LTA: The Loud House, movie and what not

 The upcoming Loud House Movie is another in a series of films made by Nickelodeon for Netflix, the others being Invader Zim Enter the Florpus and Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling, plus maybe some crappy turtle cartoon if it ever comes up.

Enter the Florpus was amazing, and I'm interested in checking out Static Cling now that the buzz died out, and I'd probably vouch for this movie given that I vouched for the show for the most part some time ago. But I won't, frankly I'm done with the show as a whole. It wasn't the fans that drove me to this because some degenerates don't hit as hard as people brandishing the name of a dead man who'd be unable to speak up about it just because people are too retarded to read between the lines, or people are indirectly ruining another show for people by overrating it to the high heavens.

At first I was interested in the show as it had a retro aesthetic and feel, but that's what led to its downfall as it fell into the same web of generic shows with one-note, sometimes annoying characters and basic premises with annoying effects (and damn I had no idea how annoying the theme song was,) and the only thing keeping me holding on was spiting some guy who gets hard to golden age cartoons.

But in spite of my vague opinions, this show is still very popular and has received the honor of a Netflix movie. Well, you know how Enter the Florpus and Static Cling went all out through their story and art direction, helping provide an acceptable conclusion to their respective shows?

To sum up, The Loud House Movie feels like a collection of episodes that were combined together to make a feature length production. The trailer which gives no indication of a work in progress is really starting to make me wonder.

Only thing different is the higher quality backgrounds. I have an idea on what the plot deals with but I don't wanna make any assumptions. It does seem like a classic style family film, at least that's what I'm hoping it is, otherwise it can go suck a livewire.

Compared to other Nickelodeon Netflix specials, this is a big step down, it doesn't compete. If you were to cut up the segments into episodes and show them on television I doubt anyone would be able to tell the difference. Why not just air it on the main network? You can get away with it being a TV movie.

I'm harping on this because it not only gives me a low impression of the movie, but an idea on how Nickelodeon views the show as a whole. The other movies, I can at least see a big iota of creative passion put toward the thing, especially when it came to incorporating new ideas, but here, this feels more corporate.

Let's put it this way, I know I'm tempting fate here, but ever since Chris Savino got booted the show lost some creative identity (though to be fair the earlier seasons really did suck.) We don't have the genesis of the whole show, rather, we have a group handling things from herein. It's produced in a simplistic style with simplistic characters, with non-offensive but relevant material enough to ensure people tune into it and keep the ratings high.

The fact the movie has a similar feel to the show further represents why I feel this way, it's no longer creative, just a brand that can be manipulated by anyone. I'm sure the movie may be fine at best, but unless you're into the show it's probably not gonna be anything special.

LTA: Infinity Train and Hollow Hype

 I'm not into Infinity Train, serialized shows just aren't my thing, I'm not the kind of guy who's into small-scale commitments. If a letdown were to occur, I'd feel like I rammed head first into a brick wall. But at the very least I can respect shows in that area, any other shows were those I have seen at least a stark bulk of so I can make an argument against them.

I didn't join the hype train, pun intended, back when it was just a pilot. It seemed interesting at first, but along with the generic theorization these people like to do in order to get multiple YouTube videos up their sleeves, this was at the time when Teen Titans Go hysteria was still very high, so people only saw it as a potential means to get TTG into a more marginalized state.

It wasn't the entirety of the gained fans, but a decent part of it. It'd be less about watching a show and enjoying it, and more about theory videos and stabs at a crappy comedy series, and if you say otherwise you're an asshole apparently. Well they got me there.

When Infinity Train became a series, I really didn't mind. Twelve Forever got that treatment and I actually saw the potential in it, it's too bad the creator turned out to be batshit insane. I wasn't that interested, and I rarely watched television to begin with or used streaming services for that matter, so I'd just let it be.

It went on for four seasons, and all I got out of it was that Amelia was a lot hotter in her forties, and then it got cancelled and everyone left well enough alone with four great seasons of a groundbreaking series.

Doesn't that sound awesome? Of course it does which is why it didn't happen. Instead, we're laying the stones to potentially repeat history with a toxic fandom.

To preface this, nothing is ever instant or obvious when it comes to a developing disaster. Look beyond the surface and then make up your mind. Short summary, we have influencers encouraging fans to push for more seasons. Okay that's normal to be fair, but on the influencers, they can make or break the climate of the cartoon community.

The worst of it is devoting your time to one particular show, spamming it wherever you go in order to force it into the public conscious. You become so wrapped up in making the show more relevant than it has any right to be that when it comes to the show itself, you'd blind yourself to whatever flaws it may have, as you're far too focused on getting it out there because of how much of a masterpiece you're implying it to be.

Everyone's so focused on the positive side of it, they'd be ignorant of the consequences it may have later on down the line.

With this obsessive promotion of the show and forcing hands of the network, you'd set high expectations for outsiders. When they watch it and find it's not up to the high standards people imply it to be, they'd complain and get hounded because how dare they not praise the show.

By encouraging the fandom to persist, they'd become more defensive over the show, to the point they'd lose their minds over anyone saying something negative about it. No joke, I've been blocked after one reply in regards to people overhyping the show.

How long can you go on about the same topic before you start to go insane from the repetition and the worst of you creeps out?

Lastly, the fandom becomes so bent on getting the show renewed that they'd become more gullible. What if 4Chan decided to troll people into eating shit and posting it on TikTok #EatShitForInfinityTrain? At this rate they can do anything and people would be dumb enough to fall for it, anything to get Infinity Train renewed.

It all comes down to passion, aka the match next to a stick of dynamite that is a fandom. Steven Universe fans nearly drove Zamii to suicide because they were so passionate about the show they took bad art direction as a biblical offense. Rick and Morty fans, well at least the sauce tasted good, but it was passion that led to those mobs. Star Vs. The Forces of Evil? Passion for shipping shared by the creator led to a hell of a letdown.

Point is, with the passion for the show feeling more like an orchestrated plot just to get more seasons, it feels kinda hollow, and will ruin the show for outsiders as they believe this show is a masterpiece with all the constant promotion it gets. Years from now when the hype dies down and we just have a show people liked to talk about for some reason, someone's bound to say "What am I missing here?"

You'd think at some point the creator would lay down the law, they are speaking on behalf of a project he made. But no, as a matter of fact, he's encouraging it. He made it clear that the show was meant to have eight seasons, so either he's secretly a kick-ass IRL troll who'd have various meatbags starting shit on Twitter/TikTok, a wimp who lost control of his own fandom, or is just ignorant to longterm ramifications.

This sounds harsh, but a creator should be as far away from their fans as possible, especially if their show gets big. If shit happens, they'd have fans doing stupid shit and often brandish the name of the creator in the name of the show they obsess over, even if they're dead, which happened with SpongeBob SquarePants.

Someone needs to set the record straight and keep their fans in check, and Owen Dennis clearly isn't the man for that role. It may seem innocent enough with people who're passionate about the show, but if the network holds off on renewing it, it's basically opening a door for more desperate measures. Given that this is orchestrated by figures in the animation community, it's clear they haven't taken notes from previous incidents in other cartoon fandoms, and I'm going on this because you'd think they'd know better.

It's like a sinking ship, but the damage was inflicted by the people on board. Must be dry in the animation community, I'd say suppressing different opinions didn't pay off that well.

How Did Sonic's Schoolhouse Even...?

Sonic's Schoolhouse remains one of the weirdest things to come out of the Sonic series, at least with the blessings of SEGA. Its presentation, purpose and mere existence defies what the Sonic series was and would become. It's basically a meme of some sort. But it is unironically better than Mario's educational games.

But there is one thing nobody wants to talk about. Why does this game exist? Since I'm a bit of a media sleuth, and by that I mean I just bother to google shit and put together my findings, I'm gonna try my best to potentially find out why this game came to be.

History

The year is 1996, the Saturn is SEGA's principal console at this point, and they were without a mainline game for their flagship franchise, due to stress and other factors halting the development of Sonic X-Treme, but that's a tale told by someone who'd know more about it than I do. They managed to keep the series afloat with auxiliary titles like a remake of Sonic 3D Blast, Sonic R which itself is a forced meme and the compilation Sonic Jam.

So SEGA's goal at this point was to keep the property relevant and gain whatever new players they could, then someone just said edutainment down the hall and SEGA of America was like, fuck it.

Major gaming franchises are no stranger to edutainment, albeit, gaming franchises that appeal to young and old like Mario, Rayman and Sonic. At the time, a combination of both would be beneficial. They could throw a stake into the edutainment market and gain new fans who'd be enticed to check out the mainstream counterparts, and be used by parents and maybe teachers for lessons, it's scummy, but a win win that's legal as far as anyone's concerned.

Not to mention, edutainment titles in general were pretty popular back in the day [citation needed] as gaming was just as popular, so there was a pretty open market for it.

With the exception of Rayman Brain Games, these kinds of edutainment titles would be outsourced to third-party developers while the first party would continue to develop yet to be new installments to the main series. But when you take into account Sonic's Schoolhouse's developers have quite a limited backlog that goes well against what was asked of them here, it's another can of worms.

We'll get back to SEGA in a while, for now, I wanna go into the developers.

The game's development is credited to two studios, BAP Interactive and Orion Interactive. Both companies were only involved in two games, this included, but their other titles are more adult, with the former's being a game based on a horror slasher movie, and the latter's being an adult mystery game. These developers are different, but they all share one connection, two men by the name of Brad Krevoy and Steve Stabler.

For the uninformed, these are two unknown game developers, but no, they are pretty well known... in the film industry. Krevoy and Stabler ran a production company known as Motion Picture Corporation of America, dedicated to more unconventional independent films, but they do have some notable titles to their name.

