Tara Duncan (2010) Series Review
"also known as, How Tara is Not a Spellbinder"
[this series review was originally posted on deviantArt]
"also known as, reviewing the first season, because the show is not good enough for a second."
"I want to like it, but I can only analyze it, because it didn't live up to my hype."
Physically attractive, yet fundamentally bland, Tara Duncan is yet another typical heroine of a standard, uninteresting girl show. Unlike the other girls, she does not have charm or personality. Rose (Regal Academy) is cute and silly, Iris (Lolirock) has an outstanding art and character design, and even Raf (Angel's Friends) has identity through how bad her show is.
As for Tara, she comes from a book series I never knew about until I learned about her equally obscure show. The former never saw widespread publication and the latter never saw widespread broadcast. Ironically, to non-French speakers, the animated series is more well-known than the book series. For perspective, I didn't even know about the Kabillion channel that she was on until I learned more about her franchise. And for that matter, only the first two Tara Duncan books have ever been translated into English whereas all twenty-six episodes of the animated series has been. Despite this, there are very few methods for Anglophones to watch the latter. A few years ago, the entire series was available on the official youtube channel until they were removed or deleted for unknown reasons; and at the beginning of 2023, it was removed from Amazon's streaming service Freevee.
However, I have a low opinion of the show, and this may have been the issue of adapting a book series into a cartoon; alternatively, the English dub may even be a bad translation. As a result, this is not necessarily a review of the show in its original voice.
One reason why I had such high hopes for Tara Duncan is the theme song. It is legitimately one of the best intro music for any cartoon ever. Each episode begins with high energy to create anticipation for Tara's next adventure. While Dania Gio slurs the lyrics to the English intro, the opening theme is still just as strong as the original French version. A complete English version does not exist; but the song is so good, I recommend listening to the original, which I can listen to multiple times despite having no knowledge of French. If anything , my opinion also applies to every language the theme song has been adapted into, such as Spanish, Castellano, Portuguese, and Arabic. The only caveat though is, the German version sounds terrible.
Either way, I'm disappointed that I could not write episode reviews for this series, unlike what I did for Regal Academy and Lolirock. It's because there is very little for me to talk about. Every draft proved difficult to write, owing to a lack of opinion. For these reasons, I even had trouble remembering episode titles. Not helping is that I can barely remember specific plot points for the majority of episodes. This very review was incredibly difficult, due to how hard it is to articulate my thoughts. It took an entire year of editing and revising, because Tara Duncan lacks creativity and personality.
The show's aesthetics are presentable, but the art and character design looks similar to W.I.T.C.H, to the point where Tara is comparable to Cornelia; and the resemblance is not only close, but understandable. Tara's line art however, is cleaner, and her color palette is brighter.
Unlike W.I.T.C.H, Tara uses CGI, and even though it is limited to just the vehicles, it looks terrible. I have to mention this because every car, trolley, boat, or airplane looks completely detached from the overall art style. They look so poor, that their time on-screen is limited; or, their time on-screen is limited because of how poor they look. I understand that vehicles are harder to draw than characters, but they must look cohesive with the world they are in; otherwise it will seem that they are a separate entity, even if the intention is to save time, effort, and money. However, this may explain why the 2022 reboot of Tara Duncan is presented entirely in CGI.
Tara uses the most basic fantasy tropes without anything unique to distinguish herself. Werewolves are vulnerable against silver, dragons love gold, and mermaids swim in the ocean. In some fairness, I was unaware of the first two before watching her; but this may explain why the original books were rejected by up to three hundred publishers, at least according to the author herself.
Ironically, vampires on the show can survive in broad daylight and they are uninterested in drinking blood. It is unknown if the latter is the result of censorship, or a design choice to show that they are different from conventional vampires. Still, their most predominant traits are not present, although Serena does order raw steak in the second episode, albeit in the morning.
Despite the variety of mythological creatures at the show's disposal, they are the same kinds that viewers are already familiar with, which also includes sirens, harpies, elves, and mummies.
Although it makes no difference when newcomers to the animated series will not understand a significant portion of her world. Sparrow's actual name is Gloria Davile. Cal's full name is Caliban Dal Salan. And Serena's name in the original French language is Selenba. I did not know the former two until later episodes, and the latter is information I had to search for on my own.
More importantly, a spellbinder is someone who has magic powers, or someone that can use spells; but at the same time, I have also read that Tara is a witch. After having watched the entire series multiple times, a witch is a spellbinder, but a spellbinder is not a witch. If I am wrong, it is the show's fault for not making this any more clear. Not only that, but the original title of the theme song is "Sortceliere," which technically does not translate into "sorceress."
[see, I told you]
And to add confusion, the official youtube channel says that Tara is a "spellweaver," but this could be a mistranslation. For convenience, "spellbinder" will be used instead of spellweaver. Not only is the former used in the English theme song, the characters use the same word in the English dub. And for a long time, I thought the first letter is meant to be capitalized, because it is an important word that specifies an important person.
