Answer Essay #2, Part 3

Oct 3, 201431 min read

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Published: Oct 3, 2014

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The Fairly OddParents – my thoughts on the show, its original brilliance and eventual fall from grace (Part III)

NOTE: this essay is divided in three parts. You can read Part I here, and Part II here.

In this essay I will speak about my thoughts regarding The Fairly OddParents, a famed cartoon series by animator Butch Hartman, mainly centering around what attracted me to the series in the first place, how I've continued to view and regard the show as it has progressed from one season to another, as well as also touch upon what I'd consider to be its "twilight years" – the assumption being here that the show, at least in its original incarnation, is approaching its end.

This third part of the essay focuses on the show's more recent developments, showcases several episodes ('Country Clubbed', the 'Wishology!' trilogy) as well as the live-action movies. The key word here is writing, which is what ties together all the chapters and what I have to say in them. There will be some heavy criticism in this part and it gets rather venomous towards the end as I gradually lose my composure, so be prepared to hate my guts (although I do not think it would be fair to call me a 'hater').

Why the Writing Stinks

"Creative challenges are always there but, as a cartoonist who also writes, I realize the importance of good storytelling. I have an amazing group of writers who are always trying to throw new things into the mix. Bottom line: Never get lazy!"

– Butch Hartman, recalling the writing process of The Fairly OddParents in 2013

(retrieved on September 17, 2014, from www.otakusandgeeks.com/2013/04…)

You said it, brother. Wait, you said that? /Plinkett

Judging from all the empirical evidence presented by the series itself as well as all the tidbits from the various interviews and podcast audio I examined in Part II of this essay, it is very clear at this point that the current writing staff for TFOP has a very skewed look at the process of creating a script for an episode of a cartoon. They seem to be putting jokes first and foremost, at the expense of everything else: the more gags they can cram into an episode, the better they feel they've succeeded at their job. The problem with this attitude is that it results in quantity over quality, while simultaneously forcing plot, character development and the show’s established set of rules to be pushed aside. This is why so many of the newer episodes feel disorganized, have pacing issues and constantly feature the same few characters (Dad, Crocker, etc.) that the writers love.

Don't get me wrong, I do understand that the show's primary purpose is to entertain, and that often means making the audience laugh. However, I would like to point out that comedy is also the most difficult form of entertainment. In many instances, brilliant comedy requires there to be a base of some sort which is then used to bounce off funny ideas: this could be a news report, an event that happened to someone or simply an observation regarding a subject. Similarly, when a funny person has a so-called straight man to interact with, it allows the audience to have a constant comparison with him/her, as well as provide yet another surface to bounce off ideas and jokes.

When you have a cast of nothing but over-the-top wacky, crazy characters, it gets very tiring very fast. You can have silly, funny characters take turns in being the straight man character, but it becomes tricky and requires careful writing. This is more difficult to do if you've tweaked all of your characters into exaggerated versions of their original selves, which is yet another reason why the earlier seasons and especially the OY!C shorts felt more balanced: for instance, Cosmo could be the silly, goofy fairy, but he wasn't that all the time and when he was, it still wasn't done in such an extreme fashion that it felt out of character. It provided some genuinely funny moments but didn’t obnoxiously try get us chuckle with constant yelling and poorly done slapstick sequences.

There's also the matter of what kind of comedy you are writing. TFOP is not a sketch show, nor is it a feature-length film, or a classic theatrical short in the vein of Tex Avery. It's a cartoon that runs for 22 minutes per airing, which usually gets split into two 11-minute-long episodes. While it's not a continuity-heavy show such as Gravity Falls, there still needs to be rules and guidelines for the writers to follow, as well as for keeping the audience focused. The first several seasons, mostly written by Hartman, Steve Marmel and Jack Thomas with a very story-oriented approach, worked like a charm and helped to give the show its popularity; why change that? In my honest opinion, the way the show is currently written provides a relatively painless and complacent job for the writers – just throw in as many jokes as you can and if there's a writer's block and you can't proceed with the story, don't worry: there's Deus Ex Machina for that!

Yecchh.

Also, don't believe for a second that I'd actually consider the jokes that these writers come up are necessarily easy to think of, oh no. Most likely, they really do sit in that room for hours and try to come up of all kinds of funny... which just makes it so much worse since they could be using some of that energy for conjuring up actual stories.

