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matt_zimmerAlso reviews for the two unaired DC Nation New Teen Titans shorts, the latest DC Super Hero Girls promo, and the latest episodes of Preacher, DuckTales, Big Hero 6: The Series, Marvel's Spider-Man, and Marvel Super Hero Adventures.
Final Space "The Tora Regatta"
For the first time without those teasers from last year, I feel a real sense of forward momentum for the show.
Having Mooncake lose his powers strikes me a a significant arc change. Whatever season 2 is, it's no longer about him.
Nice of David Tennant to come back to do some death rattles.
Shortening the opening for the first episode was a smart move. That way they didn't tip off the season and the new characters.
Good premiere. ****.
Final Space "The Happy Place"
Gary seems to be famous for all the wrong reasons.
I love that Gary's fantasy wife isn't Quinn, it's a giant cookie. That is SO him.
Speaking of which, everybody peeing on each other at the beginning was super gross. But it was also something only this show would do.
I love the new main title. The 3-D one from last year was sort of nice, but it was also sort of cr*ppy, and didn't fit into the rest of the beautiful animation on the show. The hand-drawn opening plays much better.
Being saved by Kevin. Talk about a HUE-miliation.
Good episode. ****.
Final Space "The Grand Surrender"
God that was grim. The wedding at the end was NOT funny, nor was Kevin leading those cultists over the cliff.
That being said, the gruesomeness of Ash's origin gave her character a ton of weight it didn't have until it was revealed. When this show plays dark pathos for real, it's amazing. When it plays it for laughs, it sucks. **.
Final Space "The Other Side"
I think this probably qualifies as the first legit sci-fi episode of the series in that it's a high concept that lasts for a single episode.
I'm a little disappointed Littlecato was alone and insane at the end. Because the idea of Mooncake with a sexy voicebox was brilliant, and I seriously love the notion that he's secretly mean but you don't know that because he looks cute and you can't understand what he says. That facet to the character being canon would have meant a lot to me.
I hope the show does more episodes like this in the future. A lot of fans will think them filler. But as far as I'm concerned, they are a necessary and wonderful part of science fiction. The show moves through its arcs at a surprising speed (last season's disappointing cliffhanger notwithstanding) so I think it a good idea to do standalone sci-fi episodes now that things have settled down with Mooncake.
The Kenny Loggins scene was important to me because I think it is very important to see the heroes have fun with each other and enjoy their downtime. To be honest, that's rare, and hasn't really been done on genre shows since Star Trek. Even current Star Trek doesn't do that anymore. But I appreciate the good moments as much as the adventuresome ones.
Good stuff this week. ****.
Final Space "The Notorious Mrs. Goodspeed"
So great. The ending was devastating, as was Gary's determination. But his mom totally sucks. For real. I get how he came from his dad. I don't get how he came from his mom.
I expected the alien family at the beginning trying to get revenge on Gary to be a bigger presence in the episode than they were. Can I be honest? That was the worst, most appalling thing in season 1. I don't like the show calling back to it.
Ash actually has only one eye. Heh.
I never pictured Farscape's Claudia Black as a voice-over artist, but after hearing her, I was like, "Yeah, that makes sense." The sci-fi connection also doesn't hurt.
Good and tragic episode. ****.
Final Space "Arachnitects"
That was pretty good. I like how the Arachitects talk like real people and have real-life spats with each other regarding office politics. That may be usual for this specific show, but I don't think I've complimented that yet, and this was a really great example. They also have really cool character designs.
I liked that a lot. ****.
Final Space "The First Times They Met"
Gary and Quinn strike me as the new version of Fry and Leela.
I must give it to Gary for not actually being upset Nightfall created a Gary hologram to boink. Were I him, I'd be totally creeped out.
Would all those Kevins killing Clarence actually be the worst thing in the world?
I liked this one. ****.
Final Space "The Remembered"
Wow, that was neat. Cool way to bring back Avacato.
I also am interested in the Lord Commander's dire warnings about him. And who saved the Lord Commander at the end?
The one thing I hated was seeing the Dewinters completely and repeatedly abused. It was never funny, and it's sick how this show keeps calling back to it as if it was.
But other than that, that was a cool episode. ***1/2.
Final Space "The Closer You Get"
That wasn't merely a great episode. That was outright amazing television.
