LTA: A Crappy Sonic Review and its Author

 Ever since I made posts relating to infamous Sonic fans, a thought came to me. Who would stand out from the other? Who would I certainly go back to in a future entry because talking about an old topic would be inconsequential as said topic is really just stagnant. MichaelDragon800.

But I'll get to him another time, for now I feel like revisiting someone who I feel I didn't do the best job elaborating on when I first talked about him, and by that I'm just taking the piss out of one of his old ass reviews, while going over some of his quirks, it's kind of mandatory when you go for someone known specifically for that. I may be retreading stuff from my initial discussion of him, but that was added well after, and people already saw the initial entry. Call it new money for old rope.

I mean BlackBusterCritic hosted a livestream ten months ago and screened a recent KMR video, and nobody came to harass him over it.

Now before I go into the video, it's important that I establish who this guy was and what influenced his, quite frankly, laughable actions back then.

KingMasterReview, or The King as he's now known, was a moth that flew too close to the flame that was video game reviewing. Angry Video Game Nerd was still too big for his own good, and had a veritable collection of unfairly scrutinized people like Irate Gamer, NC17 Productions, Game Dude- wait a sec, Game Dude might've deserved it. Aside from that crowd, we had the likes of Armake21, SpoonyOne, PlayItBogart, Pat the NES Punk, DarknessTheCurse, WizWar100, Jedite1, StillGaming, Spax3, yes I have read an Encyclopedia Dramatica article listing every popular reviewer, but speaking of the latter.

Yes, I'm bringing up Spax, not out of habit, but because he actually has an indirect link to KMR's history, and ultimately, the review I'm gonna cover. While Spax was an infamous individual back then, he actually had an audience. As early as 2007, he had amassed over 3000 subscribers on his original YouTube channel. Barring anything relating to voice actors, his reviews had some charm to them, he had a personality that can be easily differentiated from the Angry Video Game Nerd, and may have been one of the first non-retro angry reviewers on YouTube.

And yes, KMR was initially influenced by Spax at the time, and decided to make his own reviews... with a not so subtle hint to his inspiration.

Review Dat Shit

The first review KMR ever did was that of Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis, for the Game Boy Advance. It was low hanging fruit, but fortunately not as low as Sonic 06. The first thing we see is text advising us to read the description, revealing he couldn't get the right footage.

Back in the late-2000s, some reviewers opted to record footage on their VHS or burn it onto DVDs. It was before stuff like capture cards really took off. But look, if you wanna get into game reviews, you gotta get your own footage. Hell, I'd take filming your GBA if it means we can get a sense of what is going on.

We then get KMR's vanity card, as in Windows Movie Maker text against footage of Sonic 06, featuring Silver. Savor the thought. This could've been an intro itself, but then we cut to a rather amateur title card. Just Silver again with the three seventh generation consoles, and redundancy.

KingMasterReview Game Reviews:.

Okay, so the King who is the master is going to review game reviews? That name, it rolls right off the tongue, doesn't it? This is actually an incredibly obvious restructure of Spax's old CNASN Game Reviews. And while it may seem obvious, if you don't understand it quite as well, listen closely and hear KMR click play on one of Spax's old videos, and hear his intro.

You know I never really hated Irate Gamer, even during his heyday, and at least I know any signs of plagiarism come from circumstance. He never had to tack on audio from the Angry Video Game Nerd's intro.

Speaking of AVGN 'knock-offs', KMR basically spells out his inspiration in a way that Game Dude did for his own game reviews. As in saying he is inspired by whoever at the start.

After voicing initial disgust, he gets right into the review and starts with the graphics. Why yes, I have also seen CNASN's third episode. He didn't mention Jason Griffith once, it's basically a classic. But to be serious, if the influence hasn't been established, KMR bases his review on that of Spax's, right down to using title cards to represent scene changes, even going as far as having the words placed on a monitor.

And speaking of that third episode, it's not that he brings up the same points others do, but its that it's made clear he's borrowing from other reviewers, such as the design of the springs. I was waiting for KMR to say "Kinda defies the laws of physics, don't you think?" At one point I felt as though he was gonna come close to complaining about the piranhas being purple in the water rather than red, but then in a moment of clarity turned back.

He then goes into what the description stated, and I'm thinking, if he couldn't find footage, why even bother making the review? Guess it would've been too obvious for KMR's first review to be that for Sonic 06.

He goes into a weird tangent about the camera being zoomed in too close, like he decides to remind us because... of a reason I'm saving for the end. I gotta say, the fact he's complaining about bad controls even though he established he couldn't get footage is pathetic. He's going after this game because everyone had, and he's not even going through the actual experience. It gets worse when you find arguments made by that one guy who's been mentioned before, and he can't even catch it in the act.

To add insult to injury, KMR actually owned a Game Boy Advance, and apparently didn't even own the actual game. Sonic was just too fast for him. Also, going back into Spax3 lore, it was around this time he began wearing his signature hoodie, and I bring this up because Aubrey is also wearing a hoodie, even doing so in his Sonic Unleashed video. It's the little details that few had picked up on.

Moving onto the sound, referring back to Spax's review of the game, he demonstrates the game's reliance on one particular sound, whereas KMR uses footage that does not back up his claim that much, beyond the initial muffle quality the GBA is known for. And apparently the sound was so bad he decided to give up.

While his outro isn't too derivative, let's just say him calling Sonic 06 Sonic the Disaster wasn't his original idea. Take a wile guess whose it was.

