User blog:Nalyd Renrut/Bigger! Badder! Brutal-er! Review

The moment we've waited over a year for has finally arrived! No more wild speculation, no more fears of being let down, no more agony and suffering! We worried it might never happen. We worried that once it started again it wouldn't be as good as it was. We worried that the interest just wasn't there anymore. But prayers have been answered. Nalyd's reviews are back!

I just finished watching Bigger! Badder! Brutal-er!, the first episode of Total Drama: Revenge of the Island and after watching the first time, I decided I had to watch it again for the review. As always, one character will receive the coveted Renny award. Please don't post spoilers about future episodes in the comments and note this review and the comments will be discussing the full plot of the episode.

Going into this season I hadn't bothered to read any of the info about the characters. I wasn't really interested. I wanted my first impression to come from the first episode. It starts out pretty much how I expected, Chris warns us not to imitate the cartoon, fair enough. The shot of all the old contestants was to most, probably, controversial. Duncan and Gwen making out, Sierra and Cody hugging, Owen making a constipated face, it seems like its all right where we left off. I'm not sure how much time passed between the two seasons but I wish they hadn't included this. It does settle the question of do they live but it just creates so many more. I could write a whole review about this brief shot but I'm not interested in them, they're old news. I did love Owen screaming, however.

Here are my first impressions, first time I've heard the characters talk or do anything other than the brief trailer from months ago:
 * Jo - ... What was that? "Stay out of my way if you value your kiwis!" First of all her voice is way too high (I'm under the impression they were going for a Jane Lynch sort of voice and I'm glad it wasn't too Eva like, but what a ridiculous voice). Also, what a stupid first line.
 * Scott - Liked his voice, liked his retort to Jo. The armpit smell was a bit much. He's like Duncan with too much testosterone.
 * Zoey and Mike - Being introduced together obviously means they'll be the main relationship of the season. It really just feels forced though. I don't know, Mike's design just bothers me, and based on the original pic of her I was hoping Zoey would be the female antagonist.
 * Lightning - I like him. He's very full of himself and I'm sure will be entertaining.
 * Brick - I have a character like him in one of my fanfics so I'm interested to see what they do with the army character.
 * B - I also had a silent character. I had him win and be pretty much the main character and I now regret that and I hope B doesn't take up too much screentime in silence.
 * Dawn - Voiced by the Chippettes, I presume.
 * Dakota - Gosh these are terrible voices... More on her later.
 * Anne Maria - I understand she became a bit of a fan favorite just from the preview and I find her very funny. Glad she's not a Leshawna knock off like some had thought (myself included).
 * Staci - The most horrible voice of them all. I'm gonna talk more about her later because she becomes important later.
 * Cameron - Great voice, very interesting character concept. Don't believe I've ever seen one like him. I hope he goes far and he probably will.
 * Sam - I love his voice. Okay? That is exactly how I want a character like him to talk and I hope he puts down the Gameboy ("Grandpa, tell us more about game consoles of your generation!") and gets some more input but I like him already.

"Yep, it's our roughest, toughest, most explosive season ever!" - I'm not sure if these guys are the toughest characters (Maybe Jo and Scott) so I'm hoping the challenges make up for some of the flatter characters.

Then comes the opening segment which is almost a shot-for-shot parody of the original opening segment. Only thing that bothered me was putting Zoey and Mike in Gwen and Trent's spot. Gwen and Trent's relationship on Total Drama Island was one of the best things about the season and seeing these two take their spot just feels wrong, especially with how forced they seem.

"I'll save you little girl!" "I'm a boy!" I enjoyed the swimming scene because it showed more of what each character is going to be like (due to the length of the season being only 13 episodes I feel like the characters development will be minimal and probably rushed if it's even there). I gotta say, Mike's teeth really bug me because it's the same mouth as Cody, now on a skinny black kid. It just looks distracting to me. Even his mannerisms are Cody like.

I think the characters we see alone will be going early and the ones we see interacting with others will more likely be going farther. That's just my two cents. Staci's constant talking is getting annoying, and not because of the talking. First, Izzy already did the whole lots of interesting family members thing. Second, that's all she talks about. I wanna know about Staci, not her great great great cousin twice removed who's actually her brother. I hope Sam doesn't turn into a fat Harold.

"Zoey, the lonely, team A." "Only as a child! Seriously..." I loved that line. I like when Chris mocks a contestant and they fight back. Chris' evil laugh was gross though. I like how they got all freaked out that every episode somebody would be eliminated. With like three exceptions, that's exactly how TDI was played. "It's never been that hard before!" THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID. (It's good to be back.)

I got REALLY excited about the Chris head, but I really don't think it makes you that powerful. And Scott's comment on Chris' butt face was too Duncan-esque. A loud roar followed by a cute yet dangerous animal. Total Drama cliche. (Cute yet dangerous - like me! But without the danger. So just cute and ous.)

Interesting challenge. SHA-LIGHTNING. Not sure how I feel about Mike's old man thing yet. As somebody who has written an old man character, they are quite fun to write for. I just hope Chester doesn't dominate Mike. I also hope he has more personalities. Dakota learning to use the saw was good. I kinda hope she does well because she could use some serious character development.

"He won't know what hit him! - *immediately gets hit by rock*" Cheesy but funny. "Eh, kids today and their crazy log rides!" I enjoyed the little Owen scene but I wish the time had been used for the new characters. I love Owen, but enough is enough. And this is followed by another ridiculous reason for a team to win. But I guess we're used to "Wait, what?" moments when it comes to deciding a team winner because the writers put surprise before sense. It's fine I guess.

The fact that Chris didn't bring up the Chris head thing when he said "You can never come back - EVER" means to me that the person voted out probably won't come back. Which is good because it's Staci, who doesn't need nor deserve more screentime. She was a waste, designed to be a first out. A character like Ezekiel in TDI, yeah, first out, you wonder what could have happened but you learn to live with it. Staci, thank goodness she's gone. She had no potential for development like the rest all do. I think that'll be a big theme of the season, do the characters stay exactly the same for 13 episodes or do they grow and change.

This was an okay season premier. I remember after the TDWT premier we were more excited than ever for new episodes, but this one felt more like "Here we go again."

Rating: 7/10

Now, time to award one character the Renny award. The Renny award is the ultimate prize. You don't need no stinkin' marshmallow, you want the Renny award. People watch the episode and they're thinking "Oh cool they got a marshmallow, but will they get the Renny?!" And the first Renny of the season goes to... Chris! He was not the most interesting nor the most funny but I can't think of anybody else who did anything laugh out loud funny and there was no remarkable strategy, so Chris gets it sort of by default.

Thanks for reading, leave your comments below, as always I'd love to know what you guys have to say about the review (and the episode too I guess...) Alright, peace out guys.