'Toon Reviews 6: Steven Universe Season 1 Episode 50

Political Power

This cartoon mainly exists to build up tension to Peridot’s incoming invasion of Earth, and while it’s good on its own, it’s pretty disposable story-wise.  The conflict of the issue unfolds when one of the Crystal Gems’ attempts to prepare themselves for Peridot’s arrival knocks out all the power in Beach City.  This is a big deal for many residents because no power means they can’t run their businesses.  Clearly it’s an instance where one group of characters’ actions are ones the innocent have to suffer for, yet the Crystal Gems aren’t interested in doing anything about the issue.  At least Steven’s willing to help .  Anyway, the man affected the most by the power outage is Mayor Dewey who knows how harshly the citizens of Beach City will react to it when night falls.  I will say he comes off as a legit responsible mayor here caring for the citizens as opposed to his status being treated like a joke in all his little appearances throughout the season which is nice.  Mayor Dewey’s big stunt here is that he tells everyone that the power will be back on by the night, which he has no proof of.  He claims that all this is because he wants to make the people of Beach City feel better about the crisis and not panic, which is a major burden for the mayor.  This is actually a believable scenario.  Authoritative figures really don’t have the power to fix all problems, so while it’s wrong to lie, making people not worry is sometimes the only thing that can be done.  However, since Mayor Dewey’s lie was completely blatant, a riot is just what happens when the sun goes down and the power’s still out.  In the chaos, it’s Steven who gets the big moment as he informs everyone that they’re all strong enough to face anything together and even vouches for Mayor Dewey by explaining the reason for his lying, and his words calm down the mob.  It’s a great moment of maturity for Steven that also relates to his talent of encouraging others.  This talent is also put to good use when the cartoon ends with Steven encouraging the Crystal Gems to talk to him about Peridot, something they’ve been avoiding the whole time.  When they admit that they’re scared of the coming invasion’s uncertainty, Steven, just like with the mob, tells them that they can pull through it by working together which ends up turning the power back on.  I buy this instance from a symbolic point of view of showing that the Gems are feeling better about the invasion, but logically, I have a hard time believing that this turns the power back on.  How does simply talking about your problems and agreeing to work together fix the electrical equipment that was broken?  On the whole, the cartoon is a well-told story with good character development even if you can easily skip it and not miss anything going into the big finish. 8/10

The Ranking

1. Rose’s Scabbard
2. Ocean Gem
3. Lion 3: Straight to Video
4. Alone Together
5. Coach Steven
6. On the Run
7. Story for Steven
8. Maximum Capacity
9. Mirror Gem
10. An Indirect Kiss
11. Space Race
12. So Many Birthdays
13. Steven the Sword Fighter
14. Lion 2: The Movie
15. Bubble Buddies
16. Monster Buddies
17. Laser Light Cannon
18. Winter Forecast
19. Giant Woman
20. Lars and the Cool Kids
21. The Test
22. The Message
23. Steven’s Lion
24. Horror Club
25. Watermelon Steven
26. Gem Glow
27. Steven and the Stevens
28. Marble Madness
29. Warp Tour
30. Open Book
31. Island Adventure
32. Rose’s Room
33. Cheeseburger Backpack
34. Future Vision
35. Political Power
36. Secret Team
37. House Guest
38. Serious Steven
39. Joking Victim
40. Beach Party
41. Cat Fingers
42. Tiger Millionaire
43. Together Breakfast
44. Fusion Cuisine
45. Frybo
46. Shirt Club
47. Onion Trade
48. Arcade Mania
49. Garnet’s Universe
50. Keep Beach City Weird

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where the invasion finally occurs in "The Return."

If you would like to check out other reviews on this blog, click here for the guide to all the reviews posted so far.

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

Starting today, the animated TV show being looked at on the blog will be on the modern side with a recent one from Nickelodeon that’s actually really good thanks to its humor, heart, unique animation style, use of character, and a great look at family life:

The Loud House (Season 1)

Basic Premise

Throughout the 2000s straight into the 2010s, Nickelodeon didn’t really seem to have very appealing series, which is a shame considering how much of a powerhouse of entertainment they were in the previous decade with shows like Hey Arnold, Ren and Stimpy, Rocko’s Modern Life, Rugrats, and even the first three seasons of SpongeBob Squarepants, which hold up today.  After those shows, Nickelodeon’s programming became mostly boring, stupid, mean-spirited, or just downright disgusting and not worth your time with shows like Fanboy and Chum-Chum, Sanjay and Craig, and Breadwinners.  Not to mention, they’ve gone on to run shows like SpongeBob and Fairly Oddparents into the ground by having them run too long and lose what made them so beloved in the past.  Sure, in this time period they’ve released the two shows of the Avatar franchise, but those great shows are far and few between the bad shows.  Then, in 2015, Nickelodeon released a show that was actually critically-acclaimed called Harvey Beaks suggesting that the network was slowly getting out of its slump.  I trust that it’s very good, but I haven’t seen it due to lack of interest (maybe someday I will).  What did interest me though was the subject of the coming set of reviews which is the Nicktoon that followed Harvey Beaks that deserves all the praise it’s gotten, The Loud House.

