I'm polarizing when it comes to opinions on shows and movies. On the upside, this means I'd be able to offer my own opinions on whatever without regurgitating what's said (and that's why I typically go after unmentioned or obscure topics for some extra security.), and it also means that I don't have to worry about covering fairly liked episodes of certain shows. Which is why I'm not afraid to go back to a show I so obviously hate.
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I've covered All Grown Up many times before, twice for the pilot TV movie and a Halloween special, and twice again for the show in general (a written review and one for when I thought I could mix the format with textual YouTube videos.) To prevent myself from revisiting this show as much as I revisit some Shrek video game, I'll sum up my thoughts on all three.
The pilot was mediocre. A key element to why Rugrats worked was because it centered on babies taking in the world around them. Take that and switch it with a world of pre-teens and you're left with a carbon copy of As Told by Ginger. The Halloween special was even worse, with poor attempts at suspense, giving away a twist and making me hate one of the characters even more. Rugrats Pre-School Daze was at least held off from airing in the US and canned four episodes into production, but this show actually lasted for a few years.
I did see the show growing up, and as the years went on and after the obligatory revisit, I grew to hate it. In fact, to bring the unpopular opinion spiel full circle, I'd not only call this the worst Rugrats spin-off, but a garbage show altogether. The Buzz on Maggie was better than this and will always be better than this.
A problem with All Grown Up (and while we're at it, Rugrats Pre-School Daze) is, again, they don't stand on their own, especially without the key aspect present in the main show. They do stand out in unique ways however. Pre-School Daze decided to up the gloss for some reason (either that or they had to pay out of pocket to get this going), All Grown Up is a different kettle of fish, namely the characters.
A majority of the characters are mostly the same, but this mainly applies to recurring characters like the grown ups. The main characters have definitely been altered, for better or worse, emphasis on worse.
Tommy Pickles turned out okay, but for the first season he was a bit iffy. In one episode of the first season he nearly sold out his friends just to create drama for a film project. If you had no reservations of selling out your friends and defending yourself immediately after getting caught, you'd probably be better off becoming a journalist. It's interesting to note that this premise was repeated for an episode of The Loud House. Did they do it better? Well, in that episode Lincoln took humiliating videos of his sisters for a funny video project, so... I guess he had a better motive. Dil had been reduced to the obligatory awkward character... voiced by Tara Strong. I guess art emulates life after all.
Chuckie has become a bit more headstrong lately, but I could see this as him trying to come out of his shell, and sadly he's the most entertaining part of every episode focusing on him. Kimi had become deeply rooted into her Japanese heritage, which makes sense given her upbringing, and heck, at times when this caused friction with her brother she pulled through at the end.
Angelica is the most interesting of them all. She had definitely simmered down from her bratty upbringing. But apparently I'm the only one who sees it this way, because throughout the first season she's treated like crap. I'd still take her over Susie. She's a special kind of annoying in my opinion. Fairly perfect, everything's going for her, right no matter the situation or the situation would be resolved and she'd face no ramifications. Basically I don't like her, but she's not why I'm here.
Phil and Lil are the strangest by far. Phil had maintained his personality from the original show, but Lil... I think she got a bit of Angelica in her. She's basically reduced to a whiny bitch with borderline sociopathic tendencies. To put that into perspective, people hate Mabel Pines from Gravity Falls, I don't, and Lil's a reason why.
Those who followed me back when I covered this show will immediately get this, but for the sake of getting newcomers to speed, to emphasize how much I hate the upcoming episode...
This is where the series officially began. Not counting the pilot, this is where the show started as a full half-hour series. Season one, episode one.
============
This is one of many shows to utilize a cold open. I like the concept, it's a good way to gear out a good joke or foreshadow what's to come. You'd think the latter would be put to good use as this show is a slice-of-life affair. Well in this show's case, they typically go for the former and mix in a bit of the latter.
The cold open for this episode details the synergy had between Phil and Lil. Both play an arcade game which is suitable for a pre-teen centered show, I guess. There's no foreshadowing for the drama in the episode, apparently All Grown Up was all about surprises back in their inception. Just for the record, there's a B plot, but I'm not going to discuss it.
In the episode, we do get some incredibly mild build-up, where a lunch server assumes Lil wants the same food as Phil. Not even a few minutes later, Lil is called over to sit with two supposed divas. You could say they're trying to be realistic, but this was by the same studio that did As Told by Ginger, come on, Miranda and Mipsy were far from realistic, and that show was still good.
Anyhow, they throw shade at Phil due to him maintaining his love for gross things, and Lil soaks it up like the highest quality paper towel and goes harder than the divas. Personally I would've talked things out, but I imagine Lil lost some braincells over the years. It's no surprise I'm taking Phil's side in this, because frankly, the worst thing he ever did was be gross. Oh, but Lil had plenty of sympathetic moments, for instance, right after the lunchroom scene, she loses her shit, which she throws at Phil after both get paired up for a science project. To make things worse, they're referred to as the dynamic duo. I mean I understand, Lil would treat that statement as if she was called the n word.
The biggest problem with the conflict is that it's impossible to side with Lil. Sure I get what they're trying to say here, that she's a person and not just an extension of a pre-existing twin, but that's muddled by her obnoxious behavior. Phil is also obnoxious, but in the other extreme. The worst thing he does in this episode is question her behavior, but all he really does beyond that is seek out a new friend and try and make heads of the dilemma.
Lil's inner angst comes full circle when she throws a tantrum over her parents wanting to go to a water park to take advantage of a two-for-one guest deal (twins make up one payment.) Sure, it sounds like exploitation, but it's really just to get a ticket, then yay, time at a water park. How horrible, right? Plus Lil gets her own room, gimme gimme gets I guess.
Come a party Lil was invited to early on, the divas make fun of Phil some more and rather than join in because let's face it, making fun of Phil is something she can do with sheer ease, get this, sit down, brighten your screen, expand the window, get your face to a reasonable distance. Okay this build-up shit's cheesy, but what happens still gets to me.
Lil suddenly decides to defend Phil, and any sensible viewer would laugh harder than than the New Yorker toward any decision Bill De Blasio has ever made. Like, you can't do that. You can't just act like a little bitch for a majority of the episode and then just act like none of that shit happened. How can I take any of that seriously. It's followed up with the worst apology I've ever seen, it's not even an apology, but rather an acknowledgement of a relationship. They go the water park, I think the parents in the average Cinar cartoon (save for Mona the Vampire) have competition for the least affective child care strategies, the end.
============
I've talked about this plenty of times before, but I think this needs to be really soldered into everyone's minds. Don't leave the moral of the day in the hands of people who're just as bad, if not worse. Lil had been nothing but a whiny bitch the entire episode, and suddenly she's about her brother's feelings? If it were up to me, I'd probably give her the independence she wants, in that I pretend she doesn't exist. She doesn't get any better in the later seasons, in fact, she becomes a borderline sociopath. Mabel Pines is a better twin than Lil, I could understand the former's motives much better than Lil, and for one, she had a more likeable personality and gave a better apology than Lil.
Lil's behavior is in the same vein as Angelica, young Angelica. I wasn't kidding when I said Angelica sorta improved in this series. At the very least, I sympathize more with her than I do with Susie, where everything is practically handed to her. Long live the underdog.
I hate this episode, I hate this show, there's my closing statement.
I did see the show growing up, and as the years went on and after the obligatory revisit, I grew to hate it. In fact, to bring the unpopular opinion spiel full circle, I'd not only call this the worst Rugrats spin-off, but a garbage show altogether. The Buzz on Maggie was better than this and will always be better than this.
A problem with All Grown Up (and while we're at it, Rugrats Pre-School Daze) is, again, they don't stand on their own, especially without the key aspect present in the main show. They do stand out in unique ways however. Pre-School Daze decided to up the gloss for some reason (either that or they had to pay out of pocket to get this going), All Grown Up is a different kettle of fish, namely the characters.
A majority of the characters are mostly the same, but this mainly applies to recurring characters like the grown ups. The main characters have definitely been altered, for better or worse, emphasis on worse.
Tommy Pickles turned out okay, but for the first season he was a bit iffy. In one episode of the first season he nearly sold out his friends just to create drama for a film project. If you had no reservations of selling out your friends and defending yourself immediately after getting caught, you'd probably be better off becoming a journalist. It's interesting to note that this premise was repeated for an episode of The Loud House. Did they do it better? Well, in that episode Lincoln took humiliating videos of his sisters for a funny video project, so... I guess he had a better motive. Dil had been reduced to the obligatory awkward character... voiced by Tara Strong. I guess art emulates life after all.
Chuckie has become a bit more headstrong lately, but I could see this as him trying to come out of his shell, and sadly he's the most entertaining part of every episode focusing on him. Kimi had become deeply rooted into her Japanese heritage, which makes sense given her upbringing, and heck, at times when this caused friction with her brother she pulled through at the end.
Angelica is the most interesting of them all. She had definitely simmered down from her bratty upbringing. But apparently I'm the only one who sees it this way, because throughout the first season she's treated like crap. I'd still take her over Susie. She's a special kind of annoying in my opinion. Fairly perfect, everything's going for her, right no matter the situation or the situation would be resolved and she'd face no ramifications. Basically I don't like her, but she's not why I'm here.
Phil and Lil are the strangest by far. Phil had maintained his personality from the original show, but Lil... I think she got a bit of Angelica in her. She's basically reduced to a whiny bitch with borderline sociopathic tendencies. To put that into perspective, people hate Mabel Pines from Gravity Falls, I don't, and Lil's a reason why.
Those who followed me back when I covered this show will immediately get this, but for the sake of getting newcomers to speed, to emphasize how much I hate the upcoming episode...
This is where the series officially began. Not counting the pilot, this is where the show started as a full half-hour series. Season one, episode one.
============
This is one of many shows to utilize a cold open. I like the concept, it's a good way to gear out a good joke or foreshadow what's to come. You'd think the latter would be put to good use as this show is a slice-of-life affair. Well in this show's case, they typically go for the former and mix in a bit of the latter.
The cold open for this episode details the synergy had between Phil and Lil. Both play an arcade game which is suitable for a pre-teen centered show, I guess. There's no foreshadowing for the drama in the episode, apparently All Grown Up was all about surprises back in their inception. Just for the record, there's a B plot, but I'm not going to discuss it.
In the episode, we do get some incredibly mild build-up, where a lunch server assumes Lil wants the same food as Phil. Not even a few minutes later, Lil is called over to sit with two supposed divas. You could say they're trying to be realistic, but this was by the same studio that did As Told by Ginger, come on, Miranda and Mipsy were far from realistic, and that show was still good.
Anyhow, they throw shade at Phil due to him maintaining his love for gross things, and Lil soaks it up like the highest quality paper towel and goes harder than the divas. Personally I would've talked things out, but I imagine Lil lost some braincells over the years. It's no surprise I'm taking Phil's side in this, because frankly, the worst thing he ever did was be gross. Oh, but Lil had plenty of sympathetic moments, for instance, right after the lunchroom scene, she loses her shit, which she throws at Phil after both get paired up for a science project. To make things worse, they're referred to as the dynamic duo. I mean I understand, Lil would treat that statement as if she was called the n word.
The biggest problem with the conflict is that it's impossible to side with Lil. Sure I get what they're trying to say here, that she's a person and not just an extension of a pre-existing twin, but that's muddled by her obnoxious behavior. Phil is also obnoxious, but in the other extreme. The worst thing he does in this episode is question her behavior, but all he really does beyond that is seek out a new friend and try and make heads of the dilemma.
Lil's inner angst comes full circle when she throws a tantrum over her parents wanting to go to a water park to take advantage of a two-for-one guest deal (twins make up one payment.) Sure, it sounds like exploitation, but it's really just to get a ticket, then yay, time at a water park. How horrible, right? Plus Lil gets her own room, gimme gimme gets I guess.
Come a party Lil was invited to early on, the divas make fun of Phil some more and rather than join in because let's face it, making fun of Phil is something she can do with sheer ease, get this, sit down, brighten your screen, expand the window, get your face to a reasonable distance. Okay this build-up shit's cheesy, but what happens still gets to me.
Lil suddenly decides to defend Phil, and any sensible viewer would laugh harder than than the New Yorker toward any decision Bill De Blasio has ever made. Like, you can't do that. You can't just act like a little bitch for a majority of the episode and then just act like none of that shit happened. How can I take any of that seriously. It's followed up with the worst apology I've ever seen, it's not even an apology, but rather an acknowledgement of a relationship. They go the water park, I think the parents in the average Cinar cartoon (save for Mona the Vampire) have competition for the least affective child care strategies, the end.
============
I've talked about this plenty of times before, but I think this needs to be really soldered into everyone's minds. Don't leave the moral of the day in the hands of people who're just as bad, if not worse. Lil had been nothing but a whiny bitch the entire episode, and suddenly she's about her brother's feelings? If it were up to me, I'd probably give her the independence she wants, in that I pretend she doesn't exist. She doesn't get any better in the later seasons, in fact, she becomes a borderline sociopath. Mabel Pines is a better twin than Lil, I could understand the former's motives much better than Lil, and for one, she had a more likeable personality and gave a better apology than Lil.
Lil's behavior is in the same vein as Angelica, young Angelica. I wasn't kidding when I said Angelica sorta improved in this series. At the very least, I sympathize more with her than I do with Susie, where everything is practically handed to her. Long live the underdog.
I hate this episode, I hate this show, there's my closing statement.
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