They produced classics like Dumb and Dumber, Bio-Dome and Kingpin, as well as disasters like Bloodwings: Pumkinhead's Revenge and Dracula 3000. You may be thinking, well of course this game turned out bad, they have no experience with game development, and you'd be mostly right. They didn't develop games, they just helped publish them.

MPCA managed a video game label in the mid-90s, mainly joining the then thriving FMV market with games based on their own movies, namely Bloodwings: Pumpkinhead's Revenge and Soldier Boyz (who's game is an early directorial role for Darren Aronofsky if you could believe it.) The former game, was developed by BAP Interactive, or Bruce Austin Productions for a fuller identity.

Bruce Austin had no experience with game development before Bloodwings, but he managed to get away with it because of an easily exploitable engine, made possible by DOOM. DOOM was freeware, and had a basic 3D engine that can be easily manipulated, at least on a PC. If not, at the very least once you get the knowhow you can reuse it to your heart's content.

At this point, MPCA had access to a working game engine. But where does Orion come into play? Well obviously, this was a subsidiary of a pre-bankruptcy Orion Pictures, but get this, Krevoy and Stabler actually became co-presidents of Orion after the latter's parent company Metromedia acquired MPCA in 1996, the same year Sonic's Schoolhouse would hit the scene.

Full disclosure, Krevoy and Stabler would help produce Orion's second and last game Blue Heat, Orion essentially became a pseudo-successor to MPCA's gaming division.

And that's why the game has two developers, Orion (through Krevoy and Stabler) funded and sold the game while using an engine produced by Bruce Austin for their Bloodwings game, Austin also conceptualized the game apparently.

But now the big question, how did they convince SEGA to let them produce an educational game? Well, they didn't exactly come to that at first. This was intended to be a solitary educational title with a talking clock as its main character, with the other files indicating that theory. One thing I should remind you on is that the edutainment genre was going strong at this point, and they were obviously gonna cash in with some value titles. Either that was so, or both assets were gonna be used until one was taken out for redundancy.

It seems SEGA wanted to cash in on this as well, but perhaps due to the lack of a mainstream title to fall back on, feared that it'd leave a big dent in their investments, but then again they commissioned Traveller's Tales for Sonic R and the Saturn port of Sonic 3D Blast. This is on SEGA of America due to its overall inception.

One credited executive producer was Greg Suarez, who had previously and afterwords worked on two titles for Delphine Software International, Fade to Black and Shaq-Fu. He seemed to have been the one who formed SEGA Entertainment, an edutainment label for the purpose of, well you tell me, and they sought developers willing to create an edutainment title based on that blue hedgehog.

Perhaps through a call to action, Orion pitched their game to SEGA and, perhaps wowed by an otherwise unique pitch or for a lack of better ones, worked with them to reconvert the game to fit the Sonic aesthetic. Since SEGA held onto the assets meant for Sonic X-Treme (that was developed by SEGA Technical Institute and not Sonic Team), and seeing that it could fit with what was provided to them by Orion already, they were able to incorporate Sonic aspects quite easily.

So... did it pay off? Well I imagine it sold well enough to get re-released through Expert Software, who also re-released old SEGA titles on PC, barring any reviews who'd be harsh to low-budget educational games regardless.

Conclusion

And there's an idea for why Sonic's Schoolhouse came to be. When you take into account what I told you it gives some interesting perspective. Austin would take some etcetera work over the years, as Orion themselves were undergoing financial issues the gaming division would be doomed regardless and Orion would die in 1999... only to be revived years later.

As for Brad Krevoy and Steve Stabler, they're still around, though both run separate companies. Stabler currently runs Commotion Pictures while Krevoy continues to manage MPCA to this day, though he abandoned independent filmmaking and is now focusing on Christmas telefilms for Hallmark and Netflix, which is more or less continuing a polarizing filmography, but hey, we all wish we can get a steady income like that.

Now here's the big question, why was Sonic played by a girl even though he had a male voice in the cartoons? Simple, the cartoons are not cannon to the game, so Sonic's main voice hasn't been determined at that point. Also if the initial build theory is anything to go by, they had the actor for the talking clock already, so they had to do with what they got.

As for why the playable characters are so creepy, you can owe that to general programing incompetence.

Real Ghostathon: Final Ranking

 We're almost at the end, what better way to wrap up a short marathon than with a personal ranking. Please note that this is all just my opinion and you're welcome to disagree, that's the tradition. Also, that Slimer! segment won't be included because, honestly, it doesn't deserve to be here.

#1: Chicken, He Clucked

Props where props are due, this episode took what sounded like a dumb premise and made it amazing. I love how they allowed us to feel sympathy for a demon in this, it's rare to see a villain painted in a sympathetic light, and for a one time appearance we got a lot of mileage from Morganon. I also love how they subverted expectations at the end, while keeping the irony of the situation.

#2: The Grundel

Namely out of my love for premises involving manipulation. The spirit of the first season is mostly kept here and The Grundel didn't disappoint when it came to disturbing the viewer, certainly earned its title as the creepiest villain, with the creepiest episode alongside it.

#3: The Boogeyman Cometh

It's a great episode, but didn't have as much going for me as the other two episodes. It captures the fear one has with the Boogeyman and it's nice we got some extra dimensions to Egon in terms of him holding on to childhood fears, and it's written well enough.

#4: It's About Time

Much higher up because I was proven wrong with Peter supposedly being incredibly stupid in this episode. The idea made no sense, but it ironically made more sense toward the end, and hey, Peter's supposed idiocy managed to prove beneficial, gotta respect the episode for that.

Also, Janine's 89 design at this point ranks at a good second behind the original Janine.

#5: Poultrygeist

As someone who enjoys transformation scenarios, this was an incredibly bland take on the werewolf scenario, compounded by the premise actually being taken seriously, rather thank taking the piss out of it.

#6: Russian About

As someone who agrees with the fact J. Michael Straczynski was the best writer on the show, this is honestly a big disappointment. I don't know if it was him or the network that had the biggest impact on this episode, but there was a lot left to be desired, especially with a plot that promised to be the most extravagant. Since this was released in the last year before the USSR collapsed, the evil-Russian imagery comes off as rather basic by comparison.

#7: Attack of the B-Movie Monsters

Appropriate the last episode on this list is the episode I left off on. Where do I begin? A bland premise, a genesis that I for the life of me could not understand, complaints by Phelous on the later seasons overall that really take hold here, an unresolved ending brushed over almost seamlessly, all in a season that feels like it only exists to get the remainder of season 6 off the chopping block, the small amount of episodes provide heavy credence to this.

If the production code's anything to go by, this was the very last episode of The Real Ghostbusters ever produced, and it's poetic to be honest. The passion was lost, the ratings declined, the writing plummeted, characters suffered though some more than others, and the animation budget crumbled below happy meal levels.

In Closing

I guess every reviewer has to go through a marathon every now and again, and I hope I met my quota with this. I understand the grievances people had with the show as it went on, and I at the very least see this as more than just a glorified merch magnet like Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I get when a show starts to decline, I just don't like dedicating a bulk of my time whining over how much better things were in the past, but believe me I get it, and this show stands as a good example how much ABC sucks.

Real Ghostathon: Attack of the B-Movie Monsters (season 7)

 With the dwindling budget The Real Ghostbusters weathered by the sixth season, you'd assume it'd drop off from there, but no, as if by some weird twist of faith, the show rose from its death bead, drank a glass of water, shit itself then died for real. The seventh season is the weirdest of them all in terms of its length and arrival.

The seventh season came out in 1991, and you wanna know how long it lasted with the budget cuts and low ratings in mind?

Four episodes

That's right, ABC could only bleed the show out for four more episodes before it finally died. In terms of complete seasons, the seventh season of The Real Ghostbusters has to be the shortest season I've ever encountered, so allow me to really tear into this before our next review, this is the last in the show proper.

Three of four episodes were written by Jules Dennis and Richard Mueller. Dennis worked on various later-era Real Ghostbusters episodes and would go on to help on Batman The Animated Series and Sonic SatAM. Mueller had a little more experience under his belt, being on the show as early as the syndication run and even writing a novelized take on the first Ghostbusters movie.

He would also write for some episodes of Extreme Ghostbusters and also wrote for Batman: The Animated Series, and was apparently good enough to appear as a commentator on the DVD release, Dennis was a no-show.

The only episode to not be written by Dennis and Mueller was the second, which was helmed by Len Janson and Chuck Menville.

As I already covered a Janson/Menville episode with It's About Time, and because each episode didn't catch my interest with a plot synopsis and since every episode at this point can be considered self-contained, I picked this one because... I dunno... B-movies? And I really wanna see what these two can bring to the table.

Also interesting fact, if the production code is anything to go by, this is technically the last episode ever produced. For perspective on the order based on the production code, 4, 2, 1, 3, so yeah, I'm covering what's basically the finale to the entire show.

Kai-Joo!

It's monsters in Tokyo, with ghosts resembling popular monsters related to Tokyo.

Wanna know what the cause of the situation here is? Right at the start, some film canisters fall into toxic waste. What's the correlation between toxic waste and film canisters? Throw me a bone please. Anyhow, this is a toxic-waste set-up, where do you think it winds up?

At this point, the show turned away from ghosts being the enemy and focused more on actual monsters. Sheesh on a biscuit.

Also to show how low the animation budget sank, the first beast to emerge knocks over the boat, but it cuts away as it's knocked over.

A little over three minutes in and the Ghostbusters arrive in Japan, and Slimer is met with the amount of praise the network has for him. And I gotta concede, at this point Peter was getting a lot dumber, if I hadn't seen Russian About and just any other episode from season six I would've come to that same conclusion.

