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fly-pow-bye · 6 years

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Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Save the Date”

Written by: Haley Mancini

Written & Storyboarded by: Leticia Abreu Silva, John Martinez

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

Can it save the reboot?

I'm sorry, I have to bring this up. Season 2 was a minor improvement over Season 1, and I was wondering if Season 3 was going to continue with fixing minor problems. Already, they managed to address two particular aspects that some people felt was a horrible, horrible problem with this reboot. Looks like the crew have listened to their pleas...

...finally, they decided to give Ms. Keane her chest back. What a huge problem that was, am I right? Well, I was a little curious to why they decided to omit her breasts in the last two seasons. I was almost thinking that this was a subtle hint at a very special episode that this show would definitely not do appropriately. But no, they were just hiding under that jacket the whole time. Yeah, that's it. Now that I got that settled, let's begin the actual review.

The episode starts off with Ms. Keane being awkward while she's teaching class about Shakespeare. As soon as she starts saying the word love, she starts to stutter. She even writes it out, which is a slightly clever joke.

The Powerpuff Girls ask her what's wrong. Buttercup assumes that she has a malfunctioning robot brain, which is a typical random joke from our rascally little green princess. But no, it's because she has to get ready for a first date. Yes, in that wording; that elephant in the room is certainly growing at an alarming rate!

The Reboot Puffs offer to give her some makeup tips. They did do a good job with the Professor when they prepared for his date with Ima Goodlady, so it's not completely out there for the Powerpuff Girls to prepare someone for a date. Any potential jokes were thrown out pretty much immediately by Ms. Keane refusing their offer, which is probably to this episode’s benefit.

There’s two different running jokes with this outfit: Ms. Keane's difficulty with high heels, a relatable joke for anyone who had to wear them, and Ms. Keane apparently has a bad pimple that everyone in the show can see, but is thankfully never drawn for us. It's for this episode's benefit.

Her "first date" with this random 38-year-old named Todd at the Snooty Rose. It's cool to see a reference to a previous episode, right down to having the same waiter show up.

Speaking of references to previous episodes, now I shall point out the elephant in the room: yes, Ms. Keane did go on a date with the Professor in the original, and this episode outright denies it ever happened by calling this the first date. People might be mad that this rando that never appeared before replaced an official pairing in the original. I'm not one of them. Sure, a professor and a teacher would make a great couple...

...but even with her inexperience, Ms. Keane is way too good to be the Marge Simpson to this show's Sitcom Dad. Thankfully, this scene in Super Sweet 6 was the closest we got to referencing that pairing. Besides, he already has a love interest with Sapna Nehru, and I would prefer he get eaten alive by a giant spider monster.

Before Ms. Keane can get to that date, Discount Jojo shows up driving a truck loaded with a bunch of barrels full of radioactive goo. He's angry that he has to drive all of these to a special location to dispose of it. Sure, he may be an evil monkey, but he has to abide by those environmental laws!

Another crime he doesn't want to commit is vehicular manslaughter, as he notices Ms. Keane walking across the crosswalk, trying not to fall on her face. He swerves out of the way, causing one of the barrels to fall over and spill radioactive goo all over her. Discount Jojo tries to save face.

Discount Jojo: Uh, don't worry! It's defective!

Ms. Keane: How is it defective?

Discount Jojo: (slowly drives away)

Admittedly, that did get a minor laugh out of me. But hey, maybe her date won't notice the radioactive slime that's all over her! Suddenly, she starts glowing, and we get a GIF that was probably made already, but I decided to make it myself anyway. That's the Fly Pow Bye way!

This episode involves Ms. Keane growing to skyscraper size, ripping her clothes, and her accidently causing a ruckus around Townsville. Yeah, I knew this reboot was essentially official fanfiction, but I didn't think it was going to be that kind of fanfiction! Granted, I should have expected this considering we had that muscle episode a season ago.

This episode is just like that episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles where Irma grew into a giant, that episode of DuckTales 87 where Webby grew into a giant, or that episode of Jackie Chan Adventures where Jade grew into a giant. Wow, that plot is really common! I guess one big difference is that it doesn't advertise itself as a "turn into a giant" episode. It's like, surprise, it's one of these!

