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 Some images and/or formatting blatantly stolen from Poultron's original thread, pksage's series 2 thread and the Gravity Falls wiki Gravity Falls is a 22-minute animated series created by Alex Hirsch. It chronicles the summer vacation of twins Dipper & Mabel Pines, sent to the titular town in Oregon to live with their great uncle (or ‘Grunkle’) Stan, the owner and proprietor of the Mystery Shack, more or less the ur-tourist trap. While Stan gleefully shills various faked ‘exhibits’ of cryptids and the like, the town itself is home to many mysteries of its own, and Dipper & Mabel with the help of a mysterious journal chronicling some of these oddities, try to enjoy the summer vacation, make some friends, and maybe figure out some of the mysteries of the town, like just where the journal came from… The show has been widely praised both at the time of its debut and intervening years, both for its excellent animation and its strong writing, in particular the sibling relationship between Dipper & Mabel,as well as a rich cast of characters, both in the main ensemble and the various oddballs making up the supporting cast. Gravity Falls proved influential when it came to other shows, especially for Disney. While not the first show that mixed more lighthearted, episodic stories with deeper themes and ongoing plotlines, it is one of the most popular (and, IIRC, the first to appear on Disney). In particular, both Amphibia & The Owl House are the product of Gravity Falls alumni. It's been 10 years since we were introduced to Gravity Falls, it's high time for a return trip.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2DUpDxFJyg While at the time of broadcast, the show was fairly infamous for frequent delays, fortunately now the entire show is available on Disney+ including the various shorts that were aired in between the two series. The show also has had some spinoff media, in the form of a version of Journal 3, a graphic novel called Lost Legends, a choose-your-own-adventure book and even a colouring book; however they contain spoilers for the series as a whole. As for the schedule of the rewatch, I figured we could take a page from the Cowboy Bebop rewatch thread last year and try 4 episodes a week. The schedule is as follows (some episode titles are spoilers for new watchers and are tagged as such) Week 1st-5th June 2022: Tourist Trapped, Legend of the Gobblewonker, Headhunters, The Hand That Rocks The Mabel Week 6th-12th June: The Inconveniencing, Dipper Vs. Manliness, Double Dipper, Irrational Treasure Week 13th-19th June: The Time Traveler's Pig, Fight Fighters, Little Dipper, Summerween Week 20th-26th June: Boss Mabel, Bottomless Pit!, The Deep End, Bottomless Pit Week 27th June-3rd July: Boyz Crazy, The Land Before Swine, Dreamscaperers, Gideon Rising (this is also the point to watch the various shorts, since they aired between the series) Week 4th-10th July: Scary-oke, Into The Bunker, The Golf War Week 11th-17th July: Sock Opera, Soos and the Real Girl, Little Gift Shop of Horrors Week 18th-24th July: Society of The Blind Eye, Blendin's Game, The Love God, Week 25th-31st July: Northwest Mansion Mystery, Not What He Seems, A Tale of Two Stans Week 1st-7th August: Dungeons, Dungeons & More Dungeons, The Stanchurian Candidate, The Last Mabelcorn Week 8th-14th August: Roadside Attraction, Dipper & Mabel Vs. The Future, Weirdmageddon Part 1 Week 15th-21st August: Weirdmageddon Part 2: Escape From Reality Weirdmageddon Part 3: Take Back The Falls, Weirdmageddon Part 4: Somewhere In The Woods   L-R, Soos, Dipper, Grunkle Stan, Mabel, and Wendy. Mason 'Dipper' Pines (Jason Ritter) is Mabel’s twin brother. While fairly nerdy and bookish, he also has a surprising knack for adventure, especially after discovering the journal. He’s mainly driven by the need to unravel the mysteries of the town, but he’s also willing to have fun with the rest of the mystery shack crew. In particular, he’s (usually) got Mabel’s back and is nursing a crush on Wendy, both of which can cause problems. Although usually not as much as his tendency to overthink things. Mabel Pines (Kirsten Schaal) is Dipper’s twin sister. Outgoing and impulsive, her main goals for the summer are mostly to have fun and hopefully achieve an ‘epic summer romance’. While not focusing upon solving the town’s mysteries like Dipper, she’s (usually) got his back and will try to support him, although she can sometimes get distracted. ‘Grunkle’ Stan Pines (Alex Hirsch) is Dipper & Mabel’s great uncle. With a shady past and knack for mischief, he appears motivated primarily by making money at the Shack, using Dipper & Mabel for extra labour, but it doesn’t take long to realise he’s not what he seems - deep down, he really does care about his family. And also making a lot of money. Soos (Alex Hirsch) is the Shack’s resident handyman. Completely loyal to Stan, he approaches life with pure amiability. Nothing seems to phase him, and his love of mysteries and willingness to go along with whatever they’re planning quickly makes him one of the twins’ closest friends and allies. Wendy (Linda Cardenelli) is the shack’s only other employee, a teenager who turns apathy into an art form, at least when it comes to her job. But outside of work, she (and her teen friends) tend to get into mischief, including bringing the twins along. Which tends to lead to adventure…   "It's hard to believe it's been six years since I began researching the strange and won'drous secrets of Gravity Falls, Oregon." -??? One thing the series is famed for is the constant easter eggs and ciphers hidden in the show. While every episode has a cipher at the end credits, there are also others in random scenes. Many of these ciphers are often bonus gags, but there were also tidbits of lore mixed in as well. There were also several ARGs that took place over the course of the series, including one that took place after the show wrapped up. Because this is a rewatch, I’m trying to keep spoilers to a minimum for the benefit of anyone coming in new. Obviously that’s unlikely, but in case we get any first-timers, I figure we owe it to them. Certainly if you want to discuss future developments, especially given the frequent use of foreshadowing, you can, but it might be worth using spoiler tags in that case.  So why are you starting up the rewatch on June 1st? Well, that's because (as per the official Journal 3), today makes the in-universe anniversary of Dipper finding it, so I figured it'd be a good starting point. Given the 4-episode-a-week schedule, it'll also mean we finish the whole series by the end of the summer! Why aren't there any other questions in the FAQ? I, um, couldn't think of any. Lemme know if you have one and I'll add it here! And now what you've all been waiting for:         (Anyone who has suggestions for obligatory gifs for the OP, please feel free to share those too). Yvonmukluk fucked around with this message at 15:47 on Aug 29, 2022 |
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Jun 1, 2022 20:38
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Jun 1, 2022 21:02
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Aww yiss! Back into the mystery!
