When you think of iconic nineties kids TV shows you think of shows like Spongebob and to a lesser extent Power Rangers. Yet there is another iconic show from that same time period one that has spawned a few spin off shows , movies and a recently released terrible reboot and it's the first episode of that show that i'm going to be talking to you all about today and so then join me as I review the episode that introduced the world to some truly iconic babies with the episode in question being called simply just "Tommy's First Birthday" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is it's Tommy's first birthday and all his wants to do is eat some dog food but when some puppeteers don't show up things get out of control when his father and uncle are forced to perform the show themselves. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's a actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. This episodes plot while on the service it could be seen as being a nothing plot as all it is is Tommy wishing he could do something and then he does it there's a little bit more to it then that as we do get to see him struggle to get what he wants with the parents mistaking his crying from something else entirely. This is something that does add some charm to not only the episode as a whole but also the show as well as all throughout the show we do see the adults mistake things that the babies want for something else and it is something that does add an extra layer to this episode as planning a birthday party for anyone is always going to be a stressful time for anyone to have the plot of this episode revolve around that and all of the chaos that that does bring is something that does make the episodes plot feel oddly relevant just to be clear this doesn't make the episodes plot good as there are aspects of the plot that don't quite work but on the whole the episodes plot was a really good one with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Michael Bell as Drew Pickles and Boris Kropotkin and Cavanaugh as Chuckie Finster. Also starring in this episode is Melanie Chartoff as Didi Pickles and Minka Kropotkin , Cheryl Chase as Angelica Pickles , Elizabeth Daily as Tommy Pickles , David Doyle as Grandpa Lou Pickles , Phil Proctor as Howard DeVille , Jack Riley as Stu Pickles and Kath Soucie as Phil DeVille , Lil DeVille and Betty DeVille.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's a actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. To be frank this episodes acting was alot more better then what it really had any right to be as by all rights this episodes acting shouldn't have been that good and yet due to the fact that the episode does have some really good actors in it alot of whom are voice acting legends in there own right the acting in this episode does end up being alot more better ten the acting in alot of the first episodes of other TV shows. With the best actor in this episode being Elizabeth Daily as Tommy Pickles as she really does have the perfect voice for this character so much so that she is pretty much the only person to have every played the character with this episode proving why she is so good at playing Tommy as every single scene that she is in she just steals it and makes it her own with her even having some good chemistry with alot of the other actors in the episode something which really does make you wonder if the actors playing the babies recorded there lines together as you really do need to get the sense that they are friends and that's really not something that your going to get if the actors record there lines separately with Elizabeth really nailing Tommy's character right from the second that he starts talking with her natural charisma really shining through in this episode. With the acting that's in this very episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
Doing the animation for this episode is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Wang Film Productions Company. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's a actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. The episodes animation whilst it is really good in it's own right is also something that could have been alot more better with this mainly being due to the fact that the designs for the characters don't really allow for expressive movement and therefor it is hard to get emotion out of the characters without making them look really ugly. However tho there are times where the episode does pull of some really good looking animation like the fact that we get to see Drew arriving with Angelica with the whole scene being from the point of view of Angelica which is a really impressive scene to pull off and is something that could only be pulled of in animation with the episode even giving the characters some really good looking facial expressions when you pause the episode but again it's the character designs that while they do make the show more memorable as they give the show a unique look but it also feels like it's holding the animators back an stopping the episode from being as well as animated as it had the potential to be and while the things don't get much better with the reboot as these characters should only be done in 2D it is clear the makers of this episode couldn't work out how to make the character designs work in the realm of 2D animation.
The one word that can best be used to describe this episode it's childlike as that's what the whole episode feels like and it's something that does work. As it allows you to see things from a unique point of view that being the point of view of a baby and things that might seem odd to us as adults to them seems new and wonderful with even the fact that we see Anjelica say to Tommy that she gets first dibs on all of the toys is something that does feel like a child would say to another kid at a birthday party and it is something that does force you to remember that this show is being told from the point of view of a kid even seeing how the babies react when they find out she's coming to Tommy's birthday is somethings that does work as they know full well that she's not the kindest of people but can't say anything because there children. Even the main plot of the episode feels very childlike in nature as babies do like to eat weird things and seeing Tommy and his friends try to eat dog food is something that does play into that with it being something that does make it feel like that the makers of this episode really did do there research when it comes to babies and how they act to certain things as outside of when there alone and talking to each other the babies do feel like exactly that babies with them all having the attitudes and thoughts that you'd expect a baby to have only now we re hearing them say what there thinking instead of having to guess it and while yes this the fact that this episode is very child like could be seen as something that's holding the episode back as even the adults at the end start to act more like children given the fact that this is show that was made for kids this is something that could just ben seen as a fun thing to have in the episode.
