#friday spotlight

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Cartoon Network Friday Spotlight: The Powerpuff Girls- "Slumbering with the Enemy"

I'm running low on Spotlights, so let's go to one of the blog's most common wells- The Powerpuff Girls! (side note- if someone wants to recommend episodes from mid-00s era CN shows, please be my guest!).

In this one, the girls are throwing the hottest slumber party in town, and every girl at Pokey Oaks who's anyone is invited, although there's one little lady who surprises Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup. Her name is Mojesha, and she's the life of the party!

Or is she? Clearly this is Mojo Jojo in drag, and the girls are suspicious, but it seems like Mojo just wants to join in on the fun and play games... until it's clear that he doesn't.

The thing that made The Powerpuff Girls special is that it didn't necessarily have a formula. It could be a monster of the week show, ripping apart comic book cliches with glee, or have just as much fun in more domestic stories, like this. The characters are strong enough to make the juxtaposition work, enough that you almost believe that Mojo wants to read gossip mags and drink tea with a bunch of preschool girls.

And speaking of the magazines, look for a familiar face!

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Cartoon Network Friday Spotlight: The Life and Times of Juniper Lee- "I've Got My Mind on My Mummy, and My Mummy on My Mind"

I feel like you can't talk about Juniper Lee without talking about a show which premiered around the same time- Disney's American Dragon: Jake Long. Both starred Asian-American adolescents whose lineage requires them to ensure the bridge between the human world and fantasy realms intersect as seldom as possible. They both have obnoxious, but well-meaning younger siblings who get into the action more than they should. They both even answer to grandparents and have protective pug dogs. Neither show became a sensation, but they had their fans despite (or arguably because of) their similarties.

You'd think that as a Cartoon Network blog runner, I'd be a bigger fan of Juniper Lee, but I actually liked American Dragon a lot more. I thought it had stronger bones and turned into something special during its second season (see, I like the competitors sometimes, too).

But Juniper had its moments, too. Anyway, they were both way better than Danny Phantom, which I think was crap. I admire how Juniper aspired to be a comedy first and foremost, and it could be pretty clever when it wanted to.

Anyway, this is a good early one, when June and her crush Marcus are assigned to do a report on a visiting mummy for the town's museum/mall hybrid. While June discovers that the mummy is paired with a scripture in a language that her pet guardian, Munroe can read, she tries to get him to help, but he refuses... only for the mummy to come to life and decide to run his own restaurant chain with a slew of zombies.

This is an early example where June is in the right as opposed to Munroe, and the rest of the episode is dedicated to putting a stop to the world learning of real undead food. It results in a pretty good time, a little silly, but that's what you should hope for here.

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Cartoon Network Friday Spotlight- "Mouse Trouble"

Don't you believe it~~

This has always been one of my favorite Tom and Jerrys, in which Tom receives a book meant to give him advice on how to catch mice, only for it to not quite as planned.

The question is if Jerry is too smart for the tricks to work or if the book isn't effective... but I think there's a third answer to consider- Tom just sucks. Isn't that delightful?

What makes "Mouse Trouble" work is how memorable and well-paced the gags are. Besides the aforementioned gag, there's plenty of good bits, including a rare time when Tom has lasting harm doled upon him- note the horrid red toupee he wears throughout the rest of the short. It's good stuff, all in all.

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Cartoon Network Friday Spotlight: Johnny Bravo- "Johnny's Inferno"

Still waiting for Johnny Bravo to hit DVD in full... or Max... or Checkered Past...

Anyway, let's talk about a fun one, where Johnny accidentally calls upon a Satanic figure who tries to inspire Johnny to do evil deeds. You'd think that Johnny is too dense to follow along, but the episode goes in a slightly different direction, with everything Johnny does going good for everyone else.

Fun stuff! Things get even more fun when the demon posses Johnny, which Carl and Pops take note of and try to get it out. It's enjoyable from beginning to end and I think sells what makes the show work at its best- how strong of a character Johnny is. He's a buffoon, but a lovable one.

And it has the bit where Johnny says that he wants to look like male models, NOT at them. Classic line!

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Cartoon Network Friday Spotlight: Freakazoid!- "The Wrath of Guitierrez"

The impending introduction for Freakazoid! on MeTV Toons has me excited, so I've been pulling out my DVDs again. I understand why the show didn't catch on for kids, but it seemed to fare a little better on Cartoon Network, which was loaded with shows too weird for most kids.

In the season 1 finale, we meet up with Guitierrez once again, delightfully played by Ricardo Montalban, who is adamant that he receives access to the internet in his lonely prison cell. When he receives access, Guitierrez is able to use the code that gave Dexter Douglas the freak power to turn himself into one, and commands Freakazoid to beat him in a mansion maze similar to one of Guitierrez's beloved computer games.

