while it will be a long time before Eddy’s brother is introduced,
this instance serves as a solid introduction for a shocking truth to their
relationship. Anyway, wanting to prove
his maturity to his brother and present himself as a true big shot, Eddy
decides to make a movie of his life in the cul-de-sac. Lucky for him, via an example of this show’s
randomness, Ed keeps a video camera in his drier, and so, film production can
begin and take up the entire cartoon.
The ensuing chaos that results from the filming is what makes the
cartoon.
The concept of filming a home movie is captured very
well. There’s no background music except
from an occasional onscreen source; the camera is often shaky as it would be if
someone was holding one; and there are constant cuts to static. It really gives the feel of something being
filmed on the fly and goes well with all the attempts to make Eddy look cool
and powerful. They all backfire, but the
extreme failures go hand-in-hand with such an unusual way of looking at
them. For one thing, it has a creative
way of demonstrating all the ways the Eds function. Eddy, as the star, perfectly demonstrates a
desire to be seen as cool and be longing for attention and validation; Double
D, serving as the cameraman, pays close attention to shot composition while
giving snide remarks and occasional behind the scenes reveals in response to
Eddy’s boasting; and Ed as somewhat of a stagehand, is in his own little world
along for the ride, mostly getting mileage out of the baby rattle Eddy’s
brother sent. Put together, this attempt
at a movie already succeeds as a celebration of the humorous appeal of the Eds’
daily lives, and it goes well with everything in the actual movie.
The first scene shows the kind of person Eddy wants to be and what he wants to be seen as, living as a king, growing a mustache, and of course being rich. In reality, unsurprisingly, what he presents himself to his brother is a total façade with shag rug for a mustache, and his piles of money being full garbage bags with dollar signs on them. Double D is even so thrown off by the outrageous claims that he films Ed taking out the garbage bags, destroying the façade.
When that scene is a bust, others try to present Eddy as a big shot amongst the other cul-de-sac kids. The thing is, even though he tries to act as the popular big shot, Eddy really can’t escape the truth, in turn giving the audience a sense of every character’s true personality at play. He slyly tries to write Kevin off as the “neighborhood dork,” but then Kevin gets back at him with an extreme gag. Grabbing Eddy’s underwear and placing it on the back of his bike, Kevin speeds off resulting in amusing shape distortion on Eddy’s upper body as he clings to a fire hydrant. Only when he lets go of the hydrant does Eddy ultimately feel the effects of Kevin’s speeding; such is a consequence for cockiness.
However, it doesn’t stop
there as in the next scene over at the playground, still trying to look cool
for his brother, Eddy keeps up his big shot persona. To make matters worse, it’s in front of more
kids who can’t stand him, Sarah and Jimmy.
He doesn’t hold back in telling them to pay him if they want to play on
the swings. Once again, this show of
cockiness does nothing to prevent the truth from showing itself as Sarah’s
usual aggressiveness shows as a result.
She makes Ed beat Eddy back thus allowing her and Jimmy to swing to
their heart’s content. This scene also
marks an impressive use of the scene-staging aesthetic where at one point,
Sarah punches the camera out of Double D’s hand, and the angles change without
any cuts. It successfully holds onto the
feel of actually watching something from a handheld camera, which can’t be easy
to capture on purpose.
It’s after this scene when the cartoon really gets creative
with presenting itself as an actual home movie.
While Eddy and Double D are stumped for what to do next about the task
at hand, Ed gets hold of the camera and plays around with it. This in turn leads to what may very well be
the highlight of the cartoon. Ed could
film just about anything with the camera, especially since it’s his, but what
he chooses to film is very interesting to say the least. Actually, he straight up eats the
camera, and the cartoon goes all out with the details. The sequence starts with the camera going
straight into Ed’s mouth. Then when
Double D demands him to open it, there’s a brief shot of an actual path from
the inside of the mouth to deep in Ed’s stomach. It’s certainly something you don’t often see
portrayed in animation, but that’s what makes this whole excursion something
all its own as well demonstrative of what the show can do. That said, it’s hard to imagine Double D
would still be comfortable using the camera after getting it out, but that’s
just me.
After that, the filming gets back in a groove with Eddy still trying to look like he’s the most popular kid in the cul-de-sac with the truth leading to all kinds of backfires. He acts as Nazz is his girlfriend while she’s minding her own business painting her nails, and that gets him punched as the love interest stands up for herself. Jonny grabs the camera and messes around with it, though interestingly enough, Plank appears to be the one grabbing it.
Then Eddy tries looking cool around Rolf with Ed dressing as him. However, the chicken scene from earlier comes back to haunt all the Eds when the real Rolf catches them, and there’s a sudden cut to a spontaneous runaway.
Even a usually unpleasant scene from the
Kanker sisters is played well here. It
happens in a scene where Eddy tries to stage the junkyard as his own private
hideout where he even has his own car.
Then he stumbles upon some sort of machine that looks interesting, but
one with a completely unknown purpose.
