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Night Drivers
Though development for the main underlying story is welcome, the tone of the series make it necessary to balance out the huge information with slice-of-life levity. So, this cartoon is designed to transition from major Newtopia adventures to going back to the original status quo in the Plantars’ hometown of Wartwood. Nothing too big happens for the characters involved, but it still builds effective atmosphere out of every encounter on the voyage home, which is said to not even be that long.
Like most kids who have just gone on a vacation to a major city, Sprig and Polly have had their fun, but are looking forward to getting home, which there’s no place like you know. However, getting home in good time is put on hold when Anne and Hop Pop, the only ones experienced with driving the family snail Bessie, are too tired to continue. They proceed to get some much needed sleep, but for Sprig and Polly, this means they have to wait even longer to get back home. Then they decide that they're capable of driving despite not having the experience, so even though Hop Pop won’t let them, they take Bessie’s reins and do it anyway.
That’s all there is to the basic premise, and what follows isn’t particularly deep or thought-provoking. Instead, its substance consists of atmospheric moments to highlight the journey which in turn make it exciting and creatively staged. Anne and Hop Pop are shown to have elaborate dream sequences while asleep that go all out with visuals. Hop Pop’s dream starts out dark and foreboding with him experiencing signs of death before the mood turns and he’s flying through the air like a god. Anne’s dream is the opposite opening in a happy world of talking yogurt, only for it to get scary when, of all things, the only flavor they have is licorice.
These dreams are aesthetically amusing, but of course, it’s what Sprig and Polly get up to by driving Bessie without the others knowing that really drives the cartoon. All the way, compared to the last cartoon focusing on Sprig and Polly as siblings, they get along very well and work as a solid team. In addition to pleasing interactions between them, they approach every obstacle in their own unique way. Sometimes they’re all for the adrenaline rush of some extreme driving, but other times they hang on for their lives in places like a canyon of falling rocks.
The most prominent sight of all is a mysterious hitchhiker with a hook for a hand and a demented smile. He’s someone Sprig and Polly just can’t deny is frightening no matter what, so they try to avoid him. Despite all efforts, he shows up anyway, especially at a fork in the road. Hesitant to trust a strange hitchhiker, when he points to one path, they ignore him and take the other path. This in turn lands everyone in thick mist, and there’s another scary encounter with the hitchhiker suddenly appearing on the wagon with them. Because of his creepy appearance, Sprig and Polly fear for their lives as they keep driving through a dangerous rocky trench. From the staging, understandable impressions of the hitchhiker, and the kids’ fitting reactions to him, this sequence works as a scary climax. Then it suddenly ends with the sun coming up, the hitchhiker gone, and the group almost home. It even turns out that the hitchhiker wasn’t dangerous, and was just trying to get the wagon on a safer path. It’s an interesting twist for sure, but the explanation is a bit on the nose and over-explained. The important thing though is that while the cartoon is another one mostly existing for fun, it’s still a solid show of character and atmosphere.
That said, it’s welcome to see that frog robot continuing to follow the Plantars after so long.
B+
Return to Wartwood
When shows set out to balance major underlying plots with slice-of-life, it’s certainly not easy. Luckily, this show pulls this element off fairly well. While the heavy plot aspect is more interesting, the one-off adventures have their merits too, serving as healthy breathers before the next big story beat. Working in this favor is that the characters of this show are its biggest strength.
This cartoon reintroduces long unseen characters as the Plantars finally come home to Wartwood. It’s easy to tell how valuable the Plantars have become to this town as everyone gathers to greet them. There are amusing quirks from the eccentric residents, reunions with love interests, and arrangements for a big town dinner to celebrate the return. It’s all nice events, but then the cartoon’s conflict emerges. The residents talk about gifts that the Plantars allegedly got everyone in Newtopia. The problem is that even though Hop Pop and Polly were around to hear what everyone wanted, they forgot the gift list they made. This especially stings knowing they spent a whole cartoon shopping in Newtopia. Fearing letting everyone down, the Plantars feel the best thing to do is get empty gift boxes and call upon a monster to destroy them so no one finds out the truth.
