Problems With 101 DALMATIAN STREET

NOTE: This was originally posted in February 2020. 

Let's get this statement out of the way: I'm not feeling as passionate about "101 Dalmatian Street" as of late. Yeah, I guess this will come as a shocker to some people since I have been enthusiastic about this show for the past year. I've made several journals about "101 Dalmatian Street" where I've talked about the episodes. I've really enjoyed a lot of the characters, especially Da Vinci, Dolly, Summer, Dylan, and Dante. But I've got to be honest here folks. This show has sort of worn out its welcome a little bit, and therefore things have happened as far as the show is concerned that have made me less passionate about it.

Recently, the season finale episode, entitled "The Devil Wears Puppies" aired out in the UK, and it was revealed that Cruella De Vil would have a prominent role as the main villain. I think this is the biggest issue I have that has been holding me back from this series lately.  It is stated that the show is set 60 years after the original. All of the human characters and even the dogs themselves use modern technology like tablets, smartphones, and all that, which means that Cruella and the other characters in the original movie have LONG since passed on. So, why is Cruella still around if this show is supposed to be set in the 2020's and with all new characters? Especially after they've set Hunter De Vil up as the main villain since "The Nose Job". Even "London We Have A Problem" features some of these same huge continuity issues. In one scene, Dolly looks inside a window of the building where Hunter resides, and we learn of his evil plan to remove the Dalmatians from their home. Inside one of the windows is a picture of Pongo and Perdita, who are referred to as grandparents of the Dalmatian characters in this series. Seriously, what the fuck is going on? Why are we supposed to believe that Pongo and Perdita are the grandparents of Dolly and Dylan? It's been 60 years. They've probably had six or seven different generations since then, That would make Pongo and Perdita ancient ancestors to this Dalmatian family. And how is Cruella even in this universe? Is she some sort of eternal demon whose purpose is to torture these Dalmatians? If the creators of this show were intelligent enough to actually commit logic to their memories, they would have realized that Cruella would have long since perished, and if she was still alive, she wouldn't give a fuck about the Dalmatians anymore and she'd be in some nursing home playing Bingo every Saturday night with the other residents.

The only reason why Cruella is in this universe and is for cynical or asinine nostalgic reasons. "101 Dalmatians" is a much bigger property than people realize. You don't see it as much because much of what Disney promotes in modern times is "Frozen" merch, the Princesses, "The Lion King", and Pixar franchises. But, "101 Dalmatians" is still massive in its own right. There is a huge fanbase that is obsessed with these spotted canines. It has inspired two spinoff shows and three live action remakes (the most recent one, "Cruella", coming in May 2021). The original film made $144m at the box office, which translates to $914m in adjusted money. It is literally the 12th biggest American moneymaker of all time, and the second biggest of Disney's animated catalogue! Not even "The Lion King" and "Frozen" rank that high. So, there are obviously people who are nostalgic for the movie, and when they heard about this show, they got excited because of their love for the original movie. And instead of giving us a new plotline where it's these new characters versus a new villain, here we have them rehashing and shoehorning Cruella into this series because they know people would have a massive fanboy/girl fit due to their love for the original film. We have to have Pongo and Perdita play a role into this and incorrectly refer to them as grandparents. Hell, I wouldn't be shocked if in the second season we actually see an episode where Pongo and Perdita appear as characters. That would be the death sentence to this series in my opinion. Becauae if that did happen, it would only exist because people are so overexposed to nostalgia it's crazy. I'm not saying nostalgia is a bad thing, because that is far from the truth. But it doesn't need to affect stuff like this.

And the scenes I've seen from this episode are absolutely stupid. Of course we have to have reaction shots of the Triple D shrieking like stereotypical annoying girly characters who would be scared of their own shadows. Of coutse we have to have stupid and pointless scenes involving Cruella. And what's this? Hunter turns into a good guy at the end? So, what was the point of episodes like "The Nose Job" and "London We Have A Problem" anyway? Why have all that when you can make the fanbase jump up and down excited with Cruella being the main villain? This is why I am not passionate about this series as much as I was. They COULD have done something interesting. They COULD have made this a satisfying first season. But they had to give in to nostalgia. They had to be cynical and make an episode that makes you ask "Why the fuck am I watching this" repeatedly. Because there is no other answer than that.

