Episode discussion: "Emaciation Complication" 11/10/06
 

Well, "Emaciation Complication" airs Friday (11/10) at 7 PM ET/PT. Shall we talk about it?

A liiiitle bit early, aren't we?

Okay, if you're going to start this threads, you need to add something significant to the topic. Because this episode hasn't even aired in the US, I will be locking it for now. In the future, any of these topics that get started with no significance will be BALEETED...err, I mean, deleted! You need to add something to the discussion. Remember that.

Good day!

"Emaciation Complication" Take Two 11/10
 

Abraham Lincoln as a pen? Hoo boy!

i gess i was the first to watch the whole thing. i really didnt care for it at all, the whole spin on the show kinda made me mad.

HAHAHAHAHA! Bloo saved the day?? XDDD

I knew at some point Wilt would become the flagpole. XDDD

The song was cute, and it was nice to hear Wilt singing again. =3

I thought it was great,

I liked the begining when Mac took Bloo to school.
Bloo acted just like Daffy Duck when he popped out of the Backpack.

MOnty:-/

Since I'm probably gonna be the first to put in a long review, let me start off by saying while this wasn't the Frankie/Mac spotlight episode that people have expected it to be, I gotta say I was really impressed at the cleverness of this episode.

Little Lincoln and Moose have been the first villains we've had in a long while. He had a great gimmick, a great plan, and a great cover giving the IFs homes but also taking advantage of them. This also gave Madame Foster a chance to show a bit more into her personality.

The idea that she wondered if what she was doing was worth wild was a very DEEP DEEP character plot device that I was surprised to see (as I was with the risque but clever use of the naked lady on the pen gag with Lincoln in the hot cup of tea 8D).

Having Bloo be insanely addicted to the video game, while at the same time almost inadvertantly saving the day was classic Bloo. I was also glad to see Mac being nice and trying to help out imaginary friends, as well as how Frankie sweetly tried to console him after he realized he'd done wrong.

I guess in honest I have to say I liked the whole idea behind this more so then the comedy of it. There was some really good writing here, and I felt it came out well despite the fact Eduardo and the others seemed to take a back seat to Little Lincoln's debut.

Two things I especially loved: Madame Foster stuffing the 2 in the closet in the beginning, and how Little Lincoln was defeated ;D that pen chewing bit was sure brilliance. All in all, I was happy with this episode and I found it to be one of the smartest episodes they've had in a while.

For the most part, I agree with Mr. Marshmallow: while it didn't end up being the Frankie and Mac centric episode I was hoping it would be, I still found it to be a genuinely brilliant episode, if just for the fact that the showed how Madam Foster herself even occasionally doubted if what she was doing was worthwhile. On top of that, it was kind of harsh seeing how easily Li'l Lincoln was able to objectify the IFs as tools and workers instead of their intended purpose, that being friends and companions. I personally found it to be a smarting blow to the way people who are in power/a higher position will tend to objectify those below them and profit from them, as (unfortunately) commonly happens in capitalism.

I thought that Li'l Lincoln and Moose were, like Marshmallow said, a great pair of villains. While it's a cliche setup (the brainy ringleader with the dumb, huge muscle to enforce what he wants), I thought it was a genuinely entertaining use of it, especially Moose's repeated response of "Yes, Mr. President!" to Lincoln. What really surprised me, though, was that there was one moment where Moose even actually seemed clever, having somehow picked up on the whole battery ordeal with Bloo. I guess I just didn't expect someone like him to really pull something off like that (though he basically made the whole scheme pointless when he gave Lincoln back to Madam Foster when she asked for a pen).

In the episode, there was only one thing I DIDN'T agree with: the use of Herriman. I would have liked some explanation as to how Lincoln was able to get him to comply with being his maid. While I guess Li'l Lincoln could have threatened to get rid of him as well somehow, you'd have thought that Herriman would've told Madam Foster what was going on immediately, unless Foster was the one to allow them to treat Herriman like that (which I doubt). Still, I think Herriman had one of my favorite lines in this episode: (paraphrased to the best of my memory) "He even addressed me as his 'First Lady'".

