Fillmore!: I don't have a snappy title for this one it's just really good...

5:55 PM · May 10, 2021 "ducktales eat your heart out"

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we wrap up the One Saturday Morning era, I'd like to point out another pattern I see in some of these shows. While slice of life shows were pretty common in this era, many cartoons, including Fillmore, play homage with their overall premise. Kim Possible is very James Bond-esque. Teamo Supremo captures the essence of 1960s Batman, and Fillmore! pulls inspiration from 1970s police procedurals.

Honestly, I can't really say more than that. I watched one episode of Columbo back around maybe 2015, and couldn't really get into it, and never watched any detective stuff from the 1970s again outside the odd Rifftrax video. Regardless, the show still feels like a love letter even without knowing what specifically it's a love letter to.

7:13 PM · May 11, 2021 "Fillmore is essentially a parody of 70s cop dramas, but other than the setting, everything else is played straight so you can’t really tell if there’s any irony in it or not. Leading to the question: Is Fillmore Camp?"

Honestly, the only beef I have with Fillmore! is that it is essentially a cop show. Even if it is dipped in metaphor about the safety patrol, Disney still greenlit it seeing the metaphor, and got me proper invested in this cop show, to the point that this is currently my second favorite Disney cartoon.

But why? Why is Fillmore! so damn good? Honestly, it comes from its themes of morality and becoming a better person.

8:48 PM · Jan 27, 2021 "i really like the themes of filmore they mean a lot to me. this is definitely a show i'm coming back to"

Cornelius Fillmore believes in upholding the law. He believes in doing the right thing. He believes anyone can change for the better, particularly because of his own checkered past. I think my tweets speak for themself. 

6:54 PM · May 11, 2021 "one of the things i enjoy about fillmore is it i really enjoy the trope of a protagonist who has a checkered past and a lot of regrets. i really relate to that sort of thing, even if it is used for more silly parody-esque drama than genuine drama"
6:55 PM · May 11, 2021 "fillmore is the kind of guy who is willing to give people a second chance bc he's been there and it's nice to see it as neither a good nor bad thing. sometimes he's in the right about it and other times people take advantage of his kindness"
6:56 PM · May 11, 2021 "i appreciate the philosophy in that regard. some people can improve and deserve second chances, but others simply will not take them."
7:00 PM · May 11, 2021 "i think fillmore! does this philosophy better than a lot of more modern shows, particularly because it doesn't fall too hard into close to home or overly intense or questionable actions. some shows (steven universe) are overly forgiving and assume everyone can be better"
7:00 PM · May 11, 2021 "other shows (the good place) have this sort of nuance with very topical anti-pc sort of folks, which, while poignant, can lose its value in years to come and can potentially isolate marginalized viewers who don't want to see that sort of shit? (and he gets his 2nd chance anyway?)"
7:07 PM · May 11, 2021 "Fillmore allows for more of a metaphorical deal. This kid has a history of stealing test answers or whatever. It’s a metaphor for whatever the ep is about"
7:08 PM · May 11, 2021 "Despite all this, it is kinda screwy that the number two show in the Disney watch at the moment is essentially a cop show. I think that says a lot about Disney"

Also Fillmore! is just... a really funny show. It stays somewhat chill in its style but the humor is so good.

8:36 PM · Jan 27, 2021 "fillmore is such a subdued show but whenever it does jokes they ALWAYS land"

The jokes range from subtle background gags to hyperspecific items that move the plot along to actor allusions to just things that probably aren't jokes but made me laugh a lot anyway. Here's just a few things that made me laugh.

7:57 PM · Jan 27, 2021 "i rlly like the background sign that just vaguely says "virtual pet""

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7:59 PM · Jan 27, 2021 "i really think it's funny when cartoons has some dumbass object like "crowbar with a kitty head that stores an address book""
7:59 PM · Jan 27, 2021 "this is a popular item"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8:04 PM · Jan 27, 2021 "there's a chase scene through several graphic bbq aprons and some repeat but i think it's clever"

 

 

 

 

 

 

4:54 PM · May 10, 2021 "wombat anime linens"

9:29 PM · May 14, 2021 "love this girl who keeps calling fillmore occifer... thhats a thing i would do"

9:46 PM · May 14, 2021 "i'm on my FOURTH fandom now"
9:47 PM · May 14, 2021 "god fillmore is such a good show these characters are so 13" 9:51 PM · May 14, 2021 "this episode is such a fake tumblr post. i swore out my problematic fave and then everyone clapped"

7:13 AM · May 19, 2021""it's like an immunity idol" "yeah that's what raycliff said" this is probably the funniest joke in the entire series"
7:14 AM · May 19, 2021 "raycliff is voiced by jeff probst"

7:10 AM · May 19, 2021 "DOG? JULES IS A HORSE."
7:24 AM · May 19, 2021 "why is the running gag of this episode seeing eye miniature horses?"

