'Toon Reviews 20: Star vs the Forces of Evil Season 2 Episode 3: Star on Wheels/Fetch

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Star on Wheels

We may be in a whole new season now, but it’s still fascinating that there are still some Earth customs that Star is learning about.  This episode is about her learning the common skill of riding a bike which is funny and exciting given what happens while also featuring some heart from her friendship with Marco which is always nice to see. 

The first moments of her bike-riding lessons have a charm that wouldn’t be out of place coming from an actual child learning to ride a bike for the first time with Star nervous about riding and only feeling safe while Marco holds the seat, though her Mewni upbringing offers a unique edge with her believing that invisible goats are involved.  With this in mind, you might be wondering how this episode is exciting since it sounds like bike-riding lessons and nothing more.  Well, the excitement comes when Marco, believing Star is ready for it, lets go of the seat even though Star insists that he doesn’t.  The real problem of this is that Marco never taught Star how to stop, and she doesn’t believe him when he says the way to do that is to pedal backwards, so Star is trapped riding the bike through Echo Creek without stopping. 

From there, the rest of the episode becomes much more lively and fast-paced with Star running into a variety of hazards and close-calls while trapped on the bike eventually running into more dangerous obstacles like nearly falling into a sinkhole (which makes for nice use of her mewberty wings to save herself) and making it all the way to the freeway.  I’m always in the mood for a good runaway or chase scene for a nice dose of action and adrenaline, and this one greatly provides those things all stemming from Star’s believable inexperience. 

While that goes on, Marco has to chase after her to bring her wand hoping it can help her stop.  His role in this scenario has some distinction through its humor from who Marco has to travel with in order to pursue Star.  There’s Oskar Greason who lives in his car and just happens to be in Marco’s driveway acting all lax throughout the whole chase, focusing on his jam sessions, and Glossaryk who for some reason appears in Oskar’s math book when he lives in the spell book who also has no urgency in rescuing Star.  In fact, Glossaryk flat out refuses to help since this isn’t a magic problem which is a little jerky.  Their pursue of Star also comes with its fair share of exciting moments such as Oskar and Glossaryk performing an funny impromptu jam session from Marco saying that Star is in trouble with Oskar’s keytar, and Oskar’s car doing some insane jumps and having to drive without gas or a steering wheel. 

However, there are some highly improbable moments that are hard to ignore when Glossaryk finally decides to be helpful by telling Marco to use the invisible goats to save Star, and even though there weren’t any before, there happens to be one right at the moment.  It’s really hard to believe because it’s already established that’s not how things work on Earth and there was no way the goat could’ve possibly shown up.  I know the message is to believe in others, but this occurrence really does not make any sense.  In fact the message is much stronger when Marco finally loses the wand and gets Star to stop by believing in his claim to stop the bike by peddling backwards which, as any Earthling would respect, ends the runaway. 

Even if this episode mainly exists for the purposes of fun, from the thrill of the chase to the heart of character relationships, it’s thoroughly entertaining one worth checking out.

A-

Fetch

While the first segment of this episode was a fun magical-hijinks story, this one about hijinks isn’t nearly as fun.  It’s not bad, but its premise is not very interesting and makes you wonder what the point of all this was by the end. 

The whole episode is all about Star struggling to get her wand back from a dog who holds it in her mouth after Star threw it.  The problem is that the dog won’t drop the wand, and that’s basically all the episode is about.  As long as the dog has Star’s wand, nothing exciting can happen, and it gets frustrating seeing Star’s failed attempts to retrieve it coming one after another. 

When Star tries to grab it, the dog growls at her, and the dog doesn’t even drop the wand when she’s eating or using human bathrooms.  It’s a gag that overstays its welcome by lasting for the episode’s entirety making what we get unentertaining.  One way this scenario goes on longer than it should is that Star brings it wherever she goes including school, which she’s banned from until she gets rid of the dog.  Why does she even need to bring the dog with her?  She can just leave it home and try to get her wand back later, and her having the dog get her kicked out of school makes her situation worse than it needs to be since it could’ve been avoided. 

