style92 (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} style92) wrote,@ 2007-11-12 23:31:00 |
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Write up on Disney Channel line up 11 PM-1 Am CST.
Well, I HAVE to watch something on occasion to calm down the jitters. And it's a post DCAU world now. Okay, I like The Batman, a LOT, but not enough to watch consistently on Saturday mornings, so I mostly wait for the DVDs. (Besides, I harbor bitterness to Johnny-come-lately fans who act like seasons 4 and 5 are better than seasons 2 and 3. They are not. The only difference is that people finally got over themselves concerning that show.) But Anyway, lately I've been watching Disney Channel, particularly the late slot between 11 and 1. I'm Central, so Eastern that's mid night and 2. Mountain, I suppose that's 10-12, and Pacific, I think they're so far behind the rest of the country they get there own feed, sort of the television equivalent of a short bus. (nah, I kid.) So, I've watched enough episodes of the series in question to comment on the series in general. This is not specific episode reviews, just general thoughts.
The Replacements: A pair of precious Red-Head Siblings, Todd and Riley, are orphans. That sucks. But they find a Silver age comic book. And Silver age comic books were the Golden Age BS comic book ads. And such an add promises a life-long deal to replace any in your life with someone better just by call an all powerful company named Fleemco, run by the eccentric Comrade Fleem, a man who's dedicated his life to the betterment of the first 2 orphans to respond to his add by sending him $1.95.
So, our heroes Todd and Riley first decide to use their awesome new power to replace their unfortunately dead parents with 2 cool live ones. And they are the kind of choices kids would make. For their dad, they choose Dick Daring, and Evel Kineveal-esque Dare Devil. Perhaps a lifetime of stunts has stunted his intellect though, because he's a well meaning bumbler who always announces his presence with "look out Below!" (And no, I don't want to get into the whole "Tv Dumb Dad" argument right now.) For they're mom, they choose Uber-hot British Super-spy Agent K, who's own competence as a parent is undercut by her rabid paranoia of the world at large, but is also well-meaning and loving. (Which begs the question, how did Comrade Fleem arrange for Dick Daring and Agent K to fall in love? I dunno, I missed the pilot.) K though does bring many cool gadgets, including her talking car, CAR. CAR is a talking Car, but he's not like the movie Cars because he doesn't have a disturbing and nonsensical talking face on his front end. Nor does he turn into a Robot like a Transformer, he seems to be just a Car, Named CAR. Sort of like Kitt from Knight Rider, I suppose. And he has a lot of Gadgets. (Not so much Batmobile or Bondmobile, but more like the Mach 5 from Speed Racer.) Oh, and CAR is a smart ass and he hates Dick Daring. And that's kinda funny.
There are also a couple of noteworthy ancillary characters. A male classmate of Todd and Riley is a nerd, and so their approach to that is to have him be like Jerry Lewis. Okay, maybe it's not that noteworthy. But, a Friend of Riley's is a girl who's German and wears heavy Hi-tech metal Armor all the time. At first, I thought she was some kind of Cosplayer, but she claims to be some sort of evil Cyborg hunter, so maybe she really does hunt Cyborgs. When the fiction is that far out, it's hard to tell who you are and aren't supposed to take seriously. (I call it "The Question" syndrome. I mean, the DCAU is a place where no less than 3 immortals are running around, a Demon man, several magicians, and all manner of aliens, with complicated conspiracies. The Question is a man who is a proponent of such theories. In his debut episode, his theories turned out to be right. And yet, Dwayne McDuffie insisted the Question was a nutball who should not be taken seriously? Mah-Huh? Dude, just own up to the fact that you and BT didn't have the whole thing thought out so you had to do a little whinging it late season 3.) Anyway, the armor girl is noteworthy because she got one really funny gag. Once, she was frozen up and caught out in the snow, and instead of helping her, all the other kids hung Christmas ornaments on her. To which she pronounce, "My Anger will keep me warm."
