I was looking through my DVD collection the other day, and came across the DreamWorks movie Madagascar. Personally, I loved that movie; I especially liked the spin-off series, Penguins of Madagascar.
The show is set in
a parallel universe, so the penguins could have adventures at Central Park Zoo.
With their mock-military tactics, they always have missions at the
zoo. There come conflicts, either in the form of clichéd bad guys, or in the
form of a huge misunderstanding.
Speaking of
clichéd bad guys, there's Hans (a terroristic puffin), Savio
(hungry & socially-weird snake), Red Squirrel (the 1-man… or 1-squirrel
wannabe terrorist). But the villain that blows them out of the water is Dr. Blowhole. Who is he, you ask? Well, one way to learn about him is
to look at the half-hour special Dr.
Blowhole's Revenge or as Nickelodeon dubbed it: Operation Blowhole (which later became the DVD of the same name).
Does reviewing your
favorite episode of your favorite TV show seem fair?
I mean, this
special is one of my favorite episodes in this show. I liked the main bad guy. I liked how King Julien has his life on the line (somewhat). And
yes, I even liked the written humor that's being used in this special. (It's
very easy to get the joke and laugh.)
But with that
said, this special isn't THAT perfect. It was very corny & clichéd. There
were awkward moments, WTF moments, & more twists & turns than any other
Penguins of Madagascar episode in
season 1 (except for I Was A Penguin
Zombie; that had the most twists & turns, because IDK, it was a Halloween
episode, maybe?…)
But enough with
the intro, let's dive into Dr. Blowhole's
Revenge.
Opening scene: we start at a desert.
A cactus hops over to an outhouse.
-(I guess, Wiley Coyote needed to
use the bathroom already.)
No, the Penguins
are on a mission. They check inventory & go inside. Skipper checks for
traps by tossing a coin, which magically
sets off a trap. But the “magic” coin doesn't stop the Penguins from falling
into another trap, in which they manage to avoid too. They escape sharp, pointy
things... but their candy didn't.
-Skipper: "Curse you, Blowhole!"
That candy had a few days left until
retirement, you bastard!
So the Penguins
are inside the secret lair, & guess who shows up via swimming pool.
-I guess he thought he was a shark.
Look! It's Jaws, 23 years later!
No, we’re about
to be introduced to our villain.
-Can you guess who? (If you point at Skipper, then you're crazy!)
Actually, it’s the dolphin with the cyborg eye. It's just evil Dr. Blowhole
showing his… uh, blowhole to our
heroes. Now, since he’s the most clichéd villain in this series, I'll just
point them out during this whole review.
Clearly, Skipper
& Blowhole are already fighting (that didn't take long) with words.
-Quick fact: Dr. Blowhole is voiced
by Neil Patrick Harris, the singer, actor, & the brilliant mind that brought
you How I Met Your Mother.
After winning a
brief war of words with Skipper, Dr. Blowhole tells the Penguins about his
sinister plan to take over the world, while almost pecking Kowalski a kiss
(weird). He even has a big booming computerized voice to say the name of his
latest creation.
-You heard right: a computerized
voice announces the creation. I guess Blowhole was too lazy to say it himself.
-1st bad guy cliché: a bad guy promoting his/her evil plan(s) in the most clichéd way possible.
After Blowhole
gives a long-winded speech about his evil plan, the Penguins try to fight him.
But Blowhole takes their weapons & uses his death rays. Team Penguin fights
off the dangerous death rays with the only kind of weaponry that they have
left: candy. You heard right! (I'm gonna be saying that phrase a lot, FYI.) So
the “candy of steel” shoots back at the death rays, & the wannabe Tootsie
Roll flies into Blowhole's blowhole. (Try saying those last 2 words 3 times fast.)
Wow, this
special is over already? No! Blowhole
“resurrects” himself from out of the water in a bubble vehicle or whatever that
thing is.
-Another bad guy cliché: the bad
guy coming back to life &/or returning with a vengeance.
So now, Blowhole
pisses off and let's his lair self-destruct while the Penguins are still there.
But the birds-in-black somehow get the hell out of there.
-You'd think that this special
would then say "How did all this happen?" & then do a flashback
that took place hours ago, but no. This 1st scene was all what Private is
telling the other zoosters.
Zoo scene:
Private
tells the other zoosters about their encounter with Blowhole. He even describes
the bad guy: “…pure evil, and… skin surprising pleasant to the touch…”
-Ladies & gentlemen: our
running gag.
