Rugrats - "Wash/Dry Story"

From the people who brought you the episode, "Music," comes another musical episode for "Rugrats," called "Wash/Dry Story," inspired from the ever popular musical "West Side Story." Let's start the review, shall we?

When Stu inadvertently turns off the neighborhood water supply, the gang goes to the laundromat to do the laundry, but the problem is, The McNultys are there too, and Teddy McNulty sees Cynthia, and he wants to play with the Cynthia doll. The thing is Jonathan had taken Cynthia alongside with Charlotte's laundry because apparently, Charlotte doesn't do laundry, Jonathan does it for her. That seems kind of lazy. Kimi wants to return Cynthia to Angelica, but Teddy wants to keep her all to himself. That said, two groups of kids get into a standoff. Will they never cease? Stay tuned to find out!

The reason I like this episode is because it's a good satire on a classic musical. I mean you have Timmy McNulty as Riff Lorton, Kimi being Rita Moreno, Teddy being of course Richard Beymer as Tony Wyzek, and of course the music has a lot of good spoofs like for example, "Stray Cat Strut" by the Stray Cats, "Maria," and "There's a Place For Us." Clever parodies, clever plot. Too bad there's no parody of "I Feel Pretty." Come on, guys, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim would be proud. Also, I should point out that this is the last appearance of the McNultys, good riddance if you ask me.

The only other parody of West Side Story was perhaps the Animatiacs episode with the Goodfeathers, and that episode featured the voice of Ivy Austin from Sesame Street.

Just remember, the moral of the story is always keep your eyes on your prized possessions, if not, they end up in a laundry basket on the way to the laundromat.

Just remember, someplace, there's always a place for all of us to play, it's just not at the laundromat, and that's the moral, folks. Hope you enjoyed my first review on February.

Rugrats - "Hiccups"

Now let's review the season five episode, "Hiccups," which was written by Bill Braunstein. I looked him up and he also worked on Aaahh!!! Real Monsters and Pinky and the Brain. But we're not here to talk about his writing, we're here to review cartoons! Let's go!

After eating some popcorn that Stu dropped, Tommy gets a pretty bad case of the hiccups. Angelica tries scaring Tommy to get rid of his hiccups, but he doesn't scare easily. Good for him, but not good for Chuckie.

Will Angelica, Phil, and Lil scare away Tommy's hiccups? Or will Tommy be sacrificed to the Hiccup gods?

Well, I'm not telling! (raspberry noise) Because you've got to watch and see for yourself!

This episode is pretty funny. With Angelica appearing, you'd think I would hate this episode. Well, nope! She acts in character, and she even lets Phil and Lil in on her curing hiccups game. The problem is the only grown-up who appeared in this episode, doesn't do a whole lot of screen-time. He only appears at the very beginning getting rid of the spider Angelica sees when she was trying to get her cookies. You would think that Stu would hear Tommy's hiccups and try to help him cure them. But nope, he just disappears the rest of the episode! What a waste of a Jack Riley character appearance.

In the end, all nitpicking aside, it doesn't matter if Stu didn't appear in this episode that much, because it's focused on Tommy and Angelica. And in the end, the guilty got what was coming to her, by having her get the hiccups as seen in this picture here. And here's a not-so-fun fact for ya. There is no medically known cure for hiccups. That is ENTIRELY untrue. There are several remedies. For example, drink some water, hold your breath, or for that matter, drink the water upside down. Believe me, I've had the hiccups once in a while. Besides, hiccups are no biggie, it's just an air bubble that has landed into your air lungs.

Rugrats - "Music"

Bring up the orchestra, put on your singing voice, and get ready to sing-along with the Rugrats gang in the ever popular episode, "Music."

While listening to the radio, Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil and Angelica perform music videos in order to teach Dil about music. Musical numbers include "Tricycle Not for You," "Pack Up Your Troubles," "Toyland," "You Make Me Love You," and "Beautiful Dreamer."

They try so desperately to get Dil to imagine the visuals like how the other kids would. Can they get Dil to imagine the visuals, or will they just follow Angelica's advice that he's not ready to learn yet?

Just watch and find out.