Even some helicopters come in to complete the Godzilla reference. Give them credit, they manage to get both of the running jokes about Ms. Keane's appearance in one line. They start shooting her, with some surprisingly realistic machine gun sound effects out of them. I guess if they're completely useless against the giant teacher, it's okay.

Ms. Keane ends up being chased off to Monster Island, which is a setting I feel has a lot of potential for plots. There's only two episodes that had a major focus on this island: Escape From Monster Island and Aliver. I wouldn't say this episode is the best appearance of that island, but I can't say this is bad, either.

The Powerpuff Girls show up just as soon as Ms. Keane goes away, and the Mayor tells them that a giant pretty monster lady just attacked Townsville. Somehow, they managed to look at Monster Island and find out that it's Ms. Keane. It's here that I realize that it's pretty rare to see the Powerpuff Girls use any superpower that isn't strength, flight, eye-lasers, or those new-fangled aura powers, so I didn't even think about them having telescoping vision!

The Powerpuff Girls go to Monster Island to find Ms. Keane sobbing about her new appearance and height. They offer to take her to the Professor. Judging by his track record, he'd probably accidently turn her into an even more hideous monster with two pimples, so she refuses. Well, that is not the actual reason.

She decided that, since she's a monster now, Monster Island is her new home. The Powerpuff Girls try to convince her that she's acting...something, but Blossom gets a text message from the Mayor that Townsville is under attack by a giant monster before she can complete that sentence.

Bubbles: But Ms. Keane's already here!

...burn? By the way, there's another running gag about the Mayor needing Ms. Keane to teach him how to spell. Good to know that didn't hinder his ability to send a text message! I would say Ms. Bellum sent the text, but sadly, while that all-important boob "problem" was fixed, they didn't fix that problem.

An ant came into contact with the goo, causing it to grow into this monster. The helicopters come in, but immediately leave because there's no pimple to focus on. The real flying heroes show up, and they actually do very well! Won't this just turn into a Monster Punch Girls Down in the end like every other scene like this? Does Buttercup make a lazy pun that had to be telegraphed to the audience?

Buttercup: ANT (five seconds later) that's the end of that!

Before Buttercup can make an aura scarf and say the word "chapter" to complete a Simpsons reference, we relearn that it just wouldn't be good for the plot if the Powerpuff Girls could easily take care of this monster.

Ant Stomp, Girls Down, womp womp. One minute, they’re superpowerful and no monster can beat them, the next minute, they are getting curbstomped by an ant. Admittedly, having trouble with a giant ant monster for plot convenience isn’t unique to the reboot; the exact same thing happened in Bubblevision. However, just because the original did it doesn't make it okay.

While that carnage is going on, Ms. Keane is trying to teach a bunch of giant monsters about the story of Romeo and Juliet. It goes about as well as one might expect: one of the tiny monsters eats one of the bigger monsters in one gulp. Okay, maybe one didn't expect that. Romeo and Juliet did have death, but that might not be the reference they're going for.

Eventually, she sees the Powerpuff Girls flying all around the ant monster. Once again, being off-camera seems to be the Reboot Puff's equivalent to Popeye's spinach cans. As she leaves, that tiny monster spits out the bigger monster's bloodless skull. I am both bewildered and amused by that random joke, mostly becase I was surprised they could even show bones.

The Powerpuff Girls, once again at the mercy of the ant's giant foot, is saved by Ms. Keane's flying kick! Not that this is entirely another "our powerful heroines have to be saved by a strong person" plot, the Powerpuff Girls do manage to help her out, too. As she gets knocked out by the ant monster, the Powerpuff Girls wake up to do a strategy.

It's a strategy they repeat from a previous episode, surprisingly enough. I will now call it the Tazmanian Devil strategy because it uses the same sound effect in this episode. They flying all around the monster, causing him to get dizzy. Blossom motions to Ms. Keane to finish the job.

Blossom: Ms. Keane, he's dizzy! Give him the busy!

Ugh, Blossom, while it may be that kind of fanfiction, it's not that kind of fanfiction. Thankfully.

She runs flawlessly with her heels, giving a payoff to the heels gag, and punches him right back into Monster Island. Yeah, someone who had no implied fighting skills whatsoever managed to upstage the Powerpuff Girls in defeating a giant monster all because she’s super big. One would think this show about three tiny six-year-old superheroes would teach kids that size isn’t everything, but here’s an episode kicks that right in the face. With heels!