Okay, so Todd and Riley's first foray into replacing people worked out well. And they retain the ability to replace people as they see fit. As you may guess, though, most episodes have the same structure. An adult imposes a rule Todd and/or Riley chafes at. They replace the person in question with someone who holds the exact opposite view. Situation is worse. They have to undo the replacement, or at least fight their way to a compromise. I mean, replacing people is a hideous power to have, and it's hard not to portray it in a negative light, even when that's your show's central gimmick. But, the show does occasionally have something slightly more subtle to say. Riley, the girl, is more prone to try to use her power for good, such as the time she got a fawning girlfriend for the previously mentioned Jerry Lewis nerd. The fact that he seemed to want a girlfriend in principal but rejected the girlfriend in fact was an interesting point to make. Some people can't handle what they really want. And meddling in other peoples affairs is rarely a good thing.
So, I find the Replacements to be funny enough to watch semi-nightly, and is perhaps my favorite series of the 4 I'm talking about.
Kim Possible:
(Please note: Though this series is played nightly on Disney Channel, it appears that they are NOT cycling through the entire back catalog of Kim Possible episodes, but rather are only showing the episodes of the most recent season. Because there are MANY shows I like that I would not want judged solely on their final seasons, I will note that my opinion may not be fair to the show as a total. C'est la Vie.)
Okay, so there's this girl named Kim Possible who has a Rocket Scientist for a Father and a Neurosurgeon for a Mother, and they are both still alive. Kim Possible has a Boyfriend named Ron Stoppable, who's sort of a nerd, but not a total nerd. (actually, it's odd, because he uses popular slang and is in on all the cool stuff, but the show wants me to think he's a nerd, and a coward.) Kim Possible is a top Student in High School, and has an after school job at something called the Banana Club, which is like a Banana Republic or Gap or something. Oh, and when she finds the time, she goes globe-hopping to save the world from the forces of evil, as something half-way between a spy and a Superhero. 70% of the time, though, the forces of evil in question are a guy named Dr. Drakken, (though "Dr." must just a be self appointed title, as he's also a self-admitted College drop out. Much like Yours Truly, come to thing of it. Sure, I could Un-Drop out, but I'm not sure I want to. But, anyway.) And his sidekick, who seems a potent enough threat in her own right that I'm surprised she is a sidekick, a woman named Shego, who has green Plasma hand blasts or something. And, according to one episode, she's a former Superhero herself, having once belonged to a Teen Titans esque group known as "Team Go," (in their hilarious "Go Tower," which would be funny, but I don't think Kim Possible is in any position to through spitballs at fellow Superhero cartoons.) Kim also has a pair of twin little brothers who are geniuses. That's all well and good, but they are annoying because they are the series most blatant outlet for attempting to create new slang that'll be hip. They say things like "Hicka-Bicka-Boo?" (Inquisitive greeting,) and "Hoo-Shah!" (Exclamatory.)
The series does have a light-hearted sense of fun that I can see being attractive to many people. And the series protagonist, Kim Possible, is a competent girl. And that, all by itself, is very praise worthy. Nevertheless, I do hold some things against this series.
The series is 85% Kim's normal, High School life. I know. That's what many fans love. For many people, such normalcy in a fantasy show helps ground it and keep it relate-able. Like Harry Potter, which I really, really like, The vast bulk of the story is just regular school stuff, which I call "The boring parts." But the boring parts are what ground the characters, so most people love it. Hey, this approach must work for a vast number of people, as Spiderman has taken it too. (In the 60's, no more than 25% of a Spidey story was the boring school part. Sam Raimi plays it for 90% of story. And the Television show Heroes is about superpowered people and it's composed EXCLUSIVELY of boring parts. So, shows what I know.) Still, Kim's regular life I find to be, oh, I don't want to call it asinine, but, yeah, I think that's the word.
