Let's Watch This: An Episode of "El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera"

NOTE: Please do not take any of the little nitpicks in this review (or any of my other reviews, for that matter) seriously. I write these reviews in the hopes of making people laugh. Those nitpicks are really just dumb little observations that I'm attempting to make jokes out of, not complaints that add to whether or not I like something.

El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera is another one of those shows on Nickelodeon that I remember seeing ads for but for whatever reason never actually watched. It premiered on Nickelodeon in February 2007, the creation of Jorge R. Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua (also known for the 2014 movie The Book of Life).

The show followed a thirteen-year-old boy named Manny Rivera (voiced by Alanna Ubach), who lives in the Mexican-American city of Miracle City. Manny has a magic belt that transforms him into the superhero El Tigre. His father, White Pantera (Eric Bauza), is a superhero and his grandfather, Puma Loco (Carlos Alazraqui) is a supervillain. Manny isn't quite sure of how he wants to use his powers yet, but a good chunk of episodes have him and his best friend, Frida Suarez (Grey DeLisle-Griffin), doing something less than heroic... though usually Frida is the one who comes up with the idea. Make of that what you will.

Maybe Manny can take a third option and join Josie and the Pussycats.

The show has gained a small but loyal fanbase over the years, with Spanish-speaking countries in particular loving it (according to TV Tropes, anyway). Jorge and Sandra based a lot of the show on their own lives - for example, while Jorge's father and grandfather were not a superhero or a supervillain respectively, his father was an architect (which was viewed as good) and his grandfather was a general in the military (which was viewed as evil). MY grandfather was a horse racer. That really doesn't have anything to do with El Tigre, I just wanted to bring my grandfather up.

So why did El Tigre only receive one season (which did have fifty episodes - or rather, twenty-six consisting of two segments per episode - but still)? Well, apparently Nickelodeon just kind of became apathetic towards it. After the seventeenth episode, they aired the next five episodes very early in the morning... y'know, when ALL kids generally watch TV. Then they booted the show to Nicktoons Network. And why did they give up on it? Because it wasn't doing as well in ratings as SpongeBob SquarePants. You see, Nickelodeon wants all of their shows to be as popular (at least ratings-wise) as SpongeBob to keep the company going, justify animation costs, and compete with Cartoon Network. If they didn't have ratings as good as SpongeBob's - which seems like a pretty tall order considering how high a bar that show has set - Nickelodeon goes "Well, we tried." and tosses them to Nicktoons Network so they can burn off the remaining episodes. This is also why Danny Phantom and My Life as a Teenage Robot got the axe.

In hindsight, maybe I should've watched the show when it was on... if nothing else, it might've boosted the ratings at least a LITTLE. But instead of going "woulda, coulda, shoulda", I'm going to watch an episode of El Tigre right now to see if it really IS as good as everyone claims. I've decided on the 20th episode, which consists of the segments "Stinking Badges" and "Mech Daddy", to watch. ¡Empecemos! (That's Spanish for "let's get started", unless Google Translate has decided to mess with me)

We start off on a night in Miracle City, where Frida's dad, police chief Emiliano Suarez (Daran Norris) is being honored, as are his daughters and Frida's older sisters Anita and Nikita Suarez (Grey DeLisle-Griffin and April Stewart), who are deputies. Frida is bummed that she's not being honored like they are. Well, let's see, Frida... according to the episode descriptions online, you have stolen pets along with Manny so that you two can return them to their owners and get reward money and stolen Manny's magic belt to become a superhero because you were fed up at not having superpowers yourself. Maybe you'd be treated with honor in Miracle City if you weren't a kleptomaniac.

Look on the bright side, though. At least your legs aren't longer than your body.

Anita and Nikita start doing karate moves. I don't know if karate is popular in Mexico, but I'm going to assume it is because a show created by two actual Mexican-Americans likely knows a lot more about Mexico than I do.