Sadly for Ms. Keane's fighting career, the goo starts to wear off. How convienent! Discount Jojo drives back and says that's the reason why it was defective. Glad to see that joke wasn't kept hanging without a real punchline, even if this barely counts as one. I don't really get it.

Most importantly, she manages to make it to her date, who was talking to his mother the whole time about how not all women are monsters. I don't know why, either. Even though her dress is ruined, and most of the resturaunt is in shambles due to the giant ant monster, he's okay with it. What a nice guy. I'm sure Todd will eventually appear again. Maybe. Sort of. Not really.

Does the title fit?

Two different meanings to the title: Ms. Keane had to save the day and also had to save her "date".

How does it stack up?

This episode is actually pretty good by reboot standards. There's some decent jokes here and there, and the fight scenes are above average. Even when Ms. Keane joins the picture, it's not completely one-sided like most battles in this series.

The Powerpuff Girls are mostly useless in this episode. The best they can do is make an ant dizzy so that Ms. Keane can defeat the monster. The date character isn't too interesting, either, he doesn't add any real tension to the plot. They tried, but it didn't work for me.

Despite that, even if a giant Ms. Keane isn't your fantasy story, this is one of the better episodes. It's definitely a superheroine story, even if it wasn't the superheroines you expected.

Next, we find out if this reboot deserves a Beatles reference, a Meet The Beat-Alls reference, or even a reference to that Bee Gees movie.

← Trouble Clef ☆ Can’t Buy Love →

#fpb ppg 2016 #ppg 2016 #powerpuff girls #fpb reviews #cartoon network

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fly-pow-bye · 6 years

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Powerpuff Girls - “Twas the Fight Before Christmas”

Written by: Lauren Faust, Craig Lewis

Storyboarded by: Lauren Faust, Greg Colton, Brian Larsen, Paul McEvoy

Music by: James L. Venable, Thomas Chase, Steve Rucker

Art Direction: Paul Stec

Animation Direction: Robert Alvarez, John McIntyre, Randy Myers

Seasons Beatings!

Narrator: ‘Twas the City of Townsville, and all through the town

all the townsfolk are stirring, as snow is falling down

It's bitter and freezing in the dead of December,

But there's reason for joy, if you can remember.

For it's this time of year that our story unfolds,

When our hearts are the warmest, despite all the cold.

Yes, it is Christmas, just two days before,

And all through the town, none can wait anymore...

No doubt about it, this is a Christmas special. Not only is it snowing and freezing, the Narrator speaks entirely in rhyme. Fitting, as this plot is similar to a Dr. Seuss classic that took place during Christmas. Well, sort of.

The special starts two days before Christmas, as Townsville awaits that “one certain fat guy”. This is especially true for the kids at Pokey Oaks Kindergarten. Ah, Pokey Oaks. Not only does the Narrator say it, we see the sign right there.

Bubbles is singing Deck the Hells as she’s taping drawings of Santa on the bulletin board. Buttercup is gloating about her long Christmas list, the only readable word being “Gimme.” Got to love the subtle background jokes.

Not so subtle is a reference to the Red Ryder BB gun as made famous by A Christmas Story. This was long before A Christmas Story was mass-marketed to the point where they made an awful sequel to it more than a decade after the original. Hmm, sounds a bit familiar. No points for anyone who can guess the response to this, courtesy of Princess.

Parodying so many movie posters that it’s hard to tell which one its referencing, Princess comes up to the Powerpuff Girls to tell them that, since Daddy gives her everything she wants anyway, she only has one thing on her list: to be a Powerpuff Girl. Duh, she’s naughty, and the Powerpuff Girls even give a list that is essentially a best of for the people who aren’t familiar with her:

She bought the city and legalized crime! (Bought and Scold)

She hired Mojo Jojo and tried to destroy the Powerpuff Girls! (Mo Job)

She gave the Powerpuff Girls a bomb for their birthday! (Birthday Bash)

She teamed up with three felons and went on a crime spree! (Meet The Beat-Alls)

She tricked their friend Robin into stealing, and then tattled on her! (Super Friends)

I believe this is the only episode that actually mentions Robin outside of Super Friends, actually. I can understand why: new characters being added late in the show is a great way to jump the shark. Still, such super friends! As Blossom walks away, she tells Princess to change her ways, or else she's getting coal in her stocking. For the record, even in the original, a walking Powerpuff Girl looks awkward.

