Nickelodeon One Shot Posts
As Told By Ginger has got to be one of my personal top favorite Nicktoon series, and Nickelodeon overall. Not number 1, but not below number 5 either. It's an interesting cartoon that ran from well that's kind of iffy in how it broadcast but it did kick off in the year 2000. It's a great series created by Emily Kapnek and yes done by the animation studio Klasky Csupó, and the animation style probably filtered the weak out from a great show.
I'm not going to be writing about the whole show here, I'm instead taking a look at one episode. This one is called "Carl and Maude" it's the second episode of the entire series. As Told By Ginger was slightly different than many other animated shows in a few ways. It offered a realism its world-even characters change clothes- the show has funny moments, but it's not a full 100% comedy series. The characters age, and the show holds a continuity and can be kind of considered somewhat story driven in the sense that episodes are driven more by their story and that a plot might not even finish in one episode. It also would be hard to take a random episode of the show and talk about it since so many key points might have come before it. With episode 2 , it's not too far in.
This is also where even episode 2 has stuff that carries over from episode 1 where Ginger and her friends Jodie and Macie, have to go to the retirement home to do community service because they stole a sign from the bank. Ginger's younger brother, Carl, is there with them - he didn't do anything with the sign; she just has to watch him.
Episode 2 taking something from episode 1 where the trio ended up getting in trouble for stealing a sign carried over here is an example of how this show was different to other cartoon shows on Nickelodeon and other cartoons on other networks. It didn't end up as an off thing where they contained it into one episode. This will be important for this episode too.
There's an older woman named Maude that Carl hears about it and finds here fascinating. He's a mischievous person himself. He and her quickly hit it off and become good friends, which is sweet in its own gross way.
Ginger's plot isn't about her working at the retirement home, it's actually about Courtney Gripling deciding to invite herself over to Ginger's house for dinner. Courtney Gripling is a girl in school, the popular rich one. In fact, the reason Ginger stole a sign in the first place was to impress Courtney. She ended up falling into a trap set by Courtney's friend Miranda. Courtney is a great character, she takes an interest in Ginger , even though they aren't the same "social class" or income class. It's something different from other shows.
Anyway, Courtney has decided to the fun thing of inviting herself to Ginger's house for dinner, which is a bold step. Ginger wants to make her home look cool enough for Courtney and wants the dinner to go well. which would mean uh-oh. Carl has decided to invite Maude for dinner.
More after the jump
Also, Carl hasn't mentioned that his guest is Maude who is not a little girl. This is a good way to horrify Ginger. Courtney seems to be charmed by Ginger's house as if it's some sort of museum to look around and take pictures.
Carl's friend ,Hoodsey, has shown up in the episode, feeling jealous that Carl has been hanging out with Maude a little more than him. Carl explains that he will always be his best friend, but he wants to marry Maude. Which again is weird and sweet, much like Carl's character.
While Carl is outside talking to Hoodsey, it cuts back inside where Maude is being herself and wants someone to chew her food for her, and then she dies. That's not even a joke, she just face plants into her plate and died. Saying "Ah Foo!". This show isn't playing, it really went for a dark moment. It wasn't even one of Maude's pranks. It puts the gravity of it in there too, there's no funny one liners or random thing it's there. The episode doesn't show Carl's reaction to finding out at the moment it cuts to Ginger talking to her friends. They feel about Carl too.
Courtney had a different reaction, at least talking to Miranda. The episode ends sweetly with Carl looking at Maude's gallstones (in a jar) and he and Hoodsey just talking.
Much like the first episode, this show decides to do a hard impact of having a character die in an episode. It did it well, there's a sense of respect for the audience it has which was younger people, and showing that this show is bit more realistic than other cartoons. That doesn't mean that cartoons should all be that way, it just means that this one wanted to take the time to do that.
As I said before, this is one of my favorite Nick animated series, because it brought in stories that were interesting and characters that were interesting. I picked this episode because it was early in the series and can give a sense of the show whilst not being the first episode. This episode also gives a good look at the characters in basic form, while still playing with expectations and nuance.
The episode sets up a few things and flows every little piece together. Ginger and friends go the retirement home, Carl has to be with Ginger because he did something and has to be watched. Carl goes and finds Maude after the girls are told about her. All that kicks off Carl and Maude's story and that the best thing is that Maude probably had the best last few days of life thanks to Carl. Carl embraced her and enjoyed her company and didn't want avoid her.
Courtney's interest in Ginger is an interesting note for her, she did invite Ginger to her party in episode 1, then invites herself for dinner in episode 2. The difference here is that yes Miranda's bothered but she doesn't actively do anything against it. Ginger and Carl's mom gets a nice time to show up here and she's very understanding of Carl and Ginger, but also draws lines in the sand, especially for Carl. The interactions between the family and Maude were fun.
It's not a surprise, to a point, that Maude died; her character didn't seem to well in health. The impactful thing is when Hoodsey is telling Carl he thinks Maude is befriending him for his lung is actually darker than in the sense that she dies just after that. The episode actually doesn't mention that she died with the word death, I feel a like a censor was fine with her dying but saying the word was like woah hey.
Do check out As Told By Ginger it's a really great show and yeah if the artstyle filtered you out when it was running, come on, give it a chance.
That's it for now. tune in next time, when we figure out that our guest hasn't been sleeping this whole time after all.
No comments:
Post a Comment