Aaahh!!! Real Monstrers Season Three Offers More Monstrous Fun Just In Time For Halloween

Courtesy: Shout! Factory/Nickelodeon

Halloween’s almost here.  And just in time to count down the days, Shout! Factory and Nickelodeon have released the penultimate season of Aaahh!!! Real Monsters.  Krumm, Ickis, Oblina, The Grumble and all the other monsters at the Monster Academy are back for thirteen more episodes of scares and screams.  In this second to last season, all the monsters learn about the Festival of the Festering Moon.  And monster hunter Simon is back again, trying his best to capture proof that monsters really exist.  Also in Season Three, Oblina has to face her overbearing mother and make her realize that scaring is her life, whether she likes it or not.  These episodes and more make Season three another fun one for all the Nicktoons Nostalgics out there.

Season Three opens with the episode, “Festival of the Festering Moon.”  In this episode, all the students at the monster academy are undergoing a new stage in their lives.  They’re all quivering.  The only one who knows why is The Gromble.  He explains that the quivering is part of the annual shedding that all young monsters go through.  He also explains that the last monster to shed leaves the academy, never to return.  What he doesn’t explain at first is that the last to shed also is the first to grow up.  So being the only one not quivering, Ickis is scared that he’ll be cast out of the academy.  He goes to every length possible to kick start his shedding process.  It isn’t until the Festival of the Festering Moon that he finally sheds.  And when he finally does, the Gromble finally explains the why the last to shed leaves the academy.  It turns out to actually be a good thing.  So while Ickis isn’t the last to shed, he realizes he was making a big deal over nothing.

After they face the hurdle of a new stage in growing up, Ickis, Krumm, and Oblina also have to face an old foe in Simon The Monster Hunter.  Simon (voiced by James Belushi) returns in “Simon’s Big Score.”  When the trio gets into Simon’s apartment to scare him, Krumm eats some roaches off of a pizza in his kitchen.  What none of the trio knows is that Simon had planted a fake cockroach on the pizza that is actually a microphone/homing device.  So having taken the bait, Krumm inadvertently leads Simon to every one of the trio’s scares.  Suddenly everyone at the monster academy is suspected of intentionally leading Simon to the monsters.  That is until Krumm almost gets into a fight with Ickis.  As he’s getting ready to fight, he’s holding his eyes in his mouth.  Oblina hits Krumm on the back, trying to calm him down.  That causes him to accidentally swallow his eyes (again).  But thanks to her doing that, Krumm discovers the homing device.  Having discovered it, Krumm and the others set up a trap for Simon.  They lead him to a wrestling match and cause him to get involved in the match, in which he is soundly beaten by the wrestler.

Simon The Monster Hunter isn’t the only trouble that the monsters face in Season Three.  In “Lifestyles of the Rich and Scary”, Oblina gets a letter from her mother asking her to come visit.  Her mother’s secret intention is to get her to leave the scare school.  At first, Krumm and Ickis think it’s a great idea for Oblina to visit her mother.  So she obliges and visits her.  Things go south real fast, as Oblina’s mother turns out to be anything but supportive of her.  Things reach a head when Oblina’s mother basically forces her to stay there, rather than return to the monster academy. Luckily for her, the family’s butler steps in and along with Krumm and Ickis, they convince her that her mother is wrong.  When they scare off two robbers from the pedicure shop above their home, Oblina comes to her senses and realizes scaring is her life.  She stands up to her mother at this point.  And with her father’s help, Oblina convinces her mother that she needs to return to the academy.  Her mother agrees, and all ends happily.

Season Three of Aaahh!!! Real Monsters has so many laughs, scares, and screams.  What’s mentioned here is just a tiny portion of that enjoyment.  The double disc set will have any Nicktoons Nostalgic happy from beginning to end, both from the stories and the wonderfully hand drawn animation.  In a time when real cartoons seem increasingly rare, this penultimate season to another classic Nicktoon is another welcome blast from the past.  Add in the continued pack leading packaging for this double disc set, and audiences get another great release from both Shout! Factory and Nickelodeon.  Aaahh!!! Real Monsters Season Three is available now on in stores and online.  It can be orderd online at http://www.shoutfactorystore.com

To keep up with the latest entertainment reviews and news, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it or its companion page, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Reel-Reviews/381028148587141.  Fans can always keep up with the latest entertainment reviews and news in the Phil’s Picks blog at http://philspicks.wordpress.com.

Shout! Factory, Nickelodeon “scare” up more fun with Aaahh!!! Real Monsters Season 2

Nickelodeon was one of the best networks on television during the 1990′s.  The very mention of the network’s name instantly led to discussions of its famed “Nicktoons” programming.  And if ever there was a leading company among the 90′s Nicktoons, it was Klasky Csupo.  The team of Arlene Klasky and Gabor Csupo were responsible for what was arguably the most legendary of the Nicktoons in Rugrats.  That beloved cartoon ran from 1991 – 2004.  But it was just one of many shows created by the pair.  they were also responsible for fellow Nicktoons, The Wild Thornberrys, Rocket Power, As Told By Ginger, and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters.

