The Powerpuff Girls "Total Eclipse Of The Kart"
It's too bad Toys R Us has gone out of business. This episode could have gotten us some goodies.
Love "Cool beans".
Good to see Donnycorn again.
Honestly, the second half of the episode bugged the crap out of me. The evil Gemica "twist" came out of nowhere. Gemica has always been portrayed as selfish, but I kind of dug the neat message of the know-it-all archaeologist being a girl. And this just undoes that positive thing entirely for no good reason.
I think one of the biggest ironies of the entire franchise is that despite the fact that the heroes are three girls, there is very little female empowerment to be found. And that was true of the original series, and it's definitely true of the reboot here. It strikes me that a girl focused kids show should actually worry more about what messages it sends. Craig McCracken didn't give a crap about it, and that was part of the joke, and it seems the writers here don't either, even if the reboot isn't as overtly cruel.
The violence on the old show basically meant McCracken's "progressive" viewpoint about female empowerment is that girls are just as violent and horrible at conflict resolution as boys are. And that is a subversive joke on his end, not an actual message of empowerment. Which boggles the mind that he got away with that crap without ever being called on it by anyone by Roger Ebert. We miss you, Roger. Kick Gene Siskel's ass in Hell for me, will you?
Ancient Townsville? I get that was the joke, but I don't like jokes like that, that break what little reality the series is going for. And even if the show keeps things more grounded than the original series, it's not like the reboot is all that realistic to begin with.
I like Gemumu's design though. From the way they boarded her poses, and the eclipse striking her silhouette, I could tell that were kind of going with an Aku from Samurai Jack vibe. And despite the episode otherwise sucking, I did notice that influence, and enjoyed it greatly.
Here is the sad truth that no-one will want to hear. The reboot is not very good. But the original show was somehow even worse. I don't know exactly why I'm following this show. It's basically just Bubbles and nothing else for me at this point. It would probably cheese Tara Strong off to admit that I like this show's version better than hers. But Bubbles has become a good grounding influence for the show. You may scoff that the show would need that, but you know, if a show runs a good long while, it DOES. And it's the fact that the old show didn't really have that, and was full blown "Airplane!" spoof 100% of the time, without ever shutting it off, is the reason I like the reboot more than the original series. It's admittedly not much. But Bubbles has value to me in the notion that her distractions and seeming to go off-mission actually turn out to be the point of the mission. And that's the thing I like about the series, and how it talks up creativity over violence every single time they do that.
So no, I didn't like the episode all that much. But Bubbles is the reason I'm still watching the show and the episode didn't change that. If anything it reaffirmed it. **1/2.
The Powerpuff Girls "The Long Skate Home"
Somewhere in this episode there is a great message about standing up to bullies, righting injustices, sticking to your principles, and being true to yourself. And as long as they frame those messages using the "Deathball" allegory, it all means jack squat, and is actually ridiculous.
Liked the joke of the VCR tape having to take two tries to go into the VCR though. Points for that. ***.
The Powerpuff Girls "Quarantine"
Wow, the Professor is 100% useless. This is one of those episodes I just did not see the point of. **.
The Powerpuf Girls "In The Doghouse"
Fantastic 4 parody at the beginning! I love the Bronze Boogieboarder.
Maurice LaMarche talks about The Chompers the same way he does about The Clamps.
I love that Pugface Paulie thinks Buttercup is dressed in grey.
I also loved the dogs tying Blossom, Bubbles, and the Professor up with 2 dog collars, a leash and a cone.
Butt-Sniffer's full name is "Bootius T. Sniffer"? Because of course it is.
Meal soda is disgusting.
Good episode. ****.
The Powerpuff Girls "Salamander"
Genius episode. The only thing I didn't like was that Salamander turned out to be Gnat, which means he won't be returning. He was a great villain with a great character design.
Henchmen become very helpful when you offer them chocolate milk. Although I question how he can sip it through a straw while wearing his mask.
The Cork Fork is about as useless as the solar-powered flashlight and the waterproof sponge.
I love the henchman crying out against Bubbles using forks and polite words. Which is again, why I love Bubbles. Her non-violence and creativity seem to always solve the problem.
Best episode of the batch released. *****.
The Powerpuff Girls "Small World: Part 1: Abra Disaster"
That cat Lester is pretty cool.
I laughed at Mojo trying to get him to sign his brain.
Pretty good. ***1/2.
The Powerpuff Girls "Small World: Part 2: Cold Spider"
Here's a sad truth about the creepy tiny Professor. The regular sized Professor is exactly as creepy, and you just refuse to admit it.
I love the Canada Geese "All is lost!" moment.
I really liked the end of the episode. All throughout Buttercup is acting extra stupid, and I like the end reveal that that was a performance to allow her to get the upper hand with Supna without her realizing it. Her trick of creating a second Heartstone was pretty great.
The Heartstones are an alright Maguffin for this show's version of The Quest.
I liked this a lot. ****.
The Powerpuff Girls "Small World: Part 3: The Maze Daze"
Glad we got closure for the Pizza Delivery Guy although I'm a little upset Bubbles wasn't there for it and didn't seem to care.
I love Bubbles thinking her sisters are impossible to describe.
I laughed at the Yolanda joke.
The security guard had an ugly design.
If Lester is taking advantage of Mojo, Mojo is just ASKING to get took.
The weakest of the four parts. Which is weird, because it's the Bubbles part and she's the best character. **1/2.
The Powerpuff Girls "Small World: Part 4: Heart To Heartstone"
Perfect wrap-up to the Canada Geese.
Lester has to spend eternity watching the Mayor go to the bathroom? As far as punishments go, that seems a bit overkill to his actions.
I sort of get the logic of a supervillain wanting to shrink the world's largest ball of yarn. I get that. Villains love ruining things, especially things people love, and those things are always great tourist traps. I just object to the notion that he'd keep it as a trophy. There is no point to it any longer, and he was the guy who made sure of that.
I'm overthinking this show again.
I love Lester's various clothes and designs. Very visually appealing character.
The best of the four parts. ****1/2.
