Gravity Falls Review: “Gideon Rises” (S01E20)

If you’re new to the blog or just want to revisit from the beginning, click HERE to read the review for “Tourist Trapped”.

Previously on Gravity Falls:
Gideon has summoned a dangerous mind demon by the name of Bill Cipher to aid him in stealing the Mystery Shack from the Pines family. After traveling into Grunkle Stan’s mind and defeating Bill, Dipper Mabel and Soos wake up to find Gideon has already stolen the deed to the Shack and put his nefarious plans for the Pines and the town into motion.

Dipper wakes up from a terrible nightmare where everything I previously described happened and he, Mabel and Stan were forced to take shelter at Soos’ grandma’s house.

Spoilers: It’s not a dream.

Unable to sleep, Grunkle Stan turns on the TV, which happens to be in the middle of a news story covering Gideon’s sudden ownership of the Mystery Shack and his plans for it. Gideon invites the whole town to hear his big announcement and promises free admission to anyone who wears his special Lil’ Gideon pins. Dipper is determined to set things right as is Mabel, especially if it means finally putting her grappling hook to good use.

Everyone in Gravity Falls comes to the Mystery Shack to marvel over Gideon and how his psychic abilities showed him some of the citizens’ biggest secrets. Soos, Stan, Dipper and Mabel also show up in disguise to hear the news. Gideon announces he’s turning the Mystery Shack into a theme park, Gideonland, and its mascot will be Waddles forced to wear a Gideon costume and wig. That is the last straw for the Pines. They storm the stage and declare that Gideon is a fraud and a thief. Gideon tells them that Stan gave him the deed, which he keeps on his person at all times and didn’t even bother to remove Stan’s signature from, and since the town follows the “finders keepers” rule that most movies and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad seem to have regarding property rights there’s nothing the Pines can do apparently. Gideon sics security and a Lil’ Gideon pin on Stan and boots them out.

Now the Pines are out of a home and Soos and Wendy are out of a job. Since Soos’ grandma can’t afford to keep the Pines under her roof for more than a few days, Dipper and Mabel have to think of something quick. Stan can only BS to their parents about their situation for so long before he has to send them home. Though it’s short, the scene where he lies over the phone in private while worrying about how he can take care of the kids with barely any money to his name is heartbreaking. It’s not much better for Wendy either as she informs a heartbroken Dipper that her father will be sending her to work at her cousin’s logging camp for the rest of the summer if the Shack doesn’t reopen. The upside is that it will get her away from Robbie until he finally gets over their breakup.

Which may take a while.

At the Shack, Gideon is torturing poor Waddles in between poring over his Journal. When his father asks why he’s so busy reading instead of celebrating over Gideonland, Gideon tells him –

April Review: Peter Pan (1953)

(DISCLAIMER: This blog is not for profit. All images and footage used below are property of their respective companies unless stated otherwise. I do not claim ownership of this material.)

“All this has happened before. And it will all happen again.”
– Opening lines

No truer words have ever been spoken.

JM Barrie’s Peter Pan is as timeless a fantasy story as you can get. It’s nothing short of pure magic. Who among us hasn’t wished to never grow up and live in a world not run by fun-sucking adults? Who can openly admit that they never dreamed of flying and going on exciting new adventures every day? The tale of Peter Pan appeals to the kid in all of us. It doesn’t surprise me that every couple of years we seem to get some kind of new retelling of it because the lore of the Boy Who Never Grew Up offers so many possibilities. It’s difficult to pin down which version could be considered the most definitive adaptation (though the 2003 film comes the closest to being the most faithful in story and tone) but this is a case where every single one out there has something to offer for each generation. There were stage plays and silent films for those who were children when the book first came out, the 1960’s musical starring Mary Martin (and later Cathy Rigby) was an annual television tradition for decades, Fox’s Peter Pan and the Pirates is considered one of the most creative animated shows of the late 80’s-early 90’s, Steven Spielburg’s unofficial sequel Hook has gone on to become a cult classic (as well as a kickass video game), and of course we have the film I’ll be looking at today, the Disney animated one from the 50’s.

