Johnny Test – The Scum of Animation

*sigh* I... hate this show so very much. I can't even begin to accurately convey how much I loathe this sin against animation. Everything about this show hurts me. The characters, the writing, the animation, EVERYTHING. And yet... Cartoon Network seems to believe that this show's worth playing at least for times a day (while great shows like Adventure Time only get played once). And, AND...!! I've just read that there's going to be a television movie... ha... ha ha.... HAHAHA –

Um... Sorry. It's just... I grew up at a time when quality cartoons were on air. Powerpuff Girls, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Dexter's Lab, Johnny Bravo, Samurai Jack, and Ed, Edd, n Eddy are shows that I to this day hold very close to my heart. It wasn't a matter of watching anything with funny noises and bright colors. They had substance, character, and styles all their own. As time went on, the content in CN wavered a bit, but there were still a fair number of hits (Chowder, Robot Jones, Flapjack, Camp Lazlo). Then came Johnny Test...

I first watched Johnny Test on KidsWB was still around. At the time, they brought on a number of cheesy and horrible cartoons (Coconut Fred still haunts me with it's awfulness) and one of them was Johnny Test. I didn't think anything of it at the time other than “this is a complete ripoff of Dexter's Lab. Years went by and KidsWB became CW4Kids and Johnny Test just became just another forgotten cartoon... or so I thought.

Cartoon Network, in their infinite wisdom, decided to buy the rights to the show and air it on their time-slot. I was still indifferent. After all, it was just one out of a dozen show on the network. Whenever it came on I just bared with it until something good came on. Then there was a period in time which I wasn't able to afford cable (Roughly two years). After moving to Florida, I got to start watching Cartoon Network again. I had somewhat mixed feeling about the new shows that were being aired. Some were fantastic (Adventure Time, Regular Show, The Amazing World of Gumball, The Thundercats remake) and some... need to be thrown in a wood-chipper (Sidekick, Scaredy Squirrel, Almost Naked Animals). What surprised me was the fact that Johnny Test was still on air. Not only that, but it had more air time than any other show on their network. Now, when I come home from school, my nephew is either watching the Nickelodeon (I'll save that for a later post) or Cartoon Network and it depresses me that he's so eager to watch something that's nothing more than loud noises and bright lights.

Now that I've covered my “history” with this show, allow me to break down why exactly this show is garbage.

-The Animation-

People often ask “is the quality the of animation in a cartoon really all that important?”. To that I say yes. It seems petty to complain about the animation but it reality, it's one of the more important factors in a cartoon. The visual presentation of a cartoon is the very first thing that the audience notices and as such it is the very first thing that captures their attention. For example, when I first tuned onto Adventure Time, the two things that I found interesting was the animation and the art design. The animation was top notch and the characters each had a unique look to them.

The animation in Johnny Test is terrible. It's stiff, choppy, and the character design is hard to look at times. The range of expressions on the characters faces are extremely limited and can be described as such: happy, sad, angry, mad. It isn't made any better by the fact that the art design is bland and generic. The character design looks like something that a talented second grader doodled on his notebook: it looks decent at first glance, but the longer you look at it, the more you realize that said second grader has a long way to go before drawing anything good.

-The Characters and The Writing-

I felt the need to put these two together because when you really thing about it, a good character is made through good writing. The characters in Johnny Test, whether main or minor are nothing more than grating, whining, stereotypes. Stereotypes of what you may ask? They're stereotypes of what adults think kids like in cartoons. Johnny is a school hating, video game loving, junk food crazed, kid who thrives on doing EXTREME activities. Now I know what your thinking: that sounds dreadfully generic. Fear not, for through the benefit of, um... “imaginative” writing, Johnny manages to have a character all his own; and that character is an annoying, idiotic, selfish, whining, insipid, jerk. I have to give them credit, it takes legitimate talent to make a character this tremendously unlikeable. I would even go as far to say that he could compete with Twilight's Bella for the title of most annoying protagonist in fiction.

To further my point, allow me to compare Johnny to Timmy Turner from Fairly Odd Parents. They're both similar in their hobbies, interest, and character roles. Not to mention, they both have access to a limitless supply of power through two other characters (Timmy through wishing, and Johnny through science). However, the differences between the two are as such:

- Timmy, while naive, and at times selfish, always means well. He has a genuine desire to do the right thing and a fair majority of the time his wishes are for the benefit of his friends and family (though they tend to go wrong one way or the other). Not to mention, he's shown many times that he's willing to make sacrifices, both minor and major, for the sake of others.

- Johnny puts his desires above everything else. Whenever something goes wrong he has to be coaxed by other characters to do the right thing by either his sisters or his father. Whenever he makes a mistake that threatens the lives of everyone in town, his main concern is not getting in trouble for the damages. Whenever something goes wrong, it's almost always his fault in some way, shape, or form.