Forget the tragic ramifications of what happened to Avacato. Forget the fact that the animation was more cinematic in this episode than any other current action cartoon on television. Do you know what I took most from this episode?
It was freaking scary! It legitimately unsettled me at points, which blows my mind. Animation SUCKS at horror: Justice League Dark, Constantine: City Of Demons, even Spawn: The Animated Series, they traded gross-outs and gore for actual scary imagery. Do you know the last animated project that disturbed and scared me so much? MTV's The Maxx back in the 1990's. That's how long it's been.
Phil is a total nightmare. And the idea of Gary having to reach into his pocket, isn't just sex-offender creepy, it's funny!
Speaking of horror rarities, do you know how rare is for something to be both legitimately funny and legitimately scary at the same? The X-Files did funny episodes and they did scary ones. But never both at once. The Evil Dead was just plain silly. Only Twin Peaks has had me laughing at the same time I was screaming. That is a gift. And it's not something I would have pegged from this show.
Not only do I think this show should put this episode on their Emmy reel, I think it should probably win. I might even think that if they crazily submitted it for best comedy instead of best animated series. That's how amazed and impressed I was. *****.
Final Space "The Lost Spy"
I liked it. It was exciting and the backstory on Gary's mother was great. And Gary adopting Littlecato at the end was an "Aw!" moment too.
On the downside is the Clarence stuff. I hate this character. He is repulsive and everything he is involved in is repulsive too. Kevin was more annoying that usual too.
But I liked more than I didn't. ***1/2.
Final Space "The Set Up"
Sold. Cheryl is doing all her evil to see her husband. I love that.
And do you know the best thing about Clarence's betrayal? It's not out of nowhere. It's who the character always was, and the show is not trying to pull a shock on us that doesn't hold up in hindsight. I believe every inch of his betrayal of his children, and I even believed his regret upon losing everything. I object to surprise betrayals in fiction. Very much so. But betrayals that make sense? Totally on-board.
The stuff with HUE and Mooncake was hilarious. I love that he won the deathbot match because nobody saw him, and everyone else killed each other. I'm also shipping him and EVA pretty hard at this point.
This show continues to do things right. ****.
DC Nation: New Teen Titans "Titans 3-D"
I get why this was banned after Aurora. I don't get why it was banned permanently. It's cool for DC Universe to put it on their streaming site. ****.
DC Nation: New Teen Titans "It's The Great Pumpkin, Garfield Logan"
Yes, it's a great Peanuts tribute. But the actually selling point of this to me is seeing Silkie dressed as Mr. Mind for Halloween. ****1/2.
DC Super Hero Girls: Get To Know "Green Arrow"
I'm sure this is not everyone's experience, but it's mine: I think most teenagers with facial hair tend to be dirtbags, at least at that stage of their life. Oliver Queen does not change that perhaps faulty and unfair impression I've lived through. ***.
Preacher "Messiahs"
Let me compliment the show on something: I don't think I've seen a show or movie deal with bigger themes than this episode did. Arguably mother!, but that's an allegory and not literal. This episode has Hitler tempting Jesus into becoming the Messiah. How blatant of a button-pushing is that? It amazes me all of the flack Lucifer got from fundies when it debuted on Fox. It is positively tame compared to the actual blasphemy of this show. I am not a person comfortable with blasphemy for blasphemy's sake. But we'll see if the show can make that pay-off in the last couple of episodes. But this show deals with huge good and evil concepts.
My favorite parts were the Cassidy and Tulip stuff. The nearly silent performances by Joseph Giulgud and Ruth Negga at the beginning where amazing. Frankly, were I Negga, I'd be putting the scene where she reads Jessie's letter without saying a word on her Emmy reel.
I suspect something now after this episode that I probably should have seen coming. But Humperdoo is offensive on every level. People seeing him as divine are basically the worshipers of the Antichrist. He's outright obscene. And when Patty tells Cassidy and Tulip that now they can see why she couldn't tell anyone about him, they appear to be the only people on the show besides Jessie himself who are properly revolted by him and everything he stands for. Which suggests to me that there is a level of divinity and virtue attached to both of those characters we wouldn't have guessed. Even God raves about that cheese-raping trainwreck. And the fact that Cass and Tulip see him for what he is suggests they are actually the good guys.
