Channel Chasers (23 Jul. 2004)

The movie starts in a dystopian future reminiscent of THE TERMINATOR(or at the very least the first Kim Possible TV-Movie), then upon returning to the present, stirs up the debate over the effect of television on kids' behavior with Chet Ubetcha(Jim Ward)echoing the party line from anti-media zealots. Of course when you've got fairy godparents, you can imitate things on television that other kids can't. You can also get in trouble for them, like other kids do, and Timmy Turner(Tara Strong) does. Anyone who's familiar with FOP knows Timmy just wants the enjoyable childhood he thinks other kids are having, rather than the down-trodden one he has, which would've made me want to grow up as quickly as possible, and smash some mean adults and bullies along the way. Speaking of growing up, during his punishment, Cosmo & Wanda end up revealing that when Timmy does so, he'll not only not need them anymore, he'll forget they even existed. Since not even Cosmo and Wanda can keep him from suffering through the torment of Vicki without his wishes backfiring on him, he decides he's better off using a magical remote control and running away to television, where he thinks adult and adolescent supervision aren't an issue. While hiding in an imitation of "Jonny Quest," Vicki trashes the Turner household and blames Timmy for her evil deeds knowing his parents will punish him. When he tries and fails to prove his innocence, and Vicky's evil ways, they don't believe him, and make the fatal mistake of giving her his magic remote. At this point he decides that television is the place to stay for life, and wishes for another magic remote so he can do just that. In the meantime a mysterious figure from that opening future scene does everything he can to try to convince Timmy to surrender his magic remote control. And once he realizes this mysterious stranger isn't just another mean adult who wants to boss him around, he learns that he shares a common cause with this stranger... they both need to defeat Vicky so she can't take over the world, and they're both the same person.

Along the way, Timmy's yet-to-be-named parents try to find him, and find out that Vicky IS evil, but aren't entirely sure what they can do about her. We also get to see the continuing plot line of Vicky's nerdy little sister Tootie, who feels exactly the opposite way about Timmy, and takes direct action to expose her big sis to vindicate the boy she loves, by imitating a much more mysterious character from "All the President's Men"(1977). Besides the romantic angle of Tootie's mad crush on Timmy, one of the things that make this so great is that the non-stop parodies cover material for both kids and adults that span at least four generations. Watching this movie, I got a sense that Butch Hartman grew up watching the same television that I did, including cartoons that were made before I was born, and thus before Nickelodeon's core audience was born. The shows being spoofed are so obvious, a ten-year-old could write them, which is fine since it's target audience is around the same age as the main character. They even step into live-action a couple of times. Be sure to listen to the dialogue during the Tom & Jerry parody which revives the subject of cartoons influencing kid's behavior in a way that Action for Children's Television and similar groups may not want to hear.

Two important lessons can be found here; 1)The adults on television are probably not as cool as they look, and 2)Do NOT get an angst-filled ten-year-old with fairy godparents mad at you, or else you'll know how those who tormented Carrie White felt before she made them regret it! I've got to admit, I really felt Timmy's pain when he lost the adult version of himself he thought was so cool. I can barely keep myself from choking up when I read the memorable quotes section on this very page. And the ending(which I won't reveal), while not entirely identical to "Abra-Catastrophe," is just as touching, and just as mixed in it's outcome and mood.