Let's Watch This: An Episode of "Sitting Ducks"

Sitting Ducks is yet another one of those shows that I remember hearing about, but never actually watched. It was based on a lithograph by Canadian poster artist Michael Bedard in 1977 depicting three white ducks with sunglasses sitting in beach chairs - or rather by the 1998 picture book Mr. Bedard wrote based on the lithograph. In the book, alligators hatch ducks in a "duck factory" and then load them up on trucks to a duck-populated city called Duck Town (methinks the gators aren't very good at thinking of names). One day, an egg rolls off the assembly line and lands on the factory floor, emerging from it a little duck who encounters one of the alligators. The alligator smuggles the duck out of the factory. Why are the alligators hatching ducks? So they can let the ducks fatten themselves up in the city and then eat them. Obviously. Of course, the alligator and the duck become friends, and then the duck goes to Duck Town and tells the other ducks about what's going on and that if they work out, they'll be able to fly south for the winter and escape the gators. So they do that and head to the Flapping Arms Seaside Resort.

Presumably, the showrunners thought that the "alligators fattening up ducks so they can eat them" part of the storyline was too dark, so they ditched the idea and just made the gators and ducks residents of two different towns: Swampwood and the aforementioned Ducktown. The main duck and alligator from the book are given the names of Bill (voiced by Ian James Corlett) and Aldo (Dave "Squatch" Ward), who have to put up with everyone else being all "OH, DUCKS AND ALLIGATORS CAN'T BE FRIENDS!". Think of it as The Fox and the Hound (note to self: review that movie at some point) with less melodrama.

Michael Bedard served as an executive producer, with Terry Shakespeare, David Molina, and (in Season 2) Gary Selvaggio the creative directors. The show premiered on Cartoon Network in September 2001 and received two seasons, each one consisting of thirteen episodes. Is the show any good? Let's find out, shall we? We'll be watching the third episode, which consists of the segments "Peeking Duck" and "Fred's Meltdown".

We start off with Bill and Aldo at the beach. Aldo's stomach is growling and he's getting tired of eating duck food like a plankton burger with a side of flies (yes, ducks actually do eat flies. Don't know if they eat plankton, however). He's really, really tempted to eat a duck. It must be really hard to be a cartoon character whose best friend is their species' favorite meal. Maybe Aldo and Freddy the Ferret from Barnyard should start a support group.

Please forgive the lousy quality of the screencaps.

Are ducks really the only things that the alligators of Swampwood eat? Real alligators eat a lot of different things - fish, mollusks, birds, small mammals, turtles, snakes, frogs, crayfish... young alligators even eat insects, just like the ducks in Ducktown, because they're small and easy to catch. Can't the gators just find some frogs to munch on and leave the ducks alone?

That night, Bill shows off his new telescope to his pals Ed (Louis Chirillo), Oly (Phil Hayes), and Waddle (Jay Brazeau). Alas, they want to use the telescope to spy on hot girl ducks in other apartments. That's not exactly PC, guys...

The other three nephews that Donald doesn't like to talk about - Sleazy, Cheesy and Queasy.

Bill, disgusted by the other three ducks' privacy-violating ways, kicks Ed, Oly and Waddle out of his apartment. He laments to his pet parrot, Jerry, that some ducks can be so rude. It really ruffles his feathers.

I find it kind of strange that Bill has a pet parrot. I mean, I know ducks and parrots aren't that closely related (at least I don't THINK they are), but it raises some confusing questions. In addition to ducks, the show also has anthropomorphic penguins and crows. How come some birds are anthropomorphic but others aren't?

Are parrots just to ducks, crows and penguins what humans are to chimpanzees? And if so,
why parrots specifically?

Bill tries to find Jupiter with his telescope, but while looking for it he spots Aldo in the window of his neighbors Claire and Cecil's apartment. Peculiar. The next morning, he goes over to their place and discovers that they're not home. VERY peculiar. And then he finds Aldo, spying on some sunbathing ducks and drooling. No, Aldo is not a peeping tom, get your minds out of the gutter.

Bill talks to Ed, Oly, and Waddle about Claire and Cecil's not being around while they're searching his refrigerator for relish to go with their chicken pot pie. Wait, ducks eat chicken pot pie? Isn't that cannibalism? Again, I know ducks and chickens aren't that closely related, but it's still a bird eating another bird. There's a reason why humans don't eat chimpanzees!

