Hiya Toonsters! Today on IDN we are kinda redefining the word «impractical». Because, you see... this was going to be an actual podcast, but everything went down to hell as soon as we started planning it: First of all, my microphone said «hell, no» when we did the first testing... I swear it only recorded like three words and then got mute. That’s not such a big problem, really, as that kind of equipment is quite cheap if you know where to buy it; but THEN my Keyboard became addicted to caffeine and I had every layer of misery that you could imagine between the five minutes it was wet (AND PLUGGED TO THE WALL SOCKET). I was incredibly pissed off at that point, but I went to sleep knowing that I wouldn’t have anything done that day (and the next one, really, as I just said "the hell with it" and went to play some FIFA15 with my buddy in his house -I lost every match-).
Still, I had written a decent amount of content that I didn't want to see wasted, so now I’m posting what I wrote here, with original images captured just for this article and a little review to go with the selected episodes in order to make it clear why they had been chosen to the list. Beware to -some- spoilers.
The list is not arranged in any special order, it's just the order in which I saw them.
(By Zorra de Plata & Domingo H):
Bye Bye Butterfree - Pokémon
In this episode Ash has to say goodbye to his poke-friend, probably never to see him again, so he can settle with a female of the species for the seasonal breeding.
Although several entries of the show’s -extremely long- run were far more exciting and/or epic, this was the very first one that was actually, undeniably, touching. In fact, when you talk about the first season of this ongoing Animé, this is one of the first items that gets mentioned among fans. I think it does such a great impact on the viewer because, up to that point, everything was a laugh, and this comes with no warning that it’s going to happen... there’s no building up to the moment, this is not a long-prepared fact, it literally happens within its only episode (and it’s rarely mentioned from that point onwards).
To make it even more spectacular in its tear jerking nature, this was the episode to introduce us to the overused gimmick of playing a montage of clips from the show accompanied by the theme song. The show would do something like this in the future, but the results could never be matched.
A really memorable episode of the series, welcome on the list.
Key to my Ed - Ed, Edd n Eddy
This episode is a lot of fun, and the ultimate proof that you can tell a great story from a small premise. In this episode, the Eds find a key and they try to figure out what it opens. After several failed attempts at unlocking random things with it, they finally decide to send ransom notes for it to all the kids on the block, hoping that one of them is actually desperately trying to locate it. The way this story unfolds is just brilliant and a really ironic laugh. I love it.
Angelica breaks a leg - Rugrats
In this one, our favorite blonde brat gets herself hurt while playing over at Tommy's house, and her uncle and aunt take her to the hospital only to find out that she broke a limb. So, they try everything they can to make her feel comfortable (even carrying the incredibly heavy TV upstairs for her). Stu eventually gives her a buzzer she can use to call them when she needs something (which she, of course, abuses to death). The twist? The hospital misfiled the medical records and in fact she had no wounds.
This episode works on so many levels despite having gotten rid of a majority of the main cast, and that makes it a top-candidate for the list.
The Virtual Employee - Dilbert
In this little masterpiece, Dilbert and his friends have a really bad problem with obsolete computer equipment: their cubicles are full of the stuff but they just can’t throw it away because it's against the company's policies (or more likely, because of their boss being the way he is and forgetting the cleaning service's number). They soon find out that there's an empty cubicle to which they can move all their garbage, but they still can’t do that right away, because they need to demonstrate that the cubicle is actually being used by someone, so they make up a "virtual" employee that supposedly "works" there, so they can get rid of their old stuff. But it doesn't stop there, now does it? To keep their little fake-out going on, they have to make up more and more lies about this new employee, up to the point in which he becomes the most popular worker on the whole company; thus causing Wally to be fired because he has suddenly become the place's less-effective worker.
This episode is Dilbert in a nutshell. If you like the show, then you will love this one.
