TWOting a Horn

Well, I have now seen every episode of Johnny Test. Yes, the quest to catch all of his adventures is over. I’d thought perhaps this happened a couple of times, for I’d not been entirely sure from the brief descriptions of a few of them if I had in fact seen those segments. Well, to be utterly redundant, now I have for certain. Not to worry though - new episodes are now on the way each Monday. Hooray!

I’ve made it known in this post how much I adore Johnny Test, both show and character. I think the last time I loved a cartoon program this much had been Animaniacs. I said that I’d most likely discuss aspects of it again. The time has come.

One such aspect that impresses me is that each episode has two segments, that is to say two separate stories. Each is about eleven minutes long. Think of that. A whole adventure in eleven minutes! Johnny Test, of course, is not the only TV cartoon which does that. Another that springs to mind is The Mighty B! which stars the great Amy Pohler. Another I like, The Fairly OddParents, also has two smaller stories. Even Animaniacs followed this format, sometimes with more than two ‘episodes’ within the half hour [and always with a different set of characters.]

I just wanted to point it out. From a writer’s standpoint, it’s quite a feat. Especially when the condensing still feels like a bigger event in such a short amount of time. In other words, I never feel short changed by the compact stories. In Johnny's case, it includes a funny bit that turns into the exposition/launching for the story, the acquistion of what's wanted/needed, the problems that ensue, the thinking of a solution (on the part of the characters) and the resoultion. All in eleven minutes. And that’s not just a “boom boom boom” of “plot points” but also character development, jokes and homages. I’ve talked a little bit about this with my faithful reader & commenter Anon, who holds the position that it speeds along too quickly. I can understand that view, for it isn’t as if the fast pace goes entirely unnoticed. But it doesn’t bother me, perhaps because it mirrors the ever-moving mind of a child. An argument can be made, I suppose, that it’s a reflection of the somewhat founded belief of kids’ dwindling attention spans. But I don’t see it that way, since they’re also “expected” to watch both mini-episodes.

The long and short of it is that it allows for more adventures of Johnny (or whichever character[s].) And I, for one, am much happier having had double the amount of his shenanigans.

So to those who write the mini-sodes of the cartoon world: Bravo!
Thanks for all the extra fun.

No, Not Depp...

If you ask anyone who knows me, they’ll be quick to tell you I’m a pretty obsessive kind of guy. I mean, you only need to come to this site to know I’m obsessed with Peter Pan. But it is true. It’s not just Barrie’s creation… I tend to get uber-excited/interested from time to time.

However, for all of how it may look, I certainly know when I am truly obsessing. And quite frankly, I can’t recall the last time I’ve been THIS hooked on something. I’m talking about the cartoon series I mentioned in the previous post.

Oh sure, I’ve liked other shows a lot recently, such as The Mighty B! (which Laughter told me about) and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (which Bart and I recently “got into” when a friend of ours asked us to record it for her). But even with our absolute love for the delightful awfulness that is Sunny which we craved every week (and bought the complete series of) I didn’t have days where I’d get through the hours thinking, excitedly: When I get home, I can watch more!

As you can see from the logo image, the show that I’m currently in love with is Johnny Test. I’d heard of it, knew vaguely about it (and I mean vaguely) but had not actually watched it until I accidentally caught one the other day (a couple of weeks ago now, I think.) Immediate response: MUST WATCH MORE.

Fortunately it plays often (as I said in the last post) so I set my TiVo to pick up episodes. The more I saw, the more I fell in love with the characters, the premise, the humor, with everything.

For those who don’t know, Johnny Test (his actual name) is an 11 year old boy with a talking dog named Dukey. Dukey is able to talk (and drink coffee and ski, and…) because Johnny’s 13 year old twin (though not indentical) sisters Susan and Mary Test are geniuses who genetically altered him. They have a huge “lab” upstairs where they create all sorts of fantastical sci-fi goodies. They use Johnny as their lab rat. Yep, Johnny is their test subject - naturally with comedic disastrous results. Usually Johnny will cause the trouble himself by over-doing it, breaking the experiment or trying it out not as intended.

I love the show for a number of reasons. The character design, their personalities, the cleverness of the wild inventions, the homages/parodies…

As I said in the last post, I found the show on streaming Netflix and happily watched episode after episode. Though I knew I whittled away the ability to see new ones, I couldn’t help myself. I’d move on to the next one immediately. Even when just a few episodes remained to watch, and I knew I’d not have any more to see after that, I still went ahead and clicked the buttons. To give you some perspective, I watched three seasons of it pretty much over the course of two days.

Johnny Test has been “criticized” as a rip-off of another cartoon series called Dexter’s Laboratory. I can’t say for sure, as I’ve never seen it. I can see why someone might say so, however. The animation style is similar and just from the ads for it (or even just the title) it’s full of madcap experiments gone awry. So yeah, similar. But I have to say nothing I saw of Dexter drew me in to want to watch it. The minute I stumbled across Johnny, I had a new friend (so to speak.) However, even with the little I know, I wouldn’t call it a “rip-off” since there are many stories with similar ideas and themes. At worst I’d think Johnny Test to be a variation on Dexter’s Laboratory. And it at first glance it seems to be different enough, with its own set of indigenous siuations and characters.

Johnny Test is my wallpaper on both my phone and computer. I’m eagerly awaiting the 3 segments [each half hour episode has two different stories] I have not yet seen. You see, there is a current season still airing and are just those three that I haven’t seen. (Although it might just be one… I’m unable to tell from the online descriptions whether or not I saw two of them.) One day TiVo will pick them up. And fortunately for my sanity, a friend of Bart’s who works at Cartoon Network has said that the response to Johnny Test has been very positive — so more episodes are on the way, as well as some merchandising. (I’d been sad to see that no figures or video games had been made. Put me down for each of those when available.)

Just thought I’d give a “shout out” to it. Bravo to creator Scott Fellows.

I might be posting about Johnny Test again… after all, I’m obsessed, right? But seriously, there are a couple aspects of it that could be spoken about specifically — including a theory (or two) as to why I love it so much.

And I hope Scott Fellows and everyone else involved isn't angry at me for doing so, but I made a screen where Johnny is a fan of ME.