Let's Watch This... Again: An Episode of "My Gym Partner's a Monkey"

Something I've been wondering for a while: is it fair to judge a show based on one episode? On the one hand, for most of the shows I watch, each episode is actually two segments, so technically I'm reviewing two episodes... but is it fair to judge a show based on TWO episodes? However, generally, I find that one episode of a show is enough to make me decide whether or not I want to watch more episodes... for example, I liked the episode of Bonkers that I watched, so I decided to watch more episodes. I didn't like the episode of Loonatics Unleashed that I watched, so I didn't seek out any more episodes.

Here's the best way I can put it... let's say you just bought a bag of chips. You eat one or two chips. They taste lousy. Are you going to scarf down the rest of the bag, or are you going to toss 'em? Well, okay, I wouldn't recommend tossing them, that wastes food... but if you don't like what you've had so far, why eat MORE?

But, in the interest of fairness, I've decided I should watch at least ONE more episode of each show I gave a negative review for to see if the first time around I just happened to watch one of the weaker episodes. And first on the "Let's Watch This... Again" list is My Gym Partner's a Monkey.

For those of you who haven't read my previous review of the show, My Gym Partner's a Monkey premiered on Cartoon Network in 2006. It focused on the adventures of Adam Lyon, a human boy (voiced by Nika Futterman) who gets transferred to a school for anthropomorphic animals because a spelling error caused people to assume that his last name was "Lion" and, as a result, that he was a lion despite the fact that he looks absolutely nothing like one. His best friend is Jake, a spider monkey voiced by Tom Kenny. I think Cartoon Network believed that Jake's being a monkey voiced by Tom Kenny would automatically make him hysterical, but it doesn't.

Previously, I watched and reviewed an episode that consisted of the segments "Chew On This" and "The A Word". The first segment focused on the animals trying human food for the first time and becoming addicted. The second had Jake throw a fit because Adam used the expression "go ape". Neither episode was particularly good. The weird thing is, I actually liked this show when it was on. But hey, I liked Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends when it was on too, so make of that what you will.

But like I said, maybe the episode of the show I reviewed before was just one of the weaker ones. Who knows? Maybe the show is better than I initially thought. We'll be watching the fifteenth episode, "Poop Scoop" and "Leaf of Absence" to see if the show is worth giving another chance.

Don't worry, this episode actually doesn't have much in the way of toilet humor.

We start off with Adam and his friends hard at work on the school newspaper. Well, except for Jake. He's bossing Adam around. I don't know who put him in charge of the newspaper or why they would, but I guess the writers just wanted an excuse to have Tom Kenny shout his dialogue.

Shouldn't Jake be the one at the typewriter? I've heard that if you put a bunch of monkeys
at typewriters, they'll eventually write the entire works of Shakespeare.

Once the newspaper is done, Jake grabs one and rushes into the bathroom with it. Adam protests that there's no time to take a dump because their readers are waiting. Windsor (the gorilla voiced by Rick Gomez), Slips (the python also voiced by Rick Gomez), and Lupe (the loud and obnoxious Spanish-accented toucan voiced by Grey DeLisle-Griffin) inform Adam that nobody actually reads the school paper. The only reason they print so many copies, Windsor claims, is because newspapers are the least expensive way of cleaning up their various messes.

Is it weird that I'm wondering why the python has hair?

And just in case you didn't get the joke, Jake then straight-up says that he uses it as toilet paper. Subtlety is for chumps.

Ingrid (the giraffe also voiced by Grey DeLisle-Griffin) swoons that Jake is "so sophisticated". "Well, not everyone is gifted with such a naturally gorgeous posterior!" Jake claims, showing the audience his butt. And yes, I am indeed going to include a screencap of that. If I had to look at it, then so do you. Sorry.

Ignoring the whole "butts aren't funny" thing, real spider monkeys don't even have butts like that. Of course, there's a pretty good chance that they initially just designed Jake as a generic monkey with no specific species in mind and then assigned the name "Spider monkey" to him as an afterthought.

