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Description
Show: Cow and Chicken
Episode: S4 E1a
Year: 1999

Writer(s): Maxwell Atoms
Director(s): N/A

As much as I adore Cow and Chicken as one of the few cartoons that managed to replicate Ren & Stimpy's brand of humor to near-perfection, I'll admit it has its weak spots. This one in particular stands out to me as the worst episode because of a lot of things honestly, and the really queer odd part is I actually liked this episode as a kid! Thank the Red Guy for developing tastes, huh?

Believe it or not, I, much like Cow in this episode, have attempted to make large and grotesque gum wad art as a kid! Sometimes I would freeze my ABC gum and re-chew it from a plastic bag! I fucking love gum! It's basically cigarettes to me! Or a pacifier, or whatever quells addiction and calms people down. Anyways, the best way I can describe this episode is a combination of the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episodes "A Bird in the Hoof" and "Putting Your Hoof Down" and does both of them so much worse! I get the hate for these episodes, but at the very least their gross-out and cruelty had a PURPOSE TO THE STORY!

Rewatching this episode as an adult, I feel sick to my stomach watching Cow choke out that THING! It makes me glad I stopped doing my gum wad project! I can stuff a fuckton of gum in my gaping maw, but I usually don't do that for balls because I'll choke. Imagine a kid seeing this and thinking they could do what Cow did! You'd need more than a stomach pump, I'll tell you that much! Anyways, as if to shit on Pinocchio, and yet give us a glimpse at how the little wooden boy was originally, Cow wishes for her chewing gum seal Chachi to come to life, and now things get really bad.

I suppose the biggest issue with this episode is actually the pacing. Ren & Stimpy worked because it knew how to manage its time and make many of its jokes, no matter how gross work because of expert timing and wild animated expressions. This feels like it's moving at a breakneck pace, giving us no time to really set up a conflict or drive for Chachi as a character at all. Almost immediately after he comes to life, Chicken chews on him! DUDE! That thing was in your sister's MOUTH! Of course, I don’t know why I should care about Chachi anyways since he doesn't have much meat to him as a character. He's pretty much a bipolar seal (pardon the pun), and the very minute Cow gives him any incentive to stick up for himself, he turns psychotic!

Honestly, him mangling Chicken for eating him is pretty justified, but it goes a bit too far and turns him into a pile of feathers and bones. It really doesn't help Cow doesn't give a damn about what Chachi, someone who has only been alive for seemingly few minutes, is doing to her older brother! Yes, Chicken's a jerk, but come on! You've saved him from the Red Guy before even at his worst! TURN INTO SUPERCOW and kick Chachi's bubblegum butt! Standing up for yourself is fine, but this is WAY OUT OF LINE! And after Chachi insults Cow to her face, she rightfully sticks his gooey ass under the table, but then? Almost immediately, he decides he fucked up and tries in vain to apologize, only to be forgotten about and left to rot. Say what you will about Fluttershy seemingly able to control her assertive nature overnight while bound up, it felt more natural than this! Even in a comedy show, you need to know what pacing is!

A large problem with the 3-episode format is that in the span of 7 minute or less for each segment, you need to get your jokes out as quickly as possible and know how to set them up properly. A show such as KaBlam! with its various segments did this masterfully for the most part, but for a gross-out show like this? You have to manage from all angles to make sure each joke lands and sickens the characters more than the audience. Actually, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy did a gum related plot a lot better than this one years later, and it's even funnier considering Maxwell Atoms wrote this episode! It knew how to be gross with gum and pace itself with some stellar comedy!!

Cringe-Inducing Audio: 0
Cringe-Inducing Visuals: 6
Lackluster Writing: 7
Annoyance: 2
Disturbing Content: 6
Unnecessary Cruelty: 7
Rancid Morality: 0
Low Production Values: 2
Unfortunate Implications: 0
Character Derailment: 2

Final Score: 32/100

Cow and Chicken is owned by Cartoon Network and Turner Broadcasting.

