An Animated Dissection: My Top 5 segments of Star vs The Forces of Evil, Season 1
A little while ago, I got my issues about some rather flimsy storytelling, mind-boggling characterization, and failed jokes about “mess-up twins” out of the way, regarding my least favorite segments for Star vs The Forces of Evil, one of the most recent series to premiere on the DisneyXD cable channel.
To counter the list of least-favorite segments from the first season of Star vs The Forces of Evil (and to cope with the still-in-the-air announcement for when Season 2 starts), here’s the Top 5 episodes from the first season, that ended up sticking with me.
*Note: Please be advised that some spoilers will be given, regarding certain episodes.*
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5 – Royal Pain
Sooner or later, some series will eventually get to the “uninvited houseguest” storyline. That’s the case with Royal Pain, when Star Butterfly’s father, the King of Mewni, shows up on the Diaz’s doorstep, after the Queen ‘banished’ him from the castle.
Star at first thinks her loose-ruled father will mean they’ll have a fun visit, but she soon grows annoyed and a little disgusted at some of his habits.
As much as Star shirks away from her regal and overbearing Mother, I felt this episode showed that she is a bit like her Mom in some ways, notably in how she soon grows exasperated with her Father after a whole day.
The episode is also notable in making its running gag entertaining and relatable, in the form of Marco Diaz being constantly at the mercy of having wet socks!
There’s no real mind-blowing revelations to be had, but still, it was nice to see some more time devoted to supporting characters like Star’s Father…though one wonders what an episode revolving around Star and her Mother would be like.
There’s also the added bonus, of much like Star trying to understand Earth customs, we get to see her Father (mis)interpret certain things.
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4 – Fortune Cookies
After defeating Ludo and his monsters in another fight, Marco treats Star to some Chinese food, and convinces her that the fortunes in the cookies at the end of the meal, can predict the future.
Meanwhile, Ludo has had enough, and hires a manager to help him with his monsters. He gets some ‘help’ in the form of a suited lizard-creature, named Toffee.
I’ve often been a fan of cultural misunderstandings, ever since seeing the alien girl Lum come to Earth in the Japanese series, Urusei Yatsura. I figured Star would have some decent misunderstanding episodes, and this one I felt worked pretty well. After all, most people are apt to believe fortune cookies as much as their daily horoscopes.
The episode also gets ‘brownie points’ from me, given its introduction of Toffee. With Ludo and his minions pretty much doing the same rinse-and-repeat job trying to get Star’s wand, this rather questionable lizard-creature was a welcome respite. Toffee’s appearance was like opening a new book, but not knowing just where the story would take us…and in seeing the final minutes of the segment, I was eager to know more about him, as well as what seemed to be some plan involving Ludo and his monsters.
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3 – Star Comes to Earth
I did waffle on including the introductory episode in this Top 5, but the more that I thought about it, it feels like it balanced pretty well in introducing us to some of the major players of the show’s universe, as well as giving us plenty of notable character information.
When I saw the episode for the first time, the first 3 minutes of Star’s on-screen appearance did make me question if I had wandered into another out-of-control kids show. However, as the segment went on, and we saw Star show some uneasiness and remorse for some of her magical mishaps, I grew more intrigued.
Marco Diaz’s footnote as “the safe kid” of Echo Creek Academy, also seemed to get steamrolled over pretty quickly following this episode. Even so, the introduction to the fact that Marco knows karate, helped give me hope.
The fact that both Star AND Marco can handle themselves in a fight (and that they can help each other out), was one thing that made me want to come back for more.
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2 – Cheer Up, Star
Many people know I have a thing for emotional animation, and I will admit that Cheer Up, Star, really gets to ping-pong around the room with what it entails.
The episode starts with Ludo and his Monsters already attacking Star and Marco, with Marco claiming this attack is ‘his fault.’ This then delves into a backstory, told as the monster onslaught continues around them.
We get some great little comedy moments as Marco has a bad day, and then Star tries to cheer him up. From there, we see Star infatuated with a keytar-playing boy named Oskar. However, her note for him to call her goes unanswered, and Marco in turn, tries to cheer Star up.
I felt this episode really showcased some nice moments between Star and Marco, regarding their friendship. The bits where they both try to cheer the other up led to some of the funniest moments, that are making me smile even now, just thinking of them.
As well, the weaving of the past-day’s events into the Ludo attack story, just feels like it’s cut together so well.
A plus is Brian H Kim’s music during a few moments, and the fun use of the song Space Unicorn, as Marco’s (ironic) ringtone.
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1 – Monster Arm
It’s a little hard to be unbiased, when there’s been one segment out of the entire season that has never left your number 1 spot since seeing it…and Monster Arm is that episode!
When Marco breaks his hand before an upcoming karate match, he convinces Star to use her wand to heal it..only for her to misinterpret a bone-healing spell, giving Marco a sentient tentacle for a right arm.
To me, this episode just encapsulates the weirdness of Star vs The Forces of Evil, and does so in a way that’s both funny, and stomach-churningly serious. It’s also the one episode that to me, balances out incredibly well between humor, and uneasiness.
For this segment, Star is moreso a secondary character, and it feels like Marco is at the helm of the story. Even so, we do get to see Star’s personality on display, as she is willing to go without sleep to help fix Marco’s arm.
I also love the underlying, questionable storytelling of giving someone a tentacle arm, let alone one with the great, ominous voice of Corey Burton.