So far the biggest stand-outs are the clear animation goofs. I managed to pick up on looped footage when a boy witness tries to get their attention. All else is shenanigans with a teched-out Japanese vehicle. I'm half expecting the vehicle to be able to turn into a mech,

After driving the point home that actual ghosts are no longer the forefront for the series, as well as the network showing their mass apathy for Winston, they decide to fire their proton beams again. They say insanity is doing the same thing more than once and expecting a different result, but this time... it works. A higher power setting was all that needed to be done. Well color me a dinosaur.

A discussion goes on about the monster they encountered, and I gotta say, they really wussed out on the Godzilla reference. You know, you could get away with saying the actual name, especially if your only alternative is Lizardo. They get their insight from Kenji, who would surely go on to produce Mega Man, claim all the credit and helm a Kickstarter game that'd become the butt of many jokes for years to come.

Speaking of insanity, same thing as before, fire a basic round, then just turn it up afterwards. So we get the gist behind this episode, repetition. I can quit now, I only have eight minutes left, but I made it this far, I just hope I can say a lot more. All I got now is that they never give a good explanation to how film reels on toxic waste can create kaiju creatures, and a question. Did Peter just quote Eminem nine years in advance?

Only hope I have for this episode is that this turns out to just be a crazy dream one of the Ghostbusters had during their trip to Japan, probably after watching all these movies. At this point, if you're not into Japanese movie monsters, this will start to feel very dull, and get pretty stupid too. Times like this I'm glad I'm a few minutes away.

So all ends happily, but hold up, the spill situation was never fully resolved, do we get a cliffhanger ending? Nope, as if they threw their hands up, this is where the producers gave up, well, until I'm proven wrong on the production codes.

Final Thoughts

It's fitting we leave off on a disappointment, because the series had got to this point. I can see how far it had fallen piece by piece and I can agree on many of the complaints lobbied against it. If I saw every single episode it would've been absolutely miserable.

And yeah, I have more to say on the marathon overall than I do this entire episode. It really feels as though the seventh season was them getting rid of whatever episodes were left on the chopping block for the sixth season. I mean hell, the Ghostbusters getting sent back to the 50s just because they got hit by an active trap makes more sense than movie monsters coming to life through a film reel's exposure to toxic waste.

Stay tuned for the ranking.

Real Ghostathon: Doctor Dweeb I Presume? (Slimer!)

 I would've covered this last, but given that the last episode I'm covering on the show proper is where the show technically ended production-wise, I wanna keep things poetic. Call this a bonus.

Around the fourth season of The Real Ghostbusters (season 3 if you rule out the syndication block), owing to the popularity of Slimer (and not authentic popularity, more like "let's hemmorhage in order to get Infinity Train and Glitch Techs more seasons" popularity), as well as general network incompetence, Slimer began playing a bigger role in the show, to the point the show became Slimer and the Real Ghostbusters.

But apparently that wasn't enough, so when it came to an hour long block, a short series was aired between episodes of The Real Ghostbusters, more cartoony and comedic segments starring, well you tell me. I was not too off-put by the episodes I saw thus far, but then again I didn't have that big of an attachment to the show proper. I can agree it was better early on, and it isn't fair to make any statements based on a paltry selection of episodes.

At the very least, I can make a distinction between myself and Phelous on the topic at hand.

Anyhow, on the blocks we'd get three different segments, as these are self-contained, one segment would be enough, and I just picked one by random. All of them were directed by Arthur Vitello, and with that I assume this entire series was his idea.

So... divider

The Slimer shorts incorporate an art-style more indicative to what the network essentially wanted the show to become. It's a little break from what was the norm in broadcast television at the time, but basic all the same.

All I can say about this is... shenanigans. What more can I say about it, honestly? Just Slimer going with Janine so the latter could get a check-up at the doctor, with Dweeb trying to capture him.

This has very little to offer aside from being used to preserve interest before the next episode of The Real Ghostbusters. Not to mention, at least with this episode there's no music. Was this rushed? Was this series produced daily?

Final Thoughts

There frankly wasn't any point to covering this. Regardless of my more lax views on the show as a whole I would've hated this no matter my upbringing. I just wanted to do a complete run I guess.

Real Ghostathon: Russian About (season 6)

 This was the very last episode of The Real Ghostbusters to be written by J. Michael Straczynski, around the time the show was starting to reach critical mass. It was also at this season the show would be outsourced to Korea when previously it was sent to Japan. For the former, that's reserved for much cheaper shows and by then the producers' allowance had dwindled due to the show no longer being popular enough for higher maintenance. It's almost as if Q5 destroyed the show by alienating its initial audience.

I'd make a crack about the riots, but even an apology wouldn't do anything.

This was one of two episodes written by Straczynski during this season, the previous being Janine, You've Changed which addressed Janine's excessive redesigns but proved to make no impact for episodes after as it went by his vision, while another vision carried for every episode after. Russian About was treated as a footnote, so for curiosity sake, I'd like to see what Straczynski did here.

Colluding

We start with Aurora Borealis, at this time of year, at this time of day, in that part of the company, localized entirely in this scene. And I'm saying this because I'm already seeing it, while Ray, Winston and Slimer try to. We also get clued in to shortcuts the animators took with the shortened budget.

Peter here is more immature, at least at this point, and since this is a Straczynski, I have to call him on slipping to bad habits. Also apparently he doesn't know the right name for Rock, Paper Scissors. Maybe here they'd throw in a squirrel neck.

One thing I noticed here is the odd mix of English and phonetic Russian terms, I know because the Russian alphabet has specific characters, but then again I don't know much of Russia.

Back on the supposed idiocy of Peter Venkman, I feel the need to bring it up here because 1., this was a Straczynski episode and 2. Okay so it's more apparent in the much later seasons, and the network cracked down hard. Also, Peter was more or less on the up and up in The Halloween Door, so I imagine the dialog would be the least the network had to worry about.

I'm noticing some rapid cuts between scenes, the copy I have was sourced from a Fox Family airing, but I doubt anything in the show at this point was sus enough to be edited out.

We then meet who I assume would be our antagonists here or a big thorn in their sides. At best Straczynski had good writing in his sleeve, but even he can dip when it comes to obvious set-ups with Russians. Either he's a die-hard patriot or he just likes stereotyping here.

But nevertheless, when a good joke is made, it hits well, especially when it comes to irritating the level-headed Egon. But when a bad joke is made, it hits just as well too.

We go from Egon losing his shit over a Russian guy badmouthing Albert Einstein to said Russian guy claiming the Titanic was sank by Elvis Presley. Like, what's the joke here? Russians are stupid? If we spent three whole years stressing over supposed collusion they must be smart enough to press our buttons.

Egon comes up to demonstrate the proton beams, this was for a science conference, and it goes poorly because Winston throws a trap without a petal. Scratch that, Winston demonstrates one of many hiccups the animation has due to the lower budget. You get the feeling Straczynski wanted to go the rest of the episode with Slimer kept in the trap, but either the network pushed back or he felt it was too obvious.

While not ever discussed, this episode was alluded to by Phelous when it came to network interference, for those who saw that video and want to know which episode it is, this is the episode alluding to the Necronomicon.

The book in question is never mentioned by name because the network was adamant that the book actually exists. Guess they have a point, they were the network evil enough to give us Jay Sherman, they're bound to have the Necronomicon in their library.

Straczynski at the very least humored them and gave a reason for why it can't be called by name.

But for the sake of plot convenience, we get a lead for someone who believes in the properties the book holds. I'm hoping for a twist here, spoilers, he's the guilty one.

Also, cult-like imagery is perfectly fine, but a name is a no-no apparently.

Nothing happens with the Ghostbusters beyond road trouble and sudden convenience, but they're just in time as a cultish ceremony starts. We then get an implication on what creature the cult's trying to awaken, and some Slimer shenanigans which may or may not go anywhere. Blame the network on the latter?

They kill a sense of suspense when they capture guardian demons who can easily break out of traps. You know, a scare never killed anybody.

But then we get the reason behind the cult's being. Vladimir (the guy) wants to rule the world. That's it, no layer of absurdity or complexity. Is this meant to be a stab at Cold War politics? This was a year or so before the USSR collapsed. What're you going for Michael?

Oh, and I wonder if his little sidekick is gonna make Vlad eat his words for icing him out point blank.

Also some more animation hiccups, where the position of the characters change but the background doesn't.

And more for how Peter isn't as bad as people made him out to be, he is willing to risk his life to throw an experimental weapon into the pit for which the beast awakens. At this point he goes from smooth sarcastic dope, to lovable doofus. Or maybe I was just incredibly lucky with my episode picks in those that make Peter look good?

Things end lukewarm, they thwart the villain and the cult is arrested. I'm not expecting a bang, but this left much to be desired.

Final Thoughts

In hindsight, this wasn't a good episode for Michael to leave off on, but then again he was probably too hurt for how much the series has been effed with to give more effort. By then anything he does would not hold, so it seems he couldn't care enough to try.

Compared to what he's capable of, this feels ordinary, though I have a feeling the network pushed back hard against his ideas, so there's a possible reason.

Ordinarily it seems like the show would end here, but somehow, some way, one last season exists, and with that, we're almost at the end.

Real Ghostathon: It's About Time (season 5)

 It's no secret that Peter Venkman received the worst degradation in The Real Ghostbusters. I blame no one but the networks. But I have a theory, Peter and Winston were borderline interchangeable when it came to making quips, though one was more aloof, the other was more down to earth. They already got heat for reducing Winston to basic grunt work, so I imagine they didn't want any further heat for making him the defacto idiot, so for the sake of keeping up with a simplistic writing atmosphere, someone needed a lobotomy.

