Handy Manny: An Acquired Taste

Content Warning: This post includes some brief references to suicidal ideation. Yes I'm serious. Tread carefully.

The thing about most of the baby shows on Disney Channel is that they very much rely on a formula. Handy Manny is no exception to this rule. It's a very formulaic show, and usually that means I like it less and less as it goes on.

That is where Handy Manny is the exception. It kind of grew on me. A lot.

7:35 PM · Mar 11, 2021 "trying to muster thru handy manny as if my next show isn't my friends tigger and pooh and my show after that isn't stitch!"

I was absolutely an idiot for this one, fellas.

I think ultimately, it came down to the characters, particularly the tools. 

They do start out as somewhat annoying. You don't really care that Pat is in fact, a hammer, 

7:03 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "pat has no personality except that he is a hammer"

Nor do you really care about Rusty's cowardice, nor the bickering between rival phillipshead and flathead Felipe and Turner. 

10:38 AM · Mar 11, 2021 "these screwdrivers are filled with vitriol"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nor Dusty, who has so so so much wrong with her.

7:24 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "dusty is insane."
10:14 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "dusty is a human weapon"

But the more you watch the show, you more you realize. "Yes I fucking do." And I think that moment for me came about when they introduced the mid-series tool, Flicker, a funny little baby flashlight who only speaks Spanish, and usually has to be translated by either Felipe or Manny, the two bilinguals in the workshop (which is actually wild to me, you'd think the rest of the original tools would be able to speak Spanish too).

10:30 AM · Mar 11, 2021 "why can only one of manny's tools speak spanish? manny's workshop is probably bilingual so i think they should all speak spanish and english"
7:13 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "FUCKER."
7:22 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "i think it was a good decision to make flicker not speak english"

Flicker was in his self-titled episode in the middle of the second season, similarly to how they gave Toodles sentience in the middle of a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse season. Not really something to complain about but I do think it's interesting that baby shows like to change up the status quo a bit mid-season like this. It's kind of ballsy.

7:28 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "what is the deal with baby shows making big changes mid season anyway. i want to see a baby show where in the 12th episode of season 2 a character transitions"
7:40 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "PLEASE PUT TRANS CHARACTERS IN THE BABY SHOW"

Though that isn't where the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Handy Manny similarities end

6:38 PM · Mar 11, 2021 "disney likes to do this thing where they make a show that's like a common word or phrase and add an extra syllable like mickey mouse club HOUSE or handy manNY"

It's weird that these are the only Disney baby shows that do this, unless you count possibly Vampirina? But again, I think it's fun.

But anyway back to the tools. This was around the era when no one knew shit about the baby shows I was watching, so naturally, I turned to TVTropes, and of course, I was informed of a Handy Manny episode where Felipe attempted suicide, "Felipe's New Job," which was the final episode I watched.

10:28 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "i have been informed of the felipe attempts suicide episode so let's end on that one"
10:40 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "funny screwdriver die."

So first things first, uh, no he fucking didn't. But it was still an episode that stuck with me. The episode focuses on Felipe who feels upset because he fills a very specific role amongst the tools: screwing and removing phillipshead screws. This makes him think that he's unwanted, and he makes two comments about his death. The first being that he should find a place to lie down and rust, and the second (more intensely) about how Manny should melt him down and use him for scrap metal. I don't really have a moral for that, and the episode does end with Manny needing Felipe to help shut down a factory machine, so I hope that's helpful.

Another episode that really stood out to me was a two-parter: "Handy Manny and the Seven Tools"

9:58 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "you cant call the play snow white and the seven tools there are NINE TOOLS..."

It's a really cute episode where the town puts on a Snow White play and everyone tries out for the main parts

10:00 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "when my friends need to be supported...."

 

 

 

 

 

It also gives me an opportunity to discuss two other human characters in the show who do a lot. There's Kelly, who runs the hardware store that Manny gets his parts from. She gets the part of Snow White while Manny gets the part of Prince Charming. Clearly they were meant to be, depsite the fact that Kelly's is way out of the way.

7:27 PM · Mar 11, 2021 "in a perfect world, manny and kelly would have adjacent shops"

 Instead, Manny is next door to Mr. Lopart, the candy shop owner. In the Snow White play, he plays a tree.

 

But not before singing a whole song about how obsessed he is with theater and stealing the show.

10:03 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "this man shocking me constantly with his hubris. he will fall from grace someday and i will LAUGH"
10:04 PM · Mar 12, 2021 "WE GET IT MR LOPART YOU'RE A THEATER KID"

But what is Mr. Lopart like when he isn't the top thespian of Sheet Rock Hills?

Yeah.

Usually every episode features Mr. Lopart dealing with some issue of something in his candy store being broken, which Manny offers to help with, but alas, Mr. Lopart is too kind (or perhaps, he has too much pride) to accept Manny's help. So naturally, he will continue taping balloons to the ground and asking God why nothing goes his way.

10:45 AM · Mar 11, 2021 "i hate mr lopart"
7:00 PM · Mar 11, 2021 "mr lopart is a sad little man."
7:20 PM · Mar 11, 2021 "mr lopart fills me with unbelievable rage. this man is taping balloons to the ground. i understand he is a creature made entirely of hubris but this is fucking silly"
7:23 PM · Mar 11, 2021 "does mr lopart want to be nice or does he want to prove himself in some way?"

He's very much a character you're supposed to laugh at, and in my case, I just love to hate the guy. 

Overall, Handy Manny, is very much an acquired taste. If this is a show your kid is unnaturally obsessed with, let it happen, you'll get into it eventually, and if the blog you read for some reason decides to make a second post with a considerable amount of Handy Manny in it, you will read that Special Agent Oso post and you will like it!

Overall Rating for Handy Manny: B Tier