Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends Preview/Review

Andromaton · **Andromaton**

I was up late one night, years ago, and tuned into Cartoon Network. SPACE GHOST was on and hell, I love me some Space Ghost. But this time the show was COAST TO COAST, which I had never seen at that point and wasn't terribly sure of what was going on. Space Ghost was now a talk show host hosting an animation competition. The judges, old adversaries of our cowled hero, introduced a slew of would be animation giants, offering up their work for the world to see.

One involved a trio of little girls with superpowers battling a pink, fur-covered redneck. There was no contest, POWERPUFF GIRLS was a great idea.

But PPG, as fantastic and brilliant as it was, struck the cynical portion of my brain. It would never work, never catch on. Pop culture proved me wrong, I can't go into a grocery store without seeing the Girls' image emblazoned on something. The exploits of Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup are well known to anyone with a television and the willingness to put aside the machismo involving anything regarding cartoons.

But POWERPUFF turned into something unimaginable, perhaps due to it's big-eyed, cute leads, it's tongue in cheek references, such as the Girls greatest enemies forming a roving band of terror called the Beat-Alls, with references to the Fab Four ingeniously written into the script. There were even episodes that covered feminism and sexism, several in fact, all brilliantly delivered with a solid, entertaining, enlightening moral. And now, Craig McCracken has moved on to a new show.

Today I got a first look at McCracken's FOSTER'S HOME FOR IMAGINARY FRIENDS, his third original series for Cartoon Network. Be advised of minor spoilers.

FOSTER'S is an orphanage created by the eccentric Madam Foster and run by Mr. Herriman, a seven foot tall British-y rabbit (think Harvey's stuck up uncle), and Frankie, a 22 year old redhead with a penchant for breaking Herriman's strict rules to the benefit of the house's inhabitants. We're introduced to Foster's by way of eight year old Mac and his imaginary friend Blooregard Q. Kazoo. Mac's mother has decided that eight is too old for an imaginary friend, and Bloo has to go.

Bloo sees Foster's as the perfect solution. A place to stay, no big brothers, no moms, and he and Mac can still play together every day. Reality, as ever, has to cast its cold shadow over that idea: Foster's is an orphanage, meaning adoption is the goal, real trouble for the charismatic Bloo, a real catch for kids without the heart to come up with a good imaginary friend on their own. Seeing in Mac a devoted friend, however, the denizens of Foster's, who barely interact with each other, rally together to prevent any adoption scares so that Mac and Bloo can still hang out and, more importantly, Bloo's antics can be stopped just this side of the apocalypse.

Leading the charge is Wilt, a freakishly tall, one armed red pillar of smiles and self sacrifice. Eduardo, a massive purple monster whose fangs, horns, and fur disguise his cowardly nature, however when the chips are down, he's the first one to jump in to protect his friends. Finally, there's Coco, who is...crazy. She can only speak her own name and runs around dropping plastic prize-containing eggs at the drop of a hat. She's also the brains of the group. Go figure.

The house isn't all kid-friendly, there are rooms set aside for the nastier imaginary friends, products of disturbed minds raised on video games and action movies. There's also the house's most disliked denizen, Duchess, a nasty, stuck up witch who considers herself of particular pedigree. While the others remain largely quiet about her, Frankie sees the day Duchess gets adopted as a potential red letter. If only Duchess wasn't so completely undesirable.

In FOSTER'S the word "imaginary" refers only to the fact that these characters were created by someone. All the other laws of physics go out the window as they interact with those around them with no trouble, taking up physical space and striking up conversations.

Unlike POWERPUFF, which plays from a cheeky, mature perspective hidden inside frame rates and animation, FOSTER'S drinks deep from the purest source of all: childhood. The character designs are simplistic, there almost seems to be no reasoning behind them at all. Y'know, like they were made up by a six year old. Actually, that's the most impressive part, apart from Mr. Herriman (who is a fairly obvious, and enjoyable nod to Mary Chase's HARVEY), all the imaginary friends seem to have been designed by kids. The entire cast is filtered through a kid's mindset, even Mac, a fairly nondescript but pretty cool looking guy. I can imagine this was the most difficult part of the creation process for the show: coming up with characters that looked like something a kid would make up and still make them marketable.

Again, unlike the previous show, there's the healthy dose of intelligent heart, particularly in a scene with Frankie and Mr. Herriman at the beginning of the third act of the premiere, where we get our first hint as to how Mr. Herriman came to run Foster's, and a great deal of character analysis for Madame Foster, who has not yet put in an appearance herself.

