Let's Watch This: An Episode of "The Buzz on Maggie"

I have a confession to make. I'm afraid of flies. All bugs, really, but especially flies. I don't know why, I think it's a combination of the buzzing sound they make and those big compound eyes. Those compound, pupilless eyes. I know they're harmless, but they just scare the bejabbers out of me. So it's fortunate for me that this show starring flies makes them cartoony enough to NOT give me the willies.

The Buzz on Maggie premiered on Disney Channel in June 2005, the creation of South Park writer Dave Polsky. Taking place in the tiny inset-populated town of Stickyfeet, the show focused on an energetic teenage girl fly named Maggie Pesky, voiced by Jessica DiCicco (one of her first voice acting roles), who aspires to be a rock star. She attends junior high school and has to deal with typical teenage girl problems like babysitting her younger siblings, having a crush on her math tutor, dealing with the popular girl in school who hates her guts because she's not rich like her... y'know, basically the same stuff Penny Proud was already dealing with, except Penny was human whereas Maggie was a bug.

Maggie was designed by Dave Wasson of Time Squad fame (note to self: do a review of Time Squad at some point), who also served as a director on the show. In an interview with Animation Magazine, Dave said that he was influenced by Disney, Tex Avery, and Warner Brothers cartoons from the 1930s, which is why the characters wear white gloves. Maggie's home town of Stickyfeet is also located in a dump because, as he put it - "As an animator, that concept gives you a lot of visual opportunities. Who can resist building a whole city out of garbage?!"

Only one season of The Buzz on Maggie was produced, consisting of twenty-one episodes (each one consisting of two segments). The show received mostly positive reviews from critics, the show got the flyswatter when it had only been on the air for two months because it was doing lousily overseas. Then it was only aired at night, when most kids would likely be asleep, until 2008 when it was pulled from the schedule, pretty much torpedoing any chance of the show finding a new audience and maybe getting at least one more season. Oh, and only three episodes were released on DVD as part of an extremely rare promotional kit and it's not on Disney Plus. Fortunately, you can find episodes of the show on YouTube.

Today, The Buzz on Maggie is at best a cult classic. As for me, I remember watching the show when it was on, though I haven't watched it since it aired on TV so I don't know how well it holds up. We'll be watching the show's ninth episode, which consists of the segments "Slumber Party" and "Spelling Bees", to see if this is another cartoon that deserved better or if Disney made the right call taking a can of Raid to it. Let's get started!

"Slumber Party" begins at the Pesky family's milk carton house...

I guess the straw sticking out the top functions as a chimney? If so, that's a nice touch...

Maggie's loving but (in her opinion) embarrassing parents Chauncey (voiced by Brian Doyle-Murray) and Frieda (voiced by Susan Tolsky) are taking their eldest child Adrian (David "Danny Fenton" Kaufman) to his "flyball" (which is kind of like football, except they call it "flyball" because they're flies) game. Maggie is left at home to take care of her younger brother Pupert (Thom Adcox-Hernandez) until her parents and Adrian return the next day. Maggie is all "Oh, yeah, I'll be totally responsible!". Is she being honest, or is she secretly planning to do something totally IRRESPONSIBLE since she's a teenage girl and they're not exactly known for their responsibility? You be the judge!

Unlike most anthropomorphic cartoon bugs, the ones in this show have six legs (well,
two legs and four arms, anyway). Points for insect anatomy accuracy.

Now, you'd expect Maggie to do what ALL teenagers usually do when their parents go out on vacation and throw some sort of party, which usually leads to the parents arriving home early and discovering what's going on and the teenager getting in hot water. But nope, Maggie straight-up tells her parents that she's invited her best friend Rayna (Cree Summer) over to spend the night. "Instead of ONE set of eyes on Pupert, we'll have TWO!" she explains. "He'll never be out of our sight for one single second!"

Her parents aren't sold, but Maggie insists that she can handle it, asking "What could possibly go wrong?" You'd think she'd know that saying "What could possibly go wrong?" is a pretty good way of ensuring that anything that COULD possibly go wrong DOES go wrong. Chauncey seems to think so too, seeing as he imagines them arriving home to discover that their house is missing. Sheesh, what does he expect, that Maggie and Rayna will somehow knock down the walls?

I don't think this is even Maggie's fault. Maybe a sanitation worker picked it up and
put it in a recycling bin.

Once Chauncy, Frieda, and Adrian leave, Maggie calls up Rayna and tells her that the sleepover is off because her parents don't think it's a good idea. But, she decides, them just saying that it's not a good idea doesn't exactly mean "no", does it? Plus, the only way she can prove that she's responsible enough to have a sleepover when they're not home is to actually have a sleepover when they're not home, right? So the sleepover is back on, despite Pupert's pointing out that their parents told Maggie it wasn't a good idea and imagining himself tattling on her as soon as they get home.

This is where all Disney Channel characters go after their shows get cancelled. Dave the Barbarian
is in the cell next to Maggie's.

