Total Drama Action - "2008: A Space Owen" - Talkback [11/12]

[Bad Asp]

http://fridays.toonzone.net/talkbacks/premiere.gifhttp://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/Shadow0285/TDA.jpg

Premieres: November 12th at 9:00 PM
Repeats: You can bet there'll be some!


The remaining campers participate in a space themed movie challenge.

There isn't enough space in the Final Four for five people, so why not have a space-movie-themed challenge to get rid of someone?

Also, remember to take the poll on who you think will get voted off, that is, assuming someone gets voted off tonight.

TDA is getting closer to the finish, my friends! Just four more episodes left... of course, there may be more than that!

[polkadotjewel]

So we've got three eps left (ep 26's title hasn't been revealed yet), plus a one hour special (confirmed by the Cake Entertainment website)... hmm, I really can't wait to see how these last episodes play out!

So apparently...

Beth breaks up with Brady and breaks the Girls Alliance between her and Courtney

I have a feeling, just like last week, Courtney will get voted out, and I think Beth will be that ~swing vote~ that gets her voted out.

[The Huntsman]

I suspect that Harold will go home tonight. I hope that I am wrong, but the series seems to be following a trend of eliminating these characters shortly after they actually stand up and do something. It happened to Justin and Lindsay, and probably some of the other characters as well. Harold finally stood up to Duncan last night and – if I am right – he’ll be the one going home. Has the series really become this predictable? Hmm… I guess we’ll find out.

[Mesousa]

No school tomorrow, so I'll be able to watch.

The promos for this episode are making us really tempted because of one particular scene...

[Kryten]

I'm gonna stick with last week's guess. Harold's going down. His arc's pretty much finished.

[TDIFan247]

I'm gonna go ahead an the predict the unpredicted and say Courtney's going home. How that's unpredicted, you ask?
Figure it out yourself.

[Sam Hill]

I dislike the fact that Duncan and Owen will probably make it to the final four for the second season in a row but at least that means they might go early in "Musical" (or at least Duncan since he barely appears in the trailer).

[Alien X]

I know who gets voted off in this episode. So I voted that person in the poll.

I won't say it because it's a spoiler, but Cartoonnetwork accidentally put it up a few days ago. And people were able to get pics.

The person who got voted off is in the links below.

Voted Off Pic 1 (http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/tda/tools/img/characters/harold_01_off.jpg)

Voted Off Pic 2 (http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/tda/tools/img/characters/harold_02_off.jpg)

[Cheese]

I'm thinking Harold.

[Poyon]

I'm gonna stick with last week's guess. Harold's going down. His arc's pretty much finished.

Couldn't have said it better myself. I honestly think his time is up, ESPECIALLY after he basically got payback on Duncan in the last episode.

EDIT:

So after voicing my opinion and voting, I decided to spoil myself.:


I know who gets voted off in this episode. So I voted that person in the poll.

I won't say it because it's a spoiler, but Cartoonnetwork accidentally put it up a few days ago. And people were able to get pics.

The person who got voted off is in the links below.

Voted Off Pic 1 (http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/tda/tools/img/characters/harold_01_off.jpg)

Voted Off Pic 2 (http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/tda/tools/img/characters/harold_02_off.jpg)

You know, this is the second time in a row that they revealed who gets voted off early, they did it with Lyndsey as well.

[Cheese]

Couldn't have said it better myself. I honestly think his time is up, ESPECIALLY after he basically got payback on Duncan in the last episode.

EDIT:

So after voicing my opinion and voting, I decided to spoil myself.:



You know, this is the second time in a row that they revealed who gets voted off early, they did it with Lyndsey as well.

They have done that a looong time. They have always done it. Lindsay was not the first. :sad:

[Don_East]

Well, still stand by what I said last week, Harold's time is almost up. What happened last week just improves. He one-upped Duncan and he's going kinda crazy.

SHOWTIME!

[Puzzleglum]

Yep. Harold's history.

[Don_East]

Well, called it. Right when it's revealed that Harold squashed Scruffy, I knew he was done for. I did like that he had the last laugh with Duncan. :D

What I didn't see coming is how Beth seemingly "broke up" with her boyfriend and try to hook up with Harold.

Also, WTF BTTF?

[Sam Hill]

I didn't really care for this episode. All the lame "Owen farting" bits dragged this one way down.

[zoombie]

Harold's suffering is just beginning. It is going to be quite an eventful Aftermath when LaShawna sees his "playing the field" comment. I think the girls are going rip him apart.

At least he got his payback on Duncan, and even won his respect.

I think Duncan and Courtney will be in the final three, and one of them will be the third runner up. Though we all know which ever gender as the odd number will lose out to even things out. The final two will probably be boy vs girl.

We get a little into Courtney's backstory in this episode, apperentely she has always been ultra competitive, and not a people's person, and doesn't have any friends. I wonder if she will learn something by the time this season is done.

[stephane dumas]

We get a little into Courtney's backstory in this episode, apperentely she has always been ultra competitive, and not a people's person, and doesn't have any friends. I wonder if she will learn something by the time this season is done.