It was a funny episode; I especially liked Bloo's antics in the classroom and his fixation on the video game. It was good to see more of Madam Foster than usual as well. But overall it was a letdown; I had been expecting and hoping for a much larger role for Frankie, one where she might get a chance to be the hero and save the day. Unfortunately, that was not the case. :(

Also, and this is unrelated to the episode itself, but those huge splash ads at the bottom of the screen make every episode much less enjoyable and CN needs to stop this revolting practice immediately. :terrence:

I thought this was a pretty good episode. Lil' Lincoln made a great villain. Frankie confronting Lincoln upon learning his true motives was great, as well as seeing Mr. Herriman in a prominent role once again. The continuity between who got locked in the closet by the end of the first two acts was a great touch. Bloo's addiction to the game was pretty hilarious. This was a solid episode overall, regardless of the fact that I am severely and utterly disappointed that we didn't get the Mac/Frankie team-up that CN.com promised.

I'm not going to blame any of the crew for that. They clearly worked hard on this episode, and the results were once again good stuff. I'll have to see it again to get a more definitive overall impression, both because of how heavily plotted it was, and because I'll be able to look at it without the expectations that cluttered my mind upon first viewing.

But for lying outrightly, I have just lost EVEN MORE RESPECT for Cartoon Network. And I don't think I'm going to forgive them any time soon.

While the splash ads bugged me, they don't irritate me as badly as the fact that they cut out the majority of the scene during the end credits to merely show something completely pointless for the fact of announcing that there were going to be new episodes during November, something we had known already.

I'm still trying to make up my mind on this one, really. I can't decide whether or not I liked the musical number, but then it WAS a satire, so in that respect, it worked. The whole notion of "Little Lincoln" being an animated ball-point PEN was interesting, to say the least, along with the concept of the teacher confiscating kids' Imaginary Friends along with electronic games, toys, bubble gum and other classroom contraband(which at my schools would have included .45's, switchblades, nickle bags, and an assortment of gang stuff). I guess I will just have to take this entire episode as a satire on those many old stop-motion animated specials, in which there's always some villain out to take advantage of an innocent, sweet old lady to swindle her out of everything she has.

On the positive, we have yet MORE "Hitchhiker's Guide" references(the character that Bloo was trying to save the universe from in the game was a Beeblebrox-I KNEW those two would not get along), we have Wilt singing again, albeit briefly, and a sorta cameo by Lightning McQueen. It's difficult for me to dislike and episode that pays homage to both Douglas Adams AND Pixar. We also get to see just how sharp and clever Madame Foster really is, and how difficult it would be for someone to actually take advantage of her. While it seemed odd that she would beat the schnot out of two Imaginary Friends, mistaking them for "intruders", I guess she KNEW, even then, that those two were up to no good, but decided to play along with Mac and give them the benefit of a doubt. Oh, and Wilt DID look mighty handsome and patriotic standing there on the school grounds holding up our flag, though his poor arm had to have gotten tired awfully fast!

On the downside, it was a disappointment to see Frankie and Mr. Herriman so helpless and at the mercy of Moose and Little Lincoln, though I guess with Moose's bully muscle(and all the big, strong IF's who could have actually stood up to him, like the New Guy, out of the way)there really wasn't much they could do, but it just seemed out-of-character for either of those two to give in without much of a fight. There really weren't any big laughs for me at all, just more of a "oh, look-it's so-and-so!" moment here and there, especially with the racecar IF. Bloo's obsessing with the game was probably the funniest part, along with his desparation when the batteries finally died, and I didn't miss the old Warner Bros. Loony Tunes tribute with Bloo's Daffy Duck rampage around the classroom, either.

pitbulllady

I wouldn't take the Frankie not being the star thing to heart Cassini, and this goes to everyone else as well. You never know what your going to get in a hox of cracker jacks, and you never know what's going to happen in a TV episode until you see it.

People use TV.com to find out everything weeks in advance, but a little description on a webpage doesn't necessarily spell out the same way when you actually see the episode. I didn't build this episode up as a Frankie/Mac starring episode. I just waited and watched and commented as it followed.

