FUNPAK - Week 4 Review

Week 4 and we see our first head to head competition of previous winners. I didn't see this coming for a couple more weeks. I figured that Harold Rosenbaum would be in the mix this week but YTV doesn't appear to be showing the series in the exact order they ran through them in the first time.

On tap this week was the winner of week 2 Sidekick vs. winner of week 3 The Manly Bee. Also rounding out the show were Coolman! and The Wild Wild Circus Company. I can't wait to see who's going to come out on top.

Last Week's Winner: The Manly Bee

This week's show featured:

The Wild Wild Circus Company

Fishy Memories - Bernard remembers back to when he put on an act with synchronized fish.

I think that this series should be renamed to The Sad Sad Circus Company. There have been two shorts of this show shown so far and both have been extremely depressing. I also can't help but feel out of breathe when watching the main character. He speaks in such a way that you feel yourself unintentionally holding your breathe. The saving grace of the series is the detail put into the surreal background.

I'd like to know when the wild part of this circus is going to show up.
Cool Man!

Jazz-Matazz: Lester can't escape the Sappy Love Song that seems to haven taken over Squaresville like the latest U2 song.

The distinct feel of the two worlds that this show takes place is what makes this show great. Lester's world everything is rigid, dull and black and white. In Coolman's world everything is loose, bright and fun.

Love the sappy sappy love song.

Steve Whitehouse did the storyboard and animation design on this episode, his influence is readily apparent. If you are not familiar with his work, check out his stuff. I love Mr. Man. Looking forward to more Coolman. He must be very busy these days because his site hasn't been updated for a year.

Sidekick

The Secret Lair - Eric and Trevor try to break into the secret lair of Maximum to watch some satellite TV. After the computer system doesn't recognize Eric as Sidekick, a classic battle of man vs. machine in a game of tic-tac-toe begins.

Trevor...Dude... you need to lose the biker Helmet. A decent episode but the pace of the show needs to picked up. They seem to dance around the punch line of the joke for just a bit too long. You gotta love a super computer with a mustache. Also did you catch the Bowie reference.

The Manly Bee

Bad Dream Machine: Octofreak rears his ugly head and this time he's got a machine that is giving everyone in Seaside City nightmares. It's up to the Manly Bee to save the city in between cat naps.

If Sidekick ran at the pace that this show runs at we would have a serious fight on our hands this week, but The Manly Bee I think will come out on top again this week. Its fast paced fun filled 5 minutes was the highlight this week. Hilarious nightmares and visual jokes were all done with great comedic timing and snapping animating. The absence of dark outlines around characters gives the show a real fresh feel. Please start production on making this a full length series.

Vote: Bumble, Bumble, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz......The Manly Bee

Cast your vote at YTV.
Remember to watch Thursdays at 7:30 pm EST (Repeated Tuesday's at 9:30 pm EST and Saturday's at 11:00pm EST)

Special thanks to Troublemeyer who pointed out that Funpak is also on Saturday night.

Previous Week
Week 2
Week 1