Maggie tells Pupert that he'll get to be the "documentarian", whose job is to take pictures of the quiet, responsible sleepover, allowing Maggie to have proof that she's responsible and allowing her to do a lot more cool stuff from now on. I'm sensing a flaw on Maggie's plan, but teenage girls aren't exactly known for their rational thinking.

Pupert still wants to tattle on her, but Maggie tells him to think "big picture" - if she gets away with this, just think about what HE'LL be able to get away with when he's her age. This is what he imagines...

His parents don't let him go on kiddy rides? The fiends!

So Pupert agrees. Maggie hands him a camera... remember when people actually used cameras? Now we all just take photos with our phones. Rayna arrives at the house, and she brought some guests with her: droopy-eyed moths. They're bummed because they live in a constant state of indecision: should they eat their own clothing, or continue holding up the laws of insect decency and risk starvation?

Yes, I'm aware that moths don't actually eat clothing (their larvae do), but come on,
it's not like they WEAR clothing either so why bring realism into this review NOW?

Maggie calls out Rayna for not telling her that she was bringing guests. Rayna explains that they're the daughters of her father's army buddies and she's been stuck entertaining them all day long, but they're not gonna cause any trouble.

The girls watch a movie, have a way fun but totally safe pillow fight, do each other's nails (putting the polish on their gloves, amusingly enough), and order a pizza... which makes me wonder, if they're flies, do they use garbage as pizza toppings? Or, seeing as they construct buildings out of garbage, would that be like eating bricks and concrete? Eventually, it starts to get dark, and Maggie turns on a lamp. And you know how moths get around lights in the dark...

Pictured: how people react to whatever live action remake Disney is throwing their way.

"Ooh, it's just like the animated movie, but it's with REAL PEOPLE and TERRIFYING CGI!
I must give Bob Iger all of my money!"

Yes, when night falls onto the fair city of Stickyfeet, nocturnal bugs like moths start acting like they've just chugged fifty Red Bulls (how do you think they get their wings?). Maggie apparently didn't know that moths were nocturnal, which you'd think would be common knowledge in a city of anthropomorphic bugs, but whatever. Not only will the moths' being nocturnal make the "slumber" part of "slumber party" very difficult, but it also means no pizza for Maggie, Pupert, and Rayna - as soon as it shows up, the moths devour it (and the pizza delivery bug's dignity).

I know the episode is going to frame this as being Maggie's fault, but to be fair,
how was she supposed to know that Rayna would bring uninvited guests with her?

"Rayna, you brought these moths! DO SOMETHING!" Maggie yells as the moths start dancing to FUN-KAY music and making a mess of the house. Rayna is powerless against the flies, so it's up to Maggie to kick out the moths... or at least she tries to, she quickly turns out to be powerless against them too. Especially when they summon MORE moths...

Pictured: people showing up at the movie theaters when whatever live action remake
Disney is throwing their way next is released. I swear, if that Lilo and Stitch remake is
successful enough for Disney to greenlight a "live action" remake of Zootopia or something...

Chaos ensues as the moths take over Maggie's house. And in this situation, there's only one responsible thing to do: hide in the closet, where Maggie, Pupert, and Rayna find a moth who has eaten all of the clothing inside. See? I'm not the only one who makes jokes about moths eating clothing.

I didn't know moths had belly buttons.

Fortunately, the moths finally leave in the morning before the other Peskys arrive home. Unfortunately, they've made a huge mess of the house. "I guess my parents were right. I wasn't ready to have a sleepover when they weren't home," Maggie laments, even though the situation that led to the house getting trashed was out of her control (Rayna didn't have to bring the moths with her, did she?). It's time for Plan B: clean up the house, destroy all the evidence, and act like it never happened. But she'd better clean up the house quickly, because her parents' car is approaching!

Maggie and Rayna clean up the house via a montage, but there's still one thing they have to take care of: all the photos Pupert's been taking!

Cue the dramatic music.

Pupert agrees to keep the party their little secret after Maggie bribes him with lots and lots of candy. The parents and Adrian arrive back home, but wouldn't you know it? Chauncey and Frieda notice the stack of photos behind Maggie and decide to start looking at them. The episode irises out before we see their horrified reactions, but hopefully they at least give Maggie a chance to explain before sending her to Teenage Girl Jail.

The next segment, "Spelling Bee", starts off at Stickyfeet International Airport... and oh look, the bugs' planes are made from bottles. That's pretty funny.

Wouldn't airplanes be kind of redundant for bugs, seeing as most of them can fly?

A huge crowd has gathered at the airport to see the arrival of Maggie's favorite spelling team, the Spelling Bees... who look like the Beatles for some reason? You'd think they would've had their parody of the Beatles be, y'know, beetles. Maybe they thought that was too obvious?

And why would a group that competes in a spelling competition be a parody of the Beatles?
Did the Beatles regularly take part in spelling bees?

The Spelling Bees consist of Floyd, Nigel, Quentin and Stingo - and Maggie and Rayna want to become the fifth and sixth members. But what's this? Stingo gets laryngitis just before the Spelling Bees are to participate in a spelling competition against a group of Praying Mantises. Now they'll have to forfeit!

