The Final Episode #105: The Little Mermaid (1992 - 1994)

 

Yep, It's time to bring back my favorite series on this blog. I don't know if I ever mentioned it was my favorite series of blog posts before this but it is. It's a lot of fun to actually check out a tv show from like the 1950s to around 2000 (this is a nostalgia blog after all, but you might get to see some stuff after 2000  but it's very rare. It's fun to see if the episode ends the show on a good note, like feeling fulfilling. Or does the episode just feel like some thrown together rubbish because it was season 12 and no one cared anymore. Or was it just a regular episode that you'd never realize was the Final Episode until you google searched it or realized the next day when they showed episode one again. Like you'd have to wait for google to tell you or wait for the next day in the time before Google.

I wanted to talk about this show for three reasons. 1.) The probably terrible Little Mermaid remake is out in theatres now and I want brand synergy! Yes! Disney will see this blog and promote it even though I'm shitting on the remake because it's very lazy and I don't want to talk about it! Even though I will because I said I'm going to review or mini review every Disney film. Including stuff like Touchstone and other companies. I guess that now includes 20th Century Fox. Wow I'm never going to finish that ever am I? 2.) I want to finish up talking about the other Disney shows that were put out during this time period and there are more left than you'd expect. 3.) Despite loving the Little Mermaid movie (yes I was one of the boys who watched girl things. I mean WE ALL did but I did it proudly! I love the Little Mermaid movie and think it is cool and good.) and even owning it on VHS (probably the VHS that had the phallus looking thing on it too!) I do not remember this show. I mean I actually remember watching it and knowing it existed but I don't remember a single thing about it. Not a single thing. I gotta figure out why that's that.

So Since I don't remember ANYTHING about this TV show that means I talk about a second episode before I go in more depth with the Final Episode. Mostly to get a feel for the show and mostly to make it look like I put more effort into this blog post. Just because It's my favorite to do doesn't mean I don't end up being lazy as fucking hell. Anyway the episode I wanted to watch was called Thingamajig and was about a pirate boot falling into the ocean and the character that will appear in the Final Episode the Manta Ray (voiced by Tim Curry, the greatest actor who ever lived. I do not care what you say HE IS THE GREATEST. Every time I see him or hear his voice I literally get so happy I don't know what to do with myself. He is always ALWAYS fun as hell to watch.) Anyway despite what the youtube video said it was NOT that episode and I got something else instead. I wanted to see the Lobster Mobster! Who could say no to something with that great of a name?

Anyway the episode I actually ended up watching was "The Beast Within" from the Final season of this show (it ran on CBS in a Saturday Morning Time slot for 31 whole episodes. Also it reran on the Canadian channel Family Channel which is probably where I watched it.) like episode 28 out of 31 for this show. This episode involves Sebastian getting a trophy because he worked for King Triton for like 25 years or some shit (how old is Sebastian?  50? He's pretty fucking spry for a 50 year old crab. I do not think crabs live that long??) Anyway Ariel wants to get gems or some shit and they find themselves in a cave and then a Howling Hair Fish bites Flounder and then he turns into a Howling Hair Fish. I like the name Howling Hair Fish. He turns back and forth while Ariel and Sebastian and some random character created for the show called Urchin look for a cure. They find a cure from a stereotypical Romani person. If I were a certain type of person I would write 8 more paragraphs about how this is the worst thing ever but I'm not the kinda guy whos going to get angry at 30 year old entertainment. Time changes things, get over yourself.

So a group of villagers find Flounder and put him in a cage and then get ready to push him off a cliff and into a bottomless pit. He's in a sunken pirate ship for some reason. They actually push it all off but Ariel and friends are able to get the Silver fish to be the cure. They swim over in a circle and Flounder is his old self. It's probably the biggest ass pull I've seen in anything. I really think they couldn't think of how to end the script but they still had to make it so they just went SILVER FISH. YEAH! It's not great. 

Well it's time to talk about the Final Episode which I think is a far better episode of the show than The Beast Within.  It has Tim Curry so that's one thing but it was a more fun of an episode. It involves Tim Curry's character (I am just assuming he voiced the character in all appearances) The Evil Manta trying to raise his son to be just as evil as him. His son's name is Little Evil, which is just funny to me when Ariel goes "There's good in Little Evil!!!". Little Evil ends up meeting Ariel and Ariel shows him how fun it is to be good and just do art at Sebastian's Art School. The Evil Manta does NOT like this and gets his Brain Sponge (which looks like a weird Brain Cloud that drools A LOT.) Oh, and Ariel gets the Brain Sponge to go after The Evil Manta and I was like DAMN THATS HARSH ARIEL but she realizes her misdeed and goes to save him. She then with Little Evil's help literally smash the shit out of the Brain Sponge. I did not expect Ariel the Little Mermaid to literally murder the shit out of a bad guy but here we are. Do not fuck with the Little Mermaid.

I was expecting the Final Episode to be not so great but I did enjoy it. It was much better than The Beast Within as it doesn't have any goofy ass pulls like Silver Fish. Yeah I know it's a Saturday Morning Cartoon but those can literally be done amazingly as many shows still hold up.  I was going to post yeah I think The Little Mermaid should have only been a movie but I kinda want to check out more of this show now. I don't think the original movie needed to have any sequels or remakes but I totally need to know if Ariel the Little Mermaid murders the shit out of any more characters. They literally squish the Brain Sponge which was shown to have sentience. I guess Ariel is more of a hardass Charles Bronson type than I thought.

FINAL VERDICT: I'm actually interested in watching more of this show now. I really kinda want to know why I always forget about it.