The premise in "The Icky Mouse Club" was actually pretty decent and one of 'Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain's' better ones. Am not a fan of the show at all and it is a massive step down from the show it spins off from, but on rewatch it actually had its moments. There are a lot of episodes where you get the feeling from the get go from the concept that it is not going to be good, but then there are ones like the one here that actually show some promise, providing that the promise is lived up.
Didn't think that the premise was completely lived up to and my feelings were a bit conflicting still, but flaws and all "The Icky Mouse Club" turned out to be one of the better and more watchable 'Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain' episodes. Parodying the popular 'The Mickey Mouse Club', there are problems to be found, namely that the referencing execution is rather all over the place, but "The Icky Mouse Club" contains some of the show's better parodying (something that the show did not have the best of track records in).
Quite a number of things are done well. On the most part, Brain's character writing is very well done. As has been said in reviews for the previous episodes, the character writing on the most part was really off but Brain was the exception, always amusingly deadpan and intelligent. Maurice LaMarche's voice acting is pitch perfect and Rob Paulsen (in one of the few episodes where Pinky actually is not wasted) gives one of his better vocal performances of the show too.
Other than Brain, the other best thing about "The Icky Mouse Club" is the song. A song accompanied by an inventive and amusing extended montage that is very catchy and gleeful in its campiness, yet also has some heart. It really is one of the better uses of song for the show, in a show where parody songs tended to be groan worthy. The animation has some colour and nice background detail and there are amusing moments with Brain.
Did think however that while the concept is perfect for Brain's character and a lot less childish than most concepts for the show, that the story itself could have had more verve and not been as too simple and predictable. The writing is less childish and cutesy than a lot of episodes of 'Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain', but it also could have been sharper, wittier and wilder and also been more mindful of what the target audience is meant to be.
While some of the referencing is fun, well the ones that are easy to spot from a young adult perspective, too many of the references are too stuck in the 90s and will go over the heads of younger audiences due to not being familiar with what is being referenced, some of them quite oddly adult. Occasionally the writers try to make Brain too hip and that is not what he is and goes against what makes him such a unique character. The villain is a bit too underwritten and bland and the chemistry doesn't always have enough spark.
Concluding, one of the better episodes but still with major reservations. 5/10.
Didn't think that the premise was completely lived up to and my feelings were a bit conflicting still, but flaws and all "The Icky Mouse Club" turned out to be one of the better and more watchable 'Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain' episodes. Parodying the popular 'The Mickey Mouse Club', there are problems to be found, namely that the referencing execution is rather all over the place, but "The Icky Mouse Club" contains some of the show's better parodying (something that the show did not have the best of track records in).
Quite a number of things are done well. On the most part, Brain's character writing is very well done. As has been said in reviews for the previous episodes, the character writing on the most part was really off but Brain was the exception, always amusingly deadpan and intelligent. Maurice LaMarche's voice acting is pitch perfect and Rob Paulsen (in one of the few episodes where Pinky actually is not wasted) gives one of his better vocal performances of the show too.
Other than Brain, the other best thing about "The Icky Mouse Club" is the song. A song accompanied by an inventive and amusing extended montage that is very catchy and gleeful in its campiness, yet also has some heart. It really is one of the better uses of song for the show, in a show where parody songs tended to be groan worthy. The animation has some colour and nice background detail and there are amusing moments with Brain.
Did think however that while the concept is perfect for Brain's character and a lot less childish than most concepts for the show, that the story itself could have had more verve and not been as too simple and predictable. The writing is less childish and cutesy than a lot of episodes of 'Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain', but it also could have been sharper, wittier and wilder and also been more mindful of what the target audience is meant to be.
While some of the referencing is fun, well the ones that are easy to spot from a young adult perspective, too many of the references are too stuck in the 90s and will go over the heads of younger audiences due to not being familiar with what is being referenced, some of them quite oddly adult. Occasionally the writers try to make Brain too hip and that is not what he is and goes against what makes him such a unique character. The villain is a bit too underwritten and bland and the chemistry doesn't always have enough spark.
Concluding, one of the better episodes but still with major reservations. 5/10.