dventuretme
Joined Jul 2015
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dventuretme's rating
This show is extremely bland and generic. When I first heard this was made by Butch Hartman, I was pretty shocked to hear that the guy who made The Fairly OddParents and Danny Phantom, managed to make such a forgettable, one-dimensional show, featuring a concept that's been done hundreds of times before.
The animation is lazy, even for Flash. The characters have no personality and they all fall into stereotypes, that we've seen many times before. Unlike with FOP and DP, we get no introduction to the show, and no explanation as to how Bunsen came to be and how he entered the life of Mikey. The first episode just starts, with them already being friends, expecting the audience to just accept the fact that a boy is friends with a monster.
The main villain, Amanda, is very dull and her main goal is to get rid of Bunsen. Her motive to do this is unclear and apparently non-existent. Every character plays the role of someone like the villain, comic relief, best friend, love interest, etc. but none of them do anything new with it. Every episode is just as bland as the characters, lacking any intriguing stories or funny jokes.
I find it amazing that such a bland show came from such an amazing writer. At least most of the time, when good writers go bad, you can tell they're at least trying to do something new. This time, it seemed like he just came up with the idea off the top of his head and produced the overall, idea for the series in a couple minutes. Bunsen is a Beast is a very mediocre and unfunny show and if you gave it a chance, you'd find yourself bored to death, halfway through the first episode.
The animation is lazy, even for Flash. The characters have no personality and they all fall into stereotypes, that we've seen many times before. Unlike with FOP and DP, we get no introduction to the show, and no explanation as to how Bunsen came to be and how he entered the life of Mikey. The first episode just starts, with them already being friends, expecting the audience to just accept the fact that a boy is friends with a monster.
The main villain, Amanda, is very dull and her main goal is to get rid of Bunsen. Her motive to do this is unclear and apparently non-existent. Every character plays the role of someone like the villain, comic relief, best friend, love interest, etc. but none of them do anything new with it. Every episode is just as bland as the characters, lacking any intriguing stories or funny jokes.
I find it amazing that such a bland show came from such an amazing writer. At least most of the time, when good writers go bad, you can tell they're at least trying to do something new. This time, it seemed like he just came up with the idea off the top of his head and produced the overall, idea for the series in a couple minutes. Bunsen is a Beast is a very mediocre and unfunny show and if you gave it a chance, you'd find yourself bored to death, halfway through the first episode.
Malcolm in the Middle is undoubtedly, one of the greatest of it's genre. Everything about the show is very intelligent and well-done. Each member of the family has a relatable personality, and a fitting role in the show. The writing style of the episodes, right down to the very editing of shots and camera angles is very intriguing and good at keeping the viewers glued to their screens, and the situations that the characters are put in have great potential, which is always fully reached. No matter which demographic you belong to, Malcolm in the Middle is a show that you will enjoy on any level between occasional viewer to die-hard superfan.
The choice of personalities for each character is brilliant. Alone, every individual member of the family can strongly hold up an entire scene on their own and together, a combination of every two characters makes for a unique interaction and a hilarious duo for their own plot for an episode. Our title character, Malcolm is a relatable and likable main character alone, as well as the voice of reason to Reese's stupidity, The guy who Dewey looks up to, the guy who looks up to Francis, the sworn enemy of Lois, and a loving friend of Hal.
The jokes are always spot-on and over the course of an episode, at least one will hit hard and get a genuine laugh. The comedy varies from observational comedy, to slapstick, to dark comedy, to gross-out, to awkward comedy, to satire and never uses too much of one type at a time.
The stories of the episodes are always intriguing and aren't afraid to go too far with making it too unrealistic, dark, nonsensical etc. because they can handle making it go to those extremes in a well-written way. They always do something new and the way the plots play out are never expected and can't be compared to the plot of an episode from a different show or movie. The plot dynamic of the episodes usually consist of the serious main story, and a comic relief B plot. Malcolm is usually the center of the main story and the side plot is either Francis getting caught up in his antics at his current job, or Hal being thrown into a huge situation, that he just had no idea how to handle. The stories always work and we get just enough of both stories at a time, as well as wrapping them up nicely and uniquely.
