Episode discussion: "Emaciation Complication" 11/10/06

["C" the Dragon]

Originally Posted by Partymember

Pitbulllady; kids brought .45's to school!?! My gosh, we have dimebags and switchblades at my school, under 100 kids in my grade so its pretty small. Guns in school would scare the HECK out of me. One kid in a neighbooring school got caught with a chincy "pirate" knife (long and scary-looking but cheap) and, i kid you not, a WW2 HAND GRENADE in his backpack just yesterday!!!!!!!!!! The thing was all rusty and it looked like the spoon had broken off at some point, but the thing was still live...SCARY! A hand grenade in school!

What were kids thinking these days?!?!

[Partymember]

the cops said they found his weapons because another kid went to the nurse and passed out after the grenade guy had given the kid a dozen Ambien pills! They found the weapons when they searched his locer for drugs. WIERD!!!

[Sparky]

Okay, excuse me, but can we not talk about school violence in here please?? -_-

[One Radical Dude]

Yeah, guys, please stay on topic. No talk of school violence.

[Voxxyn]

OK... I need to say something.

A lot of people didn't like "Emancipation Complication". I myself had some mixed feelings at first(You already know why), and then I made a slightly heated response as I began to warm up to it. Now that I feel at ease, I think I can finally give my proper thoughts on it.

I liked it. It was fun and entertaining to me; I'm actually one of the few A's on the poll. It's not a masterpiece like "Good Wilt Hunting" or "Squeeze the Day" or "Bloo's the Boss", but it was still well-done and a further step in the right direction after the nearly fatal mistakes in Season 3. With this and the superb "Boss", Darrick Bachman is already one of my favorite Foster's writers right up there with Lauren Faust, and I really hope we'll get to see more episodes penned by him in Season 5 and onwards.

I can somewhat understanding the misgivings other people have towards this ep. The first act(Mac and Bloo rescuing Lil' Lincoln/Moose and bringing them to a crowded Foster's) WAS slow at least compared to the slambang "hook you from the first second" openings that Foster's episodes usually have, though it also had some funny bits and highlights. Most of the second act had some good moments as well, but I do feel that the song could've been better and, hopefully, that will improve for the upcoming music-heavy episode in Season 5.

However, in my view: beginning with Frankie's realization and confrontation with Lil' Lincoln, and all the way through the third and final act, the episode becomes amazing and even superb. The climax was very exciting, filled with so many clever parts and simple-yet-hilarious bits--Lil' Lincoln mixed in with ordinary pens, Mr. Herriman's nanny transformation and 'first lady' line, the outcome of Bloo's game addiction, Lincoln's punishment at the hands(literally) of Madame Foster--that it makes me wonder why so many have felt so negatively about it. Yes, I said that I understand the criticisms, and I do, but I'm having a hard time comprehending how anyone could possibly dislike the sharpness and wit of the confrontation between Foster's and the evil wrongdoers. The last seven minutes of this episode are almost comparable to the last half-hour of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - both were enormously exciting and thrilling climaxes to their respective works, despite the fact that both works don't have particularly excellent reputations in their fanbases. Yeah, that might be a slightly outrageous comparison, but that's how I'm starting to feel.

I like the character of Lil' Lincoln, his design was great and unique. I like Bloo's addiction to the video game, it became an extremely funny plot point. I like seeing Mr. Herriman get a good-sized role, since he's been largely ignored in Season 4(hopefully that will be fixed in S5). I like seeing Madame Foster NOT being completely invincible or godlike for once. I like the episode title itself, it's one of the wittiest they've come up with yet(And there are many). And, despite my original feelings of discontent, I appreciate that Frankie was still given a good role.

I don't know. It's fine to not like the episode... but I just don't understand why it's become unpopular to the point that it's become as common of a sight in "Worst episode" polls as the likes of "Imposter's"(ugh), "Europe" and "Surprise". It definitely is far from from the lowness of these atrocities.

And, honestly, if you made me choose between watching this and "Make-Believe It Or Not", I'll go with "Emancipation Complication" without a second thought, for the fact that Frankie participated in EC and was completely absent in MBION. You read that right. Without Frankie--not even for one or two scenes--the show loses a great amount of color and depth in my eyes. And unlike "The Big Leblooski" or "Infernal Slumber" which at least had a good set-up for Frankie's absence, MBION acted as if Frankie(and Madame Foster and Mr. Herriman) didn't exist, which I don't appreciate at all.

[Mr. Marshmallow]

Originally Posted by Voxxyn

And unlike "The Big Lebowski" or "Infernal Slumber" which at least had a good set-up for Frankie's absence, MBION acted as if Frankie(and Madame Foster and Mr. Herriman) didn't exist, which I don't appreciate at all.

Okay now I got to say something, I have been saying this ALL THE TIME! I totally pointed out that Frankie for whatever magical reason vanished during MBION and it was totally ignored so it's nice to know someone finally saw this too. It's also nice to see someone who finally understands my point on EC.

I honestly cannot for the life of my fathom why this episode is being regarded as trash and slapped with a "worst" sticker around it. This was probably by far the most innovative episode I've SEEN in Foster's. The whole plot and set up with a villain like Little Lincoln was incredibly clever stuff.

I loved this episode and it's in my top 5 favorite episodes of Foster's, yet during all the discussions or mentionings of this episode, I have yet to see anyone make a valid point on why this episode is "bad". And by that I mean BEFORE Vox's remark. Only thing that really bugged me was the song.

It seemed out of tune and didn't really have a catchy or fresh, merry sing along feel to it, which is odd because cartoons (even Simpsons and Family Guy) excel in this area. But I enjoyed everything here: Bloo's video game addiction, Madame Foster chewing Lincoln at the end, "first lady" of course.

I seriously don't understand what was so bad about this episode, I can name like 20 things that bugged the hell out of me in MBION and yet it's praised very highly. I understand people have different tastes in episodes, but this just confuses me because I've never heard any solid reasons for back lashing it.

I even liked the scene where Frankie tried to talk reason into Lincoln, failed, and got stuffed in a closet. Why, why would a Frankie fan enjoy that? Because it showed how different this episode was, how clever and creative the creators used a famous and honorable president and made him evil.

His appearance, his attitude, even how he tricked the friends into being sold out, it was all very fresh and creative stuff. Lincoln is probably the best villain characters they've had since Berry, considering Terrance and Duchess have been almost completely phased out of the show as of recently.

But from the beginning stuff in class to Foster chewing Lincoln's noggin like candy, I loved this episode, I can easily rewatch it like 5 times and still enjoy it. There's not many Foster episodes I honestly feel that way towards, I think anyone who thinks badly of this episode should give it a second watching.

[moonpony]

The differing opinions here are fascinating. I just HATED Emancipation Complication. Little Lincoln was one heck of a clever IF, but the SL just didn't sit right with me. I'm not a fan of Moose at ALL.

Bloo channeling Daffy Duck while in the backpack was the best part, IMO.

[cartman414]

I must have been the only one who liked the song. It definitely had a fun little chorus.

[antgirl1]

Originally Posted by cartman414

I must have been the only one who liked the song. It definitely had a fun little chorus.

You're not alone. I want to know the lyrics by heart. XD

[KazooBloo]

I despised this episode. One of my top five least liked.