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Mirador 4/23/10 Entertainment 19 Miramonte Celebrity Dopplegängers Childhood Cartoons of the Past Shape the Future by Hannah Tennant As we grow up, our innocent brains are susceptible to the influences of the world around us. The cartoons we watched as wee tikes have helped to shape our lives in ways we have scarcely considered, until now. Mirador has boiled down these shows of our youth into three categories and evaluated them accordingly on a 1-5 star scale. Dragon Tales: Dragon tales helped us realize our dreams of flying to a world full of dragons. Theme song: Memorable, put poor musical quality. Life lessons: In one touching episode, Zak and Wheezie, the twin dragons, learned the importance of self-confidence when their scales were peeling. Character quality: Max and Emmy were a delightful sibling pair, and the dragons were magical and friendly. Doug: Doug’s superhero alter ego, Quail Man, restored one’s faith in superheroes everywhere, especially the superhero that lives inside of each one of us. TS: The friendly, easygoing atmosphere that was portrayed throughout Doug was exemplified throughout the theme song. LL: Doug accepted people of all backgrounds, shapes, and sizes; many of his friends were different colored, including his blue best friend, Skeeter. CQ: Doug’s amiable disposition and friendly attitude surrounded him with all sorts of great characters. Rolie Polie Olie: Not only was the theme song fantastic, but Rolie Polie Olie’s house was wondrous, with its talking furniture and interactive kitchen appliances. His family lived together in their geometrically-pleasing world. TS: “Way up high in the rolie pollie sky, is a little round planet of really nice guys.” LL: As a Disney Channel series, this show focused on life lessons. CQ: Their high squeaky voices sometimes hurt the ears, but they all had good intentions. Rocket Power: “We are riders, on a mission, action kids in fun conditions, Rocket Power!” TS: A little rushed and violent. LL: This show exemplified a chill, laid back lifestyle. Hakuna Matata. CQ: They all had the greatest parents ever. Spongebob Squarepants : Spongebob is timeless. Try watching this show again without laughing. I dare you. TS: “Aye, aye captain!” LL: Although it provided good entertainment, the show did not center around preaching life lessons. CQ:Spongebob demonstrated that through loyal and steadfast love and friendship, people might get annoyed with you (a.k.a. Squidward). Arthur: Arthur and his family are A) Bears B) Koalas C) Aardvarks D) Hippopotami (Answer: C) TS: Surprisingly reggae. LL: The character Binky was the school bully, and many episodes involved self-defense. CQ: Lots of various caricatures were represented. Arthur gave us young children the tools to work with all types of people. Hey Arnold: This show conjured nightmares of walking alone down a dark alley, with your closest friends yelling and jeering at you from their apartment windows. TS: Fairly creepy. LL: Hey Arnold dealt with unrequited tween love by illustrating the way that love and hate can walk a fine line. CQ: Helga’s bristly personality illustrated that bullying gets you nowhere in life. Fairly Odd Parents: Without even considering the hilarity of the content of Fairly Odd Parents, its punny play on words in its title made the show an automatic winner. (Fairly Odd Parents, Fairy God Parents-get it?) TS: So cool and psychedelic. LL: This show focused mainly on entertainment value CQ: Timmy’s fairy godparents, regular parents, and his babysitter provided endless entertainment with their hilarious quirks. Catdog: The biologically impossible nature of this show was disturbing for many viewers. A dog shouldn’t have a hairball. Ever. TS: This theme song conjures up the image of five old men sitting around on a porch with banjos and washboards. But not in a good way. LL: Like many Nickelodeon shows, this focused on entertainment. CQ: Not only was Catdog a creepy creature, but also its companions were cold and distant. P B and J Otter: Every morning, P B and J rise from their funky bunk beds, slide down a tunnel in their bedroom, and land in a cushy booth around their kitchen table, where their mother hands them freshly made waffles. TS: The small kids’ voices rise through the air in beautiful harmony and draw you into the magic that is PB and J Otter. LL: This show promoted critical thinking, with songs such as “Noodle, Use Your Noodle” whenever a character was faced with a dilemma. CQ: PB and J Otter represented many different types of people in their lakeside neighborhood, and demonstrated the importance of tolerance. Left: Junior Eric Hass resembles Cameron Bright, a Voltori from Twilight. Right: Senior Cail- eigh Starkey-Zimmer- man looks like the teen pop star JoJo. Bottom Left: History teacher James Lath- rop mirrors Beatle George Harrison. Bottom Right: Senior Danielle Bhachu emmulates Snookie from the reality TV show, Jersey Shore. Photos clockwise left to right: L.Stewart, Yahoo Celebrities, C. Starkey-Zimmer- man, Yahoo Celebrities, L.Stewart, Bliss Blog, L.Stewart, Scott Gries/MTV. Photo: J. Swiatkowski/MCT Photo: Handout/MCT