Patty honestly is shocked Tulip killed her husband? My beef is her doing it in broad daylight in front of a ton of witnesses. But this is NOT the show to go to for logical plot turns that hold up.
Such as Jessie being offered the Big Chair. As bad of an idea as it is (and it's bad simply because I think Jessie is actually evil) I almost understand it. Who else is there with the kind of juice they need to stand up to God? Jessie finds the notion treasonous, but his entire mission is to hold God to account. Maybe the best way to clean up after him and stop his cruelty is to replace him.
Nothing in God's origin story on Earth surprised me a bit, and we seemed to be going over ground already strongly hinted at. What it did do was make me angry that I was right. The series is not going to go for a last minute moral that God's plan is actually for the best. He's legitimately a dirtbag who doesn't care about humanity or the people who depend on him. Very provocative stuff.
When Cass said he was going to eat that guy's chickens, as frightening as the look on his face was when he said it, I was relieved. But maybe I shouldn't be surprised. People who run into Cassidy and invite him into their homes should be grateful he is as chill and ethical a vampire as he is.
I'll say one thing for Herr Starr: Before this episode he was apparently hung. His torture being played for laughs however is something that has always disturbed me.
I didn't much dig the idea of the Messiah hiding out in a synagogue either. I think that didn't actually have anything to do with anything, and was simply done to offend Jews. It's not like this show doesn't offend Christians with it's every waking breath, but that is something that struck me again as blasphemy for blasphemy's sake. That's not deep. It's annoying, and makes the show hard to recommend to anyone else who has never seen or heard of it. I'm not saying the faithful are this show's intended audience. But if they are going to be shocked and offended, I want it to be for a good reason. I don't want any offended fundamentalists, no matter the religion, to be able to claim the high ground against a show like this. But I think the fact that the show does deliberately offensive stuff like Jews worshiping a cretin Messiah which is why the show is very hard to defend.
But the episode made me stop and think. Which is kind of a big deal for me. I didn't exactly like it. But I've also never seen anything like it before either. ****.
DuckTales "Timephoon!"
I loved it. I loved this version of Bubba and Tootsie and I love the subversive idea that Scrooge is his descendant.
I especially love Della reading Louie the riot act at the end. That was a long time coming. And she didn't buy it back either so kudos to her.
Webby seems either dressed as a 60's hippie or a 20's flapper at the end. I hope it's a hippie. That would be funnier.
"You have your own tub?" Launchpad is very easily impressed.
Best episode in awhile. *****.
DuckTales "GlomTales!"
Yeah, no. This is ridiculous. This is NOT Louie Duck. This is an abomination.
But hey that theme song change-up was cool, right? *.
DuckTales "The Richest Duck In The World!"
Eh. I liked this version of Bombie, especially the way to defeat him. I don't feel Rosa came up with a good solution of that. In fact, I don't believe he actually came up with a solution at all.
Louie is annoying, but I like Owlison a lot, and how she decides to make her own fortune by the end.
Scrooge's characterization was actually decent too. He's not bothered by the fortune reversal because Louie is lazy, and things will return to the status quo soon enough. And I especially like that he finds laziness unappealing, and instead immediately goes back to being a shoeshine boy to remake his fortune in the meantime.
I loved the Mouseton shout-out too.
It's sort of funny that Webby is described as the nephew violent's friend. But it also shouldn't actually be true.
I thought Dewey was super insensitive to Della, and I loved Della thoughtfully yelling "Who needs family?" upon hearing Penny call her her friend.
I have had just about enough of Louie Duck, and Dewey is wearing thin too. ***.
DuckTales "Moonvasion!"
I expect that to be very well-received by the show's viewers. I don't care. It was absolutely appalling.
Every review of every episode like this is me basically bemoaning the fact that Disney put producers in charge of the Ducks who have have no clue why the Ducks are actually great. Lemme try something else.
How's this for a comparison? Imagine you are watching your first episode ever of Downton Abbey. And in the middle of it the Dowager and company drop their tea and scones and start getting into an epic battle with light sabers and Andy Samberg's laser cats. If you had never seen the show before you'd think it was the greatest thing ever, and funny, and exciting, and you'd be wondering where this show has been all your life, and why everyone previously seemed to make the idea sound dull. That is the viewer DuckTales is catering to. But if you are an actual fan of Downton Abbey, laser cats freaking HURT. They are punch in the gut every second they are on-screen. They are ruining everything for the enjoyment of a group of people who don't actually care about or understand the franchise. Jerry Springer was very popular. Dumb and violent will always have an audience. But to see it infect this specific franchise is like a knife in my heart in every week.
