The Offensive Fairly Odd Parents Episode

Unlike the creator of the show when it comes to his YouTube videos, this isn't clickbait. This will focus on an episode of Fairly Odd Parents that was considered offensive enough to be taken off the air for a while.

The episode is Twistory, and yes, this is another Fairly Odd Parents post, I hate the show but I love it at the same time.

Going into it, I had no idea why it was ignored by the network for so long, and I did see it when it was new. This was well before I was made aware of the ins and outs of censorship and offensive material. Best to give some history behind the episode.

Twistory aired during the second season of Fairly Odd Parents back in 2002. It was paired with Hail to the Chief and after a year or so, airings of this episode became more and more rare. In my head, I assumed this was a themed episode, reserved for airings around President's Day, which is where I recall catching reruns, but overtime, I learned it wasn't the case.

So for those coming in now, this episode must've pulled all the stops right? Move over Ren & Stimpy, back off Rocko's Modern Life, Fairly Odd Parents are about to join your ranks. Or outrank you somehow.

Twistory was taken off the air for a while due to its use of stereotypes, I mean I guess. At large FOP fans don't hate the episode much (because apparently they can't separate reality from fiction hence their obsession with It's a Wishful Life.) What's my stance on stereotypes? I don't react harshly to stuff like that, but I agree it isn't funny. It's been beaten into the ground and it's less offensive and more annoying.

To the existence of this episode, we have to thank Jack Thomas (who to be fair wrote some of my favorite episodes of the show), along with Steve Marmel (who is a few bulbs short of a functional Hollywood vanity mirror) and Butch Hartman, who also directed the episode. If you take offense to this episode and hate Butch Hartman, call this a freebie.

So what's this episode about and what led to the stereotyping? Timmy forgot to do his history report and decides to bring over the signers of the Declaration of Independence to interview them in a talkshow like setting. The stereotypes start coming in at this point. George Washington, a man who's obsessed with cutting wood in a node to the Cherry Tree story. Benjamin Franklin, all about electricity and it's implied that he's the sole force behind its existence; "Akshully, the foundation of electricity can be traced to various people from different periods, Benjamin Franklin wasn't the true creator of electricity he was just one of the bigger figures behind it." Thomas Jefferson, at best, is just awkward.

But it all comes to a head soon enough. Due to the founding fathers being out of their time for so long, and apparently because they couldn't be reached before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, well, it never wound up happening, and because of that Dimmsdale is thrown into the dark ages. And in this, we get the impression that the United Kingdom is as evolved as a third-world country, complete with people with bad teeth, a hollow tax joke and the typical British landmarks. All they needed was something with fish and chips and they would've gone full circle.

They go back to the signing, and gee, I wonder who's gonna be the obligatory villain in this episode? I- Benedict Arnold. I mean, okay, compared to what Butch is comfortable with cramming into this episode, if he had used a stereotypical British king as the villain then this episode would've been far worse in my book. But for what they chose, Benedict Arnold, really? I mean sure I couldn't think of a better villain, but come on? Cartoonish evil? This is Season 0 level bullshit.

So Arnold disguises himself as Washington and tries to get them to sign a document that serves as a white flag. Or as this show likes to call it, the Declaration of Surrenderpendence. I need some air. How does this get resolved? By exploiting a Washington stereotype that may or may not be rooted in fact, and Timmy even gets to sign the Declaration of Independence due to him breaking John Hancock's hand.

Only thing I could mention about this episode at this point is that they put Timmy's face on the dollar, and you know how we have critics who hone in on obvious jokes just for cheap brownie points? Well now it's my turn. What led to this? This extends well beyond basic gratitude, Hancock was the only one who didn't sign and he never appeared on any currency. Worst part is this exists for a retread of an existing joke. At least for that joke about the Cubs in It's a Wishful Life it's meant to poke fun at an extensive losing streak and possibly something from Back to the Future, I don't know.