See, my beef with Kim is that there's nothing that humbles her. She's a Jock. A female Jock, but a Jock nontheless. Her parents are both living, both brilliant, both have good jobs, and are both Rich. Okay, maybe they're only "Way, WAY Upper Middle Class," but they ain't hurting for money. So, right away, Kim is used to having whatever she wants, particularly in the way of vehicles, hi-tech gadgets, and enough scratch to cover any activity she could possibly want to do. She's also a top cheerleader, a co-captain as it turns out, and a top student. There's nothing she can't do. Which, admittedly, seems to be part of the point of the character. But consider this: Almost every Hero has something that humbles them, an obstacle to overcome, or at least a good gruesome tragedy in their past. Consider some Superheroes. What humbles Superman? He lost his whole civilization. Not to mention he grew up humbly on a farm on Smallville. (I know I've digressed a lot by know, but I thought I should mention an argument I used to have with my mom over this point when she was at her peak Spider-man fangirl-ishness. She argued that Spider-man was more down to earth than Superman because he was just a regular guy from Queens going to school before he got his Powers. I counter argued that Superman's background on the farm was even more humble. She then came back that Superman is Superman, he can do anything! I then argued that powers are besides the point of this discussion, because Spider-man has an impressive array of powers too. She then got pissed off. Meh.) Wonderwoman had to reject her royal heritage to follow her conscience. And Batman, well, he ain't hurting for money either, but he still has a good, solid, horrific tragedy in his background. What can't Kim Possible do? What has she had to sacrifice to be a crime fighter? What Obstacles has she had to overcome? Has she ever even had a bad day? What possibly motivates her to even fight crime at all? (Again, this is where my lack of familiarity with the earlier seasons may be hurting my opinions.)
Okay, perhaps there is something that humbles her: Her boyfriend and Partner in crime-fighting, Ron Stoppable. (Poor Will Friedel. He was Batman, after all. That should count for something. Although, he was also in "Boy Meets World," a series I actively despise, so maybe he had it coming to him Karmacly.) As mentioned before, Ron is a Doofus. And something of a coward, as one episode demonstrates where he goes into hiding fearing his demise is statistically inevitable. He's into geeky things, but, again, not so much so to be unforgivable, as Kim's cousin appears to be. He's also obsessed with eating at a Taco Bell-knockoff called Buena Nacho. Again, on the one hand, this is fine. Having the girl Kim's sidekick be a less-than-competent boy is excellent gender-bending. And yet, I don't like how the series treats him. The fact that he seems out of the Al-mighty Kim Possible's league is treated as an open joke by all characters. Even Kim seems to acknowledge she could and should be with someone hotter and less doofus-y, and accepts with bemusement her "fate" of being with Ron. I mean, does she love the guy or not? She certainly seems condescending about it. True, it could be said that this is part of a broader character flaw evident in Kim: for all the reasons stated in the last paragraph, she's conceited. On more than one occasion, she's flummoxed when she seems to run up against a limit in her abilities. "I'm Kim Possible, as in anything is," she's heard to quote. This can be an interesting line for them to develop for her, but it's never really drawn out as an actual character flaw. Oh well.
And lets get down to cases: All the characters on the show speak both with Hip slang and an irreverence to their situations which gets irritating. In the first case, not only do we have Kim's brothers out trying to invent hip new terminology to say, but Ron always has some grating word too. He can be heard saying things like "A Yup Yup!" (Wasn't that an Ewoks song?) and particularly, "Boo-Yeah!" Okay, I know Cyborg also said "Boo-yeah" on Teen Titans, but never so much that it was grating. It spills out of Ron's mouth near constantly. But in the second case, all the characters on the show speak in a jaded, "been there, done that" post modern flip way of speaking where they never seem to take serious situations seriously. Apparently, this is a popular thing to do in sci-fi and fantasy these days, under the assumption that the fans have seen it all too. Apparently, Joss Whedon was a pioneer of such lines. (I've heard them called "clever" lines, which I think is the wrong word for the umbrella term.) I admit, in small doses, it's refreshing. Key is small doses. For example, in Spider-man 3, Spider-man reacts to the Supervillain Sandman with, "Where do these guys, (superpowered Supervillains) keep coming from?" It's refreshing and gets a genuine laugh. But that's because the whole movie isn't built on self-aware lines. I felt that such self-aware humor was becoming poisonous to the last couple of seasons of JLU, and it's also in full force on Kim Possible, at least in it's final season. Shego openly mocks Drakken's ineffectiveness as a Supervillain, and when his plans do seem to be going well, she comments, "This level of competence from you is a refreshing change of pace." Oh Ha Ha. But answer me this, Shego; Why are you still hanging out with such an ineffective loser? You don't look better for recognizing him as ineffective: you look worse because you recognize it but still show up for work. (Admittedly, I saw only part of the final episode where it was suggested that maybe Drakken and Shego are in love, but are both too proud to admit it. If that's true, then that does help explain it.)