After her sisters' karate demonstration, it's time for Frida to perform. She sings a song on her guitar about her father, but impresses nobody because she's a lousy singer (or maybe she should just avoid playing rock music) and trashes the whole room.

If I had a nickel for every time I've seen a 2000s Flash-animated cartoon where
Grey DeLisle-Griffin voiced a character who plays the guitar, I'd have two nickels.
Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

Anita and Nikita ask their father why Frida is so weird, to which he claims she isn't. She is merely "different from them". Jeez, Emiliano, surely you could've found a better word to use than that. You might have well had said that she's the black sheep of the family.

Frida's feelings are hurt by her father claiming that she's "different". She vows to become a junior police cadet while making this really creepy derpy expression.

"¡Herp un derp!"

At the junior police cadet tryouts, Emiliano says that a junior police cadet must be strong of will, swift of foot, and above all, honest. As we've established, Frida has a habit of doing less than honest things... but hey, two out of three ain't bad.

Montage time! We are treated to Frida failing at chin-ups (which is fair. Chin-ups are hard), running through the mud (apparently she's incredibly clumsy. Was this pre-established in an earlier episode?) and walking the police dogs (she's pretty small, so they just drag her around). Then she gets flattened against the wall that the trainees are supposed to climb over by a fat kid. Her sisters find Frida's failures hilarious.

Okay, this part wasn't even Frida's fault. She was doing perfectly fine until
that fat kid smashed into her.

Only one of Frida's failures is self-inflicted. At one point the trainees are supposed to work with police tape, and instead she uses it like a lasso. I think Frida has "junior police cadet" confused with "cowgirl".

Well, at least Frida would make a good gaucho.

Frida has demonstrated that she would be the worst police cadet ever, but Emiliano can't bear to crush his daughter's dreams, so he makes her a police cadet anyway. I can only see THIS ending well...

You can tell he's Mexican because he has a sombrero and a thick mustache. Honestly,
though, he's still not as offensive as that guy from Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi…

And by "being a police cadet", I mean she winds up sitting at a desk stapling papers instead of actually doing, y'know, police cadet stuff. She complains to Manny that her dad's going to see her as little more than the blue-haired goofball of the family. But then Manny gets an idea... what if HE takes down all the supervillains and FRIDA takes the credit?

You'd think Manny and Frida would have learned by now that being dishonest will only lead to trouble for them. But at least this time they actually have a unselfish reason for their little scheme (well, maybe "making Frida look good in her father's eyes" isn't an entirely unselfish reason, but at least it's not "stealing pets so they can get big cash rewards to spend on roller blades" like they did in an earlier episode).

First villains to nab? Father and son Dr. Chipotle Sr. and Dr. Chipotle Jr. (both voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz).

They're mad that everyone in Miracle City eats at Taco Bell instead.

Their evil plan is to, uh... have a giant creature made of green slime use a slot machine to get money? I'm gonna need a bit more context here...

Jeez, even the Tasty Paste monster has a thick mustache... just because the show
has a Mexican cast doesn't mean you need to give EVERYONE a thick mustache...

Frida shows up, brandishing her stapler. Dr. Chipotle Sr. and his son aren't threatened, which is odd, seeing as staplers CAN cause you physical pain. Just ask the mayor from Horton Hears a Who.

But then who shows up but Manny - or rather, EL TIGRE! And since we haven't had a screencap of him so far, here's one now. That costume is really cool.

"I am the terror that prowls in the night! I am the hairball that your cat barfs up
on your carpet! I am EL TIGRE!"

After Manny beats the crap out of the Dr. Chipotles, Frida brings them into the police station and tells her dad that she caught them, without any help, hintidy-hint-hint-hint. She even managed to handcuff the giant slime monster! Her sisters are MAD because... I guess since Frida isn't as pathetic as they thought she was, they don't have anybody to look down on now?