But that's not ALL they use the newspaper for! When shredded, it makes great bedding material, and Slips uses it to make funny hats. Just then, Mr. Mandrill (Maurice LaMarche) shows up and tells the kids that Principal Pixiefrog (also Maurice LaMarche) is cutting the school's journalism program. They'll have to use sawdust to clean up their various messes. Jake shows the audience his butt again (this time I'll spare you the screencap, though).

This is Mr. Mandrill. Unlike Jake, he actually looks like the primate that he's supposed
to be.

Adam suggests that they try to save the paper, maybe by writing some actually interesting articles. "Why would we do that? We get all the news we need from the magic box," Jake claims - of  course, he's referring to the TV, which hypnotizes the animals. Huh, I guess the Danny DeVito-voiced lobster was right... the TV really IS a "mind-control box".

"WE WILL WATCH CARTOON NETWORK. WE WILL NOT SWITCH THE CHANNEL OVER
TO NICKELODEON. WE WILL TELL EVERYONE HOW FUNNY MONKEYS ARE..."

But then Adam accidentally plants the idea of dedicating the paper to gossip in Jake's head. When Adam suggests that maybe the lunch lady, Mrs. Tusk (the Cree Summer-voiced elephant we talked about in "Chew On This"), might be in a relationship, Jake and the others start whipping up a story with zero evidence behind it.

Get it? Instead of "Gazette" it says "Gazelle" because they're animals?

To make things even harder for Adam, the article claims that HE'S the one in love with Mrs. Tusk. When Adam confronts Jake on this, Jake decides to use his words out of context. So now everyone thinks that Adam has a thing for elephants.

"In other news, it has been rumored that Cartoon Network is going to start airing live action
programming. It has been pointed out to them that the name of the channel is 'CARTOON Network',
but they don't care, they think there's money to be made..."

So, yeah. This is one of those "tabloid spreads lies about and embarrasses characters" episodes. I can name several other cartoons that did this exact same plot. Although those episodes didn't claim that their characters get turned on when they watch Dumbo.

How far does Jake plan to take this, anyhow? Is he going to start claiming that Mrs. Tusk "returns Adam's affections" yet? What if she gets branded a pedophile and fired as a result? I mean, sheesh, we've seen how quick the staff at this school are to jump to conclusions.

Adam begs Mr. Mandrill to stop Jake, but he's no help at all - he says that circulation is though the roof, and advertisers are lining up for ad space. Here's a question: are humans, in this world, aware that animals are anthropomorphic? Can an animal go to a store run by a human and buy something? If not, what use do animals have for money?

Then again, they probably use it to "clean up their various messes."

"But Jake's just making stuff up! He's printing LIES about me!" Adam protests. Why, next he'll probably be claiming that Craig McCracken gave the 2016 Powerpuff Girls reboot his blessing! Yes, I'm still miffed at Tom Kenny for spreading that lie. And no, I don't subscribe to the "oh, he was probably just misinformed" claim, I sincerely doubt Tom is that gullible.

Unfortunately, Mr. Mandrill is convinced that Adam DOES have a crush on Mrs. Tusk. Adam tells him that he has about as much a crush on her as he does on Coach Gills (Brian Doyle-Murray), and... you can see where this is going, right?

Okay, I'll admit that the "artist rendering" is kind of funny.

So now everyone thinks that Adam wants to get it on with a fish. And on top of THAT, Jake then decides to print a story about Adam having a thing for Mrs. Warthog (also Grey DeLisle-Griffin). Adam goes to Principal Pixiefrog in the hopes that he'll stop Jake's reign of terror, but of course Principal Pixiefrog is zero help whatsoever. Are we supposed to find Adam's frustration funny? Because I don't.

"I hear you go 'hog-wild' for my assistant, if you know what I mean... wink wink,
nudge nudge..."

Adam declares that if Principal Pixiefrog doesn't do something about Jake's lie-spreading, he'll sue. "Normally, that would frighten me. But I'm afraid constitutional protection regarding freedom of the press supercedes my unnatural fear of lawsuit," the frog replies. "Plus, I love reading this stuff!"

