Category Archives: LPS Season 2

Lost in Reality: “A Day at the Museum” review

Posted by BlackWidower on

Alright, this blog is getting heavy. For the past month I’ve talked about pointless superstitions, fraudulent con artists, illogical plot development, racism, spoiler-culture, and IP theft, while doing nothing more than writing about my favourite cartoon shows.

I find that a bit bizarre. These shows are directed toward children. Can’t we just have one light-hearted episode that was just a pointless adventure where the characters get lost in a museum or something?

… So, this week, on Littlest Pet Shop, that happens… Continue reading →

Frauds of a Feather: “The Big, Feathered Parade” review

Posted by BlackWidower on

I’m starting to get mixed feelings about Littlest Pet Shop. On one hand, we have recent episodes about skepticism, and social commentary. On the other, these same episodes can be summed up by saying: “People are shit.” Which isn’t a very positive message.

I kinda wish they didn’t need to give this message, but they kinda do. Kids grow up with this idea that everything in the world is sunshine and rainbows, and that just isn’t true. The world is very much imperfect, and there are a lot of assholes out there. But the good news is, they are in the minority. Most people are good people, with intelligence, and integrity. But it’s too easy to focus on the negative. On the con artists, the idiots, and the straight-up liars. But it’s important to know these people exist, so you can avoid them, and combat them.

Which is why I’m glad they recently covered another type of asshole on Littlest Pet Shop: The thieves and the fraudsters. Continue reading →

The Memetastic Mr. Mongoose: “What, Meme Worry?” review

Posted by BlackWidower on

The thing about the internet is that it’s stupid. The stupid things get popular, and the really interesting or fantastic things don’t.

What do you think is most likely to go viral? A video of a science lecture on the origins of the universe? A news story about a man saving a child from a burning building? Or a picture of a cat with a misspelled caption on it?

I got news for you, it won’t be the first two. And that makes me sad.

But it’s the nature of humanity, we find the dumbest things funny, so we keep coming back to them. So what do you do? Well, you exploit it of course.

That’s how most websites operate. They exploit some lowest common denominator, and earn millions off it. Whether it be funny top ten lists, videos of idiots talking about bullshit to no one or stories about people being stupid. And the fact is, they’re all pointless. They’re just wastes of time that produce no economic, political, or artistic value. Except for the Business Cat thing, that’s just adorable.

Heehee! He thinks he’s people!

Which brings me to the concept of memes, which is from the Greek meaning ‘joke overused to the point of meaninglessness.’

Memes are nice in small doses, but I find all too often they get thrown into internet conversations while missing the original context. So it’s just shitty pencil drawing someone threw in for no reason. Which is why I hate memes. They’re not funny, they’re just annoying.

But when a new one pops up, it can be halfway amusing for a few minutes. Then the point comes crashing down. It’s the 15 minutes of fame scenario. Unfortunately, for some people, those 15 minutes can be the scariest 15 minutes of their lives.

Which brings me to a recent episode of Littlest Pet Shop. See how everything ties together? Continue reading →

Time, and Relative Characterization in Pet Shops: “The Treasure of Henrietta Twombly” review

Posted by BlackWidower on

It’s kinda interesting how television works. We have a cast of characters we stick with, and can follow over time, as they develop and evolve in a slow and methodical manner.

Very few other mediums do this. Films are quite stand alone, we follow our characters for two hours, then never see them again. Or we get to see them for another two hours, and then maybe another two hours after that.

Books often times act like films in the same capacity, featuring standalone adventures, and a second one if they’re lucky. Of course there is the exception of proper series which could last for dozens of books, and often act like TV shows in that sense.

So I find that an interesting aspect of television. Where we meet the characters, learn about them, and sorta get used to them. So, if the show decides to dramatically change the setting for a single episode; like, say, 100 years into the past for a series of flashbacks; it can be a bit jarring, since we’re introduced to a whole new set of characters we’ve never seen before.

So, because of this, the writers often create duplicates. They keep characters we’re familiar with, and just transplant them into this new setting.