Basically, this episode isn't as racist as you think it is, but it comes close. It is one of the few episodes where one aspect overpowers the rest of the episode, and if you've seen stereotype humor before this episode does nothing new with it. It's like a Family Guy joke, and then you realize that Butch Harman and Seth McFarlane worked together in the past.

Would this have made my top 3 worst FOP episodes? Well... I probably would've put this and its a-segment on it, since Hail to the Chief felt like a wasted episode. Maybe it was for the best that I hardly saw this episode on TV.

Top 5 Favorite Fairly Odd Parents Episodes

I don't like Fairly Odd Parents flat out, but they do have a fair share of episodes I like, which is the most I could say about many shows I hate. Funny thing is, there are more episodes I like than hate, to the point that for once I had to narrow it down to five.

As an aside, I was going to include the specials and movies on this list, but I haven't seen them all, and it may be better as a standalone list. Speaking of:

5. A tie between A Wish Too Far and The Big Scoop

Yeah, I'm putting the two together, they're both essentially the same episode, but at the same time different enough to be, well, different.

The first season was more moral driven then later seasons, and even the second and third had more of an emphasis on comedy for the sake of comedy. As a consequence, I'd consider the first season to be my least favorite season, hell, I didn't even like the first two segments. While we're at it, the pilot shorts left an equally rotten taste in my mouth, beyond the Superhero segment, and maybe the one centering on Tootie's birthday party (only for the fact that Vicky came out on top to break the level of predictability on part with any episode of Ed, Edd n' Eddy involving the Kankers in a major role.)

Anyway, A Wish Too Far. Speaking as someone who often roots for the popular students (and rare occasions the bullies as long as they don't have too cliched of a backstory), this wasn't too bad of an episode. For once, we have an episode that doesn't outright demonize the popular archetype. Okay, it's insulting to think a lot of you don't know who Trixie Tang is, but just to get you up to speed, she, for the most part, challenged the stereotype associated with popular student archetypes. She's also not as obnoxious as other characters in the fold. This episode is set back a bit as Timmy's personality hadn't been truly realized at this point, so we have to rely on the story and what little jokes there are. I'd go back to this before others though, that's the most I could say about this.

The Big Scoop. I was brought in by the novelty of it being a near remake of A Wish Too Far. It's rare to see older episodes revisited beyond a pilot remake. Basically, it's a stretch of A Wish Too Far, going by a full length B-plot centered on Chester and A.J., who seek an exciting story for the school newspaper, and wind up going after Timmy over his sudden spike in popularity. Some setbacks, the b-plot's existence wasn't apparent in the original episode and as a result it seems like a desperate attempt to pad out the run time, also, for most jokes that're redone from the original episode, they don't translate to the show's more refined style from this season on. On the upside, the jokes stick better and the plot's more interesting, plus the fact that we get to focus on someone other than Timmy.

Obviously, The Big Scoop is my favorite of the two from a humor standpoint.

4. Apartnership

What's this? Another season one episode? I hate where it started, but I don't consider it a bad season as a whole, the rest of the episodes are just meh to me. To me, this episode challenges the stereotype that only one (usually the man) can cause couple-hood to sour and it also practically mocks the stereotype associated with over-protective parents.

The episode centers on Wanda supposedly forgetting her and Cosmo's anniversary (already a relief since it's usually the man who forgets their anniversary.) so he decides to return to Fairy World to live with his mother. Oh wait, apparently there's a debate on what kind of anniversary it was, but what saves this from playing it safe is that both are portrayed as wrong, we root for a make up, not for one to bite the big one.

By and large, it's a cute episode and there's little forced conflict to keep the plot going. Why is this ahead of the previous one if I have so little to say about it? Because. Just, because.

3. Action Packed

This made the list mostly due to the novelty behind it. From an outsider's perspective you'd think it'd just be a collection of neutered action scenes and cliches, and you'd be half right. The genesis behind Timmy's wish for a more action-packed life was born through a generic action film, so you can go in with low expectations.

