Jimmy e Timmy: O Confrronto

Crossovers are nothing new to television. In the early '60's there were crossover episodes of "Dr. Kildare" with "The Eleventh Hour." Often they're mistaken as spin-offs like "Hello Larry" when it had crossovers with "Diff'rent Strokes" or "Wings" was when it had a crossover episode with "Cheers." Both NBC and ABC had days dedicated to crossover programs. Some are quite unique like an episode of the animated version of "The Mask" which crossed over with an animated version of "Ace Ventura; Pet Detective," which occurred only because Jim Carrey played the live-action counterparts both shows spun-off from. This is not the first time Nickelodeon has had any of their shows crossover either, but it may be the best, and not just because of the surprising combination of standard 2-D & computer-generated 3-D animation.

Timmy Turner has no project ready for the upcoming Dimmsdale Elementary Science Fair, and is desperately seeking a passing grade. Having fairy godparents, he wishes for the best lab in town. Unfortunately that lab happens to be A.J.'s lab, which is obviously cheating, so he decides to go further...for the best lab in the universe. No, not Brookhaven National Lab, or the Mayo Clinic, or even the old RCA Transmission Base in Rocky Point, L.I., N.Y., but the lab of Jimmy Neutron. If you've ever heard the song "21st Century Digital Boy," by Bad Religion, you'll see a prime example when Timmy Turner goes to Retroville. Any of those previously mentioned labs would mesmerize and baffle him just as much as Jimmy's, but even with all these wonderful ideas for a project all he can do is put a violent video game into a computer tuning up Jimmy's cyber-pooch Goddard, and turning him into a monster.

Both are mistaken for one another when they enter Dimmsdale and Retroville, but Cindy is the first one in Retroville who knows that Timmy's not Jimmy. Jimmy's not as lucky, because the only people in Dimmsdale who eventually find out that he's not Timmy are Cosmo and Wanda, and they're lucky enough that he thinks they're super-intelligent holograms. Only when Cindy helps Timmy turn Goddard back to normal, and Mr. Crocker takes over Fairy World does the truth about the two boys come out. Mr. Crocker's conquest of Fairy World is not as Wagnerian as his previous global takeover in "Abra-Catastrophe," but Timmy's attempts to get Jimmy to stop Crocker prove almost as difficult at first. Fortunately, Timmy appeals to Jimmy's fondness for Goddard to bring out the empathy in him that we love, and which will be displayed in "Win Lose and Kaboom" later that summer.

I've already said too much, and I'm not going to reveal anymore than the first reviewer has. If you can't catch this special in reruns, I recommend either renting or buying the DVD.

I must point out that unlike most viewers of the Fairly Odd Parents, I am an adult and am not ashamed to admit I like the show. Thanks to clever writing and unusually good stories with likable characters, this is one kids' show that parents can not just tolerate but enjoy. Heck, I think I know more about this show than most of my students I teach--it's just a neat show that doesn't insult the audience's intelligence.

There is an expression many of you have probably heard about TV shows. It's called "jumping the shark". That's when you have a show that has been successful and executives at the network make an insane decision to seriously alter the show's chemistry because they fear that ratings will fall. In other words, it's an insane decision to mess with a great formula in the hopes that it will keep the show popular. In most every case, it only makes the downward spiral worse!! The phrase refers to the episode on "Happy Days" when Fonzie uncharacteristically jumped over a shark tank on his motorcycle--and it spelled the end of the series. On "The Brady Bunch" it was the introduction of 'Cousin Oliver' and on "The Partridge Family" it was in introduction of a supposedly cute little neighbor kid (who was even more nauseating than Cousin Oliver).

In the case of "The Fairly Odd Parents", the show has actually "jumped the shark" on repeated occasions--a real rarity for a TV show. The JIMMY TIMMY POWER HOUR was the first time, though repeated Jimmy Neutron/Timmy Turner crossovers have since occurred AND they also made a musical (SCHOOL'S OUT) AND have introduced a Fairly Odd baby--which leads you to wonder how many times the big-wigs at Nickelodeon can mess with this series until there are no fans left or the show is so different from what fans love that there is no longer interest!! As for the JIMMY TIMMY POWER HOUR, it's initially a clever idea but that's all. The original formula is naturally destroyed and the show is painful and unfunny--a show parents would be loathe to watch again! I know I sure was.

Since I'm a big fan of both Nickelodeon shows FAIRLY ODDPARENTS and JIMMY NEUTRON, I was anxious to hear that a special was in the works pairing the two show's universes together! Having talked with JN creator John A. Davis (who, like me, is a big Godzilla fan), he told me that I would really love the special, and that it was "really freaky!"

