A Look at Disney Vs. The Forces of Evil: Top 6 Star Vs. The Forces of Evil Episodes

Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney Vs. The Forces of  Evil and today, we enter the home stretch as we countdown my top 6 favorite episodes of the first season. With that out of the way, let's begin.



6.  Mewberty

In this episode, we Star go through the Mewni version of puberty  as little hearts start sprouting all over Star's body and she turns into this rather peculiar looking butterfly creature and that in this state, Star could possibly destroy the whole school as this is where the episode is set.   We also see in this state that Star tends to go a bit boy crazy and the big thing that sells this episode is how funny it is and how it presents this transition in a very really unique way that might seem uncomfortable but that was the point.


5.   Cheer Up Star

Ah, seems Star and I have the same reaction to clowns.  This episode is really sweet, Star develops a crush on a boy at school and gives him the number of the Diaz house to call but it doesn't seem like he's going to call anytime soon and Marco sees this and decides to cheer up his best friend by bringing in monsters for Star to fight but he accidentally summons Ludo's army.  I like this episode because it shows how much of a good person, Marco is. And what he's willing to do to make Star feel better is just really sweet.



4. Blood Moon Ball

In this episode, we meet Star's ex-boyfriend, Tom (voiced by Rider Strong of Boy Meets World fame), who is from the Underworld and wants to take Star to said event, which is  their version of the prom but Marco is suspicious of Tom's intentions. And while he has a right to be suspicious, Star has more of a right to be angry at Marco for not trusting her to take care of herself. The whole message of this episode was that Star can take care of herself and she is more mature than people give her credit for. Sure, she has her quirks but she is a strong young lady and I love how this episode handles that.




3. St. Olga's Reform School For Wayward Princesses

I won't say much here as my review said everything that I wanted to but I'll repeat that this episode is one of the most powerful pieces of TV that I've seen in quite some time. The message of being yourself is always a message that I always appreciate and the way, it was handled was wonderfully done.



2. Storm The Castle

Again, I won't say much as I'll be reviewing this episode tomorrow.  This show really knew how to deliver with it's first season's finale.  Everything about this episode was intense and I was on the edge of my seat waiting to seat, what was going to happen next and it really laid the groundwork for season 2.  Which I really want.  C'mon season 2.




1.  The Banagic Incident

Bar none, this is my favorite episode.  I couldn't stop laughing throughout this episode. This episode is one laugh after the other as Star is let out on the town for her own for the first time. And with her limited understanding of earth culture makes everything so funny such as how probably my favorite moment in the episode, when she enters the restaurant that is pirate themed and she thinks that it's been taken over by pirates. This episode, where words cannot do it justice.  You need to watch it to see how gloriously funny, it can be.   This episode more than any other highlights the humor in the series and why I love it so much.



Join me tomorrow as we close out this event as I look at the season 1 finale as I look at Storm The Castle.  Peace! 

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