The Fairly OddParents - Hail to the Chief

Okay, folks, my birthday dinner is over, everything's back to normal, I've got my wishes, and I'm ready to go back to doing a regular review. This one is for President's Day which is today, folks. This is a Fairly OddParents episode called, "Hail to the Chief," which was the only episode to be written by Steven Banks.

Timmy competes against the two popular boys, Tad and Chad to be Student Body President. And this is not just to become Student Body President, no no, it's also to gain attention to the one and only Trixie Tang, because apparently, Trixie is the political reporter for the Dimmsdale Elementary School Newspaper. That's something that unfortunately won't be seen again after this episode. And with a little help from William Shakespeare, not even joking, Wanda summoned him, he writes a speech on the fact that it doesn't matter if we're all losers. A day later, there was nobody at school because the kids got sick from Tad and Chad's cake. And since there was nobody else at school, Timmy won the Student Body President duties. How will this go? Well, just watch and find out.

There's a lot of fun facts I got to mention here. First off I will say this is the first appearance of Sanjay, Timmy's other friend and his only appearance in Season 2, here, he invites Timmy into their book club. And I will address the elephant in the room, the controversy of "Twistory!" That episode (and, indirectly, its sister episode) rarely airs in reruns in the United States due to the controversial stereotypes featured in it and the implications that the world would not advanced socially or technologically had the colonists lost the Revolutionary War. However, both episodes are available on the Nick Picks Vol. 3 DVD and on the season 2 DVD. Due to its obscurity, some people mistakenly thought the Founding Fathers from Escape from Unwish Island were new characters. The last known airings of these episodes was on July 4th, 2017 (the Fourth of July, that is) along with its sister episode on Nicktoons. Sheesh, who ever thought Nickelodeon has something against ethnic stereotypes? What is this the Speedy Gonzales trope all over again?

Okay, okay, okay. All nitpicking aside, this is a pretty funny episode, it's got a good plot, good humor, and even some politician jokes. The one thing that grinds my gears is The Future Phlegmers, because for some reason, one of Timmy's friends, Elmer was in that sort of group. Seriously, how did he get that cold to be in that group? And let me tell you, Principal Waxelplax is frost intolerant, let me tell you, I've looked everywhere for an explanation, but I couldn't find one, I guess that means frost intolerant allergies don't exist. Of course, I will agree with Timmy that I want to be or not to be.......that LOSER!

That's all folks!

Phineas and Ferb - Happy Birthday, Isabella

Well, as you can tell from the title card and the house of Phineas and Ferb's, that's right, today's my Birthday! I am 22 years old as of right now, and I'm going to review Happy Birthday, Isabella, an episode from the fourth season. I will review Hail to the Chief, and a few other projects later. But right now, let's get to the birthday review immediately.

It's Isabella's birthday, and Phineas and the gang celebrate it in a big way, complete with a giant cake and piñatas. To Isabella however, all she really wants is to be alone with Phineas, but she keeps missing by a second. Meanwhile, Doofenshmirtz installs his Bugs Me-Inator onto an evil bug bus and drives around Danville turning all the things that bug him literally into bugs, and Stacy unwittingly sees this and even finds out Perry's agent secret. And once again, Candace tries to bust the boys, but it never works. Two words for Candace, "Give up!" P.S., I still am not fond of Doofenschmirtz, I mean, I have nothing against a platypus being a spy agent, but that Heinz is so stupid!

After watching a few episodes that feature Isabella, I have made an interesting discovery, she has feelings for Phineas. If I didn't know better, I'd say she has a crush on him! I never knew that until now. I can relate to her in this episode because all she wants to do is spend time with Phineas. Also, here comes another question, if Stacy noticed that Perry was a spy agent, how come Phineas and Ferb never seem him as a secret agent? Was it because they're too occupied with their time and summer plans to even notice? Oh, well, I guess we'll never know. All I know is Phineas and Ferb have never met Doofenschmirtz, which I wish the series made them do that.