Too Sum up: Kim Possible is a pretty good but flawed show I've been watching lately. Yeah, I probably focused to exclusion on my problems with it, hey, I guess Anton Ego was right: Being critical is just more fun. So sue me.
The Emperor's New School: You know how I was just complaining about self-aware humor? Well, screw it. This show is dripping with it, and it's hilarious. On the other hand, it is a legitimate parody, where such self-aware humor should be the norm. And Parodies are hard to pull off. But this one works.
And that probably mostly has to do with the show being a spin-off of one of Disney's least known animated masterpieces, The Emperor's New Groove. That movie is so noteworthy because, even though it's G-rated, it's actually, legitimately funny. Not just family-friendly Disney G-rated funny, where Kids think it's hilarious and adults smile because it's cute. Most Disney movies and even a few Pixar films are that way. But Emperor's New Groove was actually, legitimately funny in a way that adults would actually laugh because it's actually funny. And Emperor's New School is much the same way, and less dumbed down than you'd expect.
But Yes, it is dumbed down. To recap the premise, Kuzco is the 18 year old emperor of the ancient Inca Empire. In the movie, he was a hyper conceited jerk who didn't care who's lives he destroyed for his own edification. Then, when his Enemy Yzma makes a move for the throne, he had a humbling experience with a villager named Pacha that gave Kuzco a new look on life. Well, the show picks up with the notion that that experience didn't make Kuzco not self-absorbed, it merely took the most raw edge off it. Well, Kuzco finds that an obscure law requires that his Emperorship be suspended until he finishes High School, so he gets booted from the palace and moves in with Pacha as a fourth child. Meanwhile, Yzma still needs to bump off Kuzco before she can make a play for the throne, so she enrolls her beefy cronie Kronk, (Patrick Warburton, best known as Seinfeld's David Puddy, in his most inspired animated role) to enroll in the school as well, (despite the fact he's nearing 30) to get close to Kuzco to execute Yzma's plans. Which, almost universally, involve slipping Kuzco a potion that will turn him into an animal. There's also a new character named Malina, the School's hottest cheerleader, (I was a little surprised that an animated program was able to use the word "hot" in that sense) to serve as Kuzco's love interest, and his conscience. (Being his conscience should have been Pacha's job, but a major flaw in the show is that the memorable Pacha has been shoved aside to accommodate the high school motif.)
So, what else can I say? Well, it's really funny. Seriously. If you haven't seen it, you should. But promise me you'll watch Emperor's New Groove first. Perhaps the humor of the series has a lot to do with the fact that it's a stunted morality tale. All the characters know they're flawed, and know they need to improve, but can never muster the effort to do so. Which is startlingly realistic. So, it's good to be able to laugh at it.
American Dragon: Jake Long. : Okay. I don't really know much to anything about this show. When Emperor's New School Wraps up, I tend to roll over and go to sleep. But I do know that this show has the most insipid theme song in the history of cartoons. Here's the first few lines of it, no kidding:
"He's Cool, He's Hot, like a Frozen Sun. He's Young, He's Hip, He's the Chosen One. People, we're not Braggin'. He's the American Dragon."
I mean, I've heard some riffing on the sucktitude of other cartoon themes. Some people hate the new TMNT song because it has the line "Watch out for Shredder!" Spoken, not sung, in it. But Jesus. Frozen Sun? Yah kiddin' me?
Okay. I guess the show is about a Kid who can turn into a Dragon. So can he Grandpa, and, at times, his little sister. So, he's hardly unique. He's also got a Talking Bulldog. And a Dorky friend who's trying to date a hot cheer leader way out of his league. (that... sounds... familiar, somehow?) Oh, yeah, and Cree Summer is there too. It's totally paint by numbers. Which is why I sleep through that one.
And so ends my write up on some cartoons I've been watching lately. But Hey. I turned to Disney Channel to fulfill a specific need, and it did: a relaxing set of shows to calm down to and go to sleep by.