I worry about Don Rosa's health. I'm actually being serious. I picture him having a stroke or heart attack every week. It's THAT upsetting. If you don't actually or love the Duck comics then you probably don't get why I'm so upset. But maybe the Downton Abbey analogy will help explain it a little.
DuckTales 2017 is designed for people who think the Disney Ducks are boring. Anyone who actually LIKES the Ducks is out of luck.
Unfortunately this lousy episode did not deserve to be the first animated meeting between Scrooge McDuck and Darkwing Duck, and Scrooge dressing as him fell flat too because they used it to simply say Darkwing sucks. Darkwing DID have a chip on his shoulder on the old show, but it was a bigger and more nuanced thing than him actually being a pathetic Cosplay loser.
The Mickey Mouse melon thing was creepy and makes no sense while they are using that voice impediment for Donald.
Also, I think Carl Barks and Don Rosa could have warned the show WHY it is a bad idea to put Gladstone Gander in adventures. He is the ultimate deus ex machina, and solves problems in such a fashion that it's boring. I agree more with Barks' low opinion of Gladstone whom he famously wound up hating, but the only way Gladstone works is in sitcom plots or the specific high-concept luck stories Rosa crazily made work. You do NOT want him on the good guys' side. It's like the Federation recruiting Q to win the Dominion War. Yeah, it'd work, but it would be no fun. That goes for adventures. And the fact that this was a battle, which is all wrong for the franchise to begin with, shows that the writers don't understand what makes the characters tick or their strengths and weaknesses or the kinds of stories that they fit into.
I will admit this. The F.O.W.L. cliffhanger intrigues me. Not only because it's been Scrooge's board members the entire time, but also because I noticed Steelbeak and the Phantom Blot dressed in a Tuskernini costume, and I'm interested to learn the deal there. But I'm not going to give a single star to an episode that only had an effective last 30 seconds. Everything else was pretty much a disaster. 0.
Big Hero 6: The Series "El Feugo"
I liked Baymax showing up at the end out of costume, because his presence gives himself an alibi for being the robot from Big Hero 6. That was accidentally useful.
Normally, I'd be inclined to call Honey Lemon's enthusiasm endearing on any given topic or hobby, but since this one is so tacky and violent, it's not.
I love Aunt Cass wishing for a second local TV station. In a city as big as San Fransokyo, that is not too much to freaking ask.
I felt this episode was a bit of a filler. ***.
Big Hero 6: The Series "The Globby Within"
Wow, Chief Cruz isn't just a jerk. I think he's a bad cop. I don't mean a corrupt one. I mean bad at his job. He lets his personal feelings rule over common sense. Not a good look, especially if he want Hiro to approve of a ship between him and Aunt Cass. ***.
Big Hero 6: The Series "Hardlight"
Dun dun dun on the cliffhanger. Of course, the culprit was pretty obvious.
"That changes nothing." Which is precisely why Chief Cruz sucks.
I love Basemax and the guy who built the base. I especially like that he doesn't like Fred. Or Wasabi because he's standing next to him.
Hardlight was a pretty cool villain. ***1/2.
Marvel's Spider-Man "The Day Without Spider-Man"
The first five minutes of the episode were quite good and I was like "Wow, was the show ALWAYS decent?" It's been a year. Did I just forget? And the answer is upon hearing Scorpion and Tinkerer's cringey dialogue: "Nope."
I love the idea that there are larger reasons to using the wisecracks, including comforting the bystanders. That's a definite selling point I am glad to see addressed.
I have seen worse origin stories for the name Ghost-Spider. ***1/2.
Marvel Super Hero Adventures "Bend, Don't Break"
I like Ghost-Spider but I don't like Rhino. ***1/2.
Marvel Super Hero Adventures "That's What Friends Are For"
I like this version of Green Goblin but this version of Miss Marvel seems a bit bland to me. She's usually quite a character, and this version bores me. **1/2.
Marvel Super Hero Adventures "Happy Birthday"
Because of the MCU I am amused to realize I half-see Loki as a Captain America villain. How weird is that? ***1/2.
