'Toon Reviews 17: Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 2 Episode 1: Across the Universe

While adhering to this new review practice, I've decided that it’s high time I get back to talking about the second season of the first Netflix original series I've ever seen:

Voltron: Legendary Defender (Season 2)

Basic Premise

I must admit that Netflix isn’t that huge of a provider of interesting animated TV shows, either original or acquired, to look into for potential reviews, at least to me.  At the very least, there is one original animated series from the popular streaming site for me to frequently check out, and that is Voltron: Legendary Defender.  Thanks to one of my friends inspiring me to check it out, I found a very good way to expand my entertainment horizons and offer a fresh, first-time perspective of a show I’m simply getting to know, and through reviewing the first season a while back, I say it’s pretty great. 

It’s an epic galactic apace battle saga at its core with a distinct cast of characters to follow all throughout with a story that gets bigger with every new challenge they have to face.  The premise itself is quite imaginative in which the fate of the universe rests in the hands of five small robot lions that form one large robot who defends the innocent from an evil empire. The catch is that the pilots of the lions, called Paladins, are mostly inexperienced when it comes to piloting and fighting and need the constant guidance of the two survivors of a planet wiped out by the Galra Empire which adds to the intensity of the mission. 

For the most part, each episode really delivers on an exciting scale you’d expect epic action series to.  It is held back from a lack of character development and the villains all coming off as the same dark and serious character, but every new season offers huge possibilities to expand upon areas previous ones didn’t, and since the first season impressed me significantly, I’m open to see what’s done with Season 2.

A huge reason for excitement on exploring Season 2 is how much the first one left me wanting more.  I mean, our Paladins were forced to go to the Galra Empire headquarters to save their princess leader, Allura.  Although they did rescue her, they got totally overpowered, mostly through overconfidence on Keith’s part, and in Shiro’s case getting hurt both mentally and physically.  Even when they escaped with the help of a mysterious traitor to Galra, things remained intense with the season ending with the whole team separated while going through a corrupted wormhole. 

As a result, we’re left with an exciting point to work off of with much promise for even more excitement.  In order to see exactly what great adventures we’re in for this season, I’ll just sign into my Netflix account, select the show and rejoin the Paladins for a lion’s share of Voltron action.

Now on with the reviews:

Across the Universe

The follow-up to the Season 1 finale features some of our heroes in various escapades after getting separated in the wormhole jump that helped them escape Zarkon. 

There’s a demonstration of how distinct they are with how they approach everything that happens to them in the galaxies they end up in.  They may have a huge responsibility of protecting the entire galaxy, but they’re still human beings with their own day-to-day problems to deal with.  In addition, there are imaginative interpretations of the galaxy from a few places and scenarios. 

Specifically, this episode features Pidge stuck on a trash nebula with no one to help her, Allura and Coran struggling to escape the compromised wormhole, and Keith saving Shiro, who was wounded by Zarkon’s witch wife Haggar, from a pack of strange aliens.  These subplots have different forms of appeal. 

There’s nothing too special about what Pidge gets up to since she just stays where she is until someone finds her.  However, it’s still cute and funny when she befriends a flock of cute fuzzy multi-colored aliens and her interactions with them are very sweet.  As for humor, it stems from her me-time which includes making dummies of her friends and poking fun of their quirks which is honestly a good interpretation of the basic personas and lack of development for some of them.  Pidge does still sees the good in her team when her technical know-how gets an old satellite working which ties into another subplot. 

Allura and Coran’s part is filled with creativity as they directly deal with the effects of the wormhole while piloting their castle ship.  Every time they go through it, they hit a black void that keeps them stuck and affects everyone with the mice becoming different creatures and Coran getting significantly younger, yet for some unexplained reason Allura is unaffected which holds the subplot back.  What's more, Coran’s personality changes with his degrading age are funny, and he surprisingly gets good ideas to get out of the mess the younger he gets, even if they don’t work.  Not to mention, it’s suspenseful when getting younger puts him in danger of disappearing forever. 

