But Professor Utonium Accidentally Added an Extra Ingredient to the Concoction…
I was amused when Steve Langasek invoked the Powerpuff Girls in response to the US election, with a beautifully crafted reference to episode 1.10. But my amusement soon turned to something deeper when David found this rather profound analysis via OpinionJournal’s Best of the Web:
Mojo Jojo speaks English with a Japanese accent. He has a bad habit of repeating, reiterating, and re-phrasing the same sentences over and over, continuously. He gets this speech pattern from a humorous interpretation of dialogue that is dubbed, probably from Japanese into English. It takes a longer time to say certain things in Japanese than in English. When dubbing, one wants to keep the English speaker’s mouth moving for as long as the Japanese actor’s mouth is moving. This can most easily be done by repeating phrases, again and again, and again. Thus a character in a Japanese movie seems to be repeating himself when listened to by English-speaking audiences.
David adds:
Personally, I think the comparison is a little weak but, hey, the Bush twins may be a functional substitute for the Powerpuff Girls…
Now, two datapoints might just be a coincidence, but three certainly means something. In confusing times like these, I think there’s something we could all learn from the Powerpuff girls cast list.
The Mayor, the bumbling, incoherent fool that he is, and President Bush are clearly a perfect match. We can add in the Bush twins as party girls Bubbles and Buttercup, and perhaps draft Mary Cheney as Blossom. Ms Sara Bellum, red headed temptress and power behind the throne, is probably best played by the always delightful Condi Rice — although clearly some effort will be needed in makeup. Dick Cheney, with his fingers in everything, but seemingly never actually present in person is certainly the Narrator. And Professor Utonium, the inventive genius ultimately, but rarely directly, responsible for all the heroics is equally clearly the nom de guerre of the amazing strategist Karl Rove. Rounding out the team, ex-teacher and First Lady, Laura Bush seems a natural fit for Pokey Oakes Kindergarten’s overachieving Miss Keane, at least in her younger days.
That takes care of most of the good guys, but what of the rest of the cast? The eerie parallels between Mojo Jojo, the villain notable for his complicated plans and his inability to speak clearly and simply, and Senator Kerry have already been made plain, but there’s a large supporting cast of evil to be accounted for too. The far scarier Him, who manages to be simultaneously almost all powerful, yet also unable to have any influence except through convincing others to harm themselves, could be Osama’s twin. Fitting Michael Moore into the role of Fuzzy Lumkins and having Hillary Clinton play Sedusa are fairly plausible casting decisions, though the part of obnoxious rich girl Princess Morebucks might well be a toss up between any number of wealthy Hollywood actresses.
So these days you can’t even get away from politics on Cartoon Network. Who’d’ve thought? And the sheer bias in their portrayals of the parties is astounding — the ABC has nothing on these guys’ bias!
Finally, Best of the Web asks: “But does he have a plan?” Does he ever! Take this review in Monkey See, Doggy Two, for example:
Mojo: Now, pay attention! I then commanded the dogs to steal! (The dogs scatter; we see the three attack dogs dumping their plunder onto the floor.) Which they did. Very well, I might add.
Mojo: This plan ROCKED!
(On TV, the beam is fired from the telescope, engulfing the world.)
Mojo: Check it out. This plan was so big, it was affecting the whole world! (The French lovers are hit.) Paris! (The Eskimo is next.) Eskimo-land! (The Japanese man gets it.) Japan!
That’s right — it’s even a global plan, and I doubt the reference to Paris was accidental. What’s the bet Mojo got that marvellous skull cap of his from Cambodia?