Except, not really. At best Peter no longer had good lines and was helmed by writers who were basically starved for good ideas. Lorenzo Music is the superior Peter, but I feel like setting the record straight.

This was written by Len Janson and Chuck Menville, who became the show's script supervisors at this point, and as history shows it wasn't for the best. I haven't seen what they're capable of, but as we learned later on they didn't like what they would ultimately create.

Trap Does What?

Here's a funny thing I noticed, our introduction to the Ghostbusters proper in this and another Janson/Menville episode, Big Trouble with Little Slimer is that it begins with a Ghostbuster singing, though to be fair Egon's less tone-deaf.

Through a crap 50s surfer tune, Ray begins to wax nostalgic over an era he was never part of, the 50s. Oh gee, I wonder if this is going to foreshadow where the plot would go? I- would read the title and have to assume. I find it funny that anyone would want to return to the 50s in this day and age. Now sure, the 60s was where shit hit the fan, but in the 50s, everything was more... authoritarian, people were blind to social issues, it'd breed asshole fathers the world over.

Come to think of it, Q5's alterations to the show harken back to the restraining nature of the 50s. You wanted to drive the point home here?

We see Janine is a sobbing wreck, you wanted to drive the point home how well she has fallen too? I will say this, of all her constant design changes, I'd rate Janine's 89 depiction as the second best Janine.

Anyhow, the drive here is... one of those tearing down old properties for an expressway deals. Now granted, I hate traffic as much as the next guy, I'm in the state notorious for them, but this kind of plot is always forced. Sorta like how the rest of the plot would be.

The Ghostbusters syphon off the energy from their traps, then a disgruntled Peter pulls the plug too early. Now, at times I feel Phelous' points on the Coulier take on Peter is exaggerated, but Peter is one of three Ghostbusters who happen to be a scientist, you'd think he'd know better. I'll give it this, he does apologize.

So with that blunder, Peter loses his soul. No? Well then the Ghostbusters get sucked into a realm where ghosts are cont- no, they all get put in the Containment Unit. They're... in purgatory or something close to it?

Apparently, the trap would send the ghosts back in time? Okay, there had better be a reason for this all, otherwise... I dunno, I'll complain about it?

So, no explanation yet, and Ray has the eagerness of a closeted homophobe who found an outlet to voice his hatred of the fs in Topeka. Points for those who figure out who I'm referring to.

As you'd expect, Ray has an obsession with this era almost as much as anyone's obsession with Infinity Train.

Winston takes the badge of stupidity briefly when he finds the base for the Ecto-1, a hearse, and Peter's the one who knocks him down to size, though Winston still assumes otherwise.

Apparently, 1959 was when ghosts truly began to surface in New York, so there could be an interesting plot here where the Ghostbusters find the originator of these hauntings and destroy it, but come to a moral quandary where in doing so, they'd lose any reason to remain together. I'm reaching here.

But apparently, this was caused by the Ghostbusters coming to the 50s. Now sure, by not being in the era this could've prevented them from taking on the ghosts, but how could ghosts be their fault if... Sputter-cough-dead.

Okay, so apparently their premise is the cause of all this. Still confused, and they do a horrible job on making it make sense.

It seems Coulier Peter is smarter than Phelous would give him credit for. If not for coming up with an idea to disguise the Ghostbusters as firefighters as that was what the firehouse used to be in 1959, he actually finds a way to recharge the trap the Ghostbusters have and sways them to carry on in fixing the situation.

He still has crappy lines though.

So right to the source of the ghosts, they use a high pressure water hose to hold them back... no comment, either I'd be nitpicking or I'd be ignorant to how it works in the show, while Egon charges up the trap, and since we're close to the end, success.

Oh, and it turns out the expressway plan was a bust, but... they actually explain this better than their presence being the source of a ghost invasion. Because the Ghostbusters aided the firemen in holding back the ghosts from the portal, they are credited to stopping the crisis and the firehouse they're affiliated with is hence considered a historical landmark.

Also if you want to further levy how dumb Peter supposedly became, he manages to spout the right year to Janine who couldn't figure it out.

Final Thoughts

I went into this with low expectations, and my views based solely on what I learned from Phelous, and I gotta say, I was proven wrong. It was kinda hokey, how could a trap send anyone back in time and how could one's presence bring catastrophe. As mentioned early on, Ray was born the year the Ghostbusters were sent back to.

However, in terms of my expectations for a potentially devolved Peter, I was proven wrong here too. Turns out what would've been his biggest bout of idiocy proved to be beneficial in the long run. Or maybe I just got lucky with my episode pick here.

In terms of time travel episodes, I prefer this to Teen Titans' take on the formula, I had no major expectations for how the plot would go here.

Next up, I go for my final J. Michael Straczynski episode, and I can hardly consider myself drained.

Real Ghostathon: Poultrygeiest (season 4)

 And now, I start to venture into more foreign territory. I get to see what the network themselves were able to do without the right guidance.

I picked this episode because... I like transformations I guess. Namely the camp factor.

One of the two writers, Duane Capizzi, would go on to write and co-develop various shows for Adelaide Productions.

I'm expecting a b-movie tier plot, that's always fun.

Ba-cock

Wanting to cut to the chase, we immediately get introduced to a were-chicken, well a chicken beast anyhow. Cubby might've been onto something, we were fools.

Then it cuts rapidly to a nature show? I mean with how lackluster it is it might as well be, though it turns out to be a werewolf movie, at least the transformation is better than Deathmoon's.

You know, it's easy to build up suspense, now that you've shown us the beast it's a matter of whether or not we give a shit. Cut the first few seconds out and it can make a good difference. Or hell, just have it through the beast's perspective the entire time, at the very least we can have some surprise.

And then... shenanigans, where the Ghostbusters become clumsy dolts for a few seconds too long. Also at this point, Winston is voiced by Buster Jones. Just thought I'd let you know.

It seems the biggest problem with this episode is that it's a stupid premise taken seriously, and played straight forward. There's no merit in that.

So they find a giant egg, and what do you think happens? Sensibility and subversion isn't our friend here. I imagine it either hatches and a creature emerges to affect Egon, or the other werechicken affects Egon in trying to get it back.

Speaking of, lack of major suspense, most of which drowned in dialog, the werechicken arrives and.... they managed to catch it? Ordinarily in stuff like this, killing the head afflicter would lift those afflicted, there'd be no point to abandoning that here, but... screw it, I guess they're all solitary beings.

At this point, more seasoned Phelous viewers are bound to claim Peter's the one that lets the chicken loose, but no. It's Slimer. Egon's examining the egg retrieved, this is made obvious, and Slimer suddenly comes in and tries to make an omelette out of it. He's the soul reason the plot's going on. I'd like to say Peter's slack-mindedness comes from Slimer being able to steal braincells when sliming someone in the face.

So, Egon's bit, and the transformation is instant, but slow.

I feel there's some inconsistency with the fix, beforehand the werechicken was a demon possessing a body, now there's a remedy for it? I'm stumped.

Well, with an incomplete remedy, only part of it works, comedy is bound to suffice in theory. Also werechickens can become giants apparently. On that comedy theory, apparently Egon is needed for a public presentation, because we all need that desperate attempt at covering what one is now quota to be fulfilled. But wait, with the panic going on with the already giant chicken wouldn't the presentation be cancelled?

So with their traps full, a practical solution is in order, and what better way to go than with a weather balloon? Okay I'm a stranger to the mechanics of a weather balloon, so I won't question it.

Peter does ruin Egon's chance at being inconspicuous, but the next episode is where I feel I can really get into this.

Anyway with no further opposition, they prevail and we get a Slimer joke that's incredibly obvious and hoakey the end.

I was certain the episode was cut short with the copy I got, but this episode really started to stumble toward the end.

Final Thoughts

At its core, this was just a generic werewolf premise, mixed with the surface flaws the show had at this point, further hammered in by the incorporation of chicken's bane, get it? If the most you can do to switch up a premise is just a minor change, why even bother?

I'd throw the same complaints at Regular Show when they did the Wereskunk, only difference is that it was a lot more ugly and obnoxious.

With that said, I'm happy to say I'm now at the halfway mark. Just to let you know, I said I'd review the first three segments of the Slimer! subseries, but with the site I get the episodes from, they are individual segments, so it's safe to say I'm entering the shorter half of this marathon.

Real Ghostathon: The Grundel (season 3)

 Being a cartoon on ABC was a terrible place to be in 1987. Having placed third in Saturday Morning ratings, they needed to do what they could to get ahead of the competition. For this, they contacted consultant firm Q5 and produced content based on their suggestions. If you want an idea on what that was like, check out MrEnter's review on Little Clowns of Happy Town, because he was the only one to do a review of it as far as I know.

But that wasn't enough, as every show airing on ABC at that point also got eviscerated (and given what we got, that's the best term to refer to it). Pound Puppies and The Real Ghostbusters had got it the worst at this point, the latter being a good example of just how bad network interference could be. If you want full disclosure on that, check out Phelous' discussion on the show, I'd get no reward for copying his points verbatim.

Well, nothing beyond pointing out J. Michael Straczynski actually left because of how bad things got with the show and only came back because the network were borderline desperate as what they could come up with just wasn't up to par.

I picked The Grundel, just to see how well Michael could write an episode on a season that was already folding to the whim of a network with a misguided consultant, and because apparently this is considered one of the more disturbing episodes of the show. It was mentioned briefly by Phelous, so it's slim pickings at this point.

So start

I won't go into detail on Dave Coulier yet, I picked an episode in another season which would help reinforce how far the character would fall.

We start off with a tone appropriate for this episode's legacy, then spoiled with a chase sequence, and you know who with you know what who's now able to talk full sentences. Also Winston's a poet for a good minute or so.