Shiro and Keith’s subplot is even more suspenseful though with Shiro stuck in a weakened state in a cramped cave with monstrous aliens outside.  Given how brash he was at Zarkon's base, you might think that Keith wouldn’t be effective as his rescuer, but he impresses through being resourceful and patient as he fends off the aliens and even gets the trust of Shiro’s lion.  This subplot is also the most impactful for ending with Shiro asking Keith to lead the Paladins if something happens to him which gives the story something to look forward to while also starting a nice character arc for Keith. 

Also impactful is an ending scene of the leaders of the Galra Empire, Zarkon and Haggar, setting out to find out who helped Voltron escape their grasp.  We start getting some new layers to the villains’ personalities when one of their own, Commander Prorok, shows genuine fear when the leaders imprison him for letting it happen.  This too sets up an arc where they try to find the traitor, and the fact that their own crew begins to fear them does start to paint the Galra Empire as more than just a seriously evil threat. 

Overall, while this premiere is mainly a showcase of various character moments and creative scenes, it’s a great way to ease us back into adventures with the main cast with distinct and appealing personalities and even a few starts of potentially beneficial arcs. 9/10

The next Voltron: Legendary Defender review will cover the galaxy Lance and Hunk ended up in which is inhabited by seductive mermaids.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews, we'll be covering the second episode of Steven Universe Season 2, "Joy Ride."

If you want to stay updated for more reviews, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter.

If you would like to check out other Voltron: Legendary Defender reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

'Toon Reviews 14: Animaniacs Vol 1 Part 15: Space Probed/Battle for the Planet

Episode 15

Space Probed

One of the best qualities of the Warners is how calm and level-headed they are even in serious situations.  This time around, they’re abducted by aliens, making for a space-themed cartoon, which is not uncommon to find in many animated series. 

Regarding space cartoons, it makes perfect sense why so many shows resort to them. Space is a setting that fits the animation medium to a tee.  We have no idea what goes on in space, so the best we can do is come up with our own interpretation, and since animation helps visualize people’s imaginations, it’s the best medium to express one’s interpretation.  Through throwing in the ever zany Warners, you can guess that this particular cartoon will turn out enormously entertaining with a particularly strong comedic edge, and that’s just what happens. 

Much of the entertainment comes from my earlier statement on how calm the Warners are despite getting abducted and later slated to be dissected and inspected by the alien leader.  You’d expect most characters in such peril to be scared, mad, serious, or ready to fight the kidnappers, but through following victims who are predominantly goofy and love to joke around, we’re given a unique perspective to the ordeal.  The Warners have no problem using their cartoonish antics to get out of trouble.  They approach the aliens innocently and comment on their features like their many eyes and gold robes, mess around with the aliens’ subtitles to fit their liking resulting in some of the most hilarious jokes, and casually slipping out of their confinements before their bodies are inspected. 

Once the Warners are free, they easily gain the advantage of the encounter by being true to themselves.  Even better about this is that the kids split up which allows them to show off their comedic style which makes them stand as their own characters.  Dot gets caught by a group of aliens who attempt to read her thoughts, and she gets out of the mess by thinking of good-looking men causing her to melt with infatuation, and then casually put the mind-reading helmet on the aliens where their infatuations with another alien end up distracting them long enough for Dot to escape.  Wakko, the most childishly innocent of the trio, misinterprets how the alien leader wants him to run on a treadmill, and when the leader demonstrates how, Wakko unknowingly pulls the lever making it go too fast, capped off by an appropriate Jetsons reference.  Yakko mostly has fun through casually walking around the ship while playing tag with the aliens while stopping to make witty comments on the clever additions to space this cartoon shows.  They include how other alien prisoners are long-missing people like Elvis, Amelia Earhart, Bigfoot, and Jimmy Hoffa, and the alien’s official leader, a big talking toe, whom Yakko gives a makeover as if he were a beautician. 

The Warners simply astound for how they deal with such dangerous extraterrestrial creatures through comedy.  It’s all capped off with them wildly taking control of the ship to get back to Earth while the alien leader is knocked around, and then he flies the ship far away from the planet. 