Actually, Anne looks at the situation moralistically, pointing out that they should know lying is not the right approach. Of interesting note, she says this in response to Hop Pop spelling out that the best thing to do is to bury the issue so no one finds out. Consider this clash of perspectives a major instance of foreshadowing. Still, there are points to make the course of action understandable, namely how Sprig is an unfortunate victim of all this with one of the gifts meant for his girlfriend Ivy. He’s worried he could lose her over something he wasn’t in on.
The plan is put into action as the Plantars do a ritual to call their creature meant to only eat the shiny gift boxes and not hurt anyone unless provoked.
Then they casually join the town for the dinner via an amusing tone shift. The dinner is a nice gathering of various personalities. The ones that stand out are easily the moments between Sprig and Ivy, who for a pair of kids, offer a pleasing atmosphere as a child couple active while the show is still running. Then comes the appointed creature, a chicka-lisk, a huge fire breathing chicken who, again, is only meant to eat the shiny gift boxes. However, there’s one thing the Plantars didn’t count on, and that’s the Wartwood citizens sympathizing with their kind gesture. They act aggressive towards the chicka-lisk which in turn provokes it. Not only does it attack the town, but it also turns some of the citizens to stone like a cockatrice. It now has to be beaten, which in turn makes for an exciting climax where just about all of Wartwood plays a part, an interesting turn of events. In the end, the chicka-lisk is offended into being driven away, and local sorceress, Maddie Flour, frees everyone from stone.
The Plantars come clean about forgetting to get everyone gifts, but the citizens don’t hold anything against them. The fact that they’re fine with the Plantars’ wacky adventures that result in dangers easily shows that they know their good people at heart who always mean well. There’s even a cute cheek kiss between Ivy and Sprig to really seal the deal and end the cartoon. While this may not be the most interesting story and it’s questionable if the payoff was earned, it’s very rewarding to return to wholesome slice-of-life on familiar grounds.
A-
Fan Art
Series Ranking
1.
Hopping
Mall
2.
Reunion
3.
Marcy at the Gates
4.
Toad Tax
5.
Anne vs Wild
6.
The Domino Effect
7.
Toadcatcher
8.
Prison Break
9.
A Day at the Aquarium
10.
Anne of the Year
11.
Contagi-Anne
12.
Best Fronds
13.
Family Shrub
14.
Hop-Popular
15.
Anne Hunter
16.
Wally and Anne
17.
Children of the Spore
18.
A Night at the Inn
19.
Handy Anne
20.
Scavenger Hunt
21.
Lily Pad Thai
22.
Dating Season
23.
Anne or Beast?
24.
Combat Camp
25.
Little Frogtown
26.
Cursed!
27.
Snow Day
28.
Civil Wart
29.
Stakeout
30.
Croak and Punishment
31.
Taking Charge
32.
Flood, Sweat, and Tears
33.
Bizarre Bazaar
34.
The Plantars Check In
35.
The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers
36.
Wax Museum
37. Return
to Wartwood
38.
Sprig Gets Schooled
39.
Swamp and Sensibility
40.
Trip to the Archives
41.
Anne Theft Auto
42.
Hop Luck
43. Night
Drivers
44.
Quarreler’s
Pass
45.
Hop Pop and Lock
46.
Plantar’s Last Stand
47.
Fort in the Road
48.
A Caravan Named Desire
49.
The Big Bugball Game
50.
Fiddle Me This
51.
Truck Stop Polly
52.
Family Fishing Trip
53.
The Ballad of Hoppediah Plantar
54.
Girl Time
55.
Breakout Star
56.
Grubhog Day
57.
Cane Crazy
58.
Lost in Newtopia
59.
Sprig vs Hop Pop
60.
Cracking Mrs. Croaker
The next Amphibia review is a big Halloween special consisting of three unique spooky stories.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews, The Owl House takes us "Elsewhere and Elsewhen."
If you would like to check out other Amphibia reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
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