Not that there's a lack of McCracken's signature comedy stylings. Some of the jokes will go over kids' heads, but there are fewer here than say POWERPUFF GIRLS. Most of the comedy is situational, with the characters fueling the jokes and commentary from a perspective that doesn't rely on its era. As such, FOSTER'S could have been made decades ago, or decades from now, and still work, storywise. That's the mark of a good show.

There are a few references, but they're equally timeless in that they're ingrained into the mass consciousness by this point. There are no "who let the dogs out" moments, thankfully, but few of the jokes are so pop culture dependant that younger viewers will feel left out.

And it is largely geared towards younger viewers, delivering a message of friendship above practically all else without getting preachy about it or talking down to its audience. Older viewers in touch with their very early childhood memories will no doubt enjoy FOSTER'S, and apart from very young children, kids not quite old enough for KIDS NEXT DOOR will likely key into the show's most basic message: imagination is good, but friendship is better.

FOSTER'S employs several voice actors from McCracken's previous work, but not in the lead roles of Mac and Bloo. Phil LaMarr (JUSTICE LEAGUE, SAMURAI JACK) voices Wilt, Tom Kenny (SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS, POWERPUFF GIRLS) voices Eduardo, Tom Kane (POWERPUFF GIRLS, KIM POSSIBLE) voices Mr. Herriman, Tara Strong (POWERPUFF GIRLS, TEEN TITANS) voices Terrance, Grey Delisle (POWERPUFF GIRLS, FAIRLY ODDPARENTS) voices Frankie (the polar opposite of her ODDPARENTS' character Vicky) and Duchess, and Candi Milo (DEXTER'S LABORATORY, MY LIFE AS A TEENAGE ROBOT) voices Madame Foster and Coco. The leads go to Sean Marquette (BATMAN BEYOND, 13 GOING ON 30) as Mac and Keith Ferguson (TERMINATOR 3 and THE LORD OF THE RINGS video games) as Blooregard.

Like Frankie, FOSTER'S (and McCracken himself) breaks the rules of conventional programming. McCracken has long proven that demographics are silly, arbitrary things that only limit storytelling and stifle the creative process. His characters from POWERPUFF GIRLS are everywhere, from balloons, backpacks, even really badly done pinatas and with good reason: they deliver the energy and excitement of cognitive thought, pop culture, and human nature to both kids who are just discovering these things and adults who have grown cynical and bored with the same damn thing on every channel. FOSTER'S shows that McCracken isn't slowing down any time soon, either. In an industry devoid of fresh ideas, McCracken continues to lead the industry out of its creative funk, never content with simply riding the momentum of an idea until it runs out, ever challenging convention and etching his name on the list of those creators whose work justifies pop culture as a viable creative medium.

More than that though, the Pac-Man reference was hilarious. When was the last time a Pac-Man reference was hilarious? FOSTER'S = W!nn3r.

By Eric Valentine

FinalDivineDragoon · **FinalDivineDragoon**

I read about halfway and remembered I never had an imaginary friend growing up. So that means I have almost nothing to relate to this show....

....I'm not saying I hate it(well to some extent I am), just that it doesn't interest me at all.
_________________
There is limited intelligence in the galaxy, but the stupidity of the universe is infinite.

Andromaton · **Andromaton**

You don't need to have had an imaginary friend to enjoy the show. Just an imagination. You do have one of those don't you? Or like Bono and FAK has science sucked it out of you? Very Happy

FinalDivineDragoon · **FinalDivineDragoon**

I'll agree that science rocks to the nth degree, let's just say I have an imagination that's waay different from others.
_________________
There is limited intelligence in the galaxy, but the stupidity of the universe is infinite.

John_Bono_Smithy_Satchmo · **John_Bono_Smithy_Satchmo**

Andromaton · **Andromaton**

ToonamiL · **ToonamiL**

Andromaton · **Andromaton**

Dude could have mean the "No Neck Joe" series. Don't forget he worked on 2 Stupid Dogs as well.

counterparadox · **counterparadox**

Andromaton · **Andromaton**

so did anyone but me watch the premiere of Fosters?

Ixidor · **Ixidor**

I did, Just anothor CN show that I wont watch.
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-Ixidor

ToonamiL · **ToonamiL**

Andromaton · **Andromaton**

I know he didn't create 2 Stupid Dogs, I just meant they could have meant that series. As for No Neck Joe, it's like 10 someodd shorts. If Genddy can get credit for making Clone Wars a series (yes a micro series) then why not Craig for No Neck?

ToonamiL · **ToonamiL**

Uhhh, ummm....bah!

*throws sand in Andro's face*

Take that!

*runs*

I wonder why the ratings were low on Smackdown! this week.

Andromaton · **Andromaton**

Mein eyes! The goggles to nuszing!


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