Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Little Einsteins: How a Mozart Misconception Lead to Children Getting Bullied by Soviet Fighter Jets

5:59 PM · Feb 22, 2021 "i feel fucking aged"
[Image ID: A screencap of a background in Little Einsteins which features an iDog. /End ID]


 

 

 

 

In the last post, we talked about what likely lead to The Buzz on Maggie being created, and it essentially being a product of the times. Talking about what lead to Little Einsteins being created has a bit more solid grounding, and this time, I actually know what I'm talking about.

A long time ago, before you and I were born, unless you happen to be born in or before 1993, a psychologist named Frances Rauscher published a paper in Nature. In the paper, he described an experiment in which he tested the spatial ability of babies when listening to Mozart vs. when not listening to anything. The babies who listened to Mozart had improved spatial ability in a task.

The media had an absolute fucking field day with this. This new finding got deemed "The Mozart Effect" and mainstream media posited that classical music can increase your baby's intelligence. People were out trying to get classical music tape cassettes for their kids to make them smarter.

Here's the thing though: No. Rauscher only tested spatial ability in babies after listening to Mozart. None of this was long term. And Mozart was only compared to silence.

There were a lot of studies that tried to identify if "The Mozart Effect" was a real thing. I think one of my favorites was McKelvie & Low (2002), where they tried to determine if Mozart improved spatial ability compared to Aqua, and found no significant differences between the two conditions.

Unfortunately, we do not live in "The Aqua Effect Also Is A Thing" timeline, and studies like this one didn't get as much press as the Rasucher paper. Not to mention, by 2002, damage had been done.

(By the way, if you want to read either of these papers and can't access them, let me know! I should have pdfs for both these somewhere. I actually did a school project on this a few years ago.)

In 1998, at the time Georgia Governor Zell Miller (who some Georgians who had good grades in high school may know as "the reason you went to college in state") spent over $100,000 providing babies with classical music tape cassettes.

And of course, when people get in such a frenzy about science, there's someone who is gonna make money from it. In 1996, also in Georgia, Julie Aigner-Clark founded Baby Einstein, which was a series of videos and CDs featuring classical music for babies. And naturally, this idea was such a moneymaker, that in 2001, Disney purchased Baby Einstein. Disney ended up releasing more videos, with progress going as normal. At some point, Disney, alongside Curious Pictures developed Little Einsteins for Playhouse Disney.

9:19 PM · Feb 21, 2021 "this one is gonna be fun because it's a curious pictures series. which produced a few shows on cartoon network that were... you know they were fine........ shows i like a normal amount. totally never took over my life at any point"

Basically the moral of this story is that if you ever see a news article referencing scientific findings, do your part and make sure to read the article as well. And if someone else refuses to do this, you can kill them. I give you full permission. 

(Fun fact, you can also see some pushing of the Mozart Effect in The Incredibles DVD feature Jack Jack Attack, which came out the same year as Little Einsteins. Disney didn't own Pixar at that point but like. We still knew that was Disney and Pixar collaborating lol.)

Little Einsteins on its own is a pretty solid show. It's not going to make your baby a genius or anything, but it teaches kids about classical music and art, which I think is it's own reward.

9:39 PM · Feb 21, 2021 "i think it's really clever though that like. the way they bring classical music and art into the series and cheer for it because it helped on their mission"

It's integrated into the show in a surreal but still really pretty way, and I actually really enjoyed how much the kids cheered for the composers and artists that helped them along the way at the end of the episode. Sadly, it wasn't always credited.

3:19 PM · Feb 23, 2021 ""aboriginal art" do we know who it is by?"

I'm no art historian so I genuinely don't know if this is art where we don't know the artists or art that wasn't credited, but that's still kind of sad either way I think.

And as I'm not really one for classical music or art, Little Einsteins didn't really stick out to me as much as it did others. Sorry pals I can't enjoy music unless there's screaming and clown horns in it.

9:30 PM · Feb 21, 2021 "i feel the same way about little einsteins that i feel about fantasia so.... i guess i'm gonna be controversial this time."
9:34 PM · Feb 21, 2021
"like fantasia it's such a series to look at but also like fantasia i can't say i'm a fan of it."

6:05 PM · Feb 22, 2021
"i feel like i'd enjoy little einsteins a lot more if i was high"

It's still pretty though. Wonderful music and animation. Just not entirely my thing.

3:33 PM · Feb 23, 2021 "i love the way laughing is animated in this show like. they move the whole body it feels genuine."

 As for the characters, they're pretty easy to describe, since there's only a handful of them. 

5:56 PM · Feb 22, 2021 "are there only four characters in this show"
2:30 PM · Feb 23, 2021
"
annie has been naughty this year"

[Image ID: A screencap of Annie, Leo, Quincy, and June staring toward the screen. The room is decorated for Christmas and everyone but Annie is holding a present. /End ID]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quincy is a musician (Quincy Jones). Annie is a singer (Annie Rossi). June is a dancer (June Taylor). And Leo... Well...

5:43 PM · Feb 22, 2021 "leo is a fucking demon"

Okay, he's a composer (Leopold Stokowski), but man that kid unnerves me. Look at baby Leo.

[Image ID: Baby Leo from Little Einsteins in his crib. /End ID]

There's also their rocket, aptly named Rocket. Rocket doesn't speak but does make noises and move in a way that suggests he has his own personality.

And of course, what's a cartoon without someone to bully these kids and their rocket?

1:00 PM · Feb 23, 2021 "you would think that the recurring antagonist in little einsteins is like. an older playground bully or something but no. it's a soviet airplane."

That's probably the funniest thing about the show honestly. Big Jet has Got to be my favorite character.

Also there's this thing

6:39 PM · Feb 25, 2021 "HELP HIM HELP HIM HELP HIM HELP HIM SOMEONE FUCKING HELP HIM"
[Image ID: A screencap of Leo kneeling toward a purple CGI creature and looking at the screen uncomfortably. /End ID]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course while the show is pretty, it's still a baby show, and has standard baby show fare.

9:43 PM · Feb 21, 2021 "i think the american equivalent of the overly long magical girl transformation sequence is the overly long Full Length Song when once an episode thing happens in baby show."

One of these is an interactive component, but I honestly think Little Einsteins does its interactive component the best of any Disney baby show. Maybe it's due to the small cast. Like this is you and your four best friends and your rocket. In addition it also teaches you things and asks more open ended questions than just how to solve a problem.

