9/13 ep: "Affair Weather Friends"

[emperor26]

Wow, I didn't see that plot twist coming to begin with.

But this was a great episode, though the I am disappointed some of the characters, even Mr. Herriman, hasn't shown up at all.

[Cassini90125]

The fact that Frankie wasn't in the episode was disappointing for me, but I still loved it. Heck, I'm still a little giggly over the whole thing.

Kind of gives me hope that maybe we'll see my two favorite one-shot characters again sometime.

[pitbulllady]

Originally Posted by emperor26

Wow, I didn't see that plot twist coming to begin with.

But this was a great episode, though the I am disappointed some of the characters, even Mr. Herriman, hasn't shown up at all.

That was my only real gripe, honestly-that we never so much as glimpsed Mr. Herriman, Frankie or Wilt, or even heard them mentioned. They really weren't central to the plot, but still, I'm kinda getting the feeling that they(and Wilt and Frankie in particular) are being sorely underused this season.

Still, this ending has me reeling. I totally did not see that coming!

Mr. Marshmallow had a really excellent point, one of the things that makes this animated series really stand out so much from the usual crowd of animated shows aimed primarily at young kids: characters on Foster's are very much mortal beings. Unlike the characters on say, "Loony Toons", the Foster's characters can be hurt, even seriously, leaving permanant scars, and they can be KILLED. In most animated show, Western animation at least, you never really had to worry about a character being hurt or dying; you'd see them get shot at or fall over a cliff, and the worse thing that would happen was that they'd have a little circle of birds or stars around their head for a moment, and then in the next scene, they'd be back to normal, good as new. I don't think I can recall a "kid's" cartoon in which it was specifically mentioned that a character was about to be killed, nor one in which a character is left with highly visable, life-altering injuries, as is the case with Wilt. For that matter, Foster's is the only animated show to depict actual blood, as when Frankie got all scraped up in "CAGG" or Goo's boo-boo in "Go Goo Go". That all makes us really empathize with these characters and feel much more concern for them, knowing that there is no "cartoon magic" to save them and make them good as new if something happens to them. It also has villains that are genuinely dangerous and psychotic, not merely a nuisance. It takes a lot of gumption to make a cartoon like that.

pitbulllady

[AerostarMonk]

Probably has been seen by now, but I thought this drawing and this episode were a perfect fit http://tommysimms.deviantart.com/art...Berry-62655659 If this is the wrong place I'm sorry.

[Mr. Marshmallow]

I was upset at Frankie and Herriman too but in truth, they really weren't needed in this episode even though I love seeing them around ever so much. What was nice about this versus "Make believe it or not" is the fact that all of this kind of took place at the front door about Mac waiting for Bloo to come home.

That was the key thing, granted Frankie really could have shown up during the tour with Barry Bling but even though she didn't, it worked out really well showing just how strained Bloo and Mac's relationship became. I love the fact Bloo and Mac actually "acted out" each other's responses and actions.

It showed how much alike the 2 of them are and even though Bloo was being a total ass to Mac (Mac had EVERY right to be angry), those 2 are so similar it's kind of scary. One thing I love to see is bringing back things and characters that were used before, having Duchess, Mac's sugar obsession and Berry back was phenomenal.

I truly never expected to see or hear from ANY of those factors again, especially Berry. As Pitbull lady said, I am truly proud the acknowledgment of death came into play and that they SAID the word kill. They could have easily had Mac screaming for help and not saying he was going to die from Berry.

This to me is a big step because for one, Fosters has an EASY outlet of being toony. The IFs could easily be seen as capable of showing those "toon effects" like Pitbull said about seeing birdies or being burnt to ashes then magically reappearing the next scene. So for them to make them REAL and REALLY get hurt is big.

Most importantly though, saying the word kill is a BIG DEAL because toons lately have always avoided that word or the 3 D words: Death, died, or dead. Toons have cowardly ignored the concept of death from existing by hiding behind safe words or just avoiding it all together. But they REALLY meant it this time.

Mac could have died, Berry tried to kill him, she was gonna hit him with a train and he screamed she was going to kill him. No safe words, no "misleading words" it was straight, cut, and dry and I thank them for that. It took Ben 10 forever to use the word dead in the show and THAT is an action series.

Fosters has NEVER come across a situation involving death or someone who wanted to cause death, the shows plotline easily avoids this problem. So for the creators to go out of their way to bring back one of their few ACTUAL villains and have her directionally try to kill Mac for a show of this nature is incredible to me.