Now, if only I had recorded that Kim Possible marathon from a couple of months ago...
Well, I HAVE to watch something on occasion to calm down the jitters. And it's a post DCAU world now. Okay, I like The Batman, a LOT, but not enough to watch consistently on Saturday mornings, so I mostly wait for the DVDs. (Besides, I harbor bitterness to Johnny-come-lately fans who act like seasons 4 and 5 are better than seasons 2 and 3. They are not. The only difference is that people finally got over themselves concerning that show.) But Anyway, lately I've been watching Disney Channel, particularly the late slot between 11 and 1. I'm Central, so Eastern that's mid night and 2. Mountain, I suppose that's 10-12, and Pacific, I think they're so far behind the rest of the country they get there own feed, sort of the television equivalent of a short bus. (nah, I kid.) So, I've watched enough episodes of the series in question to comment on the series in general. This is not specific episode reviews, just general thoughts.
The Replacements: A pair of precious Red-Head Siblings, Todd and Riley, are orphans. That sucks. But they find a Silver age comic book. And Silver age comic books were the Golden Age BS comic book ads. And such an add promises a life-long deal to replace any in your life with someone better just by call an all powerful company named Fleemco, run by the eccentric Comrade Fleem, a man who's dedicated his life to the betterment of the first 2 orphans to respond to his add by sending him $1.95.
So, our heroes Todd and Riley first decide to use their awesome new power to replace their unfortunately dead parents with 2 cool live ones. And they are the kind of choices kids would make. For their dad, they choose Dick Daring, and Evel Kineveal-esque Dare Devil. Perhaps a lifetime of stunts has stunted his intellect though, because he's a well meaning bumbler who always announces his presence with "look out Below!" (And no, I don't want to get into the whole "Tv Dumb Dad" argument right now.) For they're mom, they choose Uber-hot British Super-spy Agent K, who's own competence as a parent is undercut by her rabid paranoia of the world at large, but is also well-meaning and loving. (Which begs the question, how did Comrade Fleem arrange for Dick Daring and Agent K to fall in love? I dunno, I missed the pilot.) K though does bring many cool gadgets, including her talking car, CAR. CAR is a talking Car, but he's not like the movie Cars because he doesn't have a disturbing and nonsensical talking face on his front end. Nor does he turn into a Robot like a Transformer, he seems to be just a Car, Named CAR. Sort of like Kitt from Knight Rider, I suppose. And he has a lot of Gadgets. (Not so much Batmobile or Bondmobile, but more like the Mach 5 from Speed Racer.) Oh, and CAR is a smart ass and he hates Dick Daring. And that's kinda funny.
There are also a couple of noteworthy ancillary characters. A male classmate of Todd and Riley is a nerd, and so their approach to that is to have him be like Jerry Lewis. Okay, maybe it's not that noteworthy. But, a Friend of Riley's is a girl who's German and wears heavy Hi-tech metal Armor all the time. At first, I thought she was some kind of Cosplayer, but she claims to be some sort of evil Cyborg hunter, so maybe she really does hunt Cyborgs. When the fiction is that far out, it's hard to tell who you are and aren't supposed to take seriously. (I call it "The Question" syndrome. I mean, the DCAU is a place where no less than 3 immortals are running around, a Demon man, several magicians, and all manner of aliens, with complicated conspiracies. The Question is a man who is a proponent of such theories. In his debut episode, his theories turned out to be right. And yet, Dwayne McDuffie insisted the Question was a nutball who should not be taken seriously? Mah-Huh? Dude, just own up to the fact that you and BT didn't have the whole thing thought out so you had to do a little whinging it late season 3.) Anyway, the armor girl is noteworthy because she got one really funny gag. Once, she was frozen up and caught out in the snow, and instead of helping her, all the other kids hung Christmas ornaments on her. To which she pronounce, "My Anger will keep me warm."