Even when Star is close to getting rid of the dog and getting her wand back, frustrations abound when despite having logical solutions, there’s a catch.  An example of this is when Star finds a lost dog poster, and it would appear that this would be the end of her problem. However, when she calls the number, she meets a weird character called Lydia who’s clearly faking having a lost dog, yet never stops insisting the contrary.  What’s more, the dog still won’t let go of the wand. 

Even though this uninteresting conflict goes on too long, we do at least get a nice twist out of it.  When it uses the human bathroom again, Star has enough and storms in on the dog and finds she has taken the wand out of her mouth and is trying to use it, later revealing she can talk as she finally returns it to Star.  She even explains her reasons for holding onto the wand.  She’s from another dimension which has a bunch of problems, despite the fact that we never hear exactly what the problems are, and wants to be loved and treated like actual dogs such as Star’s own laser puppies.  It’s a very creative reveal and the dog’s reasons are believable, but think of how stronger and more interesting things would’ve been if she told Star her problems earlier and not when the episode is nearly over.  At least the ending is a very nice one when Star gives the dog all the basic guidance to being an average dog and she gets adopted by Lydia.  Even Lydia’s reactions to getting a dog are incredibly sweet, in a somewhat creepy way though. 

Still, the episode is mostly one dull escapade stretched out to fit a whole episode which fails to bring about anything truly interesting or entertaining.  Maybe it would be better if Lydia and the dog come back, but they never do in any episode after this.  It’s still decent since it doesn’t do anything too bad despite its dullness and the ending is heartwarming, but there simply isn’t anything to convince you that you MUST watch this.

C-

The Ranking

1. Ludo in the Wild
2. Mr. Candle Cares
3. Star on Wheels
4. My New Wand
5. Red Belt
6. Fetch

The next Star vs the Forces of Evil review covers Star on the run when she finally goes too far with magic, and Star and Ludo learn to get a better hold of their halves of the special wand.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is another OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes review on "You're Level 100."

If you would like to check out other Star vs the Forces of Evil reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

'Toon Reviews 7: Hey Arnold Season 2 Episode 10

Helga’s Love Potion

Out of all the characters in the cast, most fans of this show would tell you that Helga is the most interesting and multi-layered, and I agree with those statements.  She may seem like a typical grade-school bully at first, but through the cartoons focused on her, it’s not hard to discover that there’s a lot more to her.  This is a character who has to put up with parents who barely notice her or take proper care of her which causes her a lot of stress to get the respect in public that she can’t get at home.  Her only source of happiness is her love for Arnold as shown through many shrines, poems, and other obsessive acts dedicated to him, yet she always directs her biggest displays of stress and anger at him out of fear of humiliation and lack of respect thus preventing him from seeing the real her.  These heavy character traits of Helga’s are what make her cartoons worth looking forward to, and this cartoon is no exception.  One big strength for the plot is that it actually has Helga regret her mean demeanor she directs at Arnold as opposed to telling him how she really feels, further showing the depths of her bully nature, and her regrets are further fueled by everything reminding her of him everywhere she goes.  She gets the idea that the only way to stop her from tormenting Arnold is to fall out of love with him, and finds her chance at that by purchasing a potion for the job, which unknown to her, is just a scam.  Even if we the audience are aware of the truth, it’s a ton of fun watch her mind at work when she consumes what could allegedly rid her of her obsession.  We get a look at the inside of her mind which consists of creative images like her running through a tunnel of hearts with a vision of her heart-shaped locket at the end, and everything crumbling when she touches it sending her falling into an Arnold-themed abyss.  It’s a powerful visual cue of how huge her obsession is and how much she believes the potion is working.  As a result of taking the potion, noticeable change seems to be made with Helga acting extremely passive around Arnold which includes avoiding bullying him.  In an interesting turn though, Helga doesn’t like being without her obsession and decides she needs it to know what she wants to do with herself.  This may sound like the cartoon is encouraging obsession which is problematic, but if you think about it, what Helga concludes is ideal for being true to yourself, meaning that something that poses as a problem can have some good to it.  Plus, when she learns the potion was bogus, it’s revealed she never abandoned who she loves at all.  Even if she does go back to bullying Arnold, it’s satisfying that she’s rediscovered her identity.  With creative visuals and sequences, insightful messages, and a dynamic character at the center, you don’t need a potion to love this cartoon. 10/10