Princess completely scoffs at this idea that she’s spoiled and naughty, as she steps on Ms. Keane’s foot on her way out. She asks her driver if she’s naughty, and we get a whole skit. It could have been a short all to itself, it’s a classic.

The same scene happens with a servant and a nanny, and this episode’s biggest problem shows its head here. This special is 44 minutes long, four times the length of a normal Powerpuff Girls episode. Season 4′s problems with pacing in certain episodes due to their double-episode length are exacerbated here, as I feel a lot of scenes are here just to fill time. This is far from the worst example.

After opening her closet to get more pillows, as her maid quickly decided not to say anything and leave the room at her "naughty or nice question", only to be completely covered in a mountain of coal apparently stored from previous Christmases. She uses the coal to put lines under her eyes, and she puts on an all black outfit. Princess is planning something big, the Narrator fears in rhyme. But first, we got to take a detour.

Some people put up their decorations early, and some people put them up really late, and the Powerpuff Girls home is certainly in the latter, waiting until at least Christmas Eve Eve to finally put up all the decorations. Then again, when your kids can fly super fast, there’s no need to spend a whole day putting up everything.

Indeed, we see the Powerpuff Girls decorating in a super hero way, all in a race to see who gets to put the star on the top. Does this actually add to the plot? Not really, but it’s still a great scene to show off the more mundane ways the Powerpuff Girls use their powers. It is also a great way to have footage a promotional music video would use.

The Professor is here to make this not-so-generic tree lighting day special by lighting up the tree. Unfortunately, he has a bit of trouble with the lights, as we see for the next minute. I can see what they could have taken out if they wanted to condense this into a regular episode. A 22 minute episode, but still.

Professor Utonium: I can make three girls out of seasoning, but I can’t get these lights to work!

Thanks, I needed this quote.

We get a small tour of Townsville awaiting for the next day, which is used for contrast with future scenes, but is mostly just filler. Highlights include a shot of a My Little Pony parody being awaited by the Mayor, doubly funny considering one of the credited writers of this special, and Mojo Jojo trying to hang an ornament on a metal tree.

Princess infiltrates Santa’s workshop in a way similar to a spy movie for the next three minutes. I will say, wearing all black was probably not a good idea in the bright and cheery Santa's workshop, but it works anyway. There's some creative imagery, being Santa's workshop and all, but I didn't remember too much about this scene. We're only waiting in suspense to learn the obvious that she couldn't realize.

She gets to Santa's private office, and is horrified to see the truth: all of the girls she hated are on the nice list, and she's on the naughty list. Actually, there's a lot more to it than that!

See, Princess was so naughty, that she’s the only person on the naughty list. He didn’t even need to make a list; he just has the naughty sticky note. She was just that bad; everyone else is nice by comparison; even Mojo Jojo is going to get something for Christmas. Remember that when you got presents even though you totally stole from the cookie jar: Princess sinned for your sins.

That, and it’s pretty convenient for Princess’s plot.

Using a magic pencil that can erase ink, she swaps the two headings. Hey, it is Santa Claus we're dealing with, he probably has an eraser with a blue part that actually does erase ink. Of course, Santa can’t possibly think that every person except for one kid was naughty, right?

At the Powerpuff home, we cut back to the Powerpuff Girls slowly going to sleep. Bubbles wakes up early because she heard sleigh bells, only to find the cookies not eaten, no presents, and a lump of coal in her stocking. Bubbles decides to investigate further.

Bubbles flies around every house in the residential area of Townsville, looking at other people’s presents with her x-ray vision. She goes to one house, she goes to another house, and then another, and another, and another, and so on. Remember when I said "worst example"? I didn’t get out of my seat and yelled "okay, I get it already!" I only thought it loudly. Honest.

At least there’s some payoff to this, as Blossom and Buttercup tell Bubbles that she must have gotten coal because she looked through other people’s presents. Buttercup tells her this again later on, leading to this great reaction from Bubbles. It’s just the way it’s animated; there’s no need for No Me Gusta. Well, there's a quarter for the "reboot jabs in original reviews" jar.

