An episode/movie that made a good impact on a TV show

For me, it would be "Ed Edd, n Eddy: Big Picture Show" for Ed Edd n Eddy because the movie allowed the viewers to see a completely different side of a lot of characters, like Eddy, Ed, Sarah, Kevin, Nazz, The Kankers.

In the movie, Eddy cried & showed remorse for his actions, Ed did something smart, Sarah hugged Ed, Kevin stood up for Eddy after Eddy was getting beaten up by his brother, and the Kankers were disgusted by Eddy's brother beating up Eddy.

While the kids and the Kankers beat up/rape the Eds, they always stop when they had their fill, but when they witnessed Eddy's Brother beating up Eddy, they banned together to stop him. That was an out of character, yet best moment from the kids.

At first, I wasn't surprised that Eddy's Brother was a jerk at first, but after looking up "Complete Monster" was, he certainly qualifies. Eddy's brother was the true antagonist and was the most evil of them all.

That is what made me like Ed Edd n Eddy a lot more, because it wasn't another sadist episode for the Eds, and it subverts the Butt-Monkey ending that the Eds usually get.

edited 28th Sep '12 11:17:56 AM by MsCC93

I think Transformers The Movie comes to mind. Before that, you didn't see Saturday Morning shows where there was a threat of death on that or any scale.

The Simpsons: "Holidays of Future Passed" from Season 23. This episode proved that the writers can still churn out a brilliant episode when they really try. The fact that this Unpleasable Fanbase almost universally liked a recent episode (Google the reviews) is remarkable in itself.

Truthfully the Kankers standing up for Eddy isn't that out of character, they are insane borderline rapists, but they do like the Eds ("What's he doin' to MY MAN?!?!?").

As for Eddy's Brother I think how horrific he was is exaggerated, yeah he's a one note repulsive jerk that we're meant to despise, but I don't think he was a Complete Monster, it was still very slapstick toned rather than outright chilling like some people label the scene.

I do think the episode had good impact however, giving a lot of Character Development and deconstucting it's usual Sadist Show dynamic. Without I think I would have just seen it as another attempt at G Rated Kafka Komedy.

For some reason I think Lesson Zero of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic was the point I realized how great the show was, if largely for poking fun at it's saccharine Aesop image in such a darkly comic manner. Also had a lot of good character establishment for Twilight Sparkle.

edited 29th Sep '12 11:03:56 AM by Psi001

"The Dragon's Graveyard" from Dungeons and Dragons. It was the first time in a cartoon that I had seen where the heroes contemplated killing their central antagonist.

Still, the fact that he was doing this deliberately just to make him suffer was really, really bad. Very few times in the show has anyone actually actively inflicted physical pain intentionally on other characters simply to watch them suffer. Except for that one episode that we don't talk about.

I'd have to go with Avatar The Last Airbender's "Tales of Ba Sing Se". I watched the show for a brief while up to this point, and I thought it was okay. This episode is really what opened my eyes to just how amazing the show could be. It had everything you could ask for: Humor, lightheartedness, serious and emotional moments that you can actually empathize with, character development shown through action and not exposition, and just all around amazing writing. Despite being what most might consider a filler episode, I have a mind to say that it's probably one of the best, if not the best, episodes of the entire series.

Also, it brought us the amazing form of entertainment known as HAIKU BATTLES.

edited 29th Sep '12 4:02:16 PM by 0dd1

Truthfully there were plenty of times the characters picked on each just for kicks. Eddy and Kevin were forever trying to humiliate or harm the other out of spite, while Sarah frequently bullies her brother around for manners ranging from being irritated by him to just plain sadism. Jimmy even admited in one episode he more or less wished the Eds were dead on a frequent basis. Hell in that episode alone they had no involvement in the Noodle Incident, but still wanted to gleefully watch the Eds get thrashed to a pulp. The show and it's characters were in general rather sadistic.

Eddy's brother was a creep, but mostly just a cartoony bully taken to sadistic extremes, not some sinister villain. Most of the stuff he done to Eddy actually seemed like average stuff in the show, especially keeping in mind him getting knocked out by a steel door was supposed to imply he was weak.

I'm not saying that the episode wasn't a notable one, it's just I think that one particular factor is exagerrated.

edited 29th Sep '12 5:27:20 PM by Psi001

Right, but what I'm saying is that it normally was not to that sadistic extreme, that's all.

@Psi001

That's why Complete Monster is a YMMV trope, because not everyone has the same opinion of what a complete monster is and the same opinon of Complete Monsters listed there...I even said it...we may think Eddy's brother was just a thug and a bully, but the fact that he proudly admitted that he has beaten up Eddy all his life is the reason many people qualify him as one. Plus, he wasn't willing to stop beating up Eddy at that time and Edd got clobbered to the ground for simply defending Eddy.

It's understandable why you don't think he is a Complete Monster and I respect your opinion (which is why it's a YMMV trope), but we should all remember what qualifies someone to be a complete monster...here are the steps, copied and pasted from the trope's page.

