Wednesday 18 October 2017

CNtober; Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: A license to go nuts

Now we get into the eras of Cartoon Network that I grew up with, that I remember watching as a kid, or in this case the constant reruns of the same season 1 episodes, which probably explains why when I want to watch a show now, I until I can binge watch it. But, as we move into this period of Cartoon network, the eras kinda start to blend together a bit which is why this review, and next week's review from me could be argued either way for if they count as different eras. For me, I just wanted to do them because I've been meaning to review next weeks material for a while, and I wanted an excuse to look at this weeks. So with that, let's look at Foster's.





Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends is basically what it sounds like. It's a foster home for Imaginary Friends who in this universe, all you have to do is think about it and they will materialize into the real world. As such, the stories for the show tends to just revolve around what kind of crazy characters the show staff can make, and what situations they can put them in. However, combining these two factors can lead to some crazy situations even if the base premise is as mundane as going to a Shopping Center (Mall for others) to get streamers for a old woman's birthday party... leading to a blue blob being security's number one shoplifter, the main carer of the home being seen as a potential kidnapper, and a bird... aeroplane... palm tree... thing having at least three jobs in the one day (I wish I was that employable...).

A part of that comes from the writing, which is somewhat akin to Animaniacs or early seasons Simpsons. There's a lot of layers to what looks like very simple jokes, with all reactions coming off as genuine for the characters. Even made me laugh at some of the more pun leaning jokes like "is your refrigerator running, if so then you need to catch it", leading to one of the characters falling for it, and running around the city (I think) trying to catch it. While its not as fast paced as something like Animaniacs, there is still a "blink and you'll miss it" for some of the jokes, such as one about a bust.

A part of the writing is the characters themselves, and excluding the one off characters (who they themselves get some great writing in them, such as Imaginary Food Friends with PTSD from a fat kid at boot camp), the main cast is spot on with showing how crazy the writing can get thanks to a mix of insane and grounded characters. There's no one who I can point to as the clear weakest, though the best has to go to Madam Foster herself. She is a minor character overall, but she steals the show when she's on screen. If I had to pick a weakest, Edwarldo would probably be it, not because he's bad, but because I'm personally not a fan of easily frightened characters who's main joke is that they get scared easily. That's just personal tastes though.

One thing that people might not like is the animation. To call it flat... is an understatement. It's 2D animation with no attempts to make it 3D. Heck, one of the Imaginary Friends turns around like she's a piece of paper. It's very basic, with very bland looking backgrounds. But by contrast, the cast stands out hard against it and have very fluent animations. For me at least, weak backgrounds for a strong foreground for the characters is a good trade off, this was early 2000's animation which is more time consuming then it is now... granted animation in general is time consuming. The soundtrack as well has a simple, yet crazy feeling to it which is perfect for the show.

I'm glad I got back into this honestly, I don't know if its nostalgia talking or just how good the show is. There are at least reasons why the show is remembered in terms of Cartoon Network original programming, and worth looking into if you're looking for a slice of life that goes down the wilder side. Besides, this is by the same people behind shows like Powerpuff girls, Wander Over Yander (though I haven't seen that one) and Dexter's Laboratory for Craig McCracken, and My Little Pony for Lauren Faust (they worked together for PPG and Wander Over Yander). From slice of life though, I feel like looking into something with a bit more action. Something that got rebooted recently, and like I said before, something I've been meaning to look at again for a long time. Ben 10

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