"Hey, Bill, you wanna join us for dinner tonight? We're going to KFC."

Ed and Oly tell Bill that Aldo must have eaten Claire and Cecil. "He's a gator! That's what they do!" Oly claims. Honestly, they don't have much room to judge Aldo for eating birds when they apparently have no problem chowing down on chicken pot pie. Bill, of course, isn't convinced, and then guess who barges through the door?

"Were you guys just talking about me? My ears would be burning if I had them!"

Ed, Oly and Waddle nervously dash out of the apartment. Bill asks Aldo if he knows where Cecil and Claire are, and he acts very suspicious. Gee, I wonder if Aldo really did eat them or if this is just a clever way of the writers to trick the audience into thinking he did when in fact he didn't.

Bill uses the telescope to see into Cecil and Claire's apartment that night, and wouldn't you know it, Aldo is in there again. And he's got an AXE!

"You didn't let me finish my sentence. I said, I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm just going to bash your
brains in."

Then Bill hears Aldo knocking on the door... wow, he got to Bill's apartment building from Cecil and Claire's really quickly. Does he have teleportation powers? Anyway, he asks Bill if he can borrow some salt, but Bill says no because he, uh, has a cold. "Ah, Jerry, how could I be thinking what I'm thinking? Aldo's my best friend," he tells his parrot. "On the other wing, where are Cecil and Claire? And, what was he CHOPPING? And why did he need SALT?"

So Bill enlists the help of Ed, Oly and Waddle to lower him down on a fishing line so he can see into Claire and Cecil's kitchen. This turns out to be difficult because Ed, Oly and Waddle start channeling the Three Stooges, and before Bill can get a good look he winds up falling into a trash can. Fortunately, Ed has a plan that can't fail - they'll sneak into the apartment through the air ducks... I mean, air DUCTS.

Are air ducts in real life really big enough for somebody to crawl around in? If not, where did this
cliche come from?

At one point, they find an apartment where a duck is painting a chicken... a chicken who, while plucked, looks at least somewhat anthropomorphic, which just raises further questions about the Three Idiots' wanting to eat chicken pot pie before. They also find apartments where a party and a yoga class are going on before they hear Aldo's voice laughing and saying "This is the best thing I've ever tasted!" But the vent it's coming from is closed, so they can't see into the apartment and find out just WHAT, exactly, Aldo is tasting. They manage to push the vent open and fall into the apartment, where they find Aldo... and also a very much alive Claire and Cecil.

What a twist!

You see, Cecil and Claire were out of town, and they asked Aldo to house-sit for them and watch their pet lizard. They asked Aldo not to tell Bill about it because they didn't want Bill's feelings to be hurt that they didn't ask him. Why did Aldo have the axe? He was making the lizard some cheese balls.

Oh, and apparently Waddle is a massive hypocrite because, after being all judgy of Aldo seemingly eating two sentient beings, he has no problem trying to chow down on the lizard.

Spit it out, Waddle! It can save you fifteen-percent or more on car insurance!

And that's about it. Next segment...

Ducktown has been caught in a heat wave. The sidewalks are hot enough to fry an egg on, which makes the ducks realize that walking around barefoot all the time might not be such a good idea. The ice cream shops are out of "Chocolate Tadpole Crunch", so Ed, Oly and Waddle decide to go see if Bill has some.

Speaking of Bill, when he goes outside to pick up his newspaper, he sees one of his few non-duck neighbors, Fred the penguin (also Phil Hayes), sliding around the hallway with blocks of ice tied to his feet. Curious, he goes over to the door to his neighbor's apartment and peers through the keyhole to see what's going on in there.

"Sorry, I can't talk right now. We're filming a Kid Cuisine ad in here."

When Fred answers the door, he grabs Bill and pulls him into his apartment. Inside, everything is made out of, or covered in, ice and snow. It's a great place to chill out. Get it? Chill out? Ha, I amuse myself...

Meanwhile, who should be waddling up to Bill's apartment but Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest. They're confused when they find the apartment empty, then they hear the sound of the air conditioner from Fred's apartment. "I think he's got air conditioning. The penguin's got air conditioning!" Ed exclaims. "No fair! How come he gets air conditioning when all WE get is Bill's lousy fan?!" asks Oly.