As a final stab, his review also contains a 1 to 10 rating system, and he knows we know what he's giving it. A 1/10, oh hey kinda like-

And we end with His World by Zebrahead, you know, from Sonic 06, that one game that had Silver-

Other Thoughts

I've heard of rocky starts but damn. What made me gravitate toward this video was how shameless it was with plagiarism and influence. It is especially egregious because Spax3 was, for better or worse, distinctive from other reviewers. When someone takes elements from a distinctive reviewer, they are hard to overlook in a clearly inferior copy. He brings up Spax more than I do in his more notable videos, and that says a lot.

When you go into reviews it is important to make it your own, something that even the likes of Irate Gamer and Game Dude did.

But, the influence runs deeper than you think, though if you knew about KMR beforehand, you'd know where this is heading. Along with handling reviews a bit differently than others, later down the road Spax decided to spice things up by incorporating animated characters into his reviews.

Now granted, this isn't an original idea for internet reviews, the Angry Video Game Nerd had done so with Shit Pickle and the Nerdy Turd in previous reviews, when he didn't have Mike Matei in costume, but those weren't constant. I mean because of limited animation things can look quite amateurish, but can yield interesting results.

For perspective, Spax had three animated characters that appeared to be constants in most of his later reviews. He used Tom 2 from those Toonami bumps, and just played clips from said bumpers to reflect his on-screen presence. But to be fair, Tom 2 does not have a visible mouth, and one of his friends at the time who voiced him and contributed game footage, while not being that close to Steve Blum, still sounds good, I mean better than another guy who played Tom in Spax's Transformers review.

Aside from Tom 2, he also used a Sonic fan character which was made by a friend of his, and even voiced by an IRL friend of his, and compared to other Sonic OCs from the time, hers was legitimate. But there was one in particular that stood out, the Noid of all things. Let's make this fair, Spax was trying to establish his own in-show universe, a character interacting with other characters, otherwise there'd be much questions to hurl toward the AVGN. I won't even bring up how two of these happen to be rabbits.

While I'm on this, it was ironic he flagged videos criticizing him on the basis he owned his videos, as in everything within them, but used copyrighted material straight up, and parody stigmas are slim. And just because the Noid was retired by Dominos due to a schizo going insane at one of their places, I mean the principle of bringing an icon from your childhood into reviews is... kinda like what AVGN did in the past, but I dunno, if the Noid were real, I doubt he'd appreciate association with a fake company involved in mass flaggings. I bring it up because I gotta, and because flagging activity on Spax's part is not as big as it was then, at worst infrequent.

I bring up the Noid because, aside from being the name of Spax's fake company used for takedown notices, KMR would use that for another influence, and combine it with his favorite Sonic character of all time, or for the time. Silver the Hedgehog.

Well before that crappy review I talked about, KMR made it clear he was a big Silver fan, unlike anyone else. It got to the point he made a video claiming that Silver was real and living with him, Silver being the equivalent to the Noid in that regard. What KMR didn't understand was that Spax didn't take the Noid as seriously, treating him as just a random wacky character he interacts with in his reviews. At the end of the day, CNASN Game Reviews was a fictional comedic game review show.

KMR didn't have that luxury. His reviews were shit, and derivative at best. And he went about having Silver on in the worst possible way. From making a dedicated introduction to including him in pictures, posts and reviews however he could. Needless to say, he was certainly obsessed, even if he was doing it for fun, apparently. Also KMR was a firm believer in off-the-cuff dialog apparently, as he would just talk without any foresight to how he speaks. Do people in Memphis like to ramble a lot?

For more seasoned readers, you know what this led to. He was the first person to ever by covered by the BlackBusterCritic for Sonic Brain Fart. Now, it was a great episode, don't get me wrong, but I feel that it didn't really go deep enough, especially since details establishing why KMR did these things was right under Jamin nose when he reacted to KMR's Hert Fellings video, and went on and on about Spax3. BlackBusterCritic, I love you to death, but that video was lacking. A RePoot was absolutely necessary, there was a big opportunity.

One funny thing that was brought up in the reaction is that Spax knew about KMR, and it was said that Spax was mean to him. I don't know the full details, and given that Spax has a level of unpredictability that has persisted, I'm not sure how exactly it went down. Either Spax was being a complete ass to KMR, or firmly blew him off. It'd be hilarious if Spax saw KMR's Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis review and wanted to get him to back off.

Really felt like Jamin was reaching in his coverage of KMR, when there was very much to cover. It got to the point he made a joke about KMR mudshoveling Silver, something people ran with, such was the way of the internet back then. I'm not even gonna call him an easy target, someone had to knock some sense into him, maybe the anal thing was just tough love? Was it to reflect KMR's obsession? I mean Silver isn't real so it's not like he's framing KMR to be a creep, just a weirdo.

So What Then?

In spite of the scrutiny he faced, KMR continued to post new reviews until around 2011, where he would disappear for a good while, and keep in mind all he had for socials were YouTube, deviantArt and MySpace, it was impossible to tell what he would be up to. He would come back two or three years later with a new video, and after a while, he began consistently posting content again. Needless to say, it's better now than it was then.

I mean to be fair I was only going off of the first review he ever did, maybe some of his older stuff was okay, who knows? A while back, BlackBusterCritic did a livestream and revisited KMR's channel, checking out one of his newer videos, and aside from taking issue with the length, didn't really clown on him. You see, BlackBusterCritic goes into his videos with the sense the people he covers would learn something or back off. Hell, everyone he ever covered manage to get by just fine, those who didn't would be brought down by entirely new charges.

Even in spite of some people still going after him in the comments, it seems to hold no impact on KMR. It is nice to see that anyone who was previously scrutinized managed to just move past it. So at least things can end happy.

I mean he is doing better than one of his fans at the time....

How Bad is Ball of Revenge (Courage the Cowardly Dog)?

