The Chicken Squad: A Review of Topics Not Yet Discussed

3:13 PM · Jul 8, 2021 "By God I Am Not Ready."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Space Chickens in Space is an Australian-Mexican-British-Irish Disney cartoon about three chicken siblings: A strong but sensitive girl chicken, a nerdy inventor boy chicken, and a third boy chicken that sucks so much shit.

The Chicken Squad is an American Disney cartoon that overlaps with Space Chickens in Space in this dynamic and this dynamic alone, and is mostly better for it. 

Also sorry for disliking Little Boo, to any Little Boo fans who may exist out there, but I must remind you...

  

But yeah I just finished Chicken Squad so now YOU ALL get fresh opinions on something instead of old takes I pull out of the gutter from late 2020.

The Chicken Squad is an okay show. It has good morals for kids and even a little bit of nuance in those morals. An episode about bees taught us that it's okay to be scared, but bees are very helpful to our way of life. Another episode, which had a character lying about needing help, taught us that sometimes people ask for help in indirect ways, and that those people do need help still even if they're being annoying about it. We even had a Coop Get iPhone episode, in which we learned that various resources work best for various situations instead of being the Boomer v Zoomer episode that usually comes out with that.

I think nowadays people associate nuance with some upper level thinking or whatever, but sometimes it's just about showing kindness and knowing two things that seem opposing at first can be true.

Though I guess there's some issues too...

9:46 PM · Jul 8, 2021 "would you believe that this far in, this was the first show i fell asleep watching?"

Hahahahaha. I think I was just really tired that day. Though I will admit, the show does drag. The enthusiasm I find in a show like TOTS for example is pretty absent outside the once-an-episode song.

I forgot to bring this up with My Friends Tigger and Pooh, but a lot of Disney baby shows do this. Once an episode they'll have a song that plays and becomes sort of the key aspect kids will recall 20 years down the line due to the constant rehearsal.

If you're my age, you might recall PB&J Otter's Noodle Dance. It's kinda like that! Though sometimes the songs are longer.

Off the top of my head there is:

• Chicken Squad: Chicken Charge
• My Friends Tigger and Pooh: Think Think Think
• Mira, Royal Detective: We're on the Case 
• TOTS: Bringing This Baby Home
• Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Hot Dog Dance
• Puppy Dog Pals: Going on a Mission
• Higglytown Heroes: Someone Special 
• Special Agent Oso: Three Special Steps  
  

There's probably more I forgot though...

Anyway before I talk about solely Chicken Squad I want to discuss another common Disney trope I noticed in this show. 

10:28 PM · Jul 8, 2021 "the trans coding of this villain..."

In one episode, all the dogs in the neighborhood lose their dog toys, and people think Captain Tully did it. We soon learn the toys were taken by an animal named Hog Dog, who really wants to be a dog and loves playing with dog toys.

This is not the first time a Disney show has played with this transspecies bit. Another pair of examples, Scott and Spot come to mind.

Scott of course refers to Scott Leadready, beloved trans man icon from Teacher's Pet. For those who don't know, Teacher's Pet is about a dog who wants to be a boy and goes stealth.

As for Spot, I am not deadnaming Scott, but referring to the Dalmatian from 101 Dalmatians that was born a chicken, and most of the main cast seems to respect that from what I recall. Of course it's been a while and 101 Dalmatians had a bit of a reputation for just Throwing Me Into Scenarios.

I don't really have any point to make about these trans animals yet, but it's something to keep in mind once I get to those two shows.

Anyway let's talk about some more minor characters in Chicken Squad because they are the best part.

10:37 PM · Jul 8, 2021 "and they were roommates..."

First off, we have Frazz and Riley, a squirrel and rat who are introduced as roommates before Frazz gets a proper introduction in another episode and then we learn they became roommates. Yeah it's one of those out of order shows. Frazz likes tea and Riley likes pizza (to the point where the most important thing he owns is a soggy mushroom pizza).

Dr. Dirt is a snail scientist voiced by Jane Lynch that teaches the chickens all about science. In an interesting twist, instead of the tech-savvy Coop, it's actually the gentle giant Sweetie who vibes with Dr. Dirt the most, which I personally have taken as evidence that Sweetie is going to grow up and realize she isn't straight.

When I watched the first few episodes, Dr. Dirt was my favorite, but she was soon overshadowed by the duo of thieving raccoons, Snick and Wheeze. These two are the epitome of ineffectual villains. For those of you who know me well, you may know those villains are my bread and butter. It's a pretty basic smart girl/dumb guy villain team, but what makes it fun is that you can basically convince these two that baking their own cookies is evil and they'll do it, which is how one episode ends.

I honestly make this show seem more fun than it is, but there's a good amount I don't like. It's a baby show so it obviously isn't directed toward me. The main trio isn't particularly fun, and I actively dislike Little Boo. I'm not a fan of the music and sounds used in the show. The chickens are naked half the time and I have never gotten used to it. (Maybe it's because they have hair?)

Also this is kind of a cop show?

I assumed this show was about three young community helpers and their leader, but around the seventh episode I found out their leader, Captain Tully was a police dog? They sang a whole song about her cop uniform and what it means to be a hero.

Then I found out in the first half of episode 9 Captain Tully was a search and rescue K9, and I figured "Oh, okay, she probably saves people from emergencies. We saw a bunch of pictures of her doing just that."

And then like a minute later she convinces a homeless puppy to join the K9 force in order to get a home and I'm like "Oh... kay... If she's being honest this may be in good faith still since this is how she got a home, but it does bring into question the recruiting techniques of the K9 force in this town."

And then I found out in the second part of episode 9 she did undercover work to catch criminals. So yeah I guess she's a straight up cop? But what a rollercoaster to find out, eh?

I don't think it's worth calling out though. It's an out of order cartoon that's not even on Disney+, not even Disney cares about this one. This is probably gonna be one of those shows that only some weird 6 year old gets attached to and thinks about constantly, even decades down the line. But it's not like I would know anything about that.

Also it's Disney's first show with bisexual lighting there's no way this is getting more than 40 episodes.

 

Overall Rating for Chicken Squad: C Tier