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Run for Your Ed
Some of this show’s most memorable works have a creative concept that really takes advantage of its potential for quality entertainment. With this cartoon, its concept is central to the quirks of some of its characters and their reaction to a notable inconvenience.
The characters in question here are the typically most dreaded in the cast, the Kanker sisters. They’re awakened one night and discover that their home has been invaded. Rather than their damaged furniture and appliances, their concern is on a missing ship-in-a-bottle, a family heirloom they clearly have a huge attachment to. In a way, their ties to the ship-in-a-bottle, shown to their distress of it going missing, does a lot of good for the Kankers as characters. Giving them a sentimental attachment to something gives them shreds of humanity which is good for them considering their status as relentless harassing thugs who can’t take a hint.
There isn’t much humanity in how they set out to look for their ship-in-a-bottle which is terrorizing the entire cul-de-sac by breaking into houses and assaulting all the kids. However, even then, with the context of their actions in mind, some could say that their so devoted to this specific treasure that they’re willing to do anything to get it back. It is a natural response to forget all logic and common sense in the name of sincere devotion. Also, as a creative scenario, the Kanker’s wreaking havoc on the cul-de-sac is well-executed. It’s a somewhat ridiculous setup with the Kankers ready to cause harm over something as simple as a ship-in-a-bottle, but that’s what makes it entertaining and amusing. It works together with the just how destructive the havoc as a result of their actions looks. From the moment Rolf’s farm animals react franticly sensing a disturbance and Rolf rushing them to the cellar, danger is clearly imminent. The danger is well displayed with a threatening red sky, and whenever the Kankers show up, there are earthquakes, immediate house destructions, and all around carnage. All the other kids are powerless to stop them and are reduced to hiding in fear, all because of what’s known as a “Kanker hissy fit.” Just a name like that for something so seriously dangerous makes what unfolds just as humorous as it is legitimately threatening.
As for the ship-in-a-bottle itself, this would be where the Eds come in. In a callback to another very memorable and greatly executed creative concept, Eddy and Double D are called to retrieve Ed from Kevin’s refrigerator. He’s been eating while sleepwalking again, and in his travels, he got a ship-in-a-bottle stuck on his finger. Naturally, the Eds’ goal for the cartoon becomes trying to get the ship-in-a-bottle off of Ed’s finger. There’s a variety of extreme attempts that tend to come from a trio who regularly makes simple tasks more difficult from trying to forcefully pull it off; fighting Ed’s resistance to soap; and Ed insisting they can remove the bottle by using sticky tape while he jumps from a ceiling. These scenes are fun enough, but they don’t reach the same impact as the Kankers’ destruction. The funniest part about them is how the Eds are so in tune to their task that they’re oblivious to all the painfully obvious carnage going on around them.
There is a clever way of how both paths cross. When getting sticky tape, they come across Sarah who aggressively says she’s hiding, but they don’t care to find out what she’s hiding from. Then the Kankers show up and attack Sarah, an honestly welcome change of pace for this usual aggressive brat. Then, Sarah ends up proving resourceful remembering just one brief moment of her encounter with the Eds, proving helpful to the Kankers when they mention their ship-in-a-bottle.
This leads into the cartoon’s best gag where the Kankers suddenly show up at Double D's doorstep as he and Eddy try another attempt to free Ed’s finger. There’s total silence as Double D slowly locks the door lasting for a good number of seconds. Then suddenly, noise goes all out as he freaks out to the other Eds on how the ship-in-a-bottle belongs to the Kankers. The pace becomes frantic as the Eds hide from the Kankers in fear of the usual harassment, and the audience is right to think that too given their dynamic. However, a slight subversion of expectation occurs, as the Kankers uncover them from under the sink, simply take the ship-in-a-bottle off Ed’s finger, and leave. The fact that they just stop their rampage after getting back what’s theirs and don’t even follow through with their lust for the Eds may just present the Kankers at their best here. It’s best not to expect anything notable to come from this though. Still, there’s something to appreciate about the Eds not having to suffer too much when all is said and done. Even Eddy now getting his finger stuck in the sink is a very tame misfortune by comparison to how the Eds usually suffer.
Overall, this whole cartoon is an impressive ridiculous scenario that stands out not just for how far they go out with tonal effects, but the portrayal of the central characters.
A
Hand Me Down Ed
Creative concepts continue to keep the focus going into the companion to the previous cartoon for this episode. While character work remains a key element to this featured concept, the overall drive is something especially out there.
It all unfolds with the emergence of something as simple as a boomerang flying into the scene. The focus on it is all the indication needed to know that it will have an important role to play here.
Then comes Jimmy going about his day innocently playing with his toys and running into the usual misfortune with Kevin inadvertently knocking over a mailbox, destroying them. Jimmy then wants to beat up Kevin for showing no remorse for what he was put through, but laments being a weakling. This is where the boomerang comes in as it lands near Jimmy and attracts his attention. Then comes the twist when Jimmy picks it up, and for an inexplicable reason, he’s transformed into his natural opposite. Instead of a weakling, Jimmy becomes an ultra-buff muscle man and gives Kevin quite a beating. He doesn’t remain this way though, for when the boomerang is out of his possession, Jimmy is back to his normal frail self. This ultimately puts the concept in motion that this is no ordinary boomerang; it’s a mystical artifact with supernatural powers to change anyone who touches it. With all that established, the rest of the cartoon is set up to show more instances of the concept at work.
