Season Five: Your Analysis?

[Ditchy McAbandonpants]

Wow...six months almost, since the last time I posted here? Sorry NF, looks like I lived up to my name and just abandoned you all for half a year without a word of explanation. In my defence, I could cite my relocation from China to England to Scotland or my hectic university schedule as contributing factors in my prolonged absence, but that don't cut the mustard; no, the best way to begin making amends for my negligence is with a big, intimidating, and most-likely-really-boring GIANT WALL OF TEXT. Just to show you that I still care.

So: to topic! As my topic heading suggests, I feel that we've reached the point where we can look back upon and critically evaluate the fifth season of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. With the airing of "The Little Peas" last month, the number of Season Five episodes broadcast reached a total of twelve; the Cartoon Network (and Foster's) norm for a season is thirteen episodes, so it's safe to say that even if there are still S5 episodes yet to air, it's likely to only be one or two, and we have now seen the vast majority of what Season Five has to offer.

With that in mind, what has been your overall impression of S5? What have been its defining features, its successes and failures? And what, in the final reckoning, is your verdict of this sometimes controversial season?

To get things going, I'm going to highlight the features and trends that I feel have defined this particular season of Foster's.

Out and About
One of the things I've always noticed about Foster's is that for an animated show, it's always felt rather "studio-bound", rather like a sitcom does. That's no criticism; it's not a jet-setting adventure series that constantly needs fresh scenery to function, it essentially is a sitcom, thriving in static locations that let the character comedy play out without needless environmental distraction. That said, though, taking the action out of the house certainly does broaden the horizons of the show's universe and offer new possibilities for the characters, both of which were factors in making "Good Wilt Hunting" such an accomplished breath of fresh air.

Clearly, the Foster's crew realised this too, and therefore Season Five took this new sense of liberation to the next level; all of the season's opening four episodes ("Cheese A Go-Go", "The Buck Swaps Here", "Say It Isn't Sew", "Something Old, Something Bloo") were set predominantly outside the Foster's Mansion, whilst the fifth ("The Bloo Superdude and the Magic Potato of Power") was set predominantly outside REALITY. In many ways, this gamble paid dividends; it was clear that the writers were having a blast finding original and fun new uses for the characters in narrative, comedic and visual terms, never more obviously than in "Bloo Superdude". That said, though, I couldn't help feeling as the season wore on that separating the friends from the house for too long causes the show to lose something vital. Not for nothing is the show called Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends; the home itself is more than just a setting, it's part of the show's identity and is almost a character in itself, with its distinctive decor, its oddball yet comforting ambiance, and its teeming population of cute, squidgy, slimy, spiky, hairy, scary and freaky extras, many of whom are walking puns and visual gags in themselves. More than anything, the episodes set away from Foster's made me truly appreciate that this crazy old mansion is the ONLY place this show could be set; frankly, I started to miss it. As imaginative as the dreamscapes of "Bloo Superdude" were, there was nothing in that episode that made me as ecstatic as the first half of episode six, "Schlock Star", when I realised I was watching the first Foster's-set Foster's episode to air in almost a year. Truly, there's no place like Home.

"Bloo's Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends"
The best imaginary friend ever? That may be up for debate, but there's no arguing with Blooregard Q. Kazoo's status as the most visible friend of all, and Season Five has been the season when the world's greatest self-promoter smashed his way right back into centre stage. Sure, Mac and Bloo have always been the show's lynchpins, but in my eyes Season Five felt like a deliberate retreat from the slightly more ensemble feel of the previous two seasons, giving us the most Bloo-centric collection of episodes since Season Two; aside from the group effort of "Cheese A Go-Go", and the secondary character spotlights of "The Buck Swaps Here", "Better Off Ed" and "The Little Peas", every episode in S5 is a Bloo showcase, with "Bloo Superdude" again standing out in its reinterpretation of the entire Foster's universe through Bloo-tinted lenses.

