Thursday, 16 July 2015

Goosebumps Part II

Last Halloween I reviewed the 90's television series Goosebumps. The series was based on a series of scary children's books of the same name. It was supposed to be like The Twilight Zone for kids. I only reviewed three of the series episodes and I am back for more. I will be reviewing. So let's see if I'm in for a scare or if it's not as scary as it may seem.


You Can't Scare Me: First episode on the list is  You Can't Scare Me. The episode starts with two people out in the swamp but then they both are attacked by monster made out of mud. But this scene only turns out to be a report on local legends being given by a girl name Courtney. Two of the other kids in the school Eddie and Hat (yes Hat is the only name we get for him) don't seem to like Courtney because she is very stuck up and thinks she is better than everyone else. So Eddie and Hat decide to pull a prank on her by putting a snake in her lunch bag. This only ends up scaring her friends and Courtney just puts the snake outside. They try something to scare her again by dropping a spider on her head but that doesn't work either. They decide to try one last time by pretending to be mud monsters in the bog. After inviting her out to the bog they over themselves in mud and try and scare her she realizes it's them and lectures them. But then a real mud monster comes out of the bog but Courtney isn't afraid of it either and she ends up lecturing it until it dries up from being in the sun for too long. Okay, I will admit that was really funny. Courtney gets lots of local media coverage for discovering the monster and Eddie and Hat wander off to and sit on the bench. But then after they sit down they notice another mud monster behind them. The End....or is it?





This episode was pretty average. Courtney was an annoying character but so were Eddie and Hat so there aren't too many likeable characters. However the ending was hilarious and it makes up for having to sit through what otherwise is a very dull episode.

The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight: Two kids go to visit their grandparents who live on a farm. Their grandparents have a really weird farm hand name Stanley who is always raving about how the scarecrows in the field are alive. Nobody believes him of course and the kids get on with the vacation. The next day the kids are out playing catch when the ball is throw out into the corn field but when they go get it a scarecrow attacks them. But then it turns out it's just a kid named Sticks playing a prank on them. That night Stanley keeps going on about how the scarecrows in the field are alive but everyone ignores him. The next day a scare crow comes out of the field and falls on top of one of the kids. They assume Sticks is at it again and that night prepare to scare him back. But that night they see one of the scarecrows walking and Sticks explains that Stanley brought them to life to do farm work for him but now their out of control. They manage to shread the scarecrows into little pieces using the thresher but the next day the thresher is alive. The End....or is it?





This episode was pretty good. The acting ranged from okay to weird and there were a lot of awkward pauses. The make up was actually really good and their were some scarty moments. All and all a pretty decent episode.

Shocker on Shock Street: A girl named Erin and her friend Marty are at Erin's dads work shop. He works as a special effects designer for horror movies. Most notably a series of movies called the Shock Street Saga. Erin's father meets them and says that he is working on a horror themed ride for the local amusement park and he wants Erin and Marty to test it. They get on the ride but about halfway through it gets stuck and they get out and walk around. They find them selves on the set to of Shock Street from the movies but end up running into a lot of monsters which it turns out are not special effects but rather real monsters. Meanwhile the father and his assistants are trying to find them. They eventually find them but it turns out that the kids aren't humans but really.............Robots that their father used to test the rides at the park.......I won't question it. Later in the fathers lab he is seen building two new robots but the old ones reactivate to take revenge on him, The End......or is it?




This episode......was really weird. Not only does the twist make zero sense but not much happens for most of the episode. Most of the episode is just the two kids walking around the park. Not too much to say about this epsiode but, What?


And that was my second review of the Goosebumps TV show. If you want to hear more about what I thinl about it go check out mu first review I did last Halloween. Until next time this has been Keaton on Films.

Sunday, 5 July 2015

Top Ten Kids Shows that Jumped the Shark

Jumping the shark is somthing that happens to a TV show when the writers are out of ideas and just decide to do whatever pops into their head. But it's something that happens to kids shows too. So I'll be counting down those moments right here. So strap on your water skis bewcause this is the Top Ten TV Shows that Jumped the Shark. Also some spoilers for some of these shows are ahead so be warned.



