MC 'Toon Reviews

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Hope This Flies (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes Season 1 Episode 51) - 'Toon Reviews 19

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Hope This Flies

Because many of these characters are so interesting and entertaining, them hanging out together, while not always being important, has potential to be great fun. That’s the case with this cartoon where many characters get together for a race.

It all happens through a simple occurrence when K.O. and Enid meet up with Rad to see what he’s done with his prized van. He’s setting up an adjustment to make it fly, though through Rad’s lack of intelligence, he thinks he can do it with a simple kite. Also, because of his egotism, he refuses to accept anyone’s help which is dumb. As seen through a brief yet hilarious side note from Enid, Rad didn’t actually build the van with his own two hands even though he says otherwise. Then K.O. ends up making a mess of the van through mishandling special glorbs that happen to be stored in Rad’s backyard. K.O. regrets his mistake, but Rad not wanting him to help fix the van doesn’t help matters.

From there, the plot grows in appeal as more characters join in the story. Dendy suddenly appears capitalizing on her sneaky and surprising side when it comes to entrances. This side is also put to great use when she and K.O. sneak out to fix the van themselves and play to Rad’s simple-mindedness by convincing him he fixed it in his sleep. Then comes the race to seal the deal on full-on excitement when Red Action arrives with her futuristic tank. By the way, her entering after hanging out with Enid is a nice way of showing how close they’ve become.

The clash of egos from Rad and Red Action goads the race, and it builds itself up as a big one all of Lakewood comes to watch. The moment it starts, the race lives up to the promise. There are drives through mazes of suburbs, twisting mountain passages, and volcanos with hazards Rad and Red Action’s vehicles creatively avoid. There’s also a lot of hilarious banter between the egotistical drivers and a refreshing atmosphere with the music and course design akin to classic racing video games like Mario Kart.

Since Rad and Red Action are alike personality-wise, this race brings an interesting take on egotism. Red Action leads most of the way while showing pride in herself, meaning it’s fine to stroke her ego since she truly knows what she’s doing. Rad being so irrational by refusing the help he clearly needs demonstrates those who don’t have the right to be egotistical, hence why he gets himself in trouble at a volcano. It’s an interesting dynamic in setup that makes a small difference between two similar characters meaningful.

While the race is fun and insightful, when danger is near for Rad, it also works in surprising endearment. Little Dendy suddenly shows up, and Rad is finally smart enough to swallow his pride and ask for her help. Through adorable compatibility, they escape the volcano and win the race. The race may have lots of action and banter, but the last scene of everyone hanging out on friendly terms is very wholesome. Even when they compete or have problems with each other, these guys are still great friends. It’s especially meaningful with it feeling like something was learned with Rad genuinely open for help.

As a result, this cartoon may exist just for fun, but it’s still a great watch thanks to the entertaining character dynamics which remind you that they make this show as great as it is.

Cartoon Ranking

Face Your Fears
Let’s Take a Moment
Mystery Science Fair 201X
You Have to Care
T.K.O.
Back in Red Action
No More Pow Cards
Action News
Glory Days
Legends of Mr. Gar
We’ve Got Pests
I Am Dendy
Let’s Have a Stakeout
You Get Me
Hope This Flies
Let’s Be Heroes
You’re Everybody’s Sidekick
We Got Hacked
K.O.’s Video Channel
Jethro’s All Yours
Know Your Mom
Everybody Likes Rad?
OK Dendy! Let’s Be K.O.
Villains Night In
Lad & Logic
A Hero’s Fate
Plaza Prom
We’re Captured
My Dad Can Beat up Your Dad
Let’s Be Friends
We Messed Up
Parents Day
Plazalympics
Presenting Joe Cuppa
Sibling Rivalry
Plaza Shorts
RMS and Brandon’s First Episode
Second First Date
Stop Attacking the Plaza
The Perfect Meal
Just Be a Pebble
The Power is Yours
Do You Have Any More in the Back?
Let’s Watch the Pilot
Villains Night Out
You’re Level 100
We’ve Got Fleas
You Are Rad
Rad Likes Robots
One Last Score
Let’s Not Be Skeletons

Plaza Shorts Ranking

Life of Darrel
Action News
K.O.’s Inner Monologue
Where in the World is Mr. Gar?
Rad vs Enid

The next and last OK K.O. review brings an exciting finale of awesome battles and endearing character development as K.O. tries to prove he can control T.K.O.'s power.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is "Pipe Dream" and "Tickled Pinky" from Rocko's Modern Life.

