Saturday, April 23, 2016

Extra Thoughts-The Powerpuff Girl's Influence on Animation


Hello my name is Evan A.K.A. The Animated Critic. Welcome back to Powerpuff Month. When you think of the Powerpuff Girls you probably think of a fun little series with some awesome action and great comedy. However this show may of had a bigger influence on the medium of animation than you think. Let's go back to 1998 when the show first aired. A lot of pandering to certain genders was still going on. Now a days there are less shows that aim to have appeal at a certain gendar, they still exsist but they are less common now. Most shows now tend to try and have crossover appeal. The trend of creating cartoons for a specific gendar became more popular in the mid 80s with shows like Transformers, and G.I. Joe for the boys and My Little Pony, Strwberry Shortcake, and Rainbow Brite for the girls. Sure there were still many shows with crossover appeal (Mostly the shows made by Disney) but there was still a clear line between a Girls and a Boys show. Most of these shows were made by a group of people in suits looking to get rich quick. As a result they resorted to pandering to the base many many times. Not all shows made for a specific gender pandered to the gender they were trying to be popular with, but a lot did. My Little Pony Tales for the girls (not the original. The original show still sucks but I give credit where it's due it didn't resort to pandering), or Madballs and the Garbage Pail Kids for the boys.
"Boys like gross things"
"Girls like frilly, pink, cute things"
I hate this practice. It's one thing to have a show targeted to a specific gendar, that's fine, but pandering to them is just showing contempt for them. There were many ideas that were completely false like "guy shows can only have male main characters and girl shows can only have female main characters." or "only guys like action and fighting." Like I said these ideas were very false. Like I said not all gendar targeting shows did this but lots of them did.
This declined in the 90s thankfully, but by 1998 there were still plenty of false ideas about what boys and girls want in their shows. Enter the Powerpuff Girls. I think this show kinda had the same effect as Friendship is Magic, only on a scale that's not as big. I think it broke a lot of gendar barriers for animation. The public perceived it as mostly a girls show (even though in reality Craig McCracken didn't really want that to be the case. He hated the perception of the show just being a girls show.) however it still had a lot of male fans. It had a lot of fans from both genders. I think it showed many that boys wouldn't mind watching a show with female characters, and that girls aren't turned off by action. In a way it kinda broke a lot of gendar barriers and false ideas about what boys and girls want in their shows. Even though I don't think that was the intention. I think the intention was to just create a fun little show. And maybe that's why it succeeded so well. It didn't focus on trying to get an audience of a specific gendar. Even though advertising made it out as a girls show it wasn't trying to be a show made for a specific gendar. It was just trying to be a fun, little. entertaining show. And as we all know it succeeded extremely well on that front with clever writing, well made characters, and fun action scenes. Though not every episode was an actioney episode. We'll get back to this later though. The point of the show wasn't to target any specific audience it was just meant to be fun and fun it was. That's why it attracted such a big fan base of both males and females. Just like Friendship is Magic. Whatever your opinions on FIM is you can't deny that it doesn't really focus on being for girls. It focuses on being an entertaining show with fun, likeable characters. Just like the Powerpuff Girls. So that's why it succeeded with both genders. And in a way it helped break a lot of gendar generalizations that were present in the Animation Industry. It was a really progressive show in terms of that front.
Both boys and girls liked it. And like I said not all episodes were actioney so I think it also showed  boys would watch something without constant fight scenes as well. (In fact some of the most popular episodes like Best Rainy Day Ever weren't actioney at all)
Listen kids don't like to be pandered to. They don't want to watch something that insults they're intelligence and just plays on a lot of false ideas about their gendar. They rather watch something that actually tried to be entertaining. Something clever, something fun. That is what the Powerpuff Girls did and I think it made many people realize that. Now not every gendar specific show is bad and not all of them pander to the audience. There are some really good, fun, clever gendar specific shows out there. But the Powerpuff Girls broke a lot of the false sterotyping that those shows thought their gendar target would like.
And that is the impact it made on the animation industry.

Thank you for your time and sorry I've been slow updating Powerpuff Month. I have a lot going on and while I may have to move Powerpuff Month into May as well I should be able to get everything I wanted to do for it done. Thanks for reading.
If you like this post hit that +1 button and share with your friends and family on social media. Peace.