I suspect that the show was created with fans of the book series in mind; in which case, the lack of exposition is understandable, albeit only for fans who have read the original text(s). But compounding this issue is Tara herself.
Being the main protagonist, she must have the strongest personality. She must have the most unique, interesting, or remarkable traits that define who she is and why she is the central character. Her physical beauty is not enough, and despite how noticeable and distinct it is, no character ever mentions or references the front portion of her hair, which is a different color from the rest of her head. While it is obviously genetics, due to her mother having the same abnormality, there is no explanation, let alone suggestion or why it is unique to her family. Because of this, it also gives the impression that it is just hair dye, or even that Tara is bad or lazy at dying her hair.
[there is something abnormal in this shot, and it's not the vampire]
Beyond this, she is not just attractive, she is a powerful magic user who lives in a luxurious manor that can literally defend her against trespassers. One of her romantic interests is Robin, a handsome elf that her rivals, Sandra and Olivia drool over. Tara even has her own majestic pegasus, and most importantly, her name is the title of the show. These elements prove that she is a Mary Su.
I honestly wonder if her creator, Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian, is actually going to read this, because Tara is a self-insert of herself; and she has admitted to this. I think I should also mention that she likes to be addressed as "Princess," because I honestly believe that the book and show were specifically created be her wish fulfillment. If they were, I'm glad she had (has?) fun, but that would explain the quality of the writing. Nothing is inherently wrong with self-inserts, but they risk becoming flawless characters, hollow with no personality.
Tara's worst flaw is using via transportus incorrectly, and this does not happen often. If it did, it would present believable irony; she might have powerful magic, but she does not have the experience to use it correctly. And she doesn't even use other spells incorrectly or inefficiently.
In the episode "BFF," Tara says she has trouble making friends on Earth, and that she is a social outcast, but later episodes contradict this. Secondary characters such as Edward have no problem with her, and because she plays basketball, she has no issue with befriending the twins. Either that, or Sandra is less effective at suppressing Tara than she thinks, or Tara is effective at allowing Sandra to inhibit her, because at the end of the same episode, the twins walk over and socialize with her and her friends. I should also mention that in a later episode "Guardian of My Heart," the antagonist completely suspends his objective just because Tara is beautiful, I kid you not.
Even though Sparrow and Cal are not any more interesting as characters, they would make better protagonists. The former has spontaneous transformations that she cannot control, and better demonstrates naivety or lack of experience than Tara. As for Cal, his constant misuse of common Earth phrases exhibit his lack of familiarity in a new environment. But because Tara has blonde hair and blue eyes, the network decided she must be the main character.
[Even though Tara is the main character, how is she any different from the girls you see here?]
In spite of her being a Mary Su, I am legitimately interested in her role as Earth guardian. This enormous responsibility, which was passed down via mother and grandmother, is delegated to a teenage girl with teenage problems, which is highly ironic.
Being the next person in a lineage of spellbinders, Tara Duncan's plots work best when they are focused on the dilemma of balancing life as a spellbinder with the life of a non-spell, as seen in the episodes "Assault on the Manor" and "Heart of Stone."
Speaking of her magic, her powers are not based on any element, so she and her friends are not limited to one specific ability. Having an unlimited range of spells at their disposal, they have teleportation, transformation, miniaturization, memory wiping, and vocal transformation. In spite of this, these are not only basic, but they are not as interesting as they can be; and ironically, the characters limit themselves from using their powers to the full extent of their uniqueness; and due to how broad they are, the characters are not as vulnerable as they should be.
Although one good thing is, unlike the magic in Lolirock, I can not only understand the spells that Tara and friends vocalize, I can even spell them correctly without having to look them up. For example, "via reformis" is a spell that reforms or fixes things; while in Lolirock, I still don't know what "crystal collaida" is. Consequently, via reformis is a boring, uninteresting spell while crystal collaida launches a volley of crystal shards.
In general, Tara's magic is mild and subdued, to the point where climactic battles merely have characters standing back and releasing a beam, or stream of magic. I understand that these moments are meant to be intense, but the animation does not complement the action that is supposedly happening. There is not enough damage, let alone collateral damage to show the impact of what they do. Or just as egregious, when the show makes several action cuts, such as in the climax of "Four Parchments."
But it matters less when every episode follows a typical formula. A semchanach comes to Earth and Alpha team, lead by Tara, is dispatched to subdue him, her, or it. The slow pacing, excess exposition, and copious amounts of dialogue will deter new viewers. A lot of the episodes feel padded; to stretch every story to twenty-four minutes. And the runtime will feel longer if you are completely new to Tara Duncan. After passing through continuity lock-out, the show is better on a second viewing, albeit not by much. For comparison, Lolirock episodes do not require background knowledge of a pre-existing book series, especially when the show specifically takes place between the seventh and eighth book, long after basic exposition has been presented. The only good thing is that episodes can be watched out of order.