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Jun 1, 2022 21:31
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I actually didn't watch Gravity Falls until just last year (and it was great), so I've got it in fresh memory. I'll be following along!
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Jun 1, 2022 23:46
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Season 1 Episode 1: Tourist Trapped Unsurprisingly, the first episode is a strong opener, doing a great job of establishing the leads, the setting and some of the biggest mysteries that will underpin the series as a whole. Whilst focusing, understandably, on Dipper, Mabel, and to a lesser extent Stan, what we see of Soos & Wendy also gives a great first impression. In particular, we get to see that despite Dipper & Mabel's differences, they're not really in conflict - Dipper after some hesitation shares the journal's existence with Mabel (even after its exhortations to 'TRUST NO ONE') and is genuinely concerned for her safety, and even though she ultimately gets frustrated with him, in the end they still care for each other, with Dipper commiserating that maybe Mabel's next boyfriend will be a vampire like she hopes, culminating in the Awkward Sibling Hug. We also get the scene immediately after where Stan, having largely apathetic to the twins, sees they're feeling down and lets both of them take something from the gift shop (trying to pass off his generosity of getting rid of unwanted inventory), where the ever-practical Dipper grabs a replacement for his lost hat, and Mabel, well, see for yourself:  We end with the twins' bond as strong as ever, and Stan...going into a hidden basement. We end on the iconic imagery of the barfing gnome, the first over-the-end clip that usually comes in as a bonus gag while you're waiting for the end cipher to appear. Of course part of why this episode is so great is probably because it's a polished iteration on the original pilot (which can be found here*) for comparison). While definitely rough around the edges, the heart and soul of Gravity Falls is still there. *the username is RETURNBACKWARDS and the password is TOTHEPASTAGAINTHREE Yvonmukluk fucked around with this message at 11:01 on Jun 7, 2022 |
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Jun 2, 2022 11:33
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Getting on the ground floor and gonna rewatch episodes alongside you as well. The first episode really sets everything well and tells you each of the twins priorities: Dipper wants to solve the mystery of the journal, while Mabel wants to experience the thrill of a summer romance. It doesn't try to say either one is more important than the others, which I appreciate. Dipper's first use of the journal being a way to protect his sister was a great way to demonstrate that Dipper's a good kid. The fakeout from zombies to gnomes was brilliant and sets the tone for the weirdness and humor of the series. Looking back on this, I can't help but wonder if Ford is the best at hiding things that it had taken a kid and some dumb luck to even find Journal 3 (and 2), or if he's the worst at picking hiding spots because Stan really needed those journals but there's no loving way he would've been able to guess to try searching at that specific spot. *I've placed some thoughts about later stuff in spoiler tags, just in case. If you want me to edit those out, please feel free to tell me, OP.
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Jun 3, 2022 10:28
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Ooooh! Good thread idea! Episode 1 thoughts: -This is the first time I've watched this show in a while so I'd actually forgotten a lot of the details. It's surprising to me how much the humor holds up despite the show being like 10 years old now. -The episode is very tightly written with a ton of gags and a plot that moves along very quickly without feeling rushed. However it looses a few points for doing the whole "you may be wondering how I got into this situation" thing. -I noticed an entry for "cursed doors" in the journal that I'd missed before. Now I'm kind of mad we never got a cursed doors episode. -Vomiting rainbows will never not be funny.  Overall episode score: A- Pilots are incredibly hard to do well and this one manages to not only establish the entire cast and setting but do so in a way that feels natural while still being just as entertaining as the rest of the show. That's really impressive if you stop to think about it. readingatwork fucked around with this message at 18:02 on Jun 3, 2022 |
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Jun 3, 2022 18:00
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I watch very few kids shows as an adult, but two things that drew me into Gravity Falls right from the beginning were the quality of the animation and Kristen Schaal's Mabel voice, which is hilarious. It's a really good looking show, way more vibrant and visually interesting moment-to-moment than something like Disenchantment.
