Jellystone

Yogi's Tummy Trouble:

Oh man. I did not like that. Yogi Bear as a doctor also doesn't work for me. 1 star.

Gorilla In Our Midst:

THIS close to dropping this. Will watch another episode. 1 star.

Episode Overall: 1 star.

Boo Boots:

The premise was ridiculous.

Is the town going to be destroyed every episode? Because that's obnoxious.

One thing I liked was Yogi talking about stopping global warming in a giant flying boat. I remember that show very well.

Still sucked. 1 1/2 stars.

My Doggie Dave:

I actually liked the first half of this. It just fell apart right around the time Daddy does his booger cereal rant.

I liked Augie asking her dad if she was his strong independent woman.

Daddy's name just works for him.

The first half of the cartoon was all right. 2 1/2 stars.

Episode Overall: 2 stars.

A Coconut To Remember:

This cartoon did two major things wrong. The first wrong thing concerns me, because it means there is something wrong with the entire series.

But Magilla Gorilla's voice is all wrong. It's normal instead of doofy and cartoony. I understand the changing of the voices of the gender reversed characters. But completely making Magilla and Wally Gator sound nothing like their original voice performances is this show misusing the premise. What's the point of a show populated with Hanna-Barbera characters if they act and sound nothing like those characters? The producers might have done better to create their own show using these unique archetypes and premises. Because they are letting down people who watched the actual cartoons when they were little.

The second problem is something I shouldn't have to complain about. The show airs first on streaming so it seems VERY unlikely to me this aired out of order. But Jabberjaw mispronounces Magilla's name. Sure, it's cute. But as this is the first episode we've heard his name, it's narrative malpractice to have her botch it over and over again before hearing the correct way to say it later in the episode. It makes me feel like the cartoon isn't very well thought-out or put together at all. And the characterization being nothing like the original characters tells me that impression is probably correct. 1 1/2 stars.

Grocery Store:

Augie remains all cute. I love her calling Shazzan gorgeous like the Queen she is.

Daddy however is a VERY problematic character to me. His obsession with his daughter isn't funny. It's creepy and insane. Just so you know where I'm coming from, one of the reasons I hate Who's The Boss so much is because Tony always came across as a pedo perv to me, always guarding his daughter's supposed sexual virtue. It too was played for laughs, but a dude being overprotective of his daughter beyond all reason has certain negative creepy connotations, which is why the trope should be avoided at all costs. Who's The Boss was a crappy show otherwise. But I think Tony Danza's defensiveness in his performance as Alyssa Milano grew up did that actor no favors and makes the show kind of creepy and offensive in hindsight. And that's Daddy to T.

Do you know the irony? It might have come across that way if Augie's gender wasn't reversed, but that's not definite. It potentially could have been cute or funny. Once they made Augie a girl however it's completely inappropriate. 2 stars.

Episode Overall: 2 stars.

Must Be Jelly:

I like that Cindy finds cage fighting equally as relaxing as book club.

I love that the book was essentially Flintstones slashfic.

The rest of the episode made me unhappy. Because it did, I'll talk about a general problem with the show I haven't discussed yet. The art is terrible. It's utterly crappy and looks totally unprofessional. To be fair, ever since Beavis and Butthead and South Park, audiences have generally tolerated crappy-looking cartoons. But even by those show's standards this is pretty damn bad.

Eh. 2 1/2 stars.

Cats Do Dance:

Here's an unusual opinion for you. I like Tom Lennon's performance as Top Cat better than the Phil Silvers rip-off from the old show. He gives the character actual nuance, while still keeping him a scam artist. When he's telling Spooky that the blaster he's drawing in the picture is only for holding, it sounded totally right. And it's the first performance I've heard that does.

Choo-Choo being unsure about Peter Potamus' Furrie decor is in my opinion not going far enough. Were I her, I'd run. And never look back.

That was pretty good due to Lennon. 4 stars.

Episode Overall: 3 stars.

VIP Baby You Know Me:

I fell in love with this version of Shag. He is so great. I wish all the redos were this much fun.