In acting like he knows what he’s doing to the point of branding it as a
“hard egg boiler,” Eddy opens it up to find the Kankers inside it. The screams of his friends pointing them out
is what gets him aware of what he’s uncovered, and chaos ensues. It lasts long enough to show what the Kankers
are like as they proceed to smooch Eddy collectively, but short enough to not
bring down the fun of what’s going on. What's more, it's something Eddy brought on himself instead of the girls just barging in to ruin everything like they always do, further making the scene more watchable than normal.
If anything, it adds to how this cartoon works of the liveliness of
everyone in Eddy’s life.
For the last scene in the movie, Eddy has one more go of
portraying the life he wants to live, and in the process is another elaborately
staged scheme on part of the featured characters. As dance music plays from a background boom
box, Eddy acts as the ultimate popular kid giving out autographs to everyone, with all the cul-de-sac kids walking about his room. Actually, the kids are nothing more than
cardboard cutouts which easy to tell, but nothing too revealing is shown. Ed saying that “they’re hungry” as he pours
Chunky Puffs on the floor is the closest indication, but even then nothing’s
given away. The actual reveal though is
greatly staged as the real Rolf shows up, seeming to track something down like
he did at the start of the cartoon.
Eddy, so caught up in his delusions of grandeur, autographs Rolf’s face
without seeing he’s not a cutout, and the sudden timing is enough to snap him
back to reality. Rolf gives one more
hilarious burst of rage over Eddy writing on his face; his chickens being
stolen again (they’re the reason the cutouts could walk around); and the Eds
apparently “stealing Rolf’s soul with [their] film box.” Consider his ultimate violent rage and chase
of the Eds around Eddy’s room the grand finale.
The ending may be sudden with the cartoon just stopping after the camera
battery runs out causing the camera to turn off, but it works in context. The whole cartoon was set up to be a home
movie, so it only makes sense that it ends like one with the filming stopping
when it just can’t go on any longer. It
also fulfills its intention of showing a day in the life of the Eds, though for
Eddy’s sake, I hope he can fix a lot of the footage in editing.
This entire cartoon brings to light everything great about
this show. Almost all the characters get
a memorable moment; the comedy is top notch; many moments stand out for how far
they go with what animation can portray; and in staging everything as a home
movie, it offers creative ways of perceiving life. Plus, there’s something to be said about the
whole thing covering someone trying to be seen the way they want to be seen,
but can’t escape the grasp of the reality of things. It’s both immensely entertaining, and can get
the audience to ponder a lot of things if their minds are open enough. In the end, this cartoon, at least from my
perspective, is the show’s magnum opus that shows why this series has endured
for so long in the eyes of many.
A++
Series Ranking
1.
An Ed is Born
2. One
+ One = Ed
3. A Glass of Warm
Ed
4.
It Came from Outer Ed
5. Rent-A-Ed
6.
Once Upon an Ed
7. Fa
La La La Ed
8. Urban
Ed
9.
Laugh Ed Laugh
10. Dawn
of the Eds
11.
Wish You Were Ed
12.
Dueling Eds
13. Mirror,
Mirror On the Ed
14. Ed-N-Seek
15. Keeping
Up With the Eds
16. Who
Let the Ed In
17. Avast
Ye Eds
18. Flea
Bitten Ed
19. Fool
on the Ed
20. Ready
Set Ed
21. The
Ed-Touchables
22. Who
What Where Ed
23. Dear
Ed
24.
Momma’s Little Ed
25. Hot
Buttered Ed
26.
Ed or Tails
27. Stop
Look and Ed
28.
See No Ed
29. Shoo
Ed
30. Ed
in a Halfshell
31. Scrambled
Ed
32. Vert
Ed Go
33. Oath
to an Ed
34.
Ed, Ed, and Away
35. Button
Yer Ed
36.
An Ed in the Bush
37. Read
All About Ed
38. Rambling
Ed
39. Home
Cooked Ed
40. Honor
Thy Ed
41. Floss
Your Ed
42. Quick
Shot Ed
43. Look
Into My Eds
44. Is There An Ed in the House?
45. Knock,
Knock Who’s Ed
46. A
Boy and His Ed
47. Eds-Aggerate
48.
Three Squares and an Ed
49.
Will Work for Ed
50.
Boys Will Be Eds
51. High
Heeled Ed
52. Know-it-All
Ed
53.
For Your Ed Only
54.
Dim Lit Eds
55. Cry
Ed
56. Eeny
Meeny Miney Ed
57. A
Pinch to Grow an Ed
58. Pop
Goes the Ed
59. Hands
Across Ed
60. An
Ed Too Many
61. Sir
Ed-a-Lot
62. Over
Your Ed
63.
From Here to Ed
64. A
Key to My Ed
65.
X Marks the Ed
66. It’s
Way Ed
67. In
Like Ed
68. To
Sir With Ed
69. Nagged
to Ed
70. Tag
Yer Ed
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where the Eds set up thrill rides for Plank, and Double D is forced to take responsibility for Ed and Eddy's chaos regardless of how unfair this is.
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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