'Star vs. The Forces of Evil,' Season 1 First Half Review

With some shows you can tell instantly that they’re going to be awesome. With some other shows it can take awhile for you to warm up to them. Some are good, but take awhile to get really good. How does Star vs. The Forces of Evil fit in to this?

Star is now about halfway through its first season, so I thought that this would be a good time to look back and evaluate the show. If you read my review of the pilot episode, then you know that it started out pretty good. It began with a lot of potential. So, has Star vs. The Forces of Evil been able to continue to live up to its potential? Yes, sometimes.

Star vs. The Forces of Evil can be a really mixed bag. But that’s not to say it’s ever bad. It’s like trail mix. Everybody likes trail mix (I think). It’s just that there are always some pieces you like a lot more than others. There are never any really bad pieces; some are just a lot better than others.

To give you examples of some episodes that work the best, here are my top five episodes so far:

5) “Pixtopia” (Episode 6b)

This episode sees Marco and his two friends, Alfonzo and Ferguson, use Star’s magic mirror to make prank calls. They consequently run out the minutes, as the mirror is the inter-dimensional version of a cell phone. In order to use the mirror again Star has to go to Pixtopia, where her service provider is located, and pay her bill. Marco and his friends come along to help pay (as they were the ones who used up the minutes). But, when none of them have the correct currency, they are tossed into the mines to work off their debt. This episode could have been derailed by Marco’s idiot friends, but they end up having some of the funniest lines and scenes. One funny scene in particular is when they go through the portal singing, “Going into portal land! Teenage boys are holding hands!”

4) “Party With a Pony” (Episode 1a)

I won’t go into too much detail, as I covered this episode in depth in my review of the pilot, but it was a pretty sold episode. It was pretty funny and introduced a great side character, Princess Pony Head, who I hope we see again.

3) “Brittney’s Party” (Episode 5b)

Brittney Wong, a girl who despises Star, throws a huge birthday party for herself and says that Star is invited, “When pigs fly.” Star promptly makes a flying pig appear with her wand and drags Marco along to Brittney’s party. This episode was pretty average until Ludo shows up and Hijacks the party bus. After that, it becomes a mobile fight through the city with a lot of sight gags and hilarious one-liners. Particularly funny was Ludo eagerly scarfing down rotten oysters while joyfully exclaiming, “There’s a rumbly in my tumbly!”

2) “Quest Buy” (Episode 4b)

Star loses the charger to her wand, and needs to buy a new one. She takes Marco to the inter-dimensional shopping mall, Quest Buy, to find one. This episode has a lot of clever, funny jokes littered throughout a simple, well-done story. Ludo’s attempt to shop with all his goons tagging along, and acting like a haggard mother who’s fed up with her misbehaving kids, was particularly hilarious (“Stop trying to sneak things into the cart!”).

1) “Mewberty” (Episode 6a)

This episode explores Star’s struggles with her home-world’s equivalent of puberty, mewberty. However, mewberty is far quicker, far more drastic, and far more dangerous to both Star and everyone around her, than puberty ever could be. This episode offered a glimpse of what this show could be, were it ever to adopt a slightly more serious tone. It plays out like a horror movie, as Star morphs into a winged, six-armed, boy-crazy version of herself and cocoons them into the lockers at school. I loved the tone of this episode and I hope there will be more like it in the future.

Even though I would say that “Mewberty” is my favorite episode so far, it is one of the best examples of something that the show could change for the better. Sometimes it is just too short. “Mewberty” is far too rushed. It could have really played up the drama (had Star been gone for longer than the two seconds that she seemingly was). This particular episode would have worked so well had it filled up the entire half-hour. It could have even been a two part special over the course of an hour. There was so much going on in this one, with so many ideas introduced, that it would have benefitted greatly from an expanded run time. “Mewberty” is still a great episode as it is, but it could have been awesome.

Star vs. The Forces of Evil started pretty good and it has stayed there. Overall it hasn’t gotten better or worse, it’s pretty consistent so far. It is a very funny show, and has a lot going for it. Even in the episodes that I would not count among my favorites, there are enough funny moments to keep me coming back for more. It cannot be compared to my absolute favorite animated show, Gravity Falls, or one of my recent discoveries that is now a favorite, Steven Universe, but it is still a good show and worth watching for a laugh.