Like I said before, the villains in here were very well designed. True the smart guy, dumb goon bit has been done to death but what more can you expect in a kids show? I also agree with Nathander saying Moose showed some pretty darm big brain cells bribing Bloo with batteries (try saying that 3 times fast :cheesegrin:).

What I liked most about this aspect is when Frankie tried to stop Moose and he stopped her, and then put her and eventually Mac in the closet (Herriman willingly agreeing to go along with the closet was hilarious). The reason I liked that part is because this really showed how SERIOUS this problem was.

Previous villains like Bloo's agent, Dylan, Duchess, Berry, and Terrance were minor cliche bullies or pains in the asses. Little Lincoln proved to be A REAL THREAT! I mean he actually took control of the house, kicked everyone out, used them for profits, and almost had Madame Foster wrapped around his finger.

That's a pretty ballsy move for a small pen, and something a great villain could only pull off. As for Herriman agreeing with the plan, my best guess is that this is a similar situation like in Simpsons when Marge tried to bulldoze the burlesk house (dunno if that's spelled right) and a song stopped her.

Maybe the tune was so good it changed everyone's minds, like in Simpsons:

"But what about the beer, the drinking, the prostitution?"

"Well Marge it was a very convincing song"

Thanks, Mr. M.,but I'm still feeling a little let down, and I never read the TV.com page; all I ever read was the brief synopsis on the CN website.

There were two other aspects of the episode with some possibly interesting sociological implications, namely the overcrowding at Foster's and the selling of IF's, but I'll leave that to those who've already put some thought into similar matters (that's your que, PBL ;) ).

Glad my words are being noticed :D, and I'm not trying to sway anyone's minds into liking an episode they hate. I simply ask that while I understand your upset over the lack of Frankie/Mac spotlight action, don't let that taint the episode.

Enjoy it for what it is with a free and open mind. I do the same thing whenever I go see a new movie or a new cartoon series, I don't come in with a negative attitude unless the show or movie itself gives me reason to be negative.

Mr. M,

The thing is, it wasn't TV.com(a place edited by the fans, and thus can sometimes be inaccurate) that proposed the whole Mac/Frankie thing. It was CartoonNetwork.com, which is supposed to be the OFFICIAL SOURCE. It said OUTRIGHTLY that "it's up to Mac and Frankie to thwart his evil plans and take back the house", as if they would be the clear focus.

THEY LIED. And that, quite frankly, upsets me. Not only because I was personally hoping that Mac and Frankie would get a chance to truly shine for once; but also because it doesn't say much good when a major legitimate corporation like Cartoon Network can do that and get away with it completely.

I enjoyed the episode very much, don't get me wrong. But it doesn't change the fact that I'm feeling a little betrayed by what was supposed to be an OFFICIAL SOURCE.

Well in that regards, I for one didn't look at the Cartoon Network official page. I don't really like to plan out what's to be expected and usually like to be surprised. While it would have been nice to see those 2 shine, again, I'm not one to look ahead and sneak a peek.

If CN lied then shame on them, but for the most part I'm not really mad at them simply due to the fact I didn't rely on that to give me a basis. i hope that makes sense. But I can understand your anger, just saying that me being the way that i am, I never really had this kind of a problem.

That's why I'm trying to keep honest reactions towards the episodes seperate from people's obvious negative reactions to feeling "gipped" out of the official description so to speak. That's all.

I understand that, and I don't hate the episode. The only ep that I hate - never mind, we all know where I'm going with that. ;)

Did anyone else see any similarities between Bloo's classroom antics and those of a certain couple of Warner Brother's icons? I couldn't help but think about Bugs and Daffy while Bloo was bouncing around. :D

Bloo did seem alot like Daffy duck, a few people have noticed that as well and I actually thought he was great pissing off the teacher and just bouncing around like a crazy idiot. Wilt being so careless about being a flag was also funny.