And none of Adam's other friends are doing anything to stop Jake. In fact, they're going along with it - Ingrid (the giraffe also voiced by Grey-DeLisle Griffin) uses the horoscopes to claim that Adam has a crush on even MORE students at the school. Adam demands to know how Jake would like it if HE made up stories about HIM. Jake claims that he wouldn't have a problem with it. "FINE! I'm gonna make up a big fat lie about YOU!" Adam snaps, pushing buttons on his typewriter. And, surprise surprise, that lie turns out to be regarding Jake's butt.

Personally, I would've gone with "LAZLO IS A MORE LIKEABLE CHARACTER". But
that's just ME...

And wouldn't you know it? Despite Jake's claiming earlier that he'd be okay with Adam spreading lies about him, the claim that he has cheek implants makes him start crying. "That's not made up, Adam! It's my most precious secret!" he sobs. We get another close up of Jake's butt (because I really needed to see that again. Thanks a lot), then Adam tries to save face by saying he was taking about the cheeks on Jake's face, not his butt. "Oh, great! Now everyone knows about THOSE, too!" Jake laments.

Everyone else is mad at Adam now, too. Apparently it's A-OKAY to print lies about somebody, but printing a lie that unbenknownst to whoever printed it is actually true? Get out the torches and pitchforks. Principal Pixiefrog complains that now they're going to get sued for defamation of character. Adam agrees with me and asks what happened to "constitutional protection regarding freedom of the press supercedes my unnatural fear of lawsuit", to which Mr. Mandrill claims that when you print something that's true, ethical standards can kick in. Fortunately, Jake has agreed to let the school bribe him into not sueing - specifically, by giving him toilet paper with dollar signs on it.

Oh, jeez, they DO use money for "cleaning up their various messes". It's hard to make jokes
about a show that makes all the jokes for me.

Jake tells Adam that he'd be happy to share the wealth with him... provided Adam doesn't write any more stories about his butt. Now, what Adam SHOULD do is tell Jake to go jump off a flagpole, but instead he agrees, but only if Jake stops telling lies about how Adam is madly in love with every female teacher at the school.

Unsurprisingly, Jake weasels his way around that by going on the school's news show and claiming that Adam is in love with every female teacher at the school. And presumably nobody who read Adam the riot act for revealing Jake's cheek implants to everyone is going to stop Jake.

Say what you will about Bloo, and I'll agree, but I think even HE would look at this
and go "Wow, Jake's a lousy friend."

To make things even MORE uncomfortable, now all of the female teachers at the school have the hots for Adam. So apparently half the staff at Charles Darwin Middle School are pedophiles. And are into humans. Also, I remember another episode revealed that Mrs. Tusk is married.

I have one word for you, Adam: TRANSFER. Or at the very least follow through on that threat to sue the school.

And we're supposed to LAUGH at this?

Okay, next segment..

We start "Leaf of Absence" off in... a courtroom. An elephant is sueing Principal Pixiefrog, but everyone else in the courtroom is a human. This just raises further questions as to how this world of humans co-existing with anthropomorphic animals works.

Maybe that elephant is Mrs. Trunk's husband, and he's suing Principal Pixiefrog for allowing
one of his students to spread rumors about his wife being a pedophile.

Why is the elephant sueing the school? Because there isn't enough elephant grass growing on campus, meaning that he was forced to attend classes in a hostile environment. The judge orders Principal Pixiefrog to pay him one hundred cashew nuts (I guess the writers thought peanuts was too obvious). "NOT CASHEW NUTS!" Principal Pixiefrog exclaims. "THOSE ARE THE MOST EXPENSIVE!"

Oh, wait, never mind. It was all just a dream.

"I just had a horrible dream where I was the mascot of a failing TV channel!"

He begs a nearby gigantic bag of money to promise him it'll never leave. And it actually talks to him. Yes, there's a talking bag of money. Just go with it.

Oh, wait. It was a dream within a dream. Principal Pixiefrog IS getting sued. And the judge declares that he will not be getting any bail. Serves him right for not doing anything to stop Jake.

"But your honor, I swear I didn't put a hit out on the Rainforest Café frog! That was my
twin brother! Honest!"

Upon arriving at school, Principal Pixiefrog tells Mrs. Warthog that they have to pay the elephant a truckload of cashews. Then he heads home to watch cable programming.

Then we cut to Jake, as per usual, being incredibly annoying.

