The Lingo Show Review

Ever since "Dora the Explora" animation for younger kids has become either abysmal and boring in terms of writing and characters. Though there might be some exceptions (that I probably don't know of) but mostly there's nothing. One cartoon that looks like it's taken the same route as most kid shows these days but  actually thinks it's going outside the box. A recent show that only the people of UK know about is "The Lingo Show"

Now I'll start by saying I was not interested in seeing this show but after seeing a picture of it I became a little curious. Now I also know that any programme on CBeeBies is bad news in my book, but how bad can it be. For those who don't know, The Lingo Show is an animated/half live action hybrid about a minature circus with talking insects that entertains kids everywhere. The show teaches it's viewers different languages, now it sounds pretty promising for a show on CBeeBies. But is this better than the monstrosity known as "Bobinogs" or do we need to get out the bugspray.

Like I said The Lingo Show is about a bug called Lingo who conducts circus performances in a flying mechanical tent. The performers who are Wéi, Jargonaise, Queso, Blodwen, Dyzio, Jaadoo,
Kikli, Subah and Leib; are not only insects as well, but they come from different countries; so it adds more cultural equality. Lingo and his team would travel around the UK to perform their Big Bug show using one of his performers. The idea of animated talking bugs is much similar to "A Bug's Life" or "Santo Bugito" it may sound holesome when you look at it and the idea that it teaches pre-schoolers different languages before they go to school makes it work for older audiences as well, but does it make it more entertaining....well.....In the show, one of the character's must find different objects as props for his/her act, while the're getting the object the character teaches the viewers the name of the certain objects in his/her language. Now that wouldn't be a problem, if they didn't do it in every single episode!!!

Now this is where The Lingo Show falls flat, because it wants to focuss on being educational and because it tends to use that same formula in every episode, it feels like it's missing that element that makes a story a story. Also the way they teach kids a different language is too simplictic, now I know learning a new language is hard, especially for pre-schoolers and I'll admit that the strongest point is the variety of cultures. But the problem with "The Lingo Show" is that it suffers from what I like to call "kid show symdrome" where a tv show has to talk down to it's audience, relays on annoying characters and because it's aimed at children under the age of 7, they have the excuse for their flaws. 

Another thing The Lingo Show lacks is clever dialogue, it often resorts to breaking the forth wall but not in a funny or clever way. Theres also a running gag where Lingo and the other characters tell the audience to wave their hands in the air, is this an exercise show for a language show? Seriously the only reason why they do that is so they can bring the objects back and from where they found them.....How in the bloody name of Carol Vorderman does that teach children in any way. That if you want to borrow something you just wave your hands in the air like "HEEEEEYYYY HEY BABY!!! OH! AH! so they can appear in the place you want them No! that's not the way life works, even if you're a cartoon bug!

Now that we're done with the plot, let talk about the animation. Now the show has a mix of animation and live action which I must admit is a clever combination. It's animated in Flash so it's moves in the same way as "Naughty Naughty Pets" or "Mucha Lucha" while it could be better at least it fits the character designs. Speaking of which, the character design of the bugs looks cute but I've seen better; they look like background characters from "The Buzz on Maggie" if you ask me. Because the background is live-action as well as the human characters, theres very little design so it's more focused on the bug characters. The only problem is that there are not many bug designs which is lacking. Fortunetly the show doesn't focuss on the live action so it has a good ratio. So the visuals are meh, but at least it has some variety unlike Charly the Unicorn or the Bobinogs.

With the animation out of the way, let get on to the more important bit which is the characters.Unfortunatley the characters in Lingo Show have the personality of paint, despite them having different accents most of the characters lack any personality which doesn't help the show in any way. It seems like their only purpose is to get the objects they need for their performances and teach the audiences their languages. Because of this and that the producers refuse to tell a story none of the characters have any depth. Lingo is this perky bloke who mostly speaks to the audience while setting up his Big Bug Show and that's about it really, Queso the Spanish bug who like the others is not memorable or funny, which is a shame because he could have been a great comic relief. The rest are nothing special and it doesn't help that each of them have to sing their own theme song in every episode they're in; now to be fair I'm sure the actors were having fun with these roles but that alone won't save the show. Hey at least the bugs airn't racist stereotypes.

Overall The Lingo Show may seems like a fine show for younger viewers but turns out to be a typical broken kids cartoon with a repetative plot (if you can call it that), mediocure animation, bad forth-wall humor and characters whose purpose is to teach the audiences different languages and nothing else. It's nice to see a CBeeBie show teaches children different languages because it shows that it does stick to it's title but that alone won't save it. If you're like 5 or 6 you'll enjoy it, but if you're over that age limit than it feels like a lackluster. To the parents that are reading this, may I suggest you expose your kids to the Muzzy video than this.

As an answer to my question, is it better than Bobinogs?....Yes and No. Compared to Bobinogs  Lingo Show has more educational value, slightly better animation and less irritating gags. However what downgrades it, is it's lack of story, depth and humor; so it's debatable really. I don't depise the Lingo Show but I don't think it's that good compared to other recent cartoons like Adventure Time or Fish Hooks. I don't think it'll even last that long. I give The Lingo Show a rating of 1/5 just be thankful it's not on a channel for older kids.

Thats all I have people, I'll be back for more posts but for now I'm gonna catch up on my Portugese.