The Complete Monster can be recognized by these signs:

• The character is truly heinous by the standards of the story, which makes no attempt to present the character in any positive way.
• The character's terribleness is played seriously at all times, evoking fear, revulsion and hatred from the other characters in the story.
• They are completely devoid of altruistic qualities. They show no regret for their crimes.

edited 5th Oct '12 5:05:53 AM by MsCC93

Oh, and apart from Ed Eddn Eddy, Operation Z.E.R.O was the best from Kids Next Door because there were many secrets (and spoilers). It turns out that Numbuh 1's dad was actually Numbuh 0, the Delightful Children were the lost Sector Z who were turned into the Delightful Children (sad isn't it?) and Numbuh 1's father and Father were siblings who were like Cain and Abel

Fair enough, I'm just saying I personally thought this particular instance was a bit too petty and slapstick toned to fit the criteria. It also took a bit of suspension of disbelief that even Sarah was disgusted by him, given she does almost exactly the same amount of crap to Ed and takes just as much sadistic pleasure out of it. And at least Eddy's a jerk that was just intimidated by the Morton's Fork situation he had, Sarah actually manipulates Ed's kindness and devotedness to her, which to me is even more callous and vile. Sarah however is consistantly comical and has at least one redeeming aspect so she is not a Complete Monster.

I don't know why but I find a lot of pilot episodes to raise the bar of shows more than the series' usual standards, largely because some of the First Installment Weirdness actually has positive effect and shows the potential seeping out of their concepts.

Inspector Gadget's pilot episode is fun just for the sake of seeing a semi competent Gadget (though "Haunted Castle" also counts in this area).

Sonic Satam's "Heads Or Tails" I also think is good due to the fact it doesn't take itself as seriously as some later episodes, and a lot of the less nuanced goofiness and whimsy to the characters and scenario actually give it more personality (Rotor in particular, who is often a generic handyman in later medias). For some reason I also rate "Sonic And The Secret Scrolls" highly just for humanizing Sally a bit with a large Not So Above It All moment. I would have prefered it if they had played her and Sonic's tactical conflicts a lot more evenly, though at least she lost once.

The Dreamstone is a particularly glaring example, since the pilot goes out of it's way a lot more to develop other parts of the show (compared to later episodes which are mostly just standard "Loser Villain Protagonist" stories with everything else nuanced) and has a very epic and depthful tone. Might also count "Urpgor's Great Adventure", which similarly uses said formula, but arguably refined better than previous episodes, being one of the more demented and hyperactive episodes of the show, which works to good effect. Helps it's also one of the best animated episodes.

edited 8th Oct '12 8:48:18 PM by Psi001

I agree with you on how Eddy's Brother was portrayed. Thinking about it, I understand and respect your opinion about the slapsticks. Although I do believe he is a Complete Monster (YMMV trope, don't forget!), I don't like how they did the normally amusing "beep" sound effect when Eddy was getting thrown against his brother's trailer, but yet it's supposed to be serious, but it's hard to take it seriously (well by some viewers) when the "beep" sound effect was made, which I normally find funny. How Sarah, Kevin, and the Kankers reacted was really Hypocritical Heartwarming if you think about it.

His actions were heinous by the standards of the story because at least Sarah cares about Ed sometimes and she's always nice to Jimmy and sometimes Edd. The kids aren't always mean to the Eds, it's usually Eddy that they hate and they act nice to Edd when Eddy isn't around. Eddy's a jerk, but he usually never gets away with it and he deserves at least some of the bullying he gets, plus there are times he doesn't act like a jerk and people act like asses towards him for no reason (Sarah and Kevin, usually).

Plus, Eddy's Brother really enjoyed beating the shit out of Eddy and he made no intemtion to stop (which is why he is called a villain because villains never stop until their goals are achieved) , which is why he had to be defeated by Ed. Maybe, just maybe if he never admitted to always beating up Eddy, he wouldn't qualify as a Complete Monster.

Sarah's callousness and Enfant Terrible traits are usually Played for Laughs, the kids bullying each other and the Eds, and the Kankers using Black Comedy Rape in a G-rated manner is also Played for Laughs as well which is why it wasn't as serious as what Eddy's Brother did.

I agree that Sarah's callousness should have been played more seriously and she should have been called out for it during the movie (unless you think Lee Kanker giving her a Wet Willie balances out all of the Karma Houdinis that she received after torturing the Eds), plus even though it was played for laughs, it wasn't funny to the fans watching the show (which is why Sarah is a scrappy along with Kevin (ex: Your Ed Here).

I agree he's a completely unlikeable douche, but I still think the slapstick tone of the scene was deliberate and the scene wasn't meant to be as completely dark and harrowing as some make it out to be. It has dramatic value yes, but it's not that creepy (even the Slasher Smile comes off more amusing than scary). He seems more like a Very Punchable Man to me than a Complete Monster.

I looked through the scene a few times and don't remember the bit he actually stated he always beat up Eddy, I remember a quote more on the lines of "He's always been 'little'" after Edd says he should be nicer to his little brother, which seems more like a nasty insult to Eddy, but not quite as evil.

I'm not saying this doesn't make it less a notable episode, I actually prefer it that way because I would likely find a pretentious and over the top disturbing quality ruin it if he genuinely was a completely dark and serious Complete Monster.

edited 8th Oct '12 7:05:56 PM by Psi001

Oh, forgot one. Pinky And The Brain's Christmas Episode. While the show and it's run on Animaniacs was always pretty good, it was mostly a standard "hopeless villain with dopey sidekick" comedy. And then Brain reads Pinky's Christmas letter...

Mirrored by The Ren And Stimpy Show's "Stimpy's Fan Club" to almost identical effect.

edited 11th Oct '12 5:55:45 PM by Psi001

Heart of Ice for Batman The Animated Series. Even its creators say it so.