Walt Disney once played the role of Peter Pan in a school production; as such, the story was very close to him. Peter Pan was planned to be one of the first animated films his studio would release – story ideas were tossed around as early as the mid-30’s – but it fell into development hell thanks to the frenzy of World War 2. Look carefully when watching the 1941 film The Reluctant Dragon and you’ll see early maquette versions of some of the characters in a few places. After the much-needed success of Cinderella in 1950, work resumed on Peter Pan. The results, however, were mixed, with some critics and even Walt himself being disappointed with the final product. Most audiences, on the other hand, gravitated towards it, and today it’s considered a classic of Disney animation as well as one of the most outstanding adaptations of Barrie’s work. Why is that? Let’s find out.

Gravity Falls Review: “Dreamscaperers” (S01E19)

If you’re new to the blog or just want to revisit from the beginning, click HERE to read the review for “Tourist Trapped”.

Previously on Gravity Falls:
Dipper and Mabel Pines are spending the summer in the small town of Gravity Falls, where their Grunkle Stan runs a tourist trap called the Mystery Shack. On his first day there, Dipper uncovers a journal that chronicles some of the unusual happenings and inhabitants of the town. While unraveling the mysteries of Gravity Falls with Mabel and their friends, Dipper must also keep Gideon, a fake psychic who’s Stan’s business rival, from stealing the Mystery Shack at all costs.

Before we get the review underway, there’s something I haven’t been completely honest about that I need to confess. I do my reviews on my own, by myself, with little to no input from others – or at least I thought I did.

You might recall some weird codes appearing at the bottom of each Gravity Falls review, usually spelling out some stupid stuff.

Well…I didn’t write those.

I don’t know who’s doing them or why, but if I finish writing a review one night and go to bed then by morning they’re in there. I didn’t really question it until one time it didn’t show up. Someone asked why and as I was writing a response I blacked out. When I came to, there it was. And what it translated out to was…unsettling. Add that on top of some weird and frankly disturbing dreams I’ve been having as of late and I’m starting to get a little wary of supernatural-related things.

So let’s get this over with, all right?

It’s a dark and stormy night. Grunkle Stan calls Dipper and Mabel away from their game to laugh at a cheap commercial for Gideon Gleeful’s Tent of Telepathy playing on TV. The commercial ends announcing that a second location will be opening soon – right where the Mystery Shack is now standing. Dipper is concerned but Stan says the only way Gideon could get the Mystery Shack was if he broke in and stole the deed, which, by a staggering coincidence, Gideon is in the middle of doing. They catch him in the act and Stan chases him out with a broom. Something that cracks me up the more I think about it is Gideon crying out “Oh no, not the broom!” because it feels like this exact thing has happened countless times before. Stan locks the deed in a safe declaring the only place he keeps the combination is in his brain, the one place Gideon can never get into. What none of them know is that this recent humiliation has forced Gideon to unleash the most powerful – and dangerous – secret in his Journal to settle the score.

Back at the Shack Mabel tries to get everyone to watch her favorite radical 80’s movie “Dream Boy High” when Soos informs them a bat has gotten into the kitchen. Without hesitating Grunkle Stan makes Dipper go deal with the problem. Dipper, who’s sick of always being pushed around by Stan whenever there’s a mess to be cleaned, stands up to him, but backs off after Stan wins an epic stare-down competition. Later, as Soos swabs on disinfectant and Dipper prays to God that he doesn’t have rabies, he wonders why Stan always seems to pick on him and no one else. Soos writes it off as another one of the Shack’s mysteries and he and Mabel run off to fool around some more.

In the woods Gideon undergoes a ritual to summon forth the mysterious triangular being, unaware that Mabel and Soos have stumbled across him. Gideon becomes possessed and speaks in tongues, the forest turns black and white and time slows down to nothing. And out of the sky appears –

Your April Review Is…

Hello once again! It was a close one this time, but the votes have spoken and the movie I’ll be reviewing this April is –