Okay, so Todd and Riley's first foray into replacing people worked out well. And they retain the ability to replace people as they see fit. As you may guess, though, most episodes have the same structure. An adult imposes a rule Todd and/or Riley chafes at. They replace the person in question with someone who holds the exact opposite view. Situation is worse. They have to undo the replacement, or at least fight their way to a compromise. I mean, replacing people is a hideous power to have, and it's hard not to portray it in a negative light, even when that's your show's central gimmick. But, the show does occasionally have something slightly more subtle to say. Riley, the girl, is more prone to try to use her power for good, such as the time she got a fawning girlfriend for the previously mentioned Jerry Lewis nerd. The fact that he seemed to want a girlfriend in principal but rejected the girlfriend in fact was an interesting point to make. Some people can't handle what they really want. And meddling in other peoples affairs is rarely a good thing.
So, I find the Replacements to be funny enough to watch semi-nightly, and is perhaps my favorite series of the 4 I'm talking about.
Kim Possible:
(Please note: Though this series is played nightly on Disney Channel, it appears that they are NOT cycling through the entire back catalog of Kim Possible episodes, but rather are only showing the episodes of the most recent season. Because there are MANY shows I like that I would not want judged solely on their final seasons, I will note that my opinion may not be fair to the show as a total. C'est la Vie.)
Okay, so there's this girl named Kim Possible who has a Rocket Scientist for a Father and a Neurosurgeon for a Mother, and they are both still alive. Kim Possible has a Boyfriend named Ron Stoppable, who's sort of a nerd, but not a total nerd. (actually, it's odd, because he uses popular slang and is in on all the cool stuff, but the show wants me to think he's a nerd, and a coward.) Kim Possible is a top Student in High School, and has an after school job at something called the Banana Club, which is like a Banana Republic or Gap or something. Oh, and when she finds the time, she goes globe-hopping to save the world from the forces of evil, as something half-way between a spy and a Superhero. 70% of the time, though, the forces of evil in question are a guy named Dr. Drakken, (though "Dr." must just a be self appointed title, as he's also a self-admitted College drop out. Much like Yours Truly, come to thing of it. Sure, I could Un-Drop out, but I'm not sure I want to. But, anyway.) And his sidekick, who seems a potent enough threat in her own right that I'm surprised she is a sidekick, a woman named Shego, who has green Plasma hand blasts or something. And, according to one episode, she's a former Superhero herself, having once belonged to a Teen Titans esque group known as "Team Go," (in their hilarious "Go Tower," which would be funny, but I don't think Kim Possible is in any position to through spitballs at fellow Superhero cartoons.) Kim also has a pair of twin little brothers who are geniuses. That's all well and good, but they are annoying because they are the series most blatant outlet for attempting to create new slang that'll be hip. They say things like "Hicka-Bicka-Boo?" (Inquisitive greeting,) and "Hoo-Shah!" (Exclamatory.)
The series does have a light-hearted sense of fun that I can see being attractive to many people. And the series protagonist, Kim Possible, is a competent girl. And that, all by itself, is very praise worthy. Nevertheless, I do hold some things against this series.
The series is 85% Kim's normal, High School life. I know. That's what many fans love. For many people, such normalcy in a fantasy show helps ground it and keep it relate-able. Like Harry Potter, which I really, really like, The vast bulk of the story is just regular school stuff, which I call "The boring parts." But the boring parts are what ground the characters, so most people love it. Hey, this approach must work for a vast number of people, as Spiderman has taken it too. (In the 60's, no more than 25% of a Spidey story was the boring school part. Sam Raimi plays it for 90% of story. And the Television show Heroes is about superpowered people and it's composed EXCLUSIVELY of boring parts. So, shows what I know.) Still, Kim's regular life I find to be, oh, I don't want to call it asinine, but, yeah, I think that's the word.
