Admirable Atrocities: The Pranking Dead

Shows: My Little Pony: Friendship is Maggie/Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
Episode(s): S6 E15/S5 E14
Year(s): 2016/2006

Writer(s): Meghan McCarthy, F. M. Demarco/Darrick Bachman
Director(s): Denny Lu, Tim Stuby/Robert Alvarez, Eric Pringle


There’s a time and a place for everything, especially doing pranks. Even though they call it "trick or treat", it's for the best you don't actually try to trick anyone. Bad things happen when you prank the wrong people... be it through reusing the same gag over and over or just being a prick about it! Then there's when you retaliate against the prankster... the same rules apply. This Halloween, I advise you all to be smart if you're actually planning pranks on the mischief night, especially due to how in the 2010’s, Halloween is taken so much more seriously and with greater security! You try leaving a flaming bag of shit on someone's doorstop, now it's an arson charge! Anyways, let's see what happens when two hapless pranksters get their just desserts and how that works out!


Let me start off by saying that despite the Animated Atrocities reviews I've done on this show (and I have more planned in the future), I do NOT hate Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. It was one of my favorite cartoons growing up, and I still enjoy it to this day. The biggest problem the show tends to have in regards to its bad episodes is honestly... Blooregard "Bloo" Q. Kazoo. After the first season, this once lovable troublemaker went through what I've lovingly dubbed Cosmo Cosma syndrome: this is when overtime a character completely loses any competence, intelligence and charm they once had, they become a complete and total asshole/sociopath and gain the SHRILLEST AND LOUDEST VOICE POSSIBLE! As you may have guessed, both Bloo and Cosmo were once very lovable and charming characters, but unlike Cosmo who went through the process gradually, Bloo... got smashed in the brain by it right after the first season ended... and he only got worse and worse!


This is honesty one of his tolerable appearances in an episode where he's SUPPOSED to be annoying. You know that ancient gag with the snake in the peanut can? Well, Bloo pulls that on everyone every Halloween, and they're all sick of it! Then have someone just tell him to fuck off and throw the can away! Maybe throw it in with the Extremeasaurs so he can't get it! They talk about this like it's been years of bullshit from the guy, and yet Mac is still 8 years old! Of course, that's the least of this episode’s problems in regards to Bloo's payback for such a stupid gag! I understand that this is a Halloween episode, and it can get away with being a little more disturbing and scary than the show usually is, that's a given. But the way this episode uses these elements is way too harsh for what's point done to who we're supposed to see as wrong! In return for Bloo's very harmless prank, everyone in the whole house fakes a zombie apocalypse. It's a pretty well-crafted prank all things considered, but we spend WAY TOO MUCH TIME with Bloo thinking he murdered Mr. Herriman dragging his "corpse" into the yard. Another issue with this particular episode is the pacing in that regard which could've handled itself much better.


I wouldn't really mind this episode too much though if it wasn’t for the ending. You see, because Mac goes hyperactive from sugar, he asked Bloo to tie him up and lock him in a bedroom for safety so candy won't get inside him. It's actually a fairly reasonable idea all things considered... remember last time? So, in desperation clearly scared out of his mind, Bloo feeds Mac a shitload of candy and turns him into a candy demon to fend of the "zombie hoard"! And when the prank gets revealed, everyone shits all over Bloo for giving Mac candy! Well, what the FUCK did you expect him to do, you idiots!? This is Bloo you're talking to! You scared him way more than he honestly deserved here, he thought you were all DEAD! How is Bloo in the wrong for what he did given the circumstances? You should be grateful he didn't find Madame Foster's GUN CABINET or something and started blasting all of you like Rick Grimes!


Now anyone whose been in the brony community knows that the idea of zombie ponies has been tossed up so many times! It's practically inevitable the show would do an episode using the concept; it's not a matter of IF they would do it, but WHEN! Rainbow Dash is the type that needs to have lessons forcefully drilled into her skull with no punches pulled because she's just that hard-headed. We've all met someone like that in our lives at least once. This is why I don't mind episodes like "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well" that shoot Rainbow Dash in her ego and hubris with the force of a captive bolt gun! I love watching this bitch get taken down a peg-asus! With her it always feels fair when they delve into mean spiritedness or cruelty because she not only acts accordingly to deserve what she gets, but they know when to yield.


