Sunday Wrap-Up: 06/20/2011-06/26/2011

Tony here. Time for the end-of-the-week Sunday Wrap-Up. It’s here that I look back at the week in animation and say what I thought worked, what I thought failed, and what I thought was the best-of-the-best of week. (I do apologize for not having practically any posts at all this week, but I’ve been busy partaking in a South Park marathon and haven’t really had the time.) Some spoilers below. Let’s get started.

On CN Monday, we had new episodes of:

• The Amazing World of Gumball — Not this show’s very best episode, as it had its fair share of faults, but lots of jokes were especially inspired and the whole thing was typically goofy and hilarious. Darwin and Gumball seemed a tad too mean-spirited, but that could easily be justified by factoring in their naivete. 9.2/10 (Best of the night)
  
• MAD — This episode felt really short, and unfortunately the few sketches that were shown almost all fell short. The opening “Force Code” sketch completely lost me, as I have not seen Source Code and nothing was done in the parody to make it accessible to those who had not. The ending “Flammable” sketch, a surprising musical skit parodying Katy Perry’s “Fireworks”, and the “GleeCR” faux commercial were the only redeeming graces, as everything else was more miss-than-hit. 7.7/10
• The Problem Solverz — The show’s in-all-likelihood series finale was just as bad as every episode before it. This finale was surprisingly meta and addressed the hatred beamed at it by using it as a plot device. This was a shock and something I can actually totally admire. But the show ended with all of its problems in tact–horrible animation, ugly designs and colors, dull storytelling, hallow surrealism, annoying characters–and I never laughed once this entire episode. I’m glad this show is over. 4.9/10.

On CN Tuesday, we had new episodes of:

• Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated — I…did not see this episode. I never watched this show before I started this blog, so I can never remember when it’s on. Still, um, I heard it was a pretty good episode. No score available.
• The Looney Tunes Show — Offers the first portrayals of this show’s versions of Taz, Granny, Tweety, and Sylvester. Taz was alright, as was the others, though I find it sort of weird that Granny is reverted to a completely stereotypical deaf old women as opposed to a kindly little old lady. The jokes mostly worked, the best of which obviously fell to Daffy. Not the show at the top of its game, but still a pretty damn entertaining episode as the show’s writing starts to finally finds a solid foundation. 9.3/10.
  

On Comedy Central Thursdays, we had two new episodes of:

• Futurama — Good news everyone! Futurama is back after a several-month-long break, with TWO new episodes. The first, “Neutopia”, was probably the weakest. The plot sort of felt like a series of events that never got detailed enough as opposed to a complete story, and the gender battle scenario felt a bit retreated. Despite this, there was a great cluster of jokes that are typical of a Futurama episode, and from that standpoint, it was able to deliver. Then the second, “Benderama”, was the better of the two, as the story was better delivered, with just the same amount of laughs to be found. Plus, there’s always good to be found in an episode that focuses on Bender. First one: 9.0/10. Second one: 9.4/10.

On Disney Channel Friday, we had a new episode of:

• Phineas and Ferb — Both of these episodes were just so…meh.  The first, ” Bad Hair Day”, did something I like–that being, mixing things up. It was a change of pace that didn’t follow the typical format and had a pretty good sense of fun. But it was just unfunny. Typically the show offers a big bundle of laughs, but here, even Doofenshmirtz’s plot didn’t bring anything notably funny to the table, and I only surmounted a few chuckles through the whole thing. The ending musical number even wasn’t really as funny as it should have been. The second, “Meatloaf Surprise”, just felt off and weird. Once again, I barely laughed at all, as none of the jokes worked. Davy Jones of The Monkees made a cameo, but even this was wasted on a pretty bland song with no true joke to it. Also Jamie Oliver was there for some reason. Overall, these were surprisingly bland and pretty bad episodes. I guess every show needs its rotten batch. First one: 6.2/10. Second one: 5.9/10.