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

Monday, December 3, 2018

I Have No Son (Rocko's Modern Life Season 2 Episode 1) - 'Toon Reviews 24

Today, we’re going back to one of the classic Nickelodeon shows with possibly the most creative look at modern life ever:

Rocko’s Modern Life (Season 2)

Basic Premise

As someone who vouches for animation to get the great respect mediums like live-action get, there’s one thing strength to it I can easily mention in its favor. It is the one medium where you can bring any idea, no matter how ridiculous or unrealistic, to life. This includes giving unique approaches to different activities and off-the-wall after effects all coming together in an appealing vision. Rocko’s Modern Life offers these aspects of animation immensely coming off as a work that greatly shows what the medium can do. In the process, it turns out to be quite relatable by showing how even the simplest parts of life can be very challenging. This idea is especially felt through the simple friendly protagonist living amongst quirky supporting characters. Now, it’s back at the forefront for another season’s worth of reviews.

Season 2 of Rocko’s Modern Life looks to offer more of the tone we got from the first season with creative interpretations of life’s challenges. However, there’s also going to be quite a bit of universe expansion through new modern life challenges to explore. Characters who only made a few appearances in the previous season will get bigger roles. There’s even going to be insightful reveals of their background. On top of all this, this season is where we’re going to start getting longer, double-length cartoons as opposed to just the usual shorter length. A few will further develop characters, but there’s also going to be a little time spent on holiday cheer. Not only will this give more of the show’s strengths a chance to shine, but the established universe will also feel bigger and livelier than ever. After all, the best reason for a show to have more seasons is to do more with what it has. I certainly can’t wait to see how it all works out. So with a flick of a big random hand to the real world, let’s return to Rocko’s life in its second season. Just don’t forget that review day is a very dangerous day.

Now on with the reviews:

I Have No Son

Double-length cartoons are an interesting part of Season 2, and they start with its premiere. It brings fresh new background to supporting characters in a wholesome story. Keeping with the madcap tone, the way to the reveals is very clever.

There are scenes from a sitcom about a dysfunctional couple, The Fatheads. They’re very unpleasant and harm each other, mostly with traffic meters, and all friendly people. This is a hilarious take on arguing married couples with ingenious visual gags depicting their rage. Rocko and Filburt are huge fans of The Fatheads and notice its creator is Ralph Bighead, suggesting the Bigheads have a son.

This is true, and Ed and Bev are mortified by his show. The Fatheads practically mirror them (well, Ed anyway). There’s also a backstory to the tension. Ralph always wanted to work in the arts, but Ed pushed him to become an executive at Conglom-O. However, there was a vague event involving a donut that got between them and tore them apart. The Bigheads’ 30^th anniversary is coming, and despite Ed’s animosity, Rocko sets out to bring Ralph home for the occasion.

He and Filburt go to Ralph’s animation studio. The way to Ralph includes a studio tour from a rhino holding a happy face with light-hearted descriptions of the animation process. It’s a fun look, though it’s mostly a detour. Thankfully, Rocko and Filburt find Ralph at the end of the tour, and sneak into his office.

Ralph Bighead is instantly intriguing. His analytical approach to his show makes him stiff and work-oriented as well as a visionary passionate for the arts. Being voiced by show creator, Joe Murray, especially brings this feel. He can be really funny through the wild ways he says he “NEVER” wants to see his parents again. That said, he also has a vault holding a half a donut which brings the untold details of his issues with his parents.