Eat, Puke & Be Wary - Total Drama: Revenge of the Island
Another gruesome challenge is presented to the remaining contestants at the toxic island, when Zoey finally loses it and starts to chase Chef (and the others). It all begins when Chris gets injured by one of Scott's shark traps and Chef has to replace it (much to his rejoicing). He does everything he can to torture the campers and largely succeeds at it, but when he pushes Zoey too far, she gets into a "wild state" (completed with war paint and a bandana) in which she starts to harass him almost to the point of destroying him (a la Izzy... great callback now that I think about it).
This episode doesn't really have any outstanding qualities, but it's been a long time since we saw Chef being punished so... to the list!
Badger Pride - The Penguins of Madagascar
On this episode, Marlene has Private -unwillingly- face his irrational fear of the badgers Stacy and Becky... just to find that they are actually really nice. Problem is, they got a little too attached to the otter, as they start (let's face it) badgering her, and when she finally has it she tells them exactly that. They don't take that too well, and begin to chase her around with their menacing fangs and claws. She temporarily gets away from them and seeks the Penguins for help, but they are no match for the two. When all seems hopeless, Private shoots them with a "tennis-ball-gun" he was using earlier, but hits Marlene as well and when they all fall outside the zoo, Marlene's instincts take over and transform her into a feral beast that the Badgers cannot match.
Exceptionally funny at times, this was the episode that made me a fan of this show. It deserves its place on this list.
Doug's New Teacher - Doug
When Mrs. Wingo is temporarily away, a substitute teacher named Mrs. Newberry comes to takes her place. Everybody seems to like this new teacher as she is not only beautiful, but also really great at what she does. Problem is, Doug keeps making himself look bad to her (in large part due to Roger's tricking him). Mrs Newberry acknowledges him as a rebel, but he is able to change her mind after a while. Also, Roger gets what he deserves towards the end of the episode (though, it's kind of a weak punishment).
A really good episode for this series, let it make the list.
A Perfect World - Aaahh!!! Real Monsters
Ickis and Oblina's constant arguing leads Krumm to leave the place because he feels strongly unnoticed. Things quickly get out of hand when his new roommates act exactly the opposite and pay him too much attention, driving him insane. To make matters worse, every time Ickis and Oblina try to apologize to Krumm, they start another fight!
This was one of the earliest episodes of the show (the second one in fact) and also one of the greatest.
April's Fools - As told by Ginger
Ginger plays a joke on her friend Dodie by faking a love note from the weirdest kid in school, but it turns out that they really like each other. Also, this episode continues to show some of the incredible continuity this program has when Carl tricks Blake Gripling into believe that he sold his tonsils (which he stole on an earlier episode) but the joke's on him (I hate puns) when he finds out that his mom threw them away.
This episode really keeps you watching it as the quality never drops. It's not all that funny, but I would be lying if I tell you that I don't love it.
The Big Question - Rocko's Modern Life
In this episode Filbert is finally asking Doctor Hutchison to marry him, but things go wrong when a High-School reunion gets in the way, and with that, a handsome old friend of hers spends too much time at her side.
What makes this two-part episode so hilarious is how over the top they go in order to "sabotage" the reunion (even by the show's standards, just look at the picture above).
Beware of Cliff - CatDog
In this one, Cliff finally gets what he deserves. After bullying everyone on his way to the Gym, he get himself trapped under a bunch of junk he was trying to lift in order to show off his strength. Too bad for him, no one notices/cares about him being trapped and the Gym closes for a whole month (in which he has a lot of time to reflect on his life). He finally frees himself because of how scrawny he has become. This leaves a huge impression on him, as he now is determinated to demonstrate that he can be a good pal!
Pretty good episode on the series with an interesting twist and lots of character interaction. Enough credit to be listed here.
The New Soccer Star - Captain Tsubasa
Tsubasa Ozora is a new kid at the Nankatsu High and joins the soccer team right before an important match against their rivals, the Syutetsu High. Syutetsu's goalie, Genzo, completely underestimates Nankatsu, going as far as to agree to forfeit the game if they can score a single goal against him. The match is going horribly wrong for the Nankatsu, but Tsubasa keeps playing on a superb level as he finally manages to defeat the show-off goalie.
