Dill Clyntin Posted May 10 Author Posted May 10 HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Wow. I didn’t know I was able to hold it that long. Just goes to show how excited I am to be reviewing this show! #26. “Night of the Living Guacamole” – El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera [February 19, 2007] Ladies and gentlemen of this thread, it took 25 shows but we finally made it to a show that is a serious contender as my favorite Nicktoon. Yes, above Teenage Robot. Yes, above Korra. Yes, above the yellow fucker himself. El Tigre is a level of peak I don’t think I’ll ever see on this network again. Now I never really had this thought before. I was 8 around the time of its premiere and I was still into SpongeBob at the time, so much like Nickelodeon, I left this show by the wayside. I only remember watching the first half of the show and then just quitting due to lack of interest. It wouldn’t be until 26 years old when I gave the show another chance. Literally all the memories of these episodes kept flooding back and I now appreciate it more than I ever have when I first watched it. So let’s talk a little about the show first. It was created by Jorge Gutierrez, known for his work on MAD, The Book of Life, and the very best sitcom on Nickelodeon. It’s about a kid named Manny Rivera, who is raised by his heroic father, the White Pantera, and his retired villain grandfather, Puma Loco. If that premise alone doesn’t get you excited, I really don’t know what will. We’ll be talking about the show’s first episode, which happens to also be one of my favorites! Let’s dive into it like it’s a chip diving into guacamole! Manny is reading Puma Loco’s villain magazine for an ad for a laser tattoo maker worth $100. He wants to get it but his father, White Pantera, forbids him because tattoos are evil. He and Puma are about to sit down to watch a soccer game on TV while eating chips and guacamole, but Puma Loco forgot to buy it. As he and Pantera fight over who has to pick up the $100 guacamole, Manny volunteers, mostly because he wants to buy that laser tattoo maker. He meets with his friend Frida who tells him to buy the tattoo maker using his dad’s money but he also doesn’t want to let down his dad by not buying the guacamole. Suddenly, a mysterious old woman appears and offers the two free guacamole and they take it. It is revealed though that lady was actually Dr. Chipotle Jr. (which has to be like the 12th time I’ve heard Richard Horvitz’s voice in a cartoon), who wants to get revenge on Manny for getting his father arrested. Just before they use the tattoo maker, Pantera and Puma burst through the door as giant monsters from all the evil guacamole they consumed. The only way for Manny to defeat them is to sell the tattoo maker and buy the right kind. Since they’re sold out, he goes all the way to the Andes Mountains and buys it off a lady. He saves both of them using the power of the guacamole, but all of the goop starts forming an impenetrable guacamole monster. Manny goes inside the monster and opens up the tub and defeats it. He then tells the truth about what happened and White Pantera decides to punish the two by making them crush guacamole for one year. Sigh……you know, at the beginning, I was gonna call this a great show but after re-watching this particular one, I may have exaggerated a bit about it being my favorite Nicktoon on this list. Actually, maybe I haven’t exaggerated enough because THIS SHOW IS FUCKING AWESOME. I mean, I certainly wasn’t expecting this show to be bad, of course, but I seriously wasn’t expecting it to be this blisteringly awesome either. “El Tigre” manages to be that perfect blend between comedy and action I absolutely crave. There are a lot of highlights in this episode I’ve left out of the summary so I will do the same I did with Barnyard and talk about them. Spoiler - The fact it took White Pantera like 10 seconds to check on the poor - The floating dad head fighting with Frida. “ECHO! ECHO!” - Puma Loco hiding money in his sombrero: “You gave me no money!” - “Look! A thing!” - The reveal that Dr. Chipotle (Junior) was hiding in a portable TV set all along. - Actually, you know what, anything Dr. Chipotle (Junior) says in general. Is it any wonder why he’s one of my favorite villains in this show? - Manny running all the way from Miracle City to the Andes Mountains And that’s just from this episode, by the way. “El Tigre” in general is just a perfect show. All the characters are interesting, the villains range from funny to threatening to the rare combination of both, the jokes are entertaining, and if that theme song doesn’t get your head banging and blood