Fillmore!

Fillmore! is, to be succinct, a totally awesome cartoon. As a 21-year-old male, it might be hard to believe I could be such an enthusiastic supporter of the show, but I am. I actually arranged my school schedule so I could see the show more often.

Fillmore! is about a cadre of safety patrol officers patrolling the hallways of X Middle School, Home of Lobstee The Lobster. Through hard work and detective skills, they always manage to catch the crook before a half an hour is up.

The show is hilarious. First and foremost is its tone, which never deviates from the gravity of the matter. Shredded petitions and pilfered robotic dogs are treated as serious as a homicide, and the detectives hit the beat in a middle school version of Law & Order. It never lets the characters know just how ridiculous the setup is, and plays fairly within their world.

Beyond that, the subtle jokes work wonders to add to the show's quality. A banner being put up reading "Hooray for Banner Club" or a group working together, becoming as solid as "Geodude using his harden attack" are just examples of how sublime the show can get.

This really is a great example of a show that everyone can enjoy. The animation is bright and vivid, the characters are all real with good motivations, and some of the plots will actually leave you guessing, which is refreshing for a show aimed at the younger set. Catch Fillmore! whenever you can.

Which of the great cartoons from the past decade (or rather, at least, it will be a decade since this cartoon premiered within a matter of a couple more years) have I been missing for as long as I had? I skipped this and missed out when it originally aired as part of the ABC Kids lineup. But thanks to the original member at Youtube who posted videos of all the episodes on that site, I was able to catch up on what I missed. But unfortunately, I never got around to finishing up them, so I only saw some of them and it seems that not only were those videos removed, but the poster's whole account seems to have been deleted. However, it now and has ever since become one of my favorite (or even most favorite) Disney animated t.v. series of not only the last decade, but of all time and shows in general, and I concur it's one of the best. I wish I had checked it out sooner, but viewing them on the video site made up for it. However, I would get to watch the rest once other members eventually posted the whole series.

Who says that a cartoon that's set in a school can't work because cartoons should be school-free considering kids are supposed to not have to worry about it and stress out over it until after the weekend has passed (which isn't exactly the show's focus), or that it can't still make for interesting t.v. because of that? It isn't really one of those educational shows if that's the case and the reason why some were anxious about it. Fillmore is the third Disney animated crime/mystery/suspense-based program (after Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers and Bonkers). Fillmore stars the eponymous, lead character, Cornelius Fillmore, a street-smart black boy and Ingrid Third, a goth girl with a photographic memory, both of whom came from previously troubled backgrounds. But they'd turn their lives around once they both joined the safety patrol. It's a crime/mystery/suspense show in a junior high setting. I like how they met and came together, as seen in one episode when the latter transferred to X. Fillmore and Ingrid have such great chemistry as partners in crime solving and stopping, and they make for another of the best crime fighting duos in history. Among the things that makes this show great and work so well, and how, and why so. There's also some humorous moments in there, references or hints to other crime/mystery programs like Dragnet, it has action, etc. I don't think I've ever even seen Dragnet until a while back for the first time on Antenna TV, but I've heard of it. I get Fillmore's catch-phrase of "disco", having the '70s connection, but not Ingrid's ("crackers"). This is grade A, top-notch entertainment here. Don't make the mistake and pass on this like I did. I don't get how anyone could not feel this show, because it's got it all. Well, okay, so there were those moments in which things got too serious, but that's why the comic relief provided by O'Farrell was included. I, too, consider this to be one of the better animated t.v. shows by Disney. It deserves a longer run than it got as I can see it now and to be brought to DVD already. Presently, I wish it had lasted longer, it's another one of the greats that had so much potential. Since it didn't get far enough and Disney dropped it too soon (dern it and dern them for dropping it, horse-feathers), I can't help wondering what it would've been like and what more cases there could've been had it continued after the second season, who else would've/could've guest starred and more. And since seeing the whole series, it has left me yearning for more badly. Here's something I thought about: There's almost a great chance this would've ran longer if it didn't air on Saturdays and was a part of a weekday afternoon block similar to the Disney Afternoon instead. I wish that had been the case since thinking about that. Weekday afternoon airings mean more episode orders and a better chance at longer runs. But then again, that's almost a plausible guarantee. Quack Pack was originally a part of the Disney Afternoon and it got dropped after 39 episodes. Couldn't put this on the Disney Afternoon, since it became defunct a few years before Fillmore came along (unless someone allowed it to be revived or replaced). How great that would've been and I would've loved to see the series continue it's airings that way. Who knows if a whole, longer series would've aired on there exclusively or mostly (with some episodes airing on Saturdays on ABC, like what Disney did with Darkwing Duck). I wish this ran for as long as or longer than Rescue Rangers and Bonkers. If only, what more there could've been. General audiences can relate and I like how it expanded beyond the youth demographic. Quite intelligent and, I guess, sophisticated would be the other word to describe this show, both of which are enough for older audiences on their level but it has the usual fare to keep the kids engaged as well, so there's an equilibrium. Recommended and not to be skipped, because it's really worthy of so much more and worth your time. Everything that could and would make for a very interesting show. I looked up Scott Gimple on Wikipedia to see if he had any new, upcoming projects in the future, but it doesn't seem to be so. I wish he'd come out with more ideas to save some of us viewers from the majority of shows these days, which are whack, and hope he has more great shows up his sleeve, and I'd be intrigued to see more from him or by him. Please, Mr. Gimple. Come up with more, I know you can do it again.