Admittedly, Yakky Doodle is cute too.

As for the Bananas Splits, even before the horror film I found them sinister and scary as a kid. Making them a gang of evil criminals is entirely appropriate.

But I need to set the record straight about something important: The Banana Splits were NEVER cool. Never. Needed to be said. 4 stars.

El Kabong's Kabong Is Gone:

I would have preferred the series to have used Quick-Draw McGraw, but the cool thing about the loose premise is that it means they can do an episode in season two where Quick-Draw is El Kabong's cousin visiting from out of town. In fact, if they DON'T do that, I'd be shocked. It's begging for it.

I like Shag describing Kabong's financial state as enjoying that high-paying school-teacher salary. The thing I love most about kids is how much they inaccurately build up grown-ups in their minds. Kids think adults are more powerful and capable than they are. And that's always been true. The Simpsons has been very good at showing that too. Like when the kids there were amazed and impressed Skinner made 30 Grand a year. They bring out the calculator. He's 42 so that means he's a millionaire! "I wasn't a principle when I was One!"

The riff between Kabong and Susan in his head was funny because it was equally subtle and weird. Very solid comedic performances for both characters' actors.

I liked this one too. First episode that gets my full stamp of approval. 4 stars.

Episode Overall: 4 stars.

Mr. Flabby Dabby Wabby Jabby:

I love that Augie wants to see Death Woman 4, because she doesn't know what death is, so she might as well hear it from an expert... And she's a woman! I love that bit of female empowerment.

Augie and Yakky's voices are so endearing because both actresses are clearly extremely young. I don't like the notion of child actors (I've talked about this subject elsewhere) but they ARE pretty good.

I love that Huckleberry Hound immediately concedes the election. The one thing I can say about this version of Huckleberry is that he's utterly inconvenient. No matter who the character is, when he shows up to interact with them, he a hindrance to their goals. It is my sneaking suspicion that he's a total jerk deep down and this is entirely deliberate.

It was cute because of the kids. The best episodes of the show involve the kids. It's like DuckTales 2017 in reverse. It's nice watching animated children who aren't sociopaths, isn't it? 3 1/2 stars.

Ice Ice Daddy:

Captain Caveman Junior was one of the few things from The Flintstone Kids that wasn't utter cringe. However even HE wasn't as deep a cut as Glunk from Valley of the Dinosaurs.

The ending was good and loose, and suggests the character will be around when they need him, and absent when they don't. That's kind of a self-aware joke.

I also liked the bit of Mr. Jinx wishing his soup were cold, and then a few seconds later saying, "I have regrets." That was pretty good.

I like that Loopy refuses to do exercise that isn't entirely for pleasure. The innuendo there isn't explicit, but it still seems clear to me.

I don't think it's that the show is growing on me. I legit think it simply hadn't found its voice until the last couple of episodes. 3 1/2 stars.

Episode Overall: 3 1/2 stars.

DNA, A-OK!:

Cindy had an interesting line. It was interesting because it was true when she said it. If I said it, it would not be true. She tells Yogi that just because he's a cat doesn't mean he can't be a doctor. The unreality of that statement sort of got stuck in my noggin a bit. Cool stuff tends to do that.

I like Brain challenging Yogi to know her name. Oh, Brain. Yogi barely knows his OWN name.

The ending was dumb though. 2 1.2 stars.

Face Of The Town:

I mentioned earlier a vague dislike of Huckleberry Hound, and that I thought his intentions might be malevolent. This episode did nothing to dissuade me of an idea that really should have been far-out. Either I'm a super lucky guesser, or I know sociopathic politicians when I see them. I think it's the second thing.

I love Boo-Boo trying to get Yogi not to lick the beaters while the blender was running. I like that Yogi is still that stupid. The whole joke of "Smarter than the average Bear" to me was the fact that Yogi was a total dumbass on the old show. If anything he's even stupider here, so the irony of the catchphrase is even thicker.