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Jun 3, 2022 19:13
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Season 1 Episode 2: The Tourist Trapped set a high bar, but fortunately the show's sophomore episode follows on strong, giving Stan some much-needed depth, as well giving more of a spotlight on Soos. Of course, the breakout star is Old Man McGucket (Alex Hirsch), the town's resident old coot with a hidden talent for engineering. We get the a-plot of the mystery twins and Soos sailing off to seek the titular Gobblewonker to get a photo to win some quick cash & ditch Grunkle Stan's failed attempt at family bonding, and the B-plot of Stan trying to make some other fishing buddies. Stan being Stan, of course, it ends poorly. We get some great bonding between the twins and Soos, (including establishing quickly that Soos bonded with Mabel as much as Dipper - in a sense, he's the perfect balance point between Dipper's love of mysteries and Mabel's love of pure fun), including maybe the funniest 'joke that most kids won't get' when Dipper, as part of proudly demonstrating his multi-camera setup to ensure they get a shot, commands Soos to 'be bigfoot' and he strikes the iconic pose from the Patterson-Gimlin film. The sequence immediately after, where the camera plan promptly goes awry and the establishment of the SS Cool Dude's pecking order, is also a highlight. While Soos happily enables the monster hunt, he does also act as a voice of reason when it matters, including saving Dipper when he risks his life trying to get a shot of the beast. Stan's shenanigans also have a lot of jokes, but there's also a lot of pathos. If you think about it, him passing up a chance to bond with the twins on a monster hunt and make some money is rather telling, because he genuinely wanted to go fishing with the kids. McGucket's difficulties connecting with his son obviously serves as a mirror to Stan's struggles with connecting, and clearly if the kids had engaged with him from the outset they'd have had fun as we saw at the end of the episode, but at the same time it's entirely unsurprising for the kids to be skeptical. Aside form McGucket, we also get to meet 'Manly Dan' Corduroy, Wendy's dad, along with her brothers and the cute biker, who shows up repeatedly to implore others to 'git 'im!'. We also meet Chief Blubs and Deputy Durland, the eccentric law enforcers of the town, as well as a handful of other bit characters who mostly appear in the periphery or for one-off jokes this episode. The tiny shot of Reginald about to speak before Stan immediately cuts him off with a terrible ex-wife joke. Of course his joke gets a lot funnier given the hints dropped much much later in some of the DVD commentaries that his ex-wife is Eda Clawthorne of The Owl House. Ultimately this episode continues in the footsteps of Tourist Trapped, showing that it wasn't some fluke or just the beneficiary of a long lead time. Also:  amigolupus posted:Getting on the ground floor and gonna rewatch episodes alongside you as well. Talking about stuff past the bounds of this week's block of episodes is fine, as long as it's spoiler tagged. It's kind of hard to judge how effective Ford was at hiding the journals, since after all the original plan was for Stan to take #1 as far away possible and the other two were hidden specifically to stop someone recreating/operating the portal - Stan needing all three to rescue him wasn't the plan at all. While he did hide #3 well, he kind of choose poorly for Journal #2, since as per Journal 3 he assumed that wasn't a kid smart enough to find find it hidden at the local elementary school. As it turned out someone was clever enough to find it, and it turns out giving a kid that kind of power can end...poorly. Yvonmukluk fucked around with this message at 11:03 on Jun 7, 2022 |
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Jun 3, 2022 21:18
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Speaking of I forget, was it ever explained how Gideon got his hands on one of the journals to begin with?
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Jun 3, 2022 21:28
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Larryb posted:Speaking of I forget, was it ever explained how Gideon got his hands on one of the journals to begin with? In Journal 3 (the actual physical book they released) says that Ford hid Journal 2 at the local elementary school, because he figured that no kid would be smart enough to find its hiding place there. Presumably Gideon was.
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Jun 3, 2022 23:04
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Yvonmukluk posted:In Journal 3 (the actual physical book they released) says that Ford hid Journal 2 at the local elementary school, because he figured that no kid would be smart enough to find its hiding place there. Presumably Gideon was. Ah, I never actually read said book so thanks. Seems like kind of a bad hiding place in general though
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Jun 3, 2022 23:21
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https://twitter.com/_alexhirsch/status/1532855673276407808
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Jun 4, 2022 12:48
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Season 1 Episode 3: Headhunters Having broadly established the dynamics of the main ensemble in the first two episodes, we get more or less a straight whodunnit this episode. Soos manages to stumble across a hidden part of the shack - the Gravity Falls Wax Museum. Aside from providing a Standards & Practices-friendly 'victim' in the form of Mabel's effigy of Stan, the assorted waxworks provide a rich wealth of in-jokes, from Stan immediately looking to blame wax John Wilkes Booth for the untimely demise of Wax Lincoln, wax Groucho Marx calling attention to his missing cigar, and of course the guest stars of Coolio, Larry King, and John Oliver, as Wax themselves and Wax Sherlock Holmes, respectively, all providing amusing terms. Stan is on fine form, bonding with his wax doppelganger and mourning his 'death', while also encouraging the kids' investigation to what might be an irresponsible level. We also meet some more of the townsfolk, including 'reporter' Toby Determined, Free Pizza Guy, beloved local TV star Ducktective, and of course getting to know Chief Blubs & Deputy Durland. While obviously dismissing Dipper's offer to help self what they themselves dismiss as an impossible case, they do also turn around and launch a raid of Toby's office on the twins' say-so (although granted that was probably more out of a desire to use their nightsticks and hold it over Dipper's head when he's wrong). Toby turns out to be no more than a red herring with some deeply disturbing personal foibles, and the officers immediately take the opportunity to mock the 'city boy' once again, meaning you don't fell too bad when they get just desserts at the end of the episode. Of course, the actual perpetrator of the case is Wax Sherlock (and the other wax figures), appropriately enough given the whole structure of the plot. All