But the ironic thing is, it's actually fairly dark, at least by the standards set in the show overall. Cosmo and Wanda actually die in this (at least that's how we see it, they turn into dust and remain that way until the resolve.) Quite ballsy if I do say so myself. Another interesting aspect is the villain choice, rather than go with the usual suspects, we get Jorgen Von Strangle, and he's hardly out of character here. He's always been going on about his body and we get this here.

Not to mention, it's the best episode on a visual basis, this is one of the few episodes of the show to incorporate CGI, and it holds up as well as Terminator 2 (as in quite well.)

2. The Grass is Greener

Before the more infamous seasons surfaced, Timmy's parents were easy to define. They were comically neglectful, but still gave a damn about their son. The Grass is Greener proved this, and proved it hard. It has a simple premise, Timmy overhears his parents claiming that they can afford better things had they not had Timmy, hence wasting their extra cash on him, but even before the conflict began, they made it clear that their desires hold no ground. Cosmo and Wanda send Timmy to a carnival to fulfill his desire to run away and it seems like it's done to encourage him to go back home, but instead, he decides to become a carny in order to make it without his folks.

An admirable thing about this is how the episode doesn't portray Timmy as selfish, he did want to check in on his folks to see if they missed him at one point. The fairies leave Timmy, though thankfully not out of nowhere as he had become well adjusted to his new line of work, but fell into the bad graces of the carnies in doing so. But going by the colorful means of escape during the obligatory chase sequence, along with some odd moments of the carnies not taking full advantage of getting Timmy, we learn this was just a way to get him to go back home, where we see his parents do in fact miss him.

On the surface, it seems blatantly obvious Cosmo and Wanda wouldn't leave Timmy high and dry, but if you pay attention enough, you'd figure it out, so I can't be too angry about that. I'm aware that other episodes show his parents care about him, but I prefer the simplicity of this episode.

1. Chin Up (and many Crimson Chin episodes)

For every Crimson Chin episode I've seen, I wouldn't consider any of them to be bad. I owe this to Jay Leno's portrayal of the protruding jawed hero. Hartman didn't have much skill directing many FOP episodes, but he clearly had comic work cut out for him. They nail the style to a "T" and somehow the humor's sharper, with meta jokes that don't grow old (I mean, come on, letters to the editor, showing the writer.) I couldn't decide what Crimson Chin episode I wanted to put here, and that fact alone is why this is number one.

So, out of random, I picked the first one. Starting with the first season and ending with the first season. I love it for how ridiculous it was (Chin's origin story as well as his confrontation with the reality that he's just a book character.) along with its dialogue.

Yeah, once more this is number one because the Chin carried many of these episodes and propelled it higher than others for me.

So, yeah, that's it, list over... drive safe.

Top 3 Least Favorite Fairly Odd Parents Episodes

I don't like Fairly Odd Parents, at least not anymore. I watched the show when it was new, saw a bulk of the Poof episodes, dropped out before Sparky and Chloe hit the scene and beyond nostalgia, I have no reason to go back to the show. I bring this up because a lot of the episodes on this list come before the more infamous years of the show, some even from the first, good way to bring some variety to an otherwise predictable list collection.

I'd give a trigger warning, but then again I spout endlessly at more popular shows. By the way, I will be counting my favorite Fairly Odd Parents episodes, and unlike a 3D plumber from many years ago, it will happen in some form, don't know when, but it will.

So list, list start now, I am doing list now.

The Big Problem

Wait, I'm telling you that I don't like where this series began? Well I don't like this episode, but I don't think it's as bad as the next ones on the list. To get this out of the way, going into the show, for me it was just meh. I tuned into the show, but it didn't stick with me as well as others did. I checked out a handful of Fairly Odd Parents episodes on YouTube to determine my current consensus and compared to the few I've seen from the first season, this held up poorly for me.

