My expectations were mixed on first watch for "Cute Little Alienhead". Absolutely adore Brain and still love 'Pinky and the Brain' and 'Tiny Toon Adventures'. Brain's plan here did sound interesting and conceptually is one of his better ones on 'Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain'. Did worry that the execution would be too childish and cutesy, as that was the case with the previous episodes of the show (a short lived one for good reason) and Elmyra having a major role in any episode already rings alarm bells.
"Cute Little Alienhead" is pretty much the same through young adult eyes, but is actually even worse as there are more flaws apparent and the flaws that were noticed even as a child are even bigger now. The concept did intrigue a little, but "Cute Little Alienhead" does very little with it, what could have been quite mature ends up too dumbed down, on the wrong side of too cute and anybody who already disliked Elmyra will find that this does nothing to change your mind. If anything the dislike will turn into intense hate.
A few good things can be seen here. Brain is very entertaining and wonderfully deadpan, the show on the most part was a disaster when it came to character writing and interaction but somehow managed to get Brain spot on. It was a genius move having Maurice LaMarche back and he voices Brain perfectly.
Some of the animation is also not bad and has moments of imagination.
When it comes to the praise for "Cute Little Alienhead" that is pretty much it. Pinky is completely wasted and is both bland and too dim-witted, he pretty much could have easily not been in the episode and nobody would have noticed. Rudy, who also adds nothing, and Shad also don't have an awful lot of personality and Shad doesn't really connect with anybody in chemistry (even Brain, he was just..there). The character that comes off worst and pretty much ruins the episode is Elmyra, not only are once again her character flaws completely overblown to childish and mean-spirited effect she also comes over as a literal psychopath in a way that she didn't quite as much before. With her being over-used, this is a big problem and it makes the viewer question the target audience, one of the biggest crimes an animated show can committ in my view.
Despite some moments, the animation tends to lack polish and vibrancy. There is nothing dynamic or infectious about the music and the theme song has always grated. The character chemistry all round is not just disconnected and not there, it doesn't make much sense. There is nothing funny or sophisticated here in the writing, it's too cutesy, over-simplified, juvenile and even kids will feel dumb listening to Elmyra's dialogue. Did like the idea for the story, but it managed to be very predictable and like the writing overly simple and completely lacking in imagination. There's just nothing to it.
In conclusion, pretty poor. 3/10.
"Cute Little Alienhead" is pretty much the same through young adult eyes, but is actually even worse as there are more flaws apparent and the flaws that were noticed even as a child are even bigger now. The concept did intrigue a little, but "Cute Little Alienhead" does very little with it, what could have been quite mature ends up too dumbed down, on the wrong side of too cute and anybody who already disliked Elmyra will find that this does nothing to change your mind. If anything the dislike will turn into intense hate.
A few good things can be seen here. Brain is very entertaining and wonderfully deadpan, the show on the most part was a disaster when it came to character writing and interaction but somehow managed to get Brain spot on. It was a genius move having Maurice LaMarche back and he voices Brain perfectly.
Some of the animation is also not bad and has moments of imagination.
When it comes to the praise for "Cute Little Alienhead" that is pretty much it. Pinky is completely wasted and is both bland and too dim-witted, he pretty much could have easily not been in the episode and nobody would have noticed. Rudy, who also adds nothing, and Shad also don't have an awful lot of personality and Shad doesn't really connect with anybody in chemistry (even Brain, he was just..there). The character that comes off worst and pretty much ruins the episode is Elmyra, not only are once again her character flaws completely overblown to childish and mean-spirited effect she also comes over as a literal psychopath in a way that she didn't quite as much before. With her being over-used, this is a big problem and it makes the viewer question the target audience, one of the biggest crimes an animated show can committ in my view.
Despite some moments, the animation tends to lack polish and vibrancy. There is nothing dynamic or infectious about the music and the theme song has always grated. The character chemistry all round is not just disconnected and not there, it doesn't make much sense. There is nothing funny or sophisticated here in the writing, it's too cutesy, over-simplified, juvenile and even kids will feel dumb listening to Elmyra's dialogue. Did like the idea for the story, but it managed to be very predictable and like the writing overly simple and completely lacking in imagination. There's just nothing to it.
In conclusion, pretty poor. 3/10.