By seeing the Total Drama the Musical promo trailer as well as Cake's document, showing her smiling, she might learned something as well as founding some redemption by having Gwen, Heather (if Heather found some redemption, why not Courtney?) and Cody as future teammates.

Now once Owen will complete Chris' "assignement", I wonder if he decide to confess like DJ felling the guilt and the severe look of other contestants who didn't believed then Owen will go in an alliance with Chris? Or he's voted off "accidentely" and realized Chris betrayed him (by giving him some Chris McLean dollars instead of real dollars) just like Heather betrayed Lindsay in TDI, and Owen got angry and swear a lot of bad words to Chris covered by a long bleeping sequence

[HEATXZ]

Great episode :anime:
My favorite parts are Owen's Farting and Harold drops Duncan's Pants XD
Too bad Harold got voted off i wanted him to win TDA :(

[zoombie]

By seeing the Total Drama the Musical promo trailer as well as Cake's document, showing her smiling, she might learned something as well as founding some redemption by having Gwen, Heather (if Heather found some redemption, why not Courtney?) and Cody as future teammates.

Now once Owen will complete Chris' "assignement", I wonder if he decide to confess like DJ felling the guilt and the severe look of other contestants who didn't believed then Owen will go in an alliance with Chris? Or he's voted off "accidentely" and realized Chris betrayed him (by giving him some Chris McLean dollars instead of real dollars) just like Heather betrayed Lindsay in TDI, and Owen got angry and swear a lot of bad words to Chris covered by a long bleeping sequence

I agree with you. If Heather can be forgiven, than Courtney can easily be forgiven. Actully if Heather can be forgiven, anyone can be forgiven. :D

And with the new season having having new characters and one of them looks to be an antagonist, I think they all can redem and forgive all of the returning contestents and put the heat towards the new people.

[Royce]

Yeah, especially when Owen got a trophy for being nice, Courtney thought she should have gotten it.
She thinks everyone likes her, so that could hint her possible downfall will hit her hard.

Notice how we don't know who she voted off.... I got a bad feeling about this.:sweat:

[zoombie]

Yeah, especially when Owen got a trophy for being nice, Courtney thought she should have gotten it.
She thinks everyone likes her, so that could hint her possible downfall will hit her hard.

Notice how we don't know who she voted off.... I got a bad feeling about this.:sweat:

Personally I think the whole vote might have been rigged by Chris to get Harold off the show for knowing too much about Owen being a mole.

[KurtmanJP]

I'm kind of shocked that Harold got voted off. Since he's gone, I'm rooting for Beth to win.

[Plo_Koon]

I've got to be honest, I had no clue that harold would be out. Everyone knew who evryone was voting for so it was based on courtney and i thought she would vote owen out for revenge of him comming back. I felt relly bad for duncan...poor tarantula they arn't that deadly. Right?

[Frank15]

Well I'm surprised. I really figured him to be the most likely contestant to make it to the final two for ages now. Though here, Harold was a bit mean to Beth for the wrong reasons. Not because he already had a girlfriend, which would've been a good enough reason, but seemingly because he (and Duncan, surprise surprise) felt Beth wasn't pretty enough. But then again, if Brady is real, that wasn't exactly nice of her to break up with him like that, so... well, Beth actually acted a bit like Courtney's been acting in this episode. It would've felt better if it came off as payback, but she just came off as a bit randomly bossy with Courtney instead... the past few episodes have helped endear me more to Beth, but I can't say this one really helped.

Nice of Duncan to take Harold's payback in stride. Least he knew he kinda' deserved it.

And nice to delve more into Courtney's psych. Her debate teammate only proved to Courtney that she needs to depend on herself and only herself. That was kind of sad, really... her teammate likely quit because she was tired of Courtney's attitude, which only proved to her that she needed to become even worse. Kind of too bad Bridgette was voted out before Courtney came back, as she seemed to be the one contestant who seemed to have a sort of calming effect on Courtney, even when Courtney got angry at her. Everyone else seems to have the bad habit of making bad situations worse around her. That's life, I guess.

[Cheese]

Personally I think the whole vote might have been rigged by Chris to get Harold off the show for knowing too much about Owen being a mole.

What are you talking about?

Two votes Harold.

One vote Owen. One vote Courtney.

That's confirmed so Harold still had the most votes.

[Anthonynotes]

And so, Harold is gone. Yeah, I'm wondering if we'll see how LeShawna reacts to his "playing the field" remarks in the Aftermath (or that Beth-kissing-Harold bit). (</me ponders changing his avatar... :-p >)

Anyway, this one was enjoyable. More of Owen's reluctant attempts to sabotage the others, and multiple space-related cliches/jokes... plus liked the BTTF bit at the end.

Movie Genre:
Space travel's been a subject examined by many films, dating back to the earliest silent films---particularly the very first science-fiction film, "A Trip to the Moon" (released in 1902). More recent efforts include the famed "Star Wars" films in the 70s and 80s, and "Apollo 13" from the mid-90s.