I think a reason for that is that it details adult life and since I'm an adult, it's no longer appealing to me, plus the execution and the fact that there's little meat to the overall plot. Timmy wishes he was an adult, it turns out to suck, and yes, that's basically it. But the way they go about it isn't the best. You know that moral about appreciating your younger years? Well this episode essentially tells you that you'd be better off dead instead of an adult, at least that's how they imply it (plus making Timmy's adult form ugly.

Come to think of it, lots of classic Nickelodeon shows go about morals the same way (even copying most jokes wholesale, but for another time.)

Timmy's 2-D House of Horrors

Just to get this out of the way. It's a Wishful Life won't be on this list. It just didn't piss me off for some reason (maybe it's because of my cynicism, maybe I've seen worse, maybe it's the fact that it got overblown because it was covered in Mr. Enter's earlier days.) It's only bad if you treat cartoon characters like real people (plus, everyone's an asshole in real life, some just go about it differently.)

The episode before this pissed me off more, and frankly it was a lot more mean-spirited in my opinion. If it hadn't been for this episode being paired with It's a Wishful Life, this probably would've been covered in some capacity.

How is this worse by my standards? It's somehow a lot more mean spirited and ends on a somehow fouler note. The episode centers on Timmy accidentally destroying Vicky's house, now the family has to live with the Turners. They waste no time in fucking with Timmy, if the parents' ignorance of Vicky's evil was annoying for you... well take a guess what I'm gonna say next, because that's it. That's the episode, aside from a running joke that is hammered into the ground (it mocks 3D effects in older films, but the way they go about it is all wrong. Fairly Odd Parents made fun of pop culture, but they could never compete with other shows that did it better.

If there's an excuse for this episode that everything that happened is fine because Timmy deserved it, I pray you never reproduce.

Power Mad

Oh yeah, I didn't like the first two episodes, while The Big Problem wasn't that good, it at least had enough material to justify its length. This episode feels rushed, and that seems to be the case with many episodes of shows themed around video games (at least the ones I've seen, well one, Scooby Doo and the Cyber Chase.) Timmy wishes he could be part of a video game that offers a grander challenge than what he normally encounters and the only caveat is that if he and his friends who get trapped in there lose all three of their lives they'll die for real, and the only thing keeping them from winning (aside from not giving a shit) is running a lot of power.

Nice premise, right? Well don't expect good execution to go along with it. That video game concept? Glanced over most of the time. The power aspect? Vicky's running a lot of power, but wait, Cosmo and Wanda could easily run a motion generator, that power conflict was useless (and its introduction was forced as all hell too.), and for Vicky's fate... well I'm not a fan of Butch Hartman's black and white perspective on villains, I'm not a fan of Butch Hartman, and I'm not an angry atheist. Vicky gets thrown into the game, and seemingly for no reason aside from that forced conflict. She didn't throw Timmy or his friends into the game, and again, that generator bit. It wasn't even used as a joke, just as something present within another joke.

But why did that power conflict have to happen? Why for the all important TV reference jokes of course. I'd give props to kids shows for cracking jokes that'd get me in my adult years, but obviously these didn't get that result. These references are below Family Guy levels of funny (and Family Guy can still do these well.) I'm going to list off the shows they try to parody, how they do it and why I think they failed at it.

• I Love Lucy: They got the Ricky deadringer wrong, but they fucked it up by having Wanda, well, be Wanda. Lucy isn't necessarily the most iconic TV star out there, but she's still well recognized. We don't need a men are stupid women are Jesus type message (by that I mean one that stereotypes men as idiots and woman as, well, the opposite (like they did in that one Valentines special, you know the one.)
• Weather channel: Cosmo confuses weather with feather. They try to throw in a bit with a laugh track that doesn't come, but it just doesn't work.
• Oprah (or talk shows in general.): Cosmo marries his car and somehow it reproduces. It seems like a statement against men from the south.
• Those CD commercials: Cosmo sings nursery songs.
• Seinfeld: It's a show about nothing, and the joke is made with that amount of nothing.

