Butt-Ugly Martians
Butt-Ugly Martians | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
When they said the Martians were butt-ugly, they weren't kidding...
| ||||||||||||||||
|
Butt-Ugly Martians is a British-American CGI animated series that aired on CITV in the UK and Nickelodeon in the US in 2001 in Canada, it premiered on Teletoon on September 4, 2001, and in the United States, it premiered on Nickelodeon on November 9. There were also three video games based on the series named Butt Ugly Martians: Zoom or Doom for PlayStation 2, Butt-Ugly Martians: B.K.M. Battles for Game Boy Advance, and Butt-Ugly Martians: Martian Boot Camp for PC. The franchise also had a toy line by Hasbro.
Plot
In the year 2053, three aliens named 2T, B-Bop, and Do-Wah came to Earth to become addicted to American culture. They are shown around by their Earthling friends: Mike, Cedric, and Angela. The Butt-Ugly Martians stay on Earth as long as Emperor Bog never finds them.
Why The Title Is Correct Indeed
- The show's CGI animation is incredibly cheap, dated, and horrendous, even for 2001 standards. The show's title could very well explain its quality.
- Nightmarish character designs (keep in mind, the CGI for this show was considered cheap and Butt-Ugly back in 2001).
- The acronym used in the show is B.K.M., which stands for Butt Kicking Mode, but an uninformed viewer wouldn't get that. Why use an acronym that has one different letter from the group's name? They likely made it B.K.M. because the acronym for Butt-Ugly Martians would've been B.U.M., a synonym for buttocks which is rather inappropriate for kids show, so it could be reasonable.
- The series has broken pacing within the episodes.
- The voice acting is terrible and wasted even from actors such as Charlie Schlatter, Rob Paulsen, and Jess Harnell with fake British accents and dialogue.
- The characters have as much depth as a puddle of split milk, as thanks to the fact they are all stereotypical it results in a lack of charisma.
- Story arches are made on the fly creating plot holes that could only be explained if everything ran simultaneously on different universes.
- Emperor Bog is a very paper-thin, uninteresting, and one-dimensional villain.
- The title itself is extremely unfunny and laughably inappropriate.
- Some moments can be very disturbing, sometimes too much for a children's show.
- Sequel bait ending: The series ends with Emperor Bog threatening to come to Earth and kill 2T, B-Bop, and Do-Wah for abandoning their mission to invade Earth, and the Butt-Uglies and Stoat Muldoon replying that they weren't scared and were willing to give it their all in the inevitable battle. But thanks to the show's cancellation, this wasn't resolved.
- The main purpose for the show to even exist, to begin with - it's marketing, was pretty much Just Entertainment's only focus and intention. The company cited the merchandise being more of a focus than the TV show itself, with a full-fledged toy line, a comic book series, junk food tie-ins, and much else.
- In fact, this focus was what pretty much ended the company itself, as low sales of the merchandise led to the Just Group filing for insolvency a year after the show premiered in the UK.
- Even then, Just Entertainment (later became Newscreen Media Group and Think Entertainment) was later accused of accounting fraud and other controversial business decisions, so it could be said that what went on behind the scenes at the parent company was a huge mess.
- In fact, this focus was what pretty much ended the company itself, as low sales of the merchandise led to the Just Group filing for insolvency a year after the show premiered in the UK.
Redeeming Qualities
- Despite the theme song having bad lyrics, it's somewhat catchy.
- The transformation scenes are nice to look at.
- The series slightly improved itself as Season 1 went on.
- Stoat Muldoon is the only likable character.
- Michael Ellis, Angela Young and Cedric Cyles can be tolerable.
Reception
Saberspark placed this at #2 on The Top 10 Worst Nickelodeon Shows despite not being a Nickelodeon original, and its theme song was placed at #4 on The Top 10 Worst Cartoon Intros.
Comments
- Bad media
- Bad shows
- 2000s programs
- Nickelodeon shows
- Canal+ shows
- American shows
- British shows
- Action shows
- Comedy shows
- Animated shows
- Science fiction shows
- Cancelled shows
- Short-lived shows
- Shows that lasted only one season
- CGI cartoons
- Obscure shows
- Unfunny shows
- Controversial shows
- Shows for everyone
- "It's made for kids"
- Aware of how bad they are
- Shows that ended on cliffhangers
- Shows that killed their studios