Hey everyone. Welcome to Toony Tuesday!
Today, for this edition, we're taking a look inside the wide, wonderful, wondrous, wubulous, fantastic, Super-Duper Subterranean, amazing world of...Billy Dilley.
It’s Billy Dilley’s Super-Duper Subterranean Summer.
So...it’s the day of the science fair. You are suddenly paired up with Billy Dilley, a quirky and odd, yet brilliant student, and get to help him try out his experiment--a large vehicular experiment called the Cheesinator (which cuts holes into large wheels of cheese [don’t ask]). After a sudden strike of lightning--causing a surge of power to their school and through the plug(?) overpowering the machine, you, your classmate and Billy are sent through Earth and into its core.
What do you do?
-Go on the trip and enjoy the wonder?
-Say no and avoid him at all costs?
-Scream your head off?
-Choose to fail the grade instead?
The answer is All of the Above (in some ways).
Basically this series is Journey to the Center of the Earth meets SpongeBob SquarePants, Chowder and Schoolhouse Rock. And...I kinda really like it.
That's the story that kicks off this Disney XD series created by Aaron Springer. If you heard of him (mostly by seeing his name in the credits), you know how talented and well-versed he is in the television animation world. SpongeBob, Gravity Falls, Samurai Jack, and many others are a part of his legendary resume, so it's exciting and well deserved that he finally gets a series of his own; and in my opinion, it's really fun to watch.
There are a few parts of this I absolutely enjoy the heck out of:
The Animation
Like Chowder, the ink and paint work of this series definitely has some influences from 60s and especially 70s cartoons, like Schoolhouse Rock, the works of Sid and Marty Kroft and pretty much any other Hanna-Barbera production. And also like Chowder, it works to it's advantage to tell a wacky, colorful story with wacky, colorful characters in a wacky, colorful world. And as a fan all of these influences (and Chowder), I can certainly enjoy this a lot. And I do.
The writing also has some influences from the aforementioned 70s cartoons. If you’ve ever watched any of them, you can tell right away. Heck, the influence is so thick, you can probably taste it too.
The look and feel of this one may seem annoying and flat to some because of the who it's main character is and how he acts, and the writing can be cumbersome for how irritating. I understand, but in my opinion it’s not that way.
The three main characters are as stated:
Billy Dilley - odd and quirky, yet very smart.
Marsha - sweet and honest, if not a little flighty
and Zeke - an emo kid failing classes but passing in goofy
In the first episode “Lab Partners...Forever?”, Zeke and Marsha meet with Billy to try to pass science and move on with their lives. Billy sees them as potential friends, but they see otherwise--and figure they have nothing to lose. But thanks to the previously-mentioned freak accident, they now must band together in their new world, Subterranea-Tania, in the center of the Earth.
Our three heroes are very likable. They’re not outright mean, mischievous or psychotic, but rather nice, pretty smart, have little flaws and are very caring to one another (yes, even Zeke). Billy, especially, when he saves his new friends really makes you smile. Rare you see those nowadays, right? I love that some shows these days have kind, caring main characters while still having interesting and funny idiosyncrasies (see: Bunsen is a Beast and Harvey Beaks).
One thing that griped me was this: when I first watched this series, I couldn't stand Billy’s voice (he's voiced by creator Springer himself) and parts of his personality. He already had reminded me a bit of SpongeBob (between seasons 4-probably 8), Clarence (when Skyler Page voiced him) and maybe Uncle Grandpa at first. But some of his actions changed my opinion almost immediately and now I enjoy him as a character. However...
My favorite of the three at the moment Zeke: his snark, nonchalant behavior, awareness to the setting and plot and occasional goofiness makes him the main to watch so far. Billy and Marsha are great characters as well, but as memorable as Zeke, at least for me. Also, being voiced by the great Tom Kenny doesn’t hurt either.
Another aspect of this series is that--like fellow iconic modern-day Disney cartoons Phineas and Ferb and Gravity Falls--it takes place during the summer season. But unlike the former’s Danville and the latter’s titular Oregon town (although be it darn close), this actually takes place in a strange world close to Earth’s core. The goofiness, bright colorful animation, nice writing and funny characters are all here too.
Disney XD does it again.
This series is really good and worth a watch if you loved old 60s and 70s cartoons or whatever Aaron Springer worked on (which is a lot of cartoons we watched when we were kids). Please give this a like. But I will warn you, the theme song is veeeeery catchy...and it’ll be a while before it’ll get out of your head. Too bad we have until the Ducktales reboot (and boy that’ll be a travesty).
This has been my review of Billy Dilley’s Super-Duper Subterranean Summer.
And this has been Toony Tuesday.
Thanks for checking in, and I’ll catch you guys again next time.
I’m Andrew...and may the good toons be yours!
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