The overarching stories of the show, for the most part, are pretty mediocre. Francis' many jobs over the series starts off really well, but could be played out better, with the main flaw being that his entire role in the show vanishes by Season 6. Episodes with Cynthia Sanders, who was supposed to be a major character, are inconsistently scattered about and widely spread apart, with the plot traveling very quickly every time she appears. However, the lack of characters like this are usually for fiscal reasons as opposed to writing and they still manage to make the plot lines impactful enough to be remembered and loved, so the stories are really nothing to sneeze over and fall neatly under "average" on the scale of good and bad.
The show also has a handful of satirical episodes, tackling topics such as religion, censorship of literature and artwork, birth control, feminism, modern day racism, politics etc. and makes it subtle enough to be an episode alone. It doesn't blatantly make fun of those who disagree with it, and it does a swell job at not being offensive, even if you disagree with the point the episode proves.
The careers of some famous actors were launched by this series, including Bryan Cranston and Frankie Muniz, who play Hal and Malcolm, respectively and their actors have won many awards and acclaim for their performances in certain episodes, usually for their performance, their comedic routine, or their way of handling their role in the episode. Lots of familiar faces also make appearances in the cast of side characters, including Jason Alexander, Robert Loggia, and Bea Arthur and although they only make guest appearances, they go down in Malcolm in the Middle history for being such memorable one-time characters.
Malcolm in the Middle belongs in the hall of fame, for it well-deserved awards and critical acclaim and even if you're only going to watch one episode, the show deserves to be checked out.
The choice of personalities for each character is brilliant. Alone, every individual member of the family can strongly hold up an entire scene on their own and together, a combination of every two characters makes for a unique interaction and a hilarious duo for their own plot for an episode. Our title character, Malcolm is a relatable and likable main character alone, as well as the voice of reason to Reese's stupidity, The guy who Dewey looks up to, the guy who looks up to Francis, the sworn enemy of Lois, and a loving friend of Hal.
The jokes are always spot-on and over the course of an episode, at least one will hit hard and get a genuine laugh. The comedy varies from observational comedy, to slapstick, to dark comedy, to gross-out, to awkward comedy, to satire and never uses too much of one type at a time.
The stories of the episodes are always intriguing and aren't afraid to go too far with making it too unrealistic, dark, nonsensical etc. because they can handle making it go to those extremes in a well-written way. They always do something new and the way the plots play out are never expected and can't be compared to the plot of an episode from a different show or movie. The plot dynamic of the episodes usually consist of the serious main story, and a comic relief B plot. Malcolm is usually the center of the main story and the side plot is either Francis getting caught up in his antics at his current job, or Hal being thrown into a huge situation, that he just had no idea how to handle. The stories always work and we get just enough of both stories at a time, as well as wrapping them up nicely and uniquely.
The overarching stories of the show, for the most part, are pretty mediocre. Francis' many jobs over the series starts off really well, but could be played out better, with the main flaw being that his entire role in the show vanishes by Season 6. Episodes with Cynthia Sanders, who was supposed to be a major character, are inconsistently scattered about and widely spread apart, with the plot traveling very quickly every time she appears. However, the lack of characters like this are usually for fiscal reasons as opposed to writing and they still manage to make the plot lines impactful enough to be remembered and loved, so the stories are really nothing to sneeze over and fall neatly under "average" on the scale of good and bad.
The show also has a handful of satirical episodes, tackling topics such as religion, censorship of literature and artwork, birth control, feminism, modern day racism, politics etc. and makes it subtle enough to be an episode alone. It doesn't blatantly make fun of those who disagree with it, and it does a swell job at not being offensive, even if you disagree with the point the episode proves.
The careers of some famous actors were launched by this series, including Bryan Cranston and Frankie Muniz, who play Hal and Malcolm, respectively and their actors have won many awards and acclaim for their performances in certain episodes, usually for their performance, their comedic routine, or their way of handling their role in the episode. Lots of familiar faces also make appearances in the cast of side characters, including Jason Alexander, Robert Loggia, and Bea Arthur and although they only make guest appearances, they go down in Malcolm in the Middle history for being such memorable one-time characters.
Malcolm in the Middle belongs in the hall of fame, for it well-deserved awards and critical acclaim and even if you're only going to watch one episode, the show deserves to be checked out.