"Hartman Tropes" and 'Country Clubbed'

Besides turning characters stupider, amping up their quirks and having them constantly bumble around and scream, some of the writing-related problems in the later seasons mainly concern what have become archetypical elements in cartoon shows created and helmed by Hartman. These have been done to death and are now grating to see and hear. Those of us who are familiar with the man's work since the '90s know very well that Hartman and his crew tends to include many of these tropes/clichés into his cartoons:

(Note: while I do feel that most of these are tiring, I am not saying they are necessarily all bad; however, it is the sheer amount of times these have been used in Hartman cartoons that frustrates me)

the main character is often a male who isn't all that bright, doesn't do well in school and has trouble socializing with people other than geeks/unpopular people; yet, he is secretly a hero and Saves the Day many times. He may also be hyperactive, because that apparently is always funny /sarcasm.
the main character often has a crush on a rich/popular girl with long dark/black hair; this crush is usually one-sided or otherwise impossible to turn into True Love for reasons.
the afore-mentioned girl is often very shallow and shows a mean attitude towards the protagonist(s).
there's a smart and strong female protagonist who often responds with snark and sarcasm to whatever the main character may have just said. May or may not eventually end up as the main character's True Love.
extremely wealthy, successful people are portrayed as being generally rotten, superficial and selfish meanies who care more about their own cliques and love bragging about how rich they are and how great it is to be them. They sometimes end up getting their comeuppance and may also serve as the Villain of the Week, in which case the main character often learns a lesson that states it's better to be content to what you are rather than chasing something that isn't truly "you".¹
similarly, a lesson about popular kids (whose clique is often headed by one or two rich kids) is also learned at some point in the series, and it's pretty much the same thing: don't try to be something you naturally are not.²
jocks are always evil, and in cahoots with teachers so they get away with everything they do towards the main character, while the main character gets into trouble if even barely tries to defend himself (granted, this is a common issue with American entertainment in general and not just with Hartman and his writers, and it's something that annoys me to no end)
when the main character messes up, everyone around now has their attention directed at him, and they all start laughing in a mocking fashion. Finger-pointing is voluntary. Similarly, if the main character gets scolded for something, these same people are now frowning at him in unison.
the main character never gets along very well with authority figures, especially teachers. In fact, it's almost an exception to see an episode of a Hartman cartoon where the main character and his teacher are in good terms.
elegance, general knowledge and appreciation of art and high culture = boring and lame. Being stupid, having a short attention span, toilet humor and the latest pop culture/music = cool and dope.³

'Country Clubbed' (S9E16), written by Kevin Arrieta, Alec Schwimmer and Sindy Spackman, takes the trope regarding rich people to its utmost extreme and was so god-awful it has now earned its place as my most hated TFOP episode ever. It takes everything you've come to know from Hartman cartoons dealing with rich kids and adults, specifically in a negative manner, and cranks it up beyond 11. I've never seen a cartoon episode hammer home the generalized message of "rich and successful people are evil" as banally and loudly as 'Country Clubbed' did. You could argue that it was done over-the-top on purpose, but if that was the case, the writing would still suck because it is basically the same joke being done over and over and over and over again. The re-designed Remy Buxaplenty (and old nemesis of Timmy from earlier seasons) and his parents reappear, but Remy himself has so little to do in the episode and practically vanishes from it before the raucous ending sequence (which looks like it was taken from the daydream of a bigoted teenage anarchist), you wonder why they even bothered including him there in the first place. This episode should be taught in animation and writing schools as a great example of how not to write a cartoon.

"Wishology!" and the "New" TFOP

Probably the earliest example of this new "direction" for the show's writing style was the massive 'Wishology!' trilogy (S6E24), with screenplay courtesy of Hartman, Scott Fellows and Kevin Sullivan. While touted as an epic adventure of sorts, it provides a cluttered mess of pop culture references (some of which are so inaccurate it's not even funny⁴), pointless musical interludes (that fall short from the memorable Chip Skylark ones from the earlier seasons) and a plot that's extremely convoluted – not because it requires you to think but because it's so horribly written. We also get some Timmy/Trixie romance which obviously leads nowhere because of the "Reset Button". Da Rules gets blatantly ignored left and right as we get to see Cosmo and Wanda interact as themselves with various people that normally should not know at all that Timmy has fairies. Brendan Fraser guest stars as an adult Timmy-look-a-like called Turbo Thunder, whose role in the trilogy is so pointless his addition seems to be there either as a remnant of an earlier script where he served a real purpose, or simply because the writers wanted the trilogy to have a seemingly complex story. Or, it could be the most probable reason, which is to provide Superman references and lame jokes.