9:22 PM · Feb 21, 2021 june: i'm looking at the stars. do you like looking at the stars?
me: yeah but i don't think i really can because i live in the city...
june: WONDERFUL!"
9:23 PM · Feb 21, 2021
"
my intellect has been bested by a seven year old."

[mage ID: An MSPaint drawing of Leo from Little Einsteins and Scar from The Disney Watch. Leo says "Our rocket is fast. Are you fast?" Scar replies "No." Leo says "WOW!" /End ID] 
[Image ID: An MSPaint picture of Leo. He is saying "You best start running." /End ID]


Maybe it isn't the most effective when the person watching it is in their 20s, but I'm certain I'm something of an outlier. I was too old for this show when it came out, and I've only gotten older since!

Overall Rating for Little Einsteins: B Tier

Saturday, September 10, 2022

The Buzz on Maggie: How We Got To This Point

3:59 PM · Feb 16, 2021 "your date to the dance looks gnc as fuck"

[Image ID: A photo of Maggie Pesky in a pink dress next to a punk looking fly boy with blue hair and big eyelashes. /End ID]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh hey! Now this is a family-school comedy! Unfortunately, it's not very good.

2:00 PM · Feb 14, 2021 "maybe mr enter was right about this show"
6:13 PM · Feb 16, 2021
"
i am... 5 eps??? into buzz on maggie but it feels like i've been watching it forever. at least with monkey show that went by quick."

God, what even is there to talk about at this point? The Buzz on Maggie is probably the epitome of a mid-aughts cartoon. So how did we get here?

1:48 PM · Feb 14, 2021 "maggie is so lincoln loud it hurts"

In terms of the Disney Cartoons, it's pretty simple. Disney was still riding high off of their slice of life and school styled cartoons that started out with Doug. Though the shows were getting a little more boy-focused at this time, Disney was still a girl's channel, and needed cartoon show about girls.

Live action wise, this is more of the same for them. Lizzie McGuire was an absolute hit. That So Raven had the she's just like you, but a psychic thing going for it. They could do the same with Maggie. She's just like you, but a weird bug thing.

I was 11 when this show came out. I was listening to a lot more punk rock, and a bunch of my friends were too. American Idiot and Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge came out the year before. Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi was also ushering in a new wave of kids who called themselves punk rock. So hey, here's a show about a nonconformist girl fly who loves to play punk music, but also wants to be cool and popular, just like you!

4:53 PM · Feb 16, 2021 "the thing about maggie is she has all the doug qualities but she is also decidedly nonconformist... if maggie shows interest in being popular, it is solely to spite someone. does that still allow her to be a doug?"

By this time, a lot of the animation episode tropes were starting to get noticeable too. You have your makeover episodes, your sneaking a pet into the house episodes, your dating someone to save their feelings episodes. All of these are episodes of The Buzz on Maggie, which makes the show feel kind of generic, but then again, it had episodes like these.

7:21 PM · Feb 18, 2021 "The buzz on Maggie racism metaphors featuring the Beatles."
7:36 PM · Feb 18, 2021
"
maggie becomes a dealer"

Regardless, the show still feels like a product of the 2000s to me. It was an obvious stop on the road, even if it was only 21 episodes. Not to mention this also making it feel oh so aughts to me:

1:37 PM · Feb 14, 2021 "started buzz on maggie and the big brother is named aldrin and is voiced by danny kaufman which is. yeah"

I think the thing I hated most about this show other than it being generic is that no one likes anyone else. There's maybe a few episodes at the start where Maggie likes her little brother Pupert, such as "Funball," but a lot of it is underhanded, and toward the end of the series, she finds him annoying.

No one really stands out as that great of a character either. A lot of the characters are very tropey and it makes me not sympathize for any of them.

10:28 PM · Feb 21, 2021 "buzz on maggie is also probably the first show where i didnt have a favorite character. if i HAD TO PICK i'd probably pick the geeky butterfly girl..... she seems fun."

Like even in the lousy shows, there's always at least one character I enjoy the antics of, but this one just kind of absolutely lacked any charm. Not something I actively hate, but one of those shows so devoid of anything it depresses me.

Overall Rating for The Buzz on Maggie: E Tier

Friday, September 9, 2022

American Dragon Jake Long: A Cohesive Narrative I'm Not Willing To Sit Through

8:39 PM · Feb 18, 2021 "Me: spud is gnc as fuck
Izumi: [laugh] you’re insane. But you’re right."
[Image ID: A Discord convo. Scar says "They're straight?." AZ/Iroha says "i mean yeah. spud is transhet." Scar says "you're so right." /End ID]


[Image ID: A picture of Spud from American Dragon in front of a trans flag. /End ID]

I can totally justify cutting American Dragon off with a 5000 word post about Sofia the First and Elena of Avalor. I swear it actually makes sense. Much like Elena of Avalor does a better job with its themes than Sofia the First does, American Dragon Jake Long season 2 does a better job at being a cartoon worth watch than American Dragon season 1. But none of that will stand out to you if you don't watch the worse one first.

So as you will see from the intro jokes, I watched this show with my friend Izumi! Like with my other friends, we watched the shows over a discord call. However, unlike with other friends up to this point, we watched American Dragon Jake Long over a discord call with mics on. This resulted in me hearing every single time Izumi sighed when she heard a really corny line. Given how American Dragon season 1 is set up, this was approximately every 2-3 minutes. This vastly improved the quality of the show on my end.

The biggest problem of season 1 is that Jake uses a gratuitous amount of slang derived from AAVE. This was probably an excuse to make him seem "hip" and "cool," since he's a middle schooler trying to fit in and trying a bit too hard, but it comes off poorly and honestly, a show written predominantly by white people probably shouldn't have their nonblack character use AAVE solely to sound cool.

Season 2 is a lot better in that regard. In fact, the show got an entire upheaval and went from lousy to decent, with new animation, new designs, and a new take on the theme song.

8:41 PM · Mar 2, 2021 "on one hand the designs are so different from their original one... on the other they're so much better."

 The designs are great, though I do have a problem with one... Or rather... Two. The Oracle Twins.