I didn't exactly like that though. Huckleberry unpleasantly reminds me of real-world people I don't like. Specifically George W. Bush. He seems modeled after him. 2 stars.

Episode Overall: 2 1/2 stars.

Catanooga Cheese Explosion:

I didn't actually like the episode because Yogi was such an irredeemable jerk to Shag. But it did point out something interesting:

Chuck E Cheese is a total scam. It deserved to be shut down long before the pandemic. I never understood why parents were never in conniptions over them taking advantage of kids mindlessly spending hundreds of dollars in tokens to win tickets that could be traded for nothing. I guess the logic was, "It's taking advantage of dumb kids, so serves them right. Also, who cares?" The people who should care are the parents who have to pay huge amount of money for the tokens for the games that aren't actually all that fun. It's infuriating just thinking about it. And yes, the grand prize turning out to be a cheap piece of crap is totally on-brand too. I liked this cartoon putting a real face to the unfairness of it all. Very much. Even if the cartoon sucked otherwise. 2 1/2 stars.

Squish Or Miss:

Cindy as the mad scientist is apparently her thing. I'm not saying it doesn't work. Just as the most visible female character, I wish her shtick was something else.

Yakky continues to be adorable. And Daddy continues to be creepy. Just the fact that Augie's expression is blank and wall-eyed while he's hugging her says he's damaging that kid BAD. And I find nothing funny about the idea, even if the show does.

I like that Shag has bandages over his hat.

More or less decent because of Yakky. Less decent because of Daddy's brief scene. 3 stars.

Episode Overall: 3 stars.

Gotta Kiss Them All:

Ruff and Reddy are robots? Why?

Gazoo however is a no-brainer for an appearance. He's a Flintstones character, but such a despised one no modern Flintstones project would touch him, so there are no rights issues involved. For this reason I think the show should just go for damn broke and bring back Scrappy Doo in Season 2. I double-dog-dare them. It would piss off the right people.

The ending was sweet, which pleasantly surprised me. 3 1/2 stars.

Jelly Wrestle Rumble:

Scooby Doo And Guess Who's version of Funky Phantom was way better. Considering how relatively straight that show plays things, that is NO a good thing. This show messed up. It should hang its head in shame.

I like the way Yakky psyches Magilla into conceding the match. Doesn't work on Yogi though, who squishes her flat. "I'm okay!"

Are Yippee, Yappy, and Yahoeey lost? I kind of wish they had stayed so.

Eh. 2 1/2 stars.

Episode Overall: 3 stars.

A Fish Sticky Situation:

Brain is going to blush. Not now, but at some point.

I liked Top Cat's first episode better. I thought his scam to defeat the King then was pretty clever. This is just kind of dumb. Yeah, you can fool Jellystone townspeople this easily with stupid stuff. But why would you want to? Where is the fun and challenge in that? There is no art in this scam for the discriminating scam artist.

I like TC saying he wasn't aware the word "free" had so many syllables.

Good for the show for pointing out what an utter rip-off fast shipping is. I never use it. It's ridiculous.

TC deserves better. 2 1/2 stars.

A Town Video: Welcome To Jellystone:

The animation in the anime wasn't actually great. But it didn't suck, which is a first for the animation on this show.

For the record, the Yoh-Gi anime / sci-fi idea sounds and looks amazing. But I guarantee you that if WB had tried it on its own first it would have sucked hard. You do that bit with Teen Titans, you get The Night Begins The Shine. You do that with Hanna-Barbera, you get Loonatics Unleashed Redux.

I have never been okay with Yogi being a doctor. It doesn't suit his character, and makes no sense for his dumb personality. I waited a bit to see if the show had a larger plan for it, but it's clearly just a bad idea. As is Touche Turtle being the police chief of the town instead of Quick-Draw McGraw.

The story wasn't great shakes, but much of the episode wasn't a total eyesore, so points. 3 stars.

Episode Overall: 3 stars.

I love that it's suggested in Winnie's spellbook that raising the dead and putting a sweater on a cat take an equal level of magical skill.

Cute. 3 1/2 stars.