So, my opinions are this episode are pretty okay. I kind of like the episode being a birthday episode for once, and I kind of like how her wish was to spend time with Phineas, and spoiler alert, m the end, Isabella does get her wish. It's funny, interesting, has birthday related stuff in it, and has a nice song, simply known as "Isabella's Birthday Song," or as I like to call it, "Isabella's Wish."

All in all, you have to watch the episode for yourself and try, and I dare you to TRY to prove to me that Isabella doesn't have a crush on Phineas.

SpongeBob - Mermaidman and Barnacleboy 5

On SpongeBob, there were a few episodes that centered around SpongeBob and Patrick's interactions with their favorite semi-retired superheroes, Mermaidman and Barnacleboy. Probably the best episode was "Mermaidman and Barnacleboy 5."

This episode starts off with a crime, the crime of hour-long waiting lines! Oh, to be stuck behind someone who had tons of time to make up their mind but can't decide now that they're at the front. As it turns out, Barnacleboy is fed up with being treated like a child, and when the other characters proceed to make fun of him, he decides to join the dark side, literally. Because Mr. Krabs said, "Why should I waste money lighting the whole store?" Soon enough, Barnacle-Man is committing crimes with two of Bikini Bottom's biggest criminals, Man Ray and the Dirty Bubble. Their crimes range from things like shooting lasers, robbing banks to, brace yourselves, everybody, ding-dong ditching!

Desperate, and out of options, SpongeBob and his friends, Patrick, Sandy, and Squidward decide to help Mermaidman his pursuit against EVIL. That is, after they dawn their appropriate superhero costumes. After a clever montage of them acquiring their powers, they learn of the location of the baddies, Make-Out Reef. They quickly go to the scene of the crime. At first, it looks like the odds are stacked up against them, that is, until their mediocrity starts to show. The villains declare victory and Barnacle-Man gives his final demands.

His first demand is he wants to be treated like a superhero, not a sidekick, number two, he wants to be called Barnacle-Man, and number three, he just wants an adult-sized Krabby Patty. Yep, Barnacleboy decides to give in to his own instincts and go back to being a superhero, and Mermaidman decides to call him Barnacle-Man. The episode ends with Barnacle-Man enjoying his adult-sized Krabby Patty and everyone having a good laugh. This episode is a great example of what makes for good humor. Constantly coming at you with great quality, this episode will start you off laughing and will not stop until it's over. It's especially funny to see the contrast personalities between Mermaidman and Barnacleboy and to see all the superhero tropes parodied. It was hard for me to find a highlight, but I decided to pick two. One, where we see what SpongeBob and the other characters alter egos are, and the IJLSA defeating themselves in a comedic fashion, but other than that, there are just too many. But in my opinion, Squidward was and will always be........

Captain Magma! Get him angry and he's bound to erupt!

SpongeBob - "Walking Small"

You want to walk tall? Then just watch "Walking Small" that often airs after "Texas." Note to viewers this is the third and final Plankton-focused episode of the first season. So now, let's begin.

In this episode, Plankton decides to bring up the future sight of the Chum Bucket Mega Bucket on the Goo Lagoon. And he uses SpongeBob as bait to get everyone to leave Goo Lagoon. With a few comical situations like SpongeBob being "insertive," and SpongeBob misunderstanding Plankton's phrases to the guy in sandals borrowing his metal detector. It all gets better when SpongeBob's finally become improving like shaking sand everywhere, stealing the hot dogs, kites, and destroying volleyballs. Will SpongeBob reverse the damage, or will Plankton's plan succeed? Watch and find out. Okay?

What I like about this episode is that it's not focused on Plankton trying to steal the formula. Instead, it's focused on him trying to make a much bigger restaurant in Bikini Bottom. It's petty funny when he cries over the fact that he bought two ice cream cones, you know, because this is a Sean Dempsey animation directed episode, Dempsey has a fetish for crying! Also, SpongeBob's Jerry Seinfeld like stand-up comedy was pretty funny. I even like how he reverses the damage, like for example, bringing the hot dogs and kites back to the beach-goers, and being a surfboard for Scooter. All Plankton needed was aggresiveness and being assertive, sorry "Putting Your Hoof Down," you stole that idea.

