Friday, January 20, 2023

Ed Overboard / One of Those Eds - (Ed Edd n Eddy Season 4 Episode 4) - 'Toon Reviews 52

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Ed Overboard

An interesting thing about this cartoon is how it shows different sides to characters and puts them in unusual situations.  

To incite the conflict, there’s a look at a more humane side of the otherwise unpleasant Kanker sisters.  Lee and Marie give May a makeover, but they make their sister look like a total mess.  As May retaliates with justified aggression, she’s reminded of her supposed ‘boyfriend’ Ed, and bawls over how he’ll never like her because of how hideous he looks.  Aside from the context that Ed and his friends already want nothing to do with any of the Kankers, this is an interesting perception of this group.  The way May breaks down over how Ed might feel about her suggests that there is a genuineness to her flirting with him; perhaps her love is for real after all.  That’s not an excuse for how much of a harasser she and her sisters can be, but it’s easier to see her point here.  There’s also legit care from Lee and Marie where even though they gave May a bad makeover to begin with, they insist men can like her for more than looks.  With that said, they set out to prove it by kidnapping Ed and bringing him to May.  Of course they need to be stopped, but there are still understandable feelings from their point of view.  

Given the context and low morality, action is taken to rescue Ed from harassment.  Double D is quick to try to rescue him while Eddy doesn’t want anything to do with getting involved with the Kankers despite their friend in trouble.  Eddy may seem disingenuous, but there are strong hints of reasonable fear of the Kankers.  Then there is the help they get from Rolf who agrees to assist them as the Urban Rangers.  In fact, the way they get involved is probably the best of the series; Rolf jumps into sap to change into uniform, uses a cow to call Jimmy, Jonny, and Plank, and even lets Eddy and Double D join them through an oath.  It’s all a creative and insightful look of how this scout troop gets into action and all for a good cause for the series’ main trio.  

As for the actual rescue, a desperate need for one is clear as May is quickly cheered up by Ed’s presence. She draws symbols of love over his body, unaware that they’re unrequited.  The actual rescue features solid amusement from the characters involved. Rolf tries to stage a good distraction, and Ed naively blowing the cover of Jimmy and Jonny trying to untie him.  Their cover is ultimately blown because of Ed and the Kankers start ganging up on them, making this seemingly formidable scout troop intimidated.  In fact, their only resort is to play dead, lilies on the chest and all, but even that leaves them scared as the Kankers clearly don’t buy this act.  If there’s one thing to take from this, it makes all the times the Eds are always harassed by them slightly better.  The fact that even characters as strong as the Urban Rangers can also be overpowered by these creeps means they’re no weaker than their peers.  

If anything, the Eds turn out better than the Urban Rangers as they successfully save Ed from their clutches, and there’s even a nice scene showing how good it is to have him back.  This good feeling doesn’t last long as the cartoon ends with the Urban Rangers taking Ed away again as retaliation for the Kankers apparently giving them bad makeovers.  It’s ultimately unknown what’s done with Ed now, and things are left unresolved especially with Double D insisting Eddy be taken instead; some friendship there.  Thankfully, the sting of the ending is lessened by the impressive things this cartoon does with the featured characters.

A

One of Those Eds

Sometimes all that’s needed to pull off strong entertainment is a large cast of characters, a simple situation, and all their unique ways of approaching it.  There’s no shortage of characters with this show, all of which having their own quirky personality. With them all together to try and reach a common goal, the appeal is all set to let itself be known.  

It begins when Eddy finds a quarter on the sidewalk, but for some reason, he can’t get it off.  Worried that someone will come and take the quarter for themselves, he marks the spot with his shoe and goes to get help.  All the while, more kids show up and do the same thing.  They spot the quarter under the peculiar thing hiding it whether it’s Eddy’s shoe, Jimmy’s Mr. Yum-Yum (a bear this time), and Kevin’s hat.  Like Eddy, they can’t just pick the quarter up with it still firmly stuck to the sidewalk.  

Eventually, they all arrive at the same spot and escalate the situation claiming the quarter for themselves, eventually leading to an all-out brawl.  As an added bit of humor, all of this starting with Eddy hiding the quarter with this shoe and eventually Rolf trying to beat it with three shoes leads to Ed not fighting for the quarter.  Rather, he just goes after everyone’s shoes for the fun of it, leading to an outrageous fixation to break up the aggression.  Speaking of which, Double D’s involvement includes organizing everyone’s anxiousness to get the quarter by having them take turns in trying to get it off.  