Today's title, while apparently reflecting when the episode was made/written (200*8*?!), is a reference to the famed late 1960s film "2001: A Space Odyssey." The opening of today's episode, with the cavemen, blaring orchestra music and the campers grunting and pointing at something all reference "2001"'s famous "dawn of time" bit.

The portion with the campers walking in slow-motion in unison (before Chris urges them to hurry it up) might be a reference to the film "The Right Stuff", the 1983 film about the early astronauts' training for the start of the US space program in the late 50s/early 60s.

The limo imitates the DeLorean's signature time-travel twin fire trails (and spinning license plate left behind) from the 80s film "Back to the Future."

Comments:
- Beth at least comes to her senses and breaks off her short-lived alliance...

- Most of the show's budget goes to Chris' salary? Figures...

- More of Chef's awful cooking... heh. Also more Owen fart jokes... less-"heh", more "meh".

Old-but-amusing cartoon gag:
Space travel's been a popular subject for cartoons dating back decades, with just about every space-related cliche, joke, situation, etc. having been made.

Related to the above: Homer Simpson's done it; Bugs Bunny's done it; Batman's done it; Captain Caveman's done it; even Charlie Brown's done it (albeit in a dream sequence). Just about every cartoon sooner or later seems to be required to go into space or have some space-related adventure at *some* point.

Not quite cartoon related, but in real life, actual aircraft have been used for decades to simulate weightlessness, the one NASA used sometimes dubbed the "Vomit Comet" (not the name for a G-force simulator as Chris did here). Though the aspect of a roller coaster being able to achieve simulated-zero-G (by looping really fast around its tracks over and over) certainly *is* cartoonish (and impossible), versus how the real craft operates: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vomit_Comet

"He said *launch*, not *lunch*!" Another very old space joke, seen in many live-action productions and cartoons---often with some dumb or hungry character pushing a launch button, mistakenly thinking they'd get lunch.

A fat character plugging some sort of gaping hole to save the others is another old gag... and yeah, who didn't see it coming for Owen here? :-p

There *was* a Back to the Future cartoon on Saturday mornings for two seasons in the early 90s, mostly revolving around Doc's children, Jules and Verne, and Marty having various time-travel adventures...

Canadianisms:
A Canadian flag is seen on the mock-space shuttle.

Canada does have its own space travel agency (though it usually uses NASA/European space launch facilities): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Space_Agency

Next week:
No idea, thanks to CN promoting other stuff. But see you next time anyway...

[Crash]

A Back to the Future send-off! As the now-departed Harold would say: "Awesome!"

[Rho]

Oh, come on. Why vote off Harold? Owen's the one sabotaging everything. Not to mention Owen is just getting intolerable and annoying.
The writers WAY overuse Owen anyway. I can only hope he'll be one of the first to go in TDM.

I think next week is an Aftermath.. LeShawna won't be happy.

[Sam Hill]

Oh, come on. Why vote off Harold? Owen's the one sabotaging everything. Not to mention Owen is just getting intolerable and annoying.
The writers WAY overuse Owen anyway. I can only hope he'll be one of the first to go in TDM.

I think next week is an Aftermath.. LeShawna won't be happy.

According to the Wiki, next week is an episode called "Top Dog" so no Aftermath it looks like.

I hope next week is a double elimination to make things more interesting. I really can't see Duncan, Courtney, Owen, and Beth having much exciting conflict with each other. :yawn:

[Mesousa]

The episode was okay, but Beth just randomly breaks up with Brady?

That. Is. Not. A. Good. Idea. What would Beth suddenly go for Harold? Well, that makes a crack pairing come to life...that's kinda disturbing.

Also, while he mentioned LeShawna in a confessional, why did he randomly mention Heather?

I just know Owen won't win it, his guilt will be his downfall, especially how he had a lot of guilt for the whole episode, as well as Harold figuring out, which means that it won't take long for the rest of the cast for figuring out.

Anybody noticed the animation was better than usual here? Especially Duncan's spider, it looked really cool.

[northerncrowe]

Also, while he mentioned LeShawna in a confessional, why did he randomly mention Heather?


The TDI special hinted at a developing relationship between Heather and Harold. Like Cody, he thinks he has the skills to keep all the ladies happy.

As for Beth breaking up with Brady, she's just crushing on the flavour of the week. She admired Justin, Brady, Harold... who knows, the next one could be Duncan, Owen, Chris (maybe not) or....?

[Cartoon X]

Aw man, I though Harold was going to win this season! Dang, I don't want Owen, Courtney, or Duncan to win because I feel they're overused and overrated, so I'll be rooting for Beth to win. But knowing the writers she'll probaly go next:shrug:.

[The Huntsman]

The TDI special hinted at a developing relationship between Heather and Harold. Like Cody, he thinks he has the skills to keep all the ladies happy.Heh. I sent you a PM about that but you never answered. ;) It always seemed odd to me that, in one episode, Harold kept calling Heather “milady” and they formed an alliance. Then, it was never mentioned again… I guess we’ll see more of that in TD:TM.