Overall, this episode is pretty funny, especially with Plankton shouting through his megaphone, SpongeBob taking his sweet time eating his ice cream, and of course, his Jerry Seinfeld reference. He is a true altruist folks. By the way, Plankton does have a point, SpongeBob is soft because he IS a sponge.

In the end, Plankton deserved to have his plan reversed, he totally deserved it. I also like Larry the Lobster's speaking cameo asking for the volleyball and saying "Let's just go home I guess," which speaking of which, all of you should go home right now until the next review.

Phineas and Ferb - "Candace Gets Busted"

Yep, it's time for me to review another "Phineas and Ferb" episode. This time, I'm reviewing the season two episode, "Candace Gets Busted."

When Linda and Lawrence take a trip, they entrust Candace to be in charge of the house. Candace calls some of her friends over for a small get-together, but when throngs of uninvited guests start to participate and it isn't long before it swells into a wild party. All I know is this isn't Phineas and Ferb's doing. Meanwhile, Dr. Doofenshmirtz is intending to get rid of the condominiums blocking his view from the local drive-in. Ugh, another typical bland scheme. Why am I not surprised?

What I like about this episode is that this is one of the few, if not the only time that Phineas and Ferb don't bother do anything crazy to make Candace want to try to bust on them, that, and Ferb had a lot more lines in this episode than usual. I understand now why he has little do no dialogue in this episode, he's British, like their father, Lawrence. I especially like the rap song in this one, where Candace raps about the event being a get together and not a party. That rap is so catchy with good rhythm, they even nail the dance moves, and the music. In the end, Candace deserved to be busted for this. I'm still not fond of Dr. Doofenshmirtz, though.

So, bottom line, this was an episode that really got the "Jellyfish Jam" feel to it;/ It also kind of reminds me of the Jimmy Neutron episode called "Party at Neutrons" and The Fairly OddParents episode, "Fairy Friends and Neighbors," and not to mention the Aaron Carter music video, "Aaron's Party (Come Get It)" where the plot is that these characters didn't get the permission to throw a party. If I didn't know better, I'd think these three episodes were based off of that certain song.

Did I mention Dee Bradley Baker who performed Perry also voiced a few of the party guests? I guess Dee did more than just vocal effects.

SpongeBob - "Can You Spare a Dime?"

Brother, can you spare a dime? Because I need that one to review this episode of SpongeBob. Oh wait, no I don't. I've got it right here. This episode is called, "Can You Spare a Dime?" Let's get going.

After Mr. Krabs accuses Squidward for something he didn't do, like say, stealing his first dime, Squidward quits his job. However, he ends up homeless in the process. Seeing Squidward heartbroken in the process, SpongeBob decides to take him into his own house to live with him, but only until he gets a job. However, so much later goes by and Squidward has become a free-loader and SpongeBob is his slave. Will he get out of slavery? Watch to find out.

This episode is pretty funny every time I watch this. Examples of funny include Squidward, Mr. Krabs and SpongeBob counting various things, SpongeBob going up and down the stairs getting this for Squidward, and SpongeBob finally losing his temper and patience due to Squidward's bossing him around, all because he can't get a job. He even takes his anger out on Mr. Krabs, because well, he falsely accused Squidward for stealing his dime. He even goes so far as to shake him violently while choking him until finally, his first dime falls out of his pants. There's a lot of humor here that it's hard to avoid it.

So, there are two morals here.

One: Never falsely accuse someone for something they didn't do or jump to conclusions.

and

Two: Never have a homeless person live with you, otherwise, he'll boss you around like crazy!

Also, since Sean Dempsey was the animation director for this episode, we see Squidward crying while he was homeless. Another indication that Sean has a crying fetish.