A great kick-off for the series (I still hate puns) and also one of the most memorable entries.
Cousin BJ - Beetlejuice (TV Series)
Lydia's obnoxious and boring family comes to visit and she tries to sneak Beetlejuice into the reunion (disguised as her "cousin that doesn't really visit them that much"). This leads to some truly imaginative scenes and even some sincere laughs. Even more fantastic, BJ is not all that weird compared to her true family.
"Cousin BJ" is one of those rare episodes that dares to be different, letting the characters be themselves without that much of a plot going on. I wish they did something like this more often.
Traffic Signal Chaos! - Megaman NT Warrior
The rich Yai Ayano comes to Lan's school as a new student. Meanwhile, Maddy of WWW uses her NetNavi WackoMan to cause traffic jams all over DenTech City. When Yai finds herself trapped in traffic and in a desperate situation, she jacks in her own NetNavi, Glide, to solve the problem (Source: Wikipedia).
This episode is really awkward, but it's also tons of fun seeing how most of the characters screw things up at some point (in fact, some of them screw it in an unbelievable dumb way). But what REALLY made it qualify for the list was the fact that the evil scheme that girl Maddy used on the city was to STOP the traffic all over it, instead of, ya know, make all the lights on the city go green and cause massive amounts of accidents. Sure, the red lights are a nuisance, but if you are gonna go thru all that trouble, make it count lady! In fact, this is almost an oversized school prank. I guess that there is a reason why her NetNavi IS a clown after all.
Apocalypse Not! - Duckman
This one is pure gold. Duckman leaves his inflatable doll plugged in too long which causes it to grow the size of Godzilla and torment the city. When the menace is finally over, the Mayor calls a simulacrum to prevent future mass hysteria (that consists of everyone hiding on an underground shelter for a specific amount of time), but Duckman misses it and believes that he is the only living thing on the city, which he then process to roam. At first, he is having the time of his life; performing small revenges on people's property, stealing and getting drunk, but then he starts to feel lonely as he goes through all the states of sadness (as Comfred describes them on the shelter -even when nobody is listening to him-). Meanwhile, at the underground shelter, everybody succumbs to mass-hysteria after all due to them being annoyed and bored.
I won't even try to beat around the bush here: this is a true masterpiece and one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Even if you hate Duckman, you still have to give this episode a go. It's THAT good.
Stay Tuned for part 2!
The list is not arranged in any special order, it's just the order in which I saw them.
(By Zorra de Plata & Domingo H):
Bye Bye Butterfree - Pokémon
In this episode Ash has to say goodbye to his poke-friend, probably never to see him again, so he can settle with a female of the species for the seasonal breeding.
Although several entries of the show’s -extremely long- run were far more exciting and/or epic, this was the very first one that was actually, undeniably, touching. In fact, when you talk about the first season of this ongoing Animé, this is one of the first items that gets mentioned among fans. I think it does such a great impact on the viewer because, up to that point, everything was a laugh, and this comes with no warning that it’s going to happen... there’s no building up to the moment, this is not a long-prepared fact, it literally happens within its only episode (and it’s rarely mentioned from that point onwards).
To make it even more spectacular in its tear jerking nature, this was the episode to introduce us to the overused gimmick of playing a montage of clips from the show accompanied by the theme song. The show would do something like this in the future, but the results could never be matched.
A really memorable episode of the series, welcome on the list.
Key to my Ed - Ed, Edd n Eddy
This episode is a lot of fun, and the ultimate proof that you can tell a great story from a small premise. In this episode, the Eds find a key and they try to figure out what it opens. After several failed attempts at unlocking random things with it, they finally decide to send ransom notes for it to all the kids on the block, hoping that one of them is actually desperately trying to locate it. The way this story unfolds is just brilliant and a really ironic laugh. I love it.