While Rocket Power, As Told By Ginger, and The Wild Thornberrys were relatively well received, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters received mixed reviews.  Chances are that’s because it wasn’t the happy, bright colored style cartoon that Klasky Csupo was known for in its other shows.  It could be argued that it appealed mainly to younger audiences in their goth phases.  But even this cartoon had its positives.  And its second season continued to prove that.  In Season Two, Krumm, Ickis, and Oblina learn about the dangers of spreading rumors and telling the truth.  There’s also a wonderful episode that argues how important monsters have been throughout human history.  Add in the classic animation style for which Klasky Csupo became known with its cartoons, and audiences get a great piece of nostalgia in Aaahh!!! Real Monsters Season 2.

Season Two opens with the episode, “Spontaneously Combustible.”  Young Ickis is having some stomach troubles.  He keeps breathing fire, and he doesn’t know why.  He goes to see the monster academy’s doctor to find out what’s wrong.  It turns out that other monsters have had the same problem, and that he simply has to give it about a week to let it pass.  Unbeknownst to him, Zimbo, the Gromble’s assistant (voiced by Tim Curry) is snooping around and hears the doctor tell Ickis about his problem.  Zimbo flies off and tells someone else, leading to rumors throughout the monster academy.  The Gromble catches wind of the rumors being spread around about Ickis.  So he uses class to reassure everyone that the rumors about Ickis are not true.  He tells the class that there have been some very important monsters who had Ickis’ problem.  After Ickis leaves, everybody feels bad and goes to look for him.  They do finally find him, and apologize for all the rumors, and ask him to forgive them.  He does, and all end up happy.  This one episode continues the tradition of Klasky Csupo’s Nicktoons having heart.  Sure, the show’s about monsters.  But it teaches young audiences about the dangers of spreading rumors, and the impact that spreading them can have.  It’s a wonderful way to kick off this two-disc set.

“Spontaneously Combustible” is a great way to start off Aaahh!!! Real Monsters Season Two.  It’s just one of a handful of enjoyable episodes in this season.  Another of that handful of enjoyable episodes is in “Rosh ‘O Monster.”  Krumm, Oblina, and Ickis learn the importance of not telling tall tales in this episode.  The P.O.V. storyline is nothing new to television.  But there’s something about this style of episode that regardless of which show, always makes for great television.  And this episode is no exception to that rule.  When the trio scare an entire opera house of humans, they all want to tell the story.  They all try at the same time, leading the viewfinder to break.  So each one tells the story of what happened from their own vantage point, making themselves out to be the leader.  However, when the viewfinder is fixed, the reality of their scare is much different from what any of the trio has told.  The reality is that the scare was completely by accident.  While they had set out to scare the humans, the original plan was obviously quite different than how everything turned out.  As a result of this relevation, the Gromble punishes all three for their dishonesty.  It’s a lesson that viewers both young and old should take to heart.

Aaahh!!! Real Monsters shows that it has heart in Season Two.  And it teaches life lessons.  But that isn’t all it shows.  It shows that it can also entertain while it teaches.  One of the episodes that best epitomizes that ability to entertain and teach is “History of The Monster World.”  Adults and kids alike will love this episode.  Much like Rosh O’ Monster, this episode isn’t the first of its kind.  But it’s always so funny to see history from a totally random and silly vantage point.  In this episode, the Gromble decides to teach his students a lesson on the history of the monster world.  The students all grumble at this.  It’s the same kind of reaction that human students get when they’re told they have to learn history.  And the Gromble’s reaction is similar to that of human teachers.  That’s only part of the joy of this episode.  The real meat and potatoes comes as the Gromble teaches the young monsters about the many contributions of monsters to the human world.  According to monster history, if not for monsters scaring early neanderthal man, the wheel would have never been invented.  Monsters, according to the lesson, were also responsible for the very first message ever transmitted by phone.  And allegedly, if not for monsters, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt would never have developed one of the most famed quotes of all time.  The quote in question was, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”  Who would have thought that a monster would really be to credit for the famed line?  It’s a great joke.  The entire episode offers such outlandish history that it’s one of the season’s best episodes.

The second season of Aaahh!!! Real Monsters boasts so much enjoyment from each episode.  But the episodes aren’t all that make the show such a joy.  The show’s animation is similar to other Klasky Csupo Nicktoons.  But it still stood on its own two feet stylistically speaking.  The animation style is closer to earlier Rugrats episodes than any other KC cartoon.  But it still manages to somehow establish its own identity, even with the similarity in style.  In an era when the majority of “cartoons” are cartoons in name only, seeing this classic hand drawn animation adds a whole extra level of enjoyment to what is already a classic cartoon in itself.  That enjoyment mixed with the enjoyment of the stories makes Aaahh!!! Real Monsters Season Two one more wonderful piece of television nostalgia for fans of Nickelodeon’s classic 90′s Nicktoons.

To keep up with all the latest entertainment news and reviews, click the “Like” button on the Reel Reviews Facebook page and its companion page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Reel-Reviews/381028148587141 and http://www.facebook.com/PhilsPicks