It's a valid direction to take, and one can see why the Foster's crew might want to choose to get "back to basics" in this way; Bloo is, after all, Foster's most unique and defining creation, and his intensely egotistical, impulsive and reckless personality makes for an anarchic and high-energy show. That said, I do feel that indulging Bloo doesn't always do the character a lot of favours; his relentlessly manic energy can become overbearing in large doses, especially given Keith Ferguson's tendency to go rather screechy with Bloo's voice whenever the character is let off the leash. Moreover, I can't help thinking that the team are underestimating the quality of the cast they've assembled: there's the other principal, Mac, who deserves far more than simply being "Bloo's foil"; a rich selection of secondary characters (Wilt, Eduardo, Coco, Frankie, Herriman, Madame Foster, Goo, Terrence, Cheese), all of whom have proven themselves strong enough to carry a story themselves; and a cavalcade of scene-stealing bit-part characters who are going from strength to hilarious strength (more on them later). This memorable gang of misfits is one of the show's key strengths, and offers a lot of comedic versatility that's simply missing from a Bloo-centric show; Wilt, Coco, Goo, and Herriman, in particular, have been given extremely short shrift by the writers of S5, Terrence has gone AWOL completely, whilst Frankie and Ed, whilst faring better, have still been underused. Needless to say, I have missed their presence; the resources are all there, guys, and you should use them!

Lauren and Darrick
Maybe it's something to do with the ongoing, high-profile strike, but audiences and fans suddenly seem to be taking a lot more notice of writers recently. With the exception of the "attention" garnered by Craig Lewis in the aftermath of "Imposter's Home...", I don't remember that many people discussing the issue of writers prior to S5, but this season they seem to have come under a lot closer scrutiny, with a certain Mr Darrick Bachman becoming something of a bête noire amongst certain fans. For me, though, my perceptions of Season Five are tied up with two people: Bachman, and our mutual friend Lauren Faust.

Let's deal with Darrick first. In a very real way, S5 has been his season, writing five episodes solo and co-writing a further two; that's seven out of twelve episodes, which is unprecedented for Foster's, trumping Tim McKeon's five episode stint in Season Four. Bad move? Certainly, I don't feel Darrick has quite lived up to the potential he showed in S4 (his "Emancipation Complication" and especially "Bloo's The Boss" remain two of my favourite episodes); "Cheese A Go-Go", which felt more like his than co-writer Lauren's, was simply too chaotic and formless for my taste, whilst "Say It Isn't Sew" is one of my least favourite episodes ever, taking a thin premise and doing nothing with it. However, I do think it's unfair to call him anything other than a decent writer; "Schlock Star" and "Nightmare on Wilson Way" were imaginative and energetic, "Better Off Ed" was a solid, traditional-feeling and welcome Eduardo spotlight, and I'll even admit to being a fan of two of his most contentious episodes, the frenetic and fun "Ticket to Rod" and the ambitiously experimental "The Little Peas". I do think that he's a little too keen on the louder, shoutier aspects of the show's humour, and is perhaps one of those responsible for the Bloo-centricism I highlighted earlier, but on balance I have to say that whilst I don't love his stuff, I do like it.

The other writer I've highlighted as being notable this season is Lauren Faust, but sadly she's been notable for her relative absence. Not without justification is Lauren the head writer; of all the writers to work on the show, she is by far the one who best understands the appeal, rhythms and dynamics that make this setting and these characters work. The vast majority of my all-time favourite episodes are solo Lauren efforts, which makes it all the more disappointing that S5 didn't feature a single one. Sure, she has co-writer credit on quite a few S5 episodes, but for me none of them, not even season standout "The Bride to Beat", quite struck that perfect tone that typifies a Lauren Faust episode. What's happening there, I wonder? Is she taking a more hands-off supervising role now? Is she busy with her ongoing Galaxy Girls project? Whatever the case, I sincerely hope she flexes her writing muscles properly again come Season Six, because the show isn't the same without thoroughbred Lauren Faust episodes to look forward to...