On The Hub Saturday, we had a new episode of:

• Dan Vs. — A great, fun episode with a lot of good jokes packed in. Dan’s vendetta towards the magician allowed for some really good skeptic scenes with him and plenty of magic-based gags. Elise got some surprising development here, as we see she has had a fear of magicians since she was eight-years-old; it was a nice change of pace and for once Elise managed to remain as funny as everyone else. All the jokes worked, and Dan’s character seems to just get better and better with each episode. 9.5/10.

So overall, the Best of the Week were:

1. Dan Vs. — “The Magician”
2. Futurama — “Benderama”
3. The Looney Tunes Show — “Devil Dog”
4. The Amazing World of Gumball — “The Laziest”
5. Futurama — “Neutopia”

That’s it for me. A pretty hit-of-miss week for shows, with lots of great installments but also a lot of disappointment. Also, I’ll try and have more articles this week to make up for the lack of them last time. See you next week.

Sunday Wrap-Up: 06/13/2011-06/18/2011

Tony here. Time for the end-of-the-week Sunday Wrap-Up. It’s here that I look back at the week in animation and say what I thought worked, what I thought failed, and what I thought was the best-of-the-best of week. (I unveiled a new rating system a few days after I did the reviews for a few of these shows, so I’ll be adapting them accordingly from their letter grades.)  Some spoilers below. Let’s get started.

On CN Monday, we had new episodes of:

• The Amazing World of Gumball — Yet another hilarious outing for the show. Focused a lot on the dynamic of the family and gave equal screentime to storylines involving each of them trying to become more functional. Gumball and Darwin’s plot worked the best, though Richard’s plot had some amazingly hysterical sight gags. 9.8/10 (Best of the night)
• Regular Show — Felt like a season one episode almost. The jokes worked and I loved the staging of Mordecai and Rigby getting too smart for everyone else. (Though I admit the grid was a bit too much like the one from “Don”). It was pretty clever how they set up what could have been a completely different episode plot–Rigby re-attending high school–and simply brushed it off. 9.3/10
• MAD — Most of the sketches surprisingly weren’t parodies of anything specific, sans the titular two. Of those two, the first one was good and funny, while the second failed to do anything with me–mostly because of a few minor research errors related to The Office and some generally missaimed jokes.  Also both of the titles were really a stretch. My favorite was “Seattle: Los Angeles”, which was absurd, hilarious, and amazing, and one of my favorite MAD sketches, but the whole thing was more-or-less just solid. 7.9/10.
• The Problem Solverz — I have no idea what it is–perhaps it was my love of Japanese culture which this episode owes a lot to, or maybe I’ve simply adjusted to this show’s horrid colors and madness–but I actually found this episode totally decent. The surrealism actually sort of felt well-done at points, a lot of it being with Professor Sugar Fish, a wacky Japanese cereal mascot (again, my Japan bias) and nothing really upset me; not even the loud voices or colors. This season’s almost over, and they’ve finally made an episode I didn’t hate. 6.0/10

Then on CN Tuesday:

• Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated — Sadly I missed the opening, but I did hear that there was a brief cameo of Scrappy and Flim-Flam as statues, which is amazing. Rest of the episode was alright but nothing totally notable beside that opening. Still pretty cool to see more development with the overarching series mystery–this time involving Angel Dynamite. 7.0/10
• The Looney Tunes Show — This episode felt a lot like a classic short. We opened with Bugs and Daffy tunnel-traveling, which offered a huge nostalgic blast. Then the main plot had Bugs and Daffy competing over an attractive Hollywood scarlet (Bugs being the obvious and continuous victor throughout), and accordingly Daffy was sort of refitted from his typical dumbass routine on this show to a much more Chuck Jones-esque Daffy. That’s what made this episode work; not to mention it was pretty damn funny. 9.4/10 (Best of the night)

On Disney Channel’s Saturday Toonin’ block, we had a new episode of:

• Phineas and Ferb — Both episodes were fantastic. I liked the first–“Candace Disconnected”–better though. Joel McHale guest starred as a deadpan prototype Norm head and served as the episode’s strongest comedic anchor. Plus all three plots managed to entertain, which is always good in my book. The second–“Magic Carpet Ride”–was also good, but the main plot (while rather beautiful) felt sort of weak. Candace’s plot showed us some interesting new locations, while Doof’s showed us a new side of Roger. First: 9.5/10; Second: 9.2/10.