Animated Atrocities is from

Regulas314

Description
Show: Cow and Chicken
Episode: S4 E1a
Year: 1999

Writer(s): Maxwell Atoms
Director(s): N/A

As much as I adore Cow and Chicken as one of the few cartoons that managed to replicate Ren & Stimpy's brand of humor to near-perfection, I'll admit it has its weak spots. This one in particular stands out to me as the worst episode because of a lot of things honestly, and the really queer odd part is I actually liked this episode as a kid! Thank the Red Guy for developing tastes, huh?

Believe it or not, I, much like Cow in this episode, have attempted to make large and grotesque gum wad art as a kid! Sometimes I would freeze my ABC gum and re-chew it from a plastic bag! I fucking love gum! It's basically cigarettes to me! Or a pacifier, or whatever quells addiction and calms people down. Anyways, the best way I can describe this episode is a combination of the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episodes "A Bird in the Hoof" and "Putting Your Hoof Down" and does both of them so much worse! I get the hate for these episodes, but at the very least their gross-out and cruelty had a PURPOSE TO THE STORY!

Rewatching this episode as an adult, I feel sick to my stomach watching Cow choke out that THING! It makes me glad I stopped doing my gum wad project! I can stuff a fuckton of gum in my gaping maw, but I usually don't do that for balls because I'll choke. Imagine a kid seeing this and thinking they could do what Cow did! You'd need more than a stomach pump, I'll tell you that much! Anyways, as if to shit on Pinocchio, and yet give us a glimpse at how the little wooden boy was originally, Cow wishes for her chewing gum seal Chachi to come to life, and now things get really bad.

I suppose the biggest issue with this episode is actually the pacing. Ren & Stimpy worked because it knew how to manage its time and make many of its jokes, no matter how gross work because of expert timing and wild animated expressions. This feels like it's moving at a breakneck pace, giving us no time to really set up a conflict or drive for Chachi as a character at all. Almost immediately after he comes to life, Chicken chews on him! DUDE! That thing was in your sister's MOUTH! Of course, I don’t know why I should care about Chachi anyways since he doesn't have much meat to him as a character. He's pretty much a bipolar seal (pardon the pun), and the very minute Cow gives him any incentive to stick up for himself, he turns psychotic!

Honestly, him mangling Chicken for eating him is pretty justified, but it goes a bit too far and turns him into a pile of feathers and bones. It really doesn't help Cow doesn't give a damn about what Chachi, someone who has only been alive for seemingly few minutes, is doing to her older brother! Yes, Chicken's a jerk, but come on! You've saved him from the Red Guy before even at his worst! TURN INTO SUPERCOW and kick Chachi's bubblegum butt! Standing up for yourself is fine, but this is WAY OUT OF LINE! And after Chachi insults Cow to her face, she rightfully sticks his gooey ass under the table, but then? Almost immediately, he decides he fucked up and tries in vain to apologize, only to be forgotten about and left to rot. Say what you will about Fluttershy seemingly able to control her assertive nature overnight while bound up, it felt more natural than this! Even in a comedy show, you need to know what pacing is!

A large problem with the 3-episode format is that in the span of 7 minute or less for each segment, you need to get your jokes out as quickly as possible and know how to set them up properly. A show such as KaBlam! with its various segments did this masterfully for the most part, but for a gross-out show like this? You have to manage from all angles to make sure each joke lands and sickens the characters more than the audience. Actually, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy did a gum related plot a lot better than this one years later, and it's even funnier considering Maxwell Atoms wrote this episode! It knew how to be gross with gum and pace itself with some stellar comedy!!

Cringe-Inducing Audio: 0
Cringe-Inducing Visuals: 6
Lackluster Writing: 7
Annoyance: 2
Disturbing Content: 6
Unnecessary Cruelty: 7
Rancid Morality: 0
Low Production Values: 2
Unfortunate Implications: 0
Character Derailment: 2

Final Score: 32/100

Cow and Chicken is owned by Cartoon Network and Turner Broadcasting.

Animated Atrocities is from

Regulas314