What I admire about this story is that it's a musical episode, kind of like SpongeBob's Jellyfish Jam, and I like Phil and Lil's "Tricycle Not for You" musical number, it has a sort of rock and roll feel to it, and Tommy's "You Made Me Love You," has a lounge feel to it, George Burns, eat your heart out. And even Didi is pretty good at singing Dil to sleep. At the end of the episode, one can realize that Dil really loves Tommy, because he dreams of him (Tommy) as he falls asleep. I think I like the "Beautiful Dreamer" rendition as much as Garfield's Garbage Can and Tin Pan Alley Revue version that was performed by Odie.

In conclusion, even though PIEGUYRULZ has says that the Tales From the Crib movies that got a lot mixed reviews because it breaks the rule that a Rugrat should never sing. I'm afraid I have to disagree. I don't mind the characters singing that much.

And since this aired before "Jellyfish Jam" did, I can safely say this is a pre-"Jellyfish Jam" episode. By the way fans, you make me love you! Really, I do.

The Powerpuff Girls - "Geshundfight"

Oh, I get it. Geshundfight is a take on the famous German phrase, "gesundheit." Anyways, we're reviewing the Powerpuff Girls episode, "Geshundfight" from the first season, and which also featured the Amoeba Boys.

The Amoeba Boys are once again trying out their petty crimes. They try to steal an orange from the orange stand, but Skinny Slim, being the nervous one, doesn't do a good job at it, the kicker, he doesn't grab the orange at all. They try to show littering to the girls, but it's just pathetic because it's just a sheet of paper. Then, The Amoeba Boys decide to, as the Professor states, stand in the park next to a "Keep off the grass" sign in an attempt to break the law, when a storm rolled in, now, they stood in the rain all night and they caught a cold, that cold mixed with their single-cell anatomy to created a devastating new virus that could then infect all of Townsville. Will the Girls find the antidote within the Amoeba Boys? Or will they just end up as sick as a chihuahua? Well I'm not telling! Because you have to watch and see for yourself.

Now, it's important to note that this is the Amoeba Boys' only appearances in Season One, they only appear once per season. When I was younger and I saw this, I thought their even plan was to get rained on and get sick and infect Townsville with their virus. I really thought THAT was their evil scheme, but since I've heard every word from Professor Utonium, that wasn't the case here. I also found it funny when the Mayor gets constant phone calls telling him that the people at City Hall are sick and they can't get in, and thanks to Sara Bellum sneezing onto the Mayor, he gets infected as well, that's karma if you ask me.

Overall, this episode is really funny, and the good part is that it doesn't push the yuckiness of f this sickness too far. I mean sure, the sick ice cream did sneeze on the girls, but they don't get infected until they come across the Amoeba Boys. I also like Buttercup shouting at the top of her lungs to the Amoeba Boys to leave Townsville, until she suddenly gets sick after she regains her cool. I also like how the Professor's microscope shows us that the germ looks like the Amoeba Boys, mostly the Boss Man. Too bad the Amoeba Boys never got arrested for infecting Townsville. As Boss Man says "I TOLD YOU YOU SHOULD'VE TAKEN THE ORANGE!"

And the Narrator is right, the Amoeba Boys are SO dumb, but we love them anyway.

The Powerpuff Girls - "Tough Love"

If you've watched Shadow Streak's review of "Somewhere Over the Swingset," you will note that he told us that that episode is a complete rip-off of the original series episode that I'm going review right now, "Tough Love," and to be honest, I can't argue with him on that one. This reboot has a tendency to do blatant stealing from the original! Here's the link to his review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpJK2vui2EU

Let's just hope that reboot gets cancelled very, very soon. Now, with that out of the way, onto the review.

Him sees Townsville loving the Powerpuff Girls to death, Him gets jealous and he really hates the Powerpuff Girls so much And with the help of his rubber duckie, Mr. Quackers, he decides to turn the people of Townsville against the girls.

How will the Girls stop Him?

Stay tuned to find out.

You know, out of context, this screencap looks pretty bad, not gonna lie.

This is one of those episodes that aired during the 10th Anniversary marathon, pairing with the Season 2 episode, "Speed Demon," which I will review sometime later. And this episode, much like "Octi Evil," has Him with an evil fiendish plan And for the most part, it works.