 I like Courage the Cowardly Dog plenty. No one stands out from the crowd more than John R. Dilworth. Though he was never able to land another series deal, that's actually perfectly fine. There can never be another Courage the Cowardly Dog, don't at me, I have great respect for John R. Dilworth, and this isn't gonna be undone through hypocrisy, as you may soon find out.

For a show as unique and creative as Courage, you'd be hard pressed to find an episode that people unanimously hate. Well, try as they may, they found one. Ball of Revenge. I remember watching this episode as a kid, I mean to be fair I was into Cartoon Network at this point, but it doesn't end there. Back when Cartoon Network made select episodes of their shows available on their website, this was the one episode I watched the most often.

So does that mean I need to rethink my nostalgia and view this episode the way others do?

Fuck no!

Yeah, sorry for having to play eau contrarian for the millionth time, but I have problems with this consensus.

First up, let's go by the reviews of this episode, and by reviews, I mean MrEnter's old Animated Atrocity on it. I remember following him back during his initial heyday, and I actually caught this when it was relatively new. Compared to what he is now, back then his initial style showed how gullible people were and that anyone can buy into bullshit if it's familiar to them.

But hold the bus, this review in itself can be considered controversial. It's as if he had that spirit back then, and managed to master it into this day and age, when people became so reliant on majority opinions that it is enough to usher in a new wave of authoritarianism. Either that or 99% of Turning Red's fans are mentally disabled.

I really have no reason to go back to Enter's older reviews. As someone who tolerates the glut of reviews by Irate Gamer and CNASN Game Reviews, it's saying something when I can't even stomach it.

I have nothing to say myself on the episode, so instead I'm gonna react to an article made on Terrible TV Shows wiki, which is like MrEnter's review of the show, only put to words, and it's like taking a big ol' whiff of bromine fumes.

What's the Matter?

Eustace is at his worst in this episode, as he becomes a murderous jerk who wants to get Courage killed just because he gets all the attention.

Okay, fair, but keep in mind Eustace is willing to throw people under the bus if he personally benefits from it. Throw a wad of cash his way and you can get him to do just about anything. I really feel like they wouldn't have done this if it wasn't something Eustace would do. If this show had continuity, and he was aware of his own deaths at the expense of Courage, you could say this is the point he snapped.

He even goes so far as to actually get his own wife, Muriel, held hostage by the villains just to lure Courage in to be killed by them.

Yet he was willfully ignorant of an undisguised Benton Tarentella seeking to swindle him and Muriel, and for cash, and kept on going with it even after his intent was made clear. I'm just saying, let's be grateful Muriel was only a hostage in the situation, and played by what the villains considered surefire to get Courage down to fight.

Katz's torture on Muriel is pathetic. All he does is just mix the colors of the laundry and added bleach, as opposed to his more diabolical plans in previous episodes, such as turning Muriel into candy in "Katz Kandy" or feeding Muriel to giant spiders in "A Night at the Katz Motel".

I'm sorry, would you have time to make a more elaborate torture device in the span of a few minutes when all you're trying to do is get Courage down for a big confrontation? This is the same guy who throws in little sports of handball and staring contests. I've heard of overthinking, but underthinking is new.

But let's focus on the torture of choice here. What may seem lackluster to most people, may be torturous to others. For Muriel, as she is the homemaker, assuming at home wife duties and taking those seriously, tampering with the laundry would make the stereotypical housewife stressed. You may be saying "Oh but she did some unfeminine things in some other episodes so that nullifies your point.", and to that I say, touch some grass.

Plot holes:

Oh this should be fun.

Why would Eustace team up with the same villains who flat out tried to kill him or take over his life such as the Black Puddle Queen for example?

Because he was unaware that she was trying to kill him in her title episode? He was in a trance the entire time and Courage was the one who saw her for who she was. Of the three, Eustace is often the most ignorant to how deep the situation goes. Also there is the chance people would put aside their differences to take on a common enemy.

In the episode "Night of the Weremole", it is revealed that the Weremole only preys on rabbits and humans, not dogs like Courage, which makes his appearance in this episode even more baffling and confusing.

Courage was also the one who would stop the Weremole, and if Weremoles had self-awarness, Courage would make an enemy out of the Weremole.

How did Big Toe came back to life if Courage defeated him to death?

I dunno, how does Eustace come back to life when he was brought to death? The fact that Eustace returns to life no questions asked at the end of every episode shows that there is a much bigger plot hole than this. Also, The Clutching Foot isn't itself an entity, it was born via fungal infection. Worst case another person got it and decided to join in.

But whatever happened to the Clutching Tongue Courage got at the end of that episode?

Eustace claiming that he's in a men's club, yet the Black Puddle Queen is a female.

"Oh hi madame! I'm an evil villain seeking to destroy someone close to you, I was supposed to keep myself secret and not reveal the intention behind why your husband and various other hooded figures came to this location, but in life everything has to be as literal and thought out as possible, lolz."

Tell me. If you were trying to run a secret committee, would you reveal who you are to whom you're hiding from? Also, the men's club detail came out after Muriel asked what was going on down there and Eustace wanted to keep her and Courage out at the time.

Unlike previous episodes, Eustace isn't brutally punished for his unjustified actions. Instead, he gets to sit on Courage's blanket.

Wait, so you're aware of the fact that Eustace dies in most episodes (themselves punishments for unjustified actions), yet you bring it up as a point of criticism? Also, apparently the only fair punishment in this situation is death.

Not only that, Eustace started all this just because Courage has a blanket, and he sits on it in the end as he wanted to earlier, so even with Eustace losing in the end, it's such a redundant punishment.