Gerald’s Secret

There are certain skills in life that appear like everyone should know at a certain age.  However, I’ve constantly been told that everyone learns things at their own pace, so even if seems embarrassing to not know skills other people your age know, there’s no shame in still needing to learn them.  This concept is what makes this cartoon relatable.  The skill in question is riding a bike, and Gerald, who’s proven to be cool and highly skilled in a lot of things at his age, can’t do it.  It’s easy to see the embarrassment in this reveal since riding a bike is something a lot of kids, especially those around Gerald’s age, are capable of, and given Gerald’s reputation among the group, him not being one of these kids makes him feel like an outsider.  Plus, the reveal goes beyond Gerald simply not knowing how to ride a bike.  There’s also a bad bike-riding experience he had when he was younger when he rode his bike down a big hill too fast, and something bad must’ve happened to him since we never see him after the bike crashed.  It gives Gerald’s inability more depth and makes it more interesting.  Now, with a bike-a-thon all the kids are taking part in coming, Arnold believes that Gerald can easily relearn bike-riding, so he puts him through a routine that starts him on a pink bike with training wheels.  This leads to a lot of ridicule from the other kids posing as something for Gerald to fight through as his training continues.  It is however, a weak point for the cartoon since it involves incessant grating taunting from Harold which doesn’t do him justice given the depth from him we’ve seen in the past.  As for the rest of Gerald’s training, while he does get good enough to ride a mountain bike and makes some notable progress, he can’t avoid crashing into things and still lacks confidence after the childhood incident.  The only time he perfects his skills is when, under his own power, he wakes up at night and faces the hill that severed his bike-riding skills in the first place.  The process of Gerald riding down the hill is especially effective through showing the power of him confronting his fears without any dialog all the way through.  Then, in the cartoon’s last minutes, we get the climactic bike-a-thon that lives up to the hype previously built-up.  It’s fast-paced, has great music to it, and displays the high point of Gerald’s bike skills.  He easily gets to the front, only stops at the hill to go down it with his friend, gets Harold back with the help of the fact that he never checked his tires, and wins the whole race.  With this climax, this cartoon effectively portrays the great journey of learning a skill, showing that even if you don’t learn it as fast as others, the results are more than worth it.  It’s a valuable entry in the series anyone can relate to. 9.5/10

The Ranking

1. Harold’s Kitty
2. Helga’s Love Potion
3. Monkey Business
4. Eugene’s Pet
5. Freeze Frame
6. Gerald’s Secret
7. Save the Tree
8. Phoebe Cheats
9. Gerald Moves Out
10. New Teacher
11. Mudbowl
12. Ms. Perfect
13. Big Caesar
14. Ransom
15. The Big Scoop
16. Best Friends
17. The High Life
18. Hooky
19. Arnold Saves Sid
20. Longest Monday

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where we learn that Grandpa was once called "Steely Phil," and Helga finds herself roped into "Quantity Time" with her dead-beat dad.

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

'Toon Reviews 4: The Loud House Season 1 Episode 10

Hand-Me-Downer

 

 

 

 

 

 This is a really fun cartoon that offers a different perspective on life, particularly when it comes to receiving gifts, or as is common in a family as big as Lincoln’s, hand-me-downs.  Lincoln is revealed to have had quite a history with receiving hand-me-downs from his older sisters, and being rather unsatisfied with them, which I believe is common for people his age.  Most recently, Lincoln receives an incredibly girly bike from Lori, and it’s a hand-me-down he can’t simply hide under his bed.  Feeling embarrassed by the bike, Lincoln goes on to do something about it by taking Lynn’s cool bike for a spin without her knowing.  Despite Lincoln being in the wrong for taking a bike that isn’t his, it’s still easy to enjoy yourself as you watch Lincoln have some actual legitimate fun with the bike, and even get to hang out with a group of cool kids.  I think it's worth noting that one of the cool kids, Rusty Spokes, interestingly becomes one of Lincoln's friends.  It makes you wonder what happened between that and him hanging with these judgmental cool kids.  Of course, because of Lincoln being in the wrong, he ends up getting himself in trouble when Lynn’s bike ends up stolen and she needs it for a competition.  Once Lincoln fails to find the bike and ends up being kicked out of the biker team , he tells the truth where we get that different perspective on life I mentioned earlier.  While most people would simply store gifts they don’t like away, this cartoon shows that there’s a way to get a lot of enjoyment out of any gift you get, even if you don’t like it.  All of Lincoln’s sisters reveal that Lynn’s cool bike was one that was handed down to sister after sister who fixed it up to fit their needs.  I should also mention that we end get cute and somewhat humorous flashbacks of some of the sisters when they were younger.  I especially see a lot of charm from those that show a young Leni and Luan.  This is a truly good moment of sibling love here where the sisters offer this meaningful advice to Lincoln to just do something with hand-me-downs instead of lamenting over what he gets and Lincoln goes on to do just that after getting back Lynn’s bike.  There are a few stumbling points with this cartoon though such as how everyone who praised Lincoln on Lynn’s bike before act judgmental of him when he does the same thing on the pink bike and the fact that we never see who took Lynn’s bike much less see his/her comeuppance, both of which are kind of frustrating.  Those points don’t stop this cartoon from being a piece of enjoyment with something nice about life to keep in mind when the cartoon wraps up.  9/10

