"Labyrinth" and "Jim Henson's The Christmas Toy" Reviews (Spoilers)

[matt_zimmer]

Also reviews for the latest episodes of Batman: The Brave And The Bold Smallville, Heroes, TMNT: Back to the Sewers, The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Family Guy, and American Dad.



Batman: The Brave and the Bold "Terror on Dinosaur Island!"

Remember last week how I said I could grow to love this show if it didn't feature a hero as annoying as Blue Beetle every week? I was totally right. I LOVED Plastic Man (I remember his old seventies/ eighties cartoon fondly as a child) and thought this episode featuring Gorilla Grodd (With cameos from Fire and Gentleman Ghost) was fantastic. Better yet, they included Plas' Eel O'Brian origin (which needs to be done in DTV fasion if any JLU DTVs are in the pipeline). Awesome episode. Now bring on Baby Plas! ****1/2.

Smallville "Abyss"

This is a notable episode in Smallville history for me. It features a plot twist SO jaw-droppingly bad that I've literally completely lost interest in the show. I was slowly but surely buying the DVD volumes of the show but they will now be dropping by the wayside (I still haven't finished season three).

Retconning Chloe knowing Clark's secret is the worst thing the show has ever done. The ONLY good thing about the show recently is Chloe and Clark's interplay and sharing of his secret and making plan trying not to get caught. Alison Mack is now the female lead on the show by default and making her go back to bit player in the Superman mythos is the biggest indignity the show has ever foisted upon her.

If and when they retcon this completely stupid decision (I'll still be watching to wait for it) is when I'll say the show isn't completely worthless. As of now, it is. 0.

Smallville "Bride"

Who cares what happens to Chloe now that her biggest and best link to Clark is now gone? How can Clark claim to be her best friend after completely violating and betraying her last week? It was practically a mind-rape and Lana (Kristen Kruek guest starring) was completely right to call Clark on it. I just don't think Idiot Kent has been rebuffed enough about it.

Oh, Doomsday. Yay. Or Not. *.

Heroes "Chapter Nine: It's Coming"

This was a good news/ bad news type of thing. The good: Matt and Daphne saving Angela and meeting up with Peter and Claire in the process. The bad: Hiro turning into a little kid and Sylar and Elle getting gooey. The stuff that could go either way, depending on how it plays out: Nathan and Arthur's meeting.

Eh, not much else to say about this okay episode. ***.

TMNT: Back to the Sewer "SuperQuest"

Kind of an okay episode that is intruiging because of the surprise ending that the ally the Turtles met in the game is unbeknownst to either side actually Hun. This is one of the cleverest twists the show has ever done but I'm not really on-board with the revelation. Why? It humanizes Hun too much. Now normally humanizing villains is the mark of a good show and a good villain but I don't think it works for a character like Hun. He's a bad cat precisely because we don't know where he came from or what makes him tick. He was previously a completely mystery and he works better that way. I don't think this twist actually ruined his character's appeal or anything but it certainly didn't help. ***1/2.

TMNT: Back to the Sewer "Virtual Reality Check"

I KNEW what was going on before the Turtles did (although it being a ruse by Virtual Shredder to trick Don was a nice surprise) but the episode makes the fatal mistake of making it OBVIOUS it's a fantasy by killing off Casey and then April in the fantasy. Now it COULD be argued that non-cynical kids could have fallen for it except that the show has used this particular twist more than once (Bad Day is the first episode to come immediately to mind) so it was pretty much insulting to just about everyone's intelligence. **1/2.

The Simpsons "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words"

I enjoyed this a lot. Having an episode based on crossword competitions was a GREAT idea and I loved Homer betting against Lisa because I would have done the exact same thing with the same information. I also loved the subtle dig at Lisa constantly changing religions. A really fun episode. ****.

King of the Hill "A Bill Full of Dollars"

Kind of a boring episode to be honest. Peggy sucks as usual. Only part of the episode I liked was Hank rightly shellacking Peggy, Minh, and Dale for using Bill. **1/2.

Family Guy "Tales of a Third Grade Nothing"

Peter's plot of going back to school was kind of rote but I really love the resolution of him going to jail at the end of the episode for setting fire to that orphanage with a sly wink at the audience of the real-life consequences of some of the dangerous things the characters do on the show and how the show always manages to shirk responsibility for them. But I REALLY enjoyed Brian and Frank Sinatra Jr.'s subplot of having their club turned into a rave. I especially loved Sinatra's old-school reactions to everything especially since they weren't exactly politically correct. And Stewie was a blast as usual. ***1/2.

American Dad "Pulling Double Booty"

God, I laughed SO much during this episode. It was SO wrong on every single level. The absolute funniest line went to Stan when after Haley's offer of a three-some he says to her sadly "You used to watch Sesame Street". Hilarious. ****1/2.



Jim Henson's The Christmas Toy:

This eighties special featuring entirely new Muppets (and the basis for the Disney Channel series Jim Henson's The Secret Life of Toys) pre-dated Pixar's Toy Story by ten years. It is just as heart-warming but has a dark dangerous streak to it that Toy Story lacked. I'm not saying it is better or worse for it but I was traumatized by Mew getting "frozen forever" as a child. Rugby's story of learning exactly what it means for last year's Christmas toy to have to watch someone new come out of the box killed me too. Rugby is selfish and egotistical and by the end of the special completely sympathetic. I loved all of the different toys. My favorites were Mew, Ditz the Clown, Belmont the Horse and the doll Apple. I have to say it was a delightful twist to have the new toy be "evil" just because it added so many new problems into getting her back in the box. Meteora is also quite funny in an Emperor Zurg type of way.

This was only broadcast once when I was a child and I regretted never having it on tape. (It's sort of surreal that I STILL remember the melody of "Old Friends, New Friends" despite having only seen this once as a small child.) Now that I have it on DVD I'm happy. ****1/2.



Jim Henson's Labyrinth

Really cool Jim Henson fantasy film with a cool concept and bizarre characters.

The film features Jennifer Connelly in one of her earlier screen roles as a girl named Sarah who wishes the Goblin King (David Bowie) would take away her baby brother. Sarah starts off the movie as a melodramatic drama queen and becomes a young woman by the end. The scene with Sarah and the Goblin King at the ball was a great metaphor for her growing up.

I liked the Goblin King because as a villain he wasn't ESPECIALLY cruel despite what he told Sarah at the end.

Hoggle the dwarf is a strange one because I think he is the first puppet character Henson has ever done that is pretty much completely unlikable. It was wierd that they made him the second banana in the movie.

I am delighted to see Gates McFadden (Star Trek: The Next Generation's Dr. Crusher) credited here as Cheryl McFadden as the dance and puppet coordinator. I forgot she used to work for Henson.

I love Sir Didymus. SO cute and hilarious.

If I had any beefs about the movie, it's with the very end with the party in Sarah's room with all of the puppets. It only seems so jarring because she had JUST said a wistful goodbye to all of them in her mirror and it negated that scene dramatically. Other than that this is one of Henson's best films. ****1/2.