Next Frida and El Tigre go after a guy in a top hat, a robot, and a cowboy who appears to be half-spider who are robbing a pudding factory. That sounds like the start of a bad joke, doesn't it? "Okay, so a guy in a top hat, a robot, and a cowboy who's half-spider walk into a pudding factory..."

I don't know what the punchline would be, though.

Then they take down El Oso, a bear-themed supervillain who's causing trouble at a dry cleaner.

"You don't understand! They shrunk my fur coat! THEY NEED TO BE PUNISHED!"

One montage later, Frida and El Tigre have put all the villains in Miracle City behind bars. But Anita and Nikita know that Frida is up to something, and when they find out what it is, they vow that they will make Frida suffer. Their father, on the other hand, is none the wiser, and presents Frida with her own office.

But then Frida's conscience starts to get to her. Her father said before that a police cadet must be strong of will, swift of foot, and above all, HONEST. Not that being dishonest bothered her before, but still... her feelings of guilt are interrupted by El Tigre popping it to tell her that the Golden Mustache of the Pharaohs is taking up residence in the local museum.

...okay, somebody on the writing staff must have REALLY thought that mustaches were hysterical. I fail to see the humor. How are mustaches funny?

Monkeys, mustaches... do people think that things beginning with "M" are automatically
hilarious?

Anyway, El Tigre is telling her this because he knows that the "Mustache Mafia" are totally gonna try to steal it. Frida desperately tries to cover up how guilty she's feeling. Surely one more bust won't do any harm, right?

"Congratulations, Frida! You just became President of Mexico! What are you going
to do first?"

"I'm going to ban Mexican stereotypes in animation! Any cartoon show that depicts us
as taco-eating, sombrero-wearing, mariachi-playing lunatics shall be cancelled!"

But what's this? Anita and Nikita are spying on her. Now they know Frida's secret! This can't be good...

I'm just now noticing that Frida's sisters have abnormally large heads. They remind me
of Rolie Polie Olie...

Sure enough, the Mustache Mafia DOES try to steal the Golden Mustache of the Pharaohs. And not only do they have bushy mustaches, but their mustaches are PREHENSILE! Mustache mustache mustache!

"It belongs in a museum... the MUSTACHE Museum, that is!"

Frida and El Tigre show up. Frida is all "YOU'RE GOING DOWN!", brandishing her trusty stapler. For whatever reason, it still hasn't occurred to her that she could easily just throw it at one of the bad guys' heads. That would probably knock them out.

In the middle of her speech, Frida admits that she's a lame-o who's not going to do anything but stand there and watch El Tigre go to town on the Mustache Mafia. Again, stapler. Throw it at one of their heads. Konk 'em. Seems pretty obvious to ME.

Well, anyhow, El Tigre uses his razor-sharp claws on the Mustache Mafia's moustaches. But uh oh! Anita and Nikita have brought their father to the museum to show him that Frida is a fraud. Here's a question, where were all of the OTHER police officers in this town when the bad guys are doing their thing? Why were only Frida and El Tigre going after them? What, were the rest of the cops too busy eating churros or something to deal with El Oso?

Heck, where's Manny's father? Y'know, White Pantera? Why hasn't HE been dealing
with any of the villains?

I expected this to be the scene where Frida admits that she just wanted to make her father proud because she was tired of being the black sheep of the family and he tells her that he's already proud of her and it's all very heartwarming, but instead, Emiliano makes Frida turn in her badge and walks out with a disappointed look. And neither he, Nikita, or Anita are doing anything about, y'know, the Mustache Mafia. Even if Manny already beat them up, why aren't they ARRESTING THEM?

Fortunately, Manny speaks up in Frida's defense. "Yeah, she lied. But only because she wanted to be a good cadet so you'd like her more!" he claims. "WHAT?!" Emiliano asks. "How could I like her MORE?! I love my Frida! She is... my Frida!"

Hey, wait a minute! Technically, Emiliano lied to Frida too! He told her he would make her a police cadet, only to make her for all intents and purposes a secretary sitting at a desk stapling papers. Are we just going to ignore that?