What is irony? Eustace wanted the blanket Courage got, and now he got it the hard way. But I guess you'd also ignore the fact that Courage is now sitting in Eustace's prized chair. You know, the one Eustace went ballistic on Katz for for making him indirectly destroy it that time he became a wrecking ball. Not all punishments need to be extreme, otherwise I can see why you enjoy shit like Camp Lazlo and Hooky.

Okay, halfway there, 

Pointless cameos of the Duck Brothers and Fred, who had so much potential to reappear in a later episode.

If this guy saw Aqua Farmer they'd probably have a heart attack seeing so many cameos of characters that had so much potential to reappear in later episodes. But wait, that one had the Evil Empress, who died, don't give me that ascension BS, otherwise it'd be plausible to explain why the Clutching Foot is alive and stomping.

 The Duck Brothers aren't even villains.

Yeah, which is why they didn't take part in the dodgeball game itself, just sang the halftime show song, and were just around for a fun cameo. Why is Stan Lee in Infinity War, Stan Lee isn't even alive anymore.

In addition, there are missed opportunities for the reappearances of the following better choices of villains who do have connections with Courage in this episode such as King of Flan, Schwick, Benton Tarantella, The Chicken From Outer Space, the Duckling, amongst others.

If you wanted proof they just lifted off of Enter's video verbatim, there you go. Are you saying Katz is not a good choice of a villain? Or Le Quack? Or Cajun Fox? You know, the first three villains we had ever seen in this show? Now granted this episode made use of one-off villains, but come on, is anyone really clamoring to see King of Flan again? Benton is also one of the more elaborate villains, the only way his premise would work is if it was in relation to filming something.

Also the chicken is sorta kinda double dead, and yet you all objected to the Clutching Foot coming back. This was an incredible oversight on Enter's part, you criticize the incorporation of a dead villain, but you clamor for the incorporation of another dead villain. The chicken episodes always have to give an explanation for what is happening, and the last episode had his son sent by their widowed mother to avenge the death of his father. If he was included, this would undo what the trilogy had achieved.

Also the duckling was just obsessive over Eustace, and would serve no other purpose.

Overall, if this episode was properly written with a better choice of villains, then it would have had an amazing premise.

Amazing, like a trash fire that is counter-intuitive because of the incorporation of villains who had been burned off after one episode and basically undo the Chicken from Outer Space trilogy. This kind of premise would not work without the three biggest threats, like it or not, but Katz and Le Quack are kind of a big deal. This kind of premise would work best with a collection of important villains, with some lessers to help bring up the roster, while not needing to spend so much time establishing them.

It's about revenge, not curating.

Le Quack randomly appears and disappears throughout the episode.

I just farted. What? Apparently insignificant things are worth bringing up apparently. Best case, dodgeball isn't his preferred sport and he preferred to watch Courage suffer.

Every bit of torment Courage goes through randomly happens by doing no wrong.

Uh.... okay? I don't know if this was someone poorly attempting to mimic Enter's complaints, or this person decided to be cute and add their own arbitrary reason. I got nothing.

Bad ending: Freaky Fred appears on the television and makes Courage scream so loud that the farmhouse collapses.

Right, okay, a scene that you would laud in your redeeming qualities section, is suddenly bad here. It was perfectly fine when Courage screamed so loud that the sun shattered to pieces, but god forbid he destroy the farmhouse, which has been destroyed before.

Final Thoughts

This list did not sell me on Ball of Revenge being a bad episode. The list made me overthink in some areas, but it was yet another braincell shrinking experience.

As for the episode, it's not perfect, but to quote a wise fish; "There is no such thing as perfect. You're beautiful as you are. With all of your imperfections, you can do anything." There wasn't anything in this episode that set me off, I feel that the actions the characters pull are conceivable anywhere else. It's not like anything off of the show I will not name where bad episodes are hard to ignore, yet people had and focused on bare basic examples. I don't feel let down or annoyed. It was more like a right place, wrong time scenario.

This was written by John R. Dilworth's sister, so perhaps he wanted to be nice and give her a spot in the writer's chair, for the second time, and ironically it was the last Chicken episode. I can understand if this was the last episode in the series, then disappointment would be justified.

Okay to be fair if this was intended to be a send-off for Courage's rogue's gallery, it would be best to have every possible villain in on this, then end on a happier note. If that wasn't intended, no disappointment here.

Just think, if MrEnter hadn't covered this years ago, we wouldn't be here. So does this mean I'm gonna hate him now? Nah, I hate Turning Red.

Reviewing a review

 Think I made it abundantly clear about how I feel about MrEnter, though for however you feel it's all down to perspective. Frankly he's better now than when he began, he learned better anyhow, most I ever disagreed with him was on The Buzz on Maggie, which people seem to hate for no reason.

This is in response to his review of Dork Hunters from Outer Space. It was a decent review, certainly entertaining and one I never heard of, but after checking out an episode myself, I feel like there are some things I feel like addressing.

Firstly, in regard to finding info about the show. He claimed this show had no Wikipedia article, and that is false. There has been an article for this show on Wikipedia since April 30th 2021. Just saying. There are two gripes I have with this oversight. One, it is the fact that it failed to shed light on the low quality of German cartoons. For perspective, it is incredibly cheap to produce content in Germany and their cartoons reflect this.

Hell, check out my review of MP4ORCE: Beyond Real.

I can forgive this oversight, because it wasn't as bad as when the Cinema Snob reviewed To Catch a Yeti, missing an opportunity to discuss the film's connection to the Canuxploitation movement (and have a whole slew of shot-on-video movies to review)

But for the second oversight is the creator, Rick Ungar. He was behind shows like Biker Mice from Mars and various Marvel shows in the 90s, and is currently a political commentator. That would've been interesting to bring up, once more just saying. I'm going on this because I found the show's Wikipedia article through a Google search.