Rewinding a little bit, once they see that they got coal in their stockings, too, Blossom and Buttercup realize something is terribly wrong, too.

The Powerpuff Girls, after changing into their normal outfits off-screen, yeah, that’s it, go up the chimney to find Princess. Princess is flying, and it’s not because they didn’t know she couldn’t. Since Princess is the only nice girl in the entire world, Santa decided to give her what she always wanted, and give everyone else coal.

She threatens to fly all the way to Santa Claus to tell him that those three jealous girls that always denied her is now going to destroy Santa’s workshop in retaliation for their much deserved coal. Why would he believe her? Because she’s the only nice child in the entire world, silly! As she starts flying off, the Powerpuff Girls chase after after her.

There are boring ways to fill time, and there are good ways to fill time, and while the driver scene is close, there is no better way to fill time in the Powerpuff Girls than with an action sequence. They must have known this, too; almost an episode’s worth of time is spent with them racing towards the North Pole, them fighting, pulling each other’s hair, and much, much more.

There are so many highlights I can bring out of this, but I got to leave something out of the review or I'll be here forever. I should highlight one scene in particular, though: Blossom has ice breath, Bubbles has the ability to talk to animals, Buttercup can roll her tongue, what does Princess have?

Crown-controlled telekinesis! Well, Bliss isn’t so special, is she? Alright, fine, enough with the reboot jabs; I'm running out of quarters to put in the jar. As she throws this giant ice ball, she ends up splitting this ball into three, shaping it into her face. A neat touch.

Princess: Cool it, girls!

Even Princess is good at the one-liners.

In a speed more rapid than eagles, 8 minutes to get to the North Pole from somewhere in the US is rather impressive, they finally arrive at the North Pole. Yes, I timed it. They destroy everything in sight thanks to a hair tug caused fight. Princess ended up being right about the Powerpuff Girls destroying the workshop, as said earlier, though it was all her fault.

We get to see ol' jolly Saint Nick himself, except he isn’t so jolly. He's sad that every kid in the entire world is bad except for one kid. Maybe he shouldn't have skipped over the whole "he sees you when you're sleeping" part in the beginning. Considering how Bubbles is demonized for doing so earlier in the episode, maybe they didn't want to point out the hypocrisy.

How did they get Santa to believe that Princess is wrong, and they are right? Simple: all Santa needed to hear was that they were the Powerpuff Girls. Knowing who they are, but not knowing what they looked like; what kind of Santa are you? He's still cool.

Then again, Princess calling him "Santa Clod" probably helped with his next decision.

Santa realizes that, no, he doesn’t have to follow a list to know who's naughty or nice when it's clear to him. He tears the sticky note up. Who's to think that the only person that learns a lesson in this special is Santa? I can't even think of a time where that has ever happened before.

Well, there is one list that he will follow: the crew vanity Permanent Naughty List, as Santa noses Princess’s name on it. Maybe I should explain that: when he pokes his red nose, Christmas magic happens. I feel sorry for poor Bill and Ryan; Santa taught of them before thinking of that next guy.

Santa: Bum bum bum!

No, really, he says “bum bum bum” as the camera zooms into this face when he does this. Even with his utter lapse of judgment, I can still say this is one of my favorite portrayals of Santa Claus.

Another "bum bum bum" is that it's just too late; he's already done his journey. The fact that the workshop is in ruins doesn't help at all, but he doesn't hold it against the Powerpuff Girls. If only there were someone that can fly super fast.

The Powerpuff Girls become Santa for a year, saving Christmas like all those characters in the 80's. We don't see them go all around the world, just through Townsville's residential area. We can just assume the rest of the whole world didn't wake up to coal in their stocking, as the Narrator does.

We almost end on a joke with the Professor trying to wake the girls, but they're too tired having to do Santa's job in an inkling of the time it took Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, and et cetera. It could have ended with that, but that wouldn't have been as cheerful for a Christmas special, so they wake up and celebrate Christmas after all.

The Narrator ends the show like how every Powerpuff Girls episode ends, in a more rhymey and Christmassy way. Just wanted to highlight that because I miss it so much. Maybe I should make some plans for the new year.

Does it still hold up?

Minus a few scenes that lasted a bit too long, it’s a great special from start to finish with lots of actions and some creative humor. There’s not a lot of Christmas specials that can claim that, especially the former.

