(sigh) Poor “Star vs The Forces of Evil”. What was once one of the most beloved Disney Channel cartoons would go on to become a poster child for bad conclusions. If that’s not a fall from grace, I don’t know what is.
Yeah, it’s no secret that this show has become rather infamous in recent memory, thanks to just how hard it fell in its latter half. The series finale is widely regarded as one of the worst in animation history, and the anger it inspired in viewers still persists even today. But that raises the question: where exactly did this show go wrong? Did it start with season 4? Were seasons 1 and 2 truly the only good ones? Did it happen somewhere in between?
This review series aims to answer that question as we cover the show piece by piece, dissecting what made people love it in the first place as well as subsequently turning on it. I’d seen the entire series before and had some…thoughts, I’ll say as much. But with the passage of time, I also want to see exactly how the show has aged over the years, whether for the better or for the worse.
Naturally, we have to start with season 1, episode 1a: ‘Star Comes to Earth’, which establishes the central premise: the princess of Mewni, Star Butterfly, inherits her family’s royal magic wand, and so she has to learn how to use her power responsibly. Through a pretty funny comedic smash cut, Star’s time with the wand results in disaster, and so her parents send her to Earth to train there. It’s there that she encounters Marco Diaz, a human student at Echo Creek Academy that likes to talk a big game about being a “misunderstood bad boy”, but is one actuality a very safe and rule-abiding person, almost to the point of paranoia.
While their clashing personalities initially cause a rift between them, mainly due to Star’s misuse of magic causing chaos, their friendship starts to develop after a fight with Ludo, who will become a recurring antagonist for the series. Star proves herself to be efficient in combat with her magic, as does Marco with his affinity for karate, and with Star willing to leave Marco for fear of hurting him any more, Marco just can’t find it in himself to throw her out, and so has her stay with him while she’s on Earth.
One thing the segment does well is get across the show’s style of pacing, at least in its earlier run. For only being 11 minutes, it’s pretty packed in terms of story, and while that does run the risk of making the story itself feel rushed, it does make the comedy more effective as a nice trade-off. A good number of jokes are the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it type, and sometimes, you’ll be laughing at a joke that just happened which causes you to miss one right after. It’s a kind of kinetic energy that a premise like this is practically begging for, and it makes the whole runtime consistently fun.
As for the story itself, I can say it does still generally hold up, but in retrospect, certain things rub me the wrong way. If Star’s parents were concerned about her potentially ruining everything with her wand once she inherited it, you’d think they’d take the chance to give her some training beforehand, maybe have the previous owner as a guide of sorts. It does set up the general premise for the series, but in doing it this way, it makes Star’s parents look a little dumb.
Not helping is the fact that they’re sending her to Earth to train. Earth. A non-magical place that won’t be nearly as protected as Mewni would be, filled with tons of innocent people that couldn’t possibly hold their own against her magic. They know first-hand the kind of destruction she’s capable of due to how much of her kingdom she destroyed, so sending her to a place that’s even more likely to be demolished…it’s stupid. Very stupid on their part.
But yeah, apart from those glaring flaws, I do really like this story. Star herself is established perfectly as a very energetic, optimistic and bubbly girl that’s able to kick some ass when the situation calls for it. The fact that she’s more akin to combat magic as opposed to other kinds is a nice touch, hinting at the fact that Mewni is a harsher environment than Earth is, which comes into play later in the series.
Marco is quite charming in his own dorky way; he may talk a big game, but that makes his tendency to stay safe right afterwards all the funnier. He’s like that friend you knew that would always talk about how tough they are when they really wouldn’t harm a fly, and the performance really sells it. His delivery of “I’m going home now” still sends me.
The segment mainly focuses on establishing Star and Marco’s friendship, which I’d say it does really well. Star’s upbeat and friendly nature has her gravitate to Marco right away, but Marco’s desire to keep everything neat and tidy initially prevents him from wanting anything to do with her. Star herself is honestly impossible to get mad at here even if she does screw up a spell; her heart is always in the right place, and it keeps in mind the fact that she is still learning how her magic works. Meanwhile, it’s hard not to feel for Marco as his life is basically turned upside-down within a day. It’s a personality clashing that can make for both funny exchanges and interesting stories, and their first outing delivers both in spades.
I‘d also like to touch on Ludo briefly, since he’s going to make plenty more appearances as the show goes on. The reveal of him is quite humorous, starting off by teasing that he’s some large and menacing beast, only to reveal that he’s a very small and easy-to-defeat kind of villain that’s much more bark than bite. This kind of villain is honestly perfect for a first one; his exchanges with Star get across his pettiness in a very tongue-in-cheek manner, and his personality fits with the silly tone the show is going for. He’s a pretty pathetic villain when you get down to it, but that’s part of what makes him so funny.
No matter where the show goes from here, I can at least say that this was an overall solid start. It’s certainly not free of issues(the ones it does have are quite glaring when you really linger on them), but the energy, comedy, and characters at the heart of it are fun enough that I can forgive them a little. Things from here on out are certainly gonna be interesting.
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