His electricity bills are through the roof, but that's the price you pay (literally) for comfort.

I expected Ed, Oly and Waddle to be responsible for this episode's conflict somehow since they're, as established, incompetent morons, but instead, it's Fred's adjusting his many air conditioners. Because of that, all the power in Ducktown goes out. No power means no air conditioning or fans to help the ducks beat the heat, which means that Ducktown is gonna have a lot of cooked ducks on its hands... er, wings...

The other ducks blame Fred for this. "Let him go back to the South Pole!" one of them shouts. Ouch, bird racism. The fact that it's white ducks treating a mostly black penguin like this just makes it more uncomfortable. Haven't these ducks ever read The Sneetches? Fortunately, before the ducks can form a lynch mob and, I dunno, try to catapult Fred back to Antarctica or something, Ed suggests that they all head to the pond. Oh, and by the way, it turns out that Jerry the parrot can talk. So apparently he's just PRETENDING to be non-anthropomorphic for Bill? I wonder why that is...

"Quack it up now, you stupid little ducks... one day, the parrots will rise up and take over,
and it will be YOU we will keep in cages and force to eat crackers! I hope you like Triscuits,
you pitiful waterfowl! Bwah-ha-ha-ha-HAAAAAAAAA!"

Fred's got a big problem - all the ice and snow in his apartment is melting. If he can't find more, he'll die. He begs Bill for help, so Bill takes him to the local ice-selling shop. Alas, they're out of ice. So then Bill takes Fred to the pond, but the other ducks are still racist against penguins and tell him to buzz off. When Fred faints, Ed claims that he deserves it for "hogging all of the air conditioning". Is it bad that I'm actually kind of hoping for the alligators to eat these racist ducks?

Then Bill gets an idea - he'll take Fred to Swampwood, where they still have power, and grocery stores with freezers full of ice cream! The downside is... well, gators want to eat him.

"I'm not a duck! I'm uh, uh, a GOOSE! Yeah, that's it! A goose!"

"Eh, same thing!"

The gators back Bill into a corner, but Fred saves the day by threatening to knock over a display of Gator Gulp soft drink (which is a really big deal to the gators, perhaps because if he knocks it over it will spill on the floor and they'll have to clean it up. Very inconvenient). Before they leave the store, Fred notices that among the ice cream flavors it has is "Chocolate Tadpole Crunch". Hmmm...

We then see all of the ducks at the pond enjoying some "Chocolate Tadpole Crunch". Since Bill and Fred brought it to them, everybody likes Fred now. Huzzah.

What's the Verdict?

Sitting Ducks is alright. The animation is kind of primitive, maybe it was more impressive in 2001 but nowadays, it looks more like cutscenes from a video game than a cartoon show. As far as the characters go, the ducks (other than Bill) can get annoying, but I did like Bill, Aldo, and Fred. Most of the jokes were pretty funny. Good soundtrack, too - the use of horns that sound reminiscent of a duck's quacking was a nice touch. Although I dunno if I'd call this a FANTASTIC show, it certainly wasn't bad. Will I be watching any more episodes? Probably not. But when it comes to cartoons starring ducks, I'd gladly take this over something like Quack Pack.

If you want to watch the show for yourself, there were some VHS releases in 2004, as well as a "Season 1" DVD... that actually featured all of Season 2's episodes and only one of Season 1's episodes for some reason. Fortunately, almost every episode can be found via the Internet Archive.

I'm sure you're probably all getting tired of me reviewing cartoons that I find just okay, but I have no idea HOW I'll feel about a cartoon before I start the review. Maybe that's the main reason why so many of these shows fell into obscurity - if it's not really good (like Hey Arnold, for example) or really bad (like Fanboy and Chum-Chum), there isn't a whole lot to talk about. I dunno, maybe the show just had a lousy time slot and THAT'S why it wasn't a bigger hit. I don't think I watched much Cartoon Network in 2001, so I wouldn't know...

Let's Watch This: An Episode of "Bunnicula"

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.

NOTE #2: No disrespect is meant towards anyone who worked on the show I am reviewing today. I'm sure they are all very nice and talented people.

