This is yet another request by LDEJRuffFanReturns. Now don't get the wrong idea, but I take requests sparingly, especially on more known shows due to the fact that, heh, I have free will to decide how I feel about them. If I charge one dollar per requests on Patreon, would it still be considered a rip-off?
Unfortunately there isn't much about the production of it worth talking about. It ran for three seasons between 1995 and 1998 on CBBC. It was clearly an in-house production so I can't peg individual production companies, there are no familiar actors... uh... Dick Emery's sister was in this I guess?
What can I really say about Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? In the game, don't hit people with your cane otherwise you'd have a horrible time. At best the game is just hard and tedious to sit through. Also I'm glad this didn't get usurped by Disney. Then again The Incredible Hulk is like a send-up of it, and we know what happened to Marvel.
Premise
Let's see if I can guess the plot. Girl drinks a potion, unleashes a polar opposite creature, most episodes would revolve around her alluding suspicion or stopping wrongdoers. Either that accounts for this episode or those later on.
Before I get further into it, I'd like to point out how rare it is to see shows featuring females transforming into monsters. Either those that do have it rarely or the subject of the grander plot, or are subsided rather quickly. The most we got of actual transformations were in werewolf shows, and the new She-Hulk series doesn't count, but that's to be expected since she isn't like Bruce. Let's see how they handle the changes here.
Right off the bat I like how quick and to the point the opening sequence is. I also like how, at least for now, we get subtle ideas to what kind of girl Julia is, along with some obvious ones. Forgiving the rounded glasses, those pigtails are so 90s. Anyhow, gee, she is responsible and happy to do work, I wonder if she is gonna become the opposite? Why am I asking that it's in the title.
At times I feel like the foley work is a little iffy. I get that it's a schoolyard she's at and people are talking, but the more important audio needs to have a bigger presence. Just saying. Beyond establishing herself in the smarts department, I guess she has the will to lash out, albeit at someone that's fair game to her.
Am I really calling this out for establishing character traits? What is this the pilot?
Anyhow, we get introduced to two bullies, and you know they're bullies because they don't brush their hair. I guess they have enough respect to the school's policy for the dress code, and show fear to the principal- headmaster. Headmaster Memphis Rocket, the name of a city in Tennessee and the name of a company behind those Gnome movies and another company that loves their one production a little too much.
So apparently the headmaster is more chill than others, complete with Ian MacMystery hair, a brostache, and he talks like... a guy who likes rock culture, even going as far as making an exclamation with Procol Harum. I dunno, this came out a year before Van-Pires and I can already tell I may like him more than Van-Helsing. I hope he doesn't become a defacto villain, at least not for later on.
Right now I'm noticing this show practices physical and sometimes visual comedy. The former would imply the budget is reasonable enough that more ambitious scenes can be pulled off without trouble. It isn't as niche and familiar as Canadian shot shows like Goosebumps and Police Academy: The Series, and certainly isn't as ambitious as Australian shows like Round the Twist and H2O: Just Add Water.
Back to the show, we get an implication of an evil teacher, and it's not the headmaster, it's the uncle of the bullies, whose surname is Blister. I kinda get it, it's annoying, painful, hard to ignore and can be thought up on the spot. His presence as a science instructor would ensure that Julia gets a swig of a certain formula. No comment on whether or not his bias shines through, wait yes it does, he allows one of his nieces to do a simpler project.
Anyhow, I don't know if it's the copy that was provided to me or not, but I'm noticing some quick cuts to new scenes. The episode runs for about 14 minutes so I don't know if this is just an A-segment, who knows?
At the very least the science class would be a good segway into the concoction that would get everything going. This is something Julia is working on already. I got nothing more to say on that, so I'll just go on to the show's visual gags. We get a door getting blown off the hinges and a camera shake effect. I'm focusing on those because I'm curious to see how they handle the hyde transition. Are they gonna wuss out on it or actually give us a transformation? Deathmoon gave us a transformation, of some kind, and that was a TV movie from the 70s.
So, Julia's apt at creation doesn't go to waste, nor does the loose end of a door being knocked off the hinges. She is so innocent that her parents just expect these things to happen and that she's willing to fix it for her parents. They're Jekylls, not the Dursleys.
I'm no fan of the rapid cuts. If they're meant for comedic effect then fine, but I feel they happen way too soon. They're established, granted, but a lack of expectancy usually has a bigger build up than what is provided here, as if clips are missing from the recording.
By the way, chromakeyed paper spinning around the screen to simulate wind. Think it is much cheaper to produce stuff in the United Kingdom. The headmaster returns, I've been trying to hold back references to my review of Police Academy: The Series, but this and that both had gags about higher ranking figures having hair pieces.
Also apparently Vancouver isn't the only place that can get away with alcohol references in kids shows. Then again, Round the Twist got away with a hell of a lot more.
Fortunately, the headmaster would at least not have any reason to be a thorn in Julia's side. I dunno, something about him willing to be himself even in his profession shows that people don't have to buckle down too hard. The Blisters are down to evil archetypes, but even they have more personality than the average Fairly Odd Parents character.
I'd be saying that no matter how people view the creator.
So, Julia's concoction is gonna be a hair restorer. She could do that, or she could go to today's sponsor.
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This journal is sponsored by Keeps. We all come to a point where we fear the loss of our hair. When it goes, the past leaves with it. Keeps provides medical consultation and treatment plans to ensure those fancy follicles stand the test of time.
Go on to Keeps.com/channeleven and get nothing because I just wanted to take advantage of a hair-based sponsor in relation to a hair-based elixir.
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The optimist in me says that we may get an interesting creature out of Julia, but the skeptic in me says that will either be a cliffhanger or just something we don't see happen. But maybe that won't be too bad, we only have... five minutes? No wonder this was requested.
So, upon seeing the handling of chemicals that looks like something right out of a late-80s Dr Pepper commercial, avoid the sentient can.
Now, if it's a hair solution, I guess it'd be fair to not have other students try it, did they even watch The Peanut Butter Solution? Probably not, I just felt like referencing yet another obscure production nobody cares about.
Alright moment of truth, so begins the proverbial drumroll and.... the transformation is as quick as the scene cuts, they don't show it, no groans, no sign of struggle, nothing. Okay, I guess a ballooning sleeve would be too rich for the producers' blood here, but am I really gonna express disappointment over something minor in a kids show?
It's a full body costume. The design and animatronic work isn't too bad given the budget, and I guess the tone of the show fits it well enough. Julia changed on the outside, but not so much on the inside. She talks, still has her usual voice, points for going for something a bit different I guess. By the way, she turns back as quickly as she initially changed, off screen and all.
And that's about the end.
Final Thoughts
I'll give it the benefit of the doubt that more would go into this show as it goes on, but I feel the problem with this show is that things just go by too fast. Either that or the flow's off big time. But it wasn't a total loss. I really liked the headmaster and he didn't get too much grief, Julia is good enough I suppose and the animatronic work is decent given that not as much money went into this as other shows around the world.
To LDEJRuffFanReturns, I don't know how you feel about the show, but that's what I got from it.
So where does that leave me? Should I cover the new Harriet the Spy cartoon? Or should I go back in time and cover Fleabag Monkeyface? I don't have a subscription to Apple TV+, so...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEZejI1iBOo
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