"LAUGH AT ME! I'M A MONKEY, AND THAT AUTOMATICALLY MAKES ME FUNNY!"

Adam tells Jake to knock it off, and then they come across the new substitute principal, Principal Wolverine (Chris Edgerly).

Now, this is what an actual wolverine looks like:

And this  is what Principal Wolverine looks like:

That's supposed to be a wolverine? Jake at least looks like SOME kind of monkey even if he doesn't look like a spider monkey. If his name wasn't "Principal Wolverine", I wouldn't be able to tell WHAT this character was supposed to be.

Jake recognizes Principal "Wolverine" as the meanest substitute principal in the entire school district. And seeing as the first thing he does upon seeing Adam and Jake is threaten to bite them on the buttocks, I'd say Jake's not too far off.

The thing that's supposed to be a wolverine forbids Lupe from flying in the halls, a bull from having a nose ring, and Bull Sharkowzki (Phil LaMarr) from wearing those water-filled headphones that keep him hydrated. And he keeps threatening to bite students' buttocks, too. Okay, somebody on this show's writing staff clearly thought that butts were automatically hysterical. They are not.

And the shark can't just eat the tiny little animal claiming to be a wolverine BECAAAAAAAAAUSE?

Adam, Jake, and Mrs. Warthog decide that they must get rid of Principal Generic Animal of Nondescript Species (I refuse to call that thing a wolverine) - not only is he being a jerk to the students, but he's making Mrs. Warthog WORK. Horror of horrors.

It's kind of funny how Cartoon Network had two shows on at the same time starring a monkey that
also had a surly female warthog as a supporting character. I guess they thought surly female warthogs
were hysterical too?

Adam and Jake go to Principal Pixiefrog's lily pad and find him sitting in an armchair eating "Cheese Bugs" and watching TV. They beg him to come back and stop Substitute Principal Not a Wolverine, but he refuses, even after he finds out that he's making Mrs. Warthog WORK. "There's just no place in education for a principal that can't dodge a lawsuit," he moans.

Why don't they just pick him up and CARRY him back to school? He's much smaller
than they are...

So then Adam and Jake go to Mr. Mandrill for help. He deduces that the lawsuit made Principal Pixiefrog question who he is, so they have to figure out how to snap him out of his funk and return him to his regular lawsuit-avoiding self. That gives Adam an idea...

Principal Pixiefrog sees a live report on TV about how dense patches of elephant grass have sprung up all over Charles Darwin Middle School, making it impossible to go inside. Substitute Principal Doesn't Resemble Any Sort of Real Animal At All Much Less a Wolverine is powerless against it. Jake says that he's considering filing a lawsuit against the school. This snaps Principal Pixiefrog out of his funk and head to the school to solve the problem.

And how is he going to solve it? By having every herbivore at the school and has them eat the grass.

Huzzah.

Once the grass is cleared out, Principal Pixiefrog tells Substitute Principal Perhaps Some Sort of Rodent to buzz off. So he does, hoping to find a school where the students are more compliant. Then in the credits, there's a scene of him flying to England with an umbrella and getting sucked into a jet turbine. It is also not funny in the least. The end.

What's the Verdict?

Yeah, My Gym Partner's a Monkey is still a pretty weak show. I don't like the art style, it's way too angular and most of the characters are just ugly to look at. And I really don't like Jake. He's not funny, he's unlikable, and Tom Kenny gives a really obnoxious performance as his voice. Attention, Cartoon Network - Tom Kenny is talented, but his presence won't automatically make a cartoon funnier. Especially if you have him scream every other line. The other characters range from annoying (Adam and Jake's friends are basically just a hive mind, stupidly agreeing with Jake on everything no matter how ridiculous he's being) to boring, and watching Adam get put through the wringer just frustrated the heck out of me. There's nothing here we haven't already seen in better cartoons like SpongeBob SquarePants or Camp Lazlo.

I'm not going to be seeking out any more episodes of My Gym Partner's a Monkey. If you want to watch the show for yourself, good luck - only one episode has been released on DVD in America (there are two DVD volumes, but they're region-locked), so you'll need either iTunes or the Boomerang app. Does ANYBODY have the Boomerang app, actually?