Episode Summary: It is an exciting day for Total Drama fans as the new spin off season, The Ridonculous Race, is introduced by not Chris for once. Instead, a new host known as Don introduces us to this new competition, which is a race around the world for a million bucks. It is sort of like Total Drama: World Tour, but without the singing! Eighteen teams, the Reality TV Pros (Owen and Noah), the Sisters (Emma and Kitty), the Adversity Twins (Mickey and Jay), the Tennis Rivals (Gerry and Pete), Mother and Daughter (Taylor and Kelly), the LARPers (Leonard and Tammy), Vegans (Laurie and Miles), Ice Dancers (Jacques and Josee), Police Cadets (MacArthur and Sanders), the Rockers (Rock and Spud), Geniuses (Ellody and Mary), Goths (Ennui and Crimson), Father and Son (Dwayne and Junior), Step Brothers (Chet and Lorenzo), Fashion Bloggers (Jen and Tom), Daters (Ryan and Stephanie), Surfer Dudes (Geoff and Brody), and Best Friends (Carrie and Devin), will compete this time around for a chance at a million dollars. Let us just hope these million dollars doesn't end up at the bottom of a volcano like in the Total Drama: World Tour finale.

The teams race throughout Toronto (because the show was created in Canada) to try to get on the first two planes headed to the next destination, Moracco. In order to get here though, they must go up the Toronto Sky Tower and then zip line down to victory. Teams are given their first Either/Or at the Don Box nearby; take the sort of safe elevator up to the top and skywalk around to the next tip, or just take many flights of stairs. Many teams choose the elevators with varying, possibly gross results, while a few take the stairs. After zip lining down the tower, the planes are all filled up and it is off to Moracco for the next challenge.

Positive Aspects: It is really refreshing to see the Total Drama series try a new concept and roll with it for an entire season. Better yet, it is great to see this be represented in a spin-off series, so the regular series will not be affected if fans hate this season. I love to see a long running series, especially one that I really have enjoyed over the years, try something new to keep up with the constantly changing TV industry. Through spin offs, we have gotten memorable shows such as Angel and CSI: Special Victims' Unit. Hopefully the Ridonculous Race will be just as memorable and at the same time showcase the best of the original series.

So far, the Ridonculous Race seems to be doing this quite well. Not only are there various new characters, each with distinct and surprisingly complex personalities, but some old faces also have returned. Owen, Noah, Geoff, and Leonard are back from the original Total Drama series, and better than ever. Owen and Geoff are back to their Total Drama Island interpretations, and are free of any past fladerization they may have had over the course of the original series. Noah, a fan favorite dark horse, has been updated to the status of a main character at last and seems almost exactly the same.  The only thing that has changed with him so far is that he is trying harder in challenges, which could help more people like him for being a team player. Even Leonard has come back polished with a lot less focus on his delusional and kind of stereotypical role-playing.  It is still there a tiny bit, but is now pretty funny without being too insulting to real role-players. The writers for The Ridonculous Race seem to have tried harder this season to impress the older fans of the series, whom have maybe lost some faith in the series ever since Total Drama Action.  (I say Total Drama Action because that is where Geoff and Owen's fladerization was most present.  Total Drama: All Stars hurt ratings, but wasn't the first season where some fans got pissed at the writers for charcterization.  Therefore, Total Drama Action is the culprit.) 

  The animation also seems to have taken a nice turn. The animation for the show this season is faster paced, with more frame by frame action. This new take allows for the characters to emote more and better gives the vibe of the cartoon being a comedy. The same goes for the challenges each of the characters have to face in this episode, which feels a little more appropriately fast paced.

Basically, the Ridonculous Race could be the beginnings of a long overdue golden age for Total Drama fans.

Negative Aspects: However, I do have quite a few major problems with this episode.

First off is Don's character. Although he is definitely a narcissist and pretty funny at times, Don isn't as interesting as Chris was back on the original show. The reason for this is a lack of screen time for he character. He isn't right in the middle of the plot like Chris always was, and thus is kind of underwhelming for me. Worse, I feel his voice is way too calm for a crazy role like his on the Ridonculous Race.  He sounds more like a businessman than a host for a crazy reality TV show.  I don't hate him, but I definitely do not love him as much as Chris.

Second, the Goths have little to no character. They have one role in the entire show, and that is to act emotionless. You know, like the normal stereotype for most goths on television. It is kind of a shame that they are flat, as their designs and voice acting are quite nice. The fact that they are flat gets even worse when you remember that there was another well known Goth in the series, who you may remember from the first Total Drama season.  That character was Gwen, who was an outcast, but not completely emotionless like these two new characters.  There were times where she showed strong emotion in the form of tears or internal conflicts with her relationships in the competition.   Sorry Crimson and Ennui, but you have to be some of my least favorite Total Drama characters of all time at this very moment.

Finally, some of the characters lack enough screen time. Although the episode introduces us to all the characters early on, it still fails to balance out their screen time. The teams that most suffer from this episodic trope are the Goths (not a shock), the LARPers, and Mother and Daughter. It would have been much better if they were given at least a few more scenes, so we could've gotten to know them a little bit better.