It may be late to say I hated Fairly Odd Parents before it was cool to, but that would've just been a big lie, well sorta. I watched the show a lot, but I never necessarily followed it, beyond my penchant for getting suckered in by advertisements. That was a thing for many shows I watched as a kid. A lot of people say FOP became shit by later seasons, but as I became more cynical to the show, I started to hate the earlier seasons too, and yes, that goes for the Oh Yeah! Cartoons shorts too, but for another day.
You may know how I feel about the episode already, as this managed to place on my worst FOP episodes lists, though Hail to the Chief is still the worst episode ever for me.
So yeah, with this in mind I can say the show sucked from the start, Butch's shitty behavior just made me wiser to how bad it was.
The Episode
I'm going to be borrowing off of Enter a bit in regards to his review on Anywhere But Here, though it'd be a bit of disagreement. He made a case for this episode handling a certain moral better than the episode of the show he compared it to, I mean I guess, I don't know if he was just claiming FOP was less disorganized than Anywhere But Here.
The episode is brought down through writing quality indicative of the average Butch Hartman show, going for the obvious and doing nothing to variate, well in the realm of FOP, but how often have you heard of getting bullied by bigger kids, going to bed early and not being able to go out with your folks? I will ask this, what idiot would be caught dead playing football?
So, after a paint-by-numbers day, Timmy wishes he could be older, and as expected he envisions a lavish over the top life. I won't talk about how he's still older than A.J. and Chester since it goes by the life granted through the wish, but it's the kind of self-indulgent fantasy that'd make you rip the skin off of your lip.
I will say this, it's surreal to see a FOP episode that used comic-style characters and backgrounds, which was a sign of the times. If there's one thing I like about the earlier seasons it's the retro aesthetic. Wish the writing was better though, the B-plot is the only thing keeping this episode from being worse.
Back to the fantasy, this kind of thing is commonplace in episodes with this moral. It happened in Anywhere but Here, and it happened to happen here too. They picture an idealistic lifestyle when they get older, and if you know better, you'd know where this'd lead.
Heh, wouldn't if be funny if Timmy was made into a balding ugly Italian guy? What? You said no? Well where were you twenty years ago? That's exactly what happens, they don't say why Timmy's like this, best I can say they just went by how he'd look with his kind of lifestyle. At the very least Anywhere But Here eased us in... kinda. It was still clear the poor execution came as early as a few scenes in, but it wasn't as quick as here.
Also, thought the gross-out began with the latter seasons? Prepare to have your mind blown.
So, the world comes tumbling down in an instant. Not mad that it's happening, but why it is. People freak out over Timmy's appearance (you can't convince me otherwise when it happens.), and nothing goes right, absolutely nothing. Shaving? Immediately gets hurt and blows a good Home Alone reference. Movies? Immedately grossed out by romance. Confronting Francis? Okay that's the most realistic out of everything. Washing dishes for not being able to pay the bill at a restaurant? Not as realistic but still there. Being kicked out of the house because you look so different? Maybe I should stop.
If that wasn't enough to convince you on worst possible scenarios, Cosmo and Wanda face reassignment and, heh, wouldn't it be funny if they'd be forced to go with a sociopath? What? You said no? Where's the Delorean?
Anyhow, it really comes tumbling down when Timmy gets arrest for, get this, set your brightness to the maximum, for being creepy.
Let me take a break to discuss Anywhere but Here. It handled its moral in a terrible way, that's obvious, but the scenario for Sabrina there was... kinda realistic. There are jobs that pay lowly, you may marry someone just to get a little extra support (though I'm not looking to settle), these things while not destined, are still possible. It's the worst possible life, but it's not out of reach.
But here, flat out, Timmy is arrested for being creepy. I'm harping on this because this is the first episode of the show proper. People say the show got worse later on, but it never started good. This isn't teaching me anything, it's fear-mongering. It's close to the end, so do I really have to go any further? Actually yeah what kind of question is that?
So, Timmy is scared straight and makes a wish to return to normal (going by a deux-ex machina where whining somehow makes him younger again), yeah, about that. Apparently it didn't occur to them to look into Da Rules before making the wish, because once you're old, you're well out of range for wish granting. In Channel Chasers, this was measured by one's dependence on fairies, which would wane as they got older, here, I think Timmy could've gotten off on a technicality since he's still mentally a kid, hence still needing them. This was all to pad the episode out, certainly, clearly.
After all that, Timmy resorted to wishing that he'd remain young forever and never lose his faries, having Cosmo make that wish then forget he did before it comes back to haunt him several years later. Given how they handled the moral, you'd be driven to think that way too. Plus the fairy who handled the reassignment quest gets it in the end for messing with the heroes. You know, with the immediate punishment of the not so good, it really gives you a glimpse into Butch's rampant Christianity.
Conclusion
You know, don't hurry to grow up is one of the most mishandled morals out there, but maybe it's something that never had any potential to begin with. All it can do is make kids fear growing up would mean their lives would be ruined and there was nothing they could do about it. It feels like one of those ideas cooked up in the midst of one afternoon by people who haven't seen children for about thirty years and have little to go off of, "If my life sucks, everyone will feel the same way I do."
I'm going after Fairly Odd Parents, not because I hate the show, but because since it happened as early as the first episode proper, and as it goes by the crappy writing standards of the show as a whole, it handled the moral even worse than others. You don't have to abandon what makes you happy as a kid, and anyone who tells you otherwise just happened to have gotten more shit than you have.
Want a show that tackles the dilemmas of growing up? Twelve Forever had been offed by the first season so you don't have to waste too much time binging it. Want a better show that came from Oh Yeah! Cartoons? ChalkZone is out there, somewhere, and their shorts held up better.
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