""I love adding new characters to 'The Fairly OddParents' because it really expands the show," Hartman tells me, saying that when he initially created the Nickelodeon series, his dream was for it to grow into something like "The Simpsons" where the plots could encompass an ever-growing cast of secondary characters."

– Butch Hartman, talking about introducing new characters in TFOP

(retrieved on September 17, 2014, from geek-news.mtv.com/2013/03/20/t…)

There's also a strange feeling I have that Hartman & co. may have attempted to partially reboot the show during its ninth season. Timmy's friends, such as AJ and Chester, have been almost completely absent from all the episodes, until 'Dimmsdale Tales' (S9E40) where they were nothing more than glorified background characters. Many of the kids that had major recurring roles, such as Trixie Tang⁵, Veronica, Tad, Chad and Francis, have completely vanished from the show by S9. The same thing has also happened partially with Tootie, as she has since only appeared in the live action made-for-TV movies. Vicky, who was the series' very first antagonist, only makes it into a handful of episodes per season.

While old fan favorites have been slowly removed, we've also received a plethora of new characters, such as Timmy's fairy dog Sparky (yet another new major character) and Missy, a new (one-shot) love interest for Timmy. Sure, you could say that TFOP never put much value in strong continuity but it does get confusing when select characters and references are kept while others are completely forgotten, and there's a constant flux of new characters getting introduced. I guess it's the way these things are handled that bothers me so much – you just can't go make huge changes like these in the middle of a season. It clashes with the earlier episodes and the show in general and just doesn't feel right.

"Trixie is a great character that means a lot to the show and to Timmy so I’m hoping they interact this season. If there’s a great Trixie story out there that we haven’t done, then we’re up for it. Got any ideas?"

– Butch Hartman, giving a rather roundabout answer regarding Trixie Tang's return in S9 which, at the time this essay is being written, has not happened yet and the season is almost over

(retrieved on September 17, 2014, from www.otakusandgeeks.com/2013/04…)

In some ways, you could compare S9 of TFOP to the third and fourth season of Dexter's Laboratory, which was essentially a partial reboot too, although a bit more drastic as they completely changed the art style, retconned several plot elements (Mom and Dad now met in the '80s rather than in the '70s), expanded Mandark's family (while inexplicably removing his little sister) and generally made the show look and feel different. As you might remember, most fans of the original Tartakovsky seasons (rightfully) despised the new episodes, with most of the criticism aimed towards – surprise, surprise – mediocre writing and changing what didn't need to be changed. Probably the only thing that fans generally embraced was Mandark getting a backstory as well as the appearance of his parents; personally, I disliked the whole 'Susan' thing and the overabundance of hippie jokes. Again, these were rather extreme changes done to revitalize a show that didn't need revitalizing, and it all came with the expense of good writing.

Anyway, back to TFOP. As much as I dislike the way the show has gone, there are still good moments here and there. For instance, 'Freaks & Greeks' (S7E07) was a good episode, and had that early TFOP vibe that's missing in many of the newer episodes. The same can be said about some parts of 'Dimmsdale Tales', especially for the last story that gets told about Rusty the Hook. 'Farm Pit' also needs to be mentioned for the Cleveland jokes, although I did not care for the rest of the episode as it was full of your typical Schifrin/DeLaurentis writing.

The Live-action Travestries

This is where the show really started taking it in the ass. If you thought the new seasons were terrible and still do, take a look at the live-action TV movies.

A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner! (written by Hartman and Fellows) appeared at the tail end of the very short S8, followed by A Fairly Odd Christmas (written by Hartman, Schifrin and DeLaurentis). The first movie deals with a 23-year-old Timmy Turner who still attends elementary school and lives with his parents, simply refusing to grow up because he does not want to lose his fairy godparents. Right away, this goes against everything 'Channel Chasers' was about: learning to cope with the fact that you'll eventually grow up and that you should treasure your childhood when you still have it. Granted, the movie does use this as a plot device to give Timmy a dilemma of whether or not he should continue acting like a kid to retain his fairies or finally grow up in order to be with Tootie... who returns to town and is now like a completely different character, both literally and figuratively.

Yeah... I bet a lot of Tootie fans rejoiced seeing their favorite nerdy girl be turned into a generic hottie with a neo-hippie agenda

but I press on.