pumping, you’re probably dead inside. I might have nitpicked on Teenage Robot a bit, but you can’t get me to find a single flaw here. So have a happy belated Cinco de Mayo everyone and make sure the guacamole you buy when you watch this isn’t evil. Oh, by the way, I have watched the series finale of this show. I am not going to spoil much what happens in it, but I am going to say this: I absolutely dare the SpongeBob writers to write a better finale than this. That is all. VERDICT: Diez/Diez (With absolutely no weak spots, I feel comfortable calling El Tigre my favorite Nicktoon………….I think) RANKINGS: Spoiler El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera (10) My Life as a Teenage Robot (9.5) The Legend of Korra (9.5) Rocko's Modern Life (9) SpongeBob SquarePants (9) Rugrats (9) KaBlam! (9) Back at the Barnyard (8.5) Jimmy Neutron (8.5) ChalkZone (8) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) (8) Harvey Beaks (7.5) Aaahh!!! Real Monsters (7.5) The Ren and Stimpy Show (7) Oh Yeah! Cartoons (7) All Grown Up! (7) The X's (7) Sanjay and Craig (6.5) The Loud House (5.5) Winx Club (5.5) Planet Sheen (4.5) Robot and Monster (4.5) Pig Goat Banana Cricket (4.5) Monsters vs. Aliens (4) Fanboy and Chum Chum (3.5) Breadwinners (2) That was an absolute blast to write about. Will my next show match it in greatness? I somehow doubt it, but we'll see! Spoiler Yeah this show is definitely not gonna match El Tigre. 3
4EverGreen Posted May 11 Posted May 11 The show on its own merits is okay, even if the show's technical creator has LOST a lot of any merit he might have once had (not sure exactly why, but it probably wasn't anything good). I'll keep my fingers (metaphorically) crossed.
Steel Sponge Posted May 11 Posted May 11 Oh yeah, Catscratch - a childhood favorite unfortunately tainted by its problematic creator.
Dill Clyntin Posted June 1 Author Posted June 1 Last time on this thread, I talked about a great show. No, an awesome show. No, a FREAKING AWESOME show about a superhero family named after cats. And you know what I just learned now? Jorge himself has stated he wants to revive the show! With Jenny from Teenage Robot, no less! This is awesome news and I doubt there will be any news that will disappoint me! Days later… ……you know, there’s probably a reason behind the saying “never meet your heroes”. Though let’s be honest: Did any of us really see this coming? So I guess I gotta deal with the fact that the creator of one of my favorite Nicktoons is an AI bro now. This is gonna haunt me for the rest of—wait, I’m getting word from a reliable source…….so he canceled his AI series? He apologized for it? So I don’t have to worry anymore? Oh thank god. Sorry about the long ass intro here, but I seriously did not expect this series of events to occur days after I reviewed El Tigre. Well, I am grateful that my conscious is cleared now and I’m ready to go back to talking about Nicktoons created by likable and very reasonable people! Anyways, let’s talk about Catscratch. #24. “Bringin’ Down the Mouse” – Catscratch [July 9, 2005] Welp, we’re back in 2005 and ready to talk about another oft-forgotten Nicktoon! Although unlike The X’s, this Nicktoon I definitely have more memories of watching. Actually, I think most people remember watching this one, it just doesn’t get acknowledged as much. But I’ve had experience watching it at my grandma’s house and there’s surprisingly a lot of things from this show that stuck with me through the years. The theme song, Waffle and his catchphrase, the one with the go-kart races, Hovis, Gomez the Newt, the human Kimberly, the root beer one, the Spindango Fundulation one, and most of all, it was the first Wayne Knight role I remember hearing. Back before I knew him as Newman on Seinfeld, I knew him as Mr. Blik on Catscratch. So yeah, I still have a lot of information about this show absorbed. We’re gonna be talking about the show’s first episode and we’ll see if this show has aged well or not. Mr. Blik and Gordon are preparing for a visit to the Mouse Hunter’s Ball. Waffle wants to go too but he can’t because he hasn’t caught a mouse yet, compared to the many mice the other two captured. Mr. Blik and Gordon teach Waffle how to catch a mouse but he fails to catch one and ends up bringing in other random objects. Turns out he was tricked by Squeakers the Mouse, who is very clever and dangerous as described by the other two. Waffle gets angry and meets the mouse, who does not sound and look like what they described. He gets captured and is explained that his own brothers are the mice he’s looking for and, of course, Waffle believes it. He plays an actual game of cat and mice with the other two