What's the moral here? "Lying is wrong, but only if you're Frida"?

Before Emiliano can tell Frida how much he loves her, she's suddenly grabbed by the head of the Mustache Mafia's mustache. Well, at least they didn't seize the opportunity to swipe the Golden Mustache and escape while everyone was distracted.

Wait, El Tigre didn't finish them off already? Is he having an off day?

Anita and Nikita try to save Frida, only for them to get clobbered. Some police cadets they are. Emiliano orders them to put Frida down, and they're afraid of him, so they do. Manny catches her, causing all of the shippers watching this episode to wet their pants.

"Why, El Tigre, I do believe you're trying to seduce me!"

Emiliano goes Papa Wolf on the Mustache Mafia's rears, making Frida realize that her father DOES care about her. Clearly he must if he's going to beat them up for EIGHT HOURS (not an exaggeration) over their trying to hurt her. Then he tells Frida that she's perfect just the way she is. Next segment!

White Pantera is telling Manny that, as his father, it is his job to keep him safe. Therefore, he must forbid him from fighting a giant robot like he's doing right now.

Setup? What's THAT?

Manny is all "Come on, Dad, PLEAAAAAASE?" and White Pantera says that he can finish off this robot with his supervision. Frida assumes that he means "super vision" like x-ray vision or laser vision. Methinks Frida is a few sodas short of a six-pack.

El Tigre punches the giant robot - which, of course, ALSO has a thick mustache - in the teeth, defeating it. Then White Pantera tells him to clean up the mess. And when he gets home, they will have their seventh hundred talk about crime-fighting safety, but louder this time.

"Hey, Manny, have you ever noticed that I don't have shoulders? My arms are just
attached to my head."

After White Pantera leaves, El Tigre complains about how his dad is always nagging him about safety. But there's no time for that now - the robot is about to fall on the orphanage! And the puppy hospital! And, most horrifying of all, the arcade! How are they going to move him?!

El Tigre gets an idea - they just have to figure out how to control the robot themselves. Which should be pretty easy, seeing as the control room is inside its head.

It's a good thing whoever was controlling the robot before stepped out to use the bathroom.

Fortunately, the control panel for the robot is exactly like the controls for a Guitar Hero parody that Frida plays. Unfortunately, Frida is an idiot and causes the robot to shoot laser beams out of its eyes. The laser beams pierce a volcano in the middle of Miracle City, causing it to start spewing out lava. Way to go, Frida.

And all of Miracle City was promptly destroyed. With their last breaths, the citizens
cursed Frida. The end.

Frida's "playing" the controls like an electric guitar wreaks havoc on Miracle City. Among other things, she reduces the orphanage to rubble and sets the puppy hospital on fire - in other words, she destroys the very two buildings that they were trying to save. You had ONE JOB, Frida. ONE JOB.

But hey, at least the arcade is still standing.

So now that Frida has caused massive amounts of destruction to Miracle City, what are she and El Tigre going to do? Answer: take the giant robot for a joyride! Because Manny is an idiot too, apparently. That sound you hear is me slapping my forehead in frustration.

"Let's cause MORE property damage!"

They can stomp on the bubble wrap factory! They can toilet paper all of Miracle City! They can ding-dong-ditch astronauts on the moon! But before they can continue their reign of terror, the robot's autopilot engages... for some reason... and it returns to its base. Which, from the looks of it, clearly belongs to some sort of supervillain.

The skull-shaped entrance is a pretty obvious giveaway.

Or maybe it doesn't.

So the robot lives in Whoville, then?

This robot lives in a city filled with other, smaller robots, including a robot dog that poops batteries. Then autopilot disengages, meaning that Tonto y Tonta (I'm getting way too much use out of Google Translate in this review) are back in control of the robot. But the robot is out of rocket gas, so Frida can't wreak any more havoc.