And on The Hub Saturday, we had a new episode of:

• Dan Vs. — One of my favorite episodes, definitely. Every joke worked perfectly, and the escalation of the entire thing was much more slow-burn and allowed the jokes to be more subtle. Hortense was a funny new character and her voice (provided by Tress MacNeille) was hilarious on its own. Lots of continuity nods, with a reappearance from my favorite recurring character, Crunchy, the hippietastic hippie. Plus I actually felt sorry for Dan. Just a perfect episode. 10/10.

So overall, the Best of the Week were:

1. Dan Vs. — “Burgerphile”
2. The Amazing World of Gumball — “The Painting”
3. Phineas and Ferb — “Candace Disconnected/Magic Carpet Ride”
4. The Looney Tunes Show — “Casa de Calma”
5. Regular Show — “More Smarter”

That’s it for me. We’re nearing the end of the season for a lot of shows, so expect some emptiness in Sunday Wrap-Ups in the upcoming weeks. See you next week.

Dan Vs: “Burgerphile” (Review)

Tony here. Time to review the latest episode of Dan Vs. The new episode, “Burgerphile”, aired Saturday, June 18, 2011, on The Hub. There was no new episode last week, which sucks, but what sucks more is that there’s only two more episodes of the season left (if current schedules are accurate). Spoilers below. Let’s get started.

In “Burgerphile”, Dan gets terrible service at the drive-thru for Burgerphile. Enraged, he declares revenge on the fast food joint, and stages a protest inside the restaurant. Right off the bat—I loved this episode. A lot. It’s definitely somewhere in my top 3 episodes of this show from its whole run thus far (“The Animal Shelter” remains in the top spot). To elaborate…

This episode was outrageous. Every single joked just worked perfectly. Some of my favorites: practically all the jokes with Dan and Hortense, whose nasally voice was provided by Tress MacNeille and is so funny that every word she says makes me chuckle; Dan’s surprisingly peaceful protest of chaining himself to the store’s counter and refusing the leave; the manager’s fear of returning to Maryland (viewers from that state must be so pissed); and the cops seeing Chris and Elise together and saying that Elise must be Chris’s nurse.

The laughs were plentiful and the story worked. There was lots of continuity nods, too. Burgerphile has been mentioned previously in the show, the human persona of the werewolf appeared again, and we had another appearance from Crunchy, the hippie, who is my favorite recurring character. The animation is slowly increasing in quality too—the show’s budget is clearly cheap, but it always delivers on well drawn character designs and set pieces, and here we had lots of well-animated fight scenes and character movement. I loved the escalation of the whole thing—most of the episodes of this show employ this, but this one gave it all a sort of slow-burn effect. This makes the jokes much more ironically rooted and subtle, and in fact actually allowed for us to legitimately sympathize with Dan’s plight for once. Every episode seems to show more and more growth for the writing staff, and this episode seems to display the show at its peak. And with its record so far. I would not be surprised if it stayed here. I give it a perfect 10/10.

Be sure to catch Dan Vs. every Saturday on The Hub at 8pm EST, and of course always check in on Toons with Tony for new reviews, recaps, news, and more.

Sunday Wrap-Up: 05/30/2011-06/04/2011

Tony here. Time for the end-of-the-week Sunday Wrap-Up. It’s here that I look back at the week in animation and say what I thought worked, what I thought failed, and what I thought was the best-of-the-best of week. (You’ve probably noticed a lack of actual reviews this week. I’m hoping to make up with that with this, but next week I’ll try and squeeze in reviews with recaps and perhaps some new stuff, like DVD reviews) Some spoilers follow. Let’s get started.
On CN Monday, we had new episodes of:

• The Amazing World of Gumball — Two very solid episodes (“The Spoon” being the best of the pair) which were not quite on par with last week’s, but still managed to be fun, funny, and awesomely weird. Hot Dog With a Mustache is the next Chuck Norris. I give it an A-.
• Regular Show — An absolutely spectacular episode of the show and a massive improvement of the last two week’s slightly underwhelming episodes. Did what Regular Show does best and turns a basic premise into a way-out-in-left-field, bonkers plot in the future which had me cracking up throughout. Best episode of the night. I give it an A+.
• MAD — Definitely one of MAD‘s more on the ball installments. Great sketches littered throughout, with both of the title sketches being majorly funny. The show does a lot of Twilight parodies, but “TwiSchool Musical” was definitely their best one to date. Also, both the writing and animation of the “Avenger Time” sketch managed to impress me, offering both a good chuckle and sizable technical feats (like the bit with ’60s Avengers). I give it an A.
• The Problem Solverz — Louder, more hyper, and less containable than any episode of The Problem Solverz so far, this actually managed to somehow show growth for this drab show. With so much going on the show managed to slip in actual moments of comedy, and somehow made a plot that was actually followable for the most part. As the episode eased in, the jokes stopped being funny and plot became the same-old boring crap, but there’s only so much to be expected from this show I guess. I give it a D+.

On CN Tuesday, we had new episodes of:

• Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated — A pretty good episode that had some laughs and a clever twist. I’m not big into shipping but the romance factor of this episode offered a nice development for both Shaggy’s and Velma’s characters. Felt a bit underwhelming at points, but definitely nothing to complain about. I give it a B+.
• The Looney Tunes Show — Definitely better than last week’s episode, but delivered solely because literally every scene or moment with Daffy was gut-bustingly hysterical. I don’t know how they did it, but they’ve finally found what they want to do with this incarnation of Daffy and they’re making it work in every possible way. From his inevitably-memetic van, his Bob Fosse outfit, him constantly trying to sneak attack Gossamer, Daffy made this episode. Unfortunately, it seemed they were padding for time and had to add a rather weak b-plot with Bugs and Speedy which didn’t really resonate, and there was a rather unnotable Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner skit at the end as opposed to a Merrie Melodies short. When Gossamer finally sung, I wasn’t really sure what they were trying to do, but Daffy alone is enough to like this episode. Best episode of the night. I give it an A-.

On Comedy Central Wednesday, we had a new episode of:

• South Park — “WHAT A TWEEST!” That’s literally all there is to say about this episode of South Park. Insane, off-the-wall, and legitimately shocking, there wasn’t really any straight satire as it was just a truly original and surprising story. The gags on split personalities, both actual and just Butters’ playtime personas (Porn Star Butters???), and all the jabs at Asian stereotypes were just hysterical. Something the show has been known for since its creation is how unpredictable and shocking it is. This was originally for its vulgar comedy, but now that that’s sort of become commonplace, it’s nice to see that the show can mange to remain as shocking and clever as ever. I give it an A.

On The Hub Saturday, we had a new episode of:

• Dan Vs. — Definitely not a poor or even underwhelming episode, but it did feel like a minor step down. The jokes were funny, though quite not as laugh-out-loud funny as they should have been. They also pretty much did everything they could with Elise’s parents two weeks ago, so everything with them in this episode just seemed recycled. Nonetheless, I loved how Dan brought Mr. Mumbles with him the entire time, and the bits with the bear were entertaining. Not a bad episode but not really anything of note in the grand scheme of this show. I give it an A-.

So overall, the Best of the Week were:

1. Regular Show — “The Night Owl”
2. South Park — “City Sushi”
3. MAD — “TwiSchool Musical/Avenger Time”
4. The Looney Tunes Show — “Monster Talent”
5. Dan Vs. — “The Family Camping Trip”

That’s it for me. Yay for actually doing this on time for the first time, though I still apologize for the lack of reviews this week. Maybe next week we can have it both ways, hm? See you next time.

 

 

 

Sunday Wrap-Up: 05/23/2011-05/29/2011

Tony here. Time for the end-of-the-week Sunday Wrap-Up. It’s here that I look back at the week in animation and say what I thought worked, what I thought failed, and what I thought was the best-of-the-best of week. (Yes, I know, for the EST, it’s not Sunday anymore, but I am a forgetful little shit, so I’m just gonna go by the PST where I get an extra 2 hours. CHEATING IS FUN.) Let’s get started.