NOTE #3: If you like this show, that is great. Go ahead and like it. I'm not judging you.

Are you familiar with a 1979 novel called Bunnicula?

It's a personal favorite of mine. It focuses on a family whose cat and dog become convinced that their new pet rabbit is a vampire. Is he a vampire? Isn't he? The book doesn't make it clear.

Since its release, the book has spawned several sequels, but only the first one has ever been adapted into animation. Twice, in fact. The first time was a television special that aired as part of the ABC Weekend Special anthology series. It deviated from the book a little - namely, straight-up revealing that Bunnicula is a vampire and having a more exciting climax involving wolves. The second time was a 2016 TV series.

The Bunnicula TV series was developed for Warner Bros. Animation by Jessica Borutski, who also produced the show along with Maxwell Atoms. The show premiered on both Cartoon Network and Boomerang in February 2016, then moved to Boomerang entirely in 2017. After three seasons, the show concluded in 2018, but reruns continued to air on Boomerang until 2021. If you'd like to watch it yourself, you either need the Boomerang streaming app or must pay to watch it on YouTube.

The show is a loose adaptation of the books. Y'know how I said the television special deviated from the books? Well, this time you could probably count the number of similarities on one hand: a vampire rabbit who drinks the juice from vegetables instead of blood, a cat named Chester, and a dog named Harold. Aside from that...

- Much like the television special, it's straight-up confirmed that Bunnicula is a vampire.

- Chester was a tabby cat in the original book. Here, he's a Siamese (maybe they thought making him a tabby cat was "too cliched" or something?).

- In the books, the pets' owners were Mr. Monroe, Mrs. Monroe, and their two sons. Here, the sons are replaced by a daughter, Mina.

- Harold was at least of average intelligence in the book. Here, he's an idiot.

I'll be honest, these deviations all bothered me when the show came out, which is the main reason I never watched a full episode of the show despite liking the book. But I know just because an adaptation isn't exactly like the original book doesn't mean it's bad... I mean, Disney's adaptation of The Jungle Book had very little in common with the books but I still like THAT. So in the interest of fairness, I probably should give the show a watch to see if I enjoy it on its own merits.

I like the design they gave Bunnicula, so that's one good thing I can say about it.

We'll be watching the thirteenth episode, "Bride of Bunnicula", to see if Bunnicula is a fun show that just so happens to be a weak adaptation of a book I like... or another Scaredy Squirrel. Let's hop in (get it? 'Cause the show's about a rabbit?).

The episode starts off with Bunnicula (voiced by Chris Kattan), Chester (Sean Astin), and Harold (Brian Kimmet) looking for a squeaky toy of Harold's. And already I find myself reminded of just how much the show butchered Harold. He's basically just Runt from Animaniacs now. Why? Did they think making him dumber would make him a more interesting character?

And, I'm sorry, but with all due respect towards Sean Astin, the voice they gave Chester just doesn't fit that character design. It's not a voice that sounds like it would come out of a scrawny Siamese cat, it just sounds like some guy off the street. Surely Sean could've done something cartoonier or at least higher-pitched for the character (it's not like he can't do voices, he CAN), so I'm guessing this is on the voice direction he was given.

Okay, okay. I'll try not to be too negative here...

Allow me to summarize everything that comes out of Harold's mouth: "Duh, I'm a stereotypical
dumb cartoon dog! I make Odie from Garfield look like Mr. Peabody from the Rocky and Bullwinkle
show by comparison! Durr-hurr!"

The pets head into the kitchen to see if Mina (Kari Wahlgren) has the toy. What's Mina doing in the kitchen? Doing her best impression of a cartoon mad scientist. She's created a little Frankenstein's Monster wannabe out of vegetables for her school science project, and she thinks that with a little static electricity from Chester's fur, she can bring it to life. Clearly Mina is a few croutons short of a salad bar.

How convenient that Mina was able to find four radishes with fingers growing out of them.

Of course, since Bunnicula loves vegetables, he winds up attempting to drink the juice out of the vegetable monster thing's onion head. But that static electricity does its thing - and brings the vegetable monster thing to life.

Totally how static electricity works, right?

All together now... "IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!"