In addition to an interesting setting and creative intergalactic ideas like that giant toe, this is an out of this world cartoon that stands out for how great the Warners are with comedy together or separate, even at times most people wouldn’t think to be funny.  For how great this cartoon is, you’ll probably be glad to know this wouldn’t be the last time they’d mess around in space. 10/10

Battle for the Planet

This Pinky and the Brain cartoon offers a lot of interesting references to the mice’s usual world domination plans.  It involves pirating the TV airways to convince the world that aliens are taking over the planet, so that they can take over while the planet’s entire population panics. 

The interesting part is the historical context of the bulk of the plan which Brain explains at the start of the cartoon.  It’s on the 1938 radio broadcast of War of the Worlds which also made people believe aliens were invading, and oddly enough, this isn’t the first time a cartoon relating to this media event was reviewed on this blog. 

Anyway, the plan is basically an updated version of the event where Brain not only plans to have the world hear about an alien invasion, but see it through with this generation’s advances of television.  On the surface, it sounds like a well-thought out plan, and it’s especially appealing for not just its historical background, but also through the use of the three-camera shooting technique that’s actually been in place since the earliest TV sitcoms as the cartoon also explains. 

However, there is an ultimate downfall of the plan albeit one that’s fitting for the character and further defines the twist to the nature of Pinky and Brain.  While Brain has the knowledge on how the plan should work as well as actual historical events to back it up, the fatal flaw to any form of success is that he is no director.  The actual alien for the news report is clearly Pinky wearing a rubber glove, and you can clearly see his face in the center which takes away the illusion right then and there and that’s not even counting the clearly fake spaceship and city background.  Not only that, but the acting is laughably lackluster with Brain failing to produce a convincing suspenseful tone when watching the alien wreak havoc and Pinky, despite going appropriately crazy as the alien, frequently misses his cues and further ruins the illusion by messing up the set.  However, Brain doesn’t see anything wrong with the performances and even compliments Pinky’s recklessness showing that he truly does know nothing about what convincing acting is like. 

To be fair, it doesn’t seem to matter at first when certain people watching appear convinced anyway.  Because of that, it's shocking when just as Pinky and Brain leave to start taking over, they find out that the world populace really did come to their senses, saw that what was on screen wasn’t real, and praised it as a comedy smash.  In other words, this is another example where Brain’s intellectual strength becomes the major downfall as opposed to just Pinky’s lack of intelligence, even if that is technically a small part of the failure.  It makes for some fascinating plays on what most people would expect from a team-up like this. 

That along with the strong comedy from the mice’s performance, interesting historical tidbits for the background, and a message fitting for anyone who wants to get into the entertainment business make this one of the strongest Pinky and the Brain offerings. 10/10

Cartoon Ranking

1. King Yakko
2. Hello Nice Warners
3. Slappy Goes Walnuts
4. H.M.S. Yakko
5. Hooked on a Ceiling
6. Temporary Insanity
7. Bumbie’s Mom
8. Les Miseranimals
9. Space Probed
10. West Side Pigeons
11. Battle for the Planet
12. When Rita Met Runt
13. De-zanitized
14. Win Big
15. Taming of the Screwy
16. La La Law
17. Piano Rag
18. Cookies for Einstein
19. The Big Candy Store
20. Garage Sale of the Century
21. Wally Llama
22. Where Rodents Dare
23. Cat on a Hot Steel Beam
24. Operation: Lollipop
25. No Pain No Painting
26. Goodfeathers: The Beginning
27. La Behemoth

Song Ranking

1. Yakko’s Universe
2. Yakko’s World
3. The Monkey Song
4. What Are We?
5. Little Old Slappy from Pasadena

Miscellaneous Ranking

1. Gilligan’s Island Parody
2. Nighty-Night Toon
3. Flipper Parody

We’re now 3/5 done with the Vol. 1 set, and next time we'll continue with the 4^th and penultimate disc starting with the Warners facing off against an unbelievably strict teacher, Slappy Squirrel teaching about the role of cartoon villains, and the first concert starring belching virtuoso, The Great Wakkorotti.

