Pecola

Pecola
What happens when you mix Pingu, Little Bill and Minecraft (despite Minecraft coming out after this show ended), but remove what made them enjoyable in the first place?
Genre: CGI series Running Time: 23 minutes (two 11-minute episodes per timeslot) Country: Japan Canada Release Date: September 3, 2001 – September 18, 2002 Network(s): Qubo (United States) Teletoon (Canada) TV Tokyo (Japan) Created by: Naomi Iwata Distributed by: Nelvana Seasons: 2 Episodes: 26

Pecola (Japanese: ペコラ) is a 3D Japanese-Canadian children's television animated series that stars cube-shaped anthropomorphic animals in a place called Cube Town. It is based on the franchise by Naomi Iwata.

The series first aired on Teletoon on September 3, 2001, and ended on September 18, 2002. The series also aired on Cartoon Network in the United States in 2003 and later aired on Qubo from 2007 to 2020. The series has also aired on TV Tokyo in Japan from October 6, 2002, to March 30, 2003.

Premise

The show stars Pecola, a curious and hyperactive penguin who tries to help the people of Cube Town but often wreaks havoc instead. Pecola is an orphaned penguin who lives with Pecolius, his grandfather. Cube Town is a small, isolated coastal village that contains an art museum, a beach, a lighthouse, and a canal. It is located adjacent to Crescent Bay surrounded by the Rookery Mountains coastal range and serviced by regular ships (including a weekly freighter) which deliver mail, food, and other supplies, as well as occasional tourists from nearby metropolises named Cubic City. The heights above it lead into Glacier Valley which is snowbound even during summer.

Bad Qualities

1. While not entirely a rip off, the show steals some ideas from other kids' shows like Pingu and Rolie Polie Olie.
   • Speaking of Pingu, the both shows have mostly the same formula: a troublemaker penguin who lives with his parents and has strange adventures alone or with his friends.
2. The intro mentions that "All the World is Square" which is not even true. It's trying to convince viewers that everything and everyone on this planet is square, which is wrong.
3. Terrible and outdated CGI animation that looks like an early sixth generation console game, even for 2001 standards, as it is on par with The Shapies.
   • The fact that the series is animated by Nelvana, the studio that also worked on Donkey Kong Country, doesn’t help either.
4. Most of the characters are unlikable and have generic personalities.
   • Pecola is very unlikable and is a bad role model to kids as he teaches them to cause trouble when they're helping people. He also pulls pranks on people which doesn't help at all.
     • In Hurricane Pecola, Pecola tries to unleash a literal hurricane to the entire town.
   • Coco, who is Pecola’s sister, is careless to her brother and sings very badly.
   • Rudy is extremely unlikable to everyone around him, and always brag a lot. He is at his worst in Monster Moth, The Cube Town Tri-Brag-a-Thon, Robo-Rudy, and Yo! Pecola.
   • Robbie is a punching bag in this show.
   • The citizens are not likable at all, as they sometimes dislike Pecola. They’re at their worst in Double Troubles, Melancholy Pecola, and Pecola’s Penguin Special.
   • Mr. Saruyama is the main punching bag of this show, as he is a victim of Pecola’s antics. He’s also a crybaby, which shows that he’s immature.
   • Robo-Pecola is an unnecessary character (a robot version of Pecola) who always wreaks havoc just like Pecola, except even worse and harmful. He also gets Pecola blamed for Robo-Pecola’s actions, even though he is the fault for causing much of the mayhem. He is at his worst in Double Troubles, Bot and Switch, and Robo-Rudy.
   • Pecolius is a pretty bland and dull grandfather of Pecola and is not aware of his grandson’s actions.
     • Not helping, he only often tells his grandson to stay out of trouble, which isn't entirely good enough for a lecture. Either if he lacks experience in raising, advising, and/or even disciplining his grandchildren or if he's often carried away and focused on his exploring business, these can be the results of his oblivious behavior.
5. In the episode of Double Troubles, it is not a decent way to begin the show.
6. As mentioned before, Pecola would always wreak havoc when he's trying to help people. This may cause kids who watch the show to do the same.
7. Some plotholes like how Pecola became an orphan, and how the people in the show are square.
   • In other words, it was never explained if Pecola and Coco's parents are dead or if they're missing or not present (as if they are somewhere far away).
8. There are also bad lessons in some of the episodes.
9. Bizarre plots and concepts.
   • In "High and Dry", there's a cloud that follows Pecola, and sometimes it rains on him. Later, it becomes Pecola's friend.
   • In "Coco's Concert", Coco sings so loudly and badly that it breaks and shatters objects and property. It even went as far as breaking a window of a lighthouse.
   • Pecola, Chewy, and Rudy have a crush on Steamer, who is older than they are, as they are underaged, which makes this very weird and wrong.

Good Qualities

1. The theme song itself is pretty catchy.
2. Several decent character designs.
3. Some episodes are good.
4. Amazing and wholesome theme in the intro of the Japanese dub of the show.

Reception

It has a 5.4/10 on IMDb.

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