See, my beef with Kim is that there's nothing that humbles her. She's a Jock. A female Jock, but a Jock nontheless. Her parents are both living, both brilliant, both have good jobs, and are both Rich. Okay, maybe they're only "Way, WAY Upper Middle Class," but they ain't hurting for money. So, right away, Kim is used to having whatever she wants, particularly in the way of vehicles, hi-tech gadgets, and enough scratch to cover any activity she could possibly want to do. She's also a top cheerleader, a co-captain as it turns out, and a top student. There's nothing she can't do. Which, admittedly, seems to be part of the point of the character. But consider this: Almost every Hero has something that humbles them, an obstacle to overcome, or at least a good gruesome tragedy in their past. Consider some Superheroes. What humbles Superman? He lost his whole civilization. Not to mention he grew up humbly on a farm on Smallville. (I know I've digressed a lot by know, but I thought I should mention an argument I used to have with my mom over this point when she was at her peak Spider-man fangirl-ishness. She argued that Spider-man was more down to earth than Superman because he was just a regular guy from Queens going to school before he got his Powers. I counter argued that Superman's background on the farm was even more humble. She then came back that Superman is Superman, he can do anything! I then argued that powers are besides the point of this discussion, because Spider-man has an impressive array of powers too. She then got pissed off. Meh.) Wonderwoman had to reject her royal heritage to follow her conscience. And Batman, well, he ain't hurting for money either, but he still has a good, solid, horrific tragedy in his background. What can't Kim Possible do? What has she had to sacrifice to be a crime fighter? What Obstacles has she had to overcome? Has she ever even had a bad day? What possibly motivates her to even fight crime at all? (Again, this is where my lack of familiarity with the earlier seasons may be hurting my opinions.)
Okay, perhaps there is something that humbles her: Her boyfriend and Partner in crime-fighting, Ron Stoppable. (Poor Will Friedel. He was Batman, after all. That should count for something. Although, he was also in "Boy Meets World," a series I actively despise, so maybe he had it coming to him Karmacly.) As mentioned before, Ron is a Doofus. And something of a coward, as one episode demonstrates where he goes into hiding fearing his demise is statistically inevitable. He's into geeky things, but, again, not so much so to be unforgivable, as Kim's cousin appears to be. He's also obsessed with eating at a Taco Bell-knockoff called Buena Nacho. Again, on the one hand, this is fine. Having the girl Kim's sidekick be a less-than-competent boy is excellent gender-bending. And yet, I don't like how the series treats him. The fact that he seems out of the Al-mighty Kim Possible's league is treated as an open joke by all characters. Even Kim seems to acknowledge she could and should be with someone hotter and less doofus-y, and accepts with bemusement her "fate" of being with Ron. I mean, does she love the guy or not? She certainly seems condescending about it. True, it could be said that this is part of a broader character flaw evident in Kim: for all the reasons stated in the last paragraph, she's conceited. On more than one occasion, she's flummoxed when she seems to run up against a limit in her abilities. "I'm Kim Possible, as in anything is," she's heard to quote. This can be an interesting line for them to develop for her, but it's never really drawn out as an actual character flaw. Oh well.
And lets get down to cases: All the characters on the show speak both with Hip slang and an irreverence to their situations which gets irritating. In the first case, not only do we have Kim's brothers out trying to invent hip new terminology to say, but Ron always has some grating word too. He can be heard saying things like "A Yup Yup!" (Wasn't that an Ewoks song?) and particularly, "Boo-Yeah!" Okay, I know Cyborg also said "Boo-yeah" on Teen Titans, but never so much that it was grating. It spills out of Ron's mouth near constantly. But in the second case, all the characters on the show speak in a jaded, "been there, done that" post modern flip way of speaking where they never seem to take serious situations seriously. Apparently, this is a popular thing to do in sci-fi and fantasy these days, under the assumption that the fans have seen it all too. Apparently, Joss Whedon was a pioneer of such lines. (I've heard them called "clever" lines, which I think is the wrong word for the umbrella term.) I admit, in small doses, it's refreshing. Key is small doses. For example, in Spider-man 3, Spider-man reacts to the Supervillain Sandman with, "Where do these guys, (superpowered Supervillains) keep coming from?" It's refreshing and gets a genuine laugh. But that's because the whole movie isn't built on self-aware lines. I felt that such self-aware humor was becoming poisonous to the last couple of seasons of JLU, and it's also in full force on Kim Possible, at least in it's final season. Shego openly mocks Drakken's ineffectiveness as a Supervillain, and when his plans do seem to be going well, she comments, "This level of competence from you is a refreshing change of pace." Oh Ha Ha. But answer me this, Shego; Why are you still hanging out with such an ineffective loser? You don't look better for recognizing him as ineffective: you look worse because you recognize it but still show up for work. (Admittedly, I saw only part of the final episode where it was suggested that maybe Drakken and Shego are in love, but are both too proud to admit it. If that's true, then that does help explain it.)