And guess what? The robot has a wife and kids! No, I don't know how robots reproduce. My guess is that it's like in Robots, where they just build the kids themselves from a kit.

The wife even kind of reminds me of a Robots character. I think it's mainly the
treadmill "hair".

The robot is having a catastrophic systems failure. Manny and Frida try to bail, but the door is locked now because [REASONS]. And Manny and Frida, despite being... well, Manny and Frida, can't bring themselves to leave the kids all sad, so now they're going to control the robot.

The kids want to have fun with their dad, and the robot's wife tells them to have fun "safely". Manny and Frida, of course, are going to ignore that "safely" part. I smell a moral about safety coming on!

Another question - if the robot wasn't being controlled by a supervillain, what was it
doing in Miracle City in the first place?

First the robot and the kids play in lava. Then they do some skateboarding in the desert. Then they go fishing, reeling in things like submarines and cruise ships as opposed to fish, which makes for a pretty funny gag. They even get to go ding-dong-ditching on the moon!

I bet White Pantera is wondering where Manny is.

As the robot's kids are ice-skating on an iceberg, Manny and Frida are pleased that they're are having fun, which Manny chalks up to the fact that they're letting them do things that THEIR dads would never let them do. White Pantera and Frida's dad don't let them go fishing? That seems needlessly overprotective.

"We're the greatest dad EVER!" Frida exclaims before she and Manny high-five... which apparently causes a crack to form in the ice. One thing leads to another, and...

So THIS is why you shouldn't go ice-skating on an iceberg...

They can't go over and pull the kids up because the ice won't hold their weight, and they can't fly over there either because of the whole "no rocket fuel" thing. Maybe Manny can rewire the robot so the rockets in his feet work off the main battery, provided he can survive being electrocuted.

This is one of those situations where Manny is really, really lucky that he's a cartoon
character.

But it works! The rockets are working again, and the robot manages to save the kids.

Manny is, how you say, tostado.

Manny and Frida have learned a valuable lesson about how it's important for a father not to put their kids in irresponsible and dangerous situations, then the robot's system reboots and it turns back on... and it senses the intruders inside its head and decides to teach them another valuable lesson. The lesson? That karma's a barnacle head!

Between this and Frida being stretched out by the Mustache Mafia in the previous episode,
Manny and Frida must have very flexible bodies.

The robot kids give their father a "World's Greatest Dad" trophy, which causes the robot to calm down and thank Manny and Frida for helping his family. Then he ejects Manny and Frida from his insides by farting him out, sending them rocketing back to Miracle City, where they slam right into the volcano. And after their bones knit, they will presumably have to deal with the wrath of the townsfolk for, y'know, destroying much of their city. The end.

And whose dumb idea was it to put a volcano in the center of the town anyway? Didn't they
ever hear about Pompeii?

What's the Verdict?

I was expecting to either really like or really hate El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera - really like based on how well-liked the show is online and really hate based on what I knew about Manny and Frida. But a a whole, I thought the show was decent. I liked "Stinking Badges" better than "Mecha Dad", mainly because "Mecha Dad" mainly relied on Manny and Frida being dimwitted idiots (Frida at least had a sympathetic motive in "Stinking Badges"). The voice actors all do a good job (it can get a little distracting how many characters have Grey DeLisle-Griffin's voice, but not as much as in Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends), the jokes for the most part land, and there's some fun to be had in how over the top everybody is. Do I have complaints? Well, yes... the animation, typical of 2000s Flash, is mediocre and there's a bit too much Mexican stereotyping. Plus I still don't understand what's so funny about mustaches. But as a whole, I would recommend giving El Tigre a look. It's a show that I definitely think had potential, if Nickelodeon had simply given it a chance.

If you want to check out El Tigre for yourself, there was indeed a DVD release in 2011. You can also find it on iTunes and Amazon Prime. Hasta luego!

I didn't use Google Translate for that. I already knew how to say "See you later" in Spanish. Really. Not making that up.