Skipper gets on
Private's case for giving away info of their top-secret missions to the other
animals (How did he come to that conclusion?). Also, Marlene (aka a boring
otter) believes that the Penguins' missions are farfetched.
-... Just like her existence in
this show. Why is she a character on this show again?
But the party
king Julien drops by and “pretends” to be a spy guy.
-We’re like 2-3 minutes into his
show, & already Julien is obnoxious to the other zoo animals.
But
Skipper doubts that Julien can take on Blowhole, because Blowhole’s evil, and
he had skin that was “surprisingly pleasant to the touch.”
-4-5 minutes into the show, and
we’re still rendering in on this gag about Blowhole’s skin.
Skipper chews Julien
out, just in time for the zoo to open for the day.
Julien’s habitat:
Julien
sits in on his royal throne, unhappy & humiliated. Just then, his live
sushi, I mean, Mort, tries to warn him of danger, but he’s too concerned about
Mort’s choice of clothing.
-It’s obviously Blowhole’s minions
taking Julien, but why not show them? (Are they ghosts?)-Another bad guy cliché: a bad guy sending his/her minions and/or henchmen to do their bidding.
The Penguins’ outside habitat:
The
Penguins don’t know Julien’s missing, although he just yelled not long ago
(weird). Plus, they’re being watched, because Blowhole’s watching them from all
over the zoo.
-How can you not know that
something is wrong? Are y’all asleep today?-Look at all the computers! Why am I not surprised? Another cliché: the bad guy stalks his victims and/or enemies.
Dr.
Blowhole uses a microphone to call attention to the Penguins.
-How come the zoo patrons don’t
hear Blowhole like the Penguins do? It’s not like Blowhole is speaking in their
mind; his voice can be very noticeable. I guess the zoo patrons were deaf.
Penguin HQ:
The
Penguins jump into their HQ and see Dr. Blowhole on their TV.
-Skipper: “Get off of our TV!”
(Yeah, if I saw Dr. Blowhole on my TV, I would probably say the same thing. But
then again, why not ask him why he’s on the TV in the first place?)
So
(I guess) on Skype, Dr. Blowhole tells the Penguins that he’s been spying on
them for months with his technology, making Kowalski bang his head with
jealousy.
-It’s not the 1st time Jeff
Bennett, the voice of Kowalski, plays a character with a weird addiction (refer
to Land Before Time 2: The Great Valley
Adventure). Is it possible that Kowalski is more credible than the manipulative
& socially-weird egg-eater from Land Before
Time 2?
Ignoring
Kowalski the head-banger, Blowhole says he “unmasked” their "Achilles’ heels."
-Another bad guy cliché: using big
vocabulary, and/or being wordy or vague in speech.
Skipper
suddenly suspects that Blowhole knows his weakness: cutting off their favorite
candy’s supply line. You heard right!
-Question: What does candy have to
do with a terrorist threat?-Dr. Blowhole has a minion write this down for future reference. Rule of thumb: don’t let you enemy know any of your weaknesses. It’s like giving away free guns in a psychotic killers’ convention.
Now
ignoring both Kowalski’s head-banging & Skipper’s wild guessing, Dr.
Blowhole finally reveals that he has captured Julien… in the form of
intentional suspense.
-Just say it! Why waste time creating
suspense? Another cliché: creating obnoxious suspense. It’s not like a game
show where we’re waiting for the winner to be revealed: “And the winner… of
(blah blah blah game show)… is… (pause)… so-and-so!”
-He could’ve spoken in gibberish and that would’ve been less suspenseful.
Then
Blowhole teases Skipper of being BFFs with Julien.
-The Penguins figure out what BFF
means with a code decipher? It’s not rocket science. If you can talk &
text on social media, then you should know what BFF means.-It’s not like grade school where you pick on a kid for having a crush on somebody. Grow up!
-Video of Julien & Skipper as “BFFs”: Where’s Blowhole getting all this info? From the spy tech. that he brags about. Another cliché: bragging about how evil they are &/or about their stuff.
Blowhole
threatens to kill Julien if the Penguins try to stop him. Skipper denies being
BFFs with Julien, although he declares that he & his men save the annoying
lemur.