Leave it to Wilt be to okay with being used heh. And being the natural perv that i am :P I couldn't help but notice Frankie in a night gown when Mac brought Moose and Little Lincoln back.

Not surprisingly.....she's still hot!

I guess I can be glad I didn't read the Cartoon Network thingie in much detail this time, since I was not expecting Mac and Frankie to team up and save the day, though I would have expected Mac to try and right a situation that he caused, albeit inadvertently.

I can see the issue, though, with the selling of the Imaginary Friends, the forcing them to work for nothing, and the overcrowding in the house. In that respect, they were being treated just like slaves, and therein lies the irony. The REAL Abraham Lincoln, through his Emancipation Proclamation, FREED all the human slaves in the US, while this Lincoln turned other Imaginary Friends into slaves, for his own profit!

One thing that this episode DOES show, though, is that Imaginary Friends are far from being just extensions of a child's personality and thoughts, and that they are not all childlike, not at all! Little Lincoln surely did not pick up the idea of selling other Imaginary Friends, taking over an old lady's house and fortune, and turning it into a gambling casino from some elementary school kid, and his reaction to that bikini-clad lady on the ballpoint pen was FAR from childlike and innocent!

pitbulllady

And the screencaps will be up by the end of the weekend, Spark?

They'll be up when she can do them, bloonuggets. One time it took her much longer to get screengrabs up.

Well... I sort of half watched it... I taped it on the ReplayTv (a TiVo-esque thing) though, so I'll fully analyze it tomorrow. I'd watch it now, but my little brother is glued to the TV because of the SpongeBob movie.

I MISSED THE MUSICAL NUMBER!!! Anyone who knows me can say that is the first of ANYTHING. I also missed the Lightning McQueen cameo... I'll look for that...

From what I DID pay attention to, it was an okay episode. The closet. Ha.

Everything happens in a closet, I swear. Ha.

I always knew that Mac's big heart would be out to get him some day...

And no Goo (as much as I love her, I needed a break... I hate when they overuse her...), which made me happy. Next week's ep shall keep my eyes glued to the screen.

-Marty :goo:

It was a good episode, though I have to say it was a step backwards from last week's. First, what I didn't like. I, too, was anticipating this one to be more of a Mac and Frankie-centered episode (according to the description from Cartoon Network's website), and it wasn't quite there. That took a bit of enjoyment out of the episode. Also, I wish Frankie and Herriman would've put up more of a fight vs. Lincoln and Moose. Really, that's about it, though it was enough for me to lower my grade of the episode. :(

What did I like? I loved the first act quite a bit. I enjoyed Bloo's Daffy Duck-esque act in Mac's classroom, and Bloo's obsession with the video game. I really loved the musical bit in this one. It was great to hear some of the IFs use their vocal talent there. I hope to see another in the future. :) I loved Herriman's first lady line there. 8D I must that that Lincoln's design is unique and I wasn't expecting him to be so small. I also loved how Madame Foster used Lincoln at the final act of the episode. :mfoster:

Overall, this isn't a favorite episode, and I had hoped it would've been better. I have to give it a B-. One more Season Four episode left, and we have the movie coming up in a few weeks.

I do not think it was a LIE. However the episode description on CN was posted back at the begining of the year. mont likely before the episode was even finished.

All the friends were sold. (eccept for Boo and Mr H)
and both Mac and Frankie (seperatly) discovered that Little Lincon was Bad.
So it basically was up to Mac and Frankie to save the day. and it was unexpected that bloo actually came to save the day.

Monty:-/

Yeah, I noticed that, too. Same one as in "Squeakerboxxx", I think, and the same one her Sim uses. Very hot in every case. :frankiesmile:

Just a question: WHY are people here complaining about how Frankie and Mr. Herriman "didn't do much" to stop Lincoln and Moose?

Considering how her role in the episode didn't turn out to be as big as CN.com said, I think Frankie did everything she could to try and stop them. Were you REALLY expecting her to effortlessly take down a huge ogre like Moose on her own? It would've been awesome, and could've been plausible if we saw her using her wits and brain... but seeing as how the episode's structure turned out to be different than I and some others expected, she did the best she could.