of the clues are there more or less from the outset (Wax Stan, like his counterparts has a hole in his shoe, Sherlock is left-handed and Wax Lizzie Borden's axe goes missing), and while it does at first seem to lead to Toby, once he's eliminated, the old axiom of 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.' applies. Of course, given it's Gravity Falls, 'sentient wax figures' is a lot less improbable then you'd expect. Dipper successfully outwits him in a final duel, while Mabel manages to handle basically all of the others offscreen, which kind of makes the joke where she suggests Dipper's her sidekick rather than the other way around pretty funny. Of course, that's just another of the great sequence of sibling interactions - the bit at the beginning, when the twins both immediately guess buried treasure as Soos' discovery, followed by Mabel jokingly accusing Dipper of stealing her guess. The mystery twins (first named this episode) play off each other as unlike a lot of animated siblings whose default state seems to be at odds, you get the idea that they genuinely like each other's company, even if their interests don't always align. After the first two episodes of setup, this is more of an illustration of what a 'typical' Gravity Falls episode is going to look like. Which certainly bodes well for the rest of the series... Yvonmukluk fucked around with this message at 11:03 on Jun 7, 2022 |
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Jun 4, 2022 22:20
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So I haven't really gone back to watch through with all the end-show knowledge and had a thought rewatching Gobblewonker. Was McGucket married with a kid before he erased his brain? I don't remember them ever coming up again. Also the Stan O' War 
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Jun 5, 2022 00:29
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Episode 2: Now who wants to put on some blindfolds and get into my car!? -Another great episode! The pacing continues to be incredibly fast with jokes that land as well today as they did back then. -I specifically want to point out how fantastic the hamster ball joke is. It starts off with Mabel smack talking a rodent and then escalates and takes a weird left turn into 80's nostalgia in the best way. Weirdly enough I didn't care for Dipper's daydream (except for the last part with Mabel). The joke had been done at that point and it felt less like subverting or iterating on a trope (one I never particularly cared for in the first place) and instead felt like just doing it. This is pretty much my only complaint about the episode though. -The running camera joke is also fantastic and deserves a shoutout. It both provides some great moments of comedy while also showing the audience what a neurotic kid Dipper is. It's wonderfully efficient writing. -Time traveler spotted!   Episode score: B+ (please note that I am ranking these in relation to other GF episodes rather than all media in existence so everything isn't an "A") It doesn't rock the boat (  ) but it's a solid episode that efficiently sets up the status quo for the series while subtly foreshadowing things to come for those being observant: 
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Jun 5, 2022 01:06
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Season 1, Episode 4: The Hand That Rocks The Mabel With the fourth episode, we meet our first recurring antagonist (well, we saw him in a magazine advert in episode 2) in the form of 'Lil Gideon' Gleeful, Stan's archnemesis, a child tele Gideon is almost a mirror to the Pines, Stan in particular, as a child charlatan (with his own tourist trap, his own money sack and even his own Soos). Unlike Stan, who under his gruff exterior cares for his family, Gideon tyrannically rules over his own parents, and has actual paranormal power, as opposed to Stan's gallery of frauds. Like Dipper, he is clearly interested in the secrets of the town, and it turns out he does have a lot in common with Mabel - although of course, the chance of an actual friendship between the two is swiftly destroyed by his attempt to kill Dipper. While at least early on it could just be misreading signals, it's pretty clear Gideon has outright deluded himself into thinking she has romantic interest in him and uses social pressure to maintain the relationship, culminating in Dipper stepping in on his sister's behalf, although Mabel does after a pep talk...of sorts from Wendy get the courage to tell him off herself (although frankly she didn't owe him an explanation, IMHO). And of course, it turns out he also possesses Journal 2, which promises that he could be a serious risk to the Pines going forward. It of course also raises the question: where is Journal 1?
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Jun 5, 2022 22:18
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Yvonmukluk posted:
 Spoiler?
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Jun 6, 2022 18:58
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Madurai posted:
Speculation.
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Jun 6, 2022 23:08
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Madurai posted:
Whoops, well spotted! I fixed it. Also fixed the various review posts with a consistent numbering scheme. Anyhoo, onto the next episode. Season 1, Episode 5: The Inconveniencing This is the first episode that really develops Wendy, as well as establishing Dipper's crush on her. Wendy's only usually had background appearances and one-liners, but now we get to learn about the shack's resident lumberjane. After some judiciously-applied lies, Dipper gets the twins invited to an excursion with her friends to explore an abandoned covenience store, only to incur the wrath of the sprits haunting it... Dipper & Wendy are the main focuses of the episode, in particular his attempts to impress her drive a lot of the plot. Given Wendy's effortlessly-cool exterior and affable manner, of course it makes sense she'd be Dipper's first crush, and naturally that means Dipper has to grapple with something every And speaking of her friends, while obviously on some level they're broad sketches of teen stereotypes, nonetheless the performances bring something to it - you get a great sense of the group's dynamics (especially Thompson, the one friend who both can drive and is willing to humiliate himself for his friends' amusement), and they'll be pretty great supporting characters going forward. While Stan & Mabel both only get peripheral roles, their provide great comedic interludes with Mabel initially make fun of Dipper for his nascent crush (I enjoy his retalitions for it) before going on a Smile Dip-ifnsued trip. Stan, stuck at home and too lazy to change the channel, also finds himself going on a trip down old-timey movie lane, his getting increasingly invested in The Duchess Approves is a fun running gag. While (Dipper's crush aside) this is just another monster of the week episode, it does continue laying down more of the foundation and rich background cast of the town of Gravity Falls.