Chester is understandably freaked out by the fact that a being made of an onion, turnips and what looks like some kind of squash has gained sentience. Usually, when your vegetables gain sentience, that's a sign that you should throw them out. Or create a children's show about Christian values. But when Bunnicula gets a good look at the vegetable monster thing, he falls madly in love with it. I knew he loved vegetables, but this is ridiculous.

Meh, still a better love story than Bee Movie.

Chester points out to Harold how weird and wrong this whole situation is. "Oh, you can't put a label on it, Chester," Harold claims. "Love. It's like a rubber newspaper chew toy... beautiful, and hard to find. And when you find it, you never let it go. Or lose it again! BUNNICULA HAS FOUND HIS RUBBER NEWSPAPER TOY!"

Did I mention how annoying Harold's voice is? Again, no disrespect towards Brian Kimmet, but it gets so incredibly grating...

Why do I have the feeling that I'm going to be really sympathetic towards Chester?

We get a montage of Bunnicula and his new girlfriend spending time together while Chester looks weirded-out. Eventually, however, Chester learns that Bunnicula's girlfriend is very possessive of him. "STAY AWAY FROM MY BUNNICULA! HE BELONGS TO ME NOW!" she snaps as soon as he's out of hearing range.

Again, this is why you should throw your vegetables out after they gain sentience.

"You just don't understand our love!"

Chester tells Harold about Bunnicula's girlfriend being a psychotic monster, but unsurprisingly, Harold is no help whatsoever. But wouldn't you know it, Bunnicula's girlfriend... y'know what, I'm just gonna call her Onion-Head... has a secretly sinister agenda, and Bunnicula is under her evil love trance. She's planning to harvest Bunnicula's supernatural powers to create an army of vegetable Franken-zombie mutants and do Harold and Chester in so she can have Bunnicula all to herself. And as we see this going on, we hear Harold and Chester talking about how it's not like any of that could possibly happen.

Okay, positive thing - I'll admit this part is pretty funny, if only for Chester's claim that their lives are like some sort of bad horror movie.

Little do Harold and Chester know that Mina's dad has secretly been keeping uranium
in the storage shed.

Harold and Chester notice that the storm shed is glowing and head inside to find Onion-Head with her army of vegetable Franken-zombie mutants. Only Bunnicula can save them now, and he's under Onion-Head's spell, so that might not work out so well...

Where's the Were-Rabbit when you really need him?

On the bright side, Harold has finally found his squeaky toy. Chester tells him that he needs to throw the squeaky toy at Bunnicula to get his attention, but Harold is all "No! Getting torn apart by eggplant is a small price to pay for having my squeaky toy back!" because, as we've established, he's an idiot.

Blah blah blah, Chester throws the squeaky toy at Bunnicula's head, snapping him out of Onion-Head's trance. He saves his friends from the zombie veggies, and after taking them out with weed killer, Onion-Head starts chewing him out for ruining her evil plan. Did she really need to bring a bunch of produce to life just to take out Chester and Harold? Couldn't she have just shipped them off to Abu Dhabi or something?

"No, no, I wasn't looking at pictures of Lola Bunny online! I only have eyes for you,
Onion-Head!"

"DON'T YOU LIE TO ME! I checked your browser history!"

"YOUR FACE IS DUMB! AND YOU'RE BAD AT KISSING!" Onion-Head tells Bunnicula. "I'M GOING TO DATE A MILLIONAIRE!" Then she runs out of the storage shed and into the night. We get another joke about how dumb Harold is. Mina, meanwhile, has decided to do a model volcano for her science project... and by "model volcano", I mean something that I'm pretty sure is offensive to the entire state of Hawaii.

Apologies to Hawaiians everywhere.

And I'm guessing we never find out whatever happened to the rabbit-faced vegetable monster running around. Maybe she was found and captured by scientists, at which point Mina became a Nobel Prize winner for making such a huge scientific breakthrough by bringing a being made of produce to life. Or maybe Onion-Head DID date a millionaire. Is Bill Gates still single?

What's the Verdict?

I'm sorry. I went into the show with an open mind, but... honestly, I didn't care much for this adaptation of Bunnicula. Let me start off by saying what I did like... the animation is good, and some of the jokes are at least kind of funny. But so much of the show falls flat. And that's on two things: the humor and the characters. For every joke that landed, there was another joke that fell flat. Most of them basically amount to "Ha ha, Harold is dumb."