SpongeBob - "Krusty Krab Training Video"

One of the best qualities of a show is immersion, meaning deep mental involvement. You'll always know a show is good if they can get you immersed and make you believe this is all really happening. with the Krusty Krab Training Video, the show goes for the jugular and gives us the instructional video explaining how to work at the Krusty Krab.

There's really not much to say about this episode, but one thing I should mention is that this episode does a brilliant job of mocking the stereotypical instructional video. It shows the good worker in relation to the bad worker, gives history behind the establishment, shows all the necessary steps in the work shift, and so on. It even goes so far as to have a well-spoken narrator.

As stated with Clams, when the series wants to satirize something, it did so very well. It did a good job being both a parody and a very popular episode. We as kids believed even more that these characters and environments were real, immersing us even further in the magic of the show. And even though we're older, thinking that way while watching this episode still makes it all the more fun, and captures that warm feeling we felt in ourselves when we were young.

The highlight of the episode has to be the Hoopla gag and SpongeBob being smashed in the face by a spatula.

So, in conclusion, I would like all of you newcomers out there to give this episode a shot if you haven't already.

SpongeBob - "Clams"

While many moments of SpongeBob have made illusions to timeless media and pop culture, only one episode was based entirely around that. That episode was "Clams," a clever parody of the Steven Spielberg drama, "Jaws."

This episode opens up with Mr. Krabs getting his one millionth dollar, a huge milestone in his career. As a "reward" to SpongeBob and Squidward, Mr. Krabs takes them on a trip, what kind of trip you may ask? Well, clam fishing of course. After SpongeBob's poor fishing skills ends up tossing several things overboard and giving Squidward a a nose rip apart, Mr. Krabs ends up losing his millionth dollar. After breaking the fourth wall, Mr. Krabs loses his millionth dollar to a giant clam. SpongeBob and Squidward take pity on him and decide to help him get it back.

But their efforts are useless when three days go by without ANYTHING happening. After trying to trick Mr. Krabs and giving out an allusion to Moby Dick, they've realized that Mr. Krabs has gone nuts! They try to escape, only to be captured, Mr. Krabs decides to use them as bait for the clam, this time using the music that summoned the clam originally. That musical score by the way is called "Dangerous" by Mladen Franko. Though, that does beg the question. Why didn't Mr. Krabs think of this before?! Anyways, Mr. Krabs, gets his dollar back but gets eaten in the process, luckily, he survives by giving the clam a piece of his body as a trade.

This episode was probably the only episode that consistently parodied something, but it did it very well. The motivation of the original Jaws movie characters was there, but it was made funny when the characters were swapped out with SpongeBob, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs. SpongeBob always knew how to do parody jokes right, and this episode was the trademark of that.

The highlight of the episode was when SpongeBob and Squidward try to trick Mr. Krabs into thinking they got his millionth dollar.

Cow and Chicken - "Confused"

Yep, I'm going to review a Cow and Chicken episode. Haven't done that before, but let's go anyway. This episode is Confused.

After a small incident in the house where a part of the pork chip falls onto the floor, Cow and Chicken's parents send them to Military School. WHY ON EARTH WOULD A PARENT SEND THEIR KID TO MILITARY SCHOOL?! That's cruel and unusual punishment! But now, here's where it gets really exciting. The funny is that The Red Guy is running the Military School, that's weird, in a good way. When Cow and Chicken's strict attitude goes too far, Mom and Dad send them to a sensitivity center, but after all that, it was all a dream. Yep, I spoiled the ending, sorry about that.

Now, let's talk about how I enjoyed the episode.

I like how strict and over-the-top The Red Guy is when it comes to being a drill sergeant. And amazing in the barber's room, he acts as two characters where the barber's all calm and collected while the sergeant is so over-the top and angry. I especially like how he sings "Five and five and five is ten, I'm gonna make you mainly man, company halt!" And I like how the Red Guy says "I want you gals to run through these tires." And they do that while it was on fire, and The Red Guy puts on his firefighter gear and cools Cow and Chicken once they've run through the tires. This is just crazy, ladies and gentlemen.