and they end up in Squeaker’s hole (don’t laugh), captured and tied up. After a moment of realizing Squeakers lied to him (twice!), he uses his cat breath that Gordon taught him earlier and defeats him. Afterwards, they all go to the ball and Waffle gets a brand new hat. So that was my re-introduction to Catscratch and surprisingly, I still enjoyed it. Not to the extent that I’d really wanna binge it over and over again but I do get what I saw in the show 21 years ago. That being said, I can see why others think it’s disposable, especially with shows like Avatar and SpongeBob competing against it. There were a few funny moments here and there like Waffle taking a random stop sign and causing car accidents but they weren’t exactly laugh out loud moments either. I still do like his antics and Hovis and Mr. Blik have their share of funny moments as well but those are really the only highlights of the show. So while I don’t think it’s the worst, I think there’s much better shows to watch out there. I think the best comparison I could think of is that it’s basically the 2000s equivalent of CatDog. It was fine for its time but it didn’t necessarily age well either……..but that’s a story for a different write-up. VERDICT: 7/10 (I guess it’s fitting this show shares the same rating as The X’s. What can I say, I’m generous.) RANKINGS: Spoiler El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera (10) My Life as a Teenage Robot (9.5) The Legend of Korra (9.5) Rocko's Modern Life (9) SpongeBob SquarePants (9) Rugrats (9) KaBlam! (9) Back at the Barnyard (8.5) Jimmy Neutron (8.5) ChalkZone (8) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) (8) Harvey Beaks (7.5) Aaahh!!! Real Monsters (7.5) The Ren and Stimpy Show (7) Oh Yeah! Cartoons (7) All Grown Up! (7) Catscratch (7) The X's (7) Sanjay and Craig (6.5) The Loud House (5.5) Winx Club (5.5) Planet Sheen (4.5) Robot and Monster (4.5) Pig Goat Banana Cricket (4.5) Monsters vs. Aliens (4) Fanboy and Chum Chum (3.5) Breadwinners (2) Welp, it's time to confront the Wheel once again. Say, wouldn't it be funny if it gave me CatDog next? That would be funny. Spoiler Well, it's not CatDog, but I'll take it!
4EverGreen Posted June 7 Posted June 7 Out of all the remaining Nicktoons shows (that I've ever actually seen at LEAST one episode of), "As Told By Ginger" has GOT to be hands down the MOST boringest (I don't CARE if 'Boringest' isn't an ACTUAL word, it SHOULD be) Nicktoons show on the face of this Earth! Macy Gray singing the theme song is okay, but for Klasky-Csupo; it's a FAR cry from their better stuff! 1
Dill Clyntin Posted June 11 Author Posted June 11 Last time on this thread, I talked about a show that was on during my childhood that I remember watching. This time, we’ll be talking about a show that was on during my childhood I don’t remember watching. Remember when I mentioned there were two Nicktoons I haven’t watched in my X’s entry? Here’s the other one: #14. “Ginger the Juvey” – As Told by Ginger [October 25, 2000] Happy one year anniversary to this thread! I’m happy that I’m ringing it in with a pretty good show rather than a mediocre or bad one. Now as a kid, I knew nothing about this show other than its catchy title. I wasn’t sure exactly why it was in my blind spot, maybe it’s because I was an alpha male who didn’t like this woke garbage, maybe it’s because it came on too early, maybe a combination of both but it wouldn’t be until 15 years old when I finally watched an episode of it on the great late Nick Reboot and you know what? It wasn’t as bad as I expected. Maybe it’s not the most exciting Klasky-Csupo Nicktoon out there but watching it in a chat room full of millennials and seeing them react to or quote the episode certainly helped my experience! Even years later, I find myself thinking of a random funny moment from this show. So yeah, ever since then, this show has left an unexpected impact on my life. Now this cartoon in particular (along with another KC show we’ll get to eventually) has left many divided. You have people who think it’s a pretty decent slice-of-life show that’s not afraid to go heavy in some episodes. You also have people who think it’s a cringy snoozefest that’ll make you wanna sleep until SpongeBob or Rugrats comes on. As you see, I’ll be making my case for the former, so let’s go where the grass is greener (on the other side)! Popular girl Courtney Gripling is planning her surprise party with her friend, Miranda. She’s thinking of inviting main character Ginger Foutley to the surprise of Miranda who thinks she’s a total wannabe. Her little brother Blake overhears this and tells Carl (Ginger’s smaller brother) and Hoodsey (Carl’s