...or WILL they? Maggie's got an I-D-E-A. We cut to them at some building called the Golden Fleabag, dressed as bees... I wonder if this is considered the insect equivalent of blackface.

"Now, remember, Rayna: our favorite colors are brown and yellow, we love Honey Nut
Cheerios, we're always busy, and whenever the opportunity to make a bee pun arises,
we take it. Got all that?"

Maggie's plan is foolproof: she'll audition to be the Spelling Bee's new member. Rayna's posing as her groupie/agent. The Spelling Bees give Maggie a test by having her spell really long words like "dyspepsia" and "flagellum" (and thank goodness she spells them, because otherwise I would have no idea how to!), then take her and Rayna out to do stuff that famous bugs do. Like head inside the local florist shop and swim in the pollen without paying, for example!

Just looking at that pollen is messing with my allergies!

So now Maggie is an official Spelling Bee, but Rayna is upset by the way the Spelling Bees treat other bugs. They seem to be under the impression that being famous gives you the right to be a tool (make your own joke here). So outraged is Rayna that she tears off her bee disguise and reveals herself to be a fly. And what does Maggie do? Does she agree with Rayna and suggest that the Spelling Bees be nicer without revealing herself to be a fly as well, which should increase her chances of not getting kicked out but still help the Spelling Bees to bee-come (couldn't resist) better people... er, bugs? Nope. She gasps and says, "You're a FLY?! I've... I've been HOODWINKED! HOODWINKED, I SAY! How dare you!"

Rayna storms off, and then we cut to the spelling competition that night. I had to share a screencap of those praying mantises that the Spelling Bees are competing against:

"We're praying that we'll win!"

The first word that the Spelling Bees have to spell is "egocentric"... oh, the irony. Soon, the mantises are ahead by two points, and it's up to Maggie to ensure the bees get two points as well and the competition goes into overtime. The other Spelling Bees point out to Maggie how stupid their fans look, especially that one group in Section G, Row 6 - wait a minute, that's Rayna and Maggie's family! Not sure why Rayna attended seeing as she hates the Spelling Bees now. Maybe it was solely to guilt-trip Maggie?

She needs an "I Really Wish I Weren't Here Right Now" button.

To further guilt-trip Maggie, the next word she has to spell is "imposter". When she asks for a definition, the host says, "A fake, a phony, a trickster if you will - a lying waste of exoskeleton who would betray and sell out her own kind!". The shame is gnawing at Maggie like a caterpillar gnaws on leaves. Glancing over at the Spelling Bees, Maggie says, "Imposter... I-M... imposter... I-M... I AM... AN IMPOSTER! ME! MAGGIE! M-A-G-G-I-E! M-A-G-G-I-E! M-A-G-G-I-EEEEEEEE-HEEEEEEE!" Everyone gasps. "I'm not a bee! I'm a FLY!" Maggie continues, tearing off her bee disguise.

"I thought that my lavender-colored head would be enough to give it away! Everybody knows
that bees have YELLOW-colored heads!"

"We lose because of some STINKIN' FLY?!" Floyd yells. "It FIGURES! YOU FLIES HAVE BEEN A BUNCH OF BOGGY, ROTTEN, PESTS EVER SINCE WE LANDED IN THIS RANCID LITTLE STINKTOWN!" This, of course, is a really dumb thing to say. The crowd starts pelting the Spelling Bees with what I think is either mud or crap. Rayna and Maggie's family are proud of her for doing the right thing, Maggie apologizes to Rayna, and the mantises are dubbed the winners while the Spelling Bees are chased out by an angry mob. The moral of today's story is that bees are the scum of the earth. Not that we didn't already know that. After all, they sting people!

What's the Verdict?

Y'know, I honestly really liked this. First of all, I give the show credit in that this could've very easily been another generic "kids in school dealing with their first world problems" cartoon, but unlike Birdz, they actually take advantage of the fact that the characters are not human. I mean, the second episode alone tackles racism in a very different way than a show starring humans would've. You couldn't have a white person disguise themselves as a person of color, that would just be offensive. Combine that with some genuinely funny jokes, interesting characters, and some great voice acting from folks like Jessica DiCicco and Cree Summer, and you've got a fun show. My one complaint is that the Flash animation, per usual of Flash animation in the 2000s, is mediocre. Still, I enjoyed watching The Buzz on Maggie and it's a pity that it only got one season. Chalk it up as another Disney cartoon that we should've gotten more of. I'm still bitter over how they treated Wander Over Yonder myself...

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DISCLAIMER: This is not an actual movie. DreamWorks has not announced that they are making a sequel to Bee Movie. The review that you have just read is not actually brought to you by anything. Ever since my review of Sheep in the Big City, I have gotten the idea to put fake ads in reviews whenever I can't think of a genuinely funny way that is relevant to whatever I just reviewed to end it on. The chances of them actually making a sequel to Bee Movie are very, very small. Do not actually expect to see a trailer for Bee Movie 2 in front of the next kids' movie you go see. Please don't sue me. I do not have a lawyer.