At the same time, it further explores the extent of the boomerang’s transformations. It would be easy to assume that all it does is make everyone act like the opposite versions of their true selves.
Sarah, who’s usually aggressive and at this point is ready to hit Ed for messing up her room, becomes sweet and friendly when touching the boomerang. This makes for an amusing moment where the Eds anticipate a hit, go along with Sarah being nice, and get a surprise hit when Sarah loses the boomerang.
However, the boomerang isn’t just about natural opposites. When Rolf gets hit with it, he’s transformed into a loud opera singer who doesn’t even sing in proper English. That’s not too opposite from his usual personality who’s talkative and hard to understand being a foreigner. And why an opera singer? That slight randomness adds to the mystery and intrigue of this boomerang. How does it decide what a character should be changed to? Where did it even come from? How did its powers come to be? The remarkable thing is that none of these questions matters. The main goal is to show the boomerang at work in how in affects the characters it comes into contact. Any question is just up to interpretation as the audience gets to know the concept.
With that, it’s set up to bring about the grand finale to the cartoon when it works its magic on the Eds. For Ed, it goes for a direct opposite by making the nonsensical oaf into a major league intellectual writing a novel. It brings excitement from his peers (or at least from Double D) that puberty unlocked his intellect, but Ed is back to a buffoon rolling around when he loses the boomerang. When Eddy gets it, he gets somewhat of an opposite change where instead of being mean and bossy, he’s caring and motherly to a suitcase he’s carrying. Why a mother though? And how do his clothes and hair drastically change?
Double D gets the most random change of all that actually plays up his established neurotic side. He becomes sensitively hot to the point where he needs to strip himself of his clothes. Even then, being hot was never that big a thing with him, playing into the randomness of the boomerang. No one can predict what it can do to people. The spectacle of the ending is how rapid the Eds change from the boomerang’s transformation to their true selves. Their different personalities and shock at how they look when they’re normal are so sporadic yet blend together well nicely with dramatic performance to enhance all portrayals.
Then for a grand finish, all the Eds end up in a tree with the boomerang holding them by the neck. They close the cartoon in the characters the boomerang put themselves in, and they all give a well-defined performance to really sell the work of the forces that compel them. It also works as a hilarious capper to a well-realized creative concept making for a memorable experience helped by interesting character directions and sheer absurdity.
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. Hand
Me Down Ed
19.
Gimme, Gimme Never Ed
20. Ed-N-Seek
21. Keeping
Up With the Eds
22. Who
Let the Ed In
23. Avast
Ye Eds
24. Flea
Bitten Ed
25. Fool
on the Ed
26. Ready
Set Ed
27. The
Ed-Touchables
28. Who
What Where Ed
29. Dear
Ed
30.
Momma’s Little Ed
31. Run
For Your Ed
32.
Brother, Can You Spare an Ed?
33. Hot
Buttered Ed
34.
Ed or Tails
35. Stop
Look and Ed
36.
See No Ed
37. Shoo
Ed
38.
Rock-a-Bye Ed
39. Little
Ed Blue
40. Ed
in a Halfshell
41. Scrambled
Ed
42. Pain
in the Ed
43.
O-Ed Eleven
44. Vert
Ed Go
45. Ed
Overboard
46. Postcards
from the Ed
47. Oath
to an Ed
48.
Ed, Ed, and Away
49. Button
Yer Ed
50.
An Ed in the Bush
51. Read
All About Ed
52. Rambling
Ed
53. Home
Cooked Ed
54. Honor
Thy Ed
55. Stuck
in Ed
56. Floss
Your Ed
57. Robbin’
Ed
58. Quick
Shot Ed
59. Look
Into My Eds
60.
The Luck of the Ed
61. The
Good Ol’ Ed
62.
Is There An Ed in the House?
63. Knock,
Knock Who’s Ed
64. A
Boy and His Ed
65. Eds-Aggerate
66.
Three Squares and an Ed
67. One
Size Fits Ed
68.
Will Work for Ed
69.
Boys Will Be Eds
70. High
Heeled Ed
71. Know-it-All
Ed
72.
For Your Ed Only
73.
Dim Lit Ed
74. Cry
Ed
75. Eeny
Meeny Miney Ed
76. A
Pinch to Grow an Ed
77. Pop
Goes the Ed
78. Hands
Across Ed
79. They
Call Him Mr. Ed
80. An
Ed Too Many
81. Sir
Ed-a-Lot
82. For
the Ed By the Ed
83. Over
Your Ed
84.
From Here to Ed
85. A
Key to My Ed
86. Once
Bitten Twice Ed
87.
X Marks the Ed
88. It’s
Way Ed
89. Here’s
Mud in Your Ed
90. In
Like Ed
91. A
Twist of Ed
92. A
Case of Ed
93.
Thick as an Ed
94.
My Fair Ed
95. To
Sir With Ed
96. Nagged
to Ed
97. Tag
Yer Ed
98.
Stiff Upper Ed
99.
Sorry Wrong Ed
100. If
it Smells Like an Ed
101. Your
Ed Here
Ed Edd n Eddy Season 4 will conclude with a review of one more full half hour special on growing up and learning not to take childhood for granted.
Next time, it's more DuckTales reviews.
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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