Much like Bloo, Rainbow's brand of humor can border on the very predictable and lazy like scaring Fluttershy or using whoopee-cushions; there's also times where she really goes all out with her pranking craft like nearly getting Big Mac killed or that bit with the cakes! She definitely takes her pranks into maximum overdrive, and they go from being cleverly funny… to outright dangerous and reckless! I have to give the girl props for her craft here, it's magnificent with how she got Applejack's whole bed outside with her in it… CLASSIC! I won't spoil everything she does in the montage, of course, but she more than proves she isn't a lazy comedian. They never spend too much time only one joke, and so they're able to pace the episode very well. As for Pinkie, she is the type that can laugh at just about anything, but even she knows when a prank is going too far. Which makes it oddly suspicious she doesn't chew Rainbow out for what she did to Fluttershy, but that's just one small logical issue.


What makes good comedy? This is something that's been up for debate for years. When going the route of edgy or shocking fails to garner a laugh after so long, where do you go from there? This is something a lot of formerly good comedy shows often fall prey to, even South Park which in its 20th season decided to up the stupidity of a continuous story by using repetitively stupid jokes, the easiest targets you can imagine and a completely vile misunderstanding of how trolls work. Over the years, South Park has had to resort to being more and more predictable, controversial and shocking for the sake of it to garner a laugh without a hint of trying to be clever, and while they seem to have gotten out of this doldrums for the time being in Season 21, I'll be keeping a closer eye on them.


What can be agreed on for sure is that your abilities as a comedian are decided by your audience and not you. True, some audiences really do have a horrible sense of humor and that leads to a lot of bad comedies being spewed out, but this is the general idea of what makes good comedy. People like Gabriel Iglesias and Jeff Dunham know how to reach their audiences and not just be predictable and go after easy targets all the time, a lesson Trey Parker and Matt Stone have had to learn the hard way and what Comedy Central, Adult Swim and FOX desperately need to learn! Everyone gets sick of Rainbow's shit and decides to give her a very large and bitter taste of her own medicine!


Why it works here as opposed to Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends is that Rainbow was being a pain in the ass to an entire town by pulling pranks that ranged from annoying to dangerous, not the same gag over and over. You really need to be careful with who you do pranks on and be sure they're going to be cool with it and that they don't get hurt! This is why so many of the hardcore haunted houses around America have been shut down for taking what should be well-managed harmless fun into the literal shit of nightmares! Rainbow puts a suspicious chemical in the Filly Guide cookies? Well, let's have everyone turn into zombies because of them! Because of this show’s target audience, they obviously couldn't make everypony into the rotting trotting dead, but the uncanniness of everypony being "infected" is very well done. There's showing Granny Smith's skeleton as a trick, but that's completely different. I don't think we're going to have an episode where Discord accidentally raises the dead!


I'd say Rainbow Dash got exactly what she deserved by the whole town for being such a douche! Like I said in the beginning: there's not just a time and a place for pranks, you also have to know who you're pranking which is why I don't like April Fool’s Day. On paper, having everyone become cookie-craving rainbow zombies might seem too mature for this show, but remember that this show isn't for everyone, and you have to remember the intended audience. These guys write as smart as they can within reason most of the time to try and appeal to both kids and adults. This is a lesson that just about everyone needs to learn! Not everyone will find what you do funny, so you have to WORK at trying to be funny! You can't just say: "Here's Mr. Garrison as Donald Trump, laugh damn you!" You have to actually put a lot of time and effort into making a joke work and try to appeal to a mass audience. Not everyone will find what you do funny, but if you can garner an audience off of your work and deserve it, then you know you’re funny.

Winner: "28 Pranks Later"!


Atrocity Score:

Cringe-Inducing Audio: 0
Cringe-Inducig Visuals: 0
Lackluster Writing: 2
Annoyance: 2
Disturbing Content: 0
Unnecessary Cruelty: 5
Rancid Morality: 3
Low Production Values: 0
Unfortunate Implications: 0
Character Derailment: 5

Final Score: 17/100


Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends is owned by Cartoon Network and Turner Broadcasting. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro and DHX Media.

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