friend as well as the best character in the show) his sister will be over at his house for Courtney’s party. Carl barges into Ginger’s room with her two best friends Macie and Dodie and tells her she’s invited to Courtney’s party, which excites Dodie since she has always wanted to hang with the popular kids. The next day at school, Ginger runs into Miranda in the bathroom and the latter tells her that Courtney will be expecting a really great gift from her. She gives her an idea to steal an entrance sign from a bank for Courtney’s house but if she does that, she risks going to prison. After a small talk with another one of her friends Darren, Ginger calls Miranda and says she’s up for it. Both of the Griplings are prepared for Courtney’s party: Courtney because it’s her surprise party and Blake because he’s going to get access to Carl’s petrified eyeball for spying on the party with Carl and Woodsey Hoodsey. After Ginger’s mom takes off, Ginger, Macie, Dodie, and Darren break into Carl’s room for disguises and head off to the bank. At the party, as Carl and Hoodsey are taking pictures of it, Miranda sneaks off and calls her father who’s a cop and tells him about a robbery taking place at 1st Federal Bank. Later on, Ginger and company get arrested and she lets Courtney know she got arrested trying to get her a present. This surprises Courtney and disappoints Miranda, who wanted her reputation sabotaged. In the end, Ginger narrates and writes in her diary about her experience and she gets a voice mail from Dodie who tells her excitedly that everyone in school is talking about her, so she might be grounded for a while but at least she got one positive out of it. Well, that was Ginger’s first episode and if you couldn’t tell already, I enjoyed a lot of it! Yes, it does have its many share of flaws. The animation is a bit ugly compared to other shows, Dodie is an insufferable character, there’s an episode where Ginger asks out someone way older than her, and the principal looks like an NFT monkey. Some of these reasons are why I can’t endorse it completely. That being said, I think there’s enough good in the show to outweigh the bad. I definitely enjoyed a lot of the characters and the dynamics they have with each other. The show doesn’t aim for much laugh out loud moments but the ones that land really do land. My favorite highlight from the episode being Hoodsey’s long-ass introduction to the news that Ginger’s invited to Courtney’s party, complete with the timpani beat in the background. In fact, Hoodsey is just the best character of the show. I always enjoy seeing him play the straight man during Carl’s antics. Plus, that purple hoodie he wears is just adorable. I also really enjoy Courtney and how she’s actually really sweet and nice as a rich popular girl compared to her opposite in Miranda. So while the show still does follow typical tropes, it also finds way to subvert them as well! I can imagine if it didn’t do that, the show would be much lower, maybe even Bottom 10 but stuff like that, combined with the funny antics from the Carl and Hoodsey plotlines, makes this a much better show than All Grown Up. And just like Harvey Beaks, the setting and music is so soothing and relaxing that it makes you feel like you’re taking a break from the insanity of life. “As Told by Ginger” really is a show for anyone to enjoy and no matter how you feel about the rest of the show, I’m sure you’ll find a thing or two that will stick with you today. VERDICT: 8.5/10 (What a total and complete surprise!) RANKINGS: Spoiler El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera (10) My Life as a Teenage Robot (9.5) The Legend of Korra (9.5) Rocko's Modern Life (9) SpongeBob SquarePants (9) Rugrats (9) KaBlam! (9) Back at the Barnyard (8.5) Jimmy Neutron (8.5) As Told by Ginger (8.5) ChalkZone (8) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) (8) Harvey Beaks (7.5) Aaahh!!! Real Monsters (7.5) The Ren and Stimpy Show (7) Oh Yeah! Cartoons (7) All Grown Up! (7) Catscratch (7) The X's (7) Sanjay and Craig (6.5) The Loud House (5.5) Winx Club (5.5) Planet Sheen (4.5) Robot and Monster (4.5) Pig Goat Banana Cricket (4.5) Monsters vs. Aliens (4) Fanboy and Chum Chum (3.5) Breadwinners (2) Well, that was a nice write-up. Let's see which show the Wheel will give us next! Spoiler Hey, remember when I said there was another Klasky-Csupo Nicktoon that left people divided?
4EverGreen Posted June 15 Posted June 15 "Rocket Power" is an awesome, AWESOME action show with AWESOME music and really good plots! It's honestly a toss-up (for me) as to whether "Rocket Power", or "The Wild Thornberries" is the better Klasky-Csupo animated cartoon show.