Are these jokes meant to poke fun at Cosmo and Wanda's ignorance of pop culture and television? Who knows?

I have no honorable mentions, well, aside from the pilot shorts, and a key reason I hate them is because they push the black and white perspective and don't amp up the characters to justify it. I only like one short out of all of them, can't be bothered to remember the name though.

There will be a top favorite episodes.

Anthologies of Interest: The Nightmare Room

Check out the intro entry before you begin to get an idea on how I plan to cover these shows.

R.L. Stine is a name many readers should be familiar with. You've all read or at the very least heard of Goosebumps. I had some books in my possession years ago (though I never read any of it.), and I'm sure at least most of you heard of the TV series from the 90s. I weirdly remember the first episode I ever saw from that show (Hairiest Adventure), I didn't get the context of it and the sad thing is that it's revealed at the end. If you remember The Hub, this was reran there and I caught more episodes there.

Anyway, Goosebumps was Stine's foray into 90s television while The Haunting Hour was a foray into the early-2010s. Must've been a slow day back in the early-2000s, or was it?

The Nightmare Room

The Nightmare Room is a bit of an anomaly, not because it's terrible, more on that later, but because of where it came from, who was involved (for the most part) and where it wound up. The Nightmare Room aired on Kids' WB in 2001 through 2002. How's that an anomaly? This was the only live action show to air on a block dedicated to cartoons. Guess anything really was possible back then when it came to television. The last place this show ever aired was Chiller (of all places) back in the late-2000s, and since I'm only now getting into cheap horror anthology shows, I missed out and hard.

When you get into the show, you'd be surprised to find who was involved, but not so much who they got. The series was created by R.L. Stine and based off a companion series of books published by . The show was produced by Tollin/Robbins Productions, a name you should all recognize, Smallville, many classic Nickelodeon shows, the fact that Robbins is now the president of Nickelodeon, along with his so-so resume of films, I'd say more, but I'd like most hoses to remain dead.

I bring Tollin/Robbins up because I think it's through their connections they got many of the stars included on here. The series was hosted by James Avery, masquerading as R.L. Stine. Guess they thought Stine wasn't scary enough to helm the show. Do I even need to talk about who Avery is? Narrator aside, who did they get into the show? Well, child stars from the period, though to be fair many of them still get by in some way.

They got Amanda Bynes and Drake Bell, regulars on The Amanda Show so that's expected. They got Shia LaBeouf, fresh from Even Stevens and... damn... been ages since I heard his name. Good. But it doesn't stop there, they got Brenda Song (London from Suite Life of Zack and Cody and the star of some shit Neftlix movie.), Junior from My Wife and Kids, Gracie from The Nanny, one of the guys from that Nick show Brothers Garcia, Reese from Malcolm in the Middle, Kaley Cuoco from The Big Bang Theory in an early role, even Robert Englund, arguably in a better place than a certain other series.

I've seen six episodes out of a thirteen episode season. What stood out to me the most? What was the weakest?

What I liked.

Tangled Web. This is the one that had Reese in it. The story centers on a pathological liar named Josh who after lying about missing homework, is told by a substitute that he is believed. The kicker is that now every lie Josh tells comes true. He's so slow on the uptake he doesn't take advantage of this and suffers almost instantly. But by the end, after we expect him to die for his sins, it turns out this was just a story to another student, told by Josh as a teacher, and all he got out of it was a scar from a hot door knob.

Aside from the novelty of seeing Reese outside of Malcom in the Middle, the episode was a bit light. It felt like they were mostly struggling to keep it going, some scenes going quicker than expected, others going on for too long. But there is a bright side to this, everything checks out, nothing was left untouched and I guess Josh wasn't rotten enough to deserve death, so that was a nice twist at the end.