Even after training for Conglom-O and breaking that donut as part of its ritual, Ralph turned down working there for his true passion. This resulted in Ed straight-up disowning Ralph. Parents disapproving what their kids want to do with their lives is a basic cause for tension, but given what Ed is like, it’s a new low for him. Good parents should be supportive of what kids want to do. Directing their lives is unfair and talks down to offspring. Ralph may be in the wrong for never wanting to see his family, but his reasons feel legit, and him keeping that donut half shows he still has some love for them.

For that, when the anniversary comes, it’s nice that Ralph makes a surprise appearance. Ed immediately lashes out at him despite Bev’s plea for them all to be a family again. It sets up the reunion to be depressing and disappointing, but then Ralph reveals that donut half. This moment brings one of the biggest signs that Ed truly does have a heart. He understands that even if Ralph never wanted to work for Conglom-O, he does love his family. The whole conflict resolved through something as absurd as joining halves of a stale donut is simply a humorous kind of heartwarming. Ed and Bev are finally able to enjoy their son’s work, showing their love in their way. The last scene brings more hilarious fun from the Fatheads, but it’s hard to determine how to feel about a stupid Australian beaver named Rollo. He’s funny, but Rocko really doesn’t deserve to be made fun of.

Nevertheless, this season premiere successfully blends the show’s trademark humor with an endearing story. Characters develop, jokes bring the laughs, and the show’s world is expanded.

The next Rocko's Modern Life review follows the antics of Rocko's clogged toilet, and there's a truly creative experience out of Rocko getting appendicitis.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is "Hope This Flies" from OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes.

If you would like to check out other Rocko's Modern Life reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

Sunday, December 2, 2018

Alone at Sea (Steven Universe Season 3 Episode 15) - 'Toon Reviews 23

Alone at Sea

We continue to transition to a heavier tone this season, and this cartoon stands out even more for how it develops Lapis. She’s still overcoming memories of spending thousands of years in a mirror and an entire season fused with Jasper. That’s not even mentioning the bad things she did to others in response such as leaving the world without an ocean. For more recent events, she put the world at risk from Malachite by not saying where she was.

Now having decided to live on Earth, Lapis is continuously getting to know the planet. This time, Steven and Greg help her do that as they take her out on a boat. This doesn’t sound like a good idea given how one of Lapis’ traumatic experiences relates to water. In “Barn Mates,” she even dramatically said she’s taking a “break” from water. That’s the point of the activity so to give Lapis the first good moment with water in a long time since abandoning it takes away from her identity. Her agreement to give the boat a chance shows she has learned a lot since Malachite unfused, and she adjusts to it pretty well.

The subsequent moments of Lapis enjoying time with Steven and Greg are charming, but they do go on a little too long and don’t have much weight to them. Still, there are times where the time on the boat gets truly intriguing. For one thing, Lapis’ bond with Greg is endearing as she tries to be polite around a human who isn’t Steven. Greg also keeps his cool under pressure, not just when interacting with the Gem who broke his leg, but also when things get lost or broken, including the dock and the boat itself. Also, there are instances where Lapis is reminded of how much of a threat she’s been when responding to her traumatic experiences. These include shouting to not be captain and backing down from using her water powers to catch fish. These feelings bring on the climax set up by some beast throwing off the boat, stranding everyone in the ocean.

While Steven informs Lapis of the bad news, she confides that despite all the fun she’s having, she can’t stop thinking about her fearsome water powers and being fused with Jasper. In fact, being fused for so long brings the shocking reveal that Lapis misses Jasper and holding her down. At that very moment, the climax’s intensity hits its niche as Jasper appears, revealing to be the beast attacking the boat and following Lapis. Being fused with her for so long has messed with Jasper too. She wants nothing more than to be Malachite again only focusing on the power that came with their creation and not its obvious physical and mental pain. Even if Jasper has been seen as the big and threatening one of the two, it’s actually sad to see her lose her common sense as a result of all this. Thankfully, since she now has nice things on Earth to be thankful for and protective of, Lapis is able to make the smart choice. She points out how unhealthy being Malachite is and pushes for her and Jasper to never be together again, even if she has to water punch Jasper far away. Lapis still has a long way to go with getting over her past, but the final scene of appreciating the beauty of the ocean as she flies Steven and Greg home is a great step. As for Jasper, she becomes a huge focal point for this season from here as we see more of how messed up she really is.