All I can say to end this review is...

Marry Krismas, Ms Kene.

#fpb ppg 1998 #powerpuff girls #cartoon network #christmas

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fly-pow-bye · 7 years

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Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Take Your Kids to Dooms Day“

Written by: Haley Mancini, Jake Goldman

Written & Storyboarded by: Jaydeep Hasrajani, Leticia Abreu Silva

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

This reboot is doomsday.

The episode starts with the still nameless outside of that one short school’s Parents Day, where Ms. Keane is allowing all the kids to bring their parents for show and tell. There actually is a general Parents’ Day, though this seems to be more of a Father’s Day episode.

After presentations from a firefighter, an astronaut, and a vampire, because if unicorns and magical pandas can exist, anything goes, the Powerpuff Girls’ father figure is up next. They’re pretty excited, as is Ms. Keane, because he’s a scientist! Gotta say, if they’re hinting at some sort of adoration between the Professor and Ms. Keane, it’s far more subtle and better than a certain other relationship in this reboot.

The Professor comes up to the podium, and, to no surprise, he’s not going to fulfill the Powerpuff Girls’ hopes. Or anyone’s hopes.

Professor Utonium: What makes me, ahem, great, are my three little girls!

Everyone else: (groans)

I know the feeling, kids. Buttercup yells at him to do science stuff, and he focuses on the science of slightly changing the colors of chemicals. This doesn’t impress anyone, as told by a sad trumpet sound. He then wants to talk more about his girls!

Glasses Kid: Make it stooop!

Wow, even the characters in the show want the PPG 2016 to stop. Seriously, every time he brings up the girls, we get a shot of these students groaning. It’s supposed to show how boring the Professor is, but the way they place these groaning scenes makes me think they hate the girls, too. Maybe they only saw the same Monster Punch, Girls Down scenes, too.

As the bell rings, Ms. Keane gives the class their new assignment due on Friday: make a video showing off what makes their parent great. The Powerpuff Girls are not exactly happy, because they apparently don’t see their father as great. Barry, the Illuminati Kid, understands their plight, as his mother stays at home.

Specifically, she’s a stay-at-home ninja...who speaks Korean? Weren’t ninjas strictly a Japanese thing? Maybe they were just that good at staying hidden. The more we know about Barry, the more interesting he gets. He wears the Eye of Providence, he’s daring enough to play with his phone while floating in the ocean, he has a ninja mom, and he’s not impressed by that. Sadly for Barry, they’re probably waiting for Season 3 to have the big Barry episode. He’ll be waiting, and waiting, and waiting.

After Buttercup goes “ugh, Barry”, the Powerpuff Girls reveal their plan: they can follow him to his new job. That’s one thing the reboot has focused on: the Professor being a job seeker. He doesn’t work at a university anymore, and that’s assuming that “Professor” isn’t just his first name. In Sister Sitter, his reason for not being able to look after the sick girls is because he had to do a job interview for an agriculture company.

I guess he didn’t get that job, because now he works at a tech company named Tech-Co. As a scientist, he’s able to invent things for them. With Buttercup on the camera, he shows off his inventions!

A fabric that can stretch a thousand times its size! He demonstrates this by accidently making it fling around the room like Flubber. Sad trumpet sound.

A small Lithium battery! Apparently not eco-friendly! Different sad trumpet sound.

And the coolest thing at Tech-Co: a spring! A super spring that has the power of four thousand other springs. I guess Coilie the Spring Sprite got to him. Yet another sad trumpet sound.

The Powerpuff Girls ask if he actually invented anything interesting, like a shrink ray, rocket socks, or a metal thing that holds water. Guess who suggests that last one. The Professor instead shows off Trent, his co-worker that loves to make Mondays jokes on days that aren’t Monday!

No sad trumpet this time, instead, their faces just shrink to a very small and undetailed size. That seems to be their new favorite face this season. I will say, despite having the same storyboarders, this episode has far more restraint than Tell-Tale Schedulebot. It’s almost as if this episode was supposed to be taken more seriously.

The Powerpuff Girls, thinking their whole video is bust, attempts a plan to make their video great. While the Professor is away, Buttercup tells Bubbles to get props, and Blossom to be the feet.