Sleuth or Consequences

 

 

 

 

 

If you want a cartoon of this show that’s both fun and features a great amount of love between siblings, this is a good candidate to some extent anyway.  The whole story takes the approach of a crime scene investigation which is made even more fun by the fact that it’s over something as simple as Lincoln trying to figure out who clogged the toilet as a comic convention he wants to go to draws near.  Aiding in the fun of the investigation is Lucy serving as Lincoln’s second-in-command.  She’s already proven herself as one of my favorite Loud siblings for how her interest in death and darkness and her near-emotionless personality make for a perfect clash between the other siblings and the environment of the Loud House in general.  Seeing a large dose of her as she and Lincoln interrogate the other sisters is certainly really welcome.  Many of the interrogations have a lot of entertaining qualities too as they all explain why they’re innocent, especially those of Lynn, which serves as a nice setup to the ending gag, Lori, Luan, Leni, and Luna.  The cartoon’s heartfelt part comes in with a good bit of character development for Lucy.  It’s later revealed that as much as she loves the darkness, she sometimes needs a break from it by reading an overly saccharine book called Princess Pony. To avoid being made fun of, she threw the book in the toilet to try and hide it, but it ended up clogging the toilet.  This adds some good depth to Lucy’s character with this newly revealed vulnerable side making her come off as more than just a spooky little girl.  We also get one of Lincoln’s best brotherly moments where he willingly takes the blame for the clog, sacrificing his chances of going to his convention and opening himself up for teasing, but saving Lucy’s reputation and his actions are deservedly rewarded with a handmade comic by Lucy.  This moment of heart gives the cartoon a lot of value for feeling genuine and successfully making the audience care about what the characters involved go through.  There’s lots to love, though I do show concern of how the rest of the sisters come off as jerks for teasing Lincoln for his interests and appearance even if it does greatly foreshadow Lincoln’s actions at the end.  For how heartwarming Lincoln and Lucy's sibling bonds are shown to be here, it's really unfortunate that his bonds with the others aren't shown to be nearly as such.  It's like they're an opposing force delighting in being mean and judgmental instead of decent human beings and loving siblings we know they can be.  It's a good thing there are plenty of moments in other cartoons to show that even with their tendency to tease, they do still love him and that the moments of teasing among other bad times are just off moments that anyone can have no matter how good they are.  Even with the teasing parts though, this cartoon is one of the best forms of proof that this show can do so much with what seems like so little. 9/10

The Ranking

1.      Undie Pressure

2.      Project Loud House

3.      Space Invader

4.      Driving Miss Hazy

5.      Left in the Dark

6.      Picture Perfect

7.      Sleuth or Consequences

8.      Hand-Me-Downer

9.      No Guts No Glori

10.  Changing the Baby

11.  Sound of Silence

12.  A Tale of Two Tables

13.  Overnight Success

14.  In Tents Debate

15.  Linc or Swim

16.  The Sweet Spot

17.  Heavy Meddle

18.  Get the Message

19.  Ties that Bind

20.  Making the Case

 

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode with one of the most out-there cartoons, "Butterfly Effect," and an environmental plot gone wrong in "The Green House."