A Review of Pet Squad

 "The last time we saw the reviewer he gave a positive review on an animated show that surprised him in quite a pleasant way. But wait! it seems our hero has come in contact with another animated show he overlooked! Will he find this particular show to be just as entertaining? or will he regret his decision from encountering something he knew was bad in the first place?"

We get it! now can you let me narrate please!

"Sorry"

 Superheroes seem to very popular, over the years these bold heroic titans have become staples of not

only justice but to the comic industry. But as long as superheroes have existed there have always been superhero parodies; since Mighty Mouse many cartoonist and comedians have taken this serious concept and make fun of it. The idea of more cartoony superheroes is very interesting, many cartoons and sketch shows use this formula, representing the action genre while also satirizing it just to make us laugh. As someone who is personally not a fan of superheroes, I turn a blind eye for this concept because to be honest they are some good superhero parodies that take advantage of the fact they're comedies. But then they are some that are not funny and the show I'm talking about falls into that category unfortunately, and that is Pet Squad.


As a fan of the animation genre I believe that cartoons were much funnier in the old days, however since the course of the new decade I've noticed quite a few good cartoons that have lots of effort put into them and are well received among audiences alike. Sadly Pet Squad is not one of those newer animated shows I've been invested in, and after looking at it I could see why. Now when this show came out in 2011, I avoided it for the same reasons other people my age did. But then I thought was not seeing the signal in the sky, or did I make the right choice for the sake of the world, well To the Blog!

The premise can pretty much be explained in the theme song, a scientist's pets a dog named Dodge, a cat named Sheeba and a guinea pig named Bingo are being chased by a crazy goose when suddenly they end up in the professor's machine that gives the animals (as well as every animal in P Town) super powers. So the 3 pets become Pet Squad and its to them to save P Town and the world from the clutches of the goose who has become a super villain called Mother Goose. Now a premise this crazy would normally have a good execution but in this case, the stories of Pet Squad really fall flat and loses all its powers.

Now think of a cartoon like TUFF Puppy, Bolt and Underdog, remove all originality and charm and this is what you get. For a show where anthropomorphic and humans exist with each other through a lab accident, the plots are very generic and not very interesting. To me it follows the superhero formula in a basic way without any creativity or spontaneity whats so ever. They go like this, the pets live mild mannered day with their scientist owner, they turn into their superhero egos, they go on their mission, fight the villain and go back to their regular pet lives. But the unfortunate part with Pet Squad as a whole is that it doesn't seem to make the plot interesting by adding anything new or unique. Well even if there is an attempt at that I feel there's a lot of missed opportunity, I feel like there were some interesting ideas but they were not executed well.

However the kryptonite of Pet Squad's writing is the lack of humor. You think for a show like this, at least they would have made an effort in the humor, but sadly they didn't. It seems this show is missing the all important element that makes a superhero parody work and that's it's humor, sure there's an attempt but it's not funny to the older audience. The reason why Sheep in the big City works is because the humor was well executed and it appealed to both children and adults, Pet Squad on the other hand feels often forced and extremely mediocre, I'm serious I watched a few episodes and not once did I laugh, chuckle or smirked. While I wouldn't say the writing and humor is awful I just think it could have been funnier.

Another thing in Pet Squad that doesn't appeal to me the least is the animation. Now I know that not

all animation has to be Warner Bros quality, and that every animator has their own style. In fact many animated shows like Beavis and Butthead, Regular Show, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Salad Fingers and South Park relay more on humor more than visuals and it works because it translates it to the crude design. However because Pet Squad doesn't have that distinction than the animation becomes a big issue. As it stands the animation hits like a middle ground to me, it feels like it want's to be cartoony but the designs goes for a crude style that would again only work if the comedy was more mature. The best way to describe it is imagine you made a kid a coffee cake for his birthday, but the cake didn't have enough flavour so it wouldn't please everyone. I'm not saying that the designs are bad but on it's own I can't seem to get into it. The animation may not be super but at least it's not 12 Oz mouse.

But a cartoon isn't a cartoon without the characters, so shall we. As you know Pet Squad consist of 3 members and their robot, Dodge is the stereotypical beagle leader of the group with the same heroic mannerisms that we've all seen, Sheeba the feline-female (or fefe) member who obsesses for cat stuff and "shiny stuff" and she sounds like Rainbow Dash's generic cousin, Bingo the Guinea Pig who's the fat one. Their character traits remind me of another forgotten cartoon series what was it, oh yeah "Patrol 03" anyone remember that? Only difference is Pet Squad has a robot assistant name Pepe who is just being lighthearted and whimsical for the sake of lighthearted whimsey. There's Professor Eureka who's a living cloning experiment of every cartoon scientist ever.

The main villain Mother Goose is a psycho gone even more psycho who...........

 OF COURSE!

 wants to take over P Town, it's enough that I'm not invested in her schemes but her voice is off-putting to me. It's like they wanted to give her an American accent but with how lackluster the script is it sounds pretty pretentious to me, even I could do a better voice. While I wish her henchducks were funny enough, but like everything else they weren't. There are other characters like the Mayor, the Chief and the supporting villains but they're just stereotypes that you see in any other cartoon.