If you want to stay updated for more reviews, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter.

If you would like to check out other Animaniacs reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

'Toon Reviews 12: DuckTales Vol. 2 Part 23: Duckworth's Revolt

Duckworth’s Revolt

Aside from a few little appearances as an obedient, high-class servant, Duckworth has yet to have a chance to shine as a fully fleshed-out character.  That all changes with this episode where we get to know exactly how he feels about serving Scrooge.  Although it seems like he’s harshly put through work that never ends, he doesn’t mind it at all, and feels that it doesn’t matter if he could make as much money as Scrooge with his skills.  As insightful to Duckworth’s character as this reveal is, Huey, Dewey, and Louie see what Duckworth does as slave work resulting in a conversation with him that results in Scrooge overhearing it, taking things the wrong way, and firing Duckworth.  The boys’ mindset continues to be in effect when they and Duckworth are abducted by the creative anomalies of alien vegetables who, in a shocking twist, freely abduct random beings from other planets to force them to work in their garden which is pretty dark considering that this could happen to any being minding their own business.  Anyway, whenever the boys try to rebel against the vegetable overlords keeping them and the other beings against their will, Duckworth instead insists that they obey the orders of the captives, further getting the boys to see his willingness to be a servant as a negative.  While it may seem that they have a point with Duckworth not seeming to want to put up a fight with aliens who really are enslaving him, it’s after that where their butler finally makes a point of devoting his life to serving.  He encourages all the other imprisoned gardeners to fight for their rights since they’re working for aliens forever when they don’t want to, whereas when he usually does his butler thing, it’s his own choice.  Duckworth really makes himself clear with the prisoners and the rest of the episode is them fighting for their rights.  Not only that, but he even gets himself an audience with one of the vegetable overlords in charge, Brigadier Broccoli, where it’s revealed that these aliens aren’t just heartless kidnappers who love enforcing slave labor.  Their home planet was destroyed and they’re trying to start over and recruit beings from other planets for help.  Even if the aliens are in the wrong, it’s good to know that they have believable reasons for their actions, preventing them from being one-dimensional.  The aliens’ motives also help make the conclusion work.  After an exciting climax where Huey, Dewey, and Louie take control of one of the aliens’ vehicles and get Duckworth out of his audience, Duckworth signals the other gardener slaves to start fighting back and the opposing forces are taken out, Duckworth actually trusts Brigadier enough for him to take control of the ship when they’re about to hit an oncoming planet.  Instead of double-crossing Duckworth like you’d expect antagonists to do, Brigadier actually lands the ship safely on the planet and sends the slaves home.  The reveal of the planet is pretty convenient and you have to wonder if it’s okay for the vegetables to inhabit the planet since the possibility of life existing there exists, but those just feel like little, meaningless blips compared to the episode’s many strengths.  Then, everything wraps up as you’d expect with Duckworth willingly going back to work for Scrooge, with everyone aware of the slave vs. servant mentality.  That’s a relatable theme to get across here, and coupled with Duckworth’s character development, other great character moments, and creativity from the concept of the opposing forces, everything comes together to form a great episode. 9.5/10

The Ranking:

1. The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 5: Too Much of a Gold Thing
2. Catch as Cash Can Part 2: A Whale of a Bad Time
3. Catch as Cash Can Part 1: A Drain on the Economy
4. Back to the Klondike
5. Double-O-Duck
6. Raiders of the Lost Harp
7. The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 2: Wronguay in Ronguay
8. The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 4: Cold Duck
9. Time Teasers
10. Duckworth’s Revolt
11. The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 1: Don’t Give up the Ship
12. Catch as Cash Can Part 4: Working for Scales
13. Ducks of the West
14. The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 3: Three Ducks of the Condor
15. Merit-Time Adventure
16. Back Out in the Outback
17. Scroogerello
18. Catch as Cash Can Part 3: Aqua Ducks
19. Luck O’ the Ducks
20. Scrooge’s Pet
21. Horse Scents
22. The Golden Fleecing
23. The Right Duck

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the last episode on the Volume 2 DVD which is the only time an episode is composed of two short cartoons.  The first one is about the antics of "Magica's Magic Mirror," and the second one features Duckworth coaching baseball in "Take Us Out of the Ballgame."

