Review: Penn Zero “I’m Super/The Fast and the Floor Rugs”

Spoilers Below

“I’m Super”

Penn Zero, Boone, and Sasha get transported to a world where everything and everyone are superheroes. But with heroes, you also get villains, more importantly the leader of the villains Rippen and his sidekick Larry. Despite the populace of heroes, Penn Zero ends up being the guy taking the brunt of the fight with Rippen whom has the ability to take the powers of others and does just that with the entire town.  But, just as it looks as though the town is in the hands of Rippen, the town fights back and takes down the big bot thereby returning everyone’s powers.

And so, with Penn Zero, the general kick off to every episode is that the kids head to a lady that zaps them into alternate realities where they can be whatever kind of hero they want. In this instance, getting the superheroes idea was a great plan because you KNEW everyone wanted this one to happen. The show has strands of Phineas and Ferb and Johnny Test, but the aesthetic of the show and the edgier humor make the series stand out. Also, the voice cast is really, really good…possibly one of the best new casts of the year. Thomas Middleditch (Silicon Valley) seems right at home as Penn, and Adam Devine (Workaholics) adds to his growing resume as a versatile voice actor. Potentially the funniest villain duo in a really long time, Al Molina checks in as Rippen and Larry Wilmore is…um…Larry. I knew Alfred had some voice chops, but Larry’s work is truly remarkable stuff. This episode is super…

”The Fast and the Floor Rugs”

Penn and the gang head to a an Arabian-inspired world that sees Boone become a genie, Sasha become a monkey, and Penn basically becoming the Aladdin type. The crew are in a battle with Rippen to get a lamp, so a race ensues. Penn and co. end up crash landing which causes Zero and Boone to get into an argument that sees Boone hop away. Rippen grabs the Boone lamp and takes off on a cop chase leaving Monkey and Penn to head to an oasis to vent. Afterwards. the duo speeds after Rippen so as to save their buddy Boone and all apologies are said. Boone turns PZ into milk and Rippen takes off.

It only makes sense to throw in an Aladdin episode on Disney, kind of a great idea if you ask me! It’s here we begin to see not only the many faces of Penn, but the faces of his friends and foes as well. The show throws in some pretty good jokes here and there, with my personal favorite this time around being when Rippen gets pulled over for speeding on his magic carpet. We also for the first time see some disagreements among the team which should make for some interesting dynamics moving forward.