[polkadotjewel]

Next week isn't an Aftermath... heh, they're working with animals next week.

Just got to watch this episode. It was better than last week's, imo. I wonder how their "gifts" from the outside world were chosen - Courtney's was definitely foreshadowing the end of the episode, same with Beth's (in reference to moving on after something ending, in her case, her Ringpop being eaten).

Oh, Owen... though the whole "super nice guy who continuously farts" thing got really old, really quick in this episode. But, he is slowly losing it. Because the rest of the cast knows Owen as that super nice, loveable guy, they probably didn't listen to Harold when he said to watch Owen. I wonder what kind "sabotage" he'll create in the next episode.

I'm a bit surprised Beth was so quick to jump from Brady to Harold - in the last episode, Harold was calling a snail "LeShawna Jr"! But, then again, he put himself out there was being single, which in Beth's mind, must've equaled him flirting with her... I would've never guessed she was covered in puke basked on the HHT preview, though. That was definitely gross.

It was nice to see, even though they kinda got along in the last episode, Harold playing tricks on Duncan. If he wasn't surprised by his pants being pulled down, I bet he won't care too much when he finds out Harold put rocks in his bed... maybe. Hah.

If the summary for next week's preview is correct (and the site I get it from hasn't been wrong yet), it should be an interesting episode... can't wait for it!

[zoombie]

Beth got it backwards, it is not men that chase kept women, it is women that chase kept men. Ever listen to the comic styles of Chris Rock, he speaks the truth.

[Bad Asp]

I have mad retrospective skillz!

RETROSPECTIVE 12: HAROLD

You couldn't tell just by looking at him, but beneath this skinny stringbean of a geek lurks a treasure trove of mad skillz. In fact, it's his mad skillz that singlehandedly got the Killer Bass its first two victories. He was constantly being bullied by Duncan, so he struck back at him by rigging the votes to get Courtney eliminated. He in turn got the boot one episode later, after he saw more of Heather than he needed to see... and confessed his love for the luscious LeShawna.

What mad skillz has he unleashed since in TDA? And did he finally win LeShawna over?

Episode 1 (Monster Cash) - If he wanted to, he'd run as fast as the pronghorned antelope (the fastest land animal after the cheetah). Nevertheless, he's not quick enough to outrun Chefzilla.

Episode 2 (Alien Resur-egg-tion) - His senses are totally heightened, and he can sense when something's coming. Nothing gets by him. So, naturally, he'd be the first person to be slimed by Alien Chef.

Episode 3 (Riot on Set) - Gwen picks him to be on her team, the Screaming Gaffers. ...Truth is, he was the only guy left, and he had to be on the Gaffers by default. So now they're stuck with a skinny beanpole dweeb --- with MAD SKILLZ!!!

Episode 4 (Beach Blanket Bogus) - Harold brags about his mad surfing skillz... but when the sharks from Season 1 show up, he becomes protective of his buttocks, since they're his greatest "asset". `He also possesses mad sandcastle-building skillz (behold the Taj Maharold!), and, even though the Gaffers already won the dance-off, mad dancing skillz!

Episode 5 (3:10 To Crazytown) - Harold uses his mad math skillz to mount the horse perfectly, and is able to lasso pretty boy Justin. However, he gets bullied by bad boy Duncan repeatedly. Hello, he's on the same team as you, Duncan! Lay off!

Episode 7 (The Chefshank Redemption) - Harold's contributions to the prison food challenge help the Gaffers out in a big way (although we still wonder where he got the horse lips from). Oh, and Gwen hits him over the head with the Golden Shovel.

Episode 8 (One Flu Over The Cuckoos) - LeShawna tries to convince Harold to form an alliance with Duncan, but there's no way the dweeb would ever want to work with the bully, or his name isn't Harold Norbert Cheaver Doris McGrady the Fifth! (Just don't tell Duncan about the "Doris" part.)

Episode 9 (The Sand Witch Project) - Harold possesses mad screaming skillz in the scream-off (even though he's really more terrified of Duncan than teddy-bear D.J.), and uses all that he's learned at Magic Steve's Magic Camp to produce the scaaaary Phantasm Ball! (In other words, Duncan's soccer ball with a tissue over it.)

Episode 10 (Masters Of Disasters) - The bendy straws Harold took from the commissary actually come in handy during the second part of the challenge, where he used them to breathe underwater, open the hatch, and guide the Gaffers to safety. Harold's mad skillz save the day yet again!

Episode 11 (Full Metal Drama) - Harold's num-yos. They've protected him from invading ninjas, and they've also protected him from invading Killer Grips (combined with LeShawna's "smokescreen"). Although he spent most of the war-themed challenge fighting with his teammate Duncan instead of the opposing team...

Episode 13 (Ocean's Eight - Or Nine) - We'd think that since Harold has a crush on LeShawna, he'd come to her rescue, but for some reason, he doesn't even bail her out of the safe. Has he really forgotten about her?