I usually don't take the tweets that are just out of context quotes and post them, but for Fillmore! they were funny as hell. Expecting a seeing eye dog only to have a kid scream in offense that they have a seeing eye horse. Hearing references to fandom in 2002. It's funny shit. When subtle humor works, it works really well, and Fillmore! is a place where it works.

Fillmore may be one of my favorite animated protagonists of all time. In addition, the relationship between Fillmore and Third is so fun. They're both kind of odd and talk about odd things in their free time. They also care a lot about one another, and they're one of the strongest duos I've seen, and I also really appreciate it's platonic, especially in an era where every cartoon was pushing their boy and girl leads as a couple either by the end of the series, or when they grew up.

Outside of of Fillmore and Third, no one really stood out to me in this show. It's something I'm very willing to forgive with how much I like these two. Most of the criminals only show up for an episode or two as well, which I can forgive as well. This means the other safety patrollers are our recurring characters. I do like Raycliff and Vallejo. Both have a little bit of humor to add to the series. Folsom also has their moments. I do wish the other officers were better.

9:31 PM · May 14, 2021 "tehama really does fit that one dyed streak stereotype huh"
9:33 PM · May 14, 2021 "are they autistic coding o'farrell????? i mean they might have beforehand but this ep...."

I also forgot Anza existed for like a year. Like that's how little Anza means to me. 

But you know what. Fillmore's funny as hell and it has themes that really stick to me, and that's ultimately why it's my second favorite Disney cartoon of all time.

7:07 AM · May 19, 2021 "wow i fucking love ace attorney"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall Rating for Fillmore!: S Tier

Teamo Supremo: The All-American Campy Superhero Show That Isn't Batman

1:10 PM · Jul 19, 2021 "You Are (Not) Excused"

It took me a while to get to a new blog post for a few reasons. I'm still in the process of finishing up Higglytown Heroes (which has been a delight). I'm slowly getting through The Ghost and Molly McGee (less of a delight, but still interesting to watch). I'm kind of at a wall with Mickey Mouse Funhouse, at least until I can get to America and access episodes legally later this month, which has put my Mickey Mouse Quadruple feature up in the air. (You'll notice I skipped House of Mouse. This is why.)

As for Teamo, the All-American nature of the show was just something I wasn't feeling. I was kind of feeling too sad to talk about Teamo Supremo, and not the right kind of sad to skip ahead one and talk about Fillmore!

So I stalled a bit. Something I also wanted to do while I talked about Teamo Supremo was talk about 60s Batman, which the show draws from. A lot. It kind of draws from the 60s in general, with Jay Ward being another clear inspiration.

9:14 PM · Jan 12, 2021 "ppl say this is a ripoff of ppg but i kinda see more 60s batman in it (at least what little i've seen of 60s batman). it feels kinda all american too and i dont really think it's like a parody or anything i think it's just straight homage"
9:15 PM · Jan 12, 2021 "it's very simultaneously 1960s and 2000s and im not sure what my feelings are about it"
9:16 PM · Jan 12, 2021 "it's been a minute since i watched ppg but does ppg have much of a 60s feel????"
6:26 PM · Jan 13, 2021 "me: i have a feeling im gonna like teamo supremo because of it's retro 60s/2000s jay ward deal
me: likes teamo supremo because of it's retro 60s/2000s live action batman deal"

I can see the Jay Ward connections, though it's mostly in art style. It doesn't really have much of the same humor and writing style as something like Rocky and Bullwinkle or Hoppity Hooper. But since I'm more knowledgeable of writing than animation, I figured 60s Batman would be better to talk about, except uhhh... I haven't seen 60s Batman in 5-10 years?

So I watched some today. A few hours ago as of writing this with my pals Deb and Alice! Though we only watched four episodes focusing on three villains (The Joker, Egghead, and Catwoman), you can see the parallels between the two shows. Both shows are very campy, take their incredibly stupid premises seriously, and star heroes who are lawful good to the point of comedy. (See Batman and Robin covering their eyes as they enter a woman's dressing room vs. Teamo Supremo refusing to fight crime until they finish their homework)

6:47 PM · Jan 13, 2021 "i love how all american role models teamo is like i can't tell if it's parody or genuine but i enjoy how they're all like. good people who eat their veggies and do their homework"

Worth noting as well, the aughts were just. A really good time to reference 60s Batman in your cartoon. From having Batman parody characters (Spongebob, Kim Possible), to having a character who looks and laughs like Cesar Romero as the Joker (The Proud Family), to straight up Adam West being in your show (Fairly Oddparents, Family Guy).