At times the cartoon drags a bit, but what it leads up to is an amazing show of characterization standing as an ingenious metaphor for deep subject matter.

The Ranking

Mr. Greg
Monster Reunion
Alone at Sea
Gem Drill
Super Watermelon Island
Too Short to Ride
Beach City Drift
Barn Mates
Hit the Diamond
Same Old World
Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service
Steven Floats
Restaurant Wars
The New Lars
Drop Beat Dad

The next Steven Universe review is on a Greg and Rose flashback that does a lot of things from explaining how Greg got his job at a carwash to showing that Rose was rather irresponsible with babies.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the start of a new review set on Season 2 of Rocko's Modern Life.

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

Saturday, December 1, 2018

Monster Reunion (Steven Universe Season 3 Episode 14) - 'Toon Reviews 23

Monster Reunion

At first, it may seem jarring that we go from light-hearted fun cartoons to cartoons all about Gem lore filled with promise for things to come. However, the way the tone shifts is ingenious and the lore that follows is great expansion on everything we know.

We start with Steven doing playing with his favorite bear toy, MC Bear-Bear. Then, his simple gesture of noticing the bear has a tear and kissing it while promising to fix it, magically heals the tear. A big moment of lore that shapes events to come for the season has come from a simple moment fitting for the current stretch of light-hearted cartoons. In other words, Steven has regained his special healing spit lost way back under the influence of his dad’s lie. Some could say that this happening now is convenient, but Steven’s powers have always worked when he showed genuine love for people and things in life. Him caring for his toy bringing this power continues the trend.

Because of the return of his healing powers, Steven convinces the Crystal Gems to have him try to heal the Gems turned into monsters during the Gem War. The chosen monster is the first one ever seen in the series and the only one so far Steven has some sort of connection with, Centipeetle. While Steven’s healing spit does help Centipeetle regain her arms and legs, it doesn’t completely work as she still has a monster-like face and can’t talk. This leads to huge insights on what’s up with the monsters. It was mentioned before that the monsters used to be humanoid Gems who became “corrupted and broken.” At the time, it felt like they meant the same thing even though they were different words. However, the meaning of the description turned out to be purposefully vague so Steven could get a clearer meaning based on his attempt. Broken Gems are those with a crack on their gemstones such as those he’s previously healed. Corrupted Gems are much different. Their minds became damaged by the Diamonds during the Gem War.

The reveal of the fascinating information continues when Steven decides to take Centipeetle in since his healing worked part of the way. She doesn’t seem to remember him, but charming interactions get her to realize her bond from Steven humming the jingle of her favorite chips to communicating with crayon drawings.

Actually, the use of crayons turns out to be a great and unique way to explain heavy Gem history. Simple stick figures reveal Centipeetle’s background such as how she was a commander with her own army. She also makes for an effective use out of her simple drawings which depict the Gem War. Crew members getting crossed out represent those killed in battle. Ripping a drawing of her and her crew represents how she got separated. Finally, a big white scribble represents the flashing light that corrupted her and many other Gems who were left behind. The light was seen in full form in an earlier cartoon, but while these are mere crayon drawings, it’s put into context better here. It’s a move so primitive revealing huge information, yet it still brings an emotional response.

While you’re taking in the details of the Gem War’s effects, emotions still ride high as the memory causes Centipeetle to turn back into a monster as she tries to find her old crew. The reverting goes so fast that it’s a mad dash to get to her old ship. They eventually make it just as Centipeetle completely reverts, so she ultimately remains a monster and forgets her identity. It’s at least heartwarming that she’s reunited with her crew who are also monsters.

Through a simple moment of leisure, Gem lore is greatly welcomed back to the forefront in this cartoon. Here though, it stands out for the interesting expansions on what’s known, creative ways of showing it, and especially stronger endearment for the monster characters.

A+