Episode 14 (One Million Bucks B.C.) - While retrieving wood for the fire-building challenge, Harold runs into some prehistoric monster beavers... and the worst part is, they aren't even animatronic! Those beavers also disrupt his bonefighting match against Justin! Get back to your dam, beavers!

Episode 15 (Million Dollar Babies) - Harold participates in a boxing match against Lindsay, and with marshmallow boxing gloves. We were pretty sure Lindsay would have won the match, but she gets disqualified for "biting". Also, Harold possessed a lot of mad slow-motion skillz, which was a nice bonus.

Episode 16 (Dial M For Merger) - LeShawna once AGAIN convinces Harold to form an alliance with Duncan. This time, she succeeds... although the two of them still hate each other with a passion.

Episode 17 (Super Hero-ld) - Harold's superhero persona is the Canada-representing "Captain Alberta", with the power to "swirl up hot Chinook wind" by eating a spicy burrito (and provide a vessel for puerile fart humor in Owen's absence.) He somehow becomes the swing vote as he has to choose whether to vote off big bad bully Duncan, or his girlfriend LeShawna. We were all surprised that he ended up voting off the latter...

Episode 19 (Princess Pride) - Harold, the "Eighth Dwarf", gets across the bridge easily thanks to his mad blind running skillz. He listens to the Princess Courtney CD and thinks of LeShawna, and defeats the animatronic dragon with his mad mathlete skillz. Prince Justin rewards Harold's hard work by shoving him out the way so he can get to Princess Courtney first.

Episode 20 (Get A Clue) - Harold tries to get some DNA samples from his rival Duncan, but after both his attempts failed, he decides to steal some samples from Beth instead. He gave Chris' corpse mouth-to-mouth, and owns a solar-powered train set, along with a magnifying glass and miniature keyboard!

Episode 21 (Rock 'n Rule) - He has mad guitar skillz in the first part of the challenge... in fact, his guitar is on fire - literally! He doesn't do that good with the paparazzi, as one of his "fans" (aka Duncan) calls him Doris!


Episode 22 (Crouching Courtney, Hidden Owen) - He is the fighter for the boys' team in the kung fu challenge, and easily beats Beth and advances to the next round. He and Duncan help each other out in the second part, but that quickly changes when Duncan insults his girlfriend. He even makes a new snaily friend - LeShawna Jr.

Episode 23 (2008: A Space Owen) - His gift from home was a pair of sweet nunchucks - which are then used by Owen to break open the shuttle's window. He is the first to ride the Vomit Comet, lasting only for about five seconds when he discovers he's sharing it with Duncan's tarantula Scruffy. He also gets a kiss from Beth, and becomes REALLY suspicious of Owen's bizarre behavior. After he gets voted off, he warns the others to watch Owen like a hawk - no, wait, a FALCON! They have better eyesight!

Puzzleglum, let me hear your analysis, pretty please?

[northerncrowe]

Heh. I sent you a PM about that but you never answered. ;) It always seemed odd to me that, in one episode, Harold kept calling Heather “milady” and they formed an alliance. Then, it was never mentioned again… I guess we’ll see more of that in TD:TM.

Didn't want to give away who was going. Harold may be tempted by others but Leshawna is his dream girl...you won't be seeing a Beth or Heather snail anytime soon.

[Crash]

Its funny what can set you off. Even though this was just a cartoon, I just couldn't get over the bad physics of the zero-g challenge. You can't simulate constant zero-g like that--you're only weightless when you go down! And you can't create that vaccume/sucktion effect at ground level.... Bah... Pity, beacause if I could have gotten over that, there were a couple genuinely funny moments during that segment. Scruffy tied to the pillow, Courtney ripping on that hairy beast-and his pet spider, the beginings of the Beth/Harold storyline...

Other than that bad-science challenge, though, this seemed like a very well-written episodes. Multiple storylines that all seemed to, well, work. The mounting friction between Beth and Courtney, the imagined relationship between Beth and Harlod (where she decides to exchange one imaginary relationship for another), the apparent culmination of the Duncan/Harold feud, and Owen's continuing crack-up. All woven together into a pretty tight story! With nods to older continuity. Duncan's soft spot for pets (And Scruffy produced some of the episodes better moments, like Duncan's comment about a pet that might suddenly kill him, and that he no longer has to sleep with a baseball bat under his pillow...) Courtney's over-acheiving highscool history, and of course, Harold and his ninja weapons.

And this time, I acutally enjoyed the awards ceremony. Everyone had a good story-and-character driven reason for voting off who they did. (Unlike late last season, where they the cast would inexplicably vote off somebody other than Heather...) And with Harold gone....Well, I guess the odds are that we'll have a Duncan vs Courtney finale! With Beth leaving next, and then Owen not either making it to the final or being ineligable/only there as a Chris's spoiler. Should be fun!

