User blog:Wk069/Total Drama All Stars: The Worst Season EVER.

After binge watching the allgedly terrible season that is Total Drama All Stars, I can say with full confidence that is a season that is just painful to watch, unenjoyable, not funny and just a train crash in every possible way. Why is this? Well let's break it down!

Courtney and Gwen

 * Their conflict perhaps the biggest injustice to happen in this season. You have to obvious lack of trust from Courtney for Gwen's actions in World Tour, but it gets old very fast. It wore very thin in World Tour, and it seemed like it was a conflict put to rest. It is DRAGGED through the entire season of All Stars. The two girls make ammends, and then the stupid Courtney kissing Scott and Cameron incident happens. Not only this, but Mike exposing Courtney of her elimination plan. This completley demolishes the established bond between Courtney and Gwen - formed just two episodes ago! There is no point to build up this dried out conflict, create a resoultion and then break it. One needs to compete without the other in the upcoming season (if either of them debut). It is pointless and painful if this conflict is carried over to ANOTHER season. Personally, I believe Courtney deserves redemption. She is a hard working contestants, and while the competition gets to her head - she is genuine and authentic.

"Mal"

 * This story line is just atrocious. It really feels ridiculous. Mike has a hidden subconcious personality that surfaces and controls him? Total Drama IS a cartoon, so there will be an element of fantasy, but this plot was too distracting and took away from the actual competition. It isn't interesting to watch Mal - an unneededly evil emo looking personality - try to win $1,000,000. It was clearly done to create a new antagonist in the show since we know all the characters - but that is the issue. With so many interesting characters and conflicting dynamics, you'd expect the story would have great plot lines with the existing characters - but nope! This added in conflict, a good guy gone bad, is just stupid. Zoey's desperation to save Mike becomes her motivation through the season, and while it is sweet and touching, it is far too ridiculous and outlandish to be in this show.

Alejandro

 * Literally everyone knew he was in the robot suit. His reveal wasn't shocking or interesting. One thing I didn't apperciate was his lack of interaction with other characters. His primary interactions involved only Heather, and they seemed to have an exclusive dynamic. Not to say he didn't have conflict with other characters, but there wasn't any story. Alejandro appeared, fought with Heather and exposed Mal. He didn't live up to his previously established reputation and felt so empty compared to his incredible delivery in World Tour.

Comedy

 * This season lacked a big component - comedy. Total Drama is a cartoon geared for tweens and teens. Comedy is an essential part of a show for this rage of age and there was none of it present. It focused on more of the character arcs - which I do appreciate, but the arcs were weak and with a lack of comedic input, it all fell flat.

Storylines

 * The storylines. Washed up Gwen/Duncan/Courtney, gag Ezekiel, Zoey and Mike's friendship finale, Scott being scared of Fang and Heather and Alejandro's...whatever. It seems as if the season picked certain gimmicks and ran with them through the season. You'd expect in a short season you could get away with that, but not at all. As mentioned before, Courtney and Gwen's conflict was drawn out and then completley ruined! Duncan's bad boy obsession was just dumb, and while it made sense, it served no purpose other than to get him eliminated. Scott being terrified of Fang wasn't funny - it was old and boring. Ezekiel kindapping Chris - wtf? A terrible 100th episode.

Length

 * 13 episodes, 14 contestants. Chris mentions twice (I believe) that this is the "first all star season", alluding to a potential second one. A big issue with this season was the length. A 20 - 24 episode season with 14 - `18 characters would have worked fine. A lack of reward challenges, strong storylines and hasty eliminations made the season feel bare. It was like this season was churned out as fast as possible with no effort at all.

Characters

 * It really is a bewilderment to me why - 1) the cast is so tiny and 2) why the contestants present were chosen. The all stars from Revenge of The Island were just everyone who made it past the merge, and then Sam for no reason. How is Sam considered an all star? He's a one trick pony. He plays video games and is goofy goober. He has no star quality about him. Alejandro and Sierra make sense to me, but Sierra's inclusion was dumb. She has no story or character and just wails about Cody. Gwen, Heather, Duncan & Courtney being included was as predictable as could be. Lindsay was a nice surprise too. Owen, without a doubt, should have been in the season in place of Sam. Along with Heather, Duncan and Courtney, he seems to place high in every season. You have 7 Revenge of the Island, 2 World Tour and 5 Island (technically 7 first generation). Obviously there are certain contestants, and a limited amount, who consistently place high, but to do such a short season and limit character growth and development is just ridiculous. Owen, Cody, Brick and Anne Maria were supposed to compete, and it is beyond me why there were not 18 contestants. Such a shame, and such a mistake.