Incase your wondering in this Tommy only wears his red shirt and his more iconic blue shirt with the only possible reason for this being the fact that this episode is about his birthday with his blue shirt being more for everyday things. This is something that not alot of people will pick up on as when they think of Tommy and of this show they'll always picture hi wearing his blue shirt and therefor it is something that will drive them crazy when they see this episode and see him in his red shirt there might a production reason for that like maybe the color of the shirt was confirmed until late in this episodes production which is something that would explain why he doesn't start wearing it until the next episode. Or of course there could very well be a story reason that was left out of the final episode either way it is fun to speculate what the actual reason for this might be as while it doesn't effect the episode at all Tommy's blue shirt is an iconic part of his character and the character oddly looks weird seeing him in his red one either way it would have been nice if the makers of this episode did give an in universe reason as to why he's wearing his red shirt even if it was something that added it retroactively, heck all of the characters are wearing the clothes that you usually think of when you think of those characters and there attending the party therefor while it still wouldn't make sense for Tommy to wear his blue shirt as that one could be seen as being used more for every day things with his red being used more for parties and other such things it is still something that would have an extra layer of realism if Didi saw his blue one but chose to put n the red one as it's day of birthday party.
This is a episode that you really can watch and get on two vastly different levels as when you first see it as a kid you get it from the point of the kids and what there going through in the episode. However then when you get older and you watch this same episode again you get from the point of the view of the adults and what there going through this is something that does make both the show and this episode have a universal appeal and generational appeal to it as your not going to say an episode of Spongebob on two different levels as that's not that kind of a show but this show with all it being done without having any crude or adult humor in this episode rather it just places both sets of a characters in a relatable situation and lets us see what happens. While yes the adult stuff is something that could have been much more better handled as there stuff is pretty much just the side plot of the episode this is something that does make alot of sense as the show is meant to be about the babies and not the adults therefor it does make sense for the adults to have the side plot as there showing us things as they really are whereas from the babies point of view we are seeing things as we want to see them, heck the episode does dive into the stress about organizing a party and even the stress of just feeding a now one year old baby these are things that little kids won't get but as they get older and more mature then it is something that they will start to pick up on with this episode handling those things beautifully as both Didi and Stew aren't being presented as clueless parents like they could have been rather they are presented as parents that are working this out as they go along much like how Tommy isn't being presented as being the smartest baby he's being presented as being just a normal baby who just wants what the typical baby wants and that's it.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty three minuets and twenty two seconds. With this episode breaking away from what would become the norm for the show and telling one single story instead of two eleven minuet stories this is something that does work to this episode having to introduce not only the characters for the show but also the shows main setting and the general premise for the show itself and while yes it could very easily have done that in eleven minuets to do so what be to do a huge disservice to the characters and it wouldn't allot for alot of time for us the audience to decide on if we like the characters or not with the episodes having more then enough plot there to really cover that amount of running time in the first place. Yet even so this episode really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as the episode really doesn't take the time that it could have done to fully develop its plot with the characters just spending more time about talking about dog food rather then exploring fun and creative ways about getting it which is something that whilst it wouldn't have added anything to the plot of the episode it would have made the episode alot more fun to watch but given the fact that this show is mostly a slice of life show one could also argue that having a fully developed plot wouldn't make sense for the show as a whole with the makers of this episode being more focused on giving us puppet show drama that they are in giving us a fully developed plot. Heck the same thing is also true for the episodes characters as none of them get any kind of character development which much like the plot could be down to the fact that this is a slice of life of show and people don't genuinely develop and change who they are in twenty three minuets however one could also argue that the characters get there development in both later episodes of the show and in any of the shows three movies with the makers of this of this show putting more thought and effort into making sure that we hate Anjelica then they did into giving any of the characters some character development but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. To be frank much like with episodes acting the comedy in this episode was alot more better then what it really had any right to be as this is an episode that by all rights shouldn't have been that funny as the set up for the episode doesn't really allow for there to be much comedic moments in it and yet somehow the makers of this episode did find a way to make this episode be really funny. With the best joke in the whole entire episode being when the babies do finally eat some of Spike's dog food they find that they don't like it and because they believe that eating the food will turn them into dogs they all start acting all like dogs which is just such a cute and funny moment in the episode with even all of the adults coming together to stop there arguing and just watch the kids be exactly that kids with that joke being one that adults will laugh out due to how childlike and innocent it is and the kids will laugh at it because it's people acting silly but in a smart way with it being the kind of joke that could only work if it was done well which it was here as it was something that was built up all throughout the episode with that joke even being able to remind us adults of what it really was like to be kids and just be silly as there's nothing wrong with that with the rest of the episodes jokes being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall this was a decent first episode to a truly iconic show with it really being an episode that both old fans and even fans of the 2021 reboot will really like with the episode itself really more then holding all of these years later as it really is just that timeless of an episode in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.
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