So, bottom line, this episode is crazy and funny at the same time, I still don't like the fact that Cow and Chicken's parents sent them to Military School, as I've said before, that's cruel and unusual punishment. After all, it was just a pork chip, it wasn't much of mess. You know, they're parents overreact over every little mishap.

Did I mention that the creator of Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane wrote this episode?

In conclusion, go find this episode if you haven't already, you might find it on Hulu by now.

The Fairly OddParents - "Squirrely Puffs"

Squirrely Puffs are a part of this balance breakfast. But all that aside, Let's go ahead to review The Fairly OddParents episode, "Squirrely Puffs."

Timmy goes on a Squirrely Scouts hike with his Dad, Chester, AJ, and Sanjay. However, Mrs. Turner comes along with one of them being Tootie, obviously, challenges the Squirrel Scouts to a race to the top of the mountain, and all sorts of hijinks ensue. The Cream Puffs get help from some singing and obnoxious singing animals, Sanjay banishes his friends in order to get knee socks mostly due to the fact he got poison ivy on his leg, and Timmy Turner is the only scout who's pretty much behaving here.

How will this end? Watch and find out.

This episode is pretty much a mixed bag, I mean, why would Timmy throw up every time he sees Tootie? Why do the writers think that's funny, it's not! And Cosmo and Wanda, they're barely in this episode. They constantly get captured by a bird as worms, and even gets eaten by a frog while they were flies, all of these causes Poof to cry and something terrible happen, like that thunderstorm, because, we know that every time Poof cries something bad happens. Timmy could've just save them or at least let his fairies stay home or something, and another thing, no magic is used in this episode, I mean, not one single wish. But on the upside, Mrs. Turner finally snaps at the obnoxious animals in the most over the top and funniest manner you could imagine.

So, bottom line, "Squirrely Puffs" has too much of a plot that could've been a lot simpler. Did I mention that Mr. Turner can speak squirrel?


There are some funny moments here and there, but overall, not all that much.

Consider it on the upper side of "meh."

SpongeBob - "I Had an Accident"

Now, if you thought Born Again Krabs was not good enough for you to like the episode, than this episode from the middle of the third season of SpongeBob is for you. C.H. Greenblatt at his finest here, folks.

Let's go into the story, uh?

It starts off with Patrick dying (in a video game that is, and says "D'oh! I got dead again, this game stinks.) Wait, not really, well, good thing he's gonna be okay. (he crashes into a mountain) I guess not. Anyway, this episode has SpongeBob getting into a bad accident while sand-boarding with Sandy and Patrick. His doctor tells him that if he gets another injury, he could end up being crippled for life, in the iron butt. SpongeBob, now overly paranoid is scared to death that he's going to be disabled if if he goes outside, so he becomes a hermit to avoid outdoor content, much to the disappointment of his friends.

Anyways, they try multiple ways of convincing SpongeBob that the outdoor world is worth risking your safety including ice cream, games, and washing an old person, but however, none of it works and they try to convince SpongeBob that they need his help when a gorilla attacks. SpongeBob knows that they're faking it at first, but then a real gorilla arrives and attacks! SpongeBob fianlly gives in and gets the courage to try and do something good, good for him, but it fails, however, one could argue that he did save his friends because he causes him to question about a gorilla being underwater, but I think a better question is how do they know what a gorilla looks like.

Also, for some reason, the gorilla becomes anthropomorphic and says "Oh, well, uh, that's funny you should, I mean, you see-uh, George, they're onto us!" And he and George the horse ride off into the sunset. Weird ending aside, this episode was very funny, it was quite enjoyable seeing SpongeBob's antisocial habit get put to the fullest, antisocial means not wanting to do with the outside world, and see Patrick and Sandy react according to their characters. Squidward's minor appearances were well-timed and funny too.

The highlight of the episode is of course the weird ending.