[Image ID: The Oracle Twins in season 2 of American Dragon. Sara on the left is a blond preppy looking girl with a flower in her hair, while Kara on the right is a goth with straight black hair. /End ID]

These are twin sisters, folks!

The other issue I have with season 2 is kind of a weird one... It's not a bad show, but I hate that I have to sit through season 1 to understand what's going on in season 2. Despite season 1 being a lot goofier, the show has a considerable amount of plot beats in the first season. And honestly, how dare this show make me watch its dogshit first season if they knew it was dogshit?

Though that probably would have upset the fans. I remember kids my age being upset with the change in animation style. I didn't really... care all that much. Around the time I got into American Dragon I caught onto the sort of second season style change shows went through and found it kind of weird it was being advertised

I think American Dragon does have some memorable supporting character concepts at least. Out of a lot of the shows we've discussed recently, I remember the ones from this show the most. There was Sun Park, the Oracle Twins as mentioned before, that one teacher voiced by Paul Rugg, the two kids in the Huntsclan who always hang out with one another, and of course, the Bradster.

9:12 PM · Feb 18, 2021 "Beloved Boyboss The Bradster"

And I remember these characters existing at least. I think overall though, Haley was probably my favorite character after Spud. "Family Business" was actually one of my favorite episodes when I was a kid. It was fun to see Jake and Haley's rivalry as they did dragon training together.

8:35 PM · Feb 18, 2021 "Izumi and I hate a lot of the characters but we like the Long family"

I know I talk about family stories a lot, but I do wish this show could have been more focused on the Long family like that.

But this isn't a family and school sitcom like The Proud Family. American Dragon Jake Long is an action-adventure show about forbidden romance.

8:31 AM · Feb 26, 2021 "People act like zutara is about feminism or whatever y’all just watched American Dragon"

Jake's love interest is a girl named Rose. She starts out out of his league but he's determined to woo her, and she's interested. Unfortunately, Jake is the American Dragon and Rose is the number two to the Huntsman. So kind of like Miraculous Ladybug, but fucked up, earlier, and with better pacing. Though even then, Rose was up there with Suzie Crabgrass in terms of "characters my jaded middle school self knew were going to keep leaving and returning to the show for the ratings grabs." 

Honestly, watching through the show this time around, we skipped ahead to season two and missed out on a lot of plot information so I had to rely on what I knew about this show watching it as a kid. And it is one of those shows I liked and remembered a lot from. Unfortunately, it just did not hold up.

Overall Rating for American Dragon Jake Long: C Tier

Sunday, September 4, 2022

Into the EverRealm: Breaking Down Sofia the First and Elena of Avalor

Content Warning: This blogpost will cover full series spoilers for both Sofia the First and Elena of Avalor. If you don't want to be spoiled, please do not read this post because I'm picking this show apart.

So you'll see, August only had six blog posts, compared to more active months where I do twice that. As I mentioned before, I had covid for about half the month. However, there's also another reason I was unable to discuss Disney Cartoons, and that is because I was thinking too hard about Disney Cartoons.

Specifically, I was finishing up and thinking really hard about Elena of Avalor, and god it's so good. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Sofia the First and Elena of Avalor are two Disney Junior shows created by Craig Gerber that take place in the same world, known as the EverRealm (granted, Enchancia and Avalor are on opposite sides of the planet). Sofia the First is a show about a middle class girl who marries into the royal family and has to learn all the important skills needed to be a princess. Meanwhile Elena of Avalor is a show about a girl of Royal Blood whose country was taken over and she was imprisoned in an amulet (owned by Sofia!), and once she was freed she had to learn all the important skills needed to be a queen. Though both shows were on Disney Junior, it felt like Elena of Avalor was intended for the same audience as Sofia the First, which had grown up.

Discussing Sofia First, the show really started out on one gimmick: Disney Cameos, particularly from the princesses. This was a big deal especially in season 1, with the first special episode having Cinderella talking and singing about how she regretted not reconciling with her sisters. (I presume Sofia the First takes place not necessarily in the Redeemed Anastasia Universe, but in a universe where Anastasia has a potential for redemption.)

Honestly, in my eyes, the princesses showing up weren't all that interesting. I remember the songs from Mulan and Rapunzel better than the others (the latter being because "The Curse of Princess Ivy" is one of my favorite episodes). And I think Snow White showing up to teach Sofia to trust her gut was a good moral. Also Olaf showed up instead of either of the Frozen princesses and that's kind of funny.

Really if any crossover characters stand out to me, it's Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, who act as teachers at Sofia's school and are more important to the plot, as they play an important role early on in teaching Sofia to be a princess.

Also in the first season, Sofia is 8, but she gets older as the seasons progress, getting up to about 11 or 12. The biggest sign of this is how she refers to Cedric. Throughout season 1, she mispronounces his name as "See-dric", but once season 2 hits, she finally gets it right, "Se-dric." 

Season 2 is where the show got really good in my opinion. While season 1 had some really good episodes like "Princess Butterfly" and some good songs like "Blue Ribbon Bunny," season 2 had greater animation, more really good episodes ("The Enchanted Feast," "When You Wish Upon a Well," "Mystic Meadows," "Baileywhoops," "The Curse of Princess Ivy," "Substitute Cedric").

Actually, I wanna talk about "When You Wish Upon A Well."  It's a pretty basic "be careful what you wish for" episode, with Amber being jealous of Sofia spending time with her dad, King Roland, and wishing he wouldn't be around her as much. This causes Sofia to turn into a cat, which King Roland can't spend time around because he's allergic to cats. Pretty silly stuff. What makes the episode interesting is that King Roland does not trust the wishing well, and we eventually learn it's because he made a wish in the wishing well before. In the finale, "Forever Royal," we learn that his wish was for children, and it came at the cost of his wife's life.

Season 3 keeps a lot of the quality from season 2, with one particular addition. Sofia's Aunt Tilly, who owned the Amulet of Avalor before her, passes onto Sofia the role of "Story Keeper," and some of the season 3 episodes focus on Sofia solving problems in The Secret Library. I'm... a bit ambivalent on this change.