It's a lot of fun, and besides the sporadic writing, a lot of it comes from the voice acting. I've already mentioned Montalban, whose iconically rugged accent gives Guitierrez the necessary timber to incite fear while delivering hysterical lines, but Paul Rugg's work as the blue freak himself is just as iconic. And of course, he's helped by Ed Asner's Cosgrove, who gets some of the best laughs this week, like stopping his hospital drive for Freakazoid to order from the drive thru, and Craig Ferguson returning as Roddy MacStew, the Scottish computer whiz who knows of Freakazoid's secret and gets a quirky bit of exposition.

Not to mention the ending, which I won't spoil if you haven't seen Congo.

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Cartoon Network Friday Spotlight: Yogi Bear- “Bear for Punishment”

The Huckleberry Hound Show became Hanna-Barbera’s first major hit, but Yogi Bear arguably took Huck’s spot at being their first superstar (not counting Tom and Jerry, of course), which is why he switched to his own show after two seasons of being tagged with Huck and Pixie and Dixie.

While The Yogi Bear Show has its share of classic segments with the bear, a lot of his best material comes from Huckleberry Hound, and this is a solid example. Here, Yogi and Boo Boo wake up from hibernation and are mighty hungry, but they struggle to score from guests at the park. Their luck turns around when they meet a magician who agrees to turn the bears invisible, which allows Yogi to indulge in his insatiable appetite.

Pretty wild stuff, right? Of course, Boo Boo isn’t crazy about the idea, being the voice of reason, but largely goes along anyway. And of course, things don’t totally go well by the end of the episode, but hey, that’s a Yogi Bear cartoon for you. At least we get a few good laughs here.

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Cartoon Network Friday Spotlight: Ben 10- "Ken 10"

Ben 10 is one of my biggest gaps in terms of Cartoon Network fandom. I've tried the original show and bits of pieces of its varying spin-offs, but it just does nothing for me. I think I was a little too old for the series when it dropped, but clearly it's an important franchise for CN. If I recall right, they're working on another series now.

So I tried to give the OG another shot and spun through a few choice episodes. In this one, we travel to the future, where a grown-up Ben gives his son Kenny his own Omnitrix. We also get to see an older (and skinnier) Grandpa Max and cousin Gwen show up for the glorious day, although Ken's mom is MIA.

While he still messes with his cousin, this Ben is a little more mature now, which makes sense as Kenny is basically a futuristic retread of his old man. Feeling like his father doesn't respect him, Ken hopes to use his Omnitrix for his own whims with his buddy Devlin. While the two have fun with Ken's new powers, things go awry when Ben's long-time enemy Kevin 11 escapes prison, drops a bombshell, and finds a way to use Ken's powers to his advantage.

This is pretty decent stuff, although knowing what I know about the franchise, I'm surprised that Kevin's still a bad guy here. Also knowing what I do about the franchise, I'm sure they'll find a way to explain and/or retcon this episode. But while I find Ben 10 to not have earned the gravitas other action shows claim as easily, I can find a charm here that explains its dedication.

Also, that theme song slaps.

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Cartoon Network Friday Spotlight: Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi- "Dance a Go-Go"

There was a period of time when of the three Cartoon Network originals to premiere in 2004, it seemed like a safe bet that Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi was going to be the channel's future. Combining kawaii and girl power, this seemed like the logical step to be CN's next Powerpuff Girls, and for a moment it really was. For only a moment, as by the end of 2005, Craig McCracken's other show ended up taking its place as the new face of the channel*.

Going back to the series, I can see why it became a minor sensation before fading out. It's cute, but there isn't much more to it than that. It's a pretty disposable show.

This early episode is a good example of such, when Ami convinces Yumi to be her partner in a dance competition series, primarily so they can win matching scooters. Unfortunately, they have tough competition, so the two really need to crack down.

Part of what I don't get about the series is that Puffy is supposed to be a big, internationally recognized band, but half the time you wouldn't even know it. Yumi even calls attention to this by bringing up that they're rock stars and shouldn't have to wait in line... only for her to come up with a lie to get the line in question to die down. Kind of unnecessary, but okay.

Like I said, this is cute enough, especially when the dancing commences, but it's hardly the kind of series meant to leave a lasting impression the same way Ed, Grim and Foster's, arguably the City Era's big 3 series, do.

*As for Megas XLR, I've always felt that it was closer to the end of one part of the channel than the start of something new, one of the last CN originals that worked just as well for older audiences, if not moreso, than for kids.