‘The Same Game’ isn’t quite up there with the best of the season, but it’s still a solid time. Not only does it have an excellent use of a celebrity cameo(R.I.P. Gilbert Gottfried), but the story is a pretty good one.
The start of the segment has Timmy, Chester and A.J. playing a game of Timmy Ball, a game with quite the fitting name as it’s so clearly stacked in Timmy’s favor. I think it really suits Timmy’s childlike nature that he would make a game where he wins every time, and the way they and Cosmo and Wanda comment on it is quite funny as well.
In the process, the ball lands on the front lawn of this segment’s antagonists, Dr. Bender and his son Wendell. Both of them are voiced by Gilbert Gottfried, and his unique voice really makes them stand out in the best way. One little touch I love is the fact that when talking as Wendell, he pitches his voice up a little higher to suit the character’s age. Even a voice as distinct as his has enough range to fit the character properly, which was a nice discovery on this revisit.
Dr. Bender and Wendell mock Timmy for his big teeth, and so Timmy wishes for everyone to look the exact same. As a result, everyone in the world is turned into gray blobs while the environments are given a gray tinge. As far as the segment is concerned, it runs the risk of making the majority of it visually bland to look at, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s a pretty decent way to make this segment stand out just from the look. The more basic appearance of it all ironically makes this one distinct compared to the show’s usually vibrant and colorful look.
I do love the message the story is going for, the idea that even if everyone looks the exact same, some will still find a way to brag about how much better they are. Changing someone’s outside doesn’t change the kind of person they are on the inside, and the segment does a pretty good job showcasing this message. The fact that it’s now over how gray they are just makes it funnier.
While all that is happening, Cosmo and Wanda have to try and find Timmy so that he can wish everything back to normal. The segment establishes the idea of “magical build-up”, where if a fairy doesn’t grant any wishes for a while, the magic will build inside them and they’ll explode into confetti(thankfully, they’ll still live). As far as this segment shows, once that happens, the fairy will be incapable of granting wishes, so it’s a nice way of upping the stakes in the midst of Timmy’s more interpersonal story.
This one isn’t anything all that special, but for what it is, it’s pretty good. It’s visually distinct from others in the series, Gilbert Gottfried is as great as ever, and the message it’s going for is admirable.
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