The Test Sisters (Susan and Mary) are arguably worst. Fellow Johnny Test haters say that Mary is the closest thing to a decent character in the show. I see what they mean to some extent, as she seems like the more level headed and focus of the two... BUT, it doesn't compensate for the fact that both of them are shallow, air-headed, nitwits. Other than their creepy stalker-like love for their next door neighbor Gil, they have no discernible personality what so ever. The most that can be said is that Susan is has a hatred for Eugene, for his immense crush on her (you have to love the hypocrisy of her disliking someone for being a stalker when she herself is stalking a boy she likes).

Their parents (who's names I have forgotten), aren't quite as bad in my eyes, or at least the mother isn't. She doesn't play a part often in the show, and when she does, she's usually scolding Johnny and his sisters for the stupidity of their actions. Her only characteristic is that she's a workaholic and other that, she's just as bland as the rest. The father on the other hand is another story. Every time, every single agonizing time he's on screen, he's whining and complaining Johnny's room not being clean, him not eating his vegetables and pretty much anything that you'd expect the stereotype of a parent to speak. You might be able to argue that “he's a parent, he can do that”. As I've said, all does is complain about the problem and rarely does he ever do anything about it. He is hands down one of the most inactive fathers in fiction.

As for the villains in the series... there's nothing really much I can say. They manage to be completely bland while be over-the-top at the same time. The only villain in the series that I come close to finding amusing is Eugene, A.K.A Bling Bling Boy and it's really in a so-bad-it's-funny sort of way.

Oh yeah, then there's Dukey, Johnny's talking dog. He's annoying and inconsistent in his motives. Sometimes he's the voice of reason, other times he's the one who encourages his stupid behavior. I hate him. That's all I really have to say.

Now let's talk about the writing. As I've said, the faults with the characters are mainly attributed to the poor writing. The dialogue in a Johnny Test episode can best be summed up as such: Joke, joke, randomness, joke, joke, progressive dialogue followed by joke, randomness, joke, joke, randomness, episode end. There are some reading this right now who are probably thinking “well it's a cartoon for kids. What's the problem with making jokes?” I like to once again compare this show to Fairly Odd Parents. FOP has a similar format in it's writing, but the writers in the show make a serious effort to make sure that each episode of their show differ in how they're presented to us. Not to mention, the writing itself, while not perfect, is fast paced and has a sharp wit to it.

If you've seen one Johnny Test episode, you've seen them all. The writing is so cliched that you'll see what's coming every single episode. The humor consistently falls flat and it does so on multiple levels. The most noticeable problem is the fact that they throw out jokes every two seconds and they feel that it's necessary to scream their lines. The jokes themselves are stale and I wouldn't mind that if the characters had the courtesy to let the audience breathe. Instead, we're constantly bombarded with bad jokes that stockpile into a ugly mess of a television show.

-The Voice Acting, Sound Effects, and The Music-

The voice acting helps add to the annoyance factor of the characters. It's bad enough they're hard to look at but they're also painful to listen to. Johnny's voice is exceptionally horrible. It sounds like the voice actor is making a horrible Gary Oak impression. His father sounds like thirty year old man who never fully experience puberty, Dukey sounds like a gay stereotype, Susan and Mary sound like the Chimpetes it they're voices were pitched down slightly, and every other character sounds roughly the same. I'm not trying to imply that they are all voiced by the same person but their voices sound like the main characters with minor tweaks to them.

As for the sound effects, this complaint is more of a pet peeve of mine than anything else. Every single time they point or move their arms, we hear the sound of a whip crack. The transitions are always included with a guitar riff as are a fair majority of the sound effects. This wouldn't be so bad it weren't as overused as the jokes. I defy you to find ONE moment throughout the entire series where there is at least two seconds of silence.

The music is SO. DAMN. GENERIC. I honestly can't say anything more than that.

- The “Parodies”-

For this I'm going to provide an example from an episode in which they parody Tom and Jerry (I don't remember the name of the episode and quite frankly, I'd prefer it to stay that way). The parody greatly suffers do two factors: over explaining the jokes and not understanding the humor of the show that you're parodying. Tom and Jerry was a masterpiece in slapstick and was a show that helped influence physical comedy in cartoons. That being said, when I watch a parody of Tom and Jerry I expect to see it spoof what it's known for: physical comedy. Does Johnny Test accomplish this? No. At least not all that well. The slapstick in the episode was the same thing that we've seen in the show but the thing that I hated was them constantly breaking the fourth wall thinking that they're being clever: Johnny - “I think I've seen this before. It's like I live in a cartoon (looks at audience)”. Hur hur hur! Get it!?