My Name is Evil. Deals with a boy who is told by a fortune teller that he is evil. A series of events plague him and he believes it's coming true. I expected a Carrie-like twist, but as it turns out, it was all a set up (and another popular antagonist type thing.) who had powers which she intended to use to frame the boy in order to... I dunno, make him lonely for the rest of the school year? This may sound like a major strike against it, but I still like the episode. What helps is that it has good characters, I can buy the awkward bromance between the boy and his friends, it's satisfying to see the antagonist get it at the end, and in a weird twist, the boy had evil powers all along. It did have some cool practical effects, highlights being the second trip to the fortune teller's tent as well as the track scene where someone sinks into the sand. My Name is Evil works for its set ups, characterization and effects.

What I Didn't Like

Scareful What You Wish For. The one with Shia Le Merde. Essentially, Shia is stalked by a doll that was magically brought to life. The doll goes after his friends (non fatal of course.), all culminating in the doll turning him into one. This episode reeks of missed opportunity. They could've easily made it into a psychological thriller. Shia is looking forward to growing up, but deep down he doesn't and he uses the doll as an excuse for sociopathic behavior. The episode felt empty as a result.

Not for nothing, but while an episode in another show didn't follow this principal, it does a better twist.

Don't Forget Me. Lazy title aside. This stars Amanda Bynes. My issue with this? Bynes can't do horror. I'm sorry, but she's not cut out for anything beyond teen drama or comedy. She's about as wooden as those actors in that god awful Sharon Tate movie (be grateful I'm not giving you the title), or maybe just very awkward. The story seems interesting, but it once again ditches a good opportunity by getting resolved and rushing to the end. The basement has a rift that causes kids to be forgotten, and if this were good, it would be gradual and end on a grim note, or a repeat of the start. But no, all ends happily and then they repeat the start.

Summary

Best Episode: My Name is Evil

Worst Episode: Don't Forget Me

Best aspects: Making good use of unexpected actors, surprisingly held up better than most shows of the 2000s, decent practical effects, good twists in most episodes.

Worst aspects: Missed opportunities for many episodes that would've made them far more interesting, bad acting is hard to ignore for most of the characters.

Overall

From a writing standpoint, some episodes leave much to be desired, but hey, I guess they have enough to keep your interest. For all these episodes, I managed to watch them in full. I can't say the scariest thing about this show is that it aired on a block dedicated to cartoons.

Episodes I've seen

Anthologies of Interest

For the next few days, or weeks or whatever, I'm going to cover various horror anthology shows. They'll follow the same principal as my usual reviews, but with some changes.

• I'll go over the history and a general consensus, along with posting some IMDb reviews for the latter aspect.
• I'm going to summarize my most and least favorite episodes, though if I can only find one for free, I'll just discuss that one.
• I'll point out whatever failings I find with it, but I intend to be neutral.
• A link to the episodes I mention will be below.

The first one I'll discuss is The Nightmare Room. Stay tuned.

Nickelodeon's Thanksgiving Feast review

Let's face it, few people care for Thanksgiving nowadays, at least when it comes to a marketing standpoint. People are pushing for Christmas now more than ever, which is why we're getting promotions for the latter as early as mid-October. The only thing keeping Christmas alive is the monetary gain, to hell with family gathering and eating yourself to a diabetic demise. But as long as my family's around, I'll be around to pick up the pieces.

Anyway, Nicktoons, they began the the same year the Cold War ended, and I believe they don't need any introduction. But, did you know that there were some predecessors that would lay the groundwork for Nicktoons as we know them? Nickelodeon's Thanksgiving Feast is the catalyst that led to Nicktoons, coming out in 1989 (there was another special that came out the year before, but for another day.) It was produced by Vanessa Coffey, a name you may recognize from the first few Nicktoons. You can thank her for paving the way for those shows.

The special remained in circulation until 1996, later resurfacing on The Splat. Unfortunately, that's as much as I could dig up on the special's history. Good for you, not for me, let's carve this turkey.