The entertainment continues to build through everyone’s outrageous attempts and equally outrageous after effects.  Jimmy tries to remove it with an eyelash curler, and immediately is sent to the hospital after one go; Sarah tries to remove it with her teeth and is defeated by simple embarrassment after Eddy claims to see her underwear which is obviously a lie; Kevin tries to pry it off with his bike and a chain only for his bike to take off without him; and Rolf’s sheer force in removing the quarter is thwarted by a sudden relapse of a back pain caused by a scam from earlier in the cartoon.  

This only leaves the Eds in the clear to try and remove the quarter now, and when Eddy’s attempt with a shovel fails, Double D steps in with an apparently elaborate proposal.  It’s somewhat humorously remarkable that so much research goes into something as seemingly simple as removing a quarter from the sidewalk.  The build-up to the invention’s reveal is staged as huge with everything shown in shadows at night.  By the next day, this invention made of simple junk has impressively managed to dig up everything, except that quarter.  

Then, all these elaborate processes to remove it get a big punchline when what was keeping it stuck is revealed through simple measures.  It was nothing more than a wad of gum, and Jonny and Plank were using the quarter to keep it fresh.  The Eds and everyone else went through so much trouble to try and get that quarter all to themselves, but the reason it was stuck was through something so simple.  Now, all the Eds have to show for their effort is a bunch of shoes Ed managed to pilfer through it all.  

It’s plain to see that this cartoon is built through a simple scenario built upon through a big cast and creative gags, and it’s appropriately immensely entertaining as a result.

A+

Series Ranking

1.      An Ed is Born

2.      One + One = Ed

3.      The Day the Ed Stood Still

4.      A Glass of Warm Ed

5.      It Came from Outer Ed

6.      Rent-A-Ed

7.      Once Upon an Ed

8.      Fa La La La Ed

9.      Urban Ed

10.  Ed…Pass it On

11.  One of Those Eds

12.  Laugh Ed Laugh

13.  Dawn of the Eds

14.  Don’t Rain on My Ed

15.  Wish You Were Ed

16.  Dueling Eds

17.  Mirror, Mirror On the Ed

18.  Gimme, Gimme Never Ed

19.  Ed-N-Seek

20.  Keeping Up With the Eds

21.  Who Let the Ed In

22.  Avast Ye Eds

23.  Flea Bitten Ed

24.  Fool on the Ed

25.  Ready Set Ed

26.  The Ed-Touchables

27.  Who What Where Ed

28.  Dear Ed

29.  Momma’s Little Ed

30.  Brother, Can You Spare an Ed?

31.  Hot Buttered Ed

32.  Ed or Tails

33.  Stop Look and Ed

34.  See No Ed

35.  Shoo Ed

36.  Rock-a-Bye Ed

37.  Ed in a Halfshell

38.  Scrambled Ed

39.  Pain in the Ed

40.  O-Ed Eleven

41.  Vert Ed Go

42.  Ed Overboard

43.  Oath to an Ed

44.  Ed, Ed, and Away

45.  Button Yer Ed

46.  An Ed in the Bush

47.  Read All About Ed

48.  Rambling Ed

49.  Home Cooked Ed

50.  Honor Thy Ed

51.  Floss Your Ed

52.  Quick Shot Ed

53.  Look Into My Eds

54.  The Luck of the Ed

55.  Is There An Ed in the House?

56.  Knock, Knock Who’s Ed

57.  A Boy and His Ed

58.  Eds-Aggerate

59.  Three Squares and an Ed

60.  One Size Fits Ed

61.  Will Work for Ed

62.  Boys Will Be Eds

63.  High Heeled Ed

64.  Know-it-All Ed

65.  For Your Ed Only

66.  Dim Lit Ed

67.  Cry Ed

68.  Eeny Meeny Miney Ed

69.  A Pinch to Grow an Ed

70.  Pop Goes the Ed

71.  Hands Across Ed

72.  An Ed Too Many

73.  Sir Ed-a-Lot

74.  Over Your Ed

75.  From Here to Ed

76.  A Key to My Ed

77.  Once Bitten Twice Ed

78.  X Marks the Ed

79.  It’s Way Ed

80.  In Like Ed

81.  My Fair Ed

82.  To Sir With Ed

83.  Nagged to Ed

84.  Tag Yer Ed

85.  If it Smells Like an Ed

The next review shows the Eds spending the day going up (whatever that means), and Eddy stuggling to beat Plank as king of the cul-de-sac.

For the time being, all on-going review sets will be put on hold for MC Toon Reviews to put together a special review of the next Owl House finale special, "For the Future."

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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