User blog:SpiritAnimal/Spirit's TDPI Review

TDPI Review:

During my original viewing of TDPI, I felt it was a step up from TDAS. But after overlooking things that occured during the season, I feel like TDPI is just as bad as TDAS but for different reasons. Ignore any spelling errors as I was just bored and quickly typed it up on my phone.

This is the main issue most people have with the season: the amount of fodder-worthy characters. I'd say we would benefit from 26 episodes this season, but honestly I don't even know if any of these characters could make it 26 episodes without being bland, boring, or running out of plot. But more on episodes later. Beardo and Leonard are the first two boots. Honestly, Beardo seems like he could have actually been a decent character who learns to become less shy over time. But he was pointless fodder. Leonard is the same. Amy had potential to be a villain but the odd pacing and 13 episode format only allowed her to go so far. We never learn WHY Amy truly hates her sister, and I feel she could be developed into a more likable character. Rodney was abysmal and annoying. Samey, while charming and cute at first, felt bland and lacked any true redeeming traits following her sister's demise. Ella's character design alone ruins her, despite actually being one of the more tolerable characters this season. Topher stayed way too long. He didn't even seem like he wanted the money. 7 characters already that honestly all kind of suck. Dave was probably the most interesting cast member to be honest. He resembled the original cast the most. He had quirks, but also good qualities. The way he was written though was awful. Scarlett had potential, and I literally don't remember her even doing much in the game other than just being there and playing with coding for her last few episodes before she left. Wasted potential on a villain. Max was entertaining and funny, and did bring drama from time to time. He, again, loses points for his odd and cartoony design like Ella. Jasmine was an okay character, but I felt she was too bland. Sugar was an interesting character, and I'm ALMOST neutral on her. But she wasn't that great of a villain and she wasn't funny. She was just kind of a female Owen with some more backbone and a rude personality. But they made her so unbearable at times that she wasn't a "love to hate her" type of villain like Heather or Alejandro. She was more like TDA Courtney. She was there, she whined, she yelled, and she never really got confronted for her actions. Sky is interesting because I originally hated her and felt that she was a Zoey 2.0. She kind of is, but they tried to justify it by calling her an olympian. I'm not buying it. Where Sky earns points is that she gave a really interesting plot twist by having a boyfriend. She's not perfect like Zoey. I do wish we could have another season to see how Sky can fare with everyone knowing she's a liar, but I do think she's one of the more interesting characters despite still being a little bland. Shawn is super overrated for me. He lasted too long blabbering on about zombies and survival. Yeah, those people exist, but they portrayed him as a perfect survivalist. In a season like TDI, he'd be seen as weird and quirky, and that's how it should be. Nobody on Total Drama should be a "normal teen" or some super god who's also nice and has 0 flaws. So overall, this really affected the season.
 * 1) The Cast

This one right here really irks me. In TD, yes, everyone has their main enemy or main friend. But TDPI felt like a duos show. Beardo/Leonard are discluded, but everyone else only really interacted with 1 or 2 other people at a time. Sugar/Ella, Amy/Samey, Sky/Dave and then Sky/Sugar, Shawn/Jasmine, Scarlett/Max, heck even Topher/Chris. Everyone did interact with others, but I felt there was too much time with one particular person that it didn't really feel like a Total Drama season. In my opinion, even RR had more interpair relationships and interactions.
 * 1) Interactions

No TD season is GREAT when it has 13 episodes. ROTI is the best out of all of them, but it still falls flat. The poor decision to split S5 in half really screwed everyone over. There's just not enough time to have 14 characters in 13 20 minute episodes. Things are just so rushed and forced and it really ruins things. Sky/Dave could have had a proper ending, Scarlett could have reigned as an earlier antagonist, Ella could have stood up to Sugar, Amy could have returned for a little while and been a Heather to the cast members, all possible things that could have occured if the season was just a little longer.
 * 1) Episode Count

Overall, I give the season a 3.5/10. It tried, but personally it felt like a lazy filler in the timeline of Total Drama that was absolutely wasted. Why have people like Sky when you could give Bridgette redemption? How about Eva taking Scarlett's place or Dawn taking Ella's place? There were already TD characters who could have benefited from being on another season. I just think that the writers were bored and out of ideas, and what resulted was a jumbled mess of odd stereotypes, boring and predictable plots and eliminations, and a short season that felt like it never really got off the ground.

Highlights:

-Amy's Elimination

-Sky has a boyfriend

-Scarlett takes over the island

-Amy's small return to get revenge

Low Points:

-Dave's derailment

-Boring final 2

-Wasted villain (Scarlett)

-Lack of potential for many characters

Anyways hope you enjoyed! What's your opinion?