Marvel Super Adventures "Things That Go Ha Ha! In The Night"
Somehow I don't feel good about Spider-Man giving life advice to the elderly. If anything, they should be teaching him.
Good. ****.
Final Space "The Tora Regatta"
For the first time without those teasers from last year, I feel a real sense of forward momentum for the show.
Having Mooncake lose his powers strikes me a a significant arc change. Whatever season 2 is, it's no longer about him.
Nice of David Tennant to come back to do some death rattles.
Shortening the opening for the first episode was a smart move. That way they didn't tip off the season and the new characters.
Good premiere. ****.
Final Space "The Happy Place"
Gary seems to be famous for all the wrong reasons.
I love that Gary's fantasy wife isn't Quinn, it's a giant cookie. That is SO him.
Speaking of which, everybody peeing on each other at the beginning was super gross. But it was also something only this show would do.
I love the new main title. The 3-D one from last year was sort of nice, but it was also sort of cr*ppy, and didn't fit into the rest of the beautiful animation on the show. The hand-drawn opening plays much better.
Being saved by Kevin. Talk about a HUE-miliation.
Good episode. ****.
Final Space "The Grand Surrender"
God that was grim. The wedding at the end was NOT funny, nor was Kevin leading those cultists over the cliff.
That being said, the gruesomeness of Ash's origin gave her character a ton of weight it didn't have until it was revealed. When this show plays dark pathos for real, it's amazing. When it plays it for laughs, it sucks. **.
Final Space "The Other Side"
I think this probably qualifies as the first legit sci-fi episode of the series in that it's a high concept that lasts for a single episode.
I'm a little disappointed Littlecato was alone and insane at the end. Because the idea of Mooncake with a sexy voicebox was brilliant, and I seriously love the notion that he's secretly mean but you don't know that because he looks cute and you can't understand what he says. That facet to the character being canon would have meant a lot to me.
I hope the show does more episodes like this in the future. A lot of fans will think them filler. But as far as I'm concerned, they are a necessary and wonderful part of science fiction. The show moves through its arcs at a surprising speed (last season's disappointing cliffhanger notwithstanding) so I think it a good idea to do standalone sci-fi episodes now that things have settled down with Mooncake.
The Kenny Loggins scene was important to me because I think it is very important to see the heroes have fun with each other and enjoy their downtime. To be honest, that's rare, and hasn't really been done on genre shows since Star Trek. Even current Star Trek doesn't do that anymore. But I appreciate the good moments as much as the adventuresome ones.
Good stuff this week. ****.
Final Space "The Notorious Mrs. Goodspeed"
So great. The ending was devastating, as was Gary's determination. But his mom totally sucks. For real. I get how he came from his dad. I don't get how he came from his mom.
I expected the alien family at the beginning trying to get revenge on Gary to be a bigger presence in the episode than they were. Can I be honest? That was the worst, most appalling thing in season 1. I don't like the show calling back to it.
Ash actually has only one eye. Heh.
I never pictured Farscape's Claudia Black as a voice-over artist, but after hearing her, I was like, "Yeah, that makes sense." The sci-fi connection also doesn't hurt.
Good and tragic episode. ****.
Final Space "Arachnitects"
That was pretty good. I like how the Arachitects talk like real people and have real-life spats with each other regarding office politics. That may be usual for this specific show, but I don't think I've complimented that yet, and this was a really great example. They also have really cool character designs.
I liked that a lot. ****.
Final Space "The First Times They Met"
Gary and Quinn strike me as the new version of Fry and Leela.
I must give it to Gary for not actually being upset Nightfall created a Gary hologram to boink. Were I him, I'd be totally creeped out.
Would all those Kevins killing Clarence actually be the worst thing in the world?
I liked this one. ****.
Final Space "The Remembered"
Wow, that was neat. Cool way to bring back Avacato.
I also am interested in the Lord Commander's dire warnings about him. And who saved the Lord Commander at the end?
The one thing I hated was seeing the Dewinters completely and repeatedly abused. It was never funny, and it's sick how this show keeps calling back to it as if it was.
But other than that, that was a cool episode. ***1/2.
Final Space "The Closer You Get"
That wasn't merely a great episode. That was outright amazing television.
Forget the tragic ramifications of what happened to Avacato. Forget the fact that the animation was more cinematic in this episode than any other current action cartoon on television. Do you know what I took most from this episode?
