For anyone who seeks out painfully mediocre or outright garbage shows, there comes a point you begin to appreciate ones you previously covered. Beyond its faults, you found some enjoyment out of it, but you wanted to be fair and acknowledge the show's flaws for the sake of an interesting review.
Is it astounding that Pet Alien is getting this treatment against all other popular shows I hate? Don't answer that.
So, a while back I did a review of Pet Alien, a relatively unknown show that aired on Cartoon Network in 2005, around the time they became lost. I was pretty hard on it, thanks to some pretty obvious faults, but I had actually made it through the few episodes I saw.
To issue a correction, Telegael isn't an animation studio, they're a funding partner that helped finance various productions by MoonScoop at the time (among other shows.) I'd say I'm still on the nose when it comes to the other companies, Mike Young Productions being the pushers behind it (even distributing it through their Taffy Entertainment label), AnteFilm was an earlier identity for MoonScoop, they either co-produced or outsourced the animation to Crest Animation (if their Indian branhes were up at that time), and John Doze Studios was the vanity card of Jeff Muncy.
In regards to Muncy, he seems to be doing fine now, after Pajanamals, he began focusing on toy production, even creating the Psyclops toy brand, good on him, he found something he likes.
Changing my Mind
As mentioned in my initial review, I had seen this show when it was new. I didn't outright hate it, and I was at that age where I began to hate shows (Camp Lazlo, Foster's, even Ed, Edd n' Eddy's lesser episodes), I had no idea how this show would be viewed (by some miracle it escaped SaberSpark's greasy mitts), though something tells me it would be down the middle to the lower half.
So, is there some hidden genius to this show I was blind to? Well, no, it was just fun to watch. Pet Alien is essentially comfort food, sometimes we need to just sit back, turn our minds off and have a little fun. I never cringed at the show, and I bring this up because I'm a grown-ass man. If I can find enjoyment in any show, it's bound to have some form of quality.
The animation held up poorly, but that's a given for CG television shows of this era. CG animation is as good as the computers they use to produce it. I find it interesting that this is one of the first CG shows to make use of squash and stretch animation, only others before this was Mainframe Entertainment's Scary Godmother flicks (and Popeye)
Funnily enough, compared to Mike Young's own Butt-Ugly Martians, this has a similar contrast to Mainframe's earlier software pipeline.
I can treat this show as an experiment of sorts, to help inspire a new wave of CG animation that harkens back to the earlier days of animation, to show that it's still possible with an ever-changing landscape of animation.
It has some lesser characters, but they aren't within the mains. I feel Melba Manners is too annoying to get ahead as much as she does, episodes with her just feel predictable.
The writing isn't necessarily... there, but it isn't terrible, once more it's the kind of show you can shut your brain off to and have a little laugh at.
Overall
Pet Alien is no masterpiece, but it's no piece of shit either. It's basic comedic premise would give us little to expect out of, and as always, there's worse. If I had to guess what the worst MoonScoop show is, I'd give it to I've Got a Rocket.
And now a Bonus
I'd like to make an addendum on my Top 2 Worst Finales/Last Season listicle in regards to ChalkZone. I had made my judgement based on one episode, and I was wrong to do it. I saw another episode, and it had the same spirit as the previous seasons, but just has a slightly different look. I guess I just wanted an excuse to really tear into the conclusion of Malcolm in the Middle.
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