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Jun 7, 2022 12:07
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I always felt like there was more to Wendy, like she was the main character in another show that just happened to overlap slightly with Gravity Falls.
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Jun 7, 2022 20:40
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Season One Episode Six: Dipper vs. That is almost an ideal followup to the themes of the least episode, insofar as it's Dipper grappling with his insecurities and self-image. Of course, in this case it's his ideas of masculinity rather than maturity. Feeling insecure compared to Stan (and Wendy's dad, Manly Dan), he gravitates towards the Manotaurs, part Minotaur, part toxic masculinity elemental. While Dipper is at first taking some of the wrong lessons from his intereactions, he's still Dipper - breaking out reverse psychology (or 'brain magic' as the manotaurs term it), and ultimately, when as his final test to determine 'manliness' under his tutors' terms, confronts the Multibear (voiced by the always great Alfred Molina), he ultimately finds common ground over a shared love of Icelandic pop group BABBA and rejects the pressure to murder the defenseless beast. Stan & Mabel get the subplot of Stan having a crush on Lazy Susan, the eccentric diner waitress at the local greasy spoon, and Mabel deciding to help her Grunkle find love. Unfortunately, Stan's been out of the dating game for a long time and Mabel finds getting him into a datable state an uphill struggle before basically throwing up her hands and just telling Susan to settle for Stan. Honestly, while the moment-to-moment humour is up to its usual standards, I kind of find this episode a bit of a dud. That's not to say it's terrible, or even mediocre, but the b-plot in particular is kind of...there? It is nice to see the Pines family coming back where they started at the beginning of the episode (not counting the cold open) and Stan after his earlier dismissal actually supporting Dipper taking a stand is a nice detail, if perhaps a tad formulaic. This might be the first misstep, but it's still a good episode.
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Jun 8, 2022 21:06
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Yvonmukluk posted:Season One Episode Six: Dipper vs. Gravity Falls has something in common with Elementary in that while there are some episodes of GF that are better than others, I don't think I ever saw an episode that I'd truly label as "bad" for either show.
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Jun 8, 2022 22:01
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I just realized that I have the boxed blu ray set for this show and I think it has director commentaries. Might be a good excuse to dust it off.
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Jun 9, 2022 19:44
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readingatwork posted:I just realized that I have the boxed blu ray set for this show and I think it has director commentaries. Might be a good excuse to dust it off. Do it! Isn't there also Stan commentaries on at least a few episodes? IIRC there's on that hints he was married to Eda from the Owl House?
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Jun 9, 2022 19:49
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Alright if you are going to twist my arm.Episode 1: Tourist Trapped commentary notes! Commentators: Alex Hirsch, Kristen Schaal, Jason Ritter The commentary is really fun and I highly recommend it if you are a fan of the show. Everybody seems pretty cool and is having a good time. Observations:
There's more but those were the highlights for me. Again, the commentaries are fun so I highly recommend getting the blu ray if this interests you. Onward to Episode 2 (and 3 I guess)!
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Jun 10, 2022 02:45
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https://twitter.com/_AlexHirsch/status/1535066511081033729
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Jun 10, 2022 04:00
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Episode 2 Thoughts: The fact that this episode opens with Stan wanting to just bond with the kids with no ulterior motives whatsoever is really interesting. In a lot of 90s and early 2000s cartoon, we see characters who have a similar archetype to Stan: the best friend/relative who always acts like a huge jackass to the main character and gets them in trouble. In those shows, it'd take ages before we get an episode where the jerk character acts like a better person, only for everyone to beg them to go back to normal so the show can keep its status quo. Gravity Falls breaks the mold by showing Stan's insecurities and loneliness this early on, and by letting him keep his characterization of caring for Dipper and Mabel. The episode also serves as a good introduction to the rest of Gravity Falls. It's not just the forest and its creatures that're weird, the people living in it are also a weird and colorful bunch. In some ways, it also feels like they're still figuring things out when it comes to the characters. Soos later on would never try to get in the way of Dipper, Mabel and Stan hanging out; he'd more than likely beg to be let on the Stan O' War. And as for McGucket, while Alex mentioned that he already had an idea for Stan having a secret brother right off the bat, you can tell he had no idea about McGucket's role in the story until season 2. Because if he did, then I doubt McGucket would be treated as a big joke so much. Tate McGucket's treatment and negligence of his dad becomes a lot rougher in hindsight, that's for sure. Also, since I'm rewatching the series, I figured I'd try to keep track of how many times the Journals got them in/out of trouble Journal Got Them Into Trouble: 3.5 (0.5 points from episode 1 because it got Dipper interested in the supernatural part of Gravity Falls. 3 points for introducing the already-anxious Dipper to the "Trust No One" bullshit) Journal Bailed Them Out of Trouble: 1 (0 points from episode 1 because Mabel was the one to come up with a way to defeat the gnomes; 1 point this episode for the information about the cave behind the waterfall they used to trap the Gobblewonker) Yvonmukluk posted:In Journal 3 (the actual physical book they released) says that Ford hid Journal 2 at the local elementary school, because he figured that no kid would be smart enough to find its hiding place there. Presumably Gideon was. Larryb posted:Ah, I never actually read said book so thanks. Seems like kind of a bad hiding place in general though Ford has a terrible habit of underestimating people who aren't classically-intelligent, that's for sure. Clockwork Rocktapus posted:So I haven't really gone back to watch through with all the end-show knowledge and had a thought rewatching Gobblewonker. Journal 3 does confirm that McGucket was living in Palo Alto with his wife and kid (who was either a baby or just very young at the time), before Ford asked him to move to Gravity Falls by himself to work as his assistant. I'll go into more about it later, but McGucket lived a hard life. 
