A Look a Disney Vs. The Forces of Evil: St. Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses

Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney Vs. The Forces of Evil as I continue my look at the first season of Star vs. The Forces of Evil. Last time, we looked at the pilot episode of Star vs. The Forces of Evil and today, we are taking a look at the first half-hour episode of the show as Star travels to her most feared place in all the dimensions as she goes to St. Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses to save her best bestie overall on her birthday-day.  With that out of the way, let's begin.

Episode Title

St. Olga's Reform for Wayward Princesses

The title refers to the location, where the episode takes place.

The Plot

The episode opens with Star on interdimensional mirror as she is talking to her best bestie, Pony Head (who we first saw in the second segment of the first episode) as she wishes Pony Head, a happy birthday. Pony Head gets excited at the prospects of what Star says that they could do on her birthday-day.  And this is where the trouble gets started as the guards at St. Olga's overhears Pony Head expressing excitement and is taken away for solitary conform-ment.  Star feeling bad for best bestie wants to break her out and Marco despite his dislike for Pony Head agrees to help Star break Pony Head out St. Olga's as he's seen every prison break movie ever made. Star uses her dimensional scissor to get them to St. Olga's and when there, Star uses her want to disguise herself and Marco to blend in with the other princesses.  After a brief orientation with the headmistress, Star and Marco break off from the rest of the princesses to find Pony Head.

As they sneak through the school,  Star comes to realizes that the school is much worse than she realized.   Once, they reach Pony Head's room,  they see that Pony Head has been conditioned to be a formal and civilized princess.  And while Star is horrified at this prospect while Marco thinks that she's better off this way. Perhaps due to the fact that Pony Head referred to him as Earth Turd.  They grab Pony Head and breakout and coming past a tea etiquette class and this is where Marco finally realizes why Star dislikes this place and starts a revolt against the school with one simple line.

It's not criminal to be an individual  

And with this one line, Marco and the other princesses start throwing their teacups at the guards and start to fight them.  Though the revolt is short lived as the headmistress, Miss Heinous (I thought her name was St. Olga) joins the crusade in finding in Star and Marco and it's not good for our heroes as while Marco finds a laundry chute to make an escape out of, his poofy dress gets caught. Yeah, forgot to mention that Star disguises Marco as a princess.  And alas,  Marco is taken to the solitary conform-ment room.  And things look grim and bleak for our hero and it's not good.  Meanwhile in a laundry room, Star comes across a poster that represents everything she despises about the school as this is what it reads.

Embrace a princess mentality. Wash away your individuality.

 

It appears that Pony Head is far too far brainwashed to help her best bestie save Marco but when she sees Star takes out her anger on this poster, she snaps out of it and starts to rip the poster with her horn.  And this brings Star back to a happy state and they crawl through the air vents to free Marco out of the solitary conform-ment chamber and we see here that Miss Heinous is somewhat affected by Star's free spirit as she much condition herself in the solitary confrom-ment chamber before Star's individuality affects her.  Using her scissor, Star opens a portal to get them out of St. Olga's and gets them to the outside of the school. This causes a complete school breakout as Star breaks a tower that had been disrupting portals as our heroes prepare to leave with Pony Head but she decides to stay at St. Olga's to make sure that what happened to her doesn't happen to anyone else.  The episode ends with Miss Heinous finding a bobby pin that Marco had brought with him in case of emergencies and after putting it in a potion discovers that the princesses that started the revolt are from Earth and she will    annihilate the princesses that disrupted her school.



Daron Nefcy, Star's creator with this episode delivered one of the most  powerful episodes of any show that I'd ever seen.  The message is one that sure, we may have seen before but it really resonated with me as I re-watched this episode. Before watching this episode again for this review, I'd not put much thought it what this episode was trying to say and while for comedic purposes alone, The Banagic Incident is my favorite episode of the first season, I have a feeling that this episode will stay with me for quite some time and I have a feeling that Miss Heinous is being set up for a larger role in the second season, which can't get here soon enough. The wait for season 2 is killing me. Sorry but I'm more excited about the prospect of season 2 for Star than I am of for season 6 of MLP.  This show is just that good and I'm willing to say that I like it more than MLP.