The other plot in the movie features a one-shot villain called Hugh J. Magnate (because the world apparently needs more puns) who wishes to capture Cosmo, Wanda and Poof to harness their magic for his own selfish purposes with the help of Mr. Crocker; yes, they created a new character that has the same exact agenda that Crocker has had in the later seasons. As you've probably noticed after sloppy episodes like 'Meet the OddParents' (S8E5), it is now apparently okay for people to find out Timmy has fairies and yet he won't lose them. The movie then uses these two plots as a basis for generally mediocre jokes and sight gags, a lot of them overdone in a forced way, accompanied by Guy Moon's increasingly obnoxious mickey-mousing score. Still, the movie did relatively well amongst fans, most likely because it officially validated the Timmy/Tootie-pairing. While that's all fine and dandy, the movie completely retcons 'Channel Chasers' out of existence no matter how much the writers for Fairly OddParents Wiki are trying to lie to themselves.⁶ Sparky is completely absent from A Fairly Odd Movie and he is nowhere to be seen in the follow-up special as well, probably because his character was added to the cartoon after the second live-action disaster. Curiously enough, he is also never referenced in the third movie, nor is his absence commented on, and I somewhat doubt S9 will give us a solid answer for it either. Gee, and I thought he was supposed to be a major new character! /sarcasm

Still, what really ruins the film is how awful the writing is, both regarding jokes as well as the actual plot. In the end, when Timmy Turner gets to keep his fairies, we get to see what Da Rules has to say about it... aaaand we get this:

img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20…

I know, it's supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, but you know what? Stop using that as an excuse for bad writing. I'm simply amazed at how little the writers either get their own creation or care about it. This is practically glorified fan fiction in the worst meaning of the term. Oh, and Poof finally starts saying coherent sentences at the end of the movie, and it's in Ebonics, because fuck you for wanting actual humor out of this piece of garbage.

A Fairly Odd Christmas manages to outdo its predecessor even more with its awfulness. It's yet another clichéd Christmas special where Santa Claus is unable to do his job because of reasons and now it's up to the main character and his entourage to take care of the problem and, as expected, deliver all the presents to children around the world. The poor writing is in full swing here and to be perfectly honest, I did watch this once and I can't remember anything else from it except it followed the usual formula, there were the usual crappy jokes and toilet humor, and Crocker became good and admitted having respect towards Timmy. At this point, I assumed that they'll probably return to just do more TFOP cartoons.

I was wrong. While we did get an insanely long S9, we also got A Fairly Odd Summer.

Hoo boy.

While it first comes off as yet another pointless live-action movie that's just as awful as the Christmas special, it takes such a grim and unexpected turn at the last 10 minutes or so it really takes the cake as one, if not the worst things to come out of the entire series. It's so horrible it might as well be seen as a magnificent troll pulled off by Hartman. However, that would take some serious dedication and planning, so I highly doubt this is the case. The fact that Hartman wrote this with the Trifecta of Shit known as Sullivan, Schifrin and DeLaurentis makes me think it's anything but properly planned.

At first I thought Hartman may have tried to pull off a Steve Marmel moment with a dark, bittersweet ending but that would've actually required there to be lots of foreshadowing and clear connections to some of the overarching thematic elements in the series... which is what 'Channel Chasers' had with Timmy not wanting to lose his fairies; hell, even the first live-action movie acknowledge this, although in poorly executed manner. What happens in this turd, however, is in complete dissonance with the rest of the episode, which consists of wacky (not really) hijinks and light-hearted humor.

This is what happens: while struggling over a MacGuffin with Foop, Timmy Turner falls into a pit of lava and DIES. After about 30 seconds of indifferent reactions from Timmy's friends and former enemy Mr. Crocker – who was once again bad in the beginning of this episode, despite turning good in the previous movie – his spirit suddenly rises from the pit and is reborn as a fairy godparent in the form and shape of his 10-year-old cartoon self (without his trademark buckteeth, though) and gets assigned to Tootie while Cosmo, Wanda and Poof gets assigned to two kids we don't really know or care about. Oh, and Vicky gets turned into a talking rabbit with human eyes and lips.

Let that sink in for a moment.

...

Okay, let’s continue.

One of the biggest questions that this ending raises (besides 'what the fuck were they thinking') is definitely 'where do you go from here on'. While Hartman could always "Reset Button" Timmy Turner back to his twentysomething self in a fourth live-action special with the aid of nonsensical writing, Cosmo, Wanda and Poof are out of the picture unless the two kids somehow keep in close contact with Timmy and Tootie (and thus reappear alongside the fairies), or they somehow lose them off-screen, thus allowing for a complete reunion. Other than that, the ending of the third live-action movie seems to suggest that the series is drawing to a close. Sure, they might still pump up additional cartoons and we might even see a 10th season, but these things don't really matter that much if the live-action films retain their canonicity.