Next up is the plot. I don't know if he decided to leave it up to personal interpretation for fun, but I feel the plot was pretty easy to piece together; a group of evil aliens, identified as dorks, infiltrate earth in order to acquire microgalaxies, though to be fair lest our heroes' galaxies or the earth's galaxy is at stake, I'll give it this, the intent behind those is not made abundantly clear.

As for the leads, half are aliens who wound up on earth, and as they are able to detect dorks based on their odor, are recruited to seek out the dorks before they cause a nasty panic. Most of the hunters are actually humans by the way. There is also an alien resembling a dog, and him being with a school principal makes sense in terms of keeping teenaged heroes at bay. A Jewish goldfish is the inverse to the dog and helps keep tabs on the heroes.

Now granted, some details are not made abundantly clear, but I feel there is enough to make a solid guess. I will say this was a good opportunity to deride a show for trying to be hip, but that came in small doses. He handled it better here than in Da Boom Crew though, even if that review had more anger and screaming than the average Spax3 review.

A majority of his other criticisms here are actually legit, such as how the lack of prominent character outlines causes things to blend together, and while I don't notice it as much, it still looks kinda messy. If anything I consider it an unfortunate marriage between Jackie Chan Adventures and Generator Rex.

He is also on point with the constant use of sound-effects, they're almost as common as he implied them to be. I'd say he was also on point with his Johnny Test analogy, but I question if the season that introduced the whip-cracks came out after this show hit the scene. In terms of actors, a lot of them are based in the United Kingdom and are otherwise not very well known.

However, at least for me they are in places that were in plain sight. One actor, Alan Marriott, lent his voice to Victor Volt in The Secret Show and the main characters in A Town Called Panic, which both appeared on Nicktoons Network in the late-2000s, something I was there for. Also he played Scoop in Bob the Builder's American dub. There was also the British voice of Thomas the Tank Engine, Ben Small, who also not only had a lot of roles in preschool shows, but appeared in Zorro: Generation Z, more on the connection later.

Lastly there's Gary Martin, who appeared in quite a lot, including Corpse Bride, which I actually remember seeing in theaters, and also played the Rock Biter in the perennial classic The Neverending Story III, which was also a German co-production.

He claims the actors are unable to emote much, but to be fair I think some are just trying to cover their accents.

One personal complaint I have is how most voices don't match the character, until I remembered Edgar the Bug from Men in Black and realize this is to demonstrate they aren't human. But hang on, wouldn't that be a better sign to identify than their stench? I'll give it this, for a show to use the term dork so ironically, I'm glad that, well at least by the first episode, they do not portray the dorks as literal ones.

Still have that trying too hard to he hip vibe, but whatever.

And that's about it. I felt it was hard to suspend my sense of disbelief with the review, but before we go, I just feel like addressing one more aspect of the show's production.

The show was produced by BKN International, a former syndication company and block that was active in the 90s. It brought us Inspector Gadget, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Turbocharged Thunderbirds, Sonic Underground, Extreme Ghostbusters, Monster Rancher, at least most of these deserve coverage at some point. That Zorro thing was also part of it.

What I'm trying to say is that syndicated cartoons are a whole other breed, and had you done further research you would potentially find new obscure shows to gawk at. And I will give it this, I never heard of Dork Hunters from Outer Space until now.

The One Time Butch Hartman Worked for Cartoon Network

 The big three kids networks had indirectly bred some interesting characters. Nickelodeon is a veritable cesspit of creeps, pedophiles and 85% of the SpongeBob fandom, Cartoon Network is the birthplace of Steven Universe and minimalist art direction and Disney is a brothel of soon to expire talent, though to be fair people may recognize Hillary Duff more than Gage Golightly.

Then there's Butch Hartman. On one hand I like it when celebrities decide to make YouTube channels and showcase a more approchable side. On the other hand, it was through YouTube that Butch was revealed to be a piece of shit. You're probably wondering why I'm talking about him after all has been said and done.

Me too.

Well most recently Butch's Twitter was taken over by some NFT merchants, so he is back in the spotlight to some degree. Oh, and he's also executive producing an incredibly crappy Fairly Odd Parents spin-off for Paramount+. And to think people give Harper House shit.

But that's not why I'm here. I want to talk about a short he made that has fallen under the cracks, which is actually a good thing because I do not want Saberspark's fat fingers, Just Stop or LS Mark's somewhat smaller fingers on this. I think PIEGUYRULZ is preoccupied with more.... personal matters, let's call them. Did that body pillow ship?

By the way I'm doing this as a hobby, I don't care about burning bridges.

Background

Before joining up with Nickelodeon in the 90s, Butch Hartman previously worked at Hanna Barbera, and of the companies he worked at, HB is the most important based on what's gonna be talked about.

Interestingly, along with Doogal, Butch had some involvement with Disney's Pocahontas. How do people feel about that movie? Well the lead has been unofficially claimed by the hulkout community, and my only window to objectivity suggests this film was more problematic than anyone would let on.

Another thing to bring up is that Butch and Seth MacFarlane worked together during this era. They would collaborate on an Oh Yeah! Cartoons short and both would produce shorts for Cartoon Network's What A Cartoon Show in the mid-90s, and that's where this is going.

One of the earliest shorts Butch helmed for immediate public consumption was Gramps. This isn't talked about as often as his other works, maybe because other reviewers don't like making the extra effort? From what I can see, very little of this has served as a basis for anything in his later works, save for one thing that I'm gonna bring up in the plot.

Is the lord with you for this short Butch? I'm about to go through a routine exorcism... right after I work on my transitional skills....