A lot of Disney Junior era shows have changes in the later seasons to either setting or what it is the characters do. I'm not sure if it's driven by executive meddling or if everyone just thinks of these ideas they think are really good, but it's pretty common. In the Lion Guard season 3, the cast goes on a journey around the world. In Doc McStuffins season 4, Doc's grandmother gives her a magic stethoscope that teleports Doc to McStuffinsville, where Doc works at the hospital. In Puppy Dog Pals season 3, Puppy Playcare opens, and instead of going on missions all the time, Bingo and Rolly spend a good amount of time playing with the other dogs at Puppy Playcare. Miles from Tomorrowland season 3 is about space colonialism.

Ultimately, I think The Secret Library is kind of pushed to the wayside unless they need an excuse to put Sofia into a situation, which is a good way to go about it. Sofia's adventures in Avalor and the Mystic Isles are fun, and The Secret Library gives a pretty solid excuse to go there.

Before discussing season 4 and even some season 3 episodes, it's important to talk about the themes in Sofia the First and Elena of Avalor, because they start to become really important.

Naturally, there's the theme of what it means to be "royal." Since Sofia the First is a show for babies, it usually means being a good person or doing what's right. As the finale song "One and All" states, "Being royal means being loyal to those who count on us." Pretty succinct. There's plenty of episodes that focus on treating others right and standing up for them. 

Elena also follows this philosophy, as she's ready to jump into battle to defend her people. I have to link the fucking hamilton song now don't I. Fucking fine. "The Right Thing To Do" shows Elena with the same ideals as Sofia in "One and All," wanting to defend her people as she sees it as her duty as crown princess. This is challenged by Esteban who argues that the princess ought to be kept safe, which makes sense. In chess, usually attacking with or developing the queen early on is seen as foolish, and results in the queen being lost. Avalor can't afford to lose its crown princess. Esteban also argues for a more collectivist approach to taking down threats in Avalor. The Royal Guard can take care of it, rather than the individualist Elena who wants to do it herself. There's actually a lot of tough decisions like that in the show, and it empathizes more of those tough decisions than just "being a good person."

Another theme both Sofia and Elena get into is family. Both shows feature non-nuclear families. Roland and Miranda are both on their second marriage, while Elena lives with her sister, maternal grandparents, and cousin. 

Sofia is learning to get along with her new step-family, which is best highlighted with her relationship to Amber. Honestly, Amber has some of the best character development in the series. She starts off as a typical bratty character interested in jewels and glamour and typical high life princess things. And she kind of stays that way throughout the entire series, save a newfound interest in astronomy and becoming increasingly closer to Sofia as the show goes on. Like take episodes like "The Big Sleepover," where Amber sees Sofia as somewhat annoying even if still her sister, to the love but also envy she feels toward Sofia in episodes like "The Curse of Princess Ivy," to Sofia helping her realize she's intended to be a great leader and Amber greatly respecting Sofia's input in episodes like "The Royal School Fair." James is also there. 

Okay. James is actually important, and you realize late in the series that he shares a lot of the core traits Amber does, particularly being spoiled and envious. He just sort of hides it better because he's a typical little boy in his element at the palace, and he's a good familial segue into the other end of the familial spectrum: Power.

In "A Royal Wedding," James' grandmother tells him and Amber that Amber is next in line for the throne since she is the older twin. James and Amber, along with Roland are shocked, assuming the role went to the first born son in the family. (Roland's older sister opted not to take the throne.) The rest of the episode has James enviously trying to sabotage Amber in order to get the title of future king back. Really the only other episode where James is challenged like this is "Camp Wilderwood" where we kind of figure out James does not respond well when things don't go easily for him. It's kind of wild seeing James as this power hungry kid, but it really puts him in a tough situation and we see how much he changes from it, especially in the song "Meant to Be."

Almost every villain in Sofia the First can be broken down to this base desire. Cedric desires the Amulet of Avalor for its untold magical power (power we see a fraction of in Elena, and in healthy doses from Sofia). Miss Nettle is constantly searching for magical artifacts in an attempt to get untold magical power. Princess Ivy attempted to overthrow two kingdoms in order to become queen. Slickwell wants to be the Steward of Enchancia due to its increased status. Even Wendell Fidget uses his magical powers in order to get what he wants.

Many of these villains get their redemption, particularly through learning about friendship and respect. Miss Nettle finally was acknowledged as the creator of a popular plant in Princess Hilda's kingdom. Princess Ivy and Miss Nettle become friends. Wendell and James become friends. Fuck Slickwell I don't think he ever shows up again.

Really the most important redemption arc is Cedric's as he's the main recurring villain of the series. "Hexley Hall" for example sets up a really good internal conflict in Cedric. As a character driven by power and respect, we see Cedric interact with Sofia, who respects him greatly but does not grant him any power, and the Wizards of Hexley Hall, who promise him great power, but don't respect him whatsoever. In "Day of the Sorcerers," Cedric, upon reaching his goals, realizes that Sofia treated him with the respect and friendship he yearned for for years. Cedric's redemption was actually really interesting, because he not only mended the relationships of those who he betrayed such as King Roland in "In Cedric We Trust," but he also mended the relationships of those who looked down upon him and caused him to go down this path of villainy, such as his sister Cordelia in "Through the Looking Back Glass." Back to the theme of  family once again.

One of my primary criticisms with Sofia the First is how its final villain really doesn't fit into this mold all that well. The last villain of Sofia the First is Vor (yes that is her actual name), and while she does take over Enchancia, it feels less because she desires power and more because she is the embodiment of evil. I believe it's said in canon that many of the Disney villains got their evil from Vor. That's stupid. Like I get it was part of the Disney gimmick but it was stupid and the show had outgrown that. Also, "On Your/My Own" feels kind of weak for a final showdown because Sofia always seemed pretty independent even if she did get help at times. Maybe I'd allow it if the show ended after season 2, but now I'm involved in the themes of the show, dagummit.

Elena of Avalor shares the same themes of family and power that Sofia the First has. I'd argue that Elena's driving force is love for her family. Most of Elena's grand council is family members. Elena goes out of her way to make sure her sister is doing alright. Hell, one of the first things mentioned in the theme song is that her family is by her side! There's honestly a ton of episodes that focus on the relationship the royal family has with one another. "Model Sister" focuses on Elena's struggle between being crown princess and being there for her sister Isabel before ultimately deciding family comes first. "Sugar Rush" focuses on Elena's grandmother Luisa wanting to rekindle the family spirit and re-opening the family chocolate shop. "Día de las Madres" shows Esteban's first Mother's Day without his parents and how he's taking it, highlighting his relationship with Luisa in particular. Even outside the royal family there's episodes like "Spirit of a Wizard" where Mateo meets his grandfather Alacazar and they have a great time together or "The Family Treasure" where Elena and Isabel help rekindle the brotherhood of the Agama brothers.