Bubbles holds up a cardboard cutout of the City of Townsville in front of the camera, and talking over it. It must be a reference to that guy that hasn’t appeared since Fashion Forward. I think his name is “Commentator”.

Bubbles: Oh no, Townsville is under attack!

She also doesn’t exactly say the famous line correctly, which would have improved it tenfold. Granted, he doesn’t say “The City of Townsville” in the reboot outside of two episodes, counting one that shouldn’t count. Bubbles walks into frame and trips over a potted plant, pretending it’s an evil monster. She yells for help like the superhero she is. Just like in their actual fights!

Blossom and Buttercup dress up as the Professor. I like how they clearly stole one of the lab coats for that disguise. Unfortunately, it doesn’t end well, as they bicker about how uncomfortable they are, and they fall down.

After the Powerpuff Girls fail at making the Professor look cool, the real Professor comes back in to introduce his boss, a lady named Ms. Licosi. Ms. Licosi asks the girls if they were impressed with what they saw, which the Powerpuff Girls respond very similar to their classmate's reaction to whenever the Professor talks about them. Ms. Licosi, ignoring their groaning, tells them that they’re invited to a press conference in a way that is not menacing in the slightest.

Licosi: (eyebrows lower) Believe me, it’ll be quite a show.

Outside of TV Guide’s rather spoiler-y description, in hindsight, there’s not a lot of hints that this office is more than it seems, so I can see why they added those eyebrows and close-up. It’s pretty subtle, as they don’t even change the cheerful music that’s playing in this scene. It is an improvement over previous episodes, unlike Blue Ribbon Blues’...

Not A Janitaur Bent On Turning Everyone Into Animals, (Not) Honest: YES!

...whatever this was supposed to be.

The Powerpuff Girls take their seats, expecting a snorefest. Bubbles wonders what Barry is up to, as we cutaway to Barry looking at his phone while his mother is preparing to fight a bunch of ninjas in her Bruce Lee Game of Death outfit. Buttercup does another “ugh, Barry” to this, possibly jealous that he seems to have far more entertaining adventures.

During the presentation, the Professor shows off his real invention: a “powersuit” which is literally a suit! It can make people run super fast, is virtually indestructible, and is slim fit! It’s even powered by that battery we saw a few minutes ago. The Powerpuff Girls are finally impressed, their cowlicks, ribbons, and pigtails wiggling with glee by seeing something that would impress Barry.

Ms. Licosi congratulates the Professor on his work, and says she’ll take it from here, pushing the Professor aside and teleporting the powersuit onto her own body. We then get the big twist. Anyone can predict that there’s something more to this workplace than it seems; if they couldn’t tell from Licosi’s expression and even the episode’s TV Guide synopsis. However, it’s harder to predict what exactly this entailed.

In fact, you should probably stop reading now and watch the episode if you had any interest in watching it. It’s a surprise worth having, and worth is something the reboot desperately needs.

← Musclecup ☆ The Bubbles-Sitters Club →

...

Oh, and did I mention Licosi is an anagram? Well, it’s too late now. Ms. Licosi's face dissipates into a very, very shadowy man.

Surprise, this episode was the third Silico episode this whole time! If you don’t remember, he’s the virus robot and silly lie article wielding mastermind who is constantly in shadow and has a deep hatred of the Powerpuff Girls. Come to think of it, there was something I said about him in an earlier episode’s review:

Unfortunately, Silico has an ace up his sleeve. Those virus robots? A super suit that can allow him to fight the Powerpuff Girls directly?

I don’t think they actually read these reviews, but it’s a coincidence I can appreciate. He swats away the Professor using his own powersuit, which can make his arms longer due to being “slim fit”. This may be suggesting that the stretchy fabric was also used in this. They don’t show how the spring fits in with this, but it must be there. Car doors and phones won’t work without them, after all!

The Powerpuff Girls ask Silico why he would attack the Professor and what happened to Ms. Licosi, and Silico only answers the second question: all of the co-workers were holograms! He sure loves his holograms! The Powerpuff Girls try to get up to the task to fight him three-on-one; the first real direct confrontation between Silico and the Puffs. Unfortunately, thanks to the powersuit, it doesn’t go too well for the Puffs. Very few fights do even without it.