I watched it on the night of its premiere (May 7th), and I thought it really rocked! I consider this to be just as great as the FOP movie, ABRA CATASTROPHE! This was a really wild and entertaining special. FOP and JN were two shows worthy of being connected (and had Cartoon Network allowed it, I would love to see FOP crossed over with another favorite show, THE POWERPUFF GIRLS!).

In this special, the two shows' main characters, Timmy Turner and Jimmy Neutron, switch places and end up in each others' universe, with Timmy rendered in 3D, and Jimmy in 2D! In many other reviews, I hear people complaining about how creepy Timmy looked in 3D, but to be perfectly honest, I thought he looked absolutely adorable! And O/DNA Productions did an excellent job realizing the 2D Timmy into 3D! (Kinda' makes you wonder what would happen if FOP were completely converted into 3D) Jimmy, meanwhile, is rendered into FOP creator Butch Hartman's wild & wacky 2D style! And the result is as funny as you'd expect FOP to be. When Jimmy becomes aware of his proportions in the FOP universe, the staff really pokes fun at 2D in a hilarious way that doesn't take itself too seriously (unless maybe you're a die-hard 2D fan)! But this proves that even with the advent of 3D, 2D certainly isn't going away forever.

Other things I liked were Timmy's romance with Jimmy's friend/rival Cindy Vortex (much to the disgust of Jimmy's best friends Sheen Estabez and Carl Wheezer, and Cindy's friend Libby Fallfax). Those two were meant for each other (although I still like Timmy's other love interests, like Tootie, Veronica and Trixie Tang). And Timmy's friends/enemies actually mistake Jimmy for Timmy (which I'll go more into in the plot summary)! Jimmy's pet robot dog Goddard turns into a giant killer robot that looks like the 1993 version of Mechagodzilla! The story is definitely loaded with references to both shows! Oh, did I mention that Cosmo and Wanda are still as silly as ever?

And now, the plot: Timmy Turner has to compete in the Dimmsdale Science Fair at school, but he never did his own project, and the most likely winner is his pal AJ Ibrahim (who, oddly, is really cruel to Timmy in this special)! Timmy is tired of being a slacker playing video games, so with the help of his wacky Fairy Godparents Cosmo and Wanda, he wishes himself into "the greatest lab in the universe," (while both fairies go to Hawaii) and guess where he ends up! In Retroville! And in 3D, no less! He plays around in the secret lab of Jimmy Neutron, who is at work upgrading his robot dog Goddard with a CD-ROM program he did. He finds Timmy, and the two have an argument, in which Timmy gets distracted, and Jimmy finds his "Poofer Pen," which Cosmo and Wanda gave to Timmy to "poof" him back into his room, which is exactly what Jimmy does, and in *2D* no less! Looking around, Timmy mistakes the upgrading Goddard for a game system, and replaces the upgrade CD with a disc of his favorite game, "Decimator." He then meets Carl and Sheen, who mistake him for a "Small Headed Jimmy," and have fun with Jimmy's inventions (and even hypnotize Jimmy's mother Judy into thinking she's Timmy's Mom's alter-ego, Mighty Mom!). And he runs into Libby and Cindy, the latter falls madly in love with Timmy and vice versa! But at the same time, Goddard turns into a rampaging robot (the Decimator from Timmy's game disc) that increases in size each time it defeats the nearest "player" it finds (including Jimmy's dad Hugh)! Can Timmy, Cindy and the others defeat the Decimator before it destroys Retroville?

And meanwhile, over over at Dimmsdale, the now-2D Jimmy is freaked out over his new surroundings, and Cosmo & Wanda, back from Hawaii, greet him with panic! To their relief, Jimmy mistakes the fairies for "computer programs," and goes through the same everyday pain that poor Timmy experiences (while Timmy is blissfully having the time of his life over at Retroville). All of Timmy's friends & foes (even AJ) mistake Jimmy for Timmy (because of one of Timmy's rare tendencies to evade school by playing other characters), even his crazed, evil teacher Mr. Denzel Crocker (who wants to discover fairies so that he can take over the world, as usual)! But when Jimmy unwittingly shows off Timmy's Poofer Pen in class, the insane Mr. Crocker suspects him, and even plots to invade Fairy World via Timmy's Poofer! Will Mr. Crocker carry out his evil scheme?

And will Timmy and Jimmy make it back to each other's worlds?

I won't spoil it for you! You've got to WATCH the special for the answer (It's readily available on DVD, 3 days after its TV premiere)! And the ending is really cool!

In summary, this special rocks! An hour's worth of fast-paced fun and excitement!

I think we are all on Timmy's side, right? Also one of the best crossovers ever put on screen.