Next Powerpuff Month-The Pilots
Next Animated Critic-Driven to Tears (SpongeBob)
Next Evan Vs. Disney-Fantasia
Next Anime Critic-Madoka Magica episodes 1-2
Other Projects-Movies of 2016 

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Quick Thoughts #11-Powerpuff Girls 2016 First Reaction




April 4th 2016 marked the day the Powerpuff Girls returned to television. I hate to say it but this was inevitably gonna happen at some point. The Girls are probably some of the most famous cartoon characters of all time and since there's been a big boom in rebooting nostalgic shows and franchises lately I wasn't to surprised that this show happened. Most people were very worried this show would be bad but I was a little more optimistic about it. It could be god awful but it's the Powerpuff Girls it can't be that bad can it. Well I've seen a few episodes and to be honest I really couldn't pick one specific one to do a review over. So I'm just gonna give you my general thoughts over the few episodes I saw. Keep in mind ove only seen 3 episodes so far so this review is just based on those 3 episodes. The series could produce many more great or awful episodes and become completely different in terms of quality as it starts to develop more. Which is why this is more of a First Reaction than a review.
The 3 episodes I've seen in case you're curious are
1-Man Up (which was released on ITunes before the show came out.)
2-Princess Buttercup
And 3-The Stayover

So where to begin. Well I guess first things first is that I actually really liked this series. It's so far not as good as the original, but I can see it developing to that point. It was enjoyable.
The story is pretty much the same 3 girls are created from Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice and of course a vat of Chemical X, and now they have to fight the forces of evil.
The show itself is.......actually not a load of donkey crap. It was actually quite enjoyable. I think this is what Teen Titans Go should've been. It definetly feels different from the original. A bit more comedic in a way. (even though the original show was quite comedic.)  It had an overall different feeling tone than the original show that's quite hard to put your finger on but it is quite apparent. Just hard to describe I guess. The best way I can describe it is that it is more comedic. The original show was comedic but it always felt more like it was focusing on just being a fun action show with the occasional completley funny or serious episode. I really couldn't imagine this new show doing episodes like say Speed Demon or Equal Fights for example but I could totally see it doing episodes like The Pee Pee G's if that helps put things into perspective. It just feels like it's focusing more on the comedy side of the original show more than the serious or fun action-ey side. Now I say this is what Teen Titans Go should've been as the characters still seem to have their original personalities. They knew the source material well it seems and just wanted to add their own twist to it. Like the show itself though the characters do seem a little different from their original counterparts. They're personalities are made more comedic to fit the newer tone of the show.
Blossom is still the leader and the wisest in the group.
Bubbles is still her cute little, slightly airheaded self..........just don't do anything to anger her.
And Buttercup is the most tomboyish of the group.
But they slightly change those personalities up in this show to fit the new tone. Which Teen Titans Go should've done instead of making all the characters generic douchebags.
As for the side characters like MS. Bellum, the Mayor, or the narrator I can't really say. They seem to just have been pushed to the side. I don't think I've seen MS. Bellum at all and the Mayor and Narrator only got like a brief appearance. Ita weird not hearing the narrators voice. He doesn't even say "The city of Townsville" or "And once again the day is saved thanks to the Powerpuff Girls." I guess they do wanna do something different than the original series. It doesn't bug me I'm just making an observation.
In the original I feel Bubbles is my personal favorite of the group but in this show I feel that honor has to go to Buttercup. Out of all the characters she's the most developed but as the episodes progress this could change of course. Blossom and Bubbles just feel slightly bland to me as of right now. They still have a little bit of the remnants of their original personality but like I said they kinda added a comedic upgrade to them to fit the new tone and I don't think they've done enough to develope that. That is of course only my opinion only after seeing 3 episodes so this may definetly change.
Buttercup on the other hand has had a lot of focus in these episodes and so we see a lot of her new comedic personality developed. She's still the Buttercup we all know and love, she is brash and quick to act and has slight anger issues (which is what Man Up was all about actually). The comedic twist is that her personality is made to seem more "hip" and "rad" if you know what I mean.
She's definetly the most developed of the characters so far. Like I said these are the girls we all still know and love just with a comedic upgrade.....or downgrade depending on how you look at it.
So yeah characters are a bit of a problem but really this show is still a lot of fun. It may have faults but I really enjoyed watching the show.
The animation style is something I really enjoy actually. I think it's colorful and looks pretty good and fluent. And the voice actors actually don't do to bad. They barely sound like the original characters but the new voices do suit the characters. Now for a show that wants to focus on comedy more how is it.
Well.........I'm gonna sound nostalgia blind here to some people more than likely but I didn't find it as funny as the original. The original was a really funny show when it wanted to be and this show has only hit those heights with one episode that I've seen so far. The Stayover is a really fun and hilarious episode. The other episodes don't completely fail in terms of the comedy but they didn't have to much laugh out loud material. They still had a few moments though.
Honestly I don't know what else to say about this show. It's a more comedic Powerpuff Girls and it's pretty much a better version of Teen Titans Go. I'm honestly quite excited to see where this show goes. To see how it develops and to see what kind of episodes we'll be getting. And I really can't wait to see some classic Villains return. In the episodes I've seen there was Princess Mobucks and Mojo Jojo made a slight appearance in the Stayover. I really want to see how they tackle Him though....if they're even gonna put him in this series. Oh and the Rowdyruff Boys, and Fuzzy Lumpkins, and the Amoeba Boys. I'm sorry the nostalgia is taken over.
The show itself so far seems to get that it can't just rely on nostalgia and actually does attempt to create something that's unique and fun. And so far they haven't quite nailed it but it's getting there. So I'd say it's pretty good as of right now. I'd recommend it. It's different but different doesn't equal bad. (Unless the things they change are just poorly executed.) So those are my first thoughts on the new Powerpuff reboot. You have no idea how happy I am to say that it doesn't suck. I was quite worried for a moment that it would. So that's that.
In celebration of the return of one of my favorite cartoons all month long we're gonna be looking at Powerpuff Girls related material. So here's the schedule for Powerpuff Month.
1-Reboot Quick Thoughts-Check
2-The Pilots
3-Insect Inside
4-The Rowdyruff Boys
5-Dance Pansted

