PPG "Get Back Jojo" SPOILERS!

[don Jaime]

An average episode tonight. Mojo Jojo time travels to stop little Professor Utonium from getting interested in science and creating the PPG. Good concept and execution, but 22 minutes was too long for this. Most of the first segment was PU blowing about his invention and MJ asking questions about it.

The 1959 classroom was the best part, as we see what a hellion Professor was as a boy. I got a Calvin and Susie Derkins vibe off Utonium and the young Ms. Keene that I liked.

The ending fooled me. I figured Professor told the girls not to use their powers so he could buy time for MJ to turn his younger self on to science. What we got seemed trite to me, and confusing. And why didn't he recognize the girls until after the end of the time travelling?

I'll watch again in a few days and see if my opinion changes. Meantime, what's yours?

[Sharklady]

I liked this ep for including the usual number of amusing bits- Ms Keene's description of the cartooning profession, a long-suspected explaination for what makes car keys go missing, the early glimpse (of a sorts) at Miss Bellum, the dead-on parody of 1950's school safety films.

Plus, we got a couple character insights. Mojo does his own grocery-shopping, the route between the store and his observatory apparently going right past Pokey Oaks. And Miss Bellum has long regarded the Mayor as an idiot (tho she's fond of him anyway.)

I also appreciated that *quite* different-looking animation used for the time-travel sequences. Did it remind anybody else of 'How I Spent My Weekend'?

Just one more thing: I hope everybody noticed the title was yet another Beatle's ref. Somebody connected with the PPG's must really be a fan.

[DR. BELCH]

The title of this ep is indeed a Beatles reference, as Sharklady notees, from the a line near the end of "Get Back" ("Sweet Loretta--?" I can't make out the surname... "thought she was a woman, but she was another man...")
The bitter irony is that Mojo Jojo has contributed to the birth of the Power Puff Girls twice, once by shoving Utonium into the chemical X vat when he was a lab chimp and again in the past! Some days you must wonder why the verbose little bugger gets out of bed in the morning. Had he though it out better, though, he'd have gone back to the day of the Girls' birth and warned himself not to jog the prof's elbow.
Utonium was a little brat when he was young...yet oddly lovable. "Monster need water! Rowwrr!" Monster need blood! Blood!" Funny that Mojo would automatically assume the brainy kid was the prof--I expected him to grab the wrong boy at first.
The Mayor has been in power since the 1950's? If he's such a nimrod, why elect him to (by my calculations) 15 consecutive terms (a mayor serves a 4-year stretch, am I right?) Then again, the people of Massachusetts have been re-electing Ted Kennedy at least that long...some people, eh? :p And of course the young Ms. Bellum is seen (face hidden by an apple on the teacher's desk). The jab at bad '50s-era public education films is pretty spot-on as well.
No surprise that Mojo does his own shopping. In another ep he's forced to go out and buy another carton of eggs for his breakfast, since he only has one on hand and he rants about how you need two for a proper meal (I'm the same way). He's also visibly annoyed about it, as he feels petty errands are beneath him...but even evil monkeys have to eat. Though in that episode he never passed the school (perhaps here he took the long route, not being in as much of a hurry or as hungry).
The crudely-lined pencil test animation of the time-travel sequences cracked me up for some reason--breaking animation down to its most basic levels, plus Utonium's assertion (DYN how blandly he behaved, as if Mojo going through the warp was no big deal?) that Mojo might not even survive the time jump. "Well, whadaya know! He survived after all!"
DYN that Mojo, when disguised as the chubby girl, doesn't cover up his glass brain dome, though no one seems to notice it?
Utonium might not have recognized the girls from the past as being his Girls because the human mind works very oddly. It might have repressed part of the memory, which was suddenly reawakened when they emerged from the portal into the present. it's rather like mulling over an algebra problem for two hours, then taking a five-minute break, followed by a return to your desk. The answer that has so long eluded you becomes suddenly as clear as glass. "Why didn't I see it before! It's so easy!"

[Narfcake]

On Mr. Mojo's Rising, the Prof. mentioned that he doesn't remember much before the 'girls were "born", so that's a theory.

On another note - if indeed the bratty Utonium was actually pushed over into the volcano, then Mojo would cease to exist too, as it was the byproduct of the creation of the 'girls that gave Mojo his super-simian brain.

Ah well ... this show was never about continuity aninarf ...

-- NC

[Sharklady]

> On another note - if indeed the bratty Utonium was actually pushed over into the volcano, then Mojo would cease to exist too, as it was the byproduct of the creation of the 'girls that gave Mojo his super-simian brain. <

Indeed! Mojo was guilty of a gross oversight there- one that any bright seven-year-old could've caught.

If this is ever brought to his attention, he'll probably be so embarassed he'll curl up into a fetal position for a whole day.

[don Jaime]

A look at the credits reveals Tom Kane didn't play the young Utonium. Rob Paulson did him, as well as Mr. Anoush. He had me fooled.

The pencil test animation was a neat idea, since we would have only the most rudimentary understanding of what was happening in the fifth dimension so it's shown in the most rudimentary animation. I'm surprised they didn't pun on Marilyn McCoo at this point.

Mayors' terms vary. I think it's three years here. And Kennedy isn't as freakish as Strom Thurmond, who's close to sixty years in Congress.

And, uh, I didn't catch what any bright seven-year-old would until NArfcake brought it up....


"Get Back" by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner
But he knew it couldn't last.
Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona
For some California grass.

Get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged.
Get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged.
Get back, Jojo.

Sweet Loretta Martin thought she was a woman
But she was another man.
All the girls around her say she's got it coming
But she gets it while she can.

Get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged.
Get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged.
Get back, Loretta.
Go home. You're mother's waiting for you
In her high heeled shoes and a low neck sweater.
Get back home, Loretta.
Get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged.

[Narfcake]

Originally posted by Sharklady
Indeed! Mojo was guilty of a gross oversight there- one that any bright seven-year-old could've caught.


Mojo oversights a lot of things ... "Monkey See, Doggie Two", anyone?

-- Kane ... noting that the only episode where they saved even more money was "The Bare Facts".