Too Sum up: Kim Possible is a pretty good but flawed show I've been watching lately. Yeah, I probably focused to exclusion on my problems with it, hey, I guess Anton Ego was right: Being critical is just more fun. So sue me.
The Emperor's New School: You know how I was just complaining about self-aware humor? Well, screw it. This show is dripping with it, and it's hilarious. On the other hand, it is a legitimate parody, where such self-aware humor should be the norm. And Parodies are hard to pull off. But this one works.
And that probably mostly has to do with the show being a spin-off of one of Disney's least known animated masterpieces, The Emperor's New Groove. That movie is so noteworthy because, even though it's G-rated, it's actually, legitimately funny. Not just family-friendly Disney G-rated funny, where Kids think it's hilarious and adults smile because it's cute. Most Disney movies and even a few Pixar films are that way. But Emperor's New Groove was actually, legitimately funny in a way that adults would actually laugh because it's actually funny. And Emperor's New School is much the same way, and less dumbed down than you'd expect.
But Yes, it is dumbed down. To recap the premise, Kuzco is the 18 year old emperor of the ancient Inca Empire. In the movie, he was a hyper conceited jerk who didn't care who's lives he destroyed for his own edification. Then, when his Enemy Yzma makes a move for the throne, he had a humbling experience with a villager named Pacha that gave Kuzco a new look on life. Well, the show picks up with the notion that that experience didn't make Kuzco not self-absorbed, it merely took the most raw edge off it. Well, Kuzco finds that an obscure law requires that his Emperorship be suspended until he finishes High School, so he gets booted from the palace and moves in with Pacha as a fourth child. Meanwhile, Yzma still needs to bump off Kuzco before she can make a play for the throne, so she enrolls her beefy cronie Kronk, (Patrick Warburton, best known as Seinfeld's David Puddy, in his most inspired animated role) to enroll in the school as well, (despite the fact he's nearing 30) to get close to Kuzco to execute Yzma's plans. Which, almost universally, involve slipping Kuzco a potion that will turn him into an animal. There's also a new character named Malina, the School's hottest cheerleader, (I was a little surprised that an animated program was able to use the word "hot" in that sense) to serve as Kuzco's love interest, and his conscience. (Being his conscience should have been Pacha's job, but a major flaw in the show is that the memorable Pacha has been shoved aside to accommodate the high school motif.)
So, what else can I say? Well, it's really funny. Seriously. If you haven't seen it, you should. But promise me you'll watch Emperor's New Groove first. Perhaps the humor of the series has a lot to do with the fact that it's a stunted morality tale. All the characters know they're flawed, and know they need to improve, but can never muster the effort to do so. Which is startlingly realistic. So, it's good to be able to laugh at it.
American Dragon: Jake Long. : Okay. I don't really know much to anything about this show. When Emperor's New School Wraps up, I tend to roll over and go to sleep. But I do know that this show has the most insipid theme song in the history of cartoons. Here's the first few lines of it, no kidding:
"He's Cool, He's Hot, like a Frozen Sun. He's Young, He's Hip, He's the Chosen One. People, we're not Braggin'. He's the American Dragon."
I mean, I've heard some riffing on the sucktitude of other cartoon themes. Some people hate the new TMNT song because it has the line "Watch out for Shredder!" Spoken, not sung, in it. But Jesus. Frozen Sun? Yah kiddin' me?
Okay. I guess the show is about a Kid who can turn into a Dragon. So can he Grandpa, and, at times, his little sister. So, he's hardly unique. He's also got a Talking Bulldog. And a Dorky friend who's trying to date a hot cheer leader way out of his league. (that... sounds... familiar, somehow?) Oh, yeah, and Cree Summer is there too. It's totally paint by numbers. Which is why I sleep through that one.
And so ends my write up on some cartoons I've been watching lately. But Hey. I turned to Disney Channel to fulfill a specific need, and it did: a relaxing set of shows to calm down to and go to sleep by.
Now, if only I had recorded that Kim Possible marathon from a couple of months ago...