Characters



Main Characters

Star voiced by Eden Sher

This was a great episode for Star as it took her through a roller coaster of emotions as she had to face her worst fear in order to save her best besties and it wasn't an easy feat for our heroine but she pulled through and faced St. Olga's head on and it was great seeing her tackle this fear.



Marco voiced by Adam McArthur

Well, it looks like Marco has a new enemy in Miss Heinous and while he didn't seem to get Star's fear of this place at first, once he finally realized what it was, he stepped up and helped his friend. And it was wonderful to see him help her face this fear.



Supporting Character


Pony Head voiced by Jenny Slate

This episode made me do a turn around on Pony Head as I hated her in her first appearance as she came off as annoying jerk. Sure, she cared for Star but I couldn't get past her mistreatment of Marco but here, I actually felt bad for her and wanted to see her saved. And when she was finally snapped out of her brainwashing, I was happy for her.




Villain


Miss Heinous voiced by Jessica Walter

In many respects, Miss Heinous makes me think of Delores Umbridge from the Harry Potter series in how cruel she can be and how she demands perfection.  Now granted, she may not be as cruel as Umbridge but we've only seen her in one episode and I'm curious to see where the second season takes her.  The Star vs. The Forces of Evil expoisits an interesting theory that she may also be from Star's home planet of Mewni because of her cheeks.   That would be interesting as both her and Star have these little tattoo type freckles on their cheeks.  But once again, not much known is known of her and I'll just have to wait and see, where the show takes her in season 2.



My Final Thoughts


I greatly enjoyed this episode.  It's become one of my favorite episodes of the series after this re-watch with it's powerful message and I can't wait to watch it again and see where the show takes the central villain from this show next. Join me next time for the Music Fridays of this event. 

A Look at Disney Vs. The Forces of Evil: Star Comes To Earth

Hello & welcome back A Look at Disney Vs. The Forces of Evil as I take a look at the pilot episode of Star vs. The Forces of Evil. With that out of the way, let's begin.



Episode Title


Star Comes To Earth



The title pretty much tells you what to expect as Star is sent to hone her magical training in a new dimensions called Earth.




The Plot


We open on Mewni on the 14th birthday of one Star Butterfly and she is about to inherit the Royal Family Wand.  And we learn that Star is a bit reckless and irresponsible and that is the biggest reason as to why, Star is being sent to another dimension to train.  Star thinks that first, she's being sent to St. Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses.  A place that Star truly fears and in tomorrow's review, we will come to understand why.

 



And we see her on Earth, we first see her at the high school and she seems to be enamored with a light switch.  It's pretty funny and at first, the principal doesn't want to seem to take Star in but he is easily bribed after the King and Queen of Mewni bribe him with treasure and this is also when we meet Marco.

We get the sense that Marco is a Mr. Safety type character but that doesn't really seem to be built on throughout the rest of the series.  Marco as mentioned in yesterday's article is a bit annoyed with Star's antics at first and doesn't like her that much as she seems to annoy him as he shows throughout school and when Marco arrives at his house, he comes to find out that Star  is there too. And this is when we get another funny moment as Marco remarks that they could have gotten the same type of joy that Star brings from a litter of puppies and Star conjures up a litter of puppies. They just happen to shoot lasers out of their eyes.

Marco then shows Star to her new room and she transforms it into a new castle loft.   And after Marco says that he loved to have a room like that, Star tries to give him one but ends up sucking his room somewhere else.  And Marco decides that if Star is staying, he's leaving.

This is also when we meet Buff Frog, the right hand man to the assumed main villain,  Ludo and he informs his leader that Princess Butterfly is unguarded.

And Ludo is pleased by this news.

And he sets out to get the Royal Family Wand as we see Marco at a local gas station drowning in sorrows over what has taken place and Star comes to apologize for invading on his territory because she says, she didn't get a choice about coming to Earth and Marco didn't get a choice about putting up with her.  And just then,  Ludo and his army of monsters arrive and Star fights them off in spectacular fashion alongside Marco as we learn that Marco is apt at karate.  And this fight is awesome and glorious.

 




And after a brutal beatdown, the monsters retreat in defeat as they know that they've lost.  And Ludo berates his monsters and calls them weak and says that this is what happens, when you don't work out.

All in all, this was a great pilot and a great way to set up what to expect from the characters and the show but as I'll cover in my Top 6, one episode greatly changed what to expect from the show and took in somewhere that you wouldn't have expected after watching this pilot episode.




