i've got a full bladder have an idea where i'm going it's tuesday and i'm wearing sunglasses
get out of here
the year is 2004. it was a friday night 7 30 to be exact and the three-part premiere of foster's
home for imaginary friends would air on cartoon network and i would not be around thanks to
karate practice when i returned home my mother had recorded the premiere on vhs for me to watch later
back when dvrs weren't really a thing and no one knew what streaming was i had been pretty excited
to see this new show that cartoon network was promoting like crazy so my disappointment for
missing it was quickly washed away with that one tape when i got home i got to experience
what would be the biggest cartoon on the network breaking its viewership record so today i wanted
to look back on a show i re-binged through this year and holds a special place in my heart
welcome back or hello for the first time to the 25 days of fringe miss where i cover something
interesting nostalgic or holiday related every day from the first of december to the 25th in
order to find that holiday spirit i lost nearly a decade ago so if you want to be part of this
daily journey and help me find that good old jolly joy subscribe and come aboard
in the world of foster's home for imaginary friends imaginary friends become real taking
tenable physical forms as soon as a child imagines them when said child becomes too old for their
imaginary friend that friend goes to fosters an orphanage for abandoned imaginary friends where
they will be cared for until they're adopted by a new child each episode focuses primarily on blue
a cool smart talky mischievous blue imaginary friend and his child creator mac a smart but
cautious eight-year-old boy foster's debuted with that 90-minute three-part straight-to-tv
film i mentioned which introduced blue mac and the concept of imaginary friends along with the home's
lovable but mischievous founder madam foster the person who owns and runs the foster house there's
also madame foster's granddaughter frankie who is delegated to chores and keeping up with affairs
around the house as well as adoption business when it comes to that and madam foster's own childhood
imaginary friend mr harryman a fluffy but strict business manager in this 90 minute pilot mack is
told by his mother that he is too old to have an imaginary friend and it is time to get rid of blue
mac and blue not wanting to be split up stumble across an advertisement for foster's home the duo
decide to strike a deal with madame foster and mr harryman where blue can live at the house without
being adopted as long as mack visits him every day promptly by 3 pm the plots of individual
episodes of fosters were normally driven by blue and max wild escapades in and around the home
with a colorful literally and metaphorically cast of imaginary friends that also live in the house
often joining them in the hijinks these imaginary friends include characters like wilt a tall thin
friendly red basketball playing friend inspired by wilt chamberlain wilt was the imaginary friend
of jordan michaels a parody on michael jordan's name there's eduardo a timid latin american purple
monster who was the imaginary friend of a young girl who wanted to feel protected in her dangerous
neighborhood but he's the exact opposite of his looks but eduardo is a shy timid creature and coco
a mysterious palm tree-haired bird who only ever says her name and was capable of laying plastic
eggs with anything inside of them canotically coco was found on the south pacific islands and no one
really knows who first imagined her maybe someone who was hit in the head with a coconut i apologize
for that joke please stay just a little joke just a little joke yeah just a little joke well i'm
not laughing well it's kind of the truth after the show we found out this information so i don't know
ah great you're still here foster's home for imaginary friends was created by craig mccracken
who was the creator of powerpuff girls and later on after adopting some beautiful dogs into his
life with his at the time fiance spawned the concept of a show about adoption but in the form
of imaginary friends the first thing that presents itself here is the specific look of the show one
that would stand out more so than what craig had worked on before according to mccracken the art
style of fosters was supposed to be reminiscent of the period of late 60s psychedelic when victorian
styles were coming into trippy poster designs craig specifically wanted the music in the show
to reflect those looks and fuse it together making a vibe described as psychedelic ragtime
thanks to james venable who had worked with craig previously on the powerpuff girls would
bring these vibes directly to the show's theme song which perfectly blends that described sound
throughout the show james would work with jennifer remington to continue this sound for the overall
score mccracken has been well revered for his work both on foster's home for imaginary friends and
his other projects over the years with him being quoted as one of the most successful
creators of episodic comedy cartoons and his style being at the forefront of a second wave of
innovative creative driven television animation nowadays mccracken and his work is credited as
a staple of animated american 90s television but how does this show go above and beyond to
establish a certain tonality through its character development and visuals well if you watch the show
there's a reason why you remember it so well specifically the characters let's start with
eduardo a large terrifying looking monster with large horns a skull belt from 2000's hot topic
in razor sharp teeth who would actually be scared of literally everything and was in most cases shy
and would be the first to leave any conflict any way he could wilt a 10 foot tall athlete
who barely ever fits into frame causing him to sit down to lower himself towards everyone he has an
eye and arm that are both a bit messed up making his design unique and harder to describe overall
he has a nice personality who never says anything without ending it with the question of if that's
okay or i'm sorry coco is well coco but blue however having a very simple design compared to
every other friend in the house but somehow stands out the most because of it and the fact that he's
the loudest and the most defined personality we follow if you didn't catch that look at these
characters and then understand who they are there is not one imaginary friend that fits who they are
physically they are the opposites for the most part of what you would and could expect them to be
defying those expectations making them more unique along with backstories to dive deeper into their
origins eduardo meant to protect and be menacing is the opposite of all that wilt feeling not good
enough for his creator jordan michael after saving him in a game of basketball which resulted in wilt
taking damage to his body literally losing most of his left arm these paradoxes of characters play
with you the viewer's expectations don't judge a book by its cover being the main theme woven into
the fabrics of the show through how they wrote these characters the time taken to develop these
characters and flesh out their stories is how the show blended their personalities and their designs
into a concept so memorable all these years later it cracked the code of what can make a new idea
work that goes beyond the words written in the script but with the visuals themselves can say
it understood its audience and would teach you that what you may deem as your own insecurities
that you may wear on your sleeve or you feel that you're perceived by don't define you
i'm sorry eduardo i didn't really mean little bugs in your bed
the show was funny on top of all that in many circumstances heartfelt it's hard to let go
of things in your past that bring you joy the reason we all have our own brand of nostalgia
heck the reason i make the content i do this was my life growing up the good times i remember and
the media that shaped me where i learned life lessons learned to accept myself and how to live
a life that i can look back on one day and be proud of spending time reliving these shows and
moments from my childhood seek that warm feeling of myself coming home from karate practice to a
vhs tape with the original three-part premiere of the show recorded on it after six seasons in a tv
movie that being destination imagination where frankie now is in some weird mysterious world
and essentially treated like royalty but with one caveat she can't leave so it's up to the rest of
the gang to go in and save her the show would come to its natural end during a marathon of the final
five episodes with the series finale goodbye to blue the show spawned two video games though one
of them came out for the gameboy advance in 2006 where you can play as either mac or blue with the
ability to throw paper balls slide down banisters hide from enemies and speak with residents of the
house it received mixed reviews mainly for its pacing as levels could range from really short or
overly long the other game titled imagination invaders would release on the nintendo ds in
2007 where you would play as blue and complete tasks and quests given to you while sometimes
fighting off space nut boogies but above all else the one thing you can for sure take away at the
end of the day is that if we lose our imagination our creative spark that drives us in life you
essentially lose what makes you special what does foster's home for imaginary friends mean to you
let me know in the comments section below thanks so much for hanging out with me today make sure
to hit the like button and subscribe for more content like this follow me on twitter or else
i'll imagine up the worst kind of imaginary friend to come and bother you so so much you wish cheese
was there instead i like chocolate milk i'll see you tomorrow with another video for my
next day of fringe miss check out the playlist to keep up with the month but until then later
you