My Two Cents: 06/27/14

So yes, I've been watching the Disney XD era of Wander Over Yonder and Season Two of Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures. Actually, I've had to record both for later viewing since they air new episodes on Monday and Tuesday mornings. Yes, the kids are out of school, but it apparently does not occur to Disney that both these shows could have older audiences who like the show. While Pac has always been on Disney XD, Wander was drawing over 2M viewers a week on Friday nights on the main Disney Channel. On XD, not so much. the good news is that Wander is getting a second season. As for Pac-Man, I literally didn't know that the second season would start on June 9th until I saw a tweet on June 9th as I was coming home from MLP-MSP. I'm up-to-date with all the episodes of both and this will require a lightning round review for both shows. I'll start with Wander before going to Pac-Man. So here we go!

(Caution:  Entering spoiler territory. If you do not wish to know the results of these reviews, look away now.)












WANDER OVER YONDER:

"The Nice Guy" - Hilarious take on how Wander's good nature could make the simplest of tasks (getting a soda for Sylvia) complicated. 9/10

"The Time Bomb" - Sylvia tries to deal with anger issues in a race and fails, then succeeds with Wanders help, and pulls an @$$ pull to give Sylvia victory. 7/10

"The Tourist" - First time we see Wander in an overly-competitive mode with a great performance by Edie McClurg as the antagonist and a real clever twist in the end. 8/10

"The Day"/"The Night" - These two go together with Sylvia having to deal with things with a sleepy Wander ("The Day") and then Wander trying to prevent things from waking up Sylvia ("The Night") and hilarity ensues in a great way for both. 8/10 for both.

"The Lonely Planet" - Never saw a obsessed planet before, but they didn't need Wander to be so aloof as to the stuff the planet is doing to Sylvia. 6/10

"The Brainstorm" - I'm sure people have gone through what Commander Peepers and Lord Hater go through in their meetings. Everyone is undone by their own "banjo" from time-to-time. 9/10

"The Toddler" - Once again, the writers make something like conflicting parenting methods fresh with Wander and Sylvia when dealing with a lost toddler. The twist at the end is very funny, too! 8/10

"The Fancy Party" - This episode had a twist few saw coming and actually gives us a sequel hook. Oh, hi Emperor Awesome! Wander's has been in top form this month. 9/10

So that's 72/90 for the month of June for Wander. That's impressive. Now for the Pac-Man.

PAC-MAN AND THE GHOSTLY ADVENTURES:

"Ride the Wild Pac-Topus" - Not sure if they're airing things out of production (which they shouldn't), but this was not the best episode to start the season with. Plus, another near-villain victory is only undone by another massive villain ball moment by Dr. Buttocks. Also, the moral on responsibility is heavy-handed against Pac. 5/10

"Meanie Genie" - Actually, the word I have for the genie here rhymes with ditch. Plot is initiated by a stupid Pac and the pacing is very wonky in this one. Still, it provide two things:  That Pac's parents are definitely not on Pac-World and a potential sequel hook with the Pointy-Heads. 5/10

"Cave Pac-Man" - A heartwarmer not on the level of "No Pets Allowed...Especially Monsters," but this episode hit the right cords with the cave pac-person unfrozen here. 8/10

"Cosmic Contest" - Triple threat match between the Pac People, the Ghosts, and the Pointy-Heads and we now have Overlords! Great development for Tip in this one and a potential with his friendship with Pac during the race. 9/10

"That Smarts!" - And it did watching this. Again pacing is an issue and I'm pretty sure they did not establish before that Betrayus had a thing for Spheria. They do confirm that Sir C does and that has promise. When will get another episode with Cylindria saving the day? 5/10

"Pac-Mania" - This one was more of a mess. It was not enjoyable watching all of Pac-opolis turn into jerks towards Pac and his friends after the show made them look like fools. One thing I do not enjoy is characters acting stupid because the story needs them too. 4/10

"Rip Van Packle" - The first episode of the season where Pac is obsessed with finding his parents. It does nothing fresh with the "Rip Van Winkle" plot and the moral about having friends to help is a little detached here. 4/10

"Spooka-Bazooka" - Why did we need a "Sleeping Beauty" narrator? Was there a hidden message about using weapons to protect yourself in this one? This episode felt disorganized with that and the mixed messages with the weapons themselves. Plus, what did I say about characters acting stupid (or gullible in this case) for the sake of the story? This extends to even Cyili and Spiral here! I've not been a fan of Stratus in this season, either. The only redeeming factor in this episode is Pac. 3/10

So, I've not been impressed with Season Two so far with just a 43/80 right now. Hopefully, things will pick up like they did towards the end of Season One. 

That's all for now. More later

StatManDan