Their Time To Shine!
As I said before, one of the key strengths of Foster's that really makes it stand out from the rest of the pack is the care, imagination and thought that goes into its colourful and misshapen cast of background characters; it's a real pleasure to watch these guys milling around, and even though you only see them for a matter of seconds most of the time, they enhance the fun atmosphere of the show no end.

Well, once again, Season Five seems to have been the season that the writers truly realised what an asset their background cast is, so much so that they've decided to bring a bunch of them centre stage, resulting in a number of true breakout stars. Unlike my previous points, there's no "but..." here, no downside; the show does nothing but gain from the way they've developed the likes of Jackie Khones, Fluffer Nutter and Bloppy Pants from single-line caricatures into hilarious full personalities. Whether it's Jackie's deadpan sullenness and smug manipulation, Bloppy's neurotic stammering or Fluffer's incongruous spikiness, they open up new avenues for humour and keep the show feeling fresh and full of possibilities. And don't even get me started on Jackie & Fluffer...or Jackie's pimp costume...or Pizza Party dressing up as the Village People ...certainly, this trend of developing bit-part players is one that I absolutely want to see continuing. My pick for a character who needs an expanded role? Green-Cyclops-Guy-Who-Dresses-As-Blossom-Then-Bubbles on Halloween.


OK, I think I'm done. I originally had a few other things to say, but then I noticed that I'd overshot the 12,000 character limit, and I took that as a sign that I should stop typing and let other people talk. Over to you.

[Ub3rD4n]

STOP STEALING MY THOUGHTS!!

I was about to do this exact thing, I have been thinking of it since the weekend, but wanted to wait till we were sure we'd seen all of S5 before passing judgement. And I stand by that. I'll be posting a huge rant here later, once we get word that S5 is over.

[pitbulllady]

I really couldn't put it better myself, Ditchy-very well-written and thought-out piece here. I do have a few "dittos", though, mainly with the regards to the show's overemphasis on Bloo(and sometimes Bloo and Mac) and the dissolution of that group dynamic between Wilt, Coco, Eduardo, Bloo and Mac, and sometimes Frankie, that worked so well in earlier seasons. I can't really think of one episode in which they were all together as a group, on some (mis)adventure or another, with the possible exception of the part in "Something Old, Something Bloo" in which Wilt, Ed, and Coco infiltrate the nursing home to try and get Bloo to come back to Foster's, but wind up settling in themselves.

While I do also enjoy seeing a bit more of the background characters, like Bloppy Pants or especially Jackie, I still feel a bit let-down that their moments to shine have largely come at the expense of the major players, like Wilt and Mr. Herriman, resulting in characters we've all come to know and love being pushed into the background. In a show like this, with so many characters, it's inevitable that there will have to be those that are considered major players, and those that are minor leaguers, and I'm one to stick with the old adage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"; in other words, if you know that the public knows and likes a particular character, stick with that one and don't push them into the shadows. I've really felt that some of the appearances of Wilt and Coco were done purely for "token" reasons, like the writer really didn't have a "handle" on those characters, personality-wise or speech-wise, and had no clue how to use them. This, I guess, is the biggest problem associated with Lauren Faust's absence; SHE knew the character very well, like family I guess you can say, but Darrick Bachman doesn't seem to really understand them and know what to do with them, so for the most part, he's left them out. He's concentrated on ONE character, Bloo, and Bloo's personality, taking it to the extreme, instead. I guess that appeals most to the "target" audience of 4-10 year-old kids, who thrive on Bloo's chaos, and could care less about character developement, but it's resulted in a let-down for the many, many older fans of the show.

pitbulllady

[emperor26]

Let me see, here is my interpretation of Season 5:

The season got off to a very rocky start when "Cheese A Go-Go" premiered, and to be very honest, it was a let-down than I actually expected, and it appears to be reverted back to Season 3 as its getting close to the season finale (which, honestly, happens to be my least favorite season).

