Pet Alien
Pet Alien was a short-lived 2005 French/American 3D television series created by Jeff Muncy, with its episodes being written by Dan Danko and direction done by Andrew Young. The show was also produced by Mike Young Productions, Taffy Entertainment, Antefilms Studios, and John Doze Studios. It aired on Cartoon Network, Qubo, and Kabillion in the US. The animation was done by India-based Crest Animation.
Plot
Tommy was like any other 12-year-old kid - smart, happy, and received good grades at school. However, his life eventually gets turned upside down when his lighthouse gets invaded by five aliens: Dinko, Gumpers, Swanky, Flip, and Scruffy. These aliens interfere with Tommy's life, often embarrassing him in public situations whether it be at school or in the streets. Besides all this, he still cares for his new pets and can easily get along with them.
Why It's All This Show's Fault Instead
- Misleading title: None of the aliens become household pets whatsoever.
- Cliched concept that has been done in many shows involving aliens and humans together.
- Fast-paced and ugly character designs, especially for the aliens.
- The show has a moderately mean-spirited tone with Tommy Caddle being the show's punching bag as he is constantly scapegoated, ostracized, and abused by the townspeople for the aliens' actions. And even when the people are blaming him for the aliens' shenanigans, they still unfairly treat Tommy as if they hate him just for existing.
- Major plotholes:
- Where are Tommy's parents? Do they even know that their son has extraterrestrial creatures as his pets and that he gets in trouble everywhere he goes because of them always having to mess up with him? In other words, why would they let a kid live all by himself in a lighthouse?
- Why does no one even notice that Dinko, Swanky, Gumpers, Scruffy and Flip are aliens? They´re not even wearing disguises which makes it easier for the humans to know they are aliens.
- Abhorrent voice acting, even from actors Charlie Schlatter (Kick Buttowski), Charlie Adler (Ed and Bev Bighead from Rocko's Modern Life, Buster Bunny from Tiny Toons Adventures, and T-Bone from SWAT Kats The Radical Squadron), Jess Harnell (Wakko from Animaniacs), and Candi Milo (Cheese from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and Ann Gora from SWAT Kats The Radical Squadron).
- The choice of having an African American accent on a white person and a Mexican one on another white person is horrifyingly offensive.
- Many episodes have very boring plots.
- Very annoying theme song. The season 2 theme song is even worse.
- Low production value: Some of the background characters have their models used for other characters.
Redeeming Qualities
- The CGI animation looks decent, even for 2005 standards.
- Tommy Caddle is a very likable and relatable protagonist.
- Some episodes are okay, like "Hammy of Earth!" which ended the series in the alright matter.
- Some funny moments.
- While annoying, the theme song is pretty catchy.
- The intro for the first season (French) is even catchier.
- The game based off this show for the Nintendo DS was pretty good.
Videos
Trivia
- Ray DeLaurentis would later work on Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! after Pet Alien was cancelled.
- Despite it not being an educational show, this show aired on the Brazilian educational channel Futura in the late 2000s.
Comments
- Bad media
- Bad shows
- 2000s programs
- Foreign programs
- American shows
- Animated shows
- Cancelled shows
- Sitcoms
- CGI cartoons
- Cartoon Network shows
- Shows for everyone
- Aware of how bad they are
- Shows that killed their studios
- Gross-out shows
- Alien shows
- Mean-spirited shows
- Comedy shows
- Obscure shows
- Unfunny shows
- Science fiction shows
- Redeemed shows
- Quantity over quality
- Shows that ended on cliffhangers
- Short-lived shows
- "It's made for kids"
- Canal+ shows
- French shows
- Gulli shows
- Misleading advertising on television
- Lost or partially found shows
- Qubo shows