Stanley: How To Save Yourself From Life As A Fish

4:41 PM · Jan 9, 2021 "have a scalding take for this one.
stanley is what nightmare ned would be if nightmare ned were neurotypical"

For someone my age who never watched Stanley (it was a bit past my time as far as baby shows go), I still have a degree of nostalgia for it. I have recurring memories of The Great Big Book of Everything when my baby sister watched it, and when Stanley joined the academic team with me in 8th grade, one of our in jokes was just comparing him to Stanley. Having friends and family who had fond memories of Stanley made me think this one was going to be okay.

But it's a Jim Jinkins show. Even if it's good, it won't be that good.

 

5:11 PM · Jan 9, 2021 "i think the worst part about stanley is that is isn't even the last jim jinkins show on this list. that's still down the line"

Stanley, particularly the first season, really only has one thing going for it, and that's its premise. It's about a kid who wants to turn into various animals, and learns a lesson about how much better it is to be a human, with various animal facts in between. I think tvtropes explains this one well

But yeah, it's crazy repetitive, especially in season 1. Once season 2 starts, we get some more varied episode plots. Still, that is at least 40% of a series doing the same thing over and over (presumably, I only watched 13 episodes after all).

5:33 PM · Jan 9, 2021 "im two eps into stanley im tired of it"
1:27 PM · Jan 11, 2021 "stanley is getting better because it isnt the same plot over and over again but i will not forgive it for the rage it caused me"

Fun fact, Stanley is also Disney's first interactive baby show kind of. Really it's more like the Weekenders, in which they keep to themselves most of the time, but one character will speak to me. Usually Dennis.

4:46 PM · Jan 9, 2021 "the fish talked to me"

Other than Lionel (who seems like he's some asshole big brother, but he's just a normal kid and for some reason that's really funny to me), Dennis is one of my favorite characters , because it is very evident he has problems. He hates the once an episode song. (Dennis walked so Cuckoo Loca could run, honestly.) He's obsessed with the natural order (similarly to Leonard from Teacher's Pet, particularly the movie). He's Stanley's best friend and fears his abandonment more than anyone, as shown in "A Boy's Best Friend Is His Fish," which was my favorite season 1 episode.

12:16 PM · Jan 11, 2021 "Every episode prior to this: Stanley wants to be an animal and Dennis prevents him from making the worst mistake of his life This episode: Dennis has BPD."
12:22 PM · Jan 11, 2021 "this was the first "good" episode of stanley. im gonna watch season 2 and see if the quality improves"

Anyway, despite him playing the role of a parent figure better than Stanley's actual parents, I have a theory regarding the camraderie and overprotectiveness of Dennis, naturally.

1:31 PM · Jan 11, 2021 "here is a fucked up theory i was discussing yesterday: dennis is stanley from a dark timeline. in this timeline stanley uses the gbboe to turn into a goldfish and is unable to return, living like that until he can time travel, and now he protects his younger self from his mistake"

Dennis may die when the timeline fixes itself, but he's willing to make that sacrifice.

Anyway look at this fish man.

 Honestly though, this one was pretty dull other than some silly happenstances in it.

1:06 PM · Jan 11, 2021 "the dude from princess bride is singing a song about climbing a mountain"
1:08 PM · Jan 11, 2021 "stanley just got an evil curse"

I don't really have all that much to say. You do get the vibe that every Disney baby show (at least in the Playhouse era) is trying to help kids with a particular subject or skill, and I think that's pretty neat. 

Overall Rating For Stanley: D Tier