The awful ending has not been well-received amongst fans. Even some of those fans who stuck supporting the show after Poof, Foop and Sparky as well as the previous two live-action films have, for the most part, finally had enough. While /co/ reacted with the expected malicious glee (as they generally have lost much of their respect towards Hartman a lot earlier), ToonZone forums had more posts that expressed shock and anger. Overall, it was a really bad decision to end the movie in this manner and while I sincerely doubt Hartman wanted to do it to give a big 'fuck you' to his fans (which has been suggested by several understandably disgruntled fans), it can certainly be interpreted in such an unfortunate way.

Epilogue

This concludes my three-part answer essay regarding my thoughts on Butch Hartman's The Fairly OddParents, a series I still hold very dear to me. Yes, that's right. As much as I crapped on it in the last two parts, I feel it is not fair to call me a hater. Just like parents punishing a child for behaving badly, I also do this out of love and caring. This is something that most fan boys don't seem to understand about criticism – that is stems out of frustration that something you like isn't handled with the care and attention as before. However, you can always point out that some of my criticism is subjective, and thus someone else's differing opinion is equally valid. For those who say that, I will point you to my first answer essay (link) where I discuss about the way I observe art and entertainment as well as how and why I draw certain conclusions of it. While you might still disagree with me even after reading all that, I do hope that you at least know where I come from, and why I am like that.

TFOP in its current state is an insult towards its early years. The addition of characters such as Poof and Sparky feels very much like putting the show on life support. It truly feels that Hartman and his crew are running out of ideas (despite what DeLaurentis has claimed), and yet they must keep the show running even if it means hacking it up every day. Also, at this point I should probably point out that as much as I shit on various writers in this essay, I do not know about the inner workings of the show's staff, company politics and so on. While I do believe that bad writing is often caused by a writer not really knowing what he/she is doing, I don't know how much pressure Hartman has from Nickelodeon and I don't know how difficult it is for him to actually hire good writers. However, judging by the answers he gave in various interviews as well as on Rob Paulsen's podcast (see Part II of this essay), I personally don't believe Hartman is fully innocent – on the contrary, you could even suggest that some of his writers (mainly Schifrin and DeLaurentis) directly take orders from him. Also, the rumors I've heard regarding his falling out with Steve Marmel over Danny Phantom's writing also hint that Hartman truly is a "jokes-over-stories" guy as he rowed with Marmel due to the latter wanting to go for a darker and more serious direction with the show.

Another thing I wished to touch upon with my essay but which doesn't really fit anywhere is the way Hartman interacts with his fan base – which is basically something that rarely happens. Unlike Lauren Faust, Jayson Thiessen and various other former and current crew members working on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Hartman seems to keep a figurative high wall between him and the fandom, giving very safe and press-friendly interviews while occasionally retweeting a picture of a Danny Phantom cosplayer or a piece of family-friendly fan art⁷. In this aspect, I'd like to think of him as an old-school, pre-social media animator who possibly sees silence and keeping one's distance to his fans as a sign of professionalism. As frustrating it is to not get him to post model sheets for DP or talk in-depth about characters, I don't think this is something on which you should call him out.

Some fans may also point out that TFOP was never intended to be a continuity-heavy series, but rather a lighthearted "sitcom-ish" cartoon where each episode was standalone and viewers could check out the show in pretty much out-of-order and still enjoy it. This is very common to the manner most children's network executives treat their programming: you order a bunch of episodes, air them for the first time and then put them on an endless repeat in a completely random order. Alex Hirsch, the creator of Gravity Falls, explains this very well in his interview with Vox (see Further Reading), but he also points out that in a way, this has confined animators and writers to do cartoons just one way. Also, kids will be able to follow continuity and care about it – something I can vouch for, since I do remember being annoyed at the way Dexter's Laboratory would sometimes end episodes with Earth being destroyed or something similarly outrageous that obviously would not make any sense if the show had strong continuity. Purposely ignoring continuity may also result in a lack of character development, and actually encourage the exaggeration of trademark quirks (which has happened with TFOP and numerous other cartoon shows and live-action sitcoms). Most importantly, even a show that barely acknowledges heavy continuity can and should utilize it at least selectively and then stick to it. If you come up with a story that requires a retcon or at least disregarding an existing canonic element, then you may want to go for it... but at least let it be something important, and not a collection of cheap laughs disguised as an actual plot.