I feel the network reared its head or Michael made a mistake, as Slimer is within a close radius of the trap when it is thrown.

Our story comes into play when a boy, somehow, manages to swipe a bulk of the Ecto-1. What seems like a typical delinquent may hold a grander kernel.

Apparently, this episode is notable for its creepy villain, and... I'd say it's creepy for the time,  take that with a grain of salt, I've been desensitized to horror, but I'd still respect it. The Grundel manipulates edgy youths into furthering their angst and causing more trouble. I'd make an analogy related to fandoms, but I'd be out of my league.

For the lack of anything else to say at the moment, I at least like how Michael tried to make Peter work with the lesser delivery, this was back when it was a matter of keeping with the spirit the character had, and I'm aware of where it would go down.

Anyhow, a sudden rally at the school a cursed boy, Alec, puts the Ghostbusters in like with The Grundel. The Grundel uses Alec to make a fool of the Ghostbusters, and to do that, Alec messes with the proton packs. On getting them into the plot, it feels just a little forced, like a rally is a little too obvious.

I can see Michael trying to preserve the charm the show once had, the effort is shown with Peter Venkman who tries to keep the sarcastic charm he previously had, we even have a little Laura Summer charm with Janine played by Kath Soucie at this point.

I love how nonchalant Alec's brother is over the former jumping out a two story window, as well as how nonchalant he is about Alec now taking on a look similar to The Grundel.

Toward the climax, I just wanna say, for a Coulier-era Venkman, this is one of his high-points. He manages to sway Alec away from The Grundel, and once you know how dumbed down he'd become later on, this hits a different way.

Things end happily, though I have an idea for a more tragic one to really drive the impact home, I'll leave it as is.

Overall

I made the right choice for my introduction to this season. With only two prior episodes under my belt I didn't feel quite ready to go into foreign territory just yet, but next time, I will.

Real Ghostathon: Chicken, He Clucked (syndication)

 Back in the 80s, syndication was at its peak. For any successful show, one would try and get as much out of it as they could, and for syndication, standards are much looser there, and are guaranteed for more episodes.

For perspective, a network season order would ordinarily consist of 13 episodes, whereas the standard for syndication is 65. No one would've been happier to go through with this than J. Michael Straczynski.

The syndication package came around the same time as the initial network run, and by the second season, ABC reared their heads in as part of a desperate attempt at fixing their ratings. Not wanting to put up with their changes because let's face it, they were idiotic, Michael focused more on the syndication package and only came back occasionally to write for the network season.

In a way, this is the last hurrah for the show's true heyday.

I picked Chicken, He Clucked because based on Phelous' description, I'm interested to see how it plays out. This episode was notable for being considered crazy at the time, unless 80s cartoons truly were that conservative. So, the key to this is to determine just how batshit the script was viewed to be.

Bock

The plot centers on a man who is driven mad with the ever presence of chicken, not helping that he lives by a chicken shop. Based on his appearance, I imagine childhood trauma and mockery is a fuel behind this, but for now I can at least see him as sympathetic.

I like how they provide context to the chicken man being in the line of sight of the Ghostbusters, it's all at the library, and a book on conjuring is a clue on how the man wants to go about getting rid of the chicken problem.

Knowing this is the last season we hear Lorenzo Music and have Peter's initial personality, I feel that it incorporating some childish elements to him isn't such a bad idea. Here, he's reading a pop-up book nonchalantly, which goes to show that even the most juvenile of interests can have some universal enjoyment.

Our demon, Morganon, is introduced and we get the implication that, given the man looks like a chicken, he'll become one by the end of this or serve as a demon forever, we'll find out soon enough.

Owing to the writing, we get a great exchange, where Morganon is heavily perplexed over chicken man's silly desire and tries to sway him to a bigger prize. So chicken man is granted the ability to bring whatever he wishes to another dimension.

One issue I have with episodes like these is that, in order to avoid line-by-line summaries, I have to skip around a lot. Not that it takes away the enjoyment, it's the best of 80s cartoon comedy.

In a descent to a jagged grave, after ruling out ways to cushion the impact they're saved by Morganon who's as determined as the Ghostbusters to end this chaos. Not to mention, the fact that I can actually see why Phelous is adamant in his dismissal of Dave Coulier really goes to show its objectivity, there was a Peter line at this point and the delivery made it work.

Here, I love how they try to give sympathy to a demon, and we get to see a shred in humanity in their doing. Some like to strike willy nilly, some have a rep to protect. It's nice to see grey rather than black and white and goes to show what you can do with good writing.

At this point, everything seems sensible, I'll explain when we get to the final thoughts.

After returning to their domain, the Ghostbusters create fake chickens to trick the chicken man, and as the chickens are, well, fake. I'm a little confused, I would think he'd go crazy since the condition of his powers would only work for literal chickens, but they all just return after the spell is a bust.

So beyond all expectations, perhaps the end would be the point behind a phone-call Michael received on his well-being after submitting the script, well, there is irony to the end...

He's sent to an asylum and served chicken for dinner. I give props for subversion and the build-up, it would've been too obvious if he was turned into a chicken or forced to serve the demon world, I mean the point to it was to break the deal so that wouldn't have made sense and ruined the grey aspect to a demon's motives.

Final Thoughts

Apparently this episode was so twisted, J.Michael Straczynski was phoned asking if he was mentally sound, but honestly... this wasn't as twisted as I thought. I guess they were so dumbfounded over how such a crazy premise could've been made to work so well they themselves went crazy. I'm willing to assume the 80s had much more twisted cartoon episodes from then.

I really have nothing more to say about this, it's yet another point in the golden era of The Real Ghostbusters.

Next time, I'm going into the lesser seasons, but I wanna stick with Straczynski's episodes just to see how well he can work with a suffocating network like ABC. Also apparently positive content is a necessity apparently.

Ghostathon: The Boogeyman Cometh (season 1)

 I never grew up with The Real GhostBusters, but I will say it's one of the few nostalgic properties where I can fully agree with people who'd levy complaints. It was based on a movie and the show had a strong level of respect for the property, at first. Any complaints toward new installments were deserved, so as an outsider, I have a great level of respect for what the show was.

I decided to review one episode from every season. I will be focusing mostly on episodes written by J. Michael Straczynski, mainly to see how he'd handle episodes in the worser seasons. I don't know for sure if I'd wind up liking the dire season episodes, but you never know until you try.

Episode

Since this was from the first season, I won't focus on a Straczynski episode. This episode was written by Michael Reeves and was the sixth episode overall. This was two episodes after the first episode Straczynski wrote, Slimer Come Home, and earlier on story editing was handled by Len Janson and Chuck Menville.

I would've picked one of the episodes written by the two, as singled out by Phelous, but... I dunno, The Boogeyman is more interesting? That and I wanna single out the more scary in principle episodes as that's where things really unwind.

We start with Winston as the driver, back before he would always be the driver. And yes I got this from Phelous. We're in the era of peak representation, when you notice these things you gotta bring it up.

Speaking of eras, this was before people became entirely aware of cliches. In this, Peter wants rest and with how he brings it up quite a bit toward bedtime we know something would be up. On the upside, this was also back when Slimer was used properly, as in sparingly, so we got a decent interaction out of it, and by decent, I mean not overkill.

One thing I like about this is that it was also when Peter wasn't devolved (and yes, I'm not saying this because I love Phelous' videos on the show, but because even I can pick up on stuff like this)

Let me put it like this. Peter takes out what seems to be an experimental bomb used to destroy Slimer. In the later seasons he would actually use a bomb to destroy Slimer (he was at that level of stupid), but then again he'd just forgive it as he was at that point to. In this, it was just a clever ploy to teach Slimer a thing or two.

This is also a reason why I didn't go for episodes Phelous already covered, I'd be saying what he said verbatim.

Our introduction to the Boogeyman comes from two kids, i.e., his current haunts, Kenny and Megan Carter. Given the creature's association with scaring kids, it's well-founded, though I will say it conflates with upping a kid's sense of wonder if The Halloween Door is anything to go by, or I'm just an idiot.

It turns out Egon shares, a link if you will, with the Boogeyman, which you'd never expect out of the more intelligent, but then again Winston is the more down to earth of the two, and with the creatures they encounter... go figure. With Egon it provides more layers to his character, as he held on to childhood fears.

Indicative of the time, these episodes don't hold back on the creepy atmosphere. I haven't watched the show when it was new, but already I know I'm gonna miss hearing Lorenzo Music.

They do some big spell-outs, they need a childlike person to be a stand-in for luring the Boogeyman, who is the happy one? Here's a hint, he oozes over a stuffed toy- Ray. Now look, I maintain that I respect the first season a great deal, but I'm the same person who nitpicks Teen Titans.

Should go without saying, but Peter would've been the stand-in if this came in a later season. There it would've probably been not funny, but they got it down here, because you know.

Though not much else occurs worth talking about, I was able to maintain interest. We get to the final confrontation, and the point Kenny and Megan seek to face the Boogeyman with bravery, which is more or less a distraction as they overheat their proton packs in order to destroy the link between the Boogeyman's realm and the real world.

And what better way to leave off than with a Slimer joke? He hasn't been around that much in the episode so it's welcome here.

Overall

This is standards 80s cartoon fare, but of the more enjoyable crop. They had a strong sense of creepiness and a point to facing your fears, not to mention as there was actual passion put into the writing of it, leading to a fun experience, and a taste for what was the peak of the series.

I fear the worst as we go on, but I have one more surefire good episode before then.