-Kowalski: “One thing doesn’t add
up. If Julien is missing, why hasn’t anybody actually missed him?” That’s a legitimate question, but the answer will be
revealed at the lemur habitat…Lemur Habitat scene 2:
-Julien’s replaced by a robot, & his servants don’t notice? Are they too lenient of their security?
Skipper
kicks the robot out of the zoo before it explodes.
-Kowalski: “I’m picking up salty
sea air, roller coaster grease, and all-beef Weiner… (He taps his tongue.) With
mustard.” Oh, and I’m also picking up
pretzels, cotton candy, and rides…
Skipper
takes another wild guess at where Blowhole’s hiding & plans to meet him
there.
-Another cliché: the bad guy is
always found by the hero. Wait. This can also be a hero cliché: the hero
usually finds the bad guy. Wow. Skipper & the Penguins are clichéd characters
too.
The
Penguins wait until dark to rescue Julien with their liters of Coke to fly them
there.
-I’m not sure why they had to wait
until nightfall to go save their annoying neighbor. He could’ve been dead already.
Lair scene:
Julien
somehow escapes his cage at the Coney Island lair (I guess he used his psychic
powers…), & annoys the hell out of Blowhole. He eventually sucks up to
Blowhole.
-Julien: “Oooh. Your skin is surprisingly pleasant to the touch.” (Let’s
use this gag 1 more time!)-Listen to Blowhole say this: “Always make time to moisturize.” You heard right! (Now we’re in a skin cream commercial?) We know why his skin is smooth, but doesn’t this seem suggestive?
-Oh right, another bad guy cliché: being awkward momentarily. (We can’t forget about that!)
After
Blowhole’s comment/slogan for a skin cream commercial, Julien has “a proposal”
for him, but Blowhole stops him by calling his servant to feed him more treats.
-Dang! What’s so damn important in
this dolphin’s time that he has to put a proposal on hold?FRIEND: Veronica, I have a favor to ask.
ME: Uh, could you hold on a sec?
(Few seconds later…)
ME: (playing Mario Kart 7) Come on, Super Mario! Get out of the way!...
Back to the Penguins…:
The
Penguins arrive at Coney Island & wouldn’t you know it… Julien has joined forces with Blowhole. (Wow, you really had
me going there, movie.)
Lemur habitat at night:
Mort’s
worried for Julien. Maurice tries to calm him, but Mort takes things into his
own hands by jumping on the moonwalk & flying out of the zoo.
-You’d think that Mort would be
seriously hurt after this, but no. He’s immune to pain, I guess.
Back in Blowhole’s lair:
Dr.
Blowhole has the Penguins mounted to a wall by their wrists & ankles, &
explains his latest plan to them. Thus, we hear about his past… which may be
missing some things. In this scene, there are some plot holes. In fact, let’s
count them down:
-Dr. Blowhole: It is fitting that I have returned to the very aqua theater where I
performed tricks for those dullard humans. How it made me bitter…1. Did people laugh at you? Did they throw things at you? A little clarity would be nice!
-Dr. Blowhole: My humiliation in the Ring of Fire became my inspiration…
2. How were you humiliated by the
humans? 3. Could you tell us why the Ring of Fire performance led to your humiliation?
4. And is the Ring of Fire incident the reason why you ended up with a Cyborg eye?
-Dr. Blowhole: In the frozen north, we have constructed a vast circle of certainly
pricey devices that tap into the heat of the Earth’s core…
5. Ok. How were you able to put that off without arousing any suspicion
from humans?6. If the devices that created the “Ring of Fire” were “pricey,” how the hell were you able to get Julien a go cart? Were you on a budget this whole time?
-6 plot holes: The writing was
okay, until now. What the hell happened?
Why the plot holes all of a sudden?
-Dr. Blowhole sounds so serious
that he can easily host an ABC’s 20/20 special. I don’t know; I guess the
reporters from 20/20 came in to explain everything.
With
Blowhole’s plan & past somehow revealed,
the Penguins vow to stop him; but Blowhole brags about his lobster minions
outnumbering them. Here we have another bad guy cliché:
1. Getting
in the face of his/her enemies &/or audience (Trust me; he does this 3
times here. I mean, this isn’t a home video where you can be silly with
the camera!)
(Ex. ME: Hey! I got a camera! (I bring
the camera closer to me.) Ooh! I’m in your face! Ooh!)
The Penguins stand their ground
(although they’re mounted to the wall). Then out of nowhere, Mort (literally)
drops by.