Family coming first is a big thing in Elena of Avalor, and Elena would do anything for her family, especially considering what happened to her parents.

It's been 41 years since her parents have died, but the way being trapped in an amulet works (she's conscious but sort of trapped in an inert unaging state as far as I can tell, not to mention her situation constantly reminding her of what happened), Elena hasn't really been able to cope with the loss. She misses them every day. She's vengeful toward anyone she considers directly or indirectly responsible for their deaths, considering what they've done to be personal. Of course, anyone directly or indirectly responsible for the death of the King and Queen of Avalor must be some degree of power hungry, right?

Enter Shuriki's accomplices: Cristóbal, Victor, and Esteban.

While Cristóbal was not directly involved in Shuriki's invasion, he did profit from it, and ultimately attempted to help Shuriki re-seize control of Avalor in exchange for wealth. What makes this interesting is that Cristóbal and Elena are cousins, which is emphasized in the song "Familia Forever." It's kind of a familial version of "Love is an Open Door," actually, as that song mentions that Hans has been searching for his own place, but the song is ultimately a lie. In "Familia Forever," there's something similar. Cristóbal mentions in the song that Nueva Vista is lacking on funds, while a lot of the stuff about family is a lie. It has been 4 decades since he's seen most of these people after all, and wasn't as close to them as they all were to one another.

Going a bit off topic, Victor Delgado was one of the two people who helped Shuriki get into Avalor in exchange for power, but ultimately got betrayed and banished from Avalor. Yet, he still yearned for the power that was taken from him. Naturally after being betrayed by Shuriki, he goes back to Shuriki, instead of asking for political power, he asks for the power of magic, hoping that he and his daughter can be transformed into malvagos (which are basically just evil wizards). Unlike Cristóbal, who quickly chose power and wealth over family, Victor is presently dealing with this struggle. He cares deeply for his daughter Carla, doing things for her sake, and despite loving his wife Ash, tends to question her devotion to her family, questioning why she left them for ten years in "Not Without My Magic."

Finally, Esteban Flores. He was the only member of the royal family living in the castle who was not killed or imprisoned within a magical artifact when Shuriki, the woman who killed Elena's parents, invaded Avalor. For 41 years he has been working as a chancellor, and ultimately doing a balancing act to keep Avalor's economy and world standing afloat, along with keeping Shuriki happy. And he's living with the consequences of his actions.

In "King of the Carnaval," we are introduced to the aforementioned Victor Delgado and his daughter Carla. Victor is an old friend of Esteban and Elena, but being banished by Shuriki while Esteban got to live in the palace for four decades left a bad taste in Victor's mouth, so he blackmails Esteban. Turns out Esteban was the other of the two people who helped Shuriki get into Avalor, and now if Esteban doesn't want his secret leaked, he has to steal the royal jewels, especially Elena's mother's tiara.

This episode is the first in which we see that Esteban Flores has something deeply, deeply wrong with him.

He has a song in this episode, "Something I Would Never Do," which is a song about justifying his actions. What really interests me is that the first chorus.

I must protect my family's heart
I cannot break their world apart
Hurting them is something I would never do

And I absolutely love the irony and lack of self awareness here. Of course, the royal jewels have great monetary value, but the royal family is rich, so this means little to Esteban. But when you remember that the primary target is Elena's mother's tiara, something with such intense sentimental value to Elena, that it serves as a metaphor for her parents' lives in future episode "Dreamcatchers," Elena is going to be hurt by this. A lot. Also if you're like 6, stealing is bad I guess.

The second verse and chorus focuses less on the family and more on himself, and is probably the first battle of family and power we see in the show. When Esteban was a child, he did not feel like part of his family, so he sought after power. However, in the present he very much embraces his family because he knows they love him and he loves them back. There's just this one problem of him causing Shuriki's invasion that they can never ever ever know about. And, in Esteban's defense, he was literally neurodivergent and a minor at the time. The second chorus also speaks to his personal desires, rather than protecting his family.

I must protect my troubled heart
I cannot break my world apart
Losing them is something I could never
So I must do something I could never
Yes I will do something I would never do

And that just makes you think more about Esteban as a character. He's essentially spent the last 40+ years alone. He had no family left, no romantic prospects, and most of the friends Esteban had are more of friendly rivals like Doña Paloma. He's had his taste of power soaked in betrayal and loneliness and now after years his family is back and they haven't aged a day, and he wouldn't give them up for anything in the world.

Another topic I think is worth discussing is that Esteban is surprisingly immature for a man of his age. Considering how long the royal family has been gone, that would put him in his late 50s to early 60s, but he does not act like it. Now a lot of this comes from how children shows portray some adult characters as somewhat childish (examples include Pizza Guy from Higglytown Heroes, Robbie Rotten from Lazytown, and Donald Duck from the Mickey Mouse CGI shows), but I think there's an in universe explanation too, and I realized it... From a Ghost and Molly McGee episode?

"Twin Trouble" focuses on Pete (who is kind of a Jerry from Rick and Morty or Doug from Future Worm type of character) and his visiting older siblings who pick on him relentlessly. Throughout the episode, Pete gets increasingly more immature as the episode goes on and he spends more time around his family. I think Esteban is going through something similar as Pete from the ghost show, with the added caveat that he was only 17-18 when he lost the rest of family, so he really didn't get to have those years of young adulthood, which he is making up for now. (Indeed, Esteban laments on his wasted youth in the episode "Fountain of Youth.")

I've mentioned outside this blog that I would love to watch a show like Elena of Avalor from Esteban's point of view. This morally grey protagonist living a life of regret and solitude trying to cope with the family that he hasn't seen in 41 years returning and not aging a day. It'd defintely be interesting. Apparently if I would like a show like that I'd also like Better Call Saul. I have no idea how accurate this claim is, but if Elena of Avalor is like Better Call Saul I can only presume Sofia the First is like Breaking Bad. I am not taking criticism.