Tara is so uninteresting that I actually adore Sandra, despite her function as Tara's sworn rival. Being a direct anti-thesis to the main protagonist, straight down to her physical appearance, this may explain why she has more personality than her; even if admittedly, her worst offenses are physically attacking Tara and stealing Sparrow's diary. Although she is callous and otherwise nasty, she has more potential for growth and development than Tara does.
Whether she is unintelligent or ignorant of how to be a better person, she is a child-like brat without the same responsibilities as Tara. For these reasons, she is cuter and more fun to watch, such as the moment when she breaks down crying because she did not invite enough girls to her party.
Sandra makes every episode she appears in more entertaining. She brings the show closer to reality that Tara must deal with as a result of living on Earth. I would genuinely like to know about her than the title character, because Mary is a Tara Su
Understanding all the elements at play here, the show could have been Tara battling her grandmother. Because her mother is missing, Isabella is responsible for taking care of (or parenting) her. Due to the generation gap, Tara and Isabella could have had more intense conflict between them. Tara would like to be a regular, teenage girl while Isabella demands that she fulfill her obligation as Earth guardian. These issues are lightly discussed in episodes like "Gold Fever" and "Mirror of Youth," but they do not make a major bulk of the show. Furthermore, Master Chem is a surrogate father to Tara, and he is more liberal to her than her grandmother. For these reasons, I think the episode "Summer School" is good, because Master Chem and Isabella literally battle each other over what Tara should do for summer break. I also love the episode "Master Chem's Honor," due to Chem being stripped of his authority over Alpha Team; and consequently, his guardianship over Tara.
[you would think with a dvd cover like this, the show would be more exciting]
But this review is not entirely critical. Aside from Sandra, Sparrow is my favorite character for being cute and feminine. Aside from being attractively girly, she is also half animal, i.e. a big, hairy beast that she transforms into when she is upset or loses control. She is descended not only from the Beauty, but also the Beast, which explains her unusual, but charming quirk.
I also like the character Fafnir for her similarity to Carissa from Lolirock. Like Carissa, she has the energy of a warrior girl she makes very few appearances on the show. Unlike Carissa, she is a dwarf; but this does not stop her from using her full strength.
Master Chem is my favorite adult on the show, and beyond what I explained above, he has unique, and fun ways of debriefing Alpha Team. When Tara and Sparrow are looking through a clothing rack, he startles them by hiding in the clothes. In "Four Parchments," Chem sneaks into Tara's bedroom in the middle of night and scares her. Beyond this, he is sensible and fair to Tara and Alpha Team.
Beyond these three character, I also adore the show's use of split-screens. This is when two scenes play at the same time with a line splitting the screen. This happens when two characters are talking to each other, and they may even interact with the screen itself, usually by pulling or pushing it out. This makes the show a bit more charming, and it uses animation to its advantage. A good example is in the episode "Mirror of Youth," when Isabella pulls the split-screen from off-camera so that Tara can give her powers back to her. Another good example is in the episode "Alpha Male," when a miniature version of Tara pushes it away so that Robin can resume his mission. The creators use animation to the show's advantage, if not embraces it.
Characters and backgrounds are hand-drawn; and surprisingly, the show does not utilize flash animation, even though its production studio could have easily done this to save money. I would rather watch Tara Duncan over Angel's Friends because of this; and overall, character animation is equally good. Even though she and her friends do not wear anything interesting or unique, they are practical and conventional for everyday assignments in an urban environment.
The voice acting is nice, even if is too soft to capture a range of feelings, and even if it comes across as dull sometimes. Tara's voice in particular, is the nicest to listen to, even when it doesn't produce raw (RAWR?!) expressive emotions.
And admittedly, she is a bit less bland or dull than other girl show protagonists such as Iris from Lolirock. Not only does she play basketball with boys, she is also a fan of Madney Spears; and idolizing her, would like to dance just like her, triggering the events of "Gold Fever." So she is also athletic. I should also mention that unlike Iris, Tara is a bad singer.
And what makes her a bit more respectable than other girl shows is that she does not have a line of dolls like Winx, Bratz, or Ever After High. Instead, her series was produced to sell or promote the books, and as said before, maybe even satisfy the author's fantasies. Not only that, but Tara does not attend a special or magical school, a trope that is too common with girl shows.
Because she only lasted one season, she didn't waste all that much time, and it's still better than Angel's Friends, which got two seasons. And in a bizarre twist, I am weirdly nostalgic for her , even though I didn't catch (meet?) her back in 2010 when she was first broadcast, or when she first introduced herself.
But Tara does not have a meaningful premise, nor does she have as much spirit, or girl power, as other shows. It's quite baffling how little creativity she has, yet she was somehow given an entire, twenty-six episode animated series. I am not even the first to criticize her. For that matter, I am not even the first person to scrutinize her writing. And like I said earlier, she has another animated series. There is still no explanation for why her original incarnation did not continue for another season. Although the easiest explanation may be everything I just detailed above, because Tara is clearly lacking magic.
Overall Grade: D / D +
[the D stands for "Duncan"]
[Tara's face when she reads how bad her show is]t