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Jun 10, 2022 15:45
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Season 1 Episode 7: Double Dipper It's party time at the mystery shack, as Stan throws a free (?) party for the good people of Gravity Falls. Naturally, he drafts his family and/or employees to make it happen. The twins are sent to photocopy some fliers on the Shack's 'fixed' copier. It turns out Stan might have fixed it a little too well, because it turns out it might be able to copy living beings! But that's not important, what's important is getting ready for the party. Because Soos is willing to do it for free, he is granted the coveted position of DJ, and Wendy & Mabel are put in charge of the ticket stand. Dipper, of course, volunteers to let his sister participate in the party to spend time with his crush, as part of his elaborate multi-stage plan to ask her to dance (to Mabel's immediate skepticism). Of course, when Wendy wants to join the party, swiftly derailing his best-laid plans, Dipper decides to break out the copy machine so he too can try and salvage his plan. Things escalate, and soon a small army of Dipper clones (and one Paper Jam Dipper) are running around the shack. Mabel, of course, is all about a party to meet new people, and she swiftly befriends fellow oddballs Grenda (Carl Faruolo) and Candy Chiu (Niki Yang). Unfortunately, she also runs into Pacifica Northwest (Jackie Buscarino), the town's designated Mean Rich Girl, who tears down her new friends, leading to a duel to win the hearts (and more importantly the applause) of the people of the town. A hard-fought contest sees Pacifica sneak in an underhanded win, but ultimately, Mabel's just happy she's discovered her people. Pacifica will be a recurring character going forward, but she's a far more mundane foe than Gideon, and far less developed. Of course we're only halfway through season one, so we've not seen the last of her. Speaking of people, it turns out that Dipper's clones turn out not to be the boon Dipper was hoping for. As Mabel predicted, Dipper's tendency towards overthinking gets in his way, and he winds up increasing an already unwieldy plan into one of Rube Goldbergian proportions, including ditching a perfectly good opportunity to ask her to dance. Right before he moves to execute his best-laid plan, he runs into Wendy, and the two have a nice scene of the two bonding, showing that Dipper is perfectly fine without a plan. Unfortunately, Tyrone (the first and by default leader of the Dippergangers) and the rest promptly decide that since he's ditching the plan, he's forfeited the right to dance with Wendy. While they make jokes about clones inevitably turning on each other (culminating, it does kind of make sense - all of the clones are specifically clones of Dipper before that moment, and they've not had that epiphany. It stands to reason they'd rationalise away Dipper Classic's experiences. Of course, it turns out no Dipper gets to dance with Wendy, because Robbie returned and beat them to the punch. Tyrone is the last clone standing (after Dipper accidentally triggers a sprinkler, melting all of the other clones in the shack), and he and Dipper wind up having a heart-to-heart on the roof when he first realised his feelings for Wendy, where they discuss if Dipper even has a chance with the older girl. They share a drink, and Tyrone (forgetting his papercopy nature) inadvertently melts himself, but not before urging Dipper to follow his earlier instincts and not overthink things. We end with Mabel and her new friends excitedly planning a sleepover, while Soos keeps living his DJ dreams, Stan enjoys his profits, and Wendy is hanging around. The last thing Dipper does before re-entering the shack is tear up his plan, showing he's at least willing to try moving on without a plan. I'm going to take a detour into discussing Journal 3 (the out-of-universe book) for a second. It's not explicitly stated, but the reason Stan throws the party is because in the in-universe date is around his actual birthday. Given how much he does (despite frequent protests to the contrary) care about what others think of him, the fact he just stages as a random event that you have to pay to both enter and leave, rather than just openly inviting people to celebrate his birthday, shows his love of money, or possibly just that he fundamental doesn't think anyone would show up just for him. We also learn the fate of Dippers #3 & #4. They return to the Shack, and inadvertently bear witness to Dipper's accidental copycide, and promptly decide to hide in the closet and ambush Dipper to stuff him in the closet, and even plan out a rota on how they'll live their lives (I think they're a tad optimistic, given one of them is dating Wendy every day...) only to be surprised by Dipper opening the closet to see what the noise is, Pitt cola in hand. Given recent events, he's glad to see they're OK, but the duo promptly flee into the woods. I think it's a nice detail that they've missed the entire episode so they've none of the development of their counterparts, including thinking trapping Dipper in the closet would actually hold him. It also confirms that Dipper did dance with Wendy at the end of the episode. It's nice to see him get a win. Edit: I forgot to give my final thoughts! After a slight wobble with Dipper Vs. Manliness, we see a return to form with Double Dipper. Both the A & B plots are excellently executed, and Alex Hirsch does great work as Soos & Stan, with the side gags up to the usual high standard. Candy & Grenda are a delight, and will Pacifica's a bit of a shallow character, there's still solid foundation to build upon for later episodes. The Shack is back on track! Yvonmukluk fucked around with this message at 06:54 on Jun 11, 2022 |
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Jun 10, 2022 21:59
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For the record, the full original, unaired pilot was uploaded on YouTube a while back, and it's really interesting comparing how the series changed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIyWbRU4K4M
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Jun 10, 2022 23:01