And I thought it was hilarious how someone like Mr. Herriman COMPLETELY surrendered to them, and briefly became a maid.

I totally buy Herriman bowing out and surrendering. He's an old fuddy duddy and someone who's stuck in the old ways of doing things. Herriman is also a neat freak and very structured, if one TINY thing goes out of order, it throws him totally off balance.

Unlike Bloo and the others, Herriman doesn't respond well to pressure and he usually breaks down when bad things happen. Like in "Camp keep a good Mac down" and "World Wide Wabbit", and of course "Crime after crime". Face it, he's no pillar of strength.

Frankie also did state she had a problem with this. You could see it on her face during the whole musical number, and she did say she doubted this during the song itself. But again realistically, this proves the whole point of how good these villains really were.

How often does Foster's run into people like these? Dylan and Berry were more like social pests or nusiances, they weren't down right rotten like these two. Little Lincoln is smart enough to think things out, and Moose did what he was IMAGINED to do.

Frankie can only do so much, and she did, there's no one in Foster's who's strong enough to beat out someone like Moose. And with everyone sold out to their jobs and left overs included just Frankie, Mac, and Herriman, it's no surprise they couldn't do a whole lot.

You're over-reacting. Frankie and Mac DID have a big part in this episode. Sure, it wasn't them alone that saved the day, but they had a huge role in it nonetheless.

As for me, I honestly got bored with this episode. Abraham Lincoln and Moose made great villains, Bloo and his game were great, and the ending credits were funny (save for that little interruption by the Friday Boxheads :jk: ), but at most I think this episode was okay.

Wow, looks like the girl from the Deo commercial found a new gig as a pen.

This episode was pretty great, and I totally didn't expect Madame Foster's wondering if what she was doing was worthwhile. I love Madame Foster even more now.

I think Frankie and Mac got a pretty big part; Frankie did all she could, and wouldn't have been able to resolve the whole thing herself given the circumstances. They needed everyone to get involved. In a very humorous manner.

I was particularly tickled by the way Bloo was furiously playing the game and being like "eeehhhh...." whenever anyone addressed him because he sounded just like me when I'm busy.

Too bad the New Guy's not around anymore. He could've taken out Moose easily, but that would have defeated the point of the episode.

I totally missed the "Beeblebrox" gag. Shame on me.

In closing, I love Bloo intensely and I need to find opportunities to say "fuddy duddy" more often.

I added a poll to this topic, in case any of you want to grade the ep. I should have done this earlier. :P

I re-watched it (SpongeBob ended earlier than expected, so my brother finally shut up and let me watch it again).

I gave the episode a C.

Now, the overall plot/humor and stuff earned it a B in my book. Y'know what REALLY brought it down?

THE MUSICAL NUMBER!!!

Once again, I love muscial numbers. LOVE them. But this was so... random. It was a little much, therefore pushing my grade to a C.

I cracked up at the Lightning McQueen appearence, though...

-Marty :goo:

I give it a B, it didn't stick out with the rest of season 4 but was funny. This was Herriman's best episode IMO atleast. I'm also mad at CN.com, I wanted to see Mac & Frankie work together, oh well.:( I NEVER want to hear Madame Foster sing again, but I would love to here more FRankie & Wilt siniging!
Wilt as the flag pole was the best part of the episode.:D

Whoa. Ed didn't have very many lines. His only lines were when he was singing and when he was working for his adopter.
:-/
Anyways, this episode deserves a B for a mostly-good job.

did anyone mention the Irony of Lincon selling IF Slaves?
thats one of several reasons I gave it an good grade

Monty :-/

I honestly saw that coming the moment I learnt of this episode's premise.

I don't really think it's irony, as much as it is a blatant role-reversal.

Oh yes I felt bad for Ed, he had to be stuck with that jerky little kid.

I guess we'll call the pen "Dishonest Abe?" I'll soon add them to the list of secondary characters over at Wikipedia soon.

She deserved a big spanking, or at least should be grounded for that kind of behaviour. Poor Ed. :-/