There’s even one film series that couldn’t avoid it: Back to the Future! You see, in Parts II and III we meet characters in 2015 and 1885 who are played by the same actors who played 1955 characters in the original film. Now they are, obviously, completely different characters, but they fit similar archetypes, and have similar roles in the plot. For instance, Thomas F. Wilson plays Biff, Griff and Buford Tannen, and all three characters are major antagonists at different points in history. During the films Marty also gets the chance to meet his son, daughter, and one of his ancestors, all played by him. That’s right, I did say ‘daughter.’

It’s a lot less jarring to see faces we’re somewhat familiar with, rather than a completely new cast. And it’s easy to get a sense of what their roles are when their faces are so familiar.

Sliders also did this. The show took place in a new universe every week, but it wasn’t uncommon to see the background cast and guest stars to be composed of familiar faces. Duplicates of characters we’ve seen before, or even duplicates of the main cast. But it’s used with a slightly different purpose, either using a case of mistaken identity for dramatic effect, or throwing us for a loop by having the duplicate of one of our heroes be the episode’s primary antagonist.

I kinda like this trope, it’s interesting seeing the characters we love in a different setting. See how a different environment would change them, even if they’re not technically the same characters.

Which brings me to a recent episode of Littlest Pet Shop, involving a treasure hunt, and flashbacks to the American frontier. This is gonna be fun! Continue reading →

Psychic Vs. Psychic: “Pawlm Reading” review

Posted by BlackWidower on

There’s no such thing as psychics. If I really needed to tell you that, you’re an idiot.

I’m sorry, there’s no other way to put it. No one has psychic powers. No one! If they did, we’d have evidence of it.

If psychics did exist, and weren’t just liars and con artists, it would be extremely easy for them to prove it.

Take Harry Houdini for example, a magician and escape artist who spent his later years debunking psychics. Before he died, he gave his wife a secret password. And after he died, she went to dozens of psychics who supposedly contacted the late Mr. Houdini. None of them provided the password.

Then we have James Randi, who will give a million dollars to anyone that can prove something paranormal. So any kind of psychic abilities, or just being able to tell the difference between a glass of homeopathic remedy, and a glass of water.

No one has been able to get past the first round of testing.

Now, some may argue that the psychics don’t have to prove anything. And that is true. But why wouldn’t they? They don’t want the attention? Well considering several of them have million dollar book deals or national television contracts, I highly doubt that.

Besides, I have a very good reason why they should. Actually, I have several. Pick any major disaster in the past decade. How many lives could we have saved if we were warned in advance?

Now some would argue that they would have warned us, but we wouldn’t have believed them. All the more reason to prove you have powers to begin with, isn’t it? You prove you have powers, then, when you warn us a tsunami’s about to hit Japan, we actually take you seriously!

So either they’re lying, or they are willing to let people die. Neither of which is good!

This is why I think those who claim to be psychics are the worst people in the world. Either because they have powers and won’t use them to save lives, or don’t and are pulling shit like this:

That’s terrible. And it should anger everyone. Especially real psychics!

Oh, right, that was a joke, but I kind of like that idea. Because if a real psychic did exist, they could probably use their powers to debunk the fakes. Even if they never proved that they had powers, and kept them secret, they could use their powers to prove others didn’t have powers.

Take for instance, a fake pet psychic going up against fashion-designer and female Doctor Dolittle, Blythe Baxter.

That’s right, it’s another Littlest Pet Shop! Are you surprised!? Continue reading →

Of Snakes and Mongooses: “Heart of Parkness” review

Posted by BlackWidower on

One of the biggest concerns I had when I started watching Littlest Pet Shop involved the character of Sunil.

Sunil, for those who forget, is a mongoose. And mongooses, specifically the Indian gray mongoose, which might come in a blue variety, are well-known for their ability to kill snakes, particularly cobras. This is because of their immunity to most snake venoms, their agility, and their thick coats.

However, in the wild, they don’t generally go after cobras. Snakes are a part of their diet, but not specifically cobras. It is a common misconception however, so the fact that Sunil hates cobras is fine by me in that respect.

