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Stuck in Ed
When a show has been going on for a while, it’s unsurprising that it would run out of ideas at some point. As this show’s fourth season is nearly over, and by extension the show at this point had been running for around five years, it’s fitting that this concept would inspire a cartoon. Considering that a good number of cartoons this season alone have come off as dull with their concept executions, deciding to focus on being stuck for ideas feels natural. One might even argue that it explains a lot about the overall series production.
It all gets going when the Eds are given a clear incentive to go after money. Kevin’s got a huge surplus of jawbreakers from the factory his dad works at in his garage, and all the kids are paying him to get their hands on some. As they don’t have the money to get in on the jawbreakers themselves, of course matters turn to coming up with a scam to solve that problem.
However, it turns out for that for once, Eddy is completely stumped for scam ideas which is an interesting twist on expectations. Eddy is the idea man in the group, always dreaming up scams for the whole team to execute, but for once, he has nothing. Him being so embarrassed to admit this greatly reflects the circumstance while framing him in a relatable, almost sympathetic way. It even highlights the idea that there may be more to what they do than just get money for jawbreakers. On a self-aware level though, it can also be seen as how hard it can be for shows to go on when they don’t seem to have good ideas.
In a pretty clever sense, Eddy not having an idea for a scam ends up being a catalyst for something fairly interesting that’s even executed well for good measure. At his friends’ suggestion, Eddy decides to strike a deal with the other kids to have them come up with a scam in exchange for a cut of potential profits. Circumstances bring Jimmy in on all this, and it’s acknowledged that he has potential of headlining a scam, complete with a direct reminder of an earlier cartoon to prove it. As it turns out, this hidden trait of Jimmy’s is in full force as he clearly shows a definitive vision for a scam. He doesn’t outright state what it is, but knows exactly how to pull it off as he instructs the Eds on what key components to retrieve.
From here, the usual formula is in place as the scam is put together, and it offers the unique appeal that comes with it. It’s amusing enough to watch Eddy and Double D go around finding ways to fulfill Jimmy’s request for a bunch of refrigerators and fence posts. However, the comedic highlight easily comes from Ed who gets extension cords, picks them up easily except they get stuck between trees, and Ed keeps walking with them unaware. Double D and Eddy observing the problem their friend doesn’t notice only to cut to the scam ready to go sells the comedy of the situation by not even saying how obvious the fix is.
Then comes the scam itself which could very well be seen as the most inventive creations of the series. What Jimmy was setting out to create was a bunch of giant ice pops coming in various colors and coming with fruit on the inside. Seeing these treats in full is certainly satisfying as a clear result of hard work and effort to make something creative. Truly, it’s believable that anyone watching would wish these ice pops existed in real life, and Jimmy knows what he’s talking about when he says they’ll be rich from them.
Then comes a striking blow to the whole plan; Eddy completely turns down Jimmy’s scam and declaring it a lame idea despite all the effort and clearly satisfying results. Yes, Eddy is known for his ego and naturally wouldn’t like that Jimmy would upstage him, but wasn’t that the whole point? He had gone out of his way to have others give him an idea for a scam. What’s stopping him from taking credit for Jimmy’s idea to make himself look like a marketing genius? This is an obviously boneheaded move that could have been avoided, and that makes what happens later sting pretty badly. After having Ed humorously and literally knock sense into him, Eddy comes up with his own scam at last, and it’s one that’s truthfully lame. He just has kids stick their heads in holes to find out their ‘hat size’ promising nothing of value. Unsurprisingly, no one pays any mind to this, topped off with Kevin rubbing it in that he’s out of money due to being far more impressed with Jimmy’s ice pops. The sight of Jimmy pulling wagons and toys filled with money even adds to the sting, showing that the Eds could have been successful if it wasn’t for this uncalled-for mood swing. Moral values of scams aside, it makes Eddy come off as hard to get behind for being so boneheaded.
Nevertheless, this
cartoon ends up as one of this season’s most interesting. Tying into the idea of long running shows
being strapped for ideas might not have been its intention, but it’s still
fitting for where this show is at this point.
It isn’t perfect for sure, but the interesting insight still makes the
final product worthwhile.
A-
Postcards from the Ed
It’s ironic that the first cartoon of this episode highlighted the idea of not having creative ideas for things, but its companion has a very creative idea and executes it well. In addition to this idea being executed well in terms of comedy and storytelling, a notable element is how it highlights unique quirks of the cul-de-sac characters.
Leading into this main idea is a scam that also adds to the irony about the last cartoon covering the lack of ideas. It’s an Egyptian temple made of cardboard boxes with lots of interesting details to make it appealing to the kids, like hieroglyphics drawn in crayon. This is a clear example of the Eds’ scams having very impressive effort put into them making them worth rooting for. The fact that it only fails because Ed, posing as the mummy, arrives late to play his part is indicative of the appeal of what theese characters come up with.
It’s this backfire of a scam that starts off the one to drive the plot of this cartoon. The Eds are just doing their thing with the Egyptian scam, and are spotted by Jonny and Plank. There is a catch though with two extra characters with them; Plank’s parents as represented by two longer pieces of wood with husband-and-wife features drawn on them. Jonny has always had an interest in treating inanimate objects like they’re alive, demonstrating childlike wonder. However, when it comes to Plank, there’s often been a bit of ambiguity to how aware of things he really is. So, with his parents introduced, it can be seen as interesting development that can also work as imagination.