I even like the background music that plays when Him appears, it's perhaps the most scary that composers James L. Venable, Thomas Chase and Steve Rucker had ever composed.

And Him as usual is defeated, but he will always return for another showdown.

So, bottom line, it's cool, it's funny, it's dark, like Him, and it has a good moral that Buttercup pulled in here, that you shouldn't trust people who aren't your loved ones because our loved ones would never want to hurt us and they're all a part of HIS evil scheme, okay, good moral.

I even found it strange that even the narrator has sucked in the hate smoke or something.

But on the other hand, I like the ending where he says "Oh, nurse, isn't it time for my sponge bath?"

By the way, I don't like sponge baths. I'm onto the next one, bye.

The Powerpuff Girls "Lying Around the House"

Three Cartoon Network shows I've reviewed in a row. That's strange, but a good thing. Now, I'm reviewing my only favorite episode of The Powerpuff Girls, Season 5, "Lying Around the House." But first, I want to give a shout out to Shadow Streak who said that "The Secret Swapper of Doom" was a ripoff of this sort of thing, if you don't believe me, here's the link to his review.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=091KbzLmr7Y

In this episode, Professor, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup completely tell lie after lie during their day off on Saturday. First there's one the Professor does where he says he has a lot of work to do, but the truth is he has an important game show to watch. And the Girls hate liver and onions, so they give it to the town's dogs. The following has Bubbles lying about drawing on the walls, Buttercup playing by herself with a dodge ball and lies about breaking the Professor's major brain award, or nerd award as Buttercup calls it, and Blossom lies about overflowing the laundry, this causes the little white lie to turn into a comical monster and wreak havoc on the house. What can they do? Watch and find the honest truth to this episode.

Before I knew about Lollygaggin;' existing before this, I thought this episode was the only instance of them spoofing Larry-Boy! And the Fib from Outer Space! It's obvious the people at Cartoon Network had a tape of the aforementioned tape. The major difference is that unlike the Fib who acts so evil is that the White Lie acts more comical and makes up lies by himself. I guess Chris Savino, the writer of this episode came up with that idea by himself. I also like how The Professor is watching a game show, what is he? Bob Pataki, because he likes Wheel of Fortune. Also, much like Lollygaggin', the Lie here is also voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson. Hmm, I'm going to go ahead and blame cartoon logic on this.

So bottom line, I don't think this is blatant copying compared to the Secret Swapper of Doom, both these shows have watched Larry-Boy! And the Fib from Outer Space! And whenever they do, they have to take notes to come up with another episode. I like the joke about the pants being on fire and hanging from a telephone wire, literal humor, folks. And also, I like the jokes on Buttercup and Professor accidentally leaving the toilet seat up, which usually causes the girls to go "What?"

Anyways, the moral is about trust.

Trust, trust, it's all about trust, break it and you'll spontaneously com bust!

Oh Zagnut, I referenced the reboot! Sorry about that!

The Powerpuff Girls - "Power-Noia"

Let's take a look at some of the later season 4 episodes of the Powerpuff Girls, this one is called "Power-Noia." But first, I would like to give a shout out to Phoenix Pen and PIEGUYRULZ for reviewing this episode during a listing of episodes from Seasons 4 through 6.

Here's the link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q074ll9WE8U

Now, with that said, let's take a look at this episode which was the last one that was directed by Craig McCracken.

After a typical fight with a giant monster, as the Girls prepare for a good night sleep, Buttercup argues to Bubbles about her yelp when the monster laser zapped the three girls. In the process, Buttercup sees something on her pajamas, which kind of looks like a spider, but brushes the smudge of her dress. Anyways, after that stunt, The Professor tucks them in and tells them to prepare for the big test tomorrow which Blossom unfortunately was unprepared for. Once the Professor leaves, the nightmare starts when Him places nightmares on all three of the girls, mainly on what we fear.

Blossom's nightmare is all about failing her final exam and thinking it could be the end of her life, I've had that experience before. But you should know that it's not the end of the world if you get a C, a B, or even an F, but grades are important. Miss Keane was pretty creepy. By the way, tell Olga that about getting a B+ is not the end of the world, okay? And Bubbles nightmares are kind of Tim Burton like with the toys attacking her and Bubbles almost being suffocated by a snack, and Buttercup's nightmares, the best part, are all spider related and the CGI backgrounds kind of look like Pablo Picasso paintings or something. If I didn't know better, I'd say Buttercup just fell into the fly of despair.