Lastly, while I was browsing ToonZone forums and reading about the overwhelmingly negative reaction from A Fairly Odd Summer, one of the posters there mentioned that Hartman had produced four cartoon pilots for Nick and not one of them got picked up and made into a series. With T.U.F.F. Puppy now ending, Danny Phantom remaining dead (pun partially intended) and TFOP's future very unclear, it doesn't look very good for Hartman or TFOP fans... unless you think that TFOP is better off getting cancelled now or receiving a complete reboot in the hands of new people, that is. Personally, I wouldn't mind the latter but I also think it might be time to let the series rest for a while, and if the reboot happens, ensure that hack writers such as Sullivan, Schifrin, DeLaurentis, Arrieta, Spackman, Schwimmer and Kapstrom are not brought onboard.

If anything, the new crew should look at the way people like Brad Bird and Alex Hirsch approach creating animation: with love, dedication, seriousness and, most of all, intellectual respect towards their audiences. We get continuity, we love genuine character development and our humor isn't limited to fart jokes and characters being obnoxiously loud – and this certainly applies to kids as well. One shouldn't underestimate the mind of an adolescent, or view it in a rigid, behaviouristic way as a passive, empty vessel ready to be filled with whatever adults choose to pour in it.

Most importantly, I hope Nickelodeon understands this as well.

As for Hartman... I believe he's beyond rescuing by now, which is really sad considering that it was he who created such a fantastic cartoon show about a boy and his fairy godparents.

Notes

¹) Cynically, this can be translated as "kids, don't bother trying to rise from one social stratum to another, just forget your ambition, stay in the class you were born into – you don't really want to be rich and powerful".

²) While the lesson itself is okay, I'd rather wish they'd cease portraying the main characters' clique as a "loser/geek group", and perhaps try out a different, more natural way for the main character to learn this lesson. An example: the main character gets accepted into a popular clique without there being any ulterior motives, genuinely enjoys it a lot first but eventually realizes that he does not have anything common with the popular kids and returns to his old friends. Similarly, the members of the popular kids' clique might as well find themselves genuinely liking some aspects of the main character but also feel that they were partially right about this person not perhaps fitting in that well.

³) Again, this is more of a general consensus that envelops the American entertainment scene, and it has been said to be an age-old and still on-going dichotomy between the New World – America – and the Old World – Europe – done, at first, with purpose, and then possibly out of habit.

⁴) A good example of a wildly inaccurate reference here would be how the cartoon depicts KISS fans as grey-haired 1960s hippies; KISS was a 1970s hard rock band with glam elements, thus the aging hippie audience is completely out-of-place. Had the show gotten, say, members of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones or The Who to guest star, then the hippie audience would've been much more fitting. However, since the story presumes that Paul Stanley's guitar is actually a magical object and that KISS are really fairies, we can assume that KISS was, in fact, meant to be the guest stars of the first part of 'Wishology!'... which in turn means that yes, the writers and the artists really did fuck up. Also, don't count on someone like Gene Simmons caring over any of this, since he's pretty okay with whoring out the KISS brand to get more money.

⁵) Trixie's disappearance in particular has had fans very baffled. According to rumors circulating the web, her voice actress Dionne Quan has quietly retired, which would also mean that Trixie might also be shelved from the show for good. However, there has not been any confirmation whatsoever and there most likely will never be, at least from Hartman's camp as he usually sticks to professional silence regarding staff changes and other similar things. Still, it would be nice to get at least some sort of an answer regarding the situation...

⁶) A direct quote under the 'Synopsis' section for the article concerning A Fairly Odd Movie (retrieved on September 17, 2014): "Cosmo, Wanda, and Poof reunite with Timmy, and then they are properly introduced to Tootie (which means that the older Timmy in Channel Chasers probably has not lost his fairies, but lied about him forgetting them)."

⁷) Then again, when looking at some of the "hijinks" that the more socially awkward members of the MLP:FIM fan community have done live before Faust and other staff members, can you really blame Hartman for possibly wanting to keep the fan interaction somewhat distant?

Special Thanks

– /co/, for having several TFOP discussions earlier this year with links to all the interviews as well as the podcasts I referenced in Part II. Keep those Vicky threads coming!

–

and various other colleagues and friends of mine, for helping me flesh out this essay by exchanging several dozen e-mails regarding the subject matter.