Each Ed observes Plank’s parents in their own way playing into either perspective. Ed, being notably naïve and childlike, unsurprisingly interacts them like they’re actual people. Eddy and Double D sees them for the pieces of wood as they are with Double D looking at a nice extension of Jonny’s imagination, and Eddy finding the whole idea stupid. Jonny, who’s been giving Plank’s parents a tour of the cul-de-sac, has gotten tired from working at it all day, and asks the Eds to continue the tour for him. Double D and especially Ed are happy to oblige while Eddy, based on his own opinion of the setup, backs down. From there, the tour gets going with a simple gesture of pushing Plank’s parents around in a shopping cart to take in the cul-de-sac’s simple findings. Simple as the tour starts out as, in an entertaining measure, it escalates into something much crazier, making it stand out much more.
After just brushing off the ideas of Plank’s parents as stupid, Eddy has a complete change of opinion as he sees an opportunity for money. Right in the middle of Ed and Double D’s simple tour, Eddy barges in with a tour bus made of a cardboard box and wagon to snatch up Plank’s parents. He’s now posing as their tour guide, and is ready for all potential profit. As wrong as he is for kidnapping Plank’s parents from his friends who genuinely want to serve them, Eddy has the charisma to make the cul-de-sac tour stand out better. Because of this, mundane sights of the neighborhood like garbage mountains, manhole covers, and even grass feel much more special. He even has ways of making rivals like Sarah and Jimmy look like interesting tourist traps, and it’s fitting in this context with Sarah seen pushing Jimmy in a baby carriage; seriously what’s up with that?
Still, as fun as Eddy is, he’s clearly over his head, and his friends set out to talk sense in him. The fact that Ed is the one more determined to track Eddy down says a lot about his sincerity to fulfilling this task for Jonny. He amusingly uses the scent of Eddy’s cologne to find out where the tour has gone, and is at his most firm when finally confronting them at the playground. Unfortunately, for all his and Double D’s efforts, they don’t stop Eddy’s crazy tour, and it meets a rather gruesome end when the tour goes under the monkey bars. The low bars completely break Plank’s parents’ heads off, which of course means death in terms of the nature of inanimate objects with faces. If that’s not enough, Eddy doesn’t even have a chance to cover what he did when Jonny and Plank appear and see everything. Before Ed can end up taking the blame, he’s quick to reveal that Eddy did it, and the claim is not contradicted or denied. Eddy does try to lighten the situation by saying the heads can be fixed with glue or nails, but as far as Jonny’s concerned, Plank is an orphan, and Eddy will pay dearly. His final punishment is fitting with him tied to the top of a tree surrounded by other planks with angry faces which he also claims as stupid. What isn’t fitting however is that Double D and Ed are punished too even though they were clearly trying to stop Eddy and admitted they weren’t responsible for what happened. This is a total one step forward two steps back deal that holds the cartoon back from ultimate greatness, and it sadly tends to be a common occurrence at this point.
The cartoon on the whole is still very good for proving to still have good ideas and executing them to an entertaining and somewhat character-building degree.
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. Little
Ed Blue
38. Ed
in a Halfshell
39. Scrambled
Ed
40. Pain
in the Ed
41.
O-Ed Eleven
42. Vert
Ed Go
43. Ed
Overboard
44. Postcards
from the Ed
45. Oath
to an Ed
46.
Ed, Ed, and Away
47. Button
Yer Ed
48.
An Ed in the Bush
49. Read
All About Ed
50. Rambling
Ed
51. Home
Cooked Ed
52. Honor
Thy Ed
53. Stuck
in Ed
54. Floss
Your Ed
55. Robbin’
Ed
56. Quick
Shot Ed
57. Look
Into My Eds
58.
The Luck of the Ed
59. The
Good Ol’ Ed
60.
Is There An Ed in the House?
61. Knock,
Knock Who’s Ed
62. A
Boy and His Ed
63. Eds-Aggerate
64.
Three Squares and an Ed
65. One
Size Fits Ed
66.
Will Work for Ed
67.
Boys Will Be Eds
68. High
Heeled Ed
69. Know-it-All
Ed
70.
For Your Ed Only
71.
Dim Lit Ed
72. Cry
Ed
73. Eeny
Meeny Miney Ed
74. A
Pinch to Grow an Ed
75. Pop
Goes the Ed
76. Hands
Across Ed
77. They
Call Him Mr. Ed
78. An
Ed Too Many
79. Sir
Ed-a-Lot
80. For
the Ed By the Ed
81. Over
Your Ed
82.
From Here to Ed
83. A
Key to My Ed
84. Once
Bitten Twice Ed
85.
X Marks the Ed
86. It’s
Way Ed
87. Here’s
Mud in Your Ed
88. In
Like Ed
89. A
Twist of Ed
90. A
Case of Ed
91.
Thick as an Ed
92.
My Fair Ed
93. To
Sir With Ed
94. Nagged
to Ed
95. Tag
Yer Ed
96.
Stiff Upper Ed
97.
Sorry Wrong Ed
98. If
it Smells Like an Ed
99. Your
Ed Here
The next Ed Edd n Eddy review has the Kanker sisters bring destruction to the cul-de-sac to find their ship-in-a-bottle while the Eds try to get it off Ed's finger, and the kids are met with a mysterious boomerang.
Next time is more review fun from DuckTales.
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