Pig Goat Banana Cricket

All of this just works. ― Todd Howard

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Pig Goat Banana Cricket
It's like Ren and Stimpy, but even more disgusting, and with significantly less charm.
Genre: Surreal comedy Running Time: 22 minutes Country: United States Mexico South Korea (Animation production) Release Date: July 16, 2015 - August 11, 2018 Network(s): Nickelodeon (Season 1) Nicktoons (Season 2) Created by: Dave Cooper Johnny Ryan Distributed by: ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks Starring: Matt L. Jones Candi Milo Thomas F. Wilson Paul Rugg Seasons: 2 Episodes: 40

Pig Goat Banana Cricket (also abbreviated as PGBC) is an American animated television series created by Dave Cooper and Johnny Ryan for Nickelodeon. The show follows the interwoven adventures of the titular quartet. It premiered on July 16, 2015, after the 2015 Kids' Choice Sports Awards.

Why It Went Through The Fudgepocalypse

1. This show's major problem that's impossible to ignore is the failed concept behind the "plot" of each episode, which tries to be interwoven but comes off as nonsensical, extremely confusing, and devoid of any direction at all. It doesn't help that all the episodes resort to reusing the same formula:
   • The members do something together, then separate and star in their sub-plots, and then reunite again in the end. One can easily forget about the previous sub-plot once a new one begins.
2. The title is not creative in any way, since it only uses the names of the main characters.
3. The theme song is very uncomfortable to listen to and basically consists of voices of random children shouting the names of the main characters while a piece of generic rock music plays in the background.
4. Overuse of toilet humor, which is already presented in the show's intro, which features the characters surfing on a wave of snot from a giant monster. In one episode, one of the main characters gets out of a dude's rectum, "Super Space Meatball" shows Cricket being eaten alive by a walrus, and Pig's subplot in "The Tooth of My True Love" is the worst offender.
5. The animation in Ánima Studios's episodes looks horrendous, mainly because it was animated in stiff flash animation.
6. Lazy name building and writing. For example, its four main titular characters are a pig named Pig, a goat named Goat, a sentient banana named Banana, and a cricket named Cricket.
   • Rubbing salt into the wound, the members barely show any useful utility to their distinctive attributes as different live beings in each episode, which destroys the purpose of having a Pig, a Goat, a Banana, and a Cricket going on surreal adventures together (they could be the same species of animals and the outcome wouldn't change at all).
7. Hideous art style, even though it's supposed to reference the 1930s cartoons like Fleischer Studios.
   • This also goes for the character designs, which look little to nothing like the animals (or fruit in Banana's case) they're based on. For example, Cricket looks more like a grasshopper or a mantis than an actual cricket (although Cricket originally was a mantis in the pilot episode).
8. Annoying voice acting, especially for Pig.
9. Almost all of the characters are either unlikable or annoying, like Goat's arch-nemesis Thomas Jefferson (who was created after a former president of the USA).
10. Dumb and nonsensical dialogue like Cricket saying: "Holy laser farts".

Redeeming Qualities

1. Yeson Entertainment's animation is quite good (like in the intro, for example) and Ánima Estudios, despite offering mediocre animation, at least did a better job than in their previous productions and show some (minor) improvement in later episodes.
2. The end credits theme is calm and relaxing, despite being totally out of place for the tone of the series.
3. Out of the main characters, Goat and Cricket are the most likable.
4. Unlike most Nickelodeon shows, the show at least tries to appeal to modern kids because of its silly humor (in fact the Mexican dub improves the dialogue surprisingly well, with puns and/or jokes that are funny).
   • An unexpected successful gross-out comedy and occasional funny moments are found too in some episodes (although not all the time).
5. *Though disgusting, the background design is very detailed, complex, and unique and easily stood out from other Nickelodeon shows for its time.
   • The title cards are cool as well, even if they just show one sub-plot and don't try to merge all sub-plots into one image.
6. While the failed interwoven stories concept persists in season 2, this is where the series improved, most notably thanks to the heavy downgrade of toilet humor and putting more focus on surrealism and general gross-out.
   • Speaking of which, some episodes (despite relying on the bad formula) are enjoyable and quite hilarious such as "Witness Protection Program", "Angry Old Raisin" and "Cow Duck Avocado Mantis" (one of the few Ánima episodes).
7. Before the series existed, there was a pilot episode that was much better and shows the potential that this concept had.
   • This show could have been a worthy spiritual successor of Ren and Stimpy if it wasn't because of the poor execution.

Reception

Upon the show's release, it was met with mixed-to-extremely negative reviews due to its gross-out humor and animation as it sits at a 3/10 on IMDb. Some people/viewers considered it to be one of the worst shows Nickelodeon made.

It has a 47% on Google, where otherwise bad Nicktoons like Fanboy & Chum Chum, Breadwinners, and even The Adventures of Kid Danger would get high ratings.

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