Angelica breaks a leg - Rugrats
In this one, our favorite blonde brat gets herself hurt while playing over at Tommy's house, and her uncle and aunt take her to the hospital only to find out that she broke a limb. So, they try everything they can to make her feel comfortable (even carrying the incredibly heavy TV upstairs for her). Stu eventually gives her a buzzer she can use to call them when she needs something (which she, of course, abuses to death). The twist? The hospital misfiled the medical records and in fact she had no wounds.
This episode works on so many levels despite having gotten rid of a majority of the main cast, and that makes it a top-candidate for the list.
The Virtual Employee - Dilbert
In this little masterpiece, Dilbert and his friends have a really bad problem with obsolete computer equipment: their cubicles are full of the stuff but they just can’t throw it away because it's against the company's policies (or more likely, because of their boss being the way he is and forgetting the cleaning service's number). They soon find out that there's an empty cubicle to which they can move all their garbage, but they still can’t do that right away, because they need to demonstrate that the cubicle is actually being used by someone, so they make up a "virtual" employee that supposedly "works" there, so they can get rid of their old stuff. But it doesn't stop there, now does it? To keep their little fake-out going on, they have to make up more and more lies about this new employee, up to the point in which he becomes the most popular worker on the whole company; thus causing Wally to be fired because he has suddenly become the place's less-effective worker.
This episode is Dilbert in a nutshell. If you like the show, then you will love this one.
Eat, Puke & Be Wary - Total Drama: Revenge of the Island
Another gruesome challenge is presented to the remaining contestants at the toxic island, when Zoey finally loses it and starts to chase Chef (and the others). It all begins when Chris gets injured by one of Scott's shark traps and Chef has to replace it (much to his rejoicing). He does everything he can to torture the campers and largely succeeds at it, but when he pushes Zoey too far, she gets into a "wild state" (completed with war paint and a bandana) in which she starts to harass him almost to the point of destroying him (a la Izzy... great callback now that I think about it).
This episode doesn't really have any outstanding qualities, but it's been a long time since we saw Chef being punished so... to the list!
Badger Pride - The Penguins of Madagascar
On this episode, Marlene has Private -unwillingly- face his irrational fear of the badgers Stacy and Becky... just to find that they are actually really nice. Problem is, they got a little too attached to the otter, as they start (let's face it) badgering her, and when she finally has it she tells them exactly that. They don't take that too well, and begin to chase her around with their menacing fangs and claws. She temporarily gets away from them and seeks the Penguins for help, but they are no match for the two. When all seems hopeless, Private shoots them with a "tennis-ball-gun" he was using earlier, but hits Marlene as well and when they all fall outside the zoo, Marlene's instincts take over and transform her into a feral beast that the Badgers cannot match.
Exceptionally funny at times, this was the episode that made me a fan of this show. It deserves its place on this list.
Doug's New Teacher - Doug
When Mrs. Wingo is temporarily away, a substitute teacher named Mrs. Newberry comes to takes her place. Everybody seems to like this new teacher as she is not only beautiful, but also really great at what she does. Problem is, Doug keeps making himself look bad to her (in large part due to Roger's tricking him). Mrs Newberry acknowledges him as a rebel, but he is able to change her mind after a while. Also, Roger gets what he deserves towards the end of the episode (though, it's kind of a weak punishment).
A really good episode for this series, let it make the list.
A Perfect World - Aaahh!!! Real Monsters
Ickis and Oblina's constant arguing leads Krumm to leave the place because he feels strongly unnoticed. Things quickly get out of hand when his new roommates act exactly the opposite and pay him too much attention, driving him insane. To make matters worse, every time Ickis and Oblina try to apologize to Krumm, they start another fight!
This was one of the earliest episodes of the show (the second one in fact) and also one of the greatest.
April's Fools - As told by Ginger
Ginger plays a joke on her friend Dodie by faking a love note from the weirdest kid in school, but it turns out that they really like each other. Also, this episode continues to show some of the incredible continuity this program has when Carl tricks Blake Gripling into believe that he sold his tonsils (which he stole on an earlier episode) but the joke's on him (I hate puns) when he finds out that his mom threw them away.
