Let's Watch This - An Episode of "Squirrel Boy"

During the 2000s... specifically, from 2004 to around 2009... Cartoon Network was in a strange place. All of the "classic" cartoons (Tom and Jerry, the Hanna-Barbera stuff, Looney Tunes) were pretty much banished to Boomerang, their iconic Cartoon Cartoons like The Powerpuff Girls, Johnny Bravo, and Dexter's Laboratory were chugging along until the cancel hammer went down on them, and the shows that were making their debut were a mixed bag. On the one hand, we got this...

And we got this...

On the other hand, we got this...

And this, which I enjoyed in my youth but upon rewatching discovered that it didn't hold up very well...

Ah yes, and remember THIS? Cartoon Network's attempt to cash in on the success of Nick Jr. and Playhouse Disney?

And then, in 2006 Cartoon Network spawned a show called Squirrel Boy. Created by Everett Peck of Duckman fame, Squirrel Boy is a show that might sound familiar to you: a kid and some sort of non-human sidekick who's a mischievous jerk get into WHACKY SHENANIGANS. That could perfectly summarize several other cartoon shows.

This time around, the non-human sidekick is a squirrel with the voice of Invader Zim. It's a strange little show that I'm sure you're eager to see me review.

Per usual, I decided that a good place to start would be the first episode of the show. First up, "A Line in the Sandwich".

The episode begins with Rodney (Richard Steven Horvitz) watching TV. He's bored. He sees an advertisement for something called a "Fobject" (it's a fun object!). Then Andy (Pamela Adlon) shows up and now HE wants a "Fobject" too.

"Andy, I just realized something... aren't we just knockoffs of Mac and Bloo?"

Rodney tells Andy that they must get a "Fobject" because they're "dangerously close" to playing with some of Andy's toys twice. The one problem is that they don't have any money. Andy's father (Kurtwood Smith) then comes in, and he's not too thrilled by the fact that Andy is letting Rodney eat his sandwich. Rodney says it's okay - "Andy's hands are clean."

Are you laughing yet?

Rodney announces that the sandwich is delicious. Apparently, it's due to the "Secret Sauce" - an old family recipe. Rodney then gets the idea to make MORE sandwiches and sell them for money so that they can buy a "Fobject". Andy then says, "Cool-mungous!" Is that a thing that kids were saying back in the 2000s?

Anyhow, Rodney and Andy find a cart that Andy's dad sold something in during his youth. Rodney for whatever reason dresses up as Cap'n Crunch.

"Crunchatize ME, cap'n!"

They manage to make a profit in just a few hours. "So now we can buy a Fobject, right?" Andy asks. Rodney says that instead, they'll save their money until they've made double it and buy TWO "Fobjects". And he's got a few ideas on how Andy should make the sandwiches. He claims that the sandwiches aren't why people are coming. Andy then says that people aren't coming simply because of his hat. Rodney finds this statement hilarious.

For the rest of the night, Rodney won't shut up about the stupid hat. Like, when he's asleep, he goes "SNOOOOOOOOORE... THE HAAAAAAAAAAAAAT... SNOOOOOOOOOOORE..."

The next day, Rodney is STILL insisting that people are only giving them money because of the hat. Andy finally snaps, tells Rodney to make the sandwiches himself, and leaves. I really don't blame him by this point.

Rodney, as it turns out, stinks at making sandwiches. Andy then proceeds to annoy Rodney by talking to the hat as opposed to the squirrel that's wearing it. And it goes on - he actually pretends that his baseball cap is alive, too. Rodney says, "Well, fine! I've got my loyal vacuum cleaner, snare drum and oversized pair of underwear! So friends are the least of my problems!"

Andy has officially snapped.

After a painfully unfunny conversation with "Cappy", Andy decides to make things right with Rodney, who is currently walking around with the vacuum cleaner, snare drum and oversized pair of underwear. He has a fantasy sequence in which the cart comes to life and EATS HIM IN A SANDWICH (yeah...), and then a pigeon (Carlos Alazraqui) shows up out of nowhere and explains that the fantasy sequence was a metaphor.

"I'm surprised that metaphor sequence didn't include your stupid hat!"

Of course, Rodney still hasn't gotten it through his thick head that the hat isn't the reason why people are buying their sandwiches. Thus, he decides to sabotage their business.

Oh yeah, and this whole scene with the pigeon? It was all a dream.

So Rodney decides to get rid of the hat. He meets up with Andy, who suggests that they try their hand at sandwich-making again so that they can get the money for the "Fobject". And it turns out that Andy threw out the secret sauce. Instead, they shall be using LARD.

The new sandwiches are unpopular, but Andy and Rodney don't give a rat's tail and decide to play baseball. And it turns out that Rodney got a twelve-pack of the stupid hat and believes that it makes him a better baseball player. The end.

Next we have "Tree For Two" (I'm not gonna bother posting the title card because it's the exact same one as the one for "A Line in the Sandwich").

The episode starts off with Andy about to launch a model rocket. Rodney tells him, "My squirrel sense says something's wrong. And my squirrel sense is never wrong. Unless it's really really really really really really really really wrong." He then proceeds to smash up the, uh, tail-fin things, then decides to launch it right next to a tree. Why? Well, if they launch it next to a tree, they'll know how high it goes because they'll have something to compare it to.

Of course, the rocket winds up getting stuck at the very top of the tree. Tell me, will this result in Rodney and Andy getting into WHACKY SHENANIGANS as they try to get it down? All signs point to "YES".

Andy notices a "conveniently-located kiosk" with information about the tree. Which is the tallest tree in the park. The kiosk plays a video about a squirrel who attempted to climb the tree but wound up getting injured. Because Andy is an idiot he still thinks it's a good idea for Rodney to climb the tree.

That is one ugly-looking bird...

The bird pecks at Rodney's head after he screams at it, and of course WHACKY SHENANIGANS ensure. This causes Rodney to make it to the top of the tree. Andy's dad shows up and tries to get him to hang out with him, Andy tries to hide the fact that the rocket is stuck at the top of the tree, and we get an unfunny gag where another bird regurgitates food into Rodney's mouth.

And, okay, I will admit there's one joke here that I did laugh at. Andy's dad sees Rodney falling out of the tree and puts two and two together. With a chuckle, he says, "Well, that's not as bad as I thought." And we get this:

Rodney lands on a lower branch and has a strange fantasy sequence where two wood gnomes show up and help him get to the top of the tree. And believe it or not, this fantasy sequence is even weirder than the one in "A Line in the Sandwich".

"I can see my house from here!"

The wood gnomes tell him that he must ask their king for help. Said king shows up... and actually, it's just Andy's dad in a crane. Rodney is so freaked-out that he jumps out of the tree. Andy's dad just says, "I don't wanna know..." and rescues the rocket.

Andy and his dad launch the rocket again, which ends up swooping up Rodney just as he's about to reach the ground. And wouldn't you know it, it ends up in that tree again. And the episode ends with Rodney having another fantasy sequence with the wood gnomes.

Yeah...

What's the Verdict?

I can sum up Squirrel Boy in three words: TRYING TOO HARD. It throws every cliche found in a Cartoon Network cartoon during the 2000s at us in an attempt to be funny and it all falls flat. Andy and Rodney are pretty much just the same sort of characters as Mac and Bloo, the random sound effects, the bizarre nature of the whole thing... sometimes I got a laugh out of the show, and Richard Steven Horvitz is clearly doing his best with the material that he's given, but the show is just so blah. It reeks of 2000s Cartoon Network. I've seen far worse cartoons, though.