11 replies to this topic

[Neon2500]

When I wrote my season 1 review that got me thinking - what does everyone think about Trading Faces? As I said I think it’s a little wasted potential because there are SO. MANY. POSSIBILITIES. What are some things you would include if you wrote the episode? What do you think was it’s impact on the series? If Jimmy switched with another character who would you want it to be?

[Neon2500]

I think an episode about Jimmy switching with Sheen would be pretty funny since Sheen would have to act smart and Jimmy would have to act stupid (might be sort of like “Normal Boy” meets “Sheen’s Brain”). Jimmy switching with Carl would be funny too, but we’ve already seen a bit of that in “I Dream of Jimmy” and “Carl Wheezer, Boy Genius”.

On that note, I would also like an episode where Jimmy goes inside Cindy’s brain or dream.

[Jindy's_heartstrings]

an episode where Jimmy goes in Cindy's brain sounds like it'd be pretty funny.

[JimmyxxCindy4EVER]

Pfffft, yeah, it would be! Imagine all the stuff he'd find there, especially if he'd done that in Season One! He'd be totally dumbfounded!!

[Neon2500]

Apparently in season 4 they were supposed to have an episode where the rest of the gang goes inside Sheen's brain to remove his obsession with Ultra-Lord

[JimmyxxCindy4EVER]

Wha-?? No, they shouldn't even have considered that; that would be taking away part of Sheen's personality...! It would've been Planet Sheen all over again! If they do reboot JN, I really hope they'd think twice about doing that abomination!

[Neon2500]

Well like most of Jimmy's experiments it would probably fail in the end...also Ultra-Lord was only a big part of Sheen's personality in season 1 and the movie, they had already toned it down in the last couple seasons of the real show. 

 

BTW I think Sheen was in-character in Planet Sheen and that's the problem with it; Sheen from the beginning was meant to be a supporting comic relief not the main hero. Funny that you mention PS though as there was an actual episode called "Cutting the Ultra-Cord"...I imagine JN's version would be much better

[Jindy's_heartstrings]

you make a good point about Sheen's character. Honestly, I think if the spin off was just about Sheen's general day-to-day life in retroville, it would be pretty good. or at least, better than planet sheen. 

[Neon2500]

If Planet Sheen were just about Sheen's day-to-day life in Retroville then it would basically just be a more comedy-centric JN; in the original show Carl and Sheen have pretty much equal main character status with Jimmy, and Sheen had several episodes in the spotlight where Jimmy functions as his assistant rather than the other way around ("Crouching Jimmy, Hidden Sheen", "The Tomorrow Boys", "El Magnifico" and "Crime Sheen Investigation" for instance). Jimmy spends about 90% of his time with his best friends Carl and Sheen, so if Sheen had a spin-off a good portion of it would just be his interactions with Carl and Jimmy (Unless we got to see his little sister he mentioned that one time, which would be interesting).

 

A spin-off about Cindy's life in Retroville contemporary to the events of JN is my favorite spin-off idea and one of the only ones I think would actually work. She didn't get as much screen time in the original series as one might think (she generally only got like up to 10 lines in all the episodes that don't focus on her relationship with Jimmy)

[JimmyxxCindy4EVER]

Now, a spinoff centered around Cindy? That I would've really enjoyed, provided it was done right... The only side of her we see the most of in JN is her competitiveness/eventual affections with Jimmy... We never really saw her home life, but we did see hints about it based on her and Sasha's actions. It seems her parents only expect the best out of everything she does, and she can get anxious about it, as evidenced in Stranded, and once she'd been there a couple days, she didn't want to leave... That says something right there... Yet in the movie and in The N-Men, her parents are shown to actually care about her... My opinion is that they really do love Cindy, but don't know the right way to show it... A Cindy spinoff would've shown more of her home life, and what her parents are really like. We only see Cindy's dad in the movie and in the ep Make Room For Daddy-O, so a spinoff would've shown us more of his personality and lifestyle... Those are just my thoughts on that "what-if"...

[Neon2500]

Hang on…”Sasha?” I am assuming you’re referring to Cindy’s mom, but when in the series do they say that’s her name?

Also keep in mind the only thing we actually know about Cindy is she wants to be better than Jimmy at stuff but actually likes him. Everything else we know about her life is just an assumption; even her mom only has a speaking role in 3 episodes (“Maximum Hugh” wasn’t really her).

Also as the characters’ home lives were never really the focus in JN (Let’s face it, it’s a silly action-adventure sci-fi comedy not a teen drama) the details about all of them are really inconsistent; for example in When Pants Attack Sheen repeatedly mentions having a mom and in “I Dream of Jimmy” he has a little sister, yet these were pretty much retconned. Jimmy and Carl’s families are the only ones we’re sure about (only because Carl’s family co-starred in two episodes that nobody ever talks about)

[JimmyxxCindy4EVER]

You make a valid point there; I was just trying to make an educated guess about her life based on what we did see... It's just my opinion on it, though... As to Cindy's mom's name, the fandom has been calling her that for many years. I was just going by that... *shrug*