Characters



Main Characters


Star Butterfly voiced by Eden Sher

When I first watched this episode, I wasn't sure what to expect out of Star but as I re-watched it, I grew to love her more and more.  She is great and as I covered in the article yesterday, there is a lot more to her than just her over-the-top personality.  Sure, her silly side is on full display in this pilot episode but this episode also shows that she can get down and dirty in a fight and the fights with her are glorious.




Marco Diaz voiced by  Adam McArthur

Marco as I said is presented as a Mr. Safety but that doesn't seem to be built upon throughout the rest of the season but he is shown to be cautious and organized but not to the extent that he is here in this pilot episode.  And I'm glad that they got him being annoyed by Star out of the way in the first episode. From the second segment on out, you can see the relationship and teamwork between these two as they work well off one another.



Villain


Ludo voiced by Alan Tudyk

Ludo is an idiot.  I'll make no bones about it, he is not a serious threat in the slightest. And the show doesn't present him as real threat either, they know that he is a buffoon and treat him as such and Alan Cumming playing him as an over-the-top buffoon is what makes him so enjoyable.



My Final Thoughts


I greatly enjoyed this pilot episode and it easily made me a fan of the characters and couldn't wait to watch the next episode.  Now, I had to wait a while as this was first previewed in January and then aired again in March.  So yeah, there was a wait but the wait was worth it.  Join me next time as I look at the episode that focuses on one of Star's greatest fears as we travel to...


St. Olga's Reform School For Wayward Princesses

A Look at Disney vs. The Forces of Evil: Star Butterfly

Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and this year, we are kicking off 2016 by looking at what is easily one of my favorite animated series of all time.  Yes, it's only aired one season but it's freshman season really won me over last year, so much so that I can safely say that to me, this is one of the greatest animated Disney series of all time, perhaps one of the greatest series of all time. So welcome to A Look at Disney vs. The Forces of Evil.  What will this week entail,  I'll start off by looking at Star herself, three episode reviews including the pilot, one of the most important episodes of the first season, the season finale but before we get to the finale, I'll be doing a Top 6 Episodes of Season 1.  And yes,  I'll be doing a Music Fridays, however it'll only be three songs. With that out of the way, let's begin by looking the princess from another dimension. This'll be similar to my Power of The Princesses/Heroes of Disney articles in which I'll take a look at Voice Actress, First Appearance, Personality, Partner, Favorite Moment, and finally, Is Star A Good Character?



Voice Actress


Eden Sher

I'll be honest and say that before this show, I knew next to nothing about Eden Sher.  Sure, I knew about her on The Middle but this is the first time that I've watched anything starring her and as Star Butterfly, she is quite a joy to watch as she gets the personality down pat quite well. She can do Star's over-the-top and make that so endearing while also doing well with the quieter moments that Star has as well.




First Appearance


Star makes her first appearance in the pilot episode, Star Comes To Earth and when I first saw her, I wasn't sure what to make of her as she seemed rather eccentric and I thought that she was going to be a character that was going to get on my nerves throughout the show but thankfully, I was proven wrong.

The pilot shows both her silly and lovable side and also how much, she can hold her own in fights as she loves kicking monster butt.  I'll go into more detail about why Star comes to Earth in the review but the biggest reason is because she inherited the Royal Wand and before using it, she was a bit reckless on her home planet of Mewni.

It was when I saw stuff like this and most importantly, this scene, I knew that I had a new favorite character.








Personality



Star's personality is the biggest reason that I love her character so much. She has one of the most endearing personalities on any TV show ever.  She is a bit bubbly, loves having fun and tends to have an optimistic outlook on life.  Though as the Star Vs. The Forces of Evil mentions, she can go too far with this and isn't always a good thing.

Owing to her rather sheltered upbringing, Star's optimism and enthusiasm can border on recklessness, to the point of endangering people around her with her madcap antics.

And again, Star being from another dimension also means that she doesn't have a firm grasp on Earth customs and that puts her and both her Earth best friend, Marco in danger.  Star simply put is adorable but as seen in the season finale, don't make her angry because you won't like what's coming.  If you hurt Star's friends or family, you'll pay.