That being said, this plot point always bothered me because it kinda feels a bit racist in this context. In a world where all animals are sentient, having one animal hate an entire species is problematic. Would they ever portray this on-screen?

Would they ever feature an episode where a friendly cobra ends up in the day camp, and everyone likes him, but Sunil is a racist jackass?

Well this week, they did have the opportunity to bring it up, but danced around it a bit, and seemed to have avoided this issue without anyone acknowledging it as an issue. Continue reading →

Eight Arms to Spoil The Movie: “Eight Arms to Hold You” review

Posted by BlackWidower on

I don’t like marketing departments. They tend to fuck things up.

It’s an odd phenomena I find, where crucial plot points, that are supposed to remain surprising or shocking, end up being part of a show’s marketing.

Case in point: the second Lord of the Rings film: The Two Towers.

I was never much of a fan of the series, I would say. The films were good, but I never felt the need to obsess over them.

However, I remember something interesting happening just before the second film came out. My friend Melanie was a proto big Lord of the Rings fan, by that I mean she was just starting out. And she mentioned that she was reading the books at that time.

Anyway, if you saw the first film, or read the first book, you would know one of the iconic scenes featured Gandalf facing off against meta-satan, screaming “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!” and then falling down a pit, presumably dying.

Incredible scene, and everyone thought he was dead. We all thought that was the last we saw of Ian McKellen in those films.

Then the marketing for the Two Towers started up, and these kinds of things are unavoidable, particularly if you don’t live in a cave. And especially back then, when people still watched television. But, in the TV spots, we saw Gandalf… the White… not dead.

Wow…

It’s made all the stupider by the actual scene in the film, where our heroes are wondering through the forest, thinking Saruman (the bad wizard) is following them. Yet we all know it’s Gandalf, because it’s the same forest and characters that were in the TV spot! And he’s wearing Saruman’s clothes in the ad too!

And it pissed Mel off because she still didn’t know Gandalf survived. She hadn’t read that far into the book. She learned one of The Two Tower’s most dramatic plot twists from a TV ad. Not the book as you’re supposed to get it.

I know some people think others overreact regarding spoilers. But come the fuck on! When you set up a mystery, even a tiny mystery like that, and give the solution in the marketing, it makes the whole scene meaningless, and the mystery pointless.

Take The Island, a film I never saw, but already know the ending to. You see the film’s mid-point twist was revealed in the ads promoting it. So for the first half of the film, you’re watching it, screaming at the screen yelling: “You’re all clones! You idiots!”

Basically, the film goes: Oh, I wonder what’s really going on, I’ll bet you’re never gonna guess! Meanwhile they already told us in the advertising campaign.

It’s like an episode of C.S.I. being promoed by an ad saying, “In the next episode, this guy kills someone!”

I even remember seeing Roger Ebert bitching about this kinda thing back in the day, while reviewing The Island. That’s right! Roger Ebert agrees with me! I don’t need more of an argument than that!

And this brings me to the latest Littlest Pet Shop. WHERE THE SAME FUCKING THING HAPPENED!!! Continue reading →

Fashion Follies: “Missing Blythe,” and “The Nest Hats Craze!” review

Posted by BlackWidower on

Well, it’s been an interesting few months, hasn’t it?

I, myself, have pretty much restarted my life. I’ve gone back to college, for the second time, and am taking computer programming. It’s the first step to becoming a real IT professional.

That’s not to say I’m leaving my writing behind, far from it. I’ve just found something to add to my life, not take over; and I think it’s an important thing to consider: You should never let anything take over your life. That’d be horrid. We all need balance in what we do.

I, for instance, need a bit of writing, and a bit of schooling. I like the occasional video game, and various television shows. Nothing takes over my life completely. I may be learning to program the things, but I don’t obsess over computers, they’re just a useful tool. They’re just another part of my life. But, I got other things going on.

Which brings me to the season premiere of Littlest Pet Shop, my favourite show that hasn’t been cancelled yet. Continue reading →