10 The Muppet Show: The Star Wars Episode
Everyone loves the Muppets almost everyone had them in their childhood. The catchy songs, the funny characters, and the guest stars that modern kids won't recognize. But, believe it or not there was an episode of the iconic Muppet Show that featured the characters from Star Wars. The episode isn't that bad, it's just that it feels really out of place in this world. Not too much else to say about except for: "Why and how?"







10 Flaws From The Otherwise Perfect Batman The Animated Series9 Batman the Animated Series: The Redesign
Halfway into this series the animation was redesigned to look more stylized. For some of it the redesign worked. But for other parts it didn't work as well. One of the biggest examples is the joker who.....I don't know it just seems really weird. Of course this didn't stop the series from being any less good.












                                                                                    8 Ninja Turtles: The Alien
In the 2003 reboot of the 80's show about teenaged reptiles that ate pizza and fought crime (it is much better than it sounds) we get a pretty silly dramatic reveal. At the beginging of season two we find out that the series' main villain, a samurai called The Shredder is an alien. While the reveal actually does make a lot of sense and is pretty schocking it still doesn't make this moment any less silly.







                                                                                    7 Total Drama: Feral Zeke
While this show was aimed at teenagers it did air on Cartoon Network so I guess this counts. The show is a parody of reality TV shows such as Survivor and The Amazing Race. One of the least interesting characters in the show is the reason they jumped the shark believe it or not. In season three the character Zeke (who didn't have much of persoanlity becides a thick Canadian accent) got turned into what is essentialy Gollum from Lord of the Rings after being locked in the cargo hold of a jumbo jet. Honestly, I don't know why they did this. He barely shows up later on and doesn't add much to the plot.


6 Hanna Barbera: Repeating Themselves

In the 70's the animation studio Hanna Barbera was running out of ideas. One of their biggest hits was Scooby Doo. They realized is was popular and easy to make seeing as all the episodes basically have the same plot of old guys dressed as ghosts. So they decided to make cheap knock offs of it. Some of the best examples of this are the shows The Funky Phantom and Goober and the Ghost Chasers. Their wasn't much difference between any of these shows just change the names of the characters and then you have your show. In fact one episode of Ghost Chasers had a plot simaller to a Scooby Doo episode.



5 Any Show: The Clip Show
If the writers for a TV show won't finish their script before their deadline they will throw together a clip show. Just edit clips from older episodes together maybe write a flimsy plot to hold it together and then you have your clip show. Clip shows are rarely ever good. Scratch that clip shows are never good their always either "Meh"  or "No".



4 Scooby Doo: Guest Stars
I am not going to be nice to Hanna Barbera in this review, am I? The season of scooby doo titled "The New Scooby Doo Movies" had a gimmick where each episode had a special guest star. Now, the episodes are pretty average for Scooby Doo the problem is it makes the episodes feel really dated. Most kids these days won't recognise Don Knotts, Davy Jones, or Phyllis Diller. Probably one of the weirder episodes of the show is where they team up with the Adam West Burt Ward Batman and Robin to stop the Joker and the Penguin.




3 The Flintstones: The Great Gazoo
For those of you who don't know who this is allow me to explain, The Great Gazoo is a tiny, green, floating alien who was exiled to Earth. Okay, stop. This is a sitcom about the stone age. Where do aliens fit into this? Not only is it out of place but Gazoo is also very annoying.








2 Scooby Doo Again: Scrappy Doo
Scooby's nephew Scrappy will forever be known as one of the most annoying cartoon characters in history. All he did was shout catchphrases and got in trouble. To make things first worse his voice really started to hurt your ears after a while. Honestly, what where they thinking? There isn't much to say that hasn't been said already. Let's just hope they don't bring him back any time soon.




1 Happy Days: Fonzie Jumps the Shark
Well gee....I bet you didn't expect this one did you? Well of course it's on here what kind of Shark Jumping list wouldn't it be without it. It's pretty self explainetory The Fonz jumps over some sharks on water skis. It is just about as silly as it sounds. It's the original Shark Jumping moment what else can you say.










Well that was the Top Ten Kids Shows that Jumped the Shark. I do suppose that Happy Days is more of a family show but still what kind of a reviewer would I be if I didn't include it. I hope you enjoyed it and I will see you next time for another review.