Victor and Esteban are very fun characters to compare because they want to have it both ways. Victor wants the power that comes with being a malvago, but he also loves his daughter and wants to be a happy family. On the inverse, Esteban loves his family and is getting closer to them, but he desires status and spends time early in season 1 undermining Elena in attempts to leverage power from her. They foil each other well, but it's more they're on opposite sides of the same coin. Esteban, despite being a petty jerk, is ultimately on Elena's side while Victor is against her. Victor's "redemption" so to speak takes place during Esteban's descent.

And I haven't spoken a bit about Carla Delgado huh... When we're first introduced to her, she's something of a spoiled girl, which is driven by the same desire for power as her father. Carla is convinced you can have it both ways, having money and power, and this is especially seen when her mother, Ash, enters the picture. Much like Esteban, Carla also hasn't seen her mother in a long time (10 years), and begins to act with childish enthusiasm when her mother returns. In "Not Without My Magic," we learn that Victor and Ash put on a loving face when Carla is around, only to argue when she leaves. In "Sister of Invention," after Victor is imprisoned, Carla's priority is rescuing her father, while her mother prioritizes finding the crystal well and unlocking its untold power. Carla goes along with it, assuming she can have it both ways. Finally, in "The Magic Within," she loses everything. A fight between Victor and Ash results in Ash turning Victor to stone. Carla is horrified and immediately realizes family doesn't do this, and decides to turn herself in, ultimately choosing family over power, but for a while, having neither.

Compare this to Esteban, who spends a lot of season three post-"The Magic Within" somewhat witlessly sided with Ash, but ultimately looking out for himself and trying to serve as a mediator. However, in "Dreamcatchers," what little chance he had of reconciling with his family is thrown out the window, as Elena disowns him. While Carla lost her family and ultimately chose it regardless, Esteban lost his and finally got pushed over the edge, choosing power.

Semi-related but this is probably the one perfect shot of Elena of Avalor. 

[Image ID: A distance shot of Elena and Esteban in the royal garden. Both are looking downward and facing each other. Elena's dress is blue. There is excess flora in the garden and the leaves are still in the air. /End ID]


Anyway, I haven't talked much about "The Magic Within" have I? So let's talk about Sofia the First again.

In the Sofia the First episode "The Curse of Princess Ivy," Amber is jealous of Sofia's amulet, especially once she finds out that Sofia can summon princesses with it. So, she steals the amulet and replaces it with a decoy (something Cedric was unable to do to this point, which is kinda funny to point out). However, in the early seasons of Sofia the First, Elena acts as something of a gatekeeper for the amulet, so anyone who does a bad deed while wearing the amulet is cursed. Amber's curse comes in the form of a summoned princess, Ivy, who plans to destroy the amulet so she can't be sent back to where she came and then take over Enchancia. She sings "A Kingdom of my Own," a song that reflects the sibling jealously Amber shows off in this episode... But I noticed something...

So I hatched a plot to bring her downShow them who should wear the crownThey caught me and without a trialMarooned me on a desert isle

In the Elena of Avalor episode "The Magic Within," the royal family finally learns of Esteban's involvement with Shuriki. As I mentioned earlier, Esteban was driven by a desire for power and a feeling of inadequacy, similar to Ivy's desire for power and need to prove herself. Esteban is eventually tried in front of the rest of the grand council (unlike Ivy), and Elena suggested he be exiled to Soledad Island (like Ivy!).

Something that really interests me about Elena of Avalor is its rotating arc villains. It's always a group and I love that. We start out with Shuriki and the Delgados, who are then joined by Fiero. Then we get Troyo, Cruz, and Vestia. Then Troyo fucks off and dies at some point. Cristóbal joins the team for a hot minute, Shuriki gets killed, and Fiero turns to a statue. 

Keeping score?

Cruz and Vestia decide they are over this and want to go home, then Ash Delgado is introduced to the party. Ash's mentor, Zopilote helps out but isn't a part of the team yet. The Delgado family is arrested. Esteban is sentenced to exile and decides to work alongside the Delgados in an agreement to help them all escape. Ash turns Victor to stone. Carla gets upset and turns herself in. Ash returns to Zopilote in order to train her magic further and Esteban's because he is magic too now. Zopilote dies. Ash and Esteban free Chatana from her prison, giving them access to all of Chatana's crazy little animals, such as Pili, who always hangs on her shoulder. Then they get a magical talking bat named Tziloco to join their team.

Lost yet? Don't worry. We're almost done.

Ash summons the Shadows of the Night, but ultimately falls into the spirit world with Elena. Chatana, Pili, and Tziloco get captured and imprisoned (presumably for good). Ash wins a game of Olaball and remains in the spirit world forever. Meanwhile the Shadows of the Night, now renamed The Four Shades of Awesome (Hetz, Yolo, Vuli, and Cahu), are convinced Esteban freed them and work for him now. Hetz gets killed on screen by Isabel. Yolo and Vuli get paralyzed. Therefore our final villains are Esteban and Cahu. Or rather just Cahu, because it's another Esteban gets betrayed by a woman after the kingdom episode.

Anyway remember how I was talking about Cinderella's song at the beginning? From the very first episode of Sofia the First? "True Sisters?" Well...

But ever since I wed the princeAnd left my hurt behindThere's one regret I won't forgetThat weighs upon my mind

A large part of Elena of Avalor has Elena preparing for a test that she must pass or she will never become queen. She spends a lot of time stressed out about it, or celebrating that she's passed her test once a major arc development happens, but whenever she sees Quita Moz, the sunbird oracle, he tells her that the test hasn't come yet. She arrives at her coronation and her test still hasn't come around. Or rather, she hasn't passed it yet

After the events of "The Magic Within," Elena is particularly angry at Esteban. Shuriki is dead and that death doesn't bring back her parents or stop the hurt. Since Esteban indirectly caused Elena's parents to get killed (despite him being promised no one in his family would get hurt, a rule he stands by even in his darkest of hours), Elena's hurt is now directed toward Esteban. This tends to result in Elena's dress turning orange and things starting to fly in the air in rage whenever she is around Esteban or even thinks about him. She even disowns him and some points and lets her anger toward Esteban distract from her goal.