Teen Titans Review: The One Where Cyborg Goes Back In Time

 I remember this episode, I just don't have that much to say about it. I get the idea behind the episode, but I'm still disappointed. I did briefly discuss this in my editorial on the show as a whole, so for a lack of better ideas... writers block beware, I have waffles.

The few things I remember about this episode are bits and pieces of how the plot's carried out, the plot at hand, and a joke I feel like mindlessly nitpicking. I'll put these to different sections for the sake of flow.

A Forced Meme

This episode is notable for spawning a certain quote, if this was the only takeaway people had of this episode it'd make things even more sad. Fans of the show would know what I'm talking about, but if you don't know...

"Evil beware, we have waffles."

You're probably gonna get at me for whining about a silly line, well how can I not? It plays out like a forced meme, a good meme is short, simple and to the point, this feels just a bit too long. Not to mention where else would it fit in any other context? Here it was just because something Cyborg made happened to have a waffle-maker.

I feel this sums up the humor of the show at its core. Teen Titans Go isn't just a stupid comedy, it's just more of Teen Titans' initial humor. 

The line did blow up a bit for some time, which is why I'm singling it out. If you wanna get at me for this, Bring on the Belgian.

A so-so episode

After a machine malfunction, Cyborg is transported many centuries back in time, or is it some fantasy world. I dunno, what time period do witches and humanoid insect slime creatures fit in to? I mean, a fantasy setting is basically the simplest premise to use, whether you make your own rules or base it off of an existing interpretation.

Most I could bring to the table at this point is Cyborg going back in time and meeting his ancestors, but even then that's as generic as I imply this story to be.

It's the kind of story I can easily sum up in a few sentences or less, focusing on familiar story elements.

Cyborg meets a skilled fighter who turns out to be female, both strike a match and stir the ire of a jock-type ally who pines for the female, the jock turns out to be the one responsible for the attacks his people face as he bargained with a witch to create them to fight in order to pass himself as a hero, but pays the price where when he seeks stronger aid, he is reconverted into one of the witch's grunts, this time of a stronger variety and we lead to what would be a major fight scene.

The only thing that helped this stray from it being entirely cliche, Cyborg is brought back to the present during the middle of the fight, with a phoned in resolution showing the woman to be alive and having won the fight.

What I said accounts for a stark bulk of the episode, minus any jokes or significant dialog. Literally the most major thing that stood out was the aforementioned forced meme.

Where could it be better?

I feel that if they actually thought about it, this could've been a good episode and a lead-in to an interesting arc and new character.

To get the simple thing out of the way, what if the woman warrior was an ancestor to one of the heroes in the show? Imagine if the woman warrior was an ancestor to Jinx, the latter being evil being owed to her bloodline, the woman warrior would always feel second rate to that jock and wound up killing him out of spite, or to stop him from carrying out a plan that'd prove damaging to her people.

She would ironically go to that witch and get abilities to help her take down her oppressors and maintain a long life. With Cyborg going back in time to help, the woman would maintain a moral compass and reinvent Jinx as a hero, undoing her prior history.

Next is one that would've made for a good arc. What if the woman turned out to be a twist villain? That her trying to be the best was just to gain power over her people and gradually militarize them. That's my worst.

But what if, hear me out, what if the woman didn't win at the end? What if she wound up either dying or becoming evil? This could lead to a rift between Cyborg and Raven as she brought him back. On the evil aspect, she could've been the ancestor to a major villain or become one herself through a bargain of her own and Cyborg has to face the consequences of helping her live to that point.

When you're young you don't pick up on anything but what you see, but when you get older and see much more, you can basically tell what direction these episodes could've gone.

Final Thoughts

Waffles was the only major takeaway from this episode. You'd think that Teen Titans Go episode was rubbing in the fact that waffles are more memorable that a bare basic time travel adventure.

This is another in a crop of disappointments. Let's face it, fans like these have ruined the show for a lot of people, spiking up hype that wound up building high expectations that couldn't be met, and I feel like I'm the only sensible person left, the lessers are working on suffocating contrarians.

I'd make a closing line relating to waffles, but I'm not a fan of the obvious.

LTA: The Perks of Being a Contrarian

The only reason animation-related content hasn't stagnated is because of the glut of new content. However, it's a different tune with a very similar mix, just praising what's good and going after what's bad, hardly anything ever in-between.

This isn't something that just happens to be, at this rate it feels like it's enforced. Any opinion straying from the norm is met with backlash, and I don't need to mention the pettiness of many a-detractor.

I had talked about he who has been named far too many times because he's currently the most relevant contrarian, and that has been treated as a fuck-up, against other key factors that are worse by comparison.

In this context I bring it up because one thing would lead to another. If we work to suffocate a contrarian review it'd set a bad example, people who know better would be too afraid to offer stronger counter-points to popular opinions, less they want to be edged out and ridiculed.

This goes back to toxic positivity, where people only focus on the good of what they talk about and never the bad, slowly nurturing the more toxic nature of their own fandoms. In this case, reacting harshly if anyone dare say anything negative about something people view positively.

Hell, it borders on cult territory, where excommunication comes from anyone questioning the doctrine.

It goes for the other extreme as well, people are so fine-tuned to major flaws in bad content that they just focus on what's obvious rather than look deeper into the real ins and outs of a film.

This is dangerous, because if we abide to either extreme, only a few different videos would suffice, people would go at you for beating a dead horse or worst case, call you a rip-off, when all we were doing is what the norm was established to be.

At this point, these norms are what's guaranteed for that sweet Patreon moolah.

Eau Contrarian

With how limited the scope of content is, contrarianism is more welcome than anyone is willing to admit. Counter points can help bring an outsider perspective on something, i.e., something new to talk about. Hell, it can show one's dedication to a show/movie as we're able to pick up on every nuance it has, whether it's good or bad.

The world won't end because we dislike some crappy Lauren Faust cartoon, the DC one.

By suffocating the right to a contrasting opinion, you make the reviewscape more authoritarian, and I don't mean like through one comment, I mean a full video where you decide to break away from the mainstream because you feel differently about something.

Everyone is different and is brought up different, so they can associate experiences with the content they watch, hence developing a unique opinion that may or may not be popular.

Extremes shouldn't cut it these days, if you're gonna go at someone for some poorly executed opinions, rather than just go after the opinion, why don't you take a stab at a contrarian review and build a stigma with it, and don't half-ass it.

Welcome to the Machine (music video review)

 Welcome to the Machine is one of my favorite songs of all time. As someone who's indecisive on all time favorites, I can say with certainty this is a favorite I can call off the top of my head.

Pink Floyd and their artistic visions need no introduction, it's common knowledge how deep they go, but I imagine we're smart enough to see the point behind The Wall. You may think at this point I'm gonna deride the band here, but I'm not, and I do bring up The Wall because the director of it comes here, well director of key segments anyhow.

Enter Gerald Scarfe, a cartoonist who stands as one of the still standing old greats. He is primarily known for directing the animated segments on The Wall, as well as handling the art direction on the initial album. He had also directed a music video for Welcome to the Machine.

This is interesting as music videos wouldn't become prevalent until the 80s, most you see are short films and The Beatles' visualizers. What this was meant to be was a visualizer for the band's live performance during the In the Flesh tour. As something in the background for a live show, it's a fitting combination, action occurs on all fronts, but on its own... is kinda basic.

My biggest issue with the video is how slow it feels. The most build-up we get is with that giant metallic creature at the start, but afterwards we have imagery that's somehow both too vague and too obvious. We get the idea they're telling us something in relation to, I dunno, fragility? I get the point behind the entire song, but I feel it's not best reflected here, perhaps if the metallic creature was behind a majority of the happenings in this I can put it to some clear meaning.

In terms of it being too obvious and too vague, we can come up with our own ideas, but we don't know for sure what the initial intention was. I'm just saying, if The Wall is anything to go by they make their intentions clear. This feels more like a feast for the eyes, but it's so slow you'd feel yourself going in and out of focus most of the time.

I did say it works with the live shows, but when you just have the video, the visuals don't do the song justice.

Welcome to the Machine uses synths to simulate machinery noises, the kinds of noises you'd picture in your head, but with how slow the imagery is, as well as its lack of a punch most of the time, it doesn't fit that well. It doesn't help that the lyrics are mostly specific, and the imagery contrasts with it.

Welcome to the Machine is either a discussion on the futility of rebellion, or a rockstar's slow descent into the corporate music industry, no longer about them but what the higher ups want them to be. I hardly got that from this video.

The video is still very well animated, and for something that might've been done with a deadline attached, I think it'd be better to see as a backdrop to a live performance.

LTA: Toxic Positivity and Authoritarianism.

 Two positive ions make a positive, two negatives make a positive, a negative and a positive, yields a negative. On the second, the negatives make up a bulk of the equation, so frankly, a negative has more power than two separate positives.

This was inspired by some tweets that popped up in my Twitter home-feed, I follow a guy who follows the poster of the original tweet. If you know me, you know of my incessant postings related to the worst of Enter's critics, and needless to say, the original poster's a total douche. My introduction to it came from a reply, to his original, frankly, douchey decrying Enter because of his adamance to not focus on key elements to series development, and for not doing positive reviews anymore.

I'd ignore stuff like this if I could, but based on why I left that group, it's just more evidence in favor of my delusional reasons.

To get number one out of the way, yes, Enter's turning down very important aspects to developing a series, but why not set yourself up for a lifetime of laughs or a solid cautionary tale and let him dig his own hole? This is the kind of thing you'd just watch, but people like him actually get mad over something that doesn't affect them. He has no influence, no connection to the animation industry, he's not petitioning people to give up the norm, people already don't take him too seriously at this point.