One part of this one-sided fight shows Blossom trying to do a flurry of punches, but it just leads to a “punch punch punch uh-oh” scene. I’m not going to hate on this scene in particular. If anyone can make a suit that can stop the Powerpuff Girls, it’s the Professor. Then again, this same exact scene happened with radioactive moles in Road Trippin’, and similar scenes seem to happen when the Reboot Puffs have to fight anything. The Reboot Puffs seem to be all talk and no actual power; not really something that shows the “girl power” that the reboot’s tagline seems to convey.

The Puffs not bruised but not at full strength, Silico turns his hand into a hammer. How a suit is able to morph his hand, which isn’t a part of the suit, is not explained. For all we know, maybe Silico is a shapeshifter. Before he drops the hammer down, he gets interrupted by a surprise person hiding in the shadows...

Professor Utonium: The only person who won’t allow you to harm my girls...me!

I’m also okay with this, but mostly because it’s not the Sitcom Dad I’ve grown to know and hate. He stands up and reveals that the Professor Silico knocked into the seats was a hologram as well, and that he was onto him from the start!

We get some flashback scenes on about how he came to the conclusion, and it's so obvious, even the Professor could figure it out. One day, he saw a computer screen seeing a memo showing the Professor and a skull and crossbones. Another day, he tried to throw something at one of his coworkers for them to catch, only to have it pass through them. Another day, this happens:

Trent: We are all actually holograms and Licosi is actually Silico. (swaps back to usual personality) Mondays, am I right?

Eh, it's an okay use of the rule of three. This is meant to be a comedy even if most of the jokes fall flat. I can understand a lot of people scoffing at this joke, and it does seem to be more of a Sitcom Dad joke for the Professor to just not notice anything wrong with this. However, I found that line a little smile-worthy; it’s similar to how certain shows would flashback after a big reveal and highlight a “clue” that would’ve given it away, often one that wasn’t even visible if it was shown before.

The Professor then reveals that he made a powersuit of his own “with a few improvements”! The suit even turns all white at one point, which could be a nod to Powerprof. One could say ripoff, but one could also say this is the reboot’s variation of it.

This is a cool scene to see after episode and episode of the Professor being incompetent, but I have to say something. First, this is one of those psychedelic colorful background and hit flash beatdowns. Apparently, they spent the budget on the Powerpuff Girls getting beaten rather than Silico finally getting his just desserts.

Also, this is Silico, the series’ closest equivalent to Teen Titans’ Slade, getting beat by the silly dad character that does silly dad things. A villain that was the puppet master in his first episode, was only somewhat beaten by luck in his second, and outright beat the Powerpuff Girls in this. Once he gets punched in a hole, he does not appear again in this episode, not even in a “cliffhanger”, so we can conclude that a man was able to do what the Powerpuff Girls couldn’t. Girl power!

Okay, I’m being flippant here. The real point for this episode is to be a father’s day episode, so we have the father save his daughters in an act of caring. The Powerpuff Girls, seeing this beatdown, realized it’s not about how cool the Professor is, and they decided to do a different idea for their video. We cut to the school, which still has their Parents Day banners up despite clearly being a different day, and the Powerpuff Girls show off their video to the class.

Instead of showing off how cool their father is, we get this cutesy slideshow showing off their family get-togethers, their playtime, and a superhero that used to regularly get punched into walls getting hurt by falling off a bike. They threw away all of the footage they took, they get to hug the Professor at the end, and, for the first time ever in this reboot as far as I remember, they finally call him “Dad”. Aw, how cute.

Does the title fit?

The Powerpuff Girls are taken to work, and they do meet their doom on this day, so sure. The space is completely unnecessary, though.

How does it stack up?

In a very, very rare moment in Fly! Pow! Bye! history, I have no major complaints about a PPG 2016 episode that isn’t a general problem with the reboot. A very good twist even I didn't figure out at first, Silico finally being cool again, and even the fighting is above the usually abysmal average of the show. That last one isn't saying too much.

This is a top-level episode of the show, up there with Poorbucks and Fashion Forward. They're getting better.

Next week, it sounds like they’re going to go from ripping off real Powerpuff Girls episodes, not talking about this episode, to ripping off one of the worst Spongebob episodes! Hopefully that’s not the case.

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#fpb reviews #fpb ppg 2016 #ppg 2016 #powerpuff girls #cartoon network

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