Speaking of the Joker, Mark Hamill is in this show and he's kind of my favorite character

3:05 PM · Jan 11, 2021 "kinda fucked up they got mark hamill to reprise his role as the joker for teamo supremo"
5:21 PM · Jan 13, 2021 "YES THE BIRTHDAY BANDIT IS BACK!!!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Teamo is kind of like Powerpuff Girls in that regard. Its villains are kind of the best part of the show, and a particular episode is only as good as its villain. I don't know if I would say any of the villains were memorable though. From my childhood, I only really remembered two: Inflato, because I hated his ass and that stupid laugh of his. 

4:55 PM · Jan 13, 2021 "I FUCKING REMEMBER INFLATO. FUCK THAT GUY."

And Hypnotheria, because she kept showing up in the fucking Toon Disney Villain Ad.

5:11 PM · Jan 13, 2021 "the fact that this teamo villain is a phd dropout i think serves as a warning for me personally"
5:13 PM · Jan 13, 2021 "damn im sick of genderbends where the make the girl sexy"

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Though all the villains are pretty rogues gallery and could fit into any superhero villain of the week type show, I also realized something else many of the Teamo Supremo villains could fit into.

 

As for the heroes, they're pretty eh. That's usually how heroes are to me though. However, Crandall has something interesting about him. He's an alien from outer space a la Superman. But he's also so cisgender and "aliens built the pyramids" with it that I can't stand him.

9:21 PM · Jan 12, 2021 "i think it's really funny that like. crandall is an alien (allegedy) and brenda and hector kinda just roll with it like "neat""
4:31 PM · Jan 13, 2021 "the problem with crandall's alien kinning is that he refuses to look past the gender binary"
5:49 PM · Jan 13, 2021 "the teacher's just like "crandall don't be racist""
6:31 PM · Jan 13, 2021 "idk if i made any big kinnie jokes about the protags of any shows but with crandall i dont need to he's like canonically alienkin"

I do like Hector and Brenda a lot more. Brenda in particular is pretty silly with it, and somewhat chaotic. 

5:21 PM · Jan 14, 2021 "BRENDA GAY MOMENTS"

I particularly like this screencap after Brenda deviates from a script Crandall made.

Also her mom looks like this which is really funny.

4:26 PM · Dec 7, 2021 "teamo supremo would maim you! but they would never kill you."
4:28 PM · Dec 7, 2021 "teamo supremo is like evangelion and governor kevin is a cereal version of gendo ikari"

A lot more entertaining than Teamo Supremo is Governor Kevin, who is governor of... The State. They never say what state they're in they're just protecting the state. I would assume it's like a small state though like maybe Connecticut? They're kids after all, they can't protect like. Georgia.

Kevin is really funny because he tries to be the "cool" governor. He's hip and with it, using a lot of 60s lingo, and he's usually successful at it, which adds to the campiness the show has.

3:16 PM · Jan 11, 2021 "i want a teamo supremo reboot so he can say funny zoomer words like poggers and yoinky"

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's also The Chief, who isn't particularly keen on the kids, and I think he kind of fits into the same trope Lord Starchbottom does for a bit once we get to The 7D.

And there's Paulson, the scientist who works at Level 7 to make all of Teamo's Gizmos. He's kind of fucked up.

4:43 PM · Jan 13, 2021 "paulson: i traumatized a man and now he doesn't take showers anymore. lol"
4:57 PM · Dec 7, 2021 "are divorce jokes passe because he is divorced"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teamo Supremo is a pretty decent show. It pays homage well. It's very campy if you're into campy cartoons. It has some great voice talents in it too, and it's a solid superhero cartoon

4:44 PM · Jan 13, 2021 "teamo supremo has some great voice acting lemme just say"

Unfortunately, it doesn't really offer much to think about. It's a show with all-American role model superhero children. If it talks about a subject it doesn't go too dark into it, even refusing to talk about how some animals eat other animals.

5:23 PM · Jan 13, 2021 "hmm this nameless cop being surprised that prison rehabilition works"
5:56 PM · Jan 13, 2021 "the one downside to teamo supremo is that they will never talk about god the same way shnookums and meat did"
5:07 PM · Dec 7, 2021 ""larges beings rely on small beings for their very survival" how now???? how exactly now. do they do that. how do they rely. is it for sustenance."

Kinda like how marvel is now, except Disney doesn't make any money off you watching Teamo Supremo illegally. 

Teamo Supremo also wears a little thin after a while. It's funny, but you can only watch a few episodes at a time, and you have to be in the mood for mindless all-American entertainment, and for the longest time I wasn't. Heck, even sitting through 60s Batman gave me a bit of a bad taste in my mouth at some points. 