Plot

On a rainy day, two kids and their grandfather, the aptly titled Gramps, are sitting around doing little much. The two kids, a boy and a girl named... okay so they're not named, but let's give them some to help the summation go a little smoother.

Let's see, we'll call the girl... Jillian, and we'll call the boy... Billy... McDouglastonChesterfieldO'Donnelstein, the third, esquire.

Anyway, Jillian and Billy argue about who killed an alien in a game and hey, I found something wrong. They imply the point of the game was to destroy an alien, but only one ship is present along with the alien monster. Maybe Billy wanted to cause a fight and Jillian has too much pride to see through bullshit.

One thing that kinda got revisited in later works is Jillian exclaiming "twerp." Some may think Vicky started out as an innocent girl and the trauma of losing her elderly caretaker turned her evil, but that would probably be undone by contrivance, because Butch's circuits fried as early as the first Fairly Odd Parents short.

Marmel cannot be credited for anything because he is somehow more generic than Butch, and is also a hell of a lot lazier. Do people get paid by the hour to talk politics on Twitter?

Where was I? Oh yeah. During a fight, this causes Gramps' oxygen to come loose. I'm not gonna question cartoon logic where oxygen is confused with helium, but soon we have our plot. Gramps decides to tell his children about the time he stopped an alien invasion, and the gag is that he gets corrected, a lot.

You know what? I'm cool with that, invite these kids onto Family Guy and watch them tear into the Tracey Ullman gag (which I only bring up due to MacFarlane's aforementioned start on What a Cartoon.) As a matter of fact this would make for a pretty interesting show, have the two kids come in to offer corrections on ludicrous tales, it would make for a killer educational series.

Anyway, we do find some Butch trademarks, such as common running gags and some very straightforward jokes, even dragging some gags for a bit too long, not even the Twilight Zone gag made me smile because of how forced it was. Just because both involve aliens that doesn't mean the reference would fit, just saying. To be fair, they try to be aware of it, but it's not that it's been done, it's that it was done poorly here.

So, there's very little I can take away from this short, but hey, it's not insufferable at least. I'd sooner go back to this than any of Fairly Odd Parents' pilots, and that says a lot. One thing else to note is the contrast between the style Butch is known for now compared to here. It has the signature 90s Hanna-Barbera style, and you rarely see any of Butch's style with any character... probably because he's not Stephen Silver.

Thing of it is, it doesn't even look like something associated with his own style. If someone else didn't handle this, I'd call this the peak of Butch Hartman's art direction.

They do pull the fake story may actually be true BS, but it's still more plausible than what happened in Recess: All Growed Down.

Conclusion

As someone who views Butch Hartman very lowly, and by that I mean I hate everything he has ever done at this point, even things that Steve Marmel had more involvement in, where does this short stand with me?

It's honestly the best thing Butch has ever done. It has potential to be something more than a one time deal, even beyond being a self-contained series. For better or worse, none of these characters got ran through the wringer, so maybe there is hope in this life, and maybe hopefully we won't see these characters again, lest someone other than Butch or Marmel are out of the picture.

LTA: Some Hated Classic SpongeBob Episodes

 So last time I did a list where I brought up classic SpongeBob episodes that I happened to not like. What I didn't know was that others had also called out bad classic SpongeBob episodes in the past... and went for the most obvious targets, all things considered.

Hypocrisy happens so often I question if it's even a taboo anymore.

What I mean by that is, well there is a recurring theme with these common picks for the worst classic SpongeBob episodes, mean-spiritedness, remember that fun romp? Now you may be thinking it's pointless to revisit an era that is no longer necessarily in line with modern conventions. And to that I say, how much has things changed? People are still dicks and they go for what's easy.

It's all about repetition. People harping on Pauly Shore's performance as Pinocchio is a callback to people harping on Rob Schneider when he played Norm of the North. Even after the heyday of Steven Universe, people only seem to act when it's too late or close to being so, also old classics like shipping destroying the integrity of shows, and people whining so much about the Powerpuff Girls actors that would make Spax3 heave.

What is this, the fifth time I brought him up, he is to me what Peter Molyneaux is to Larry Bundy Jr.

Most hope I have for change is MrEnter calling out the climax in Hooky, I mean mostly but a little's better than nothing, and more than anyone's willing to offer these days.

What you're about to see is classic SpongeBob episodes that have been criticized by mainstream reviewers for better or worse. I'll be referring to the Terrible TV Shows and Episodes wiki because when something lands there you know it is due to people taking things at face value rather than coming to their own conclusions.

Do not read further if you unironically enjoy PhantomStrider, not for those who lack critical thinking beyond what can land a C average in school.

Grandma's Kisses

One thing that really stuck with me about this episode is the good cry SpongeBob had. It kinda made me sad, probably because Stack of Leis triggers an emotional reflex. That aside, I feel this conveys a good lesson, that, and I quote, "You don't have to be a baby to get grandma's love." Think of it like this, this goes beyond love from a relative, it shows that you don't need to give up conventions that make you happy, just because you get older. Way I see it you lose the interests you have growing up naturally, and it's really all about how you go about it. You can return to things for escapism, use it as a basis for something to contribute to society or to share amongst future generations.

Unless of course you use it in the form of weaponized stupidity and brandish the name of a creator for the sake of pettiness.

But what's the issue here? Well based on a summary from a Miraheze article (because let's face it, I'd lose more braincells listening to PhantomStrider), it's because of mean people not getting punished. Everything else is either stretched to justify an article being made, or some second thing.

Okay, I won't harp on you for living a clearly sheltered life, but I've seen much meaner. "Oh, you see though, these guys get punished at the end so that excuses everything.", that means nothing. What would be a fitting punishment in this circumstance? That they get punished by their parents or something?