If you would like to check out other DuckTales reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

'Toon Reviews 12: DuckTales Vol. 2 Part 19: The Right Duck

The Right Duck

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I’ve viewed this show, Launchpad McQuck turned out to be one of my favorite characters in the cast.  Yes, he often causes problems mostly through crashing everything he operates and is pretty unintelligent, but he always shows that he has a good heart and usually turn out to be a productive ally to those he’s closes to in the end.  This is mostly the case here, but the way to it just takes Launchpad’s habit of messing things up to the extreme which doesn’t do justice for his character.  In the opening scene, harkening back to “Hero for Hire,” Launchpad messes up one of Scrooge’s prized valuables which gets Scrooge to fire Launchpad who’s left to lament his failure with only Doofus Drake around for moral support.  However, the lamenting part doesn’t last nearly as long as the earlier episode when Launchpad decides to try out for a newly opened astronaut position to prove to everyone that he’s not an idiot pilot.  For the first part of his time as an astronaut, he’s put through training exercises against a monkey so the scientists can determine who’s better fit for space travel, and the reason all of Launchpad’s moments with the training backfire is because the monkey keeps sabotaging him from doing his best.  Even when Launchpad gets a chance to one-up the monkey, he keeps getting the short end.  Also, even though he still gets to go into space, it turns out that it doesn’t mean anything good for his social stance because the scientists were looking for the dumbest astronaut the whole time. The thing is though, even with this sympathy towards Launchpad from all the mistreatment he gets from this part of the episode, his problem-making habits are on such a full display that it becomes too overbearing to enjoy, and that undermines the established sympathy.  He first mixes up the instruction of what rocket he’s supposed to board and then set it off with himself and Doofus, who comes along after learning the truth about the astronaut the scientists want, inside.  This doesn’t sound so bad nor is it out of line with the usual Launchpad antics, but there’s more than that. We have Launchpad idiotically convincing a tyrannical alien king of Mars to blow up Earth, he's too clueless to break himself and his friend out of the prison the king puts them in leaving Doofus to finish that job, and the ship he takes control of turns out to be the missile being used for Earth’s destruction.  The point is, Launchpad messes up way too many times here making him look not just stupid, but also incapable of anything.  His heart is still there, but given that he’s shown to find a smart solution to big problems many times before, how he’s portrayed in this episode is very concerning especially since his own number one fan, Doofus starts doubting him.  Thankfully, the conclusion is solid enough when Launchpad stops the missile in time through randomly pushing buttons and he’s honored for saving Earth in the end.  The monkey who got him sabotaged gets off scot-free by becoming the new emperor of Mars, but whatever.  As for Launchpad, this may overall be one of his weaker episodes, but at least him saving the world redeems him somewhat.  Along with some solid comedy and appropriate sympathy, even with Launchpad’s problematic moments, this episode is ultimately still pretty good. 7/10

The Ranking:

1.      The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 5: Too Much of a Gold Thing

2.      Catch as Cash Can Part 2: A Whale of a Bad Time

3.      Catch as Cash Can Part 1: A Drain on the Economy

4.      Back to the Klondike

5.      Raiders of the Lost Harp

6.      The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 2: Wronguay in Ronguay

7.      The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 4: Cold Duck

8.      Time Teasers

9.      The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 1: Don’t Give up the Ship

10.  Catch as Cash Can Part 4: Working for Scales

11.  Ducks of the West

12.  The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 3: Three Ducks of the Condor

13.  Merit-Time Adventure

14.  Back Out in the Outback

15.  Catch as Cash Can Part 3: Aqua Ducks

16.  Scrooge’s Pet

17.  Horse Scents

18.  The Golden Fleecing

19.  The Right Duck

 

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode, a gender-bent version of Cinderella starring Scrooge, "Scroogerello."

If you would like to check out other DuckTales reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.