I was planning on finishing this show, though I usually do that of my own accord, as I wish. Lately that means watching cartoons while high as a kite. While with some cartoons, like Higglytown Heroes, it is so much fun, Teamo Supremo kind of sucks when you're high. (Weirdly, I've noticed this of other hero shows too, including Miraculous and Kim Possible.) So I may come back to it at some point. And if I do, I might make another blog post, but until then.

Overall (?) Rating for Teamo Supremo: B Tier

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

The Legend of Tarzan: Doesn't Justify Itself

7:55 PM · Jan 8, 2021 "please stop showing me professor porter nudes"

I mentioned in the last blogpost that one of the shows most similar to Tangled in its story driven "after-happily-ever-after" style is The Legend of Tarzan. And as a kid, I honestly avoided it, despite liking the movie because it felt bigger than it actually was. It felt like something with a lot of story to it and I was pretty surprised to find it was mostly episodic. I mean given what Disney was putting out at the time, it made sense, since not much has had an overarching plot other than Gargoyles... and uh... Doug...

Tarzan was... eh? I honestly don't remember a lot from it. It was certainly engaging, which is a good thing to be, but I was never all that attached to the characters in Tarzan. I found myself more interested in the characters the show introduced, like Basuli, or the Rene Auberjonois guy.

The one exception to this is Porter, who the show kind of makes... a little bit querchy with it?

10:06 PM · Jan 8, 2021 "you are Not Cis"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10:09 PM · Jan 8, 2021 "porter's turning to tarzan for romantic advice"
10:41 PM · Jan 8, 2021 "i always assumed jane's mom was dead but this show is implying her parents divorced"

He's kind of lame, which I think makes him really funny.

Tarzan's biggest take home point for me was its messages, which I assume were meant with the best intentions. There's a lot of themes of environmentalism, dangers of capitalism/colonialism, and respect for fellow man despite their differences.

9:42 PM · Jan 8, 2021 "a two part fracking episode"

But here's the thing. It never really sticks to its guns. This is a Disney show. This is The Legend of Tarzan.

7:52 PM · Jan 8, 2021 "damn tarzan mite be racist"
8:24 PM · Jan 8, 2021 "the whole "i didnt think there were any other people here" thing they do every other ep feels like it'd be a little racist."
8:46 PM · Jan 8, 2021 "hmmm this show is really unfortunate...."
8:50 PM · Jan 8, 2021 "in terms of human legend of tarzan villains are any of them white?"
8:52 PM · Jan 8, 2021 "it feels like legend of tarzan has things to say about things like colonization but then we get like. a bunch of white heroes and ambiguously brown villains, which is uhhhhh"
8:59 PM · Jan 8, 2021 "i've been doing a little reading, a lot of articles discuss how there aren't any black people in the disney movie tarzan, which yeah. it is in africa. so what gives? they also go into the racism of the original tarzan stories which i dont know a lot about outside them"
9:40 PM · Jan 8, 2021 "okay we're on ep 7 and we finally got some alright african rep. i still cant believe tarzan's never met a black person before. i mean he's never met any people before the movie but it's still weird."

Tarzan is kind of inherently racist, is the thing. There's a lot of discussion about it. This article (content warning for brief mention of rape and anti-black racism) is one that talks a bit about the show and that I actively looked up when I was introduced to Queen La, a villain who is deathly jealous of Jane, and the leopard men who serve her (Queen La that is, not Jane). 

8:25 PM · Jan 8, 2021 "why is the city full of furries?"
8:29 PM · Jan 8, 2021 "jane experiences reverse racism"

And it's like hmm yeah they did try with the source material but I don't think you can scrub the racism out of Tarzan. The article above talks about how Disney scrubbed any mention of black people from the film, and the show makes up for it a bit. However, Tarzan still does say he didn't think there would be people here, which is a bit questionable. I don't think The Legend of Tarzan is on Disney+ at the moment so I haven't seen any of the racist content warnings for the show.

Other then the racism, there's also Rene Auberjonois. In the episode "The Trading Post," he starts out as a clueless villain. He's opening up a trading post that forces all sorts of animals to relocate to different parts of the jungle, essentially fucking up the entire ecosystem. Eventually, there's a sort of compromise that allows him to keep up his trading post and keep the animals protected, which... feels too easy. And by easy, I mean an easy way for Disney to say capitalism and colonialism isn't all bad.

There's some intrigue here, but it really doesn't salvage the forgettable nature of the show, or how badly it faceplanted on its themes, or even just the fact that we didn't need another piece of Tarzan media.

Overall Rating for Tarzan: D Tier