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Acebuckeye13 posted:For the record, the full original, unaired pilot was uploaded on YouTube a while back, and it's really interesting comparing how the series changed: I actually linked it upthread, but having it available in youtube form is much more convenient, thanks for finding it! Also, I found this 'next time' trailer from the pilot, with what looks like Proto Wendy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FOPPc8IJyI
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Jun 11, 2022 06:57
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Sorry for the double post, everyone. Season 1, Episode 8: Irrational Treasure It's time for a Mabel-focused episode! While the town, much to Stan's chagrin, celebrates Pioneer day, the Mystery Twins (Dipper's coming around on the name) undertake a quest to discover the dark secret of Gravity Falls' true founder, spurred on by Pacifica Northwest (who is a descendant of the official founder) mocking and dismissing Mabel's silliness in fornt of the whole town. Mabel is determined to help Dipper unravel the mystery to prove her seriousness, even taking off her trademark sweater for the duration. However, it turns out her silliness is in fact the key to the whole mystery, as while Dipper takes it seriously the whole way through (including the great gag of their 'infiltration' of the local history museum...by walking in the front door, because of course it's going to be open for Pioneer Day), whereas Mabel's screwball approach turns out to be exactly what they need. There is one obstacle (well, technically two) in the form of Blubs and Durland, because an episode about silliness needs the silliest possible antagonists. Charged with covering up the truth, they once again work as a comedic double-act, pursuing the twins (although staying on their trail due to Mabel leaving a candy trail, because the idea of them keeping track by doing actual investigation is too silly even for this episode). Of course, before they commence their pursuit, they toss Stan in the stocks, where he antagonizes (and is antagonized by) both Gideon and Pacifica. It's good to show that while Gideon was last clearly plotting far more diabolical vengeance, he's also willing to indulge in petty vengeance whenever he gets the chance. Pacifica attempts to extort Stan into saying her family is the best in town (obviously with the intent to hold it over Mabel later), but Stan being Stan, decides he'd rather get a dig in at his niece's nemesis. It's a fun little b-plot. It turns out there's a reason Mabel's had such affinity for solving the mystery, because the clues were all intended to lead to the tur founder of Gravity Falls: Sir Lord Quentin Trembley the third, the 8 1/2 President of the united states, who (in classic Simpsons fashion) has his backstory helpfully exposited in a informational film explaining he was America's Silliest President who was erased entirely from history to preserve the nation's dignity. He was replaced as President in the historical record by William Henry Harrison (who was president for only 30 days, which suggests Trembley had a very brief and very busy time in office), and by founder of Gravity Falls by Nathaniel Northwest, who was reinvented from local village idiot (and frankly as silly as Trembley if the freeze-frame description of his true personality is anything to go by). They even find Trembley himself, encased in peanut brittle in an attempt to live forever. Although they're promptly captured and shipped away to Washington DC to maintain the coverup, the duo find the president is still in fact alive, and Dipper, (arguably embracing the silliness all around him) argues that, since Trembley never resigned or was officially impeached, he's still President, and he promptly orders Blubs & Durland to forget any of it happened and to go on vacation, which they gleefully oblige with. As thanks, Trembley appoints Mabel as a Congressman, and gives 'Roderick' his President's key and a -12 Dollar Bill to remember him by. The twins return to town, using the key to free Stan from the stocks, and Mabel decides that she's happy being silly and that she doesn't need to prove anything to Pacifica. Dipper, however, is less forgiving of Pacifica antagonising his sister and immediately gives her the proof and tells her to deal with it. It's a fun little subversion of how these kinds of stories go. All in all, we finally get a Mabel focused episode where Dipper is playing the supporting role for a change, and while the structure isn't that much different from the episodes we've had so far, it's still a nice change. It's especially helped by Hirsch as Trembley, who manages to give us a character who clearly believes every ridiculous thing he says, and frankly given he's the town's founding father, explains a lot.
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Jun 13, 2022 06:33
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https://twitter.com/_AlexHirsch/status/1536423615989551104 https://twitter.com/_AlexHirsch/status/1536427400635944960 IUG fucked around with this message at 22:01 on Jun 13, 2022 |
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Jun 13, 2022 21:59
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Episode 2: Legend of the Gobblewonker Commentary Commentators: Alex Hirsch, Mike Reanda (Creative Director) Observations:
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Jun 14, 2022 03:13
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So what’s the schedule of what days and what episodes? OP didn’t post yesterday, and I’m not sure what episode we’re supposed to watch to watch along.
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Jun 15, 2022 23:49
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IUG posted:So what’s the schedule of what days and what episodes? OP didn’t post yesterday, and I’m not sure what episode we’re supposed to watch to watch along. I'm sorry, I've been pretty busy at work. I'm basically working on 4 episodes a week schedule. Next one is The Time Traveller's Pig, I'll try and get that review up tomorrow.