Partner


Marco Diaz

In the first episode,  Marco is annoyed by Star's antics and I was much like Marco until that scene.  But as the show goes on, we see how much Star cherishes her friendship with Marco is vice versa as Marco always joins Star on her adventures and the main villain of the season got to Star by kidnapping Marco.  In the partnership between the two, Marco is the more responsible and grounded member that has to reign Star in from time to time.  Though as seen in the episode, Blood Moon Ball, his protection of Star can sometimes go a line too far because as Star says at the end of that episode.

You don't trust me to do things by myself. I'm 14. I can handle a demon. [leans on the balcony] I know you're trying to look out for me, but you have to let me figure things out on my own. I don't need a hero. I need a friend.

And Marco does take this lesson to heart over time as he comes to trust Star on her own.



Favorite Moment


Uh. tough but I'm gonna narrow it down to two. The above mentioned ending line from Blood Moon Ball as that is a rather mature moment from Star.

Or if I want a silly moment, I can go with something from the episode that makes me laugh the most. The Banagic Incident.

This episode is nothing but a long chase through the city as we follow Star on her crazy adventures to The Banagic Wand. A silly as seen on TV item but it is the execution and what she goes through to get it. Every time, I watch this episode I laugh as they get so many great jokes from Star  entering a pirate themed restaurant and thinking the place had been taken hostage by actual pirates.

Is Star A Good Character?

Overall, I'd say that Star is a good character.  On the surface, she may appear aloof and to be a silly character that doesn't have to much depth to her but if you are willing to watch the show and see her more tender moments, you discover that Star is a bright young girl that will make a good princess, she just has some quirks to her but those quirks are what make so lovable.

Join me next time as I look at the pilot episode of Star vs. The Forces of Evil as we see what happens when...

Star Comes To Earth

Christmas: Captain Scrooge

Hello & welcome back to the Christmas celebration here on A Look at Disney as we continue our look at Christmas Carol adaptions from the world of Disney and today, we head to the world of Disney Junior to see what happens when you put a pirate spin on this classic tale.  You get one of the biggest lumps of coal, that's what happens. Now look, I understand that this is a show aimed at preschoolers but it so misses the mark on what A Christmas Carol is supposed to be about and waters down the story so much that the central message of the original tale is lost of that people can change.  Instead, it's replaced with a message of don't be greedy.  I'll get into my issues with that in the plot segment but I hated this... thing.

The Plot

No... No...No...No...No....

Ugh, this ticked me off.  The barest of bare minimum was kept from the Dickens' tale and it was instead reworked to teach a lesson about not being greedy.  Which for it's target audience is fine but that also seems to clash with the idea of pirates. Because the whole thing in this episode is that our Scrooge character is so greedy that he won't share his treasure with anyone else and he's visited by one singular ghost to show him the error of his ways and how to be a true pirate that cares for others. Yeah mate, I know of another Disney pirate that is in it for himself.  Who is that again?

Oh, right and maybe it's just me but the idea of only using one ghost kinds feels cheap and with each of Scrooge's interactions with the ghost, I felt nothing because the ghost was the same character throughout whereas in A Christmas Carol,  having it be 3 different ghost meant the interactions with the ghost were different and felt unique to one another.  Was the show so cheap that it could only afford to animate one ghost?  I mean, they didn't even have a Marley ghost, instead that role was filled out by Scrooge's mother, who's played by Sharon Osbourne of all people.  And that was one of the only high points of this series. And now I can forgive this episode for not using Christmas and instead replacing it with a pirate themed party as this is a show about pirates. Though, I still take issue with the idea of pirates teaching kids to share and not be greedy as it seems really contradictory but where I take major issue is with the Tiny Tim stand-in.  Granted, it was very very very minor in the grand scheme of things but instead of having a Tiny Tim that was actually hurt or sick.  The Tiny Tim stand-in here named Tiny Cubby, who I guess is one of the main characters from the show is just upset that he won't get to enjoy the pirate feast and eat coconut cookies. 

Really, just really?  That's the problem that you want to give your Tiny Tim character.  That's such a non-problem that it's ridiculous.  A Christmas Cruella for all of the faults that I had with that episode still understood how to make the audience feel bad for their Tiny Tim stand-in by giving him an actual issue. Kids can handle seeing other kids that are sick and it might help them to understand that not all kids are as fortunate as they might be or kids that are sick might be able to relate what they see in the Tiny Tim character.   Gah,  how can this even be considered to be based on A Christmas Carol?  Bah Humduck, one of my least favorite takes on this classic tale got more right about the story than this did.  That made for TV version starring Tori Spelling, William Shanter, & Gary Coleman was... bad but it was better than this. This may just up there as one worst takes on A Christmas Carol that I've ever sat through.  Now, let's move onto characters because the sooner we get them over with, the sooner, I can look at something good.  