The characters, aside from Bunnicula, are completely backwards. The original Harold wasn't a rocket science, but he wasn't a complete moron. Making him a non-anthropomorphic Dudley Puppy doesn't make him a more complex character, it just makes him obnoxious. Chester was fun in the book because he was the panicky, over-imaginative one who leads Harold in all of these half-baked plans. Here, he's the sane one reacting to the weirdness around him. It just feels wrong, and the weak voice acting from Brian Kimmet and a poorly-directed Sean Astin doesn't help. As for Mina, I just found her annoying.

And just to make sure I didn't stumble upon one of the weaker episodes, I watched the episode that came right after this one. It was about Bunnicula and Chester going into the internet to stop a raven who feeds on the negativity that it creates. It was slightly better than "Bride of Bunnicula", but still suffered from most of the same problems (Harold being annoying, some really weak jokes). I was also disappointed that there wasn't more satire about the internet, considering how much negativity it DOES create (there's a reason I just deleted my Twitter account AGAIN). Ah well...

My advice? Just read the original Bunnicula book. You can find the TV special on YouTube if you'd like to watch an animated adaptation of it. The show really doesn't have much going for it.

Apologies for this being a shorter review than usual, the episode is mostly made up of that "Bunnicula's in love" montage so there wasn't a whole lot to talk about. My next review will hopefully be longer (and a lot more positive)...

Let's Watch This: An Episode of "Dumb Bunnies"

I think you'd be hard-pressed to find somebody who doesn't know who Dav Pilkey is. You probably know him best at the creator of Captain Underpants, but he's written other books too. He's responsible for the Ricky Rocatta's Mighty Robot books, The Hallo-Wiener, and a series of books known as The Dumb Bunnies.

I've only read one of these Dumb Bunnies books, and I thought it was decent. The title of the series sums it up pretty well: there are three bunnies, and they're dumb. Four books were released. These characters have never been as popular as Captain Underpants, but they did manage to get an animated adaptation years before he did, so...

The Dumb Bunnies cartoon was produced by Nelvana and Yoram Gross, premiering on CBS in October 1998. It's basically the same thing as the books - there are rabbits, they're dumb, they get into whacky situations as a result of their being dumb, yadda yadda yadda. As I've said before, characters being dumb can only get you so far... there's a reason why you don't see many people saying nice things about the Dumb and Dumber cartoon. But I do like Dav Pilkey's work, so maybe there's something of substance here.

So, we'll be watching the show's first episode, "One Small Step", and seeing if the show is worth a look or if it's as dumb as its central characters. Get ready to see how many rabbit jokes I can make in one review. This is Dumb Bunnies.

The episode begins with a narrator (Peter Wildman) welcoming us to Bunnyville, a bustling city populated seemingly entirely by pink rabbits. Any minute now, Poppa Bunny (voiced by Rob Smith) will be making his way home from his job as Assistant Lab Bunny at a university. Yes, apparently this bunny - despite being as dumb as a brick - managed to get a job in a lab. Methinks the folks who hired him are even dumber than the Dumb Bunnies.

Then we cut to Momma Bunny (Catherine Gallant) and Baby Bunny (Dustin Lauzon) in their garden. Baby is planting carrots... not carrot seeds, CARROTS... in the garden and Momma is picking them. Clearly, these bunnies don't understand how gardening works.

Odd that Momma Bunny needs those glasses. Aren't carrots supposed to be good for
your eyesight?

Poppa Bunny is sent flying home from the university and lands in his garden. Okay, so are we going to get an explanation as to WHY he was launched out of the university with a trail of smoke behind him? Any explanation at all? The punchline isn't funny when you don't bother to show the set-up.

So, what are the Dumb Bunnies having for supper? Breakfast. They had supper for breakfast. This is meant to show how dumb the bunnies are, but who HASN'T had "breakfast for dinner" at some point? Pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon are a perfectly acceptable thing to have for dinner.

Granted, most folks who have pancakes for dinner don't mix the batter with a lawn mower...

Y'know, these bunnies might be dumb, but at least they're happy. If stupidity is bliss, I say, let them be stupid. They're not hurting anyone.