If only we had tried to seeA way to start anewWe may have found that this time roundOur friendship only grew

Elena learns a lot about Esteban after he is disowned, and even learns to not necessarily forgive Victor and Carla, but allows herself to tolerate being around them. In addition, she learns how to forgive herself and stand back up when she's made a mistake. (I hate to give this just a footnote, but the themes in "Never Too Late" are honestly so good. It kind of reflects how I've felt in some of my own darkest hours.) Anyway, it gives Elena the proper buildup to pass her test. Elena confronts Cahu and just before Elena's fate is sealed, Esteban takes the blow for Elena. After mourning her cousin's sacrifice Elena finally passes her test, forgiving him, and allowing their relationship to grow once again.

What a fucking bookend! Anyway Firebuds comes out September 21st!

Of course, I'm not necessarily saying forgive those who've wronged you, especially if it was a tough hurt and especially especially if they haven't changed. It's honestly a lot harder than that, and I'm usually pretty critical of these sorts of things. However, I'm also naive as hell and I want to believe people can change and friendships can blossom where the past was desolate and terrible if they both try at it. Sofia and Amber try at it, and so do Elena and Esteban.

Man, I really do love Elena of Avalor. It takes upon the themes of Sofia the First and really makes you think more and adds onto them. You can tell how much I gush about it, it's in my top five for a reason. Anyway the entire reason the show is not any higher is because of Flo. 

Flo is a character who first appears in "The Magic Within" when Elena discovers her emotion based magic and is happy to be alive. That feeling unfortunately brought Flo, a float model of an alpaca-coati hybrid to life. Flo not only represents the oversaturation of funny animal mascot characters in Elena of Avalor (we have the jaquins, the jaquin babies, the chanul, the zanies, the noblins, Chatana's creatures, just about every species in Vallestrella, and of course, Flo), but she also actively ruins every scene she's in. Recall she's in "The Magic Within." The scene where the family finds out Esteban's secret. She's there. Esteban's trial. She's there too. She's also there for the death of a character we grew close to and absolutely ruins the mood. I don't usually get mad at characters enough to the point where I yell at them every time they do something that ruins the tone, but I am man enough to admit I did it a few times with Flo.

I probably should not have done a two parter for this post. It's my longest one yet, breaking the 5000 word barrier, but what can I say? Sofia the First is in my top 10. Elena of Avalor is in my top 5. These shows overlap so much not only in characters and universes, but also in themes and takeaways. I've mentioned in the past that every Playhouse Disney or Disney Junior show is about something different, including those made by the same creators. But Sofia and Elena's stories are so tied together that Elena of Avalor feels like a continuation of Sofia the First.

Overall Rating for Sofia the First: A Tier

Overall Rating for Elena of Avalor: S Tier

Thursday, September 1, 2022

Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go: A Consistently Shocking Show That Has Little Else Going For It

[Image ID: Text that reads "He is 5'7" and 125 pounds" /End ID]

 
[Image ID: A picture of Chiro from Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go, who is decidedly not 5'7" and 125 pounds. /End ID]

Back when I was a teenager, there was a little show I enjoyed watching that had a theme song by Polysics and featured a team of five multicolored creatures going on silly adventures with their human friend. I am of course referring to Keroro Gunso. But! But!!! There was a lot of overlap between my funny frog show fandom and this funny monkey show fandom, so diving in I was pretty excited.

9:42 AM · Feb 8, 2021 "i expected monkey team to be kinda like keroro but i honestly get more of a gargoyles vibe"

Yeah, past aesthetic and humor similarities, the shows couldn't be more different...

But oh well! I get to watch this show with my friend Amanda, who seems excited about it, so I'm sure it'll be an adventure.

[Image ID: A Discord chat. Scar says "honestly? amongus." Amanda says "SHUT UP YOU'RE RIGHT." Scar says "Gibson sus." Amanda says "He is. HE SAID." Scar says "AMONG US." Amanda says "AMONG US." Scar says "sus." /End ID]

7:35 PM · Feb 9, 2021 "today we watched three more episodes here is what happened
-a real monkey showed up
-we're taking the elevator stupid
-among us"
12:03 PM · Feb 14, 2021 "i hate that this show is unintentionally funny because they say funny words now like "among us" and "keep on cleaning" with such emphasis..... because a lot of the rest of the show is weird....."

Okay, memes aside, Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go is... a really fucking weird show. Amanda watched it as a kid, but I didn't and she specifically said to me that all she remembered from this show were the fucked up bits. I don't know what it was. Maybe I didn't take that to heart, or maybe I assumed it was just 1-2 weird episodes, but by jove she was not wrong.

The first of these weird episodes was "Magnetic Menace," an episode that introduced recurring villain Scrapperton, a classy looking formerly human man who is now a robot made of spare parts.

10:06 PM · Feb 8, 2021 "He replaced everything with robot parts he’s so fucked up"

[Image ID: A discord conversation. Scar says "OH THIS GUY LOOKS NEA." Amanda says "yeah I don't remember him at all but he seems like he's a one-off you're already wifing." Scar says "SHUT UP." /End ID]

 Amanda is mean to me. :-( Still best villain of the show though.

Now, the episode is pretty eerie, but it's also pretty standard, except for one thing. Sparx loses his hands and they are replaced with organic ones, so for about two thirds of the episode, I have to sit here, looking at Sparx, while he looks like this.

[Image ID: A screencap of Sparx balling his fist, which are grey, wrinkly, and humanoid. /End ID]


Also, Scrapperton wasn't a one-off he came back! Yay!

12:32 PM · Feb 14, 2021 "thank GOD scrappington is back i could not have handled if i had to deal with someone else"

The next episode is "The Sun Riders," which is also pretty typical. Chiro's heroes are secretly working for the Skeleton King and are trying to sabotage him, except for the fact that The Skeleton King can make them age into dust. It came totally out of nowhere, and really just felt like an excuse to scare people. Which, is kind of what the show is.

10:33 PM · Feb 8, 2021 "A lot of this show is just shock factor past that there’s not much"

The next ep that stood out to me was probably the peak of the weirdness, and that was "A Man Called Krinkle," which focused on a man named Gyrus Krinkle (played by Jeffrey Combs of all people) who was obsessed with the monkey team. I had some... polarizing opinions on this new character.