On CN Monday, we had new episodes of:

• The Amazing World of Gumball — A spectacular episode which made this whole night memorable and fun. It got so much crap past the radar it was unbelievable, and the writing is top-notch. Best episode of the night by far. A+.
• Regular Show —  A good and fun episode supported largely due the absolutely lovable characters on this show. It’s how you can get away with Skips killing Rigby (!) without the entire audience never wanting to look at him again. A-.
• MAD — A weak episode with a handful of sketches that redeemed it. “Smallville: Turn Off the Clark” gets credit for doing its research and for being genuinely clever. Overall, one of MAD‘s softest outings. B-.
• The Problem Solverz — This show never improves on its flaws; all it ever does it try and add some positive stuff without actually, you know, removing the bad parts. Problem Solverz remains boring and awful, and I cannot even care about it enough to even bitch about it. Tuxdog is a slightly entertaining character and he was a very small saving grace. F+.

On CN Tuesday, we had new episodes of:

• Scooby Doo, Mystery Inc — I haven’t been following this show at all and I sort of regret it. A great episode here; surprisingly dark and sporting a very clever Saw vibe. I personally think they need to tone it down with the shipping stuff. It’s a bit in-your-face and unnecessary. Best of the night. A-.
• The Looney Tunes Show — Weaker than last week’s but still a step in the right direction. It more-or-less succeeds in geling the Looney Tunes characters in a sitcom while maintaining their character traits. I think they totally messed up Yosemite Sam, though; in stead of making the sitcom-ness work around his character, they stripped away his anger and made him just a basic unwanted house guest archetype. The Merrie Melodies was also very disappointing, but a lot of jokes stuck. B+.

On Comedy Central Wednesday, we had a new episode of:

• South Park — This episode was able to balance satire with random lunacy in classic South Park fashion. Totally off the wall, we had send-ups of annoying depressing Sarah McClachlan commercials, the NCAA, crack babies, The Social Network, and Slash, who may or may not be real. It felt a bit directionless in hindsight, but it was all about pure fun and resulted in a very, very entertaining episode that continues a winning streak for this season. A.

On The Hub Saturday, we had a new episode of:

• Dan Vs. — Yet another classic installment that places highly in this series’  best episodes. The sight of Not!Dan is, well, completely fucking disturbing and shall haunt my nightmares for weeks to come, but there were so many great jokes and nice character moments that made this a winner. This was one of Dan’s crowning moments, and I actually hope we see more of Not!Dan sometime in the future. A.

So overall, the Best of the Week were:

1. The Amazing World of Gumball — “The End/The Dress”
2. Dan Vs. — “Dan”
3. South Park — “Crack Baby Athletic Association”
4. Scooby Doo, Mystery Inc. — “Escape From Mystery Island”
5. Regular Show — “Over the Top”

That’s it for me. Once again sorry for the delay, but be sure to continue reading Toons with Tony, which updates regularly almost every day.

Sunday Wrap-Up: 05/16/2011-05/22/2011

Tony here. Time for the end-of-the-week Sunday Wrap-Up. It’s here that I look back at the week in animation and say what I thought worked, what I thought failed, and what I thought was the best-of-the-best of week. (Note: Yes, I know, it’s not actually Sunday, but I completely forgot yesterday and didn’t wanna rename the whole recurring post because of one delay. So, sorry for the belatedness.) Let’s get started.

On CN Monday, we had new episodes of The Amazing World of Gumball, Regular Show, MAD, and The Problem Solverz. Not the best of nights, as each episode felt slightly below average, but out of all of them, The Amazing World of Gumball proved to be the best, with solid jokes, funny new characters, and some simply outstanding animation.

On CN Tuesday, we had new episodes of Scooby Doo, Mystery Inc and The Looney Tunes Show. Mystery Inc. had some fun with a romance-based,  plot and had some typically sharp animation, but nothing really stood out for me. Best of the night was The Looney Tunes Show, which was definitely the show’s best episode–consistently hilarious and better interpretation of the characters.

On Comedy Central Wednesday, we had the new episode of South Park. This episode was spectacular, and hilarious jokes with a really, really clever satire. Since there was no animated shows before or after it, this was clearly the best animated show of the night. Anyone know if Ugly Americans is on hiatus, season break, or just straight-up canceled? I miss it following SP.