Eliminations

 * Speaking of underming contestants - Lindsay. Her elimination was just dumb. Lindsay voting herself off and not wanting to compete? After her unbelievable departure in World Tour and BS accidental self elimination in Action, it is dumb how Lindsay was the first to go. It's apparent she didn't fit into any of the dried out plots, so she was canned. That's basically the case with everyone eliminated before the merge (minus Heather). Jo and Lightning were dumped for annoying their team, Sam was a screw up, the villains chose Sierra and Heather was a victim of Alejandro's sly moves with the Invincibility Idol. None of these characters (save Heather) did anything in the season. They merely existed just to be tossed. They were filler characters that were tossed one by one. You clearly can't build a thickened plot line in one episode, but there was no attempt. If I'm being honest, Lindsay should have won this season. While it seems silly and improbable, she could have and should have. This season clearly had favorited characters and seemed to pan to either studio requests or fan desires and thurst the same characters in the spotlight they've already had for way too long.

Personalities

 * After this season, a good portion of these characters have been stripped of any value they had. Duncan's obession to be bad gets him arrested, and now he has nothing else. His character has 'peaked', and can't go anywhere. Gwen and Courtney, as I said, have been hung out to dry. Gwen has lost her original goth, loner edge and is now just on the show as the nice girl. She truly serves no more purpose. While Courtney's character has been explored, she still is a worthy contestant and a determined one. She may not really have any more conflicts other than being overbearing, but she is worthy. The same goes for Heather. Heather has nothing interesting about her other than her mean desire to beat her. She's gave out all she's got and truly has no other storylines within her. Alejandro - a one trick pony, is dead. His gimmick was over after World Tour, and he has nothing else to offer as a character. Sierra is a super fan obsessed with Cody, and she has nothing else to her. They cannot do much else with her. Lindsay is the only one who isn't really a problem. She has never had the same repeated conflicts or issues thrusted upon her. Every season she has different interactions and different storylines, despire not being an antagonist. Most of the Revenge of the Island characters are weak to begin with. Lightning is just egotistical, Cameron is a nerd who is scared of everything, Sam plays video games, Zoey is a discount Gwen, Mike now has nothing interesting about him with no personalities, Scott is just a country jerk, and Jo is...Jo. Jo is the only character is promising, but is similar to Courtney and Heather - a desire to win. Jo is athletic and more butch, which gives diversity, but she doesn't have much going for her. If ANY of these characters appear again there NEEDS to be new conflicts with new characters. No more of this same old crap.

Friendship Finale

 * Just...dreaful. After building up this convoluted plot about Mal, we have a finale between him and Zoey. Zoey is just a non - goth version of Gwen. Gwen loses her mysterious edge of being the loner after season one and is just a stock nice normal girl. Zoey is the exact same, minus the spunk. The finale is literally just Zoey and Mike having a good time and then Zoey/Mike wins, the island explodes and it ends! Mike defeating Mal ended too early in the finale, and should have come when the two were at the top of the moat. The latter half of the episode is so boring because there is no reason to care. There is no competition and no desire for either characters to win, ESPECIALLY after Mal is "defeated" and Mike "resets" his brain. Heather and Alejandro are thrown in there and claim to be in love, just to abandon that once they get a shot at the money. Another interesting plot that could have been carried that was tossed out the window. Gwen and Cameron's presence was irrelevant. The two of them, along with Zoey claim they won't do another season at the end of the episode after Mike says "This is fun, we should do this again". I HOPE those three never show their faces again. A friendship finale is also the worst idea ever - never again.

Verdict

 * As a stand alone season, it isn't bad. When thrown into the continuity of the rest of the show and in comparsion to the others - it is awful. Tired old story lines, mistakenly cut characters, poor eliminations, bad writing and a dissapointing finale. If another All Star season is done, it should be done with a substantial amount of characters, a plot that isn't designed for people who make it past the merge, and writing that combines both comedy and drama. This season is a dark spot on Total Drama's history, and watching the first four seasons and coming to this - it is almost unrecognizable. It's truly just baffling how this season came to happen. So, this is my critique on why Total Drama All Stars is garbage! Feel free to comment, discuss or disagree. I'd be more than happy to interact.