Dill Clyntin Posted August 5 Author Posted August 5 Last time on this thread, I talked about a Klasky-Csupo show with mixed reception I ended up liking! Coincidentally, we’ve got the same deal here! Although I don’t think I enjoyed this one as much… #13. “New Squid on the Block” – Rocket Power [August 16, 1999] Well, it’s the first day of summer, folks! At least, that’s what I would’ve said if I haven’t slacked off on this entry so much. Real life priorities. Anyways, we’ll be kicking off the season with a summer show! I only wish it was a better summer show though… Some people are Rocket Power people, some people aren’t. I guess you can put me in the latter category. I think the problem I have with Rocket Power is less “I don’t like this” and more “I don’t get this”. I didn’t really grow up on extreme sports and I barely grew up watching it outside of its theme song. However, I did catch some episodes of the show like the Christmas special and the New Zealand movie and they were pretty good! But much like the other shows on here, I’ll be looking at its first episode and I’ll dissect what works about this show and what doesn’t. So let’s go ahead and……uh…..hang a loogie? Is that a thing cool kids say? Three kids are practicing their skateboard skills and they notice a new kid named Sam moving into town. One of the residents, Violet, shows him around the area. She introduces Sam to her husband Merv, who is working on some toy train. She also sends Sam to meet the Rocket kids (and Twister) and Sam helps Reggie on her magazine, or zine as she refers to, using his laptop. Otto and Twister appear and tells the two they’re about to play street hockey at the pier. Sam and Reggie go and meet them and they play a game of street hockey. The only problem is that Sam isn’t good at it, so he storms off. He comes back with the cover of Reggie’s Zine and Twister hits the puck so hard, it flies into a trash can and flies around. However, Sam slaps the puck and the others see his potential as their goalie. All the kids play a game of street hockey against their rival team which features Twister’s older brother. Twister hits the puck into a mailbox, which made his team lose the game. But Sam uses his tech savviness to shoot the puck out of the mailbox and he catches it. The kids decide to make Sam their new Squid. You know, I was expecting much worse from this episode but honestly, I didn’t think this episode was too bad! That said, this really isn’t a Nicktoon I would want to actively binge. The show in general is too innocent to really hate, but it’s also too dated for me to endorse completely. It does have its moments though and a lot of the characters are pretty fun too. And while I’m on the topic of characters, WHERE THE FUCK WAS TITO?! I really feel upset he didn’t appear in this episode because I was looking forward to seeing him and his ancient Hawaiian sayings. I guess the show’s more exciting than Ginger and I totally understand why people would watch this one over that. Though in the end, I’d probably take the calm, boring As Told by Ginger over the too exciting Rocket Power. Now if you need me, I’ll be in the bunker hiding from all the Rocket Power fans on this—I mean, I’m going to bed because it’s late. VERDICT: 6/10 (Not a hang ten but it isn’t a wipeout either. Put it into the “passable” category.) RANKINGS: Spoiler El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera (10) My Life as a Teenage Robot (9.5) The Legend of Korra (9.5) Rocko's Modern Life (9) SpongeBob SquarePants (9) Rugrats (9) KaBlam! (9) Back at the Barnyard (8.5) Jimmy Neutron (8.5) As Told by Ginger (8.5) ChalkZone (8) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) (8) Harvey Beaks (7.5) Aaahh!!! Real Monsters (7.5) The Ren and Stimpy Show (7) Oh Yeah! Cartoons (7) All Grown Up! (7) Catscratch (7) The X's (7) Sanjay and Craig (6.5) Rocket Power (6) The Loud House (5.5) Winx Club (5.5) Planet Sheen (4.5) Robot and Monster (4.5) Pig Goat Banana Cricket (4.5) Monsters vs. Aliens (4) Fanboy and Chum Chum (3.5) Breadwinners (2) Okay! So with that two month delay, we can only hope our next show is more simpler to talk to. Perhaps one I should know by heart. Got anything for me, Wheel? Spoiler Fuck yeah. 1
4EverGreen Posted August 11 Posted August 11 "Invader Zim", the one Nickelodeon show that nearly EVERYBODY praises...only lasted ONE season as a show on Nickelodeon! Do you know how HARD it is to have YOUR show last only one season on Nickelodeon? It has to have the (non-existent) quality of "Planet Sheen" to only last ONE season on Nickelodeon! Although to be fair to "Invader Zim", that was more of "Invader Zim" NOT attracting the type of demographic that Nickelodeon WANTED to appeal to! Although with the type of doom and gloom that usually persists within THAT series, I'm not sure WHAT type of demographic Nickelodeon was hoping to attract!
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