That, and the fact people left him because he just so happened to speak negatively about shows they like boils down to rampant pettiness. If you follow me on Twitter you're bound to find examples of this. Bringing this up because of the irony they never caught. People got on Enter for taking cartoons seriously, now they take cartoons too seriously and hate people for not liking them, and now take any opposing thought as an attack on their gov-er, creative process.

Authoritarianism: The enforcement or advocacy of strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom.

The ideal cartoon community: The enforcement of positive discussions and the right opinions to have on cartoons, and strict obedience to key figures at the expense of the freedom to make content how you want.

This day and age, you can no longer maintain consistent reviews without people considering you part of the bigger crowd, and with fans they'd expect you to have the same opinions they do. It sounds like a conspiracy, but with the people I meet and the content I see, I'm beginning to wonder.

I blame TUH POSITIVITAH

The people who preach positivity, tend to be the most negative people I encounter. Those I've seen tend to knock down anyone who doesn't agree with them and dogpile in a singular area over someone being, shock and horror, different, not necessarily good, but different. Who are you to judge what someone talks about? Sure the content you go after sucks, but isn't positivity about avoiding the negative?

A lot of the time, positivity is hollow, and leaves you with little room to go. I've yet to see anyone find the positive in a bad TV show or movie, just what's popular and loved due to ongoing stigmas. Here's some irony, if you really wanna show your understanding and passion for animation, be negative.

A good reviewer finds something nice to say about a popular cartoon, a better reviewer is able to find the flaws in a popular cartoon. Or just honor your positivity and don't be a petty douchebag.

I use MrEnter as an example because he's the only one at this point that fits the bill, unless ConfusedMatthew is still around and pushing the brand he was known for. By judging people for how they go about their discussion on animation, you're suffocating the potential for further discussion, and once the elements you allow are gone, the community will slowly go with it.

Not to mention, by focusing the worst aspects onto one person, it's as if you want to avoid addressing your own faults. Why be aware of your own shortcomings when you can at least not be Enter? If we met in school, I'd tell you to your face that you're no one I'd ever look up to.

LTA: Steve Drain

I had read about Steve Drain years ago on the Real Life Villains wiki, then all these years later he suddenly popped into my head. Turns out something major happened with him a few months ago. So between King of the Hill and getting an idea out of my head, let's get this through.

Also because he directed so little movies I have no other reason to bring him up.

But First, Background

Steve Drain was the leader of the Westboro Baptist Church. For those who don't know, you know those protestors you see heckling gay people, army funerals and AIDS funerals? There you go.

Drain was a director of documentaries, which you probably never heard of and given his associations are bound to be as scarce as the Basement Tapes. Drain was the kind of guy who sought the truth anywhere he could. Cautionary tales would tell of consequences for those that took too much from the hand of life, so he went right to the Westboro Baptist Church for his next documentary.

Time after, he became a hard-core convert and brought his family down with him.

You could say that Drain was already a fundy Christian who found his people, but he was already mostly liberal. You could say he was easily swayed, but he was quite intelligent. You see, intelligence is second to logic. What I mean by that is that Drain analyzed the sayings of the WBC's former grand poobah Fred Phelps, and considered his beliefs so airtight he took them at face value.

If you seek to analyze what you know, it'd blind you to the emotional aspects. Drain had no rebuttals to the anti-gay doctrine, when it's more of an emotional deal, the LGBT are people at the end of the day, and it goes to show how science can be corrupt.

To say he rose through the ranks is astounding, especially since he wasn't born into it. Guy was a monster, he just didn't know it yet.

Fact of the matter is, he has to be one of the most evil parts of the WBC. Let's put it into perspective, Phelps used to be a champion of civil rights, hell, the WBC weren't predominantly anti-black, and when you take into account the heyday of the church, it was around the time LGBT rights were still well away and the moral majority was still a thing. He essentially had a warped militant perspective of the bible. Shirley Phelps-Roper was born into what her father taught so she never knew any better.

Drain on the other hand, to reiterate, he wasn't born into it, he took Phelps' word at face value and focused less on the emotional implications and more on whether or not they can be debunked, he brought his family to the church for conversion, oh yeah, he's also apparently super sexist. He worked to overthrow Phelps-Roper all because he felt women were inferior.

As another pro to Fred, he stuck by his daughter, and was more into keeping the hatred to the protests. He got excommunicated.

Only way this would be okay is if Drain was actually a double agent seeking to destroy the church from the inside, which we know wasn't true. Perhaps Drain was a dickbag all along, and just wanted justification for striking out.

Another aspect is that he doesn't believe for his actions he'd go to heaven. Wasn't the point to please god in their misguided attempt at promoting purity the hard way?

His treatment of a certain daughter should go without saying, okay he didn't do what you thought, Lauren Drain just wound up questioning the point behind all of this, and got the boot. She isn't antagonized and surprisingly is still a Christian, which is cool because even Christians hate the WBC.

So why are we here?

In December of 2020, Drain and all else of his family that remained were booted. Whether or not they were kicked out or left on their own volition is up to debate. Some claimed that Drain went on to become a minister at a church in Mississippi, but this is speculation. One other popular theory is that the pandemic made it harder for protests to occur and that caused already shaky ground to crack further.

We can only hope now that Drain would at least try to apologize to Laura, unless he has too much pride.

Final Thoughts

What we have here is the seeds for, honestly, a kick-ass meta psychological thriller film. It all falls into place. Also horrible people.

Episode review: Hank's Back Story

King of the Hill is fantastic, but not perfect.

King of the Hill wears its views on the sleeve, Hank Hill is passionate about his views and that makes up a good bulk of his character, but in spite of that he is still likable at the end of the day, which is what helped the show earn appeal from people on both ends of the political spectrum, it had an audience, but it had enough to entice people outside of it. Did you know the reason for Fox Kids running a promotion with King of the Hill was due to the audience at the time consisting mostly of kids?

Also on the topic of spectrum, it's astounding how a right-leaning show has more appeal than the left-leaning The Goode Family. The center to the right work on better appeal while the left abides to basic comedy, no wonder promotion is their main drive these days.

However, with so many seasons, clunkers are to be expected. The title gave it away, but I'm not going to talk about any Peggy-centered episode or the other more infamous ones. Reviewing is my passion, not my source of income.

Useless Divider

The worst thing an episode of King of the Hill could be is something without enough substance. For every bad episode I can at least understand their intent. It's Not Easy Being Green, not an environmental nut, but the big takeaway was honesty, especially on something important to other characters. Episodes focused on the Hank and Luanne dynamic, Hank learns to show more kindness to someone in need of it, and I have a feeling Peggy and Luanne are the era's equivalent to Sia and Maddie Ziegler.

Point is, I have takeaways even from episodes I don't like, take a guess what I'm trying to say about this.

The point behind this episode is that Hank has to live with the fact that he has no ass, no seriously, due to a lack of development on his glutes his spine is more vulnerable, leading to back pain. Only other point of interest is a lawnmower race, but you can take one or the other out and the only connection would be Hank's ability to take part, which could be easily changed.

One takeaway I got from this episode was Dale, who does what's essentially the equivalent to kicking a paralyzed man while they're already knocked down. Now look, this is par the course for Dale, and Bill and Boomhauer while I'm at it. This wasn't the first time they hazed Hank, and wouldn't be the last. I know they did worse when Hank went blind, and probably more before then.

But why am I not complaining about those? Because the episodes themselves had more to them, the hazing was just a part of it. Even if not there was a payoff to justify it. If my only takeaway was the hazing, chances are the episode was just too bland for my blood.

Next thing I recall is the mower race, and for the sake of throwing out what I recall, Dale does a grand bulk of the cheating here, to Hank mainly, from using nitrous to stabbing a hole in the water cushions Hank used for support for his ass or lack thereof.

And of all that, none of them finish first, though Dale places ahead of Hank. Part of me wants to be happy they subverted expectations, but another part of me is saying that this is a rip-off, or maybe it just wasn't well thought-out.

A minor nitpick, but they say Hank can qualify for next year's race in spite of placing seventh. It's down to the top 3, 5 at max, but I may never know how they do things in Texas.

Overall

The biggest issue with this episode is a lack of true substance. It felt like a slow day in the writer's room bringing a subpar script. You could say it can explore Hank's work affecting his health, but a few seasons later we revisit Hank's back and the episode is much better.

I... draw a blank for a closing statement.

New World Order: Watch+Review

I like the concept of religious films, or maybe I just hate atheists more, thanks Brad Jones. I would love to do a review of Left Behind: The Movie, but only if I can find it in the wild. For now, let's settle for something incredibly obscure.

I doubt this is religious, just felt like spouting more pointless self-trivia I guess.

Background

New World Order was directed by Jay Lee, never heard of him? Me either. You can find him tied to a number of generic horror flicks, but this is where he got his start as a director. Before then, he was a location manager and production assistant on scant projects. I don't have the highest expectations so far.

The movie never had any major distribution, so our only major company credit is Shoreline Entetainment, a sales company specializing in independent distribution, of varying degrees. While they're a well-established name these days, back then they handled z-grade, zero-budget garbage. Apparently they sold The Uniderground Comedy Movie, that obscure stinker by that Sham-Wow guy.

Their most major project in their early days was Dark Asylum, which was produced by Shoreline's founder Morris Ruskin, and I do want to see it, but the fact it's owned by LionsGate means they'd charge for rentals, I mean probably. Online or physical, it'd lead to giving money I'd never see again.

The film stars Lauren Fox, her most notable roles before then were in In and Out and Pi, but it seems she had dropped off. Somehow they got George Takei in this, everyone else has pictures to their credit, but there're too many to list and I never heard of them, if I listed them all it'd be longer than my actual discussion on the movie.

