Hello, @dropofsoup! I really like seeing your "Craig of the Creek" doodles, they're so good!
I was wondering if you could draw Craig, Kelsey, JP, Bobby and other "COTC" characters as little babies (*not little-r kids), since we've never seen them in their early years on the show.
Plus, I think it'd be ADORABLE to see what it would've been like if they'd known each other since birth (*so to speak...) :)
Heya hey!
This was a very cute prompt, and the first thing I thought of for this was: Craig and JP could’ve met Kelsey’s mom :,)
I know they would’ve loved her.
(Respectively, Kelsey is 2, Craig is 3, and JP is 4 years old!)
A Year of Animation Day 172-173: Craig of the Creek, Season 6
Date: June 21-22, 2025
Day: 172-173
Content Watched: Craig of the Creek, Season 6
Year: 2018-2025
Rating: TV-Y7
Run Time: 110 minutes
Well, I've officially reached the end of Craig of the Creek. It's a bittersweet moment, but I do love that the ending, like the "Heart of the Forest Finale" focused on being present. It's a difficult thing to learn, but important for all of us, and as someone who has spent the last year practicing being present every Shabbat, I can tell you how much better life is when you can really do this. (And speaking of Shabbat, shout-out to one more Jewish moment with Kelsey saying that her bubbe would refer to Craig as a mensch. Cue heart eyes.)
Oh, and remember that moment where I said I wanted more episodes of Craig just hanging out at people's houses so we got to see more of their lives? Apparently season 6 consists mostly of exactly that. And I'm so glad that season 6 ended up basically being an epilogue because season 5 had such a great finale.
I liked the Indonesian cultural elements in Toman's house. I especially like the fact that Craig can say "Mr. Napitupulu" without stumbling over it. These are things we should be normalizing. Also, I always found Toman's "aka XXX" stuff really annoying, but like his siblings, I appreciated him more by the end of the episode. I also must point out that Bobby's mother has a very midwestern accent, which I can only assume is a reference to the 1990s kids' show Bobby's World. I watched a lot of Bobby's World as a kid, but the only thing I remember about it is his very midwestern mother saying, "don't 'cha know," every episode. I was a little disappointed Mrs. Bobson didn't say it.
My favorite of the sleepover stories is "Whose Dimension is it Anyway?" For one, I love that despite Wren's name not being in the title, it was instantly recognizable as the Wren episode. And then, when she told Craig that it's difficult to go between houses, I figured her parents were divorced, but I didn't expect the episode to focus on this. I mean, while episodes like "Sleep Talk JP" and "Dude, Where's My Bobby?" were fun, they didn't have as deep an emotional current as "Whose Dimension is it Anyway?" which feels like a good episode for kids whose parents are divorced or going through a divorce, especially as Wren's parents' love for her is the through line. I particularly like that the first world where Wren's parents are together is literally upside down, but some other great highlights include mer-world, the fact that Angie tells Craig to call her by her first name (this is just one more layer of diversity), the fact that Wren's dad wears a pencil in his hair, that he painted nebulas on the ceilings of both her bedrooms!, and I'm pretty sure Wren's cat is named Sir Isaac Mewton. Classic.
Oh, and remember that part where I said I hoped the Creek Elders got back together? Enter "The Elders of the Creek," which gets Mark back together not only with Barry and David, but with Kenneth! (Shout-out to Kelsey for straightening Mark out.) And they use their friendship necklaces to create The Final Form (which, despite getting a transformation sequence, is not actually a transformation, just the four of them stacked on top of one another.) I love that not only did the friendship necklaces come back, but that Kenneth's is his profile picture on Mark's phone. It's also really nice to see how Elder Rock is converted to a sort of creek library by the end.
This episode is also perhaps the most reference-heavy of the show, which is saying something. The Final Form, is of course, a reference to Power Rangers or something like that, but many more things were clearly references that went over my head. My husband says that most of the clips I showed him were references to Sadboy Plotgeddon Evangelion, but there was one more anime reference I recognized at the end, which I can't talk about because I haven't done my write-ups for that show yet. (No seriously, I lost my shit when I saw it. And I thought about holding back this write up until the others were done, but that seemed too much.) You'll just have to guess what it is....
But my favorite episode, without a doubt, of the whole damn series, is "The Little Warrior." Are you really surprised? After I've spent weeks talking about how much I love and relate to Kelsey? I don't even know where to begin with this one. I love that the frame story of this episode is Kelsey deciding what to wear on picture day. I love Neil being so (relatably) fed up with Kelsey's indecision that he literally tells her he'd be fine if she wore a dress that was on fire. I love that I thought The Littlest Warrior was just a picture book Kelsey loved as a kid and imagined herself in (I was genuinely confused why the warrior's dad didn't look like Neil.) I love that I didn't figure it out until the warrior grew up and married a noble knight and had a daughter named Kelsey! I love that Kelsey's mom was able to write this book for her and that this episode tells us so much about about both Kelsey and Neil. I love that Kelsey wears her cape for picture day!! And that the episode ends with Neil putting it on the mantle next to a picture of her and her mom! I even love that this episode made me bawl my little eyes out, and that even writing this is making me cry. This is such a beautiful episode. I didn't even know I was missing Kelsey's mom until now. And like "Whose Dimension is it Anyway?" I think this would be a great episode for a kid who has a terminally ill family member.
Quite frankly, I don't have a good way to end this write-up. I was going to talk about the animation with JP's face in "Sleep Talk JP" and "JP's Bucket List." And the fact that Neil Pokoly also self-narrates. And that Bernard is now 18, when he seemed like he was 16 before, but Craig hasn't apparently aged, so this whole show just runs on different time, but I'm too all-consumed by Kelsey and her mom.
So I'll just say, this is goodbye to the Creek. I do intend to watch Craig Before the Creek, but I'm not planning on watching Jessica's Big Little World... yet. I have several other things I would like to try to hit before my official Year of Animation ends, and I'm having to condense things because I just can't keep up with the watch schedule. But even if I could, I have a very long list of animation to check out, so (spoilers!) I will be continuing this project (with some changes) into 2026. And Jessica's Big Little World is already on the list.
See you tomorrow at the Creek... Oh wait... I'm watching Fullmetal Alchemist after this. I'm gonna go cry some more.