But, what's this? The bunnies are out of cheese! They can't eat pancakes without cheese! What else could they possibly put on them? Maple syrup? Pfff. That's like putting ketchup on your French fries. What are the bunnies to do? The narrator suggests pausing for a second so... Baby Bunny can recite a poem. Um, okay...

"Y'know, a funny thing happened to me on the way here this evening..."

Baby Bunny's poem, predictably, doesn't rhyme. Nyuck nyuck nyuck. But then he REALIZES that the poem doesn't rhyme, so then he tells it again with the last word swapped out for another that ALSO doesn't rhyme. Okay, you're sort of dragging the joke out here. Then he finally DOES think of a word that rhymes. Ha ha?

Back to the episode. The Dumb Bunnies decide to borrow a cup of cheese from their neighbors, the Uppity Bunnies. Their shtick is that they're prissy uptight snobs. Well, at least the mother (Linda Kash) and father (Dwayne Hill) are. The daughter (Rebecca Brenner) seems to prefer the simpler things in life.

They also have horrible taste in decorating. Seriously, does the entire room have to be
painted such a bright shade of yellow?

Mr. and Mrs. Uppity actually seem to be AFRAID of the Dumb Bunnies. Which is kind of understandable when the first thing they do upon entering the house is see the burning candles, assume that the house is on fire, and squirt Mr. and Mrs. Uppity with fire extinguishers.

It's at this point we get the first joke in the episode to actually get a chuckle out of me. The daughter asks the Dumb Bunnies if they'd like to stay for supper, to which Mr. and Mrs. Uppity dramatically shout "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" for, like, five minutes as we keep cutting back to the Dumb Bunnies smiling like idiots. I don't know why I find that so funny, I just do.

The Uppity Bunnies are really starting to regret not taking that job with Energizer.
Now they have to star in THIS to put carrots on the table...

Coincidentally, the Uppitys are all out of cheese too. But the Dumb Bunnies won't give up. They'll just go to the store and BUY some cheese. And just in case you didn't get that these bunnies were stupid, they don't go to a grocery store, but a CLOTHING store! Oh, how humorous!

The store-owner tells them that A) the store does not sell cheese, and B) the bunnies are in desperate need of a new wardrobe. I dunno, I think Baby Bunny's Mickey Mouse pants are a pretty good look for him. The narrator then says that this situation reminds him of a story...

Uh, hello? The Dumb Bunnies still haven't eaten their pancakes? Not exactly the best
time for a story...

The story is about how once upon a time there was a kingdom where everyone dressed in the latest fashions. One day, a traveler came to the kingdom seeking shelter, but because he was dressed in outdated clothing, everyone laughed at him and slammed doors in his face. Until he came to the humble cottage of three humble Dumb Bunnies, who welcome him with open arms. Even if the Dumb Bunnies are dumber than Patrick Star, Homer Simpson, Yakkity Yak, and Dudley Puppy combined, they know that you should never treat a person lousily because of what they're wearing. Y'know, maybe these Dumb Bunnies aren't so dumb after all...

The stranger turns out to be the prince of the kingdom, and he rewards the Dumb Bunnies with treasure and makes them his royal advisers. Alas, the clothing store owner isn't moved by the story and shoos the Dumb Bunnies out of his shop. The Dumb Bunnies visit some more stores - a clothing store, a bookstore, everything BUT a grocery store - to find cheese, but come out empty-handed (or should that be empty-PAWED?). Poppa Bunny comes to the conclusion that there's a cheese shortage in Bunnyville... while standing in front of a shop with cheese in the window.

I'm not going to say that the Dumb Bunnies are stupid, but they once attempted to
raise their IQ by standing on a ladder.

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if that's true.

But then, who should the Dumb Bunnies run into but the shadiest character in Bunnyville, Sly Fox (Norm Spencer). Sly Fox also seems to be the only resident of Bunnyville who isn't a rabbit. Is this like Zootopia, where Sly Fox faces discrimination over his species?

Actually, that's a recurring thing in Zootopia, isn't it? Nick calls himself a "sly fox" and Judy a "dumb bunny"? The comparisons are writing themselves...

Never let them see that they get to you, Sly...