But speak of the devil

We start with the illuminati, no seriously, a triangle with an eye is the first thing shown, followed by occultist, religious and organizational imagery (you can apply to get yourself off the rolls in masonry if you're in good enough standing), set to stock footage of World War II and others, I'm guessing it's meant to represent popular conspiracies, but since this is right at the start I'm blind to their intent so far.

I'm reminded of The Republic, an aborted web series created by Ken Penders of all people. But even that was more cohesive than this.

We then meet our protagonist reading a diary entry by an occult novelist, and I had to get that from IMDb if I ever had a chance at following it the way I'm meant to. The narrative is split between the reader, our protagonist maybe, and the writer.

It goes to footage through the battery tunnel toward the MetLife building, I pass it nearly every time I go to work, it's not special. But I question how much perspective we see from the writer. Following more stock footage of New York, which goes to show how little of it has changed between 2000 to now (and though this movie was produced in 2002, little had truly changed.

Anyhow, the stock footage is useless as it goes right to the woman from the start discussing something with someone else. So far everything feels clunky, there's no solid progression. One second a book is being read, one second we go through different sections of New York, one second a conversation is occurring between the protagonist (I think) and an RA, one second someone else is introduced and the RA happens to leave.

Even Demon Island had better progression, at best the slower scenes happened closer to the end.

All I can say about this is that I admire old architecture.

So this is our protagonist, it seems, one who's been looking into the works of occultist authors. I'm expecting a twist, I don't know what kind just am. A common phrase you'd hear throughout this movie is "Noon blue apples", and it turns out this isn't traceable to real entries. In fact, this is the alternative title to the movie, which yields actual results, at least on Letterboxd. IMDb has the entry under New World Order for the record.

For now, the movie isn't that interesting, just spilling stuff in relation to the occult, but maybe it'll get better, this is only the first five minutes, let's give this another shot.

One hangup I have is that they're already interested in knowing more about the occult and have basic knowledge on it already. If you wanna peak my interest, have the protagonist already be blind to things like politics and... stuff, and as she looks more into them, finds it hard to keep to her beliefs.

Things of interest otherwise, the shop they go to looks fake but has a nice vibe, and the guy she's with gives me James Rolfe vibes, from the borderline thinning hair to asking for Rolling Rock. Most I picked up on the dialog was Hamlet and its connection to conspiracy.

Now, I'd like to say I'm interested in conspiracies myself, albeit unconventional ones. Like how the cartoon community is seeking to stifle MrEnter so they can prevent others from following his example and only present homogenized content meant to preserve an authoritarian atmosphere for cartoon reviews. Like how people only hated Donald Trump because he prevented the first female president from becoming so. Like how they only got Joe Biden so once he's no longer fit to serve they could give Kamala Harris his spot. Like how people are working to stifle Christians, they just write it off as nonsense to cover the trail. Like how Brad Jones is actually a grifter on religious and political content.

In other words, I'd like to believe I'm in the desired audience this movie is aiming for.

Eris, to give the protagonist the right name, hears interference on her walkman, or portable radio. I've seen transistor radios, this doesn't look like one here, and receives a message implying the inability to see the truth behind life. Then we just get jogging, before, and after, and the only thing significant is a masonry icon, and the number 58 apparently, but wait, this is actually alluding to a falsified sports event, which was all part of a mockumentary.

The Noon Blue Apples alludes to a painting, this predates the DaVinci Code, even the book if you could believe it. But then, we get an intensive looking in a bookstore scene on conspiracy stuff, but then again it's implied this was part of an assignment. All I got from this is that someone may have the hots for Eris.

It then goes to a sermon out of nowhere, no progression of Eris from the bookstore to there, unless this is showing us where conspiracies are the most common.

In another cut, it's Eris back to her room, and with her roommate, a discussion on late actor Vic Tayback's connection to the Kennedy assassination. Is this gonna be more hoakey than ROCK: It's Your Decision? Probably not. They then go into a discussion on Paul McCartney actually being dead, though at this rate with his ego and how he helped to destroy Lisa Simpson, all I'm gonna say is that the wrong Beatle died.

Here's another problem, all else from here on out is an information dump. Now sure, this movie is about conspiracies, but that's its downfall. It would be more interesting if a singular conspiracy had been the focal point from the start. My best hope is that she becomes obsessed with conspiracies. This may be shown as she hears conspiracies nonstop again through the interference on her walkman.

If you're out of the loop on known conspiracies, it'll be hard for you to follow along here. I get what they're going for here, but it really does feel like an info-dump, and I don't really know how I'm supposed to feel at this point. All I can gather is that everyone in this world is crazy, one you push the right buttons. There's less substance than Night of the Twisters, but at the very least it's not a boring lack of substance.

It feels as though they want to make the conspiracies feel as stupid as possible, while holding some kind of validity, where the points are delivered at face value with no expectancy of anyone buying it. This is a good approach to sharing beliefs, just share, don't cram, and by cram here I mean go on and on.

Then all of a sudden, well after constant research, Eris is all up in them conspiracies, and either her friends are the same, or not, I really don't know. They really need to get organized. They can call this movie Conspiracies for Dummies and get away with what it had.

I get where they're going with this and I appreciate the dedication on explaining these conspiracies, but some organization, even singular dedication, would've made it better.

But I kinda get my wish, noon blue apples is brought up and it's enough to cause the typical drop something in shock cliche. It was about a half hour before we got back to this, the remaining runtime is more than that so, go figure. We get more of the same, but at least now we get it in the main point of the film.

A bulk of the discussion is handled by a guy named Zeus, who has the same energy as a college professor at a liberal arts school, in other words, it's cool.

And this is a recurring theme for a stark bulk of the movie, going back to other conspiracies. I'm hoping this is a character deconstruction, that's the only means for justification. I'm not gonna lose my mind over slowburns, but I just want some stronger consistency, so I'm jumping around a bit, less I want to make this redundant.

I think I found something though, they throw in clues to conspiracies. The aforementioned masonic symbol, the 58, and I found an obscure one, Bob Dobbs, Church of the Subgenius. So if you're not in tune with the discussions, this is like a glorified I Spy of conspiracy symbolism. But with those constant interference messages, maybe her mind is getting fucked up?

There is a decent build to suspense, not suspense to something, but suspense in general. They were cutting it close here, less than two minutes to the hour mark.

The flow is getting a little better here when Eris feels something is wrong, leading to a decent joke when she sees her roommate again, and hey, the suspense grows ever more stronger.

So soon she gets a lead on the message, noon blue apples is an anagram basically stating "I am the messenger of god.", then whatever of the conversation, as we still have much of the movie this won't cut it for the conclusion.

One fault I noticed is the echo effect, it sounds clunky, you gotta be there.

And for now, there isn't that much else to talk about, all that's left is further deciphering Noon Blue Apples and possibly more explaining, plus whatever the ending may hold. But so far it's more engaging than Night of the Twisters. I'm willing to sit through to the end, and hey, insanity is a slow burn.

After what seems to be a long nightmare sequence of a night club and a graffitied bathroom, it seems Eris is reaching the end of her journey, where she is given a misanthropic anecdote about the expendability of the human race. The tension is levied with a little humor, Eris' one question to whom she is brought to is on the Paul McCartney theory.

After a while of losing myself in the narrative, we cut back to what I assume was a long dream sequence had during an interview with a clergy woman, but this cuts away too, I guess to convey the loss of sanity. She finds Zeus dead in the fashion of Jesus Christ, and his associates come to Eris, who has been driven insane with all she learned.

This goes back to a conspiracy on a typo regarding a biblical translation, where what was actually stated was that the world was wrought by female gods. We get to the New World Order aspect on Eris being invited to share what she knows. Turns out Zeus may've faked his death which was in order to get Eris to share.

At this rate I'm expecting her to die or just lose, but she puts up a decent verbal fight, even what sounds like wooden acting from Zeus has a nice delivery to it. The ending, while bitter, actually fits for the journey Eris took. She is driven to the roof by the cops due to them carrying a two striked cross (which I forgot the name of), and they went into detail on how it was used to shape geometrical imagery, with geometry being deemed a dark art. And then suicide. Why not? I do love how the people Eris fraternized with had the decency to leave after the fact, even Zeus was kind enough to pull the other girl away before she can get the book.

It's the little things. Also apparently nothing was in the book, perhaps to drive home the general futility in exploring conspiracies? They cut to four people, seemingly at random, but I do recognize at three of them from earlier in the film.

But you wanna know the biggest twist of all? It turns out Noon Blue Apples was actually just a masonic prank. The biggest drive to insanity was "It's just a prank bro" several years in advance. They saved this from being totally contrived by having it play out during the climax and before Eris' insanity truly took hold. So good on them.

Closing thoughts

The movie is a slow burn. It starts out a bit boring if you don't have the interest in popular conspiracies but when it hooks, it hooks. The movie is kinda like a conspiracy-themed ROCK: It's Your Decision, but the horror isn't by accident here, it's an effective deconstruction of one's psyche as they try to get to the bottom of a major conspiracy.

It may seem over the top at times, but that usually happened when Eris got further down the line.

It's sad this never got a major distribution deal, it would've held its head high above other movies at the time. I'm not asking for a Hollywood distributor, anyone could've done it, LionsGate, First Look Media, DEJ Productions, hell Artisan Entertainment's best films are its psychological deconstructions, they distributed Pi.

This is one of the most underrated films I've ever seen, and if you have the patience for it, you're bound to get a lot from it. I wrote the review as I watched it, so you caught my interest gradually increase in spite of all the babbling, but then again I had nothing to add to it since they were just discussions on conspiracies.

The technical aspects are a little off and even some scene cuts can come off as jarring, but that's just marginal issues, I don't think the director intended this movie to get that far, so way to craft a hidden gem Jay.