It was freaking scary! It legitimately unsettled me at points, which blows my mind. Animation SUCKS at horror: Justice League Dark, Constantine: City Of Demons, even Spawn: The Animated Series, they traded gross-outs and gore for actual scary imagery. Do you know the last animated project that disturbed and scared me so much? MTV's The Maxx back in the 1990's. That's how long it's been.
Phil is a total nightmare. And the idea of Gary having to reach into his pocket, isn't just sex-offender creepy, it's funny!
Speaking of horror rarities, do you know how rare is for something to be both legitimately funny and legitimately scary at the same? The X-Files did funny episodes and they did scary ones. But never both at once. The Evil Dead was just plain silly. Only Twin Peaks has had me laughing at the same time I was screaming. That is a gift. And it's not something I would have pegged from this show.
Not only do I think this show should put this episode on their Emmy reel, I think it should probably win. I might even think that if they crazily submitted it for best comedy instead of best animated series. That's how amazed and impressed I was. *****.
Final Space "The Lost Spy"
I liked it. It was exciting and the backstory on Gary's mother was great. And Gary adopting Littlecato at the end was an "Aw!" moment too.
On the downside is the Clarence stuff. I hate this character. He is repulsive and everything he is involved in is repulsive too. Kevin was more annoying that usual too.
But I liked more than I didn't. ***1/2.
Final Space "The Set Up"
Sold. Cheryl is doing all her evil to see her husband. I love that.
And do you know the best thing about Clarence's betrayal? It's not out of nowhere. It's who the character always was, and the show is not trying to pull a shock on us that doesn't hold up in hindsight. I believe every inch of his betrayal of his children, and I even believed his regret upon losing everything. I object to surprise betrayals in fiction. Very much so. But betrayals that make sense? Totally on-board.
The stuff with HUE and Mooncake was hilarious. I love that he won the deathbot match because nobody saw him, and everyone else killed each other. I'm also shipping him and EVA pretty hard at this point.
This show continues to do things right. ****.
DC Nation: New Teen Titans "Titans 3-D"
I get why this was banned after Aurora. I don't get why it was banned permanently. It's cool for DC Universe to put it on their streaming site. ****.
DC Nation: New Teen Titans "It's The Great Pumpkin, Garfield Logan"
Yes, it's a great Peanuts tribute. But the actually selling point of this to me is seeing Silkie dressed as Mr. Mind for Halloween. ****1/2.
DC Super Hero Girls: Get To Know "Green Arrow"
I'm sure this is not everyone's experience, but it's mine: I think most teenagers with facial hair tend to be dirtbags, at least at that stage of their life. Oliver Queen does not change that perhaps faulty and unfair impression I've lived through. ***.
Preacher "Messiahs"
Let me compliment the show on something: I don't think I've seen a show or movie deal with bigger themes than this episode did. Arguably mother!, but that's an allegory and not literal. This episode has Hitler tempting Jesus into becoming the Messiah. How blatant of a button-pushing is that? It amazes me all of the flack Lucifer got from fundies when it debuted on Fox. It is positively tame compared to the actual blasphemy of this show. I am not a person comfortable with blasphemy for blasphemy's sake. But we'll see if the show can make that pay-off in the last couple of episodes. But this show deals with huge good and evil concepts.
My favorite parts were the Cassidy and Tulip stuff. The nearly silent performances by Joseph Giulgud and Ruth Negga at the beginning where amazing. Frankly, were I Negga, I'd be putting the scene where she reads Jessie's letter without saying a word on her Emmy reel.
I suspect something now after this episode that I probably should have seen coming. But Humperdoo is offensive on every level. People seeing him as divine are basically the worshipers of the Antichrist. He's outright obscene. And when Patty tells Cassidy and Tulip that now they can see why she couldn't tell anyone about him, they appear to be the only people on the show besides Jessie himself who are properly revolted by him and everything he stands for. Which suggests to me that there is a level of divinity and virtue attached to both of those characters we wouldn't have guessed. Even God raves about that cheese-raping trainwreck. And the fact that Cass and Tulip see him for what he is suggests they are actually the good guys.
Patty honestly is shocked Tulip killed her husband? My beef is her doing it in broad daylight in front of a ton of witnesses. But this is NOT the show to go to for logical plot turns that hold up.