So with that said I'm excited to be officially starting Powerpuff Month. Let's make this month great. Thank you for reading and if you enjoyed this blog post click that +1 button and leave a comment. All constructive feedback is appreciated.
Thank you and see you next time.
Peace.



Next Powerpuff Month-The Pilots
Next Animated Critic-Driven to Tears (Spongebob)
Next Anime Critic-Madoka Magica Episodes 1-2
Next Evan Vs. Disney-Fantasia
















"And once again the cartoon is reviewed thanks to.......The Animated Critic"

Friday, April 1, 2016

Not All Dogs Go To Heaven (Family Guy)-Animated Critic Special



Show-Family Guy
Episode Title-Not All Dogs Go To Heaven 
Air Date-March 29th 2009
Season 7
Episode 121



My fans. How I love you guys so much. So as a little treat just as a thank you for all the support you've given me I'm gonna review this awful episode. This episode is beyond bad. It's incomprehensibly bad. 
So without further ado let's dig into Not All Dogs Go To Heaven.

It sucks

















































OK just a little April Fools Joke there. Ha ha. OK let's get into the actual review
This is Not All Dogs Go To Heaven.

















-3/10000

The Worst Episode of Spongebob-Animated Critic #13

Show-Spongebob
Episode Title-Band Geeks
Airdate-September 7th 2001
Season 2
Episode 35b

Spongebob is an amazing show. Except for anything after the movie.......and this episode. I think we can all agree this is the worse episode of classic Spongebob by far. Heck the worst episode of all time. In fact I think I'm even willing to say it's the worse episode of any cartoon I've ever seen. And here's a list of awful shows that I've watched just to give you some perspective on how bad this episode is
Allen Gregory
Adult Party Cartoon
Stripperella 
Captain N
Bubsy

This episode is worse than all those crappy shows.
So what are we waiting for. Let's I've right into the worse Spongebob episode Band Geeks 

The episode starts won Squidward playing the clarinet badly cause we've never seen that before. And then squilliam calls to rub his success in Squidward's face cause we've never seen that before either. OK you're just ripping off previous episodes man come one. Actually try writers. 
So anyway squilliam tells Squidward that he was gonna play at the bubble bowl with his band but he had to cancel so he asks if Squidward can do it. Squidward being the arrogant idiot he is says he well and now has to conjure up a band before the bubble bowl.

So he does and they all suck at playing they're instruments. The next few minutes are just a string of awful jokes. Most of the jokes are mostly about how bad the guys suck at their instruments and it gets repetitive and annoying. 
Nothing really memorable or funny happens. I mean 2 guard members die.......ha ha? And Patrick at one point confuses Mayonnaise with an instrument. Get it....the joke is he's dumb. 

Anyway the band members begin getting tired of all these awful jokes and a fight happens. This causes squidward to give a heartfelt speech about how they ruined his chance at happiness and boo hoo let me play you a song on the world's tiniest violin. 
I don't care. This episode is boring as crap. 
So the next day the bubble bowl happens and Squidward meets up with squilliam cause even though earlier he said he couldn't make it to the bubble bowl he's still there. And why did Squidward go if he doesn't have a band? He tell squilliam that the band died which is technically true for 2 of the members. But because the world hates Squidward and we gotta shave in some torture for him in there the band appears and he now he has no choice but to play the bubble bowl. By the way did I mention that they didn't even decide to play for Squidward. Even after his speech about them ruining his life they still decide that they're not gonna play the bowl for him. No they do it for the firemen. Really? What have firemen ever done for us. 
Nothing.
OK well they've never done anything for the characters of Spongebob because its fricking impossible to have a fire underwater. 

So the band plays for the bubble bowl. The song they play is one of the worse ove ever heard. Nicki Minaj could write a better song.

But the audience is luckily filled with idiots with no critical thought and they like it. They like it so much it kills squilliam. Funny right.

This episode sucks. 
The comedy is bad. Its boring as crap. The music is garbage and the characters are dull. It does everything wrong. 

Best part-The part where I was done watching this crap
Worse part-The awful attempts at humor 
Overall
0/10
It deserves no credit what so ever. Ira offensively lazy and lackluster. Worse episode by far. 











April Fools
No in actuality I love this episode. Ira one of my favorites. 
But if you do wanna know what my personal least favorite episode of the show is check back next time for the real episode 13 until then peace. 






I seriously am curious though how many people thought I was serious for a minute.