[The Cartoon]

Definitely not my favorite episode. Not too memorable, and I don't think it was right for Harold to leave yet even though he isn't one of my favorites. This is the second time that Duncan has beaten Harold. I don't think that sends a very good message. The bully will always beat the nerd? Duncan may be a fan favorite but I'm not sure if that was a good call. In addition, with Harold gone, Beth has already won in my opinion. The other 3 are at least minorly an antagonist.

[Sam Hill]

I can't be the only irritated that the final two males in the show are the same two surving males as last season. What's up with that? :shrug:

[Anthonynotes]

Its funny what can set you off. Even though this was just a cartoon, I just couldn't get over the bad physics of the zero-g challenge. You can't simulate constant zero-g like that--you're only weightless when you go down! And you can't create that vaccume/sucktion effect at ground level.... Bah... Pity, beacause if I could have gotten over that, there were a couple genuinely funny moments during that segment. Scruffy tied to the pillow, Courtney ripping on that hairy beast-and his pet spider, the beginings of the Beth/Harold storyline...

As I noted in my comments, I thought the same thing (that simulated-zero-G only works when falling)----namely at that part where we saw the roller coaster looping along the bottom rails *really* fast (before going down from that high point). Doesn't matter how fast it was doing that---soon as it repeatedly hit bottom, the TDA-ers should've been repeatedly like the Coyote hitting the canyon floor. Yeah, even for a cartoon, pretty bad physics. :-p

But of course, as I also noted previously, it *is* a cartoon (one where Trent could survive a one-mile fall from an airplane and hitting the ground a la Wile E. Coyote), and (to quote Bugs Bunny) even though it defies the laws of gravity, I'm sure Chris never studied law. ;-)

-B.

[Poyon]

It always seemed odd to me that, in one episode, Harold kept calling Heather “milady” and they formed an alliance. Then, it was never mentioned again… I guess we’ll see more of that in TD:TM.

See, that kind of bugged me. Heather and Harold sort of started an alliance, but it never really went anywhere aside from Heather mentioning it once... Although, after that point, they did start arguing a bit more, so they might have just kind of dropped the idea.

Anyway, this episode was okay. Harold's elimination was expected, his story had pretty much run its course. I admit, I laughed when Harold mentioned not wanting to disappoint Heather or Leshawna. I have a feeling Leshawna might be a tad annoyed with him when she sees him again. ;)

[Puzzleglum]

I have mad retrospective skillz!

RETROSPECTIVE 12: HAROLD

You couldn't tell just by looking at him, but beneath this skinny stringbean of a geek lurks a treasure trove of mad skillz. In fact, it's his mad skillz that singlehandedly got the Killer Bass its first two victories. He was constantly being bullied by Duncan, so he struck back at him by rigging the votes to get Courtney eliminated. He in turn got the boot one episode later, after he saw more of Heather than he needed to see... and confessed his love for the luscious LeShawna.

What mad skillz has he unleashed since in TDA? And did he finally win LeShawna over?

Episode 1 (Monster Cash) - If he wanted to, he'd run as fast as the pronghorned antelope (the fastest land animal after the cheetah). Nevertheless, he's not quick enough to outrun Chefzilla.

Episode 2 (Alien Resur-egg-tion) - His senses are totally heightened, and he can sense when something's coming. Nothing gets by him. So, naturally, he'd be the first person to be slimed by Alien Chef.

Episode 3 (Riot on Set) - Gwen picks him to be on her team, the Screaming Gaffers. ...Truth is, he was the only guy left, and he had to be on the Gaffers by default. So now they're stuck with a skinny beanpole dweeb --- with MAD SKILLZ!!!

Episode 4 (Beach Blanket Bogus) - Harold brags about his mad surfing skillz... but when the sharks from Season 1 show up, he becomes protective of his buttocks, since they're his greatest "asset". `He also possesses mad sandcastle-building skillz (behold the Taj Maharold!), and, even though the Gaffers already won the dance-off, mad dancing skillz!

Episode 5 (3:10 To Crazytown) - Harold uses his mad math skillz to mount the horse perfectly, and is able to lasso pretty boy Justin. However, he gets bullied by bad boy Duncan repeatedly. Hello, he's on the same team as you, Duncan! Lay off!

Episode 7 (The Chefshank Redemption) - Harold's contributions to the prison food challenge help the Gaffers out in a big way (although we still wonder where he got the horse lips from). Oh, and Gwen hits him over the head with the Golden Shovel.

Episode 8 (One Flu Over The Cuckoos) - LeShawna tries to convince Harold to form an alliance with Duncan, but there's no way the dweeb would ever want to work with the bully, or his name isn't Harold Norbert Cheaver Doris McGrady the Fifth! (Just don't tell Duncan about the "Doris" part.)

Episode 9 (The Sand Witch Project) - Harold possesses mad screaming skillz in the scream-off (even though he's really more terrified of Duncan than teddy-bear D.J.), and uses all that he's learned at Magic Steve's Magic Camp to produce the scaaaary Phantasm Ball! (In other words, Duncan's soccer ball with a tissue over it.)

