"They'll be doom and gloom, when things go boom--in Dexter's LAB!" Aww. Dexter's Lab. The story of an accented young genious with a big ego and a less than intellgent family and annoying little sister to boot. It lasted rather long, complete with having a rather great network movie (Which my only complaint was that we didn't get to see an older Dee-Dee.) As we know now, the show has been shut down/cancelled/ended. Why? I shall explore that, in my opinion: 1. Personally, in a sense, I can't help but blame Samurai Jack partically for the demise of both Dex. Of course: What does SJ have to do with Dexter's termination? I tend to believe the main sore spot of some fans with the show was the sudden (and rather drastic) SJ makeover the show got animation wise. It was too the point non the characters actually looked right anymore. 2. Let's be honest: the show wasn't nearly as funny anymore. It really seemed that all the aspects of the show that made it so good and funny, were stripped down in favor for...who knows. 3.A character change definately factored. DeeDee was far more stupid than she was previously to the point of irration instead of lighthearted humor, only to be surpassed by her father, who was while rather dimwitted, wasn't nearly as dumb as he was later in the show. Dexter's mother was about the same. Mandark scemes to destroy Dexter became down right lame, and he seemed more like that goofy villian than the dark and lovably evil villian he once was. Even Dexter himself changed slightly, but not my much. 4. The *shorts* weren't as good anymore (like "A Dad Cartoon"): no more 'Dail M for Monkey' or 'The Justice Friends'. This was something I rather looked forward too and I was sad to see them go. All and all, the poor thing suffered from all sides, from animation, to bad writing, and to be honest, I was not surprised that the show finally got canned. I can't even pretend I wanted to watch it anymore. I think it's a sad fate that such a show went down the tub, but at least, perhapes, well get a DVD set of the earlier episodes, when the show was enjoyable. (NOTE: Though I will admit-there was only one episode of the newer seasons I liked and that was was "Jeeper Creepers, Where is Peepers?" I never laughed a villian so much in my life.)

Let's face it: when there's a popular show/book/game/etc., there's bond to be some fanfiction to follow. But with every fanfiction one likes to read, there is always that one thing (or things) that will either A.) Make you flame it on the spot. B.) You won't read it any further, if at all once you found out it's in the story. (Like if it's in the summery.) Most of the time, it all depends on the thing one is reading a fanfiction on. Take me for instance: I write fanfiction, and I love reading it. But even I have to admit, there are certain things that will make me high tail it away from a story if see it in the story. For example: Harry Potter 1. Harry/Hermione pairing, Snape/Hermione pairing of any sort, no exceptions. (Though the H/Hr thing comes from the fact I'm a die hard R/Hr shipper. Sorry H/Hr fans!!) 2. Harry's mysterious sibiling. (I can't stand when they try to give Harry some sort of sibiling...it just takes away from Harry's importance in my opinion.) 3. Voldemort becoming overly nice. (Sure, there are some great stories where he becomes good--and some very well written ones. But I mean the ones where he's so nice, it's down right Way Out of Character.) 4. Serious Dumbledore bashing, unless he's actually the main bad guy of the story. (Long live Bumblebee!) 5. That mysterious Mary Sue that Harry falls head over hills in love with--oh yeah--and she's Voldemort's daughter. (Done to death people. Done. To. DEATH.) Street Fighter: 1. Ryu having some mysterious child from some fling. (Not only has it been done to death, it undermines Ryu character as a whole. And the way it's done is always the same, which irks me because it's like reading the same story all over again, even if it's by a different writter.) 2. Ryu/Sakura pairings. (Honestly, because I like Sakura but I don't see her as a romantic match for Ryu at all. I look at it more like a admiration/teacher thing--but that's just me. o.O*) Danny Phantom 1. Another Halfa, of any type, other than Vlad and Danny. (Probably my biggest Danny Phantom pet peeve in fanfiction. It just irks me for so many reasons, the main being that Danny and Vlad being halfa's is *special* and both happened because of practically, the same reason. (Jake's fowl ups.) It seems to undermine it if some nobody can just be a halfa at the drop of a dime. It's not creative in any way, as it's already been done to death. And 9 times out of 10, it's always some girl that Danny ends up with in a romantic sense.) Teen Titans 1.Raven/Beast Boy pairings (done to death) though exceptions being if it's very well written. 2. Raven having a brother a demonic brother. I didn't name nearly all of them (not even for those catagories) but I decided to stop anyway.

I remember the times when I was a small child, espically on a Saturday morning. I remember the days when I use to live on Nickeloden, when I use to sit in front of a television with a bowl of my favorite cereal and watch my favorite Nicktoons lineup Rugrats (Long Before Dil) Ahh! Real Monsters Rocko's Mondern Life Ren and Stimpy Doug Hey! Arnold Just to name a few. Even I have to admit, there was a time I stopped watching Nickeloden as a whole, save the Nicktoons--until what I'd like to call the "Dark" age came about. None of the good ole Nicktoons seemed to survive, one in which that infurated me being Hey! Arnold, which ending long before you found out if the main character (that being Arnold) ever found his parents and/or if Helga ever got her man. (Not to mention if Gerald and Phoboe ever got together.) The only *old school* Nicktoon changed so drastically, that it didn't even seem like the same nicktoon or appeal to me in the manner that it used to--this being Rugrats. I must admit, after such an accurance, I stayed away from the channel as a whole and buried myself into Comedy Central and Cartoon Network. Until that is, a friend of mine introduced me to the *new* Nicktoon Line up. While I must admit: I still miss the classic Nickeloden as a whole, espically the Nicktoons, but this does give me new found hope in a network I lost faith in. Mind you, I still won't watch Rugrats anymore (unless the lettering is in red, indicating it's one of the older episodes) and there are quite a few Nicktoons I could live without "My Dad the Rockstar", "My Life as a Teenage Robot" just to name a few. I can stand Spongebob on