Such as Jessie being offered the Big Chair. As bad of an idea as it is (and it's bad simply because I think Jessie is actually evil) I almost understand it. Who else is there with the kind of juice they need to stand up to God? Jessie finds the notion treasonous, but his entire mission is to hold God to account. Maybe the best way to clean up after him and stop his cruelty is to replace him.
Nothing in God's origin story on Earth surprised me a bit, and we seemed to be going over ground already strongly hinted at. What it did do was make me angry that I was right. The series is not going to go for a last minute moral that God's plan is actually for the best. He's legitimately a dirtbag who doesn't care about humanity or the people who depend on him. Very provocative stuff.
When Cass said he was going to eat that guy's chickens, as frightening as the look on his face was when he said it, I was relieved. But maybe I shouldn't be surprised. People who run into Cassidy and invite him into their homes should be grateful he is as chill and ethical a vampire as he is.
I'll say one thing for Herr Starr: Before this episode he was apparently hung. His torture being played for laughs however is something that has always disturbed me.
I didn't much dig the idea of the Messiah hiding out in a synagogue either. I think that didn't actually have anything to do with anything, and was simply done to offend Jews. It's not like this show doesn't offend Christians with it's every waking breath, but that is something that struck me again as blasphemy for blasphemy's sake. That's not deep. It's annoying, and makes the show hard to recommend to anyone else who has never seen or heard of it. I'm not saying the faithful are this show's intended audience. But if they are going to be shocked and offended, I want it to be for a good reason. I don't want any offended fundamentalists, no matter the religion, to be able to claim the high ground against a show like this. But I think the fact that the show does deliberately offensive stuff like Jews worshiping a cretin Messiah which is why the show is very hard to defend.
But the episode made me stop and think. Which is kind of a big deal for me. I didn't exactly like it. But I've also never seen anything like it before either. ****.
DuckTales "Timephoon!"
I loved it. I loved this version of Bubba and Tootsie and I love the subversive idea that Scrooge is his descendant.
I especially love Della reading Louie the riot act at the end. That was a long time coming. And she didn't buy it back either so kudos to her.
Webby seems either dressed as a 60's hippie or a 20's flapper at the end. I hope it's a hippie. That would be funnier.
"You have your own tub?" Launchpad is very easily impressed.
Best episode in awhile. *****.
DuckTales "GlomTales!"
Yeah, no. This is ridiculous. This is NOT Louie Duck. This is an abomination.
But hey that theme song change-up was cool, right? *.
DuckTales "The Richest Duck In The World!"
Eh. I liked this version of Bombie, especially the way to defeat him. I don't feel Rosa came up with a good solution of that. In fact, I don't believe he actually came up with a solution at all.
Louie is annoying, but I like Owlison a lot, and how she decides to make her own fortune by the end.
Scrooge's characterization was actually decent too. He's not bothered by the fortune reversal because Louie is lazy, and things will return to the status quo soon enough. And I especially like that he finds laziness unappealing, and instead immediately goes back to being a shoeshine boy to remake his fortune in the meantime.
I loved the Mouseton shout-out too.
It's sort of funny that Webby is described as the nephew violent's friend. But it also shouldn't actually be true.
I thought Dewey was super insensitive to Della, and I loved Della thoughtfully yelling "Who needs family?" upon hearing Penny call her her friend.
I have had just about enough of Louie Duck, and Dewey is wearing thin too. ***.
DuckTales "Moonvasion!"
I expect that to be very well-received by the show's viewers. I don't care. It was absolutely appalling.
Every review of every episode like this is me basically bemoaning the fact that Disney put producers in charge of the Ducks who have have no clue why the Ducks are actually great. Lemme try something else.
How's this for a comparison? Imagine you are watching your first episode ever of Downton Abbey. And in the middle of it the Dowager and company drop their tea and scones and start getting into an epic battle with light sabers and Andy Samberg's laser cats. If you had never seen the show before you'd think it was the greatest thing ever, and funny, and exciting, and you'd be wondering where this show has been all your life, and why everyone previously seemed to make the idea sound dull. That is the viewer DuckTales is catering to. But if you are an actual fan of Downton Abbey, laser cats freaking HURT. They are punch in the gut every second they are on-screen. They are ruining everything for the enjoyment of a group of people who don't actually care about or understand the franchise. Jerry Springer was very popular. Dumb and violent will always have an audience. But to see it infect this specific franchise is like a knife in my heart in every week.