On The Hub Saturday, there was a brand new Dan Vs. This was a very funny episode, with some hilarious verbal-and-visual gags, twisted fantasy sequences, and some interesting character development with Chris and Elise. I’m not entirely sure if I can consider this, or the above Comedy Central Wednesday, actual blocks, but until I work something out I’ll consider them some.

On FOX Sunday’s Animation Domination, there were new episodes of Bob’s Burgers, American Dad!, The Simpsons, and Family Guy. Unfortunately, I missed this week’s Animation Domination, so the only thing I was able to catch was Family Guy‘s “It’s a Trap!” special, which is the third Star Wars parody they’ve done. This was probably the worst of the three–as the opening crawl even addresses, the whole thing felt like the writers had simply given up and decided to throw just about anything together. The result is an uneven special that makes up for a very weak first half with a funnier second half. I give it a B-.

So, overall, the Best of the Week was:

1. Dan Vs. — “The Fancy Restaurant”
2. South Park — “T.M.I.”
3. The Looney Tunes Show — “Jailbird and Jailbunny”
4. The Amazing World of Gumball — “The Third/The Debt”
5. Regular Show — “Really Real Wrestling”

That’s it for me. Once again sorry for the delay, but be sure to continue reading Toons with Tony, which updates regularly almost every day (sans a few delays, like this one XD).

Dan Vs: “The Fancy Restaurant” (Review)

Tony here. Time to review Saturday’s episode of Dan Vs. This new episode, “The Fancy Restaurant”, aired Saturday, May 21st, 2011, on The Hub. My apologies on the lateness in this post–I lost track of time and was not able to write this (or the Sunday Wrap-Up) yesterday as I intended. That being said, it is my intention to get this out as soon as possible, and to post the Sunday Wrap-Up later today, despite it not actually being Sunday. Be sure to watch the episode before reading this review, because MAJOR spoilers below.  Let’s get started.

In “The Fancy Restaurant”, Dan is appalled to learn that his favorite sandwich shop has been replaced with a snooty fancy restaurant that–GASP!–does not even sell sandwiches! Naturally, Dan seeks revenge.

This episode spares no seconds on the laughs, opening with a simply outrageous fantasy with Dan and a talking, female sandwich (it’s as weird and hysterical as it sounds). Lots of other funny gags throughout this episode, including Dan constantly thinking the valet is asking for a high five when he sticks his hand out for a tip and the repeat of the opening gag, but twist to feature the sandwich fucking leaving him after an affair. That old Simpsons quote, “You want a realistic, down-to-earth show… that’s completely off-the-wall and swarming with magic robots?” is something that I think really applies to how this show is able to perfect a low-key, almost realistic world and brim it with over-the-top lunacy and utter insanity.

Also in the mix is some well-done character development and continuity. We get to see Chris and Elise have their own storyline that actually manages to not diverge into Dan’s insanity until well into the second act. The concept of both of them forgetting their own anniversary lead to some genuinely nice and sweet moments for their characters. We also get some callbacks to things like Dan’s love of sandwiches, and some mentions of Dan’s past revenge schemes that ended up ruining Chris and Elise’s previous anniversaries. I shudder to think what “that thing with the nuns” was.

Admittedly, the stuff with the dungeon chefs was a tad confusing and out-there, but I felt it worked as a nice and funny moving point for the story. Some of the characters felt a tad too much like the hobo from “Technology”, but as the episode progressed we got some more individualized personalities and jokes from the group. I especially liked the recurring bit with the one chef slapping another one for incompetency. Pimp-slaps amuse me.

Not much to say on the animation here. I’ve always been impressed with the show’s smooth character designs and crisp, on-the-note storyboarding. The animation itself flows well and it never stilted, but nothing of spectacular note.

This was yet another good episode from this show, packed with hilarious jokes and delivering fully on entertainment. I give it an A.

Be sure to watch Dan Vs. every Saturday night on The Hub at 8:30pm EST, and be sure to keep reading Toons with Tony, which updates practically every day.