Characters

This'll be broken down into  Main & Supporting. With that out of the way, let's begin.

Main Character

Captain Ebeneezer Scrooge (Captain Hook) voiced by Corey Burton 

Now, I'll give this episode this much, it had the sense to change the name of it's Scrooge character to be Scrooge but they  didn't change the names of any of the other characters, so that was kinda weird.  And look I know that one of m biggest complaints was that this replaced the central message of people can change with don't be greedy. Well, I went back and visited one of my favorite versions of A Christmas Carol, the MLP Audio drama, A Princess Carol and was struck by this line from Princess Luna.

How often doth thou need to be told not to be stingy?

Which yes, that is a part of who Scrooge was before he was visited by the ghosts but there was more to him than just his greed.  Scrooge was a broken man, who closed off the rest of the world because of past experiences that led to believe that he had to be that way.  Scrooge wasn't always a bad person as it's shown in his past that he once cared for others but here with this take on Scrooge, we see that's he's always been a greedy little brat. This is again the same problem that A Christmas Cruella had, where they expect the audience to believe that they can change for the better, if they've been this way most of their lives.   And look, I understand for the target audience that this show is going for, they can't have their Scrooge character be as complex as the one in the original story but this episode beat over you the head with the message of don't be greedy, that it almost felt like someones flashed that word in neon lights every time someone mentioned greed.




Supporting Characters


Mama Scrooge (Mama Hook) voiced by Sharon Osborune

I'll give the show, this much. The idea of using Scrooge's mother for the Marley role is something that I haven't seen before and that did seem to be a creative spin on things.



Captain Treasure Tooth voiced by Carl Reiner

Once again,  I've not seen any adaption of A Christmas Carol, where all 3 ghosts roles are filled out by one character and that's because that is  not a good idea in the slightest. As I stated up in the plot segment,  the interactions that Scrooge is supposed to have with the 3 ghosts is supposed to be different.  With Past,  he's suppose to wax nostalgic over his past as a lad but then feel sorrowful as the Ghost continues to  show him his past.  Present is supposed to show him how those with very little still celebrate Christmas and that they still find ways to be joyous and this is when it sinks in for Scrooge that people really don't like him and this is when we as the audience are supposed to realize that the words that Scrooge hears do affect him deeply and that he wishes to change.   Yet To Come is supposed to scare the ever living tar out of him.  I mean, there's a reason, Gonzo and Rizzo left the film, when he showed up in The Muppet version.  And look I understand that the show perhaps didn't want to scare it's target demographic  but the weight and impact of that scene felt lost, when instead of it being something truly eerie, it was Captain Scrooge at a treasure chest all by himself overhearing other pirates enjoying each other's company and feeling lonely.



Jake,  Izzy, Cubby, Skully, & Mr. Smee voiced by Sean Ryan Fox,  Madison Pettis,  Johnathan Morgan Heit,  Jeff Bennet, & David Arquette

Yeah, I gotta be honest and say that I felt nothing for Scrooge's crew and I went in thinking that Mr. Smee would've been the Bob Cratchit stand-in but that wasn't the case at all and man, seeing David Arquette's name, just makes me want to watch Scream or the season that he was on Dancing with The Stars over this.  We did get the sense that they didn't like the way that their captain treated them as they often referred to him as a meanie but there was nothing from them to elicit any type of sympathy for their situation.



My Final Thoughts



Yeah, I've made it pretty clear that I don't like this. Now, I'm sure that there might be young kids out there that do like this but looking at this as a take on A Christmas Carol, it just really falls apart pretty fast. Personally, I feel that if you want to introduce a young child to A Christmas Carol, something like Mickey's Christmas Carol is a great way to ease them into the story as it's short enough to keep their attention but at the same time, it get's across all the core points that A Christmas Carol is trying to convey without dumbing it down.   So, there's my suggestion, watch this....

Instead of this episode.  Join me tomorrow as we look at some Disney Princess Christmas Music. Peace!