Really, what I got from it is that in spite of the teasing, SpongeBob goes on with confidence and not care what others think. Worst case, I think people are trying to seek validation, or have the tendency to overreact to jokes, a Squirrel Jokes principle if you will.

Does the destination mean anything if the journey is so rough that it doesn't justify what you find? I feel this episode didn't have as rough of a journey.

The Great Snail Race

Moral of this story, never be mean I guess, no matter if you learn your lesson or get that forced comeuppance, that's what I got from reviewers who covered this.

This is what I got, it goes to show that SpongeBob isn't perfect, he will get so wrapped up in something he won't realize it until it's too late. So what, does that mean the Fry Cook Games sucks too? All I can say is SpongeBob realized he was wrong and we got a funny callback at the end.

But I guess people were so wrapped up in the likes of A Pal for Gary that people began to simp for Gary in episodes he suffers in. Never break character, be as perfect as ever, no one is allowed to fuck up. Or maybe it's the fact people expect continuity in a comedic show.

I'm With Stupid

...is hilarious. And hey, don't you think that if you were watching the 6th season or so that it would be nice to see SpongeBob on the short end to alleviate the bad feelings the later episodes gave? No? Double standards me thinks.

But honestly, in spite of me thinking the episode is funny, it's been ruined for me by outside factors, the fandom, I know shocking and petty. I feel this episode helped showcase how SpongeBob fans have a big inability to separate iterations from one another. It is easy to consider The Patrick Star Show to be in an entirely separate universe, but that is a concept that is apparently hard to comprehend. It is easy to disassociate a spin-off from the actual show, but I think this fried peoples' circuits.

There is nothing more important in life than continuity in a kids' show, apparently.

Dumped

You know how I said the destination is meaningless when the journey is so bad? The stigma this episode holds took that analogy and threw it in my face. At the cost of any critical thinking, I had to look up the article for it and... I closed the tab after the first bullet point. Throw whatever fluff you want, you just hate the episode because characters are being mean and stuff.

There was a conflict, and a resolution, those are fundamental aspects to a TV show episode. Oh but it has a generic premise. So does every other episode once you look deeper into it; if anything, generic is a go-to if one cannot muster a reason for hating an episode beside it being mean. If anything, this pokes fun at melodrama.

I got nothing else.

I Was a Teenage Gary

Let me guess, because it scared the doody out of you? Isn't that the point of a Halloween episode, to scare people? One holiday-themed episode followed by a scary story is not ringing any bells?

I mean Squidward got the oh so sacred comeuppance, is that not enough for you, or are you just making this up as you go along? If this episode is bad, then the likes of Hooky and Scaredy Pants are bad. Characters are in character, like you all so desperately want, nobody's a big fat meanie, like you all want, but what could I be missing here?

Krabby Land

Honestly screw whatever reasons people have to hate this one. It feels as though they don't like it because it displays Mr. Krabs in a terrible light. Well to me, they haven't changed a thing, this is Krabs as natural as he can ever be. He's the same guy who relies on psychological torture to teach someone a lesson, gamble SpongeBob away in a card game, mess with SpongeBob and Patrick in regard to paint being permanent while having them paint his living room... I take it people hate this episode because it shatters a false illusion.

Okay, let's be fair and see this episode's article, and the first sub-bullet basically summarizes what I just said, also using generic as a buzzword to justify complaining about the episode. It's about as generic as any other old SpongeBob episode. You're not fooling anybody.

Party Pooper Pants

I've only ever seen this episode twice, and I had no intention of going back to it. Even as a kid this episode wasn't very pleasent, but really, the biggest crime against it was... this is actually generic, and also has a whole load of nothing. Basically, shit happens, that's about it.

I'm not gonna look at the article, but I can probably guess what the reasons for hating it are, "It's generic, people were being mean to SpongeBob, fuck the police."

You know what, they can have it, there are few positives I can give this episode anyhow.

Final Thoughts

I went into this thinking I can be proven wrong on how I feel about SpongeBob and the animation community at large. But all I got were double standards, hypocrisy and a loss of braincells. If you're gonna hold something to certain standards, other episodes should follow suit, no matter what exceptions could be made.

Is it really bad, or is it just easier to make content out of?

Top 5 Worst Classic SpongeBob Episodes

 If you know me, you know I draw the line at overpraise, and that Stephen Hillenburg is not a god I pray to. I walked the path may did during the 6th season, I certainly saw a lot wrong with it, but then shit happened and now I'm beginning to think SpongeBob makes people stupid, isn't that right LambHoot? Isn't that right MoBrosStudios? Isn't that right PIEGUYRULZ? I'm starting to see why people place a stigma on adults watching kids cartoons.

This'll be a marriage of two standalone reviews, but for now I feel like potentially showcasing that even earlier seasons had episodes that sucked ass, and draw parallels to later episodes even.

One rule, this is gonna focus on seasons 1-3 as those are typically the highest regarded and thus the least criticized. Also something to note, this is based on my own opinion, I'm not gonna change anybody's minds.

Okay that said, let's begin.

#5: Scardey Pants

So, for the show's first Halloween episode, needless to say, all it has is the holiday theme, backed by a whole bunch of fluff. I hate to consider something mean spirited, but I feel that is the most notable aspect of at least 80% of the episode. You can sum up the episode in one or two sentences with how little there is to the entire episode.

All SpongeBob really did was indirectly scare everyone, nobody learned anything, this feels as hollow as other similar episodes like it, as in later ones, and given how clingy people are to the older seasons, I feel I'm in the right to be harsh toward episodes that do not display amazing writing, lest anyone's willing to admit the first season was bland.