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Jun 16, 2022 06:24
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https://twitter.com/_AlexHirsch/status/1537314312926003201
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Jun 16, 2022 07:07
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I pre ordered the vinyl from iam8bit and it took them forever to update their eta and final artwork and I really don’t care for the style but at this point I’m in for a penny https://www.iam8bit.com/products/gravity-falls-soundtrack-2xlp  Little too Adult Swim for my taste
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Jun 16, 2022 07:34
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Season 1, Episode 9: The Time Traveller's Pig We return to Gravity Falls for a slightly temporally delayed review (I'd hoped to post it on the 15th to mark the official 10-year anniversary), as Stan decides to throw a fair at the Shack to once again fleece the townsfolk of their money, and Dipper & Mabel are both eager to participate in the festivities. Dipper, in particular, is eager to spend the day with Wendy, having finally worked up the courage to try using his words like a normal human being, and decides to try and win a carnival game to gift her stuffed critter of indeterminate species, only for for him to accidentally bean her in the eye with a ball. This lets Robbie come in to sooth her bruise and finally, Dipper’s worst nightmare comes to pass - the girl he likes is dating somebody else. He partially assigns blame to a mysterious bald man who he ran into when he was trying to bring Wendy ice for her bruise, and also having appeared in the background of some earlier episodes) - and he folds faster than the ‘memory wipe’ he throws in Mabel’s face when confronted. Meet Benjamin Blandin (played by Justin Roiland, shortly before the debut of Rick & Morty), possibly the worst time traveller ever (that’s not just me editorializing, Dipper writes the exact same thing in Journal 3!). He was sent to the fair to investigate a series of temporal anomalies, but having little luck, is fairly easily convinced to take some time off to relax, while Dipper promptly steals his temporal tape measure. Mabel happily tags along - her experience at the fair being far more positive, having won Waddles (Dee Bradley Baker), the titular pig, and swiftly bonded with him, and she’s eager to relive the experience (her initial plan of finding two Dodos and forcing them to make out having been nixed by quote:Dipper: Wendy, I just wanted to say that, well I just wanted to say that people make mistakes, and when they do, you should forgive them. And also that tight pants are overrated. Dipper throws the ball, beaning Wendy in the eye, letting Robbie come in to help and ask her out, and restoring the timeline. Mabel, having retained the knowledge of their time adventure, gleefully hugs her brother. Blandin swoops in to reclaim his tape measure, only to immediately get blamed by the Time paradox Avoidance Enforcement Squadron for causing the time anomalies he was sent to investigate (which, given it was Dipper & Mabel using his time tape, is technically true). We also see some other characters get a karmic comeuppance: Stan (who’s been taunting everyone in earshot from a rigged dunk tank all day) finally picks the wrong target in mockery when he singles out a TPAES agent, getting a well-deserved dunking, Pacifica finds herself getting viciously pecked by the chicken she won instead of Waddles and Robbie gets Waddles sicced on him by Mabel, causing him to fall victim to his own skinny jeans and making him a laughing stock of the town (including his new girlfriend). As Dipper says: that’ll do, pig. That’ll do. So I’m sure, logistically speaking, there’s not really a super coherent underpinning to how the time travel in this episode works. Why does Mabel remember Dipper undoing the time travel if he specifically went back to fix it alone? To which I say, you shut your time-mouth! At the end of the day, this episode (and the series as a whole) is built upon the relationship between the twins. This episode marks the first real case of them coming into outright conflict with each other - there’s been some light teasing going on, but ultimately they’ve both been, if not on the same page, sympathetic and supportive of each other’s goals. They’ve teased each other and squabbled, but it always seems to come from a place of love, as opposed to some shows where siblings seem to default to hostility to one enough unless the plot demands they get along for this episode. Mabel was happy to help Dipper out in this very episode until she learned of the cost of providing that help. While Dipper tries to downplay Mabel’s affection for Waddles as just a flight of fancy, anyone who’s had a pet can tell you those bonds run deep. In the end, the relationship between Mabel & Waddles is far more tangible than whatever may or may not happen in Wendy’s love life, as far as Dipper is concerned, which is what I figure motivates his choice to undo his alterations to the timeline. Blendin, while arguably only a plot device to put time travel literally in the twins’ hands to enable the plot, is nonetheless a treat. He’s more neurotic than even Dipper, and gives some of the best jokes and delivery we've seen so far (‘Do you have any idea how many rules you just broke?! I'm asking; I wasn't there with you…’’) and while he’s taken away, he does swear vengeance against the twins (although of course given one of those threats is that he’ll undo their existence and then they just keep on existing, the twins largely write off the idea of him being a threat). Will he be back? I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Another great episode, tackling a plot device a lot of series have attempted with varying degrees of success, and I think they nailed it. And another review where I try to find original ways of saying ‘I really liked this episode’, I guess. It's hard! The show's so good and a lot of people have already written about it. Oh, and I've updated the OP for thread to have a more formal schedule. And also happy Birthday to Amphibia, which is three years old today! If you like Gravity Falls and haven't watched it, go check it out. Yvonmukluk fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Jun 17, 2022 |
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Jun 17, 2022 18:44
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Alan Smithee posted:I pre ordered the vinyl from iam8bit and it took them forever to update their eta and final artwork and I really don’t care for the style but at this point I’m in for a penny I on the other hand absolutely love this. Very much my jam.
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Jun 17, 2022 19:30
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