Episode 10 (Masters Of Disasters) - The bendy straws Harold took from the commissary actually come in handy during the second part of the challenge, where he used them to breathe underwater, open the hatch, and guide the Gaffers to safety. Harold's mad skillz save the day yet again!

Episode 11 (Full Metal Drama) - Harold's num-yos. They've protected him from invading ninjas, and they've also protected him from invading Killer Grips (combined with LeShawna's "smokescreen"). Although he spent most of the war-themed challenge fighting with his teammate Duncan instead of the opposing team...

Episode 13 (Ocean's Eight - Or Nine) - We'd think that since Harold has a crush on LeShawna, he'd come to her rescue, but for some reason, he doesn't even bail her out of the safe. Has he really forgotten about her?

Episode 14 (One Million Bucks B.C.) - While retrieving wood for the fire-building challenge, Harold runs into some prehistoric monster beavers... and the worst part is, they aren't even animatronic! Those beavers also disrupt his bonefighting match against Justin! Get back to your dam, beavers!

Episode 15 (Million Dollar Babies) - Harold participates in a boxing match against Lindsay, and with marshmallow boxing gloves. We were pretty sure Lindsay would have won the match, but she gets disqualified for "biting". Also, Harold possessed a lot of mad slow-motion skillz, which was a nice bonus.

Episode 16 (Dial M For Merger) - LeShawna once AGAIN convinces Harold to form an alliance with Duncan. This time, she succeeds... although the two of them still hate each other with a passion.

Episode 17 (Super Hero-ld) - Harold's superhero persona is the Canada-representing "Captain Alberta", with the power to "swirl up hot Chinook wind" by eating a spicy burrito (and provide a vessel for puerile fart humor in Owen's absence.) He somehow becomes the swing vote as he has to choose whether to vote off big bad bully Duncan, or his girlfriend LeShawna. We were all surprised that he ended up voting off the latter...

Episode 19 (Princess Pride) - Harold, the "Eighth Dwarf", gets across the bridge easily thanks to his mad blind running skillz. He listens to the Princess Courtney CD and thinks of LeShawna, and defeats the animatronic dragon with his mad mathlete skillz. Prince Justin rewards Harold's hard work by shoving him out the way so he can get to Princess Courtney first.

Episode 20 (Get A Clue) - Harold tries to get some DNA samples from his rival Duncan, but after both his attempts failed, he decides to steal some samples from Beth instead. He gave Chris' corpse mouth-to-mouth, and owns a solar-powered train set, along with a magnifying glass and miniature keyboard!

Episode 21 (Rock 'n Rule) - He has mad guitar skillz in the first part of the challenge... in fact, his guitar is on fire - literally! He doesn't do that good with the paparazzi, as one of his "fans" (aka Duncan) calls him Doris!


Episode 22 (Crouching Courtney, Hidden Owen) - He is the fighter for the boys' team in the kung fu challenge, and easily beats Beth and advances to the next round. He and Duncan help each other out in the second part, but that quickly changes when Duncan insults his girlfriend. He even makes a new snaily friend - LeShawna Jr.

Episode 23 (2008: A Space Owen) - His gift from home was a pair of sweet nunchucks - which are then used by Owen to break open the shuttle's window. He is the first to ride the Vomit Comet, lasting only for about five seconds when he discovers he's sharing it with Duncan's tarantula Scruffy. He also gets a kiss from Beth, and becomes REALLY suspicious of Owen's bizarre behavior. After he gets voted off, he warns the others to watch Owen like a hawk - no, wait, a FALCON! They have better eyesight!

Puzzleglum, let me hear your analysis, pretty please?
Okay, how can I, a die hard Harold fan, make this analysis as unbiased as possible...

Harold was AWESOME this season. Really, I thought (and hoped) that he would go all the way to the end. Harold's been a scrawny body full of surprises, much like in season one.

Harold was on top of his game in TDA, survivng challenge after challenge, and (being a gaffer) was usually on the winning side. In "Masters of Disaster", Harold even saved all the other castmates lives. Harold was also one of the very few who tried to be nice to Heather; to say nothing of his relationship with LeShawna.

All in all, this season belonged to (imho) to both Lindsay and Harold, who both dominated and developed. Harold will be missed.

Act-o-meter: 9 out of 10. He really got into the parts.
Popularity: 8 out of 10.

Hmm...perhaps this wasn't as unbiased as I hoped.

[Freedom Fighter]

Missed out on the pre-episode prediction festivities... but it looks like the majority made the right call... Harold's gone. That inevitably means a Duncan-Beth finale, one that seems primed for Beth to win. That may make the remaining three episodes hard to watch.

As for this week's episode... just when I was starting to believe Brady was real (see the phone call Beth made on Courtney's PDA last week... or supposedly now, anyway), the doubts come back in full force! And suddenly... Beth shifts her sights on Harold? O-kay...

And the all girls' alliance... unsurprisingly didn't last long. Courtney and Beth were honestly never meant to work out. The formation and destruction of the alliance definitely hurts Courtney more. She couldn't stand working with Beth, but knew she might have to in order to get to the end of the game, and then remembered that no one ever has her back and that she's used to fending for herself and only herself.