Also, I am beginning to question the crew's choice of writer, specifically, Darrick Bachman. When he made his debut through Bloo's the Boss, I decided to reserve my opinion on him for a while. But after watching episodes like Emancipation Complication, Better Off Ed, The Little Pea and Ticket to Rod, I have to say that Bachman seems to lack insights of the characters, especially Bloo (one of my favorite characters). That, along with the humors and plot, didn't suit me well. For the sake of the season finale, I hope that he doesn't write the season finale.

Speaking of the writers, I really miss other notable ones such as Adam Pava, and I hope that sometimes in the future, he does an episode for Foster's again.

Finally there were some episode I enjoy, and some I didn't. But out of all the episodes shown so far this season, "Bride to Beat" happens to be my all-time favorite. The reason I choose this episode is mainly because of the relationships between Mac and Bloo, as well as their characters. In any case, it's clear that Bloo does care about his friendship with Mac, and Mac himself clearly enjoys Bloo's personality.

In general, Season 5 is on a so-so scale, but I hope Season 6 does a better job.

[jekylljuice]

Hey, Ditchy's back! Good to see you in action again, my man.

You've written a very detailed and thoughtful analysis which probably deserves a more contemplative response than I honestly have the stamina to deliver right now. I'll be back with a few of my own thoughts later. Until then, don't go away.

[Lynnie]

I don't think S5 was too bad. Didn't like "CaGG" or "TLP" too much, "TtR" and "BoE" were a little dry, but the others were great. My favorites were "AWF", "BtB" and "NoWW". It may be the weakest season so far in my book, however. But then it may grow on me more as time goes by, so I don't think it's fair to bash it too much yet. I'm also wondering (and hoping) on one more episode to officially end S5.

A little OT, but I just checked TAG's blog today, and the Foster's crew is off their hiatus and working hard (apparently on the second floor of the CN Studios building). As to whether they're finishing up season 6, preparing for a green light for season 7, or making some changes, I guess we'll find out sooner or later.

[Shelltoon]

Personally, while S5 had some rocky moments (Little Peas, Ticket to Rod, Cheese A Go Go) it wasn't that horrible to me. Am I weird though to say I happened to like Something Old Something Bloo? I thought it was a really cute episode. True there is a lot of Darrick Bachmann, and I'm still not sold on his writing yet, despite Better Off Ed being one of my favorite episodes. Hopefully Season 6 can make up for those bumps in the road Season 5 left behind and we can see more than just Bloo.

[One Radical Dude]

Originally Posted by emperor26

Also, I am beginning to question the crew's choice of writer, specifically, Darrick Bachman. When he made his debut through Bloo's the Boss, I decided to reserve my opinion on him for a while. But after watching episodes like Emancipation Complication, Better Off Ed, The Little Pea and Ticket to Rod, I have to say that Bachman seems to lack insights of the characters, especially Bloo (one of my favorite characters). That, along with the humors and plot, didn't suit me well. For the sake of the season finale, I hope that he doesn't write the season finale.

Speaking of the writers, I really miss other notable ones such as Adam Pava, and I hope that sometimes in the future, he does an episode for Foster's again.

I believe TLP was the season finale, I hate to say it. As for Darrick Bachman himself, I am not sure where to begin. I'm getting this "I want Darrick Bachman ousted" vibe out of some members. If that's the case, I have to warn some of you to be careful what you wish for. It's definitely getting to be louder than hearing people wonder about Craig Lewis's efforts. Personally, I happen to like most of Bachman's episodes. I agree that "Ticket to Rod" wasn't up there with other episodes, and "The Little Peas" was disappointing (I didn't dislike the latter because a certain fan favorite got robbed, I didn't care for it because the episode focused way too much on Peas, which is a character I wasn't very interested in at all, and it was more like a remake of The Big Cheese).