Disney's Fillmore! is a wonderfully written cartoon series, spoofing the 70s cop show genre. Set in X Middle School, the show's main character is Cornelius Fillmore - a former juvenile delinquent turned safety patroller. Fillmore is ably assisted by his partner Ingrid Third, a sardonic genius with an eidetic memory. The show slyly pastiches all manner of generic clichés: the duo ultimately report into school principal Folsom, a politician-type obsessed with her own image; Fillmore himself is the maverick detective, who breaks the rules to get what's done, while Third is his rational, Scully-esquire partner. And the movie and cultural references flow thick and fast - in one episode Fillmore and Third rely on help from a Hannibal Lecter-like graffiti artist. In another, they go undercover to infiltrate a scooter-thief gang with a task very similar to Gone In 60 Seconds.

Fillmore! only lasted two seasons before cancellation, and while the quality of the show is apparent, it is also easy to see why it didn't get renewed. This is a kids show, but the best aspects of the writing are probably too obscure to hit their targets, many of who will not even be aware that the show is supposed to be a spoof. As an adult, it is easy to appreciate the subtle humour, but the show isn't mature enough to appeal fully to adults.

As well as being notable for all of its main characters being named after names and places in California (Fillmore and Third, Folsom, Vallejo), "Fillmore!" basically takes the cop show and transfers it to school even more so than "21 Jump Street" and "The Mod Squad" did - on those shows the enforcers came in from the outside, here the school is self-enforcing, with our heroes Cornelius Fillmore and Ingrid Third as a team working as part of the Safety Patrol for X Middle School, an institution for learning that seems to be crammed full of miscreants from the evidence here, from simple bullies to forgery, robbery, etc.

Like "Police Squad!" and "Funky Squad," "Fillmore!" is in the mold of 1970s shows, here complete with a Quinn Martin-type gravel-voiced announcer ("Today's episode: 'Masterstroke Of Malevolence'! Act One: 'A Broken Masterpiece'!" For some reason the act titles appear on screen, but the overall episode titles never do...), bosses constantly leaping down our heroes' throats, and the kind of theme tune that cop shows today wouldn't go near. All of this just adds to the fun for adults watching, but "Fillmore!" doesn't go overboard with the grown-up references - it knows who its main audience is, and it hits it fair and square. It's a cliche, but this really is fun for all the family... I'm willing to bet that the movie version of "S.W.A.T." won't be half as good.

"Fillmore! I'm on it!"

This show probably would be funny on it's own, but as a kid growing up in the 70s and Quinn Martin Productions, this show is hilarious. From the onslaught of punnery to the running sports team jokes (X middle school never had a basketball or football team, but I do remember them in a Bocci ball field and miniature golf tournament). It was the tongue-in- cheek detail (a papier-mache volcano in the science fair named Mt. Cliché) as well as the mock seriousness of the crime that really made the show so enjoyable. It even had a killer opening montage, closing with unmanned bikes flying over a cliff ala Mannix.

The characters are great, every fundamental of a 70x cop show was met with certain beautiful overkill, Chief (no-first-name) Vallejo, as well as the forensic and investigative members with the comic relief (a cartoon with a comic relief character) of O'Farrell. It even had mayor in the principal of X Middle School voiced by Wendy Malick. I loved her on this show, her biting, witty threats were hilarious.

If anyone ever finds out this show is being released on DVD, iTunes or Google, please let me know. Or if you can find Scott Gimple's email addy. I just want to tell him how much I enjoyed his work and how can I get it.