Structure

This special contains two stories, with interludes between each of them. The interludes, visually, may look familiar to people who grew up with Nickelodeon up to that point. They were directed by Joey Ahlbum, who directed the singing dinosaurs bumper, among others. For these, they are comedic looks into the ins and outs of Thanksgiving, mainly focusing on how turkeys celebrate the holiday. Gee, I wonder what the twist will be? I wonder I wonder I- humans. Enough said. Can't be mad over something from the late-80s with a young audience. That's where the first story comes in, more on that in a bit.

The interludes were directed by Ahlbum, but the stories were handled by a different studio down in the Philippines. Apparently, their prints came back corrupted, leading to otherwise iffy results. This is apparent in the second story, where for the first quarter, it's presented through still images. But, for the times where the animation is proper, it's okay, it lacks a unique style but I give them props for trying something to shake things up for the special.

The Stories

Both stories are essentially polar opposites, told from different periods and obviously different execution.

Thanksgiving Nightmare is set in a modern period and really pushes the envelope on the food aspect. We start with a fat family finishing off a meal, and they don't want anything to go to waste, which is why the mother loses her shit when a bone lands near her cat. This is the making of a decent dark comedy, but that's nothing compared to a war between rats and cockroaches.

And most of you know the aesthetic by now, both teams are against one another but find a common enemy, this is all to get something valuable to the humans, they get what they need, the enemy is blamed and the humans are non the wiser to what happened.

Name a rats against coackroaches, a cat, the thanksgiving meal, both teams getting it, the cat is caught in the crime scene and is kicked out. This annoys the hell out of me, maybe I just hate guilt by association, or I've seen Tom and Jerry too many times (and that cartoon is cliche as hell.) The cat snags a piece of turkey upon getting out, but to me it feels kinda hollow, and leaves me in a rare instance where I expect something bad to happen to the family (they're an ice cream away from a coronary.)

Thanksgiving Dreams is set in the depression. Let's see, we're told about what everyone didn't have back in the day, we center on a family who's going through turmoil, the tone is mellow dramatic, the kids are optimistic. What, you expected a joke? This is how the first quarter goes, and as I said, this is where the animation quality dips. I can't even cap it to do it justice. Anyways, it's nearing Thanksgiving, and the kids realize that they will be without a proper meal come that day, all they have to salvage are cans of beans.

It picks up when the kids go to bed. They shrink down and begin interacting with anthropomorphic food, and that's not a throwaway line, that's an actual summary. Nothing interesting happens until the boy knocks yeast into the dough and creates a bread-based monster. From there, a fight occurs and that finishes out the dream.

I know I'm slacking here, but this special gives me nothing to work with. For something that's meant to be outrageous, it's ironically played straight.

Anyhow, the kids wake from their dream, but apparently it wasn't. They go downstairs and find that a feast has been prepared, but it wasn't at the hands of the mother. We get an implication that the dream was real, given by a clue where the mother sneezes due to how peppery most of the food is... I'm stumped, how did we go from there to this? Did the kids sleepwalk and steal food for themselves? Was the monster meant to symbolize something? Is it just magic and nothing else?

Conclusion

I don't know what I could say. It's not weird enough to be memorable, it's not spectacular, but I guess it did play a part in Nicktoons becoming a thing. Not good enough? Maybe Thanksgiving is best left to bottle episodes.

Insektors: The First CGI series

2D animation at its core aged gracefully. While it's easy to tell when something is done on paper or on a computer, the basic principles are still the same, drawn characters manipulated by an animator by whatever means. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves doesn't reflect the age with which it came out, and it was the first feature length animated film ever, heck, it looks a bit like Pocahontas.

Point is, a drawing is timeless, all that's different is the artist behind it and their vision. CGI on the other hand is a whole other kettle of fish. With it, you could see how much it has evolved over the years. What began as a series of test sequences in a near three-decade long experimental phase, evolved to some cutting edge special effects for 80s films abound, and later got its own life with television, and it doesn't start where you think it does.