However, he's done some really brilliant episodes. "Schlock Star" was brilliant to me, because the episode consisted of four lesser-known/secondary imaginary friends, and having them in a band made this pretty special. At the same time, we saw a decent amount of time of much of the main characters in there, also. "Nightmare on Wilson Way", I'd say this was probably my second favorite episode from Bachman this season. That was a real Halloween episode, compared to "Bloooo". It was great seeing the gang in costumes, and to see Mac's return [2nd time for the season] to being hooked on sugar (inserts Mac crazy smiley). "Say It Isn't Sew", I enjoyed that one quite a bit.

Here's something else that some of you may not understand. I get this feeling that maybe some of this season's weakest episodes were weaker than Season Four's weakest links, because of different possible reasons: 1. since Season Four ended, two active writers left the series to work on another show (being Adam Pava and Tim McKeon), and 2. that added more work and pressure for the others (not to mention the deadlines), especially Darrick Bachman (who did a huge chunk of the writing for Season Five, and joined the crew later during the 4th season). 3. Lauren Faust, she co-wrote a couple episodes, and one by herself (I think). She's definitely still working on the show. If she's really working less on it, it's probably because of Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls. If she wishes to focus on that some more, then one should respect her decision. 4. Maybe some of us have too high of expectations. That's never a good thing to do, because more often than not, that would lead to disappointments. Just hope that the crew still has a lot of goods left to deliver, and I'm certain that they still do.

[jekylljuice]

Okay, I'm back.

It seems a pattern to me with Foster’s seasons that the evens have generally been stronger than the odds. Which is not to dismiss Seasons One, Three and Five, but I personally feel that Two and Four had the highest and most consistent turn-out of excellent episodes. Season One got the show off to a great start, by Season Two it had really found its feet and was starting to expand on its characters and humour with frequently fabulous results, while Season Three was mostly very solid and enjoyable but produced fewer favourites than its predecessor, something which Season Four, though it struck the odd bum note with TBC and IOHSFY, gloriously remedied. Season Five…well, it’s been a somewhat bumpier ride with it’s higher ratio of great to not-so-great, but on the whole it’s still delivered. “Bride to Beat” is the unmistakeable champion here, followed closely by “Shlock Star”, which, like ORD, I respect for taking the trouble to bring a handful of background characters into the limelight - particularly Fluffer Nutter, whom I’d taken an interest in ever since her cameo appearance at the start of GWH. “Bloo Superdude” was an enjoyable and imaginative episode that did something new and interesting with the regular characters. And I personally loved “Say It Ain’t Sew” (sorry, Ditchy), in part because it rung some bells of truth, the roller coaster sequences were neatly edited, and that old geezer who’d willingly confined himself to the children’s play area of the store is more or less where I know I’m headed in life, gender notwithstanding.

I’m surprised that no one has singled out Berry’s return as a season highlight…admittedly, I do find her to be a slightly overrated character myself, and there are other one-off characters which I would much rather have seen return ahead of her (*cough* Kip, *cough* Red), though I’m aware that I’m in the minority. Now that the shock value of her unexpected reappearance has more-or-less worn away, I’m a bit more “meh” on “Affair Weather Friends” than I was when it first aired - I like it more now for Duchess’s contribution than for Berry’s. And Gary’s cameo appearance of course. Nonetheless, I see it as a positive sign that they took the trouble to dig up a long-buried character and utilise them again, and I would hope they at least consider taking the opportunity to do this a bit more often.

On the more negative side, I do really miss the inputs of Adam Pava and Tim McKeon, and I really hope we haven’t seen the last of them. I don’t resent Darrick Bachman, though I don't think that any of his contributions this season quite matched up to the supreme standards of "Bloo's the Boss", and a little more diversity next season, in terms of both writers and characters, might be a good thing. I agree that it's a real shame we've so little of Wilt and Coco this season, and absolutely nothing as far as poor Terrence is concerned. Hopefully this trend won't carry on into Season Six (interestingly, Season Five also saw a significant down turn in the high amount of Goo contributions which many had a problem with in Season Four - she seems to have herself pretty scarce upon the whole). And there were some fairly gimmicky episodes this season which did little for me - chiefly CAGG and TLP (the latter of which I haven't yet watched all the way through but I think I get the picture).

