So it has come to my attention that the animated series 'Horrid Henry', the show based on the British children's book series is getting another season.
would get increasingly worse as it went on. The writing became very lacklustre, the stories stopped being as coherent as before, they either went nowhere or fell completely flat on its face. Not that the show was any good to begin with, but by comparison, the writing in the last 2 seasons felt very lazy. Even if you didn't like the show before, or you just thought it was okay, the later episodes would make the early ones seem not so bad. The antics became watered down, the dialogue made very little sense, the situations were no longer engaging in any way, that it would even resort to anti-humour which is not the least bit funny. Everything would drag on other than focussing on anything of importance, that anyone watching would lose any investment. The show had lost any edge it might have had, you could say I was too old to watch the show at the time, but even a child would find it dull. It doesn't even feel finished like the writer just turned in the first draft and did not add any further development to it. Whereas 'The Cramp Twins' had more story potential and should have gotten closure, the HH cartoon just kept going much longer without making much of a point. Now Horrid Henry's seasonal rot is nowhere near as bad as other shows, whereas those were noteworthy in how they declined in quality, HH just left me bored and underwhelmed. Even in its worst seasons; Spongebob at the very least had interesting ideas and concepts, with HH I could barely remember a thing.
With all that said, how much more can they milk from this bratty child. I thought the franchise ended
3 and a half years ago, but it occurred to me that the show goes on these long hiatuses because the episodes do take that long to animate. Not only has the book series been around as long as I have, but the TV series has been on for nearly 13 years, even 'Johnny Test' didn't go on for that long. But if there's going to be another Toy Story and Shrek film, I guess any franchise has the chance to continue for an eternity. Even though I don't want to have anything to do with this series, maybe it might redeem itself. Perhaps Lucinda Whitely has listened to the criticism and that the upcoming season might be an improvement. But if this is going to be the last season, then I think it's for the best. Hopefully, it'll end on a relatively brighter note; rather than its soiled reputation. It would be better off that way. Or maybe the show will stoop to a whole new low and be a zombie of what it used to be. I'm not going to act like I was a fan of this show, but you could tell the makers did put their all into its early seasons. Even for how juvenile it was, many HH fans would agree it got as lazy as Lazy Linda. While I personally think people should put their focus on making a Cramp Twins revival, and just stop it with Horrid Henry. No matter how Season 5 turns out, this show needs to be left in the past with whatever dignity it has left. But at the end of the day, the Horrid Henry series is not great, nor is it "horrid", it's just mediocre.
People's reactions: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
I've never said this to anyone at all, but I have somewhat of a history with this particular cartoon. The reason why is because there was nothing about it I wanted to share, it was honestly a show I didn't want my peers to know I saw (for fear of what they'd think of me). But I had an itch that I've been meaning to scratch, so it's about time to give my thoughts on it.
I'll start this off by saying that I never read the Horrid Henry books as a child, I was aware of them as they were a hit where I'm from. But something about them didn't catch my attention. That was until the animated series came out, so I thought that it could get me into the book series. The Horrid Henry series has gained a bad reputation, (mostly among older watchers) but if I could give an unpopular opinion, I didn't really mind it that much. For what the series is; the plots stayed true to the source material, the animation had effort put into it (if wonky at times) and the characters can have their moments. Much like 'The Cramp Twins'; the show exaggerates childhood situations that centre around a young anti-hero with a brother he has nothing in common with. Each episode would have Henry; this naughty brat who is faced with a certain problem, he then retaliates using trouble-making antics to achieve his goal. But more often than not, it would end with Henry facing the consequences of his actions. When it comes to TV shows based on kid's books, I was pleasantly surprised to see the amount of mileage to come out of it. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I ever liked this series very much. The writing wasn't high calibre, there were times where the characters could go too far with their traits and that it would relay on sophomoric/gross-out humour. Needless to say, it got obnoxious at times. But I think it was trying to appeal to the adolescence, much of it comes from how it tries to embrace a child's inner rebellion. There was a certain edge to it with how far Henry's anti-social behaviour can go, that it can be seen as a cautionary tale. So the juvenile nature is warranted for a show with this character. As long as the show wasn't too shocking, and as long as young viewers didn't imitate Henry's antics, I didn't find the show offensive (for the most part). So I was very indifferent towards it, that was until the third season.
After the 'Horrid Henry movie', something went off with the TV series. I noticed that each episode
With how much source material there was to work with, you'd think the makers would be a lot more inspired. It feels like the producer was trying to sabotage the series. Why do I think this? Well, it seems that showrunner Lucinda Whitely has been calling the shots with the writing department; almost like she's become judge, jury and executioner. It's like people are afraid to tell her what she should and shouldn't do, as the episodes she' wrote show a lack of restraint. I'm sure she did put time into these scripts, but that has become very questionable as the final project doesn't show this. I don't see why they couldn't give creative control to Francesca Simon, seeing how it's her baby. I don't even know how much involvement she has with the series, or even she's aware of what's going on. It's like nobody is even trying anymore. Again the later episodes ain't remarkably bad, but that doesn't change how boring it got. I think children and fans of Horrid Henry deserve better than this.
