What is it? Hour-long Thundermans special in...well, we'll talk about the format briefly in the main review.
Who stars in it? Kira Kosarin, Jack Griffo, Diego Velesquez, Addison Reikke, uh, sun adult guys, Dana Snyder is absent for some reason even though he's the most kickass character. I got all that from memory so if I misspelled anybody's name, I'll include my mailing address so you can sue me.
Where did it air? Nickelodeon
Why are we reviewing this? Eh.
So, ummm...to more or less paraphrase Mike, that happened.
First of all, the, ummm...interesting format choice. Lately it's been a bit of a kick for Nickelodeon to squeeze NOMs into an hour-length instead of the more traditional 90 minute length, particularly with Rufus and its sequel. They resisted the temptation for Legends of the Hidden Temple and Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library, but probably only because the former is based on one of Nickelodeon's most fondly remembered properties and they were probably banking on a bigger nostalgia contribution in the ratings and the latter is based on a pretty hot middle school book property right now (as it turned out, both ended up being major ratings disappointments, in no small part due to Nickelodeon almost forgetting they even had the Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library movie). With the extended hour-length and the single-cam format it's easy to assume this is in effect a Thundermans movie, the first Nick series to get a proper movie in years (especially if you consider the single-cam format to be closer in spirit to a "movie" than the 90-minute run time of the iCarly movies/specials).
...except they decided to overlay a laugh track onto it, for some reason.
Look, Nickelodeon has made many bizarre choices over the course of the now over half-decade I've been watching the network as a grown-ass adult. As with most of them, I can't explain this one other than...some kidcom trope obligation? Not to mention many of the shots, especially the interior shots (it got to the point where I'm convinced it's simply most of them) just simply look identical to the multi-cam shots of all the other episodes anyway.
Beyond that it's...a pretty typical Thundermans episode with some admittedly nifty fight choreography. Was that the whole deciding factor as to adopt the single-cam format? Well that and the location shooting, I imagine. Of course they just as easily could've gone with indoor sets and continue the multi-cam format ala Good Luck Charlie's Sun Show, Jessie's Aloha Holidays with Parker and Joey and the entirety of Bucket and Skinner...all, like 8 episodes or so. But hey, the entire cast was probably already in Hawaii for Paradise Run so why not I guess?
Episode Grade: A flat C. Like I said it's just a regular episode of Thundermans with extra pizzaz where it mattered the least. The action and plot is paint-by-numbers, and there were more jokes that were misses than hits.
Episode MVP:
Extra Thoughts:
- There's still like 10 or 15 extra episodes of Thundermans to go, depending if the extra 5 episode order extended the season to 25 total or 30 total. It's been an enjoyable series and the fourth season is well-deserved...but...I was just expecting more with Thunder in Paradise. I think the average episode of Thundermans, multi-cam format, largely confined to one or two indoor sets and all, has more to offer.
- also, it's getting to that time of year where we reflect on the past 12 months, namely the shows that have left and what's come to fill their place (and given the fickle nature of the kidcom business, which ended up being both) in our Dearly Departed and New Arrivals annual feature and which network came out on top in our Yearly Winners and Losers annual feature so, hope you're as excited for that as I am!
I have a catchphrase now? I know what I have to do......exploit it until everybody who reads this blog gets sick of it and it becomes a parody of itself.
To be honest, I was going to watch this, but I think I quit halfway through. The one thing that I focused on (and this is probably just my personal thing but who knows?) was the fact that Diego Velazquez is older now. His voice is irritating because he still has to play the role of the idiot, so now instead of him maturing, his character now sounds and acts like he can't spell his own name. I hate it when kid actors get older. They're only hired to be the cute kid and get a few witty lines, but then they go through puberty and because the show only wanted them around to be cute, they keep relying on the old shtick or end up giving them more "mature" stories that nobody cares about while the main characters do their thing. I think it's called the Rudy Huxtable disease or something like that. Anyway, I noticed how badly Diego delivers his lines now that he's older and his character hasn't changed. It reminds me that a lot of these kids don't get hired because they can actually act. Wow, Henry Danger legitimately has one over The Thundermans in that case. That's a scary thought.
I find it weird how this episode looks a lot more like a movie but they sometimes treat it like a regular episode.
I'm not really sure how I'm going to feel when this show ends. I was never a huge fan of it, but by default, it became the best live-action show on Nick (mostly because other shows ended or got cancelled, while the network pushed much worse shows harder) and it has never irritated me the same way these other Nick shows currently do. It might be bland and forgettable on its worst day, but I've never had problems watching it. A few years ago, The Thundermans would have been a reliable #2 or #3 show, and it was forced to become the leader because no other show could carry the weight. Actually, why don't I just slow down and save these thoughts for next year when the series finale airs? This is starting to get a little depressing.
Didn't watch it but the clips/ads i saw made it seem interesting and you know how much i like plot stuff in kidcoms. Also, Evil Phoebe.
ReplyDeleteIt was baffled but the laugh track/single camera thing. Still better than how they did it on Out of Jimmu's head.
Me too on the plot stuff, but this was pretty light on plot, actually. I'd go so far as to argue an average episode of Thundermans tends to be more plot focused.
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