-It’s
okay to laugh at this. Look, there’s a pause at the end for the audience to
laugh.
Annoyed by Mort, Julien kicks him onto
a set of controls, which releases the Penguins.
-Wow!
Did you see how far he kicked Mort? He must be in soccer; Julien is a friggin’
Olympian!-Don’t worry. Mort thinks that being in Blowhole’s lair is all fun & games. But what the hell happened to: “The king’s feet must be saved” motivation that he just had not too long ago?
Penguins
vs. Blowhole scene:
So now the Penguins have themselves
an epic battle. While this is happening, Blowhole
and Julien see Mort messing with the controls. Blowhole takes Mort out by
throwing him like a beach ball.
-Is
this turning into a multi-sporting event? What’s next, wrestling? (You’ll see
soon.)
Blowhole turns on the Ring of Fire,
much to Skipper’s rage. Blowhole sends Chrome Claw to get Skipper. From there,
Team Penguin splits into… four groups?
-I’m
confused. Private goes to annoy Blowhole. Rico hijacks Julien’s go cart.
Kowalski tries to shut off the Ring of Fire. Skipper is all by himself, fighting a mutated lobster that’s way bigger than
him. (Uh, feel free to help Skipper, penguins.)
Eventually, Private and Rico use
explosive to defeat Chrome Claw. And then we have our pro wrestling event:
Skipper vs. Blowhole.
But wait! Julien interrupts this
event… by saying that he was a “double agent,” as he rats out Blowhole by
shutting off the Ring of Fire. This comes to a disappointment to Dr. Blowhole.
Blowhole manages to escape, but not
without ranting to the Penguins, & being a sore loser… & swearing
future vengeance.
-Get
over it, Blowhole! You lost!
Dr.
Blowhole: “You have foiled my plan for revenge! And for that! I will get…
revenge!” You’ve seen TV shows do
sequels! As if this revenge wasn’t
enough…!
Skipper:
“Wait. Are we talking about a new revenge here?” (Blowhole just told you about
it. Weren’t you listening? But listen to him tell you…)
Dr.
Blowhole: “Revenge against the humans, revenge against you! Yes, I got a whole
bunch of revenges all piling up, and it’s not pretty!”
-(I’m off to play a blind guy in Beastly.)
-Dude,
it’s like you’re going down a list of grievances.
-(I’m off to play a blind guy in Beastly.)
(Ex. ME: My little sister is annoying. I don’t have a car yet. My parents don’t respect my privacy. Some of my teachers were mean. Etc.)
-Listen to how fast you’re saying all of this. Are you on caffeine right now?
-And either you have the worst luck ever, or you’re just as mad as hell right now for losing…
So Dr. Blowhole pisses off for the
second time in his bubble vehicle.
-Our
final bad guy cliché: the bad guy, if still alive after the ordeal, swears
revenge of some sort.
Zoo
scene:
Julien lives to talk about his adventure
to the other zoosters.
-Question:
How did the Penguins, Julien, and Mort escape Dr. Blowhole’s lair? Was this
special nothing but someone telling the story too? (Another plot hole.)
Marlene thinks that Julien’s story is
farfetched.
-Dang!
How much of a killjoy is this chick?
Julien is disappointed, but Skipper
gives him his respects, because he helped stop Blowhole from taking over the
world.
And that’s Dr. Blowhole’s Revenge. Now whether this TV special was good or bad
is open for debate. I’m now wondering if this special really holds up. So what
do you think?
The second half of the special had
the most problems. The plot holes were unexpected; the battle was only a series
of events in the form of harmless entertainment that you would see on a
multi-sports channel; & some of the penguins didn’t do a good job at
stopping the bad guy.
The first half, though, was okay.
They properly introduced the main characters, made the bad guy known, & we
got our conflict (saving Julien, despite his obnoxious behavior).
The special, overall, was exciting,
& it was funny in a good way. (In fact, I didn’t show you some of the funny
moments. My bad.) Despite the clichés being overwhelming, the plot holes only a
small wound to the writing, & the bad guy being forcibly suspenseful &
overdramatic, this special was not bad as is. So I’ll give it an A-.
Amateur Critic
Source: Penguins of Madagascar: Dr. Blowhole's Revenge
All rights go to DreamWorks Animation
Source: Penguins of Madagascar: Dr. Blowhole's Revenge
All rights go to DreamWorks Animation
I Love It :)
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