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The Fairly Odd Parents | back to reviews |
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The Fairly Oddparents
When this show debuted in 2001, I was instantly drawn to it. The very concept was enough to get me to watch, and the humor kept me there. The adventures of Timmy, Cosmo, and Wanda were some of my favorites for a long time.
While simple, the characters were developed in the earlier seasons. Cosmo and Wanda ran away from home to get married, giving their relationship some serious "awww" factor, while Timmy was a boy smarter than many around him. I was especially pleased with "The Boy Who Would Be Queen", because it looked like they were actually going to make an interesting version of The Libby. Indeed, there were hints of Hidden Depths for her throughout the first three seasons.
The villains were entertaining as well. Crocker was both funny while being a threat to Timmy, and Mark made for an entertaining character. All in all, it was a great (and hilarious) series.
Then season four came along, and with it, Seasonal Rot. Nearly every character was either Flanderized or had Character Exaggeration. Timmy and Cosmo became Jerkass characters who latched onto the Idiot Ball, both of Timmy's love interests (Trixie and Tootie) became unlikeable, and some of the worst episodes in the series run were released ("Just the Two of Us," "Timmy's 2D House of Horror," (these two for making above love intrests unlikeable) "It's a Wishful Life" (for its Wall Banger of a Broken Aesop)). Plus two episodes ("Shelf Life" and "Channel Chasers") pretty much use the same basic plot with different motifs and levels of seriousness. But still, some gems were still in there, like Mark's Heel Face Turn, the Musical Episode, and Norm's introduction.
When season six started, it was Growing The Beard for me. Poof was born, much of the Flanderization was reversed, and, on the whole, the series got good again. The "Wishology" special (which, if you watch it again, the sixth season had episodes specifically setting things up for it) gets special mention, it would have been a great Grand Finale if not for another season.
All in all, it's a great series, if you avoid most of seasons four and five.
Dude. Fix the formatting.
VampireBuddha
16th Jun 09
What do you mean? What's wrong with the formatting?
MichaelJJ
16th Jun 09
You're using some quote character that my web browser, at least, doesn't understand. Probably Microsoft Word smart quotes. You need to edit them to be normal quotes, otherwise the rest of us see just question marks or blank spaces.
Morven
16th Jun 09
There's little boxes with FF/FD in them all over the place, apparently instead of apostrophes.
VampireBuddha
17th Jun 09
Ah, I see. I did type this in Microsoft word, and the mistakes didn't show up on my browser. If there's still something wrong, let me know, but I think I fixed it.
MichaelJJ
17th Jun 09
Yup, looks good now :)
VampireBuddha
19th Jun 09
You seem to like Season 6 but then at the end you tell us to avoid it. Am I reading this wrong or did you mean another season?
HarryBrewis
20th Jun 09
Whoops, that's a typo. My bad.
MichaelJJ
20th Jun 09
If I recall, apparently Butch Hartman, the man behind the show, was not involved or at least had less involvement in Seasons 3 through 5, which is evident as the characters became more like caricatures. Timmy becoming a Jerkass caricature particularly annoyed me. Haven't watched Season 6, but maybe I should check it out.
Cliche
29th Jun 09
You should. Timmy becomes much less of a Jerkass. It only comes up twice, but for the most part he makes it twenty episodes without becoming unlikeable. Cosmo, also, makes it through the whole season with only one nag joke (in the still unaired "Momnipresent"). Trixie is reversed some as well. Sadly not the case for Timmy's parents. All in all, it does get better after Poof is born.
MichaelJJ
1st Jul 09
Very good analysis Michael JJ. I completely agree with your assessment of your show.
Chip J
31st Oct 09