12:07 PM · Feb 14, 2021 "I HATE GYRUS KRINKLE I HATE GYRUS KRINKLE I HATE GYRUS KRINKLE I HATE GYRUS KRINKLE I HATE GYRUS KRINKLE I HATE GYRUS KRINKLE I HATE GYRUS KRINKLE I HATE GYRUS KRINKLE I HATE GYRUS KRINKLE I HATE GYRUS KRINKLE I HATE GYRUS KRINKLE I HATE GYRUS KRINKLE I HATE GYRUS KRINKLE I HATE"
12:08 PM · Feb 14, 2021
"
he's creepy and he SUCKS"

But what did he do exactly? He's essentially a janitor who is fascinated with the team, especially Chiro, and wants to join up with them. Unfortunately, it's too dangerous for a civillian, even if he is tasked with cleaning the messes they make. He then gets Chiro out of the picture and convinces the monkeys that he, in a Chiro suit, is the real Chiro. Cut to the second half where they redo the opening and...

12:12 PM · Feb 14, 2021 "NO THEY'RE DOING THE OPENING WITH THIS GUY"

[Image ID: Gyrus Krinkle, a grown man with pale grey skin, wearing the outfit Chiro wears in the opening of the show. He is also wearing an oversized Chiro head. /End ID]



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12:12 PM · Feb 14, 2021 "THIS IS REALLY MY FAVORITE TROPE BUT I HATE THIS MAN SO MUCH"

Without getting into too much detail, the episode goes really hard into the creepy aspect, getting downright triggering for me at times (without getting into too much detail). 

12:04 PM · Feb 14, 2021 "last ep made me uncomfortable im only six minutes in and this one is making me EVEN MORE UNCOMFORTABLE"
12:16 PM · Feb 14, 2021
"
cool great. terrible. i hate it."

Part of me can respect what they're going for. They are absolutely successful when it comes to making me feel horrible horrible emotions, but at the same time this is a children's show about cartoon monkeys going on funny little adventures and saving the world.

10:36 PM · Feb 8, 2021 "Lit Amanda and I are sitting here and I’m like wtf and she’s like yeah Also this show is kind of an eyesore idk why"
10:56 PM · Feb 8, 2021
"
I think this show is like. Similar quality to rescue rangers. There’s a lot I really like and a lot I really dislike."
8:32 PM · Feb 13, 2021 "this show having fucking internal digestive shots is payback for all the times i've been mean to my friends.... -_- ngl im kinda grossed out i wanted to keep doing the disney marathon tonight.... :-("

Thinking about things I've recently watched, it kind of reminds me of The Cuphead Show. though I guess the horror aspect of that one is a little bit more justified, both shows seem to feel like the horror comes out of left field, and while it's not necessarily super scary, it's stressful and shocking, and when you're an adult, that is everything.

I was also thinking about what might have led up to this moment. Monkey Show is the first of the Jetix cartoons, and Disney Prime had been experimenting with more boy-focused shows like Dave the Barbarian. Those shows however, did have their girl parts. Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go, however, seems to lack that. There is the one Token Girl character, Nova, but she doesn't really get the same focus that characters like Candy or Brandy got. She was just the girl character. Man was it the 2000s.

9:43 AM · Feb 8, 2021 "i wish there were more girl monkeys.... i dont like that it's just nova. like they could have made sparx a girl."

As for the horror aspect... Sure there were darker and spookier shows like Gargoyles (as previously mentioned) and Nightmare Ned... But Disney cartoons didn't usually go scary. This was probably something of an afterthought. Get your animesque show greenlit in the age where every 10 year old in America was reading Shounen Jump, and then make it fucked up and scary later.

But yeah, a year and a half after watching this show, Honestly, nothing really stuck with me past the shock factor of the show, which probably counts as points against it.

One thing I've yet to discuss about this monkey show is the Monkey aspect of it. Monkeys were the funniest fucking thing to put in a cartoon. They might still be, but too many shows from my childhood had monkey characters. (My Gym Partner's a Monkey, Camp Lazlo, Wordgirl, Dexter's Lab, Kim Possible, I. M. Weasel, Dora the Explorer, etc) You can't go wrong with a monkey. Fuck it let's put in five or more monkeys. Maximize the use of Monkey Noises.

11:08 PM · Feb 8, 2021 "I’ve been calling srmthfg monkey show and it is they use the monkey SFX and everything"

I've talked about Nova and Sparx. They're kind of the straight couple of the show. Sparx being the immature slacker with a heart of gold, and Nova being the responsible girl character who acts ticked off but really cares deep down.

I really hate that Nova is the only girl character, but also every time Nova said "foot crusher cruiser 6" it sounded like "butt crusher cruiser 6" which was really funny.

Then there's Otto and Gibson, who are the two nerds of the team but in very different ways that causes them to butt heads

10:58 PM · Feb 8, 2021 "Otto and Gibson are the best monkeys." 

Otto is a brilliant engineer and makes all of the gadgets for the team, but often comes off as somewhat airheaded because he's still just a guy and he likes to have a good time above all else. Gibson is the medic of the team and serves as the cold logical foil to Otto's silliness. Honestly, I really like the fact that they're both the smart ones, but in different ways, and have different ways of expressing that intelligence. I've met a lot of people like the both of them! Otto's probably the better of the two, just because his issues feel a lot more down to earth. He's a goofy guy, but he also feels unappreciated at times.

12:58 PM · Feb 14, 2021 "they keep being mean to otto...."

Then there's Antauri, who serves as the leader of the monkeys when Chiro is not there. He's kind of the most plot relevant of the monkeys, and he usually serves to give the moral of an episode. He's one of those characters I like, but I don't have a lot to really say about.

Also there's like. Mandarin who I remember nothing about. Maybe when your show focuses on shock factor the plot bits become a lot less shocking.

The last thing I wanna talk about is probably the dumbest plot point of the show, and that is the fact that Chiro canonically gets bullied.

12:27 PM · Feb 14, 2021 "im just trying to get thru this one and chiro is experiencing microaggressions..."

In the first episode especially, people tend to mock and belittle Chiro for "hanging out with monkeys all the time" and I have got to wonder... Why? It's very clear to the people of Shuggazoom that Chiro and his monkeys are always saving the day and everyone in the city. I can certainly imagine parasocial relationships forming like in the case of Sulcus Flattin, but why bullying? This was the show that really made me realize how common it was for protagonists to get bullied and how unnecessary it was. A lot of shows moving forward, I kind of noticed this more and more, and I might bring it up moving forward.

Overall Rating for Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go: C Tier