Billy Dilley's Super Duper Subterranean Summer: Simultaneously Different and The Same

11:06 AM · Jun 14, 2021 "Billy Dilley is what stanley warned us against"

Billy Dilley's Super Duper Subterranean Summer is a weird result of whatever had been going on on Disney for the past few years. Shows like Future Worm, Milo Murphy's Law, Amphibia, and Pickle and Peanut probably lead up to this point, but somehow, this show feels so different from any other Disney cartoon, even if it is delegated to Disney XD. It feels more like something you'd see on Cartoon Network in the 2010s. Honestly, it reminds me a lot of Clarence.

1:11 AM · Jun 14, 2021 "i understand the disney xd era was a bit more experimental but this feels so different from anything else on disney in terms of the specific style.... and that's a lot of the appeal"
1:23 AM · Jun 14, 2021 "It kind of reminds me of Clarence except the dynamic is different in that I already care a lot about zeke and Marsha and the trio dynamic is not as strong. Billy is also a weaker character than Clarence. Zeke however is stronger than Jeff. Marsha has big shoes to fill as Sumo is The best one by far. But I do like her as a character."

Which feels like kind of a weak and unfair sort of comparison, because past having trios lead by a neurodivergent kid (and the other members of the trio likely also being neurodivergent), the shows aren't really all that similar. Clarence is a laid back slice of life, while Billy Dilley is a wild sci-fi adventure story. Oh, and also Tom Kenny is in both and plays my favorite character in each trio.

1:06 AM · Jun 14, 2021 "tom kenny does a good job as the straight man in this"
11:01 AM · Jun 14, 2021 "The first ep was about the kids surviving with billy this ep is about how zeke likes to make calzones"
11:03 AM · Jun 14, 2021 "Zeke you could have been so much more"
4:08 PM · Jun 14, 2021 "zeke has spent this entire ep watching tv it's funny he's not even watching anything a normal teen would watch it's fucking how it's made"

Zeke is objectively the best character in Billy Dilley. He's a bit older than the other two, due to being a slacker who was held back. He usually acts as the voice of reason to the scientifically inclined Billy or the spacey Marsha, or is just too lazy to really do much of anything. Except of course, cook. The episode "Calzones" is one of my favorites of the series, and focuses on Billy and Marsha realizing how good Zeke is at making Calzones, which really raises his self-esteem, up until someone challenges him to be the king of calzones. It's a really fun episode that adds a layer of depth to Zeke and makes him the most fun of the cast.

Marsha's a lot of fun too though. She's got a fun silliness she adds to the trio, which is especially welcome when something Billy does is really fucked up. But she's usually down for anything fun, which I like! In addition, I really like her design. It's like something out of a comic book!

The style of the show is something I'm kind of mixed on actually. The character design is really fun, but the shading is so obnoxious. A lot of the characters have this weird shine to them. Billy especially does and it's... unfitting? Especially considering they're hanging out below the earth.

1:04 AM · Jun 14, 2021 "god i wish this show had better shading like it's so nice to look at but im not a fan of the weird shine of a lot of things...."
1:09 AM · Jun 14, 2021 "i like the style of these two which sucks bc i hate billy's design"

Overall the show started out decent, but was one of those ones I found a lot of things to dislike about it, kind of like how I felt with Fish Hooks and Pickle and Peanut. The designs are good, but they can get unpleasant at times. I feel like this show was one I had to look away from at times. Also Anaximander exists.

7:58 AM · Jun 14, 2021 "I hate the fucking rat so much"

But at the same time, everyone's pretty friendly with each other. It doesn't fall into tropes you usually see in these shows. The characters don't really mind their situation, and get along reasonably well.

1:27 AM · Jun 14, 2021 "Billy: lab friends I have trapped you on another plane of existence all summer
Zeke: sure beats summer school
Marsha: can we have a slumber party?"

Also despite not being British, there's an X-Factor reference in this one!

4:17 PM · Jun 14, 2021 "this is the second show to have reference to x factor in an ep i've watched"

Overall Rating for Billy Dilley's Super Duper Subterranean Summer: C Tier