This episode is pretty unique for it's dark tones, and even Him's fiendish plan to make the girls too scared to fight back. In my opinion, Him's evil schemes were the best part of the original series. Ranging from turning the people of Townsville against the girls in "Tough Love" to taking over the world in "Speed Demon." I felt bad for the girls in this episode, all those terrible nightmares they have, even going so far as to not wake-up themselves. I wonder if that's how Princess Snorebucks came to be, and I wonder if that's where the Justice League episode, "Only a Dream," got this from. If that's the case, then I won't say it's stealing.

I thought it was a straight-forward episode, I thought it was good. But PIEGUYRULZ didn't think it needed to be 22 minutes in he and Phoenix Pen's review of these episode. But in my opinion, it needed to be 22 minutes so we can explore more of the Girls going through their bad dreams and how they came to be.

I also like Him's evil spider-like form! But in the end, the Girls manage to defeat him, somehow. And it ends with The Professor in their bedroom because he had a nightmare. Ironic, isn't it?

If you still wish the reboot was canceled, go watch this episode, please?

Rugrats - "All's Well That Pretends Well"

Yep, another Season Six episode review for Rugrats. This time, let's take a look at  "All's Well That Pretends Well"

The Cirque du Dummi Bear is in town, and everyone's getting ready to go see the live show. Angelica however, has a pretty bad cold and goes through extreme lengths to make sure that she does go despite her illness. Can she hide this fact from her parents and the rest of the grown-ups by making them think one of the other babies is sick? Or will she just admit what's going on and just face the consequences?

Well I'm not telling! PBBT! Because you've got watch and see for yourself. Okay? All right. Onto the review.

This is another one of those Angelica Karma Trips episodes. Remember, the reason I call these episodes that is because it's all justified because Angelica was acting like a jerk, and it was satisfying to see her get her comeuppance for her sour attitude. This is a much better episode than "The Big Sneeze," and I'll explain why, this one is focused on Angelica being the one who's sneezing, not Chuckie. I don't know what Cirque du Dummi Bear translates out to, but I think it's French for the Dummi Bear circus. At least, when Angelica got really sick after Spike shook the feather duster onto her, at least her parents didn't punish her, instead, they just care for her like actual parents would.

This episode was really funny. It had joke after joke, and even some of Stu Pickles' lines were funny. I would say that it was a shame that Angelica never went to that Cirque Du Dummi Bear thing, but I won't , mainly due to the fact she got what was getting to her, and the fact that Stu actually bought the entire thing on videotape, not to mention Laserdisc, DVD, HDTV, CD-ROM, Betamax and 8-track, according to Chaz, I must say, Stu Pickles really knows how to solve Angelica's problems. Also, this is one if not the only episode where Tommy tries not to give in to Angelica's antics, like the ice cream for example.

If you're an Angelica fan, or just a regular Rugrats fan and don't know which one is your favorite, go ahead and give it a watch.

Rugrats - "Runaway Angelica"

Okay, now I've completely calmed down and needed a CatDog review before this, I decided now is the right time to review "Runaway Angelica."

After getting into trouble in Drew's office and being sent into her room, Angelica decides to run away. Yeah, we know, she's a troublemaker; it’s part of the territory...but in this episode, it finally starts to add up. Drew as a legitimate scolding to Angelica almost as much as kids who wouldn't behave and get scolded by their parents as well. It turns into your typical Angelica tortures babies as slaves for no good reason episode until it starts to rain, and Angelica decides to go into the dog house, literally. So what, she gives in to her on instincts and her parents get worried and Drew regrets everything he said and everything's okay, right? Actually no, Drew and Charlotte never knew that Angelica ran away, mostly because they were to distracted by the world around them. There’s suddenly something at risk, and something Angelica values is now truly on the line. But in the end, despite her hopes of her parents being worried about her, reality takes its toll.

She hears Drew talking to Didi and Stu and he says "Oh, boy." It is so nice to get away from the responsibilities of parenthood.

And in my opinion, this is the saddest thing I've ever seen on this show.