Unfortunately, the only drama left this season will be... who will go first, Owen or Courtney? (Okay, two... when Courtney inevitably is voted off, will she go all Hulk and smash the entire studio to pieces, rendering the show unable to finish in its current location?)

[Neo Ultra Mike]

You know I have a feeling that this is how the rest of the series will go:

Epsiode Twenty Four: An elimination episode to get the final three. Owen is revealed as a fraud and forced to leave, at least as a compettitor anyway.

Episode Twenty Five: An elimination episode to get to the final two. Courtney ends up leaving and throws a big fit. The order of Owen and Courtney cound end up being reversed but those two better be the next ones eliminated since they were the ones who came back and it wouldn't be fair if someone won TDA who didn't end up competting in some of the episodes.

Episode Twenty Six: The Final Two challenge. I'm voting for Beth to end up winning and becoming the millionare and finally reveal that Brady is real.

And then the hour special which I predict will be the 4th Aftermath and segway well into Total Drama Musical by helping introduce the new contenstants for that show and show how the old ones will get suckered in for a third season.

As for the epiosde itself it wasn't really too bad. Harold ended up getting voted off but like I hoped before he was voted off he at least got a few shots at Duncan. Last ep actually hitting him, and this one playing underhanded pranks behind his back and to his face. That was a good way for him to go out. Truthfully though too many vomit jokes in the last half to really enjoy though hopefully that means we got the disgusting ep out of the way and the next three will be relativley clean in that regard.

[Viper]

I haven't commented on this ep yet. Here are my thoughts on it:

1. I thought the parody of the opening to 2001: A Space Odyssey was great!:D

2. It was wild seeing Duncan's tarantula go after Harold.:p I thought it was cute that Beth got a Ring Pop from her imaginary boyfriend.:anime: Once again, Courtney looked hot in her two-piece pajamas!:anime::nurse:

3. It was wild seeing how they could manage themselves in zero-gravity. It was not pretty seeing Beth & Courtney use Owen's big butt to plug up the ship's hole.:eek:

4. I loved how Courtney started to regret choosing to go last in the G-force challenge. It was disturbing to see Duncan puke from both the ride AND Owen's stench!:ack: I loved how Beth stood up Courtney and survived the ride.:D It was hilarious when Beth kissed Harold after she puked!:p

5. I'm glad Beth broke off her alliance with Courtney!:sweat:

6. It was scary how Harold gave Owen the third degree about trying to sabotage the zero-gravity challenge.:eek:

7. At elimination, I was shocked when I saw Harold get voted off instead of Owen!:eek: I loved the Back to the Future reference at the end with the limo.:D

[Mesousa]

Didn't want to give away who was going. Harold may be tempted by others but Leshawna is his dream girl...you won't be seeing a Beth or Heather snail anytime soon.

Buuuuuuut...Beth might think he's into her.

I mean, you do work on the show, so...

[northerncrowe]

Buuuuuuut...Beth might think he's into her.

I mean, you do work on the show, so...

I'm just saying Harold and Beth is not a long term thing... Competitions aren't kind to nerd love... or any one else. (Trent & Gwen etc)

[Sam Hill]

I heard a spoiler about the next episode.

It's a double elimination. Owen and Courtney are both eliminated.

Which means episode 25 is the finale. As for episode 26...hmmm...we'll just have to wait and see.

[polkadotjewel]

More spoilers from the next ep...

Courtney outs Owen, resulting in Chris firing Owen.

Man, I love double eliminations :D

[Napalm Jim]

Didn't want to give away who was going. Harold may be tempted by others but Leshawna is his dream girl...you won't be seeing a Beth or Heather snail anytime soon.

Aw, phooey.

And I was hoping that maybe there might have been something more to the H-bombs in the future. Their Rumiko Takahashi-esque antics amuse me to no end.:D


But as for the episode, I liked it a lot. Everyone had something going on with them this week, so nobody was stuck off to the side, which was cool.

Got to say hello and goodbye to Scruffy, who likely served as the inspiration for Duncan's dye job. Alas, poor Scruffy...

Beth showed an almost inhuman capacity for suppressing her revulsion in the Vomit Comet. She's also set her eyes on a new beau. Again.:sweat:

Courtney has come full circle and has decided to only trust herself, which frankly isn't all that bad of an idea on this show...

Owen's guilt is starting to have a MacBeth sort of effect on him, except it's taking the form of flatulence instead of hallucinations. I don't think the guy is gonna last much longer like this.

And Harold got the boot this week, but I think that he still had a pretty good run this season. He's become a lot more talkative and glib than he was back in TDI, which was fun to see. He also finally started to stand up for himself against Duncan towards the end and even managed to get in a couple of counter-pranks on him just before the Lame-o-sine sent him 30 years into the past. I hope Harold's ready for disco...


This week's Ugly moment:
Chef's "gumbo". I mean, seriously, cartoons don't usually trigger my gag reflex, but this one did the trick. Ugh.