SpongeBob - "SpongeGuard on Duty"

Here's my favorite SpongeBob episode from the third season. Before I begin, let me give a little background. This episode along with The Algae's Always Greener aired on March 22, 2002, the same day ChalkZone premiered, as well as the new episode of The Fairly OddParents at the time, "Action Packed/Smarty Pants." Now, with that out of the way, let's begin the review.

While at the beach with Patrick, SpongeBob says Larry the Lobster as a lifeguard, who gets all the attention, wooing the ladies, talking to the surfer dudes (one of them voiced by Carlos Alazraqui), as well as banishing the old people of Bikini Bottom from Goo Lagoon for some odd reason. SpongeBob wants to be a lifeguard like Larry, but Patrick on the other hand thinks that lifeguards are a nuisance. He decides to go to the snack bar to control his anger. After a flying ice cream truck accident, Larry mistakes the white ice cream sticking to SpongeBob as lifeguard material. He compliments him on the looks and let's him be the assistant lifeguard. However, when Larry leaves SpongeBob in charge of the beach, SpongeBob quickly learns that being a lifeguard is a huge responsibility, like saving people from drowning, and the problem is SpongeBob can't swim. How will he handle doing this by himself. Go find out.

This is a clever plot. A person who wants to be lifeguard like Larry the Lobster, a wannabe if you will. I will say that SpongeBob's over-protection is a bit out of hand if you ask me. Going so far as to say "Uh, somebody went," disgusting the citizens and Scooter says "It's a lagoon, dude," even going WAY to far as to tie up everyone in do not cross taping! It's not out of character, but it's too much protection. I kind of like how Patrick stops in the middle of the water and hits butt twirls and makes him flinch in pain shouting "CRAMP!" Also, the weird thing is that the water was only two feet deep, since we saw Larry pick up SpongeBob and Patrick from being over the top while "drowning."

So, bottom line, this story is quite silly, in a good way. I especially like some of Larry's lines like "Gnarly, dudes!" and one fish saying "That's the last time I read and swim." I even like Larry beating the fish up to help him breath. That lobster is quite a hero.

All I can say if you can't swim, all I can say is that practice makes perfect.

And Patrick still doesn't have any ice cream.

SpongeBob - "Karate Choppers"

A running theme on SpongeBob is his knowledge in karate. Probably the episode where this is portrayed most creatively is "Karate Choppers," written by Aaron Springer, Erik Wiese, and Merriwether Williams, in her writing debut on the show.

The first few minutes are some rather entertaining clips of SpongeBob and Sandy trying to out due each other while sparring. In other words, kind of like boxing. Eventually, SpongeBob's constant awareness for Sandy causes trouble at the Krusty Krab, ranging from him just confusing Squidward's gender, to beating up a customer. It eventually gets to the point where Mr. Krabs threatens to fire SpongeBob if he does anymore karate. After a brief misunderstanding with Sandy and Mr. Krabs almost firing him, the two decide to go to the park to take their minds off character, but no matter what they do, though, they can't seem to take their minds off of it.

And after a really fun scene that involves some hardcore sandwich making with background music composed by The Surfdusters, they give in to their instincts and continue to spar, until Mr. Krabs shows up that is. SpongeBob confesses that they can't help it, I mean sure, before he got fired, he threw a tantrum, but that was because it was a complete misunderstanding, he didn't know what was going on and didn't deserve it. Here, he knows that he screwed up and is ready to own up to it, on the other hand, Mr. Krabs decides to forgive them after he sees how brilliantly they made their sandwiches. The episode ends with SpongeBob and Sandy making tons of Krabby Patties.

As I've said, most of the enjoyment of the episode comes from how creative it is. The karate sequences are a joy to watch and the jokes are pretty funny too. It takes a bit for the story to get going and it really doesn't have a message to it, but it's easily overlooked because of how much darn fun you have watching it.

The highlight of the episode is when Sandy and SpongeBob make their sandwiches with their karate instincts.