This episode really keeps you watching it as the quality never drops. It's not all that funny, but I would be lying if I tell you that I don't love it.
The Big Question - Rocko's Modern Life
In this episode Filbert is finally asking Doctor Hutchison to marry him, but things go wrong when a High-School reunion gets in the way, and with that, a handsome old friend of hers spends too much time at her side.
What makes this two-part episode so hilarious is how over the top they go in order to "sabotage" the reunion (even by the show's standards, just look at the picture above).
Beware of Cliff - CatDog
In this one, Cliff finally gets what he deserves. After bullying everyone on his way to the Gym, he get himself trapped under a bunch of junk he was trying to lift in order to show off his strength. Too bad for him, no one notices/cares about him being trapped and the Gym closes for a whole month (in which he has a lot of time to reflect on his life). He finally frees himself because of how scrawny he has become. This leaves a huge impression on him, as he now is determinated to demonstrate that he can be a good pal!
Pretty good episode on the series with an interesting twist and lots of character interaction. Enough credit to be listed here.
The New Soccer Star - Captain Tsubasa
Tsubasa Ozora is a new kid at the Nankatsu High and joins the soccer team right before an important match against their rivals, the Syutetsu High. Syutetsu's goalie, Genzo, completely underestimates Nankatsu, going as far as to agree to forfeit the game if they can score a single goal against him. The match is going horribly wrong for the Nankatsu, but Tsubasa keeps playing on a superb level as he finally manages to defeat the show-off goalie.
A great kick-off for the series (I still hate puns) and also one of the most memorable entries.
Cousin BJ - Beetlejuice (TV Series)
Lydia's obnoxious and boring family comes to visit and she tries to sneak Beetlejuice into the reunion (disguised as her "cousin that doesn't really visit them that much"). This leads to some truly imaginative scenes and even some sincere laughs. Even more fantastic, BJ is not all that weird compared to her true family.
"Cousin BJ" is one of those rare episodes that dares to be different, letting the characters be themselves without that much of a plot going on. I wish they did something like this more often.
Traffic Signal Chaos! - Megaman NT Warrior
The rich Yai Ayano comes to Lan's school as a new student. Meanwhile, Maddy of WWW uses her NetNavi WackoMan to cause traffic jams all over DenTech City. When Yai finds herself trapped in traffic and in a desperate situation, she jacks in her own NetNavi, Glide, to solve the problem (Source: Wikipedia).
This episode is really awkward, but it's also tons of fun seeing how most of the characters screw things up at some point (in fact, some of them screw it in an unbelievable dumb way). But what REALLY made it qualify for the list was the fact that the evil scheme that girl Maddy used on the city was to STOP the traffic all over it, instead of, ya know, make all the lights on the city go green and cause massive amounts of accidents. Sure, the red lights are a nuisance, but if you are gonna go thru all that trouble, make it count lady! In fact, this is almost an oversized school prank. I guess that there is a reason why her NetNavi IS a clown after all.
Apocalypse Not! - Duckman
This one is pure gold. Duckman leaves his inflatable doll plugged in too long which causes it to grow the size of Godzilla and torment the city. When the menace is finally over, the Mayor calls a simulacrum to prevent future mass hysteria (that consists of everyone hiding on an underground shelter for a specific amount of time), but Duckman misses it and believes that he is the only living thing on the city, which he then process to roam. At first, he is having the time of his life; performing small revenges on people's property, stealing and getting drunk, but then he starts to feel lonely as he goes through all the states of sadness (as Comfred describes them on the shelter -even when nobody is listening to him-). Meanwhile, at the underground shelter, everybody succumbs to mass-hysteria after all due to them being annoyed and bored.
I won't even try to beat around the bush here: this is a true masterpiece and one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Even if you hate Duckman, you still have to give this episode a go. It's THAT good.
Stay Tuned for part 2!
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