In addition to that, thinking back to past episodes, some of them have not aged well at all. One example is "A Date With Destiny, Dallas, And Deja Vu". The third act of this episode sets up something intimidating and serious, and it's at least an episode where I can understand why The Triple D are liked by some people. They're about to parachute off a helicopter for a TV advertisement. Seems like it would be a scene that's easy to write without any distraction. NOPE. A flatulent noise is heard, which leads to one of the Triple D nervously saying that she isn't helicopter trained. So, the mood is ruined by the writer's need to include a stupid potty humor gag that they think would make five year olds laugh. "The Nose Job" has a scene where Dylan literally pisses on a lamppost after smelling it to find out who came to that tree before he did in order to "sign up" for the smell competition. "Long Tongue Day" is ruined by Big Fee passing gas at the end of it for no reason, and later in the atrocious episode "Don't Push Your Luck", we have several flatulent gross out gags such as Big Fee trying to sell a shit shovel for Dolly's skateboard competition. Even the first episode has a fucking bathroom gag where they're sitting outside of the bathroom waiting for the human pet to get done "drinking" from the bowl (which is actually a toilet), and then they discover that he was actually "marking his territory". Dolly then says "I'm never going near that drinking bowl again". There is an alarming amount of this awful material in this show that hurts these episodes, even though some of them are just fine.

I miss the days when cartoons were about telling a story with good characters, and they actually had entertaiment value. When cartoons didn't always have gross-out/bathroom/flatulence humor and actually stayed focused on the plot. It doesn't help that many of these instances of such humor in the show are spontaneous and have no place in the episode, which further proves that these episodes do not stay focused on the story they're trying to tell with these characters. To prove that this kind of humor can work and it can have some kind of context, take a look at "Fear Window". One scene involves Dolly looking out the window through Dylan's telescope, and she spots Constantin licking his rear end. An untalented writer would easily take this idea and make it lame and random, but what makes this scene work is that Dolly thinks that this is awkward, and is laughing hysterically at it, giving us some kind of payoff. This also works because it isn't a scene where they all of a sudden cut to it for no reason, and they don't go over the top or say anything absolutely stupid. That is sorely missing in "Long Tongue Day" and "A Date With Destiny". These scenes are only in these episodes because the writers desperately want children to laugh, but it doesn't work and even kids are not fooled by this shit. I would like to think that most kids would want to be entertained by something that has a good story and imagination to it. Maybe a little bit of potty humor is included, but at a limited rate and they don't hinder these episodes. They don't need to have an episode come to a halt in order for a fat rat with a pink mohawk to rip ass and make claim that it "came from the valise", along with other stupid jokes. 

Episodes like "Doggy Da Vinci", "May Contain Nuts", and "Fear Window" work because they stay focused on the plot. The characters are well written in these episodes and there is a lot of creativity and imagination and even thought-provoking stuff in the case of "Doggy Da Vinci". That episode is the best of this show in terms of storytelling, character, emotion, and tone. That is something I want to see more of in order for me to really be interested. I haven't seen many of the newer episodes after "Don't Push Your Luck", but I am willing to bet that some of these have that level of effort. It can't all go downhill. So, that's all I have to say really. I hope to get to some of the new episodes soon and I hope that the claims of it coming to Disney+ on February 28th are factual and not fake so I can see them in better quality. And keep in mind, I still enjoy this show. I really do. I am still looking forward to the next season of the show and I'm hoping that there will be some great episodes. But, in my opinion, this series was not meant to have Cruella De Vil. Or any episodes with bad humor. It was meant to be a new chapter of the Dalmatians' story.

What do you guys think? Am I crazy? Or do I have a point about all of this? Leave your thoughts in the comments below. Please feel free to enjoy my content on the Scamp4553 Deviantart account as well, including my lists, reviews, and series. Also, if you'd like to get a glimpse at all of the insanity that goes on outside of this site, check me out as Scamp4553 on Instagram and as SimbaKoda444 on YouTube. And of course, more content is coming your way soon. Take care.