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By Lilly Vickers

           Wander Over Yonder is an American animated television comedy, a Disney Channel Original Series, produced by Disney Television Animation for Disney Channel. The series previewed on August 16, 2013 and officially premiered on September 13, 2013. It was moved to Disney X.D. on March 31, 2014 but began airing on Fridays on Disney Channel again from July 11, 2014 onwards, and it currently only airs on certain Fridays. So far the show is only part of the “Disney X.D. on Disney Channel” block. Wander Over Yonder was created by Craig McCracken, the same man who made The PowerPuff Girls and Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends. It features the voices of many popular voice actors. Jack McBrayer voices Wander, April Winchell as Sylvia, and Keith Ferguso voices Lord Hater.

When I first heard of Wander Over Yonder I thought it was another dumb show that left no impression, but then I saw a review of it and decided to give the show a shot. Turns out, I was totally wrong about thinking it was dumb. Wander Over Yonder is like a best friend, one that is always there for you when you are sad or need a hug. Seriously, when watching Wander Over Yonder, it feels like the show is giving the viewer a hug. There is absolutely nothing negative about this show, it is just there to make you happy. Whenever I was feeling sad I watched Wander Over Yonder, and it cheered me right back up.

Season 1 of Wander Over Yonder is just the main characters and their adventures as the wander around the galaxy. There basically is no overarching story, but there is a story per episode. However, in Season 2 there is an overarching plot, but I am reviewing Season 1. Wander Over Yonder does not need a plot, though, the show is character driven, and its characters are the best thing about the show. The show does not have a lot of substance, but it’s still very enjoyable, and it’s there to make you laugh. Rather than giving my opinion on the plot, since there is not much of a story, I will give my opinion on the characters.

Our protagonist is Wander, a lovable, wandering wanderer, who is so sweet you can feel the diabetes forming as you watch his adventures. He is the kindest person you will ever see on TV. Wander is nicer than Mabel Pines (Gravity Falls), and Steven Universe (Steven Universe). Wander is basically incapable of doing anything bad. Being helpful is like an obsession for Wander, to the point where it can be a bit frightening at certain times. Wander will go to any lengths to help someone, to the point of going crazy. His famous saying is, “It never hurts to help.” In season 1 there was not much about Wander, he had no backstory. He’s similar to Bugs Bunny (Loony Tunes), or Mickey Mouse (Disney), these main characters who have no back story but you still end up loving anyway. Wander is just a simple guy, who can bring a smile to your face, and who hugs you through the TV screen.

Sylvia is Wander’s steed, and best friend. She’s the muscle of the two, and has the job of keeping Wander safe. Sylvia does like helping people, but she isn’t as crazy about it as Wander. However, her ways of helping others can sometimes be the violent solution, and she does have her limits. As hot tempered as Sylvia is, she really knows how to keep her cool around Wander, and she is actually very respectful of his opinions. Sylvia could be called a tomboy, but she has a girly side too, which creates a nice balance with her character. She is a female character you don’t see very often, which is refreshing.

Lord Hater is the funny and lovable villain of the show, who wants to destroy Wander and Sylvia for making him look dumb on multiple occasions. Villains aren’t normally lovable, but I found myself liking Hater more than I thought I would and relating to him multiple times. Hater is kind of similar to a bratty goth teenager: he wants to conquer the galaxy just to prove that he can. Hater wants to bad, he wants to be feared. You can see it in his clothes, his ship, and his room. Hater ties to be evil, but you just can’t take him seriously. Every now and then, when Hater loses his cool, he can be very intimidated and threatening.

The final main character is Commander Peepers, Lord Hater’s right-hand man. There is not a whole lot to Peepers in the first season, but his character is vastly improved upon in Season 2. There is no escape for him in this Season 1 review! Commander Peepers helps Hater in conquering planets, and he has the highest rank in Hater’s army of Watchdogs. Peepers also serves as a voice of reason and shoulder to cry upon for Lord Hater at certain times. He wants Hater to approve of him, since Hater is Peepers’s boss. Hater says that he and Peepers are not friends, even though they do a lot of things friends do, and they enjoy each other’s company. Other than that, there is not much else to Peepers, he kind of stays in the background.

Wander Over Yonder gets a special award from me for making songs that did NOT make me cringe. I am not one for musicals, and I hate it when characters in a show start singing, but I love the Wander Over Yonder music. The songs that Wander sings are too silly and fun to hate. Plus, this is the one and only show that had a musical episode that did NOT make me cringe. ‘My Fair Hatey’, the musical episode, is actually one of my favorite episodes, and it has my favorite Wander Over Yonder song: “I’m the Bad Guy.”

Wander Over Yonder has great humor, new ideas, irreplaceable characters, catchy songs, bouncy animation, and a happy attitude. The only down side to the show is that it is not for everyone. It’s not deep, but if you are depressed or just having a bad day watch an episode of Wander Over Yonder and your attitude can be turned right around. As for episodes to see for your first time watching, I’d say watch the episodes ‘The Picnic’, ‘The Fugitives’, ‘The Hero’, ‘The Nice Guy’, ‘The Stray’, ‘The Time Bomb’ and finally ‘The Night’. Those are just the best episodes I can think of from Season 1, and Season 2 is even better!

The last thing I have to say is rather sad, but it needs to be said and it needs to be heard. Craig McCracken has big plans for Wander Over Yonder season 3, but the big bosses at Disney cancelled the show. They have not given a reason as to why they cancelled it, other than they didn’t see a reason to make any more episodes of Wander Over Yonder. Right now there is a large movement to convince them to change their minds. The movement is called “SaveWOY” or “Save Wander Over Yonder”. To help bring the show back you can check this Tumblr page: http://savewoy.tumblr.com/. You can also go sign the Wander Over Yonder Season 3 petition at Change.org https://www.change.org/p/walt-disney-encourage-disney-to-make-wander-over-yonder-season-3. Disney has cancelled shows and then has brought them back due to mass amounts of fan mail, Kim Possible Season 4 is an example. The mail address of the big bosses of Disney can be found on this page: http://savewoy.savedisneyshows.org/. So please help us bring our show back, after all, it never hurts to help.