Background

The year is 1994, Canadians abound beheld ReBoot, a small production by Mainframe Entertainment that ushered in a new means of animated entertainment. People would be quick to set the bar here, the CGI at the time was... something, and it would surely get better from there (it didn't, at least old CGI cartoons had an eerie quality to them.) But, little did many know that another show not only beat them to the punch getting completed in 1993, but it aired on television a few months before ReBoot did. Only reason it didn't get as much recognition was because in its first year it only aired in France, though it was later dubbed and aired on YTV, with a British dub also existing. It has slipped under the radar, but it is recognized as being an important footnote in CGI history (at least if we're going by Wikipedia.)

The show was produced by Fantome. Very little is known about this company other than that it's no longer in operation. This series is credited to them for sure, but they did have involvement in one other series. They produced the third season of Tales from the Cryptkeeper, and surprisingly it was entirely 2D. Nelvana, the show's prime producer, tended to outsource the animation to other studios, so I don't know how much involvement Fantome had unless they transitioned to another format to expand their horizons. I briefly talked about them in my Tales from the Cryptkeeper review, but I had no idea they had a greater level of significance from that.

Of the talent present, I could only find two I recognize. Of them they're David Gasman, an American actor currently living in France, who I recognize as lending his voice to Code Lyoko. There's also Karen Strassman, who I know as the most recent voice of Rouge the Bat in the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

Animation

I can't be too hard on something that began the CGI bandwagon. The animation here is okay. It has the sensibilities of the average Mainframe cartoon and it seems like a more refined rendition of the average Spark Plug Entertainment production. This was saved by what I assumed to be a much higher budget. One advantage this show has is that it doesn't feature humans, instead just the insects, and for many shows centered around cartoony creatures there isn't a risk to be faced. Let's face it, all people talk about is how the art quality looks, and if the humans look bad in shows like these, then they'll judge it solely on that while embellishing other qualities. They did to Mr. Meaty what the Democrats did to Barry Goldwater and what the Republicans did to Michael Dukakis.

Anyway, off track, I'd be willing to say this is better than the animation in Pet Alien, but then again that show was probably done on a smaller budget (hence why they couldn't even afford to outsource voice duties to Vancouver, Charlie Ad-least stop with the Peter Lorre, Jess Har-dly able to shake Wakko Warner off and Candi Mi-goodness are you just an understudy these days?)

Whatever the case, obviously the animation isn't as good as it was back then, and it'd be incredibly bold to say it's better than the CGI shows from the late-2000s (though ironically this show isn't nearly as stylish as Fanboy and Chum Chum), but it's harmless. From the one episode I've seen, as long as there isn't an opportunity for a meme or a Twitter cap, it's essentially in the clear. Plus I didn't catch too many glitches, so it seems time wasn't a hinderance to the animators.

Structure

The show is basically a light-hearted adventure series, centered on bug-like creatures as they attempt to preserve life in their part of their world, and the big bad obviously tries to complicate that. The version I caught was the British version, and they have the luxury of a funny narrator. This is a plus for me because it's a good way to bring humor to a show they know isn't as remarkable as others without delegitimizing it (which could be done with a number of lazy fourth wall jokes).

This isn't a heavy-action oriented show, so the humor tends to carry it the most. I doubt it'd be fair for me to go into the humor as a whole since I only have one version to go off of, but for the most I've seen, it's about the same as other CGI shows, as in harmless enough, but maybe you should reserve the money toward better writers (still better than Pet Alien.)

Overall

Basically, I wanted to introduce you to an obscure series that laid the ground work for a new medium of television animation. Whether or not it's good will be left up to you, but you could say that I'm doing what few others could, and that's reaching into the far depths of the animation industry and picking the scraps others didn't want, oh, and that this show is better than Pet Alien.