I identify a lot with this episode. I sometimes got into trouble growing up myself, either, and I can tell you, all the talks, all the pressure, all the fears of not being loved by your parents anymore are properly represented here. In my opinion, this is the most dramatic episode they’ve ever put out. There’s no villain, there’s no one element to play, it’s just a tough slice of life and it still shows that your parents will still always love you even if you do those bad things, which is a hard lesson for anyone to learn, so hard that they don’t even really teach it that much in TV or movies. It’s tough to deal with, and this episode doesn’t sugarcoat it.  Sugarcoating meaning sentimental. It shows just what an impact it has on her and how much it can really hurt. Now, true, there is still a happy ending, but to be fair, I think it kinda works. Her valuable lesson some payoff, and she uses what she learned to her advantage.  But this is the first, and in my opinion, only time “Rugrats” had a perfect mix of good comedy, good storytelling, and surprisingly good drama. I’ve never seen an episode that balanced all three of those so well. You get sucked into Angelica’s dilemma, you feel bad for what she’s going through, and you want to see her come out okay. On top of that, there’s still some good laughs, a lot of heart, and a satisfactory resolution. Although I will say, if her big concern is not doing those bad things ever again, then how come in every single episode, SHE STILL DOES THOSE HORRIBLE THINGS?!

I don’t know, but what I do know is that this is a truly unique episode, and in my opinion, the absolute best of them all. It’s touching, it’s funny, it was near the end of the second season, it's just a gem.

Rugrats - "The Big Sneeze" Review

Season 7, sometime around 2002, Angelica Pickles is my least favorite character in all of Rugrats. And I'll tel you why. All she does is trick the babies into thing something terrible is happening, and obviously making the babies her slaves. Why would God even create somebody like her. Sure, there are episodes I like that feature her like, "The Word of the Day," Hiccups," and "Angelica Breaks a Leg" She may have done all those things, but she still had a heart. "The Big Sneeze" exists to say "Forget all that" and downgrades into the most flanderized character, I've ever seen.

"The Big Sneeze" was the breaking point for me, and I won't cover this up. Don't get me wrong, I'm not angry, I'm not upset, I'm just..........sad. Yeah. It's honestly the best word I can use to describe here.

The episode starts off with Kira giving Chaz an anniversary present since it's been one year since they've been married. Kimi is amazed by this news and tries to get something for Chuckie for being a sister for over one year. Meanwhile, Chuckie sneezes constantly whenever Kimi walks passed him, when Angelica overhears this, Angelica decides to trick the babies into thinking that Chuckie is allergic to Kimi because now is clearly the best time to do it and she couldn't have waited an extra 15 seconds. It's all downhill from here and I wish that was an exaggeration. It doesn't help, that whenever Tommy and their friends try to cure Chuckie, Chuckie decides to move away from Kimi as much as possible. This is mind-boggling!

I can sum this episode up in four words;. "IT'S ALL ANGELICA'S FAULT!" I mean, this has just gone too far even for her character, and the worst part is that Chuckie believes this the entire time, he doesn't stand up to Angelica and tell her she's being ridiculous, he just falls through with this plan because the plot wants him to. And not at one moment does Angelica question what has she done! And the worst part is that Angelica never receives any karma for her actions, she doesn't get punished, Chaz nor Kira call Drew about what's going on, she just disappears from the episode after Chuckie accidentally sneezes on her.

Here's how you fix this story. Have Tommy become suspicious and become mad at Angelica for making Chuckie believe he's allergic to Kimi. Oh, and how about a better allergy, have Chuckie be allergic to Angelica, that way, the babies could beat her up in the same way that Glenn Quagmire did to Brian from Family Guy just because he hates him. Unless, you were to argue that Chuckie is allergic to Angelica in this episode but didn't say, but I'll again return to my previous argument that there's no reason for him to think Kimi would be better off without him around. This isn't a mid-life crisis, so why is he going through this now? Or how about this one. Somebody would put Angelica into a box with air holes in it, and it would be shipped back to her house and Drew reads it saying "Return to sender. P.S. We'd raver have Susie Carmichael/" and Drew would say. "Gee, that's the tenth time this month. Some things you just can't give away."

