| Reviews -- Urban Jungle |
| One of the most common observations I have seen made about this episode is that it seemed rushed. My opinion is 180-degrees the opposite. What strikes me about Urban Jungle is how incredibly inefficient it is, how it tries to pass off a bare-bones string of eye-popping action sequences as a story. Usually when I watch Danny Phantom I am surprised at how many plot twists, how much character development, how dense and intricate a tale can be squeezed into a mere twenty-two minutes. Often there are ten or so distinct scenes between the opening credits and the commercial break. But in Urban Jungle there is. . . exactly. . . ONE. One scene. Undergrowth appears in the teaser and the entire first half of the episode is one long battle. There’s no “and the next day at school” or “meanwhile, at FentonWorks” or “that night, in the park.” The second half of the episode is divided in half between a training sequence with Frostbite and another long fight scene between Danny and Undergrowth. I can imagine that this episode must have had an incredibly short script and an incredibly long storyboard.
I usually admire intertwined “A” and “B” plots, such as in Pirate Radio where Sam and Tucker’s independent radio station is turned into a floating weapon platform for the battle against the pirate ship. In this episode the “B” plot—Danny’s training session with Frostbite—is completely separate from the “A” plot. Undergrowth may be impressive-looking, and maybe he has an interesting voice, but as a character he’s a pale, two-dimensional shadow compared to such richly developed characters as Spectra, Skulker, Technus and Vlad. He’s all design and no personality, as if he were designed with a drawing instead of a script. His dialogue consists mainly of pronouncements, as though he were a Bond Villain who delights in explaining his evil plots. Character development? There isn’t any. Danny learns to control his new power, but that's not exactly growth. It's certainly not drama. Sam’s personality is so completely subsumed under Undergrowth’s control, that there’s no sense of that she has any stake in the story except the need to be rescued. Tucker is a victim from beginning to end, and annoying in his few “why me?” comments. Maddie and Jack have a moment of crude humor before they fall victim too, and all the other characters (Jazz, Lancer, Paulina, etc.) are just painted onto the backgrounds. There was a brief, bright moment when I first viewed this episode, when I thought that Danny was shivering his way through the Ghost Zone searching for Klemper. If only! I wish I could muster the least amount of interest in Frostbite and his society of Yetis. But he was two-dimensional as well, a wise and compassionate teacher who has all the time in the world to help Danny and provide him with everything he needs, from first aid to instruction to training to encouragement to sage advice. All at no charge! Every other time Danny has discovered a new power, he has had to figure out how to use it on his own. Every other time he has been in a difficult situation, he’s had to figure out how to resolve it on his own. He’s never before had the wisdom of an adult ghost-mentor to guide his actions. Here, he gets everything handed to him on a platter. And worst of all, he’s never had another ‘family’ to fall back on if he should fail to save his own. Up to now there’s always been a lovely, sad balance: humans love him but fear his powers; ghosts understand his powers but hate him. The idea that Danny would consider for even one minute that he could make a new home for himself with Frostbite disturbed me greatly. The Danny I know and love would rather die trying to save his home than even think about a fall-back arrangement. Badly conceived, crudely constructed: this is definitely one episode I won’t be watching again. In fact, now that I’ve finished with this review, I have a strong urge to burn the tape! By: bluemoonalto Rating: none given |
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