Take Scardey Pants and replace it with Idiot Boy, and you'd get the idea that the shift in writing would be inevitable.

Frankly, the B-side was more scary and had better writing, even if that Snailward scene didn't actually exist.

#4: Squirrel Jokes

Okay, I get the intention behind this, but I just feel a premise built upon criticizing discrimination was handled very poorly here, one big equivalent is the Hey Arnold! episode Rhonda's Glasses. I'm not here to say episodes tackling discrimination should not be made, but I feel both episodes go about it in a very blase way.

And yes, Sandy taking offense to squirrel jokes can be considered discimination as they are squirrel jokes made in general, not necessarily directed toward Sandy.

I bring up blase execution because when handled poorly, it inspires a sense of pettiness and makes the victim look thin-skinned. An episode failed if it does not encourage me to feel sympathy toward who I'm supposed to side with.

There could've been a chance to explore the fact that SpongeBob made those jokes because he can't come up with better ones, but that never came. Oh, and the ending, the solution the entire time was to joke about other fish as well. The key to fighting discrimination is to apply it toward other species.

Now some of you may be thinking "Oh you're just trying to defend mean jokes, throwing in ludicrous analogies to justify it.". Okay, you know better than I, but I just think this episode's plot could've been handled a lot better, maybe have Sandy make some sponge jokes, or laugh at herself to dissuade others from taking the piss out of her.

Hey Arnold! handled this plot somewhat similarly, and ironically enough it kinda parallels what I had in mind for this episode. Sometimes all you can do is learn to joke with someone and laugh at yourself. If you know deep down the jokes aren't true, there is nothing you need to address. I get it, it's never fun to be the butt of a joke, and there is a fine line between good fun and bullying, but by reacting sharply it validates the content of the joke.

#3: Club SpongeBob

Even as a kid, this episode got under my skin. Remember the heyday of "Squidward Torture Porn", the dark ages for internet review culture? I could say this episode was the early genesis for that and it can hold some ground.

This is another one of those nothing episodes, where the worst of it seems to be the most prominent. What's the message here? Clubs are stupid? Nothing brings something? Oh but it has jokes, I don't care if this set a new standard for comedy, it's shit. Battlefield Earth was hilarious and that was an awful movie. Isn't comedy the best when it can give you a lot to think about or commentates on something more complex than it lets on?

This episode gives me absolutely nothing, maybe that was its schtick, nothing. It has a vague sense that gives people the impression that something is funny, when in reality it makes people think something funny is going on but it's not, it's just dumb.

#2: The Paper

So how's about this? An episode you can only see a few times a year, if you're watching television live that is. Had this been attached to a non-holiday episode, would more people have talked about this? I mean then again I'm going against a fandom who uses a dead man as a platform for hatred and warped perceptions of business, it's not your show, I don't care how passionately you feel about it.

This episode featured a rather forced conflict. SpongeBob kept pestering Squidward about a gum wrapper and he basically suffers for nothing. Was this based on some old folk tale? Does that mean folk tales suck now? Basically this made for an incredibly grating experience. What was the message here? I have no clue, was it an anti-littering message? Don't litter otherwise someone is gonna drive you ragged over the fun things you can do with paper?

This has to be one of the worst episodes of the show's first season, by far, but wait this is just the second spot.

#1

There aren't any honorable mentions, five were enough for my more egregious examples. I'm not  cherrypicking episodes, okay maybe in a certain context I am, but by the end of it, I'm bringing a certain sense of awareness that has been lost on many people.

Those who've followed me up to this point may realize what's coming. I hate to go for the most obvious, but sometimes I can't help but have my back against the wall. No episode then or since has made me feel the way I did, and just the fact that there are people who defend this or root for the demise of those who face the worst in it, really goes to show just how much I don't need to have this show in my life. Review culture from this show on had a bigger negative influence than I could ever imagine, and it made me less biased toward more influential creators.

There are no exceptions that can be made on anyone or anything. If shit's foul, it must be aired out pronto. If it wasn't this way we would have seen more criticisms of:

Hooky

What is it about this episode? Is it that I'm the only vocal critic of it? Is it that had it not been for peoples' bias toward the classic seasons more people would talk about it? Is it that this is somehow embodies aspects that make up a majority of the episodes people bashed on throughout the mid-2010s, and something that major reviewers, those whose word hinged on popular opinion, would easily cultivate? And if not it goes to show why nobody should turn to others for their opinions.

This episode was painful, then and especially now. How do you dissuade someone from doing something that can kill them? Well obviously you should publicly humiliate them and traumatize them, how dare they not head your word? That's all I got from this.

Made2Express called this episode an allegory for drug addiction, and from then I have considered him a complete and udder idiot, or someone so desperate to push the idea that SpongeBob's early seasons are these flawless masterpieces that he cooked up some insane allegory to throw wiser people off track.

"Oh but people should not get angry over cartoons."

Okay, fair, but my anger isn't being directed toward a cartoon, okay maybe it is, but just the fact that a community as long-lived and ongoing as SpongeBob's overlooks any legitimate issues with older seasons, there's no justice, no fulfillment, MoBros got off too easily.

Aside from events that ironically remind me of One Coarse Meal, and even then it was Krabs against Plankton, not his own frycook, the jokes in this episode are incredibly hit or miss, that comedic genius is certainly showing.

But oh it teaches a lesson:

"You telling me you hate Willy Wonka too?" Yeah, I think that movie is garbage, I know I need to give an elaborate explanation, but I'm not gonna, because I know at least one person is having a stroke over my lack of explanation.

I'd say more, but I won't. Why do you like Hooky? I welcome you to try and justify it against my complaints. That's all I'm gonna say.