Sly tells them that he just so happens to have some "moon cheese" on him. It's very rare - in fact, the last "moon cheese" on Earth - so it's obviously going to be very, very expensive. The Dumb Bunnies politely decline, believing it wouldn't be fair for them to have the last piece of moon cheese when there's a cheese shortage in Bunnyville. Baby Bunny suggests that they go to the moon themselves and bring back enough moon cheese for everybody.

So, yeah. This episode has decided to rip off the first Wallace and Gromit short. Except the Bunnies actually plan to share the cheese, so they have a less selfish motive than Wallace.

The Dumb Bunnies head to the university to ask Poppa Bunny's boss, Dr. Bunsen Bunny (Keith Knight), for directions to the moon. Coincidentally enough, Dr. Bunsen just so happens to be launching a space probe so he can study a new comet in the solar system.

"Dang it, another comet heading for us. Somebody call Bruce Willis, Liv Tyler and Ben Affleck..."

Dr. Bunsen gives the Dumb Bunnies directions to the moon - it's right above their heads. So to get to the moon, all they have to do is go up. I find it refreshing that Dr. Bunsen is actually nice to the Dumb Bunnies. Everyone else in Bunnyville seems to treat them with distain.

Now the Dumb Bunnies just have to figure out how to get up to the moon. They spot a nearby elevator and run inside, unaware that the elevator actually leads into the space probe. Uh oh...

I can't think of a funny joke to make here, so instead, here's an interesting fact about
rabbits: a baby rabbit is called a "kit", a female rabbit is called a "doe", and a male rabbit is called
a "buck".

The Dumb Bunnies blast off into space. Little do they know that the space probe isn't going to the moon (which, unlike in most cartoons, isn't actually made of cheese), it's headed for the middle of that comet. And little does Dr. Bunsen know that the comet isn't a comet at all, but a spacecraft being driven by an alien! In the words of M. Night Shyamalan, WHAT A TWIST!

"I'm going to blow up the Earth. It obstructs my view of Venus."

The military sends rockets with suction cups on the front of them the alien (Ron Rubin)'s way, but he ricochets them back and demands to see the planet's leader. In response, the military freaks out, which makes the alien believe that they need to be taught some manners. He lands his ship on the moon, then the space probe that the Dumb Bunnies are in lands on the moon as well. The Dumb Bunnies help themselves to some of the moon "cheese" - actually rocks, but because they're idiots they just assume that it's stale. I wonder if their quest to get some cheese is going to wind up foiling the alien's plan to knock Earth "into the next galaxy".

Spoiler alert: it does. They distract the alien by playing a rousing game of "What's Wrong With This Picture". How many things do YOU see that are wrong with this screencap?

Actually, there's only ONE thing that's wrong with this screencap - that vase has a flower
in it. That's where the fishing rod should go. Obviously.

The alien decides to call off the "knocking Earth into the next galaxy" plan upon learning that the Dumb Bunnies live on Earth and everybody has some tea. And guess what else? The alien is also a cheese salesman.

Zhe odds, vhat are zhey?

The Dumb Bunnies (presumably after a quick stop at Mars to get some tomato paste as well) return to Earth to eat those pancakes. But they're not eating the cheese WITH the pancakes, no, no... they're wearing the cheese as hats! The moral of today's story is that if you just keep trying, you can do anything. Even get cheese from the moon.

Also, it's raining cheese.

Dang it, Flint Lockwood.

What's the Verdict?

I admittedly had very small expectations when I decided to review Dumb Bunnies, but, to be honest, I was pleasantly surprised. The show is actually pretty charming. Usually, shows where the main joke is that the characters are idiots get really obnoxious really quickly. But I think what sets the Dumb Bunnies apart from a character like, say, Yakkity Yak or Dudley Puppy is a couple things: their cheery and kindhearted personalities, the fact that they don't SHOUT EVERY OTHER LINE, and, of course, better writing. My main complaint is that it takes us forever to actually get to the main plot of "the Dumb Bunnies go to outer space" - there's a lot of filler that could've easily been removed. Aside from that, I found Dumb Bunnies a rather pleasant show. Not the greatest cartoon ever, of course, but if you like the books - or, heck, even if you've never read the books - I'd recommend watching at least one episode. I'd gladly take these dumb pink bunnies over Richard from The Amazing World of Gumball.

This was a lighter review than the extremely long one we had last week. Here's a teaser for what we'll be looking at next time: