Been running dry on Halloween-related reviews. I could easily go into Halloween-themed episodes of chows I grew up with, but I'd be judging the quality of the show in its entirety. All I could really say is that the B-segments are always more twisted than the Halloween-themed A-segments (for perspective, I Was a Teenage Gary from SpongeBob was more twisted than Scaredy Pants, and fuck if I could remember the episode name of that Halloween episode of Camp Lazlo, because it may be the only one I tolerate, but yeah its B-plot to its Halloween episode was really something.)
I could also talk about the Scary Godmother movies, a common tradition for many reviewers, but what can I really say about them? I mean I could do a non plot-summary approach, but for another time.
Until then, watch me complain more about shows people like for the most part. (also quick thing, I changed my mind on Ed, Edd n' Eddy, accepting the Kankers is what helped me re-welcome the show.)
History
The Penguins of Madagascar is a spin-off of the Madagascar series of films, something you've either seen for yourselves or through a cringeworthy April Fools running joke done by I Hate Everything (and no wonder I haven't watched him in months.)
This was made during a partnership between Nickelodeon and DreamWorks (this was after Viacom relinquished their ownership of the company for the record.) I can recall two shows that came from the deal, it being this and a show based on Monsters Vs. Aliens (which I never watched aside from a teaser short). I was close to assuming Megamind got a cartoon from this, but it turns out Nickelodeon just aired a short film that came out after the original film, go figure.
DreamWorks had gotten their feet wet with television animation years prior. I had covered Father of the Pride, which I feel doesn't deserve the scorn it got, but it does deserve some kind of scorn. This was made right after this, and if it hadn't been for that agreement it seems DreamWorks would've left television cold turkey.
The show was created by the two exact creators of Kim Possible, Bob Schooley and Mark McCorckle. Both had also worked on that aforementioned Monsters Vs. Aliens TV series I mentioned.
While Father of the Pride crapped out within one season, this had actually survived for three seasons with a total of 149 episodes. Hell, while the show like many Nickelodeon cartoons finished out their run on Nicktoons, less new episodes aired on that network than Nickelodeon, won 21 awards out of 48 nominations, Emmys included, and is a meme as far as I know.
I may be cynical, then again I kinda like Fanboy and Chum Chum, Back at the Barnyard, you're probably seeing red right about now.
Before you think I'm just bashing something that people like and talk about constantly, I have seen this show before. I've seen a lot of episodes from it as a matter of fact, and going by Nickelodeon, the earlier episodes are often the high points to it. The show is fresh in my mind, somehow, so if I say anything against it, just know I'm not doing it for the sake of contrarianism.
One other aspect to note is that they couldn't get the actors from the movie to reprise the roles of mainstays from the movie, no Sacha Barren Cohen, no Cedric the Entertainer, and no whoever voiced the penguins (I mean aside from Ton McGrath who also does work as an animator at DreamWorks so he'd be on regardless (and he also produced this too, expected)).
Admittedly, the replacements do a good job replicating the personalities and voices, though Jeff Bennett and Kevin Michael Richardson are really just doing voices within their typical range it still goes well. Danny Jacobs voiced Julien in this, and this is his first voice acting stint, for that he didn't do too bad at all. For the non-movie regulars, we got some Mad TV actors. We have Nicole Parker as voice of reason Marlene and Mary Scheer as the obligatory grunt (zoo keeper), oh and Scheer was Suzy from Hey Arnold and Mrs. Benson from iCarly.
We also get guest appearances from Wayne Knight and Kathy Kinney (Mimi Bobeck from The Drew Carey Show for the uninformed.)
Plot
The series takes place sometime after the events of the movie (or in some alternative timeline). I would've called it a prequel had it just been the penguins, but Julien is here, so there goes that theory. We don't see the mains from the movies either so it just contributes to more confusion (it's more worth complaining about than Susan getting the ability to change sizes in the Monsters Vs. Aliens series which people complain about because muh macrophilia.)
The schtick behind the penguins is that they act as army operatives, we have lead commander Skipper, intelligence Kowalski, mute (grunts and spouts aside) Rico and childish and naive Private, treating every little thing like it's bigger than it already is. Admittedly I have a hang-up with that kind of characterization, check out my review of Mona the Vampire to get perspective on how it rubbed me the wrong way. We know they'll misinterpret every little thing, but the situation turns out to be big enough to require their intervention.
I already know I'm gonna step on some toes with this, so I'm gonna try to be as constructive as I can be. King Julien is a figure of praise in the show's fandom. He is an over the top egomaniacal king (not without reason, he was a monarch back on Madagascar.) who shares a higher level of naive behavior. Also anything he learns is thrown aside by the next episode, episodic affairs, you know the deal.
I can understand people liking him because his over the top nature is funny, he is well acted, but even when I watched it for the first time I wasn't much of a fan of him. It worked in the movie, not so much here. It goes for nearly every episode he's in, small doses would've worked better, I can tell a spin-off with him would've been a disaster (I may like Fanboy and Chum Chum but I hate Planet Sheen), because too much at one time can ruin anything for everyone.
Maurice tries to stand out by occasionally standing up against Julien, though bearability makes him a bit bland by default. Mort is hated by Julien, and I'll give this series credit, they help put us in Julien's shoes with that. Mort is equally as repetitive, and I'd like to consider that episode with the hornets to be my least favorite Mort-centered episode. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia did a better job with bee jokes, for one it wasn't as frequent and Charlie assuming hornets produce honey has more staying power than Mort referring to hornets as bees constantly (and sticking with the honey production spiel) Also foot fetish.
Marlene is okay for the most part, not afraid to get her paws dirty with mischief, but Nicole Parker isn't cut out for voice acting. I saw Marlene before I saw Parker in Mad TV, and the fact that I could point out the two shows a lack of true range. Stick to what you're good at I guess.
If you're gonna call me on it, don't. I haven't forgotten Fred the Squirrel. Fred is basically what I wanted from Julien, a character that appears occasionally and makes with the funny. He gets by with delivering jokes with mundane delivery (his voice actor, Fred Stoller is basically a more emotive Ben Stein.)
This show also has an indian elephant named Burt, (not Hindu by portrayal, just by species.), and he played a part in an episode I'd consider to be one of my favorites. I bring him up due to the fact that Father of the Pride used a straight up Hindu stereotyped elephant in their show.
Aside from the specials, the episodes feature the day to day antics of the zoo animals, whether it be accomplishing a common goal or aiding friends in need or misconstruing new goings-on at the zoo. It's similar ideas with differing wrappers, I can't call these episodes unoriginal, though the jokes would be the determining factor to whether or not I want to go on.
The humor for the most part is simplistic, people compared it to the cartoons of old (on the other hand, that's a reason people liked Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi), but anyone can take an existing joke and make it different. Most jokes are delivered with a certain kind of mundaneness (which works if it's delivered by a mundane character) that feeds the idea that they know they didn't make the joke first.
Some jokes go on for longer than normal, i.e., the slideshow gag in that episode where they try to get authentic fish after the zoo switches to artificial fish cakes. This normally works if the shocker clip turns out to be the different one, and it veers out of cliche territory because you can use anything, though the ending of it was kinda decent with Private getting slapped off screen then shown two slides reflecting the action. That faux strip tease in the shot episode was also an awkward joke done proper because of how out of nowhere it was.
One other deal with the show is that the animal characters attempt to keep their actions under wraps. I don't recall if humans could understand their dialog, but I do remember a special episode where Nathan Kress appeared who caught them in the act. I mean it wasn't a big deal when a nature photographer caught them giving high fives to one another, but I could be looking too deeply into this. Back at the Barnyard beat them to the punch by a year for the record.
Some more action-oriented episodes exist, like when they go after a giant fish in a lake (though Skipper's bullheadedness on food chain ethics annoyed me for some reason), plus Dr. Blowhole, a resident antagonist for Skipper that allows the show to dive beyond comedy. The "he's played by Neil Patrick Harris" spiel is getting old. He also played Spider-Man, and he for the most part isn't that controversial. He also did well in the roll, I saw How I Met Your Mother at the time and I would've never guessed he voiced him.
The show can pull off action when it wants to, I'll give it that.
Only other special I recall is the Christmas episode, only for the fact that I love how wrong everything went up until the end, that bit where the Tiny Tim prop got knocked down by a snowball was also another funny joke I recall for how Kowalski reacted to it.
Animation
This is going to be either a hot button topic, or something people can understand.
CG animation rarely translates well for a weekly television series, especially one done in-house. For CG television shoes you can tell when shortcuts were made to get the episode done, some shows looking worse than others for it. The few times this can be forgiven is if the show's stylized (say what you want about Fanboy and Chum Chum, it's fresh in your minds for a reason.)
When it comes to DreamWorks' shows, you can call it a DreamWorks program just by looking at it, but you can see where corners were cut.
Character movement is fluid enough, and while environments look good, they could be better. Basic color palettes and simple shapes (for the most part), give an idea on what was done last. I can forgive that, but what I can't forgive is how they treat character models. Save for the mainstays, the background characters are reused very frequently, often with different voices, often with different personalities, they changed the hair color of one boy and nothing else for PeTA sake.
For perspective, a boy with glasses and a hat is played as shy and awkward in the popcorn episode, but in a later episode where Skipper believes he's a female he is loud and obnoxious. For another example, during the balloon parade scene, we see a male anchorman played as hammy, but in the episode that Dr. Blowhole premiered in, he is monotone.
You know it'd be cheaper to have a set amount of characters and a set amount of actors. You may not have much on data real estate but at least you'd be consistent.
At the very least the humor for the most part keeps the show afloat, allowing you to miss these animation flaws.
Overall
I went into this with the intent of bashing it. Maybe because I don't consider myself a fan of DreamWorks (for me, Antz, Shrek, and out), and while I feel it doesn't deserve so many accolade wins/nominations, I can at the very least agree there's plenty to it for people to like. It still looks like a product for the time in terms of animation, but if I had to watch the show, I probably would, but for now it's not something I'd seek out.
Unless I was just afraid of pissing off the wrong people.
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