(Bare in mind, what I just described was how ALL of there parodies are. All of them. ALL OF THEM.)

Now lets compare this to a good parody from a good show. Dexter's Lab at one point did a Tom and Jerry parody entitled “Mom and Jerry”. This was an example of a spoof done right. The slapstick resembled that of what they we're parodying and they knew better than to over explain the joke. It showed it's audience enough respect to let them catch the jokes on their own. Johnny Test on the other hand, seems to be under the dangerous delusion that they're clever enough to pull of a decent satire.

-The Plagiarism-

Yeah... this was kind of the elephant in the room, but I decided to save the worst for last. With all I've spoken against, this is hands down the worst crime that this show has committed. The shows that I've used to compare and contrast Johnny Test are the very shows that it plagiarizes from. Now, this is something that I tend to give leeway to. After all, even die-hard fans of Johnny Test (all six of them) openly admit that it isn't even on the same playing field as those two shows. Even so, a fault like this best represents everything I hate about the show. The poor writing, the craptastic characters and the absolute garbage humor, all topped off with the knowledge that it's copied from shows much better.

And no, I don't care if the creator of the show was on board with the fourth season of Dexter's Lab. If anything, that makes it even worse. He worked on a show with clever writing and likeable characters, so he should have a set standard from that.

I know some of you are wondering what exactly is plagiarized in this show. Allow me to break it down for you:

As mentioned before, the format of the show it clearly lifted from Fairly Odd Parents. That's not to say that FOP was the first to apply the style of “average kid with access to great power”, but the way that they handle it is all too similar. A average, school hating, video game addicted, extreme sport loving, kid has access to a limitless supply of power. This power is accessed by two people who also function as the voice of reason when it goes wrong.

Now let's contrast these two shows.

--Fairly Odd Parents--

Cosmo and Wanda are characters that stand out because of the personality and character design; We have no problem differentiating them. Because of their differences, it opens up more opportunities for humor through character interaction. Not to mention, their relationship with Timmy is somewhat endearing due to their parental love for him.

--Johnny Test--

Susan and Mary's characters DO differ to some extent, Mary being the more mature of the two, but for the most part, they're relatively the same character. Because of this, character interaction between them has very little weight or value. Not to mention, I understand their twins, but their similar character design attributes to their inability to actually stand out from each other. Their relationship with Johnny and almost always hostile and when they ARE on each other's side, they're still at each others throats.

Then you have Dexter's Lab. Really, all I need to say is that Johnny Test is a role reversal of Dexter's lab. Age swap Dexter and Deedee, change their gender, switch their roles and make them twins. Viola! You have Johnny, Susan, and Mary. Even the parents are just a blatant role reversal. Look at the character design of the dad from Johnny and then look at Dad from Dexter's lab. Don't you DARE tell me you don't notice the similarity between them.

In the end, this is the one flaw in the show that makes it stand out amongst other terrible cartoons. Now in all fairness, it's no crime to have a show that follows a similar formulaic pattern as another show. I'm a fan of the Canadian cartoon Kid vs Kat, and I've noticed many times watching it that the relationship of Coop and Mr.Kat resemble that of Dib and Zim from Invader Zim. However, the type of humor and writing in both shows differ enough for me to give it leeway.

Johnny Test on the other hand, not only copies the format of Dexter's Lab and FOP, but it constantly attempts (attempt being the key word here) to possess humor similar to those shows. This ultimately results in the viewer desiring to watch shows that handle that type of humor well *points to shows mentioned above*.

For those who do enjoy this show, and are probably thinking that I'm just being overly cynical to what seems to be a harmless kids cartoon, let me ask you something: What's your favorite joke from Johnny Test? What's your favorite episode? For that matter, what about the show would compel you to watch this show over the other shows on Cartoon Network? In my many debates on the merit of this show, not ONCE has anyone been able to answer these questions. That just goes to show how weak the show is. I can tell you my favorite jokes from show I love and some episodes I know by heart. (“There's two halves to every melon, Professor Scam!”). Having watched almost every episode of Johnny Test in the hopes of seeing what the appeal is, I can't recall one moment that even made me smirk, not ONE bit of substance that I would carry in my subconscious (except the negative aspects).

Well, I'm burnt out. So I'll end this with a summarized version of this rant: Johnny Test is an ugly, unfunny, putrid, heinous piece of incoherent garbage. It panders to the lowest common denominator and it even fails at that. I would rather sit through a marathon of Dino squad and Almost Naked Animals then sit through this bull's hit. It it the scum of animation and a spit in the face of animation artist who worked much harder and haven't garnered half of its success. It's an ungodly abomination that pushes Twilight to levels of competence that it'll never be able to reach.

In other words, Johnny Test sucks.