In Defense of Mucha Lucha

Hola amigos, boy do I have a treat for you but first let me just say I love cartoons. I mean who doesn't love to watch a good cartoon once in a while whether it's funny, charming or dramatic; one cartoon that gets over-looked and receives quite a bit of hate from animation fans is Mucha Lucha.

Created by Eddie Mort and Lil Chin in 2002, Mucha Lucha was a show set in Mexico, the landmark of mask wrestling. It centres around the adventures of Rikochet, Buena Girl and The Flea destine to become famous wrestlers at the Foremost World-Renowned International School of Lucha while also fighting for Honor, Family, Tradition..........and Donuts. Critics consider this to be one of the worst cartoons of the 2000s but let me ask "....why...." Why in the name of broken bones is the show so hated? Granted the animation is tamed and the writing wasn't exactly Shakespeare but it gave us something fun and original, I enjoyed it as a kid and still find enjoyment out of it even now. So let's take a look at Mucha Lucha and see why it deserves more respect......LUCHHAAARRRRAAAANNNNN!!!!!!!........

Like I mentioned before The show centres 3 young wrestlers; Rikochet who dreams of becoming a famous luchador like his father and his grandfather, while he's bravest and the most confident he does get himself into the most conflict and does get stress whatever situation he's in.
Buena Girl, the smartest of the group and the most loyal, she plays the honour student role as she fights for what is right. She also believes in the Code of Mask Wrestling (which is like the bible of lucha libre) which she uses to keep her friends in order. While she is more likely to lose it from time to time she still keeps her standing ovation a luchador. The Flea who is the comic relief of the 3. While he's disgusting and not the brightest he still has a good heart. While he's the one who breaks the rules in order to get his own ways (or that he doesn't care much at times) But still he tries his best to fix things in the end.

Then there's El Ray Rikochet's talking action figure, now before you get confused by the added Toy Story like character El Ray is very likeable. Not only is he Rikochet's friend but he's his mentor as well. He didn't appear much, but when did he offered so much to the story. Oh did I forget to mention Mask Dog, he's cool.

The show had a good range of supporting characters, whether there were other luchadors or just regular people. Each wrestler had a different personality that matched their outfits, there were even different races of wrestlers in the show giving it more equality. Like I mentioned earlier the show revolve around these 3 characters as they attend the Foremost World-Renowned International School of Lucha, there they have matches against other students to test their ability (and they say you can't fight at school) As well as having different personalities, each wrestler had different fighting moves (i.e Rikochet's Super Sonic Pinball)
this gave the show more action along with the comedy as well as some creativity in the animation.

Speaking of animation, it looked slick and original for its time. Considering this was the first animated tv show to use Flash (which was mostly used in web cartoons back then) the animators really used it to a better potential. While critics say it looks dated and choppy; I respect that opinion very much but I must say that the flash animation in Mucha Lucha really fits in with the style and humour. There were times when it was used very creatively for its time. The people who worked on this show eventually went on to work on other shows like "Buzz on Maggie" and "El Tigre" which unfortunately had a shorter run.

Another thing about the animation was that the characters had fun and original designs to them, especially on their masks. But may I just say this about the character design, don't you think they look pretty similar to the Cramp Twins? I don't mean that in a bad sense but both shows have similar-looking characters. A big example of this is the designs of the 3 characters, Señor Hasbeena, Mr Midcarda and The Headmistress, I mean The Headmistress looks like Mrs Cramp, Señor Hasbeena looks like Mr Parsons and Mr Midcarda looks like Mr Winkle. I know it's a coincidence and I know it happens with a lot of cartoons but that's what I've thought as a child I'm sure you would say the same thing if you saw both shows growing up.

What made the show fun to watch was the clever and adventurous stories it had to offer. While there were some episodes that took a spin on situations most children were dealing with growing up, episodes where one of the characters would get into a certain situation like betraying a friend but would be resolved so that character would learn a lesson at the end. There were also episodes where Rikochet and his friends would solved mysteries, one episode had the gang search for a missing page from the Code of Masked Wrestling, another had the gang investigate who was accusing the students and teachers for crimes they haven't committed. It turned out to be a student named "Timmy of A Thousand Masks" who uses other wrestler's masks to get away with just about anything.
There were also episodes that were very surreal. Like there was an episode where The Flea had to fight the Evil Masked Toilet, and there was an episode where the gang awaken a Slamazonian mummy and have a fight with her. But the weirdest episode is where The Flea doesn't wash his hands which cause a giant doughnut to come to live and destroy the city. Okay, okay people do say this show went too far with it's surrealism to the point where it didn't make sense anymore; but it was a cartoon about masked wrestlers!........Get With It People!

What also made this show great was it's awesome theme song just have a listen and you'll see

 Sadly despite being a success Mucha Lucha ended with just 3 seasons; while it has gained a cult following this show hasn't got it's own season box set and can only be seen on YouTube and other sites. However the show actually still airs re-runs in the UK on Kix. If this show still airs in re-runs in your country please let me know.

Overall Mucha Lucha was a fun cartoon with likeable characters, stories that you could sink your teeth in, I only wish people would treat this show a lot better. Looking back it's not as grand as I remember it, but it gave us something hilarious and enjoyable. Mucha Lucha may have not been the greatest cartoon ever made but it's definitely a lot better than most cartoons today. If you didn't like it, then that's okay I just consider it a great childhood show. If you watched it, go watch it again and tell me what you thought of it, if you haven't watched it, go check it out if you want. I give this show a rating of 4/5. I like to talk more but for now Adios Muchacha!