So, on the whole I concur that Season Five has had its noteable ups and downs, but it's still a long way off from a disaster. My hopes for Season Six remain high.

[Ub3rD4n]

Okay, so I said I was gonna do it, and now I'm a-doin' it! Now that we know for absolute certain that Season 5 is OVA BABY! We can begin our advanced critique. Well, I can, and you can all listen. I know that this level of analysis is geeky, but I'm bored, okay?

So, I'll be looking at about three things here: The themes I picked up in this season, how the season treated individual characters, and the performance of the episodes as a whole.

First off, we see some themes: First of all, there is the "Out and about" theme that Messr Ditchy already elaborated on, so no need to go into that here.

Second we have the Mac and Bloo being friends theme. This showed up in at least four episodes out of the twelve, which meets my criteria for a theme. It was likely a response to the awesome viewer response to "Squeeze the Day", or at least an admittance that this theme (which is meant to be present throughout the entire series) has been somewhat lacking in recent seasons. I enjoyed this theme immensely.

Third, we have the spotlight shone on Madame Foster, who has been the least recurring of all the characters outside the Fosters Five but still truly main cast. Again, at least four episodes featured her prominently, and we've seen a lot more of our favourite little old lady. Some of these episodes were good for her image, like "Something Old, Something Bloo". Though others, not so much. I still liked it, though.

Next we go on to review each character's stake in this latest season:

Bloo got tons of screen time, almost to the exclusion of the rest of the Fosters Five, even if you take into account the whole Mac&Bloo theme. Ditchy already beat me to the chase here too, so I defer to him.

As part of the Mac/Bloo ensemble, Mac also got lots of screen time here, and plenty of scenes. Fans of sugar high Mac were in for a treat this season. He pretty much showed up everywhere this season, as he always does.

Wilt, on the other hand, got little time directed towards him. Even if you compare this to his rather dismal showing in the past. Again, others have long lamented about this, so I ain't gonna repeat.

Eduardo made out pretty well from this season. For any character other than the Mac/Bloo, any season where two whole episodes are dedicated to you is a good one. He also got plenty of memorable lines, even where he wasn't starring.

Coco: Um, was Coco IN this season? I don't remember. Oh, wait, she had that one awesome line on the halloween special. Otherwise, no, not really.

Frankie: Average to good season. She's had good roles just about the whole way through, and a fair amount of screen time. Sure she was thrashed about in Cheese A Go-Go, but if you lived through The Big Cheese, you have nothing to fear. Oh, and if you're a fan, please try to ignore that last episode of the season.

Mr Herriman had few appearances here, but the ones he did have were good. The Madame F/Mr H high five and the whole prank on Bloo thing stand out to me.

Madame Foster: already covered. Didn't you read above?

Duchess: Got some good lines in, but nothing special, time-wise. I loved her this season, but this is just my opinion.

Terrence: AWOL

Goo: just one minor appearance. Obviously she's on cooldown after appearing in almost all of season four.

Cheese: One appearance I loved, and another that was...dissappointing. I dunno who they hoped to please with The Little Peas, but I hope it wasn't Cheese fans, cause it was his most bland appearance so far.

Jackie Khones somehow: Yeah, I was amazed at first, but he seems to have been promoted to recurrer status. It's worked out fairly well so far, for me and from what I've seen, the fanbase as a whole. His personality has been revealed, and most like what they see.

Now finally: How did the episodes play out? Well, they were very up and down. Some sucked worse than we thought Fosters could, yet some were more awesome than most other episodes we've ever seen (which is hard to do by season five of any show). Many have attributed this to the Bachman. He's written some horrible ones, but also some of the best. I reserve judgement for now. As for season five as a whole? I tend to rate quality over consistency, so rate it just above season three and below season four. not bad, guys. Not bad.

Of course, I'd like to see what you guys think, too.