I applaud them, worship them, and kiss their feet because they used something serious in a kids show and they didn't hide it over soft words, cheap misleadings, or any kind of tricks. This is a big deal for me to see a modern cartoon actually saying that and it's because of that I truly admire Fosters and their creators more than ever.

[AerostarMonk]

I remember blood in Powerpuff Girls, and let's not forget the 90s Batman, Superman and Gargoyles. Also even though it was used as a throwaway gag, I thought that intent to commit suicide in yesterday's ep was shades worse. Being done in is a hard one to get by censors, but imagining trying to sneak past one doing in oneself? The crew must have quite a time.

The threat of death in a "kids" show really is no surprise to me, because I remember the old school Disney Afternoon. I remember they never really fluttered around the term and such in TaleSpin, which borrowed heavily from both pulp adventure and soap operas.

So while I agree, that Foster's has made a great step today, I don't think it was as great of a step as yesterday with some of its implied situations even outside the suicide thing, and "kids" show of the past 2 decades.

[Mr. Marshmallow]

But that's the point, all of those shows are back THEN, I am talking bout toons of the NOW. In modern, recent toons we have been seeing over the past while, nothing has come as close to the point of using death as before. You said it yourself, Batman and Superman were of the 90's, that was then this is now.

That's why i feel this is so much bigger because it's a modern toon, a toon of TODAY, the here and the now. I wished things continued to use the same amount of "death" acceptable like Tale Spin and Batman, but the thing is they didn't and that's why this feels so much more important to me.

[pitbulllady]

Actually, this isn't the first time that Foster's has specifically mentioned the word "killed"; Mr. Herriman says, in "Crime After Crime", "I could have been KILLED" after Bloo causes him to fall down the stairs, although he wasn't referring to Bloo's actions, but to the "threat" of his "stalker". While that was not as serious an incident as Berry's plot to kill Mac, it did really spell out that Imaginary Friends are very much mortal beings who fear death as much as we do.
There was also no doubt that in the pilot episode, Duchess and Terrence intended to kill Bloo, even though that word was never mentioned, and that whole thing with the Extremasaur in the junkyard was presented in a comedic manner that sort of glossed over the danger that Bloo and the other characters were in. That train scene in "Affair Weather Friends", though, was just edge-of-my-seat gripping, not funny at all, and while I knew that they'd wouldn't actually let Mac be killed, just the fact that they had one character really and truely plotting elaborately to kill another, in cold blood, was really powerful.

I don't know if you remember this one forum member who, after Good Wilt Hunting aired, argued that there was no surgury involved, no doctors needed, in the removal of Wilt's badly fractured arm-all it took was "cartoon magic"; Wilt's arm just "magically" disappeared and those suture scars just showed up, without him having to endure surgical amputation and antibiotics and IV's and all that. The arguement was based on the notion that "toons" don't die and don't get hurt. They just disintergrate into a pile of ashes, as Mr. Marshmallow described, and in the next scene they are back to normal-"cartoon magic". Foster's has the guts to actually have characters, though, animated or not, that can be hurt, that bleed, that can die or be killed. We learned from the Season One DVD, for instance, that Wilt DOES have bones, that can break, and he DOES require a doctor's care in such a situation, having to wear a cast for the same duration that a human would for most fractures. Having characters like this help to suspend one's disbelief and really feel for these characters. Most "kids' shows" dodge around the whole notion of death or dying, or serious injuries to characters, which is one of the things that makes Foster's such a rare exception.

pitbulllady

[AerostarMonk]

Most shows run on the Laws of Cartoon Dynamics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartoon...rtoon_Dynamics, so I wouldn't really begrudge them for lack of serious injuries or death and dying or mention of them for that matter.

As for the remainders there are a few shows out there that flirt with death and make mention of it. Or if not show things of such a graphic nature that the mere absence of the utterance of such words is negligible at best.

Sorry for the dissenting tone. Despite this being a spectacular episode, I failed to see it as a real milestone in the realm of cartoon censorship.

One thing is bothering me though, do you think she fed the captives? I mean I'd get pretty hungry being bound and gagged in a closet.

[Crash-N-Cortex]

The episode is alright. I was surprised to see Berry again, apparently she somehow managed to escape from the rubber band ball sometime after "Berry Scary". Berry is crazy to have Bloo to herself, she's even crazy to kill Mac just to have Bloo to herself. It was an okay episode, the reason I said that is because I haven't seen much of the rest of the Foster's gang. Mac being crazy after eating sugar is just... (makes a circle with his fingers) crazy! I give it a B.