That was atrocious. I hate to say it but this is the first review I've done on an episode of a cartoon I like that I hate. This episode needed some more proof reading before giving the go ahead to be made. Angelica never gets her comeuppance, Chuckie being allergic to dandelions contradicts "Opposites Attract," and on top of it all, Nancy Cartwright does not do a pretty good Chuckie voice. I have nothing against her, but I just want to address it nonetheless. Just take it from me and skip it. You're more likely to get laughs from an episode of CatDog.

But don't worry guys, there's a much netter episode that features Angelica that I'll review coming up real soon.

ChalkZone - "Chip of Fools"

Whoa, I guess it's been a while since I've talked about my last time I've reviewed a ChalkZone episode. Now, I'm going to get back on track. Today, I'm reviewing, "Chip of Fools."

While exploring ChalkZone, Penny, Snap, and Rudy come across the Chocolate Chip Cookie Tree, I can say that that's the kind of tree that Cookie Monster would go do. While collecting a lot of cookies, Rudy and Penny see the bubble forest and leave Snap into keeping an eye on it. But Snap eats all the cookies before they could come back to inspect the chip to crumb aspect ratio. Snap becomes tired and falls asleep and gets a very eerie nightmare about talking cookies kidnapping Snap and turning him into a chocolate chip cookie too.

I know a lot of people have not followed ChalkZone, but I have. I like ChalkZone. I especially like this episode. I like how Snap is so cookie hungry and the nightmare he had is just visually interesting. I can understand to Rudy and Penny that chalk food would still taste like chalk. And I understand. The thing that kind of bugs me is the cookie snorfeler, if that's how you spell its name. It's like a vacuum cleaner, a vacuum that only like cookies. It's easily frightened though whenever people come across the tree. That's a good sign.

Bottom line, I like the episode and it was much better than the Halloween episode that aired before this one, which although I have nothing against Tim Curry, that Halloween episode was just a weak, weak, episode. But this, this just a better episode! Too bad it only airs on Halloween, kind of like "What is Blue Afraid Of?" and "I Was a Teenage Gary."

Go ahead and watch it online, if you're a true fan of ChalkZone or any of the Frederator stuff.

The Powerpuff Girls - "Uh Oh Dynamo"

Now, tonight, I'm going to review one of my other favorite episodes of The Powerpuff Girls, which coincidentally, is the last episode of the first season, "Uh Oh Dynamo," One day, when I was streaming with Shadow Streak, I asked him if he liked this episode and he said he did, it's one of his favorite season one episodes too. Go check out his reviews of the PPG reboot if you haven't already, if you like my stuff, you're gonna love his. Now, onto the review.

The plot of this 22 minute episode is that after an encounter with a fish balloon, desperate to protect the girls, Professor Utonium creates the Dynamic Nano-Techronic Monobot, or DYNAMO for short. While the girls are unsure on whether or not they want to use it, one Saturday in Bonsai Garden's Park, during an evening paper boat race, the Fish Balloon comes back, but only with a much bigger companion who's too big to even beat up. How will the girls stop him? Well, I'm not telling! You just have to watch and see for yourself. Because I'm going to say what I like about this episode now.

The episode as a lot of cool action scenes, especially with the big battle with that seven-eyed fish balloon. Of course, this show had a lot of violence and comedy, as the Powerpuff Girls usually do.. This kind of reminds me of that Pokemon episode, "Tentacool and Tentacruel," and yes, I will review that one at some point, also, it reminds me of the Dexter's Laboratory episode, "Last But Not Beast," where Dexter and his family use a giant battle robot to stop Badaxtra, the evil giant monster from Japan, but the major difference here is that in "Last But Not Beast," there was no cheering crowd when the monster was defeated, but here, there was. So, if I had to choose between those two episodes, I'd probably pick this one. The irony is that both Craig McCracken and Genndy Tartakovsky who worked on "Last But Not Beast," directed this episode, like all of the other episodes that Don Shank storyboarded.

The final verdict, it's an awesome episode, and it really helped put the first season to the end and gear everyone up for the second season that would air a month later in 1999. It's exciting, full of action and danger, it's funny, has great visuals, and has fun with a monster battle! If you haven't seen or heard of this, please, at least check this one episode out, it really is worth your time. But, I'll bet you to watch Dog the Mighty first before this one.