This is a simple slice-of-life show where the stories are very basic and grounded in reality.  However, much like something like Peanuts, it gets a lot of mileage out of its basic life stories and creates something that’s funny, relatable, endearing, and overall universally appealing.  To be honest, it’s pretty easy to see that when you read what the show’s all about.  It follows an 11-year-old boy named Lincoln, who goes through life as the only boy in a family with 10 sisters each with their own distinct personality.  They include Lori, the bossy, boy-crazy teenager, Leni, the dumb blond, Luna, the aspiring rocker, Luan, the incurable prankster and comedian, Lynn, the sports nut, Lucy, the spooky little girl, Lana, the handywoman, Lola, the pageant queen, Lisa, the child prodigy, and Lily, the baby.  With characters this distinctive and rich with personality, one can tell that they can really do a lot with even the simplest of plots.  Sure enough they do which helps in making this a great achievement from Nickelodeon, which means a lot now.  However, to see just how great of an achievement this show is, we’ll be going through the many short cartoons that make up this show’s first season; BTW, it’s honestly hard to believe it's only a year old.  Anyway, we better get started exploring the life of Nickelodeon’s biggest family; brace yourselves, things will get chaotic.

 

 

Now on with the reviews:

 Left in the Dark

Not only is this a strong premiere cartoon, it’s a really dang great cartoon in general.  At its core is an incredibly simple story about Lincoln trying to beat his sisters to the TV and later heading down to the dark basement to fix everything when the power goes out.  That doesn’t sound like much, but thanks to the diverse cast of characters the story feels a lot bigger than it really is.  We get a great sense of what the sisters’ personalities are like near the beginning when Lincoln cleverly appeals to their interests so the way to the TV will be clear.  However, they really get a chance to shine when they head down to fix the power like Lori trying to make her authority as the oldest one clear by being in charge, Luan seizing every opportunity to crack a joke, Lisa sneaking in her experiments, and Lucy popping up out of nowhere scaring everyone.  They all make what’s happening a lot of fun, but this cartoon also shows how heartfelt this show can get.  It’s shown when Lincoln steps in to do whatever he can to protect his sisters from whatever horror is in the basement using what he knows from his favorite show.  Its real impact though comes in at the end when, after all that he went through, Lincoln ends up missing his show, but his sisters are quick to console him and remind him of how great he was in the basement, showing that despite how chaotic living together can be, the Loud siblings really do love each other.  Thanks to its showcase of personality, humor and heart, this cartoon is a great watch and one that demonstrates how great this series can be. 9.5/10

Get the Message

 

 

 

 

 

 

What happens in this cartoon is initiated by Lincoln’s most rocky sisterly relationship, which is with Lori.  While Lori is not a bad character at all, she doesn’t come off as one of the most enjoyable Loud siblings for being too bossy when enforcing rules, not being the most considerate of the feelings of others, and mostly focusing on her relationship with her boyfriend, Bobby, though to be fair, the boyfriend part of her character is pretty enjoyable for how over-the-top her feelings for him are presented.  All these traits are on display when Lincoln unintentionally wanders into her room while playing with a toy, and when Lori accidentally breaks the toy and doesn’t seem to care, prompting Lincoln to send her a mean message.  Later on, however, Lori does slowly start to show off her good side by buying Lincoln a new toy, and even if her reveal doesn’t sound genuine, it’s admittedly a good start to even more of Lori’s good side we see throughout this season.  The rest of the cartoon features Lincoln trying to delete his mean message from Lori’s phone as a result of what she did.  This whole plot is fine and good, but it’s not the show’s most engaging ones.  This is mostly due to an explanation of the plan that could’ve been cut out, many moments of Lincoln’s friend, Clyde, crushing on Lori which can get kind of creepy and would pop up frequently in many future episodes, and Lori not seeming sorry enough for what she did to make the audience really care if Lincoln deletes the message or not.  There’s honestly more entertainment from the small moments of other sisters, like Lana and Lola acting as hall monitors, Luna using her music to censor Lincoln’s message as well as Lori’s rant at the end of the cartoon, and Lucy showing up in the vent leading to Lori’s room to read one of her poems.  There’s enough material here to make this cartoon enjoyable, but certain factors prevent me from calling it a highlight. 7/10

The Ranking

1.      Left in the Dark

2.      Get the Message

 

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode of the season, featuring questionable morals of what it means when a girl picks on a boy in "Heavy Meddle," and an instance of embarrassing ones family leading to life-scarring hatred in "Making the Case."