"So reviewer what is your opinion on this work of animation"

Well sir, all I can say is that while Pet Squad may not be the worst cartoon I've ever seen I still don't think it's that good. Even if there are still talented people working in the animation industry; Pet Squad proves otherwise. For a show with surreal and scientific elements Pet Squad lacks any creative stories, humor, characters and animation. I could understand the direction they were going for but there's nothing that catches me off guard or makes me turn a blind eye, well maybe it was trying to do so but the final project wasn't executed well that's all. If you're looking for an animated kid's show that's also appealing to adults, this is not the one, but still watch Sheep in the Big City it has better comedy and more original animation. Or if you're looking for a recent cartoon series with animal heroes, check out TUFF Puppy. That aside I give Pet Squad a 2/5.

"Well thank you young reviewer, once again you've cooked us a delicious sandwich of thought provoking speech and opinions"

I'm honored, I guess

"Of course you are, "toon" in next time when our reviewer takes on the task of looking at the most cheesiest, cheapest, stupidest, most horrifying thing he has ever seen in his entire life!"

Wait! What!

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!

My Thoughts on Naughty Naughty Pets

Quite recently I've looked at a cartoon that is very over-looked and I can see why; if you guessed "Naughty Naughty Pets" than you're obviously human. Now I wasn't at all bothered when it actually came out infact I never really heard of it until now; it was really the art style that caught my attention because of how it remained me of the Cramp Twins a little bit; so I checked out the names of the producers assuming they would have worked on that same show. It turns out this show was based on a series of characters by illustrator/graphic designer Wendy Ann Gardner who started off creating her own plush toys in the same style; eventually she opened her own company where the plush toys would spawn into picture books and other merchandise. So it only made enough sense to give them their own cartoon series, I thought the right thing to do was to watch a hand full of episodes to see if these creatures are worth keeping as pets or putting down.

Lets start with the plot; the show is about this young girl named Wendy Woo (who is based on the creator herself) that has a part time job tending to a bunch of freaky pets that live in a hotel which hardly makes much sense but it's a cartoon so who's complaining. Anyway each episode would center around an animal character whether it's Sir Leo Licks a Lot, Dig Ivan Dig In, or Pretty Princess Vicky, Marty Cohen, and so on and so on; the pets would cause a lot of mischeif and havoc (well because they're called the "naughty naughty pets" after all) so the pets become a hand full for little Wendy. While the premise isn't all that great and theres not that much variety it's just one of those cartoons about anthropomorphic pets who get into many misadventures that we've seen a billion times before, but while those other shows are funny this isn't, maybe it is to kids but to an adult there isn't much to it.

Now we're done with the premise lets talk about the animation; I'll be truthful the animation isn't certainly the best I've ever seen but it's certainly not the worse. To Garder's credit the character designs are very original but there's something about them that looks kind of ugly in a way, they look more like side character for The Cramp Twins if you ask me. But with shows like "Beavis and Butthead", "South Park" and "Three Friends and Jerry" artistic integrity doesn't matter very much to people. Than again the colours really match the drawing syle perfectly. Also the movement of the characters come off stiff and choppy but at least it's more abstract than in Bobinogs.

Now to prove to you that I have watched the show i'm gonna talk about the episodes i have seen one by one. We'll start with the first episode I saw "Too Much of a Good Thing" Wendy goes to the kitchen to get Mitchell with a Twitchell Bunny a carrot only to find another bunny in the room so while she gets another carrot the two bunnies get to second base and multiply in a blink of an eye. This becomes a problem for Wendy as she literally gets a truck load of carrots to feed them. Soon the bunnies take up population of the whole world and the universe. The episode than ends with Wendy singing a diddy of how too much can not be always a good thing.

The next episode I watched was "Ivan digs Hamlet" which about Ivan digging in his room to find a skull 0-0 he holds the skull and does what most people would do if they picked a skull; quotes the famous line from Shakespeare's Hamlet...and that's it.
While I did like the idea being a shakespeare fanboy myself, I felt it wasn't really much to turn it into a whole 3 minute episode so it was very basic really.

The last episode I watched was "The Dog who Cried Wolf" it starts with Wendy opening a can of cat food for one of the pets. but then another pet named Jacques Rock Star informs Wendy that Marty Cohen has gotten into an accident, while Wendy's gone Jaques eats the can of food which turns out to be really spicy for him, so he goes in such a frenzy to get some water. Eventually he drinks from the toilet like most dogs but then he flushes himself by accident...charming.

So here are my thoughts on the episodes that i've watched of "Naughty Naughty Pets" and if you ask me the show is very meh to me!

Like I said it's definatley not the best cartoon I've ever saw but it's not by far the worst I ever saw. The animation isn't much eye candy but it has charm right? The characters feel rehased they dont seem to bring more to the show and so does the writing of each episode but to the producer's credit at least they tried!

Yeah it's pretty bad but it's certainly not god awful or unbearable, while I wouldn't recomend this to kids; at least they could enjoy it more then adults, especially ones who enjoy the books and own the plus toys. I do appreciate how the producers were willing to give value to something that had very less value at all. Overall Naughty Naughty Pets gets a 2/5 from me.