I worry about Don Rosa's health. I'm actually being serious. I picture him having a stroke or heart attack every week. It's THAT upsetting. If you don't actually or love the Duck comics then you probably don't get why I'm so upset. But maybe the Downton Abbey analogy will help explain it a little.
DuckTales 2017 is designed for people who think the Disney Ducks are boring. Anyone who actually LIKES the Ducks is out of luck.
Unfortunately this lousy episode did not deserve to be the first animated meeting between Scrooge McDuck and Darkwing Duck, and Scrooge dressing as him fell flat too because they used it to simply say Darkwing sucks. Darkwing DID have a chip on his shoulder on the old show, but it was a bigger and more nuanced thing than him actually being a pathetic Cosplay loser.
The Mickey Mouse melon thing was creepy and makes no sense while they are using that voice impediment for Donald.
Also, I think Carl Barks and Don Rosa could have warned the show WHY it is a bad idea to put Gladstone Gander in adventures. He is the ultimate deus ex machina, and solves problems in such a fashion that it's boring. I agree more with Barks' low opinion of Gladstone whom he famously wound up hating, but the only way Gladstone works is in sitcom plots or the specific high-concept luck stories Rosa crazily made work. You do NOT want him on the good guys' side. It's like the Federation recruiting Q to win the Dominion War. Yeah, it'd work, but it would be no fun. That goes for adventures. And the fact that this was a battle, which is all wrong for the franchise to begin with, shows that the writers don't understand what makes the characters tick or their strengths and weaknesses or the kinds of stories that they fit into.
I will admit this. The F.O.W.L. cliffhanger intrigues me. Not only because it's been Scrooge's board members the entire time, but also because I noticed Steelbeak and the Phantom Blot dressed in a Tuskernini costume, and I'm interested to learn the deal there. But I'm not going to give a single star to an episode that only had an effective last 30 seconds. Everything else was pretty much a disaster. 0.
Big Hero 6: The Series "El Feugo"
I liked Baymax showing up at the end out of costume, because his presence gives himself an alibi for being the robot from Big Hero 6. That was accidentally useful.
Normally, I'd be inclined to call Honey Lemon's enthusiasm endearing on any given topic or hobby, but since this one is so tacky and violent, it's not.
I love Aunt Cass wishing for a second local TV station. In a city as big as San Fransokyo, that is not too much to freaking ask.
I felt this episode was a bit of a filler. ***.
Big Hero 6: The Series "The Globby Within"
Wow, Chief Cruz isn't just a jerk. I think he's a bad cop. I don't mean a corrupt one. I mean bad at his job. He lets his personal feelings rule over common sense. Not a good look, especially if he want Hiro to approve of a ship between him and Aunt Cass. ***.
Big Hero 6: The Series "Hardlight"
Dun dun dun on the cliffhanger. Of course, the culprit was pretty obvious.
"That changes nothing." Which is precisely why Chief Cruz sucks.
I love Basemax and the guy who built the base. I especially like that he doesn't like Fred. Or Wasabi because he's standing next to him.
Hardlight was a pretty cool villain. ***1/2.
Marvel's Spider-Man "The Day Without Spider-Man"
The first five minutes of the episode were quite good and I was like "Wow, was the show ALWAYS decent?" It's been a year. Did I just forget? And the answer is upon hearing Scorpion and Tinkerer's cringey dialogue: "Nope."
I love the idea that there are larger reasons to using the wisecracks, including comforting the bystanders. That's a definite selling point I am glad to see addressed.
I have seen worse origin stories for the name Ghost-Spider. ***1/2.
Marvel Super Hero Adventures "Bend, Don't Break"
I like Ghost-Spider but I don't like Rhino. ***1/2.
Marvel Super Hero Adventures "That's What Friends Are For"
I like this version of Green Goblin but this version of Miss Marvel seems a bit bland to me. She's usually quite a character, and this version bores me. **1/2.
Marvel Super Hero Adventures "Happy Birthday"
Because of the MCU I am amused to realize I half-see Loki as a Captain America villain. How weird is that? ***1/2.
Marvel Super Adventures "Things That Go Ha Ha! In The Night"
Somehow I don't feel good about Spider-Man giving life advice to the elderly. If anything, they should be teaching him.
Good. ****.
