With this, I have now officially gone through the entirety of season 0 of “The Fairly OddParents”, or the ”Oh Yeah! Cartoons” shorts that got the show picked up in the first place. My journey through this was effectively the appetizer for my trek through the official series, what is the main course of all this. But before we get there, I want to take some time to properly digest these shorts and discuss them generally.
Speaking as someone who is much more used to how the official show operates, watching these shorts for the first time was quite the fascinating experience. It’s always interesting seeing how a show was before its official run, and this was no different. I can definitely say that a good chunk of elements in these shorts carry over untouched to the series, barring some character dynamic changes and character designs.
The most notable dynamic for me in this was Cosmo and Wanda. I’ve been used to the former being not so bright but still kind at heart, and the latter being the smart one of the two who’s there to reign in her husband’s more reckless tendencies. Seeing their intelligence levels get effectively switched was rather jarring, but still fun. I didn’t think of Cosmo as having a snarky mouth, but thanks to these shorts, I can’t help but love it. It also helps that his voice isn’t nearly as high-pitched as it would go on to be.
While Tootie and the Tooth Fairy would go on to have redesigns, it’s worth noting that the designs in these shorts really aren’t too far off from what I’m used to. I can still tell that these characters are who they say they are, if that makes any sense. I will admit I have more nostalgia for the official designs, but that’s more of a me thing. These designs were still pretty solid in their own right.
With all that in mind, it’s really no wonder why the show got picked up. Not only did the concept itself just load itself with infinite possibilities, but it seems like they had everything pretty much right from the get-go. It’s easy to see these shorts as canon, even barring whatever changes they end up implementing.
That brings me smoothly to another topic. During my journey through these shorts, I wanted to know the answer to the question: are they canon? My inclination was to say no, but upon asking the question on Twitter, pretty much everyone said yes. One of the show‘s movies would reference the pilot explicitly, so that one has to be canon at least.
I mainly wanted to ask this question so I could have an idea of how to treat their canonicity going forward. On the one hand, things always do change between pilot to official, and even shows like “The Simpsons” were no stranger to early installment weirdness(black Smithers, anyone?). So here’s my compromise: I will indeed regard these shorts as canon, but if an official episode happens to contradict them, I won’t hold it against that episode. Like I said, changes do happen. It’s when official episodes start contradicting each other that we’re gonna have some problems.
That also goes for my “Da Rules” and “Things That Exist in the FOP Universe” lists. I’ve decided to give season 0 its own dedicated section for both those lists, both for completionist’s sake and because I want to have as much fun with those lists as possible. If you want to check out both of them, the links to them are in the intro of this whole project.
For the things that exist, I want to highlight a few that I haven’t brought up as of yet. The pilot episode, during the sequence where Cosmo and Wanda are tormenting Vicky, has them make an explicit “Star Wars” reference, Darth Vader costumes and direct quotes and everything. So as far as these shorts are concerned, “Star Wars” is a thing that exists.
In episode 4, Timmy makes a “Star Trek” reference with his line “Warp speed, Mr. Sulu!” So we can add in the fact that Timmy is a Trekkie. Combining those things begs the question…if Cosmo and Wanda are “Star Wars” fans and Timmy is a “Star Trek” fan…do they get in fights over which one is better? Are Cosmo and Wanda part of the Fandom Menace? Does Timmy dress up as Mr. Spock at any point? If we don’t answer any of these questions by the end of this project, why are we even here?
Before we close out this overview, I don’t think we can really discuss season 0 without bringing up the elephant in the room: Mary Kay Bergman. For those who don’t know, Mary Kay Bergman was the original voice of Timmy Turner, but halfway through airing these shorts, she committed suicide, with the role having to be replaced by Tara Strong.
Now, the fact that this suicide happened at all is tragic. I feel so sorry for Mary’s family, and I do hope they’ve been able to recover from it with relative ease. One thing I want to bring up is that Tara Strong was willing to take the role as a form of respect for her friend. She didn’t do it for the glory, she was in it to pay tribute to someone she loved dearly. That’s damn respectable, and I commend Tara for taking that route.
But in regards to this, there’s also something I haven’t mentioned yet. As I’ve been going through season 0, I’ve been watching both the Mary Kay Bergman dubs and the Tara Strong re-dubs whenever possible, just so I can compare the two performances. What I’ve noticed is that Mary’s performance sounds considerably more boy-like, whereas Tara’s fits Timmy’s age more. I’m up in the air about which one I prefer, but that does speak to Mary’s talents. If I didn’t know it was a woman voicing him in her case, I honestly wouldn’t have been able to tell. It was easy to see that she was a great voice actress, and in an alternate reality where she was still alive, I can imagine her going on to do great things after this. RIP Mary Kay Bergman. You may not have had much time in the Timmy Turner spotlight, but damn, did you own the role when you did.
Anyway, my experience with season 0 was generally positive. There’s only one episode I’d consider a dud, and the others ranged from decent to great. And this would only be the start of this monster of a series and this beast of a project. We’ve finished the prologue, for all intents and purposes.
Starting next time…it’ll be the real thing. Strap in, folks. It’s gonna be a fuckin’ wild ride.
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