The segment also ends on a grand cliffhanger, that has had me questioning it ever since we last saw Marco’s scared face.
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And just as we’ve had ‘the bad,’ I’ve given my opinions on what I feel is ‘the good’ for the first season of this new series.
We’ve been clued in that Season 2 of Star is heading our way sometime this Spring, but as of this posting, there’s been no further word as to when that might be.
Even so, I do hope Season 2 can continue to grow story and characters in a creative, and emotional way.
Episode Review: Star vs The Forces of Evil (Season 1, Episode 3 ) – Monster Arm / The Other Exchange Student
The second episode of Star vs the Forces of Evil, attempted to focus on the microcosm of Star Butterfly’s life amid the students of Echo Creek Academy. With Episode 3, we get some more character insight, along with plenty of magical shenanigans.
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– Monster Arm –
Marco’s karate dojo has an upcoming tournament, in which Marco will face off with a rich combatant named Jeremy Birnbaum. However, Marco gets carried away while training, and breaks his right hand.
Marco convinces Star to use her magic wand to heal his hand, but her spell-casting goes horribly wrong, and leaves Marco with a tentacle instead of his right arm!
Monster Arm differs from the earlier episodes, in that it moreso focuses on Marco, with Star taking on more of a supporting role. It’s nice to see Marco react to the situations he has found himself in, but we also get to see him almost become a different person when he realizes this new appendage can give him an advantage (and even impresses the students at school when it beats back a bully!).
We even get some additional lore regarding Star’s family wand, given that it comes with a tome of an instruction manual. The episode also provides examples of how specific one’s verbiage has to be while using the wand. Apparently, being off in your pronunciation by a smidgen, can be both a good and a bad thing (but most of the time, a bad thing!).
Voice actor Corey Burton also provides a fun, deep-voiced role that is a nice little surprise. I can’t help but think that this segment will be the first introduction of the word “bowels” to many young people, given his character’s role.
It doesn’t get as dramatic as I prefer, but Monster Arm is probably one of the most fun segments I’ve seen so far, which pushes it above the normal B-territory most of these segments have fallen into. Also notable, is that the episode ends with an intriguing-yet-unsettling coda, that one wonders if we’ll see resolved in future episodes.
Final Segment Grade: A-
Best Star Butterfly line from segment: “Then I gotta come here, and watch him, Kah-RAH-Tey!”
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– The Other Exchange Student –
Ever since Star arrived on Earth, Marco’s family has celebrated each and every day that she has been with them. Prior to Star’s arrival, the Diaz family has been taking in exchange students for quite some time, and everyone is surprised when a former Scandinavian exchange student named Gustav, shows up on the Diaz’s doorstep with souvenirs, and plans to stay with them for a few weeks.
Needless to say, Star is a little jealous about being bumped to ‘exchange student #2’ status in the Diaz household, but soon, she begins to wonder if there’s more to Gustav than he’s letting on…
Probably not since the first episode, have we gotten this much time with Marco Diaz’s parents. However, there isn’t really that much to them, except being very happy-go-lucky in their demeanor. Even Marco seems to adopt this attitude for much of the episode.
Those who have seen cartoons, can probably see the “something’s not right” angle towards Gustav and his ways, which is a given in some cartoon plots when a new character arrives on someone’s doorstep. The writers do manage to tweak the formula a bit, but it’s a little predictable regarding the outcome of the episode. Though just łike Monster Arm, there are some things that are not resolved by the end.
In the role of Gustav, voice actor Rob Paulsen manages to have some fun with his accented role, pitching around his voice for the various situations.
Star for the most part, spends most of the episode not being as happy as she normally is. It’s a little fun at times to see characters have to deal with unwelcome situations, allowing us to see how they handle something uncomfortable. It’s very similar to how I felt with Pinkie Pie in the My Little Pony episode, “Party of One,” where the character had to shut down from being a little scatter-brained, and became analytical.
In Monster Arm, we saw Star exasperated from lack of sleep as she attempted to help Marco. Here, we get a little more of that, along with a rather obsessive angle to her going on a fact-finding mission. I will admit, hearing Eden Sher voice Star as she unravels, is a fun little treat. It does seem a double-edged sword regarding how Star acts: on one hand, she seems jealous over the attention that Gustav is receiving, but on the other hand, she is also concerned for the well-being of Marco and his family.
The episode also serves as a nice little respite from Ludo and his minions (though one makes a brief cameo), by showing that even suburbia can house its own problems for Star Butterfly. Though intriguing at times, it never deviates far enough from the formulaic ‘stranger at the front door’ storyline, to really make me love it more.
Final Segment Grade: B-
Best Star Butterfly line from segment: “YOU’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!”
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In conclusion, Episode 3 is probably the best full episode so far. I like how both segments focus mainly on Star and Marco on earth, with no dimensional villains like Ludo. Here, we get to see Star and Marco deal with problems in their own way in Monster Arm, and then get to see Star handle a human “outsider,” in The Other Exchange Student.
Of all the segments, Monster Arm is the one I’ve probably seen a few dozen times. The story and animated emotions just seem so entertaining to me. I personally feel that if you’re looking to get someone hooked on this series, it’s a must-show segment.
*Coming up in Episode 4, Marco works on cheering up Star when something doesn’t go as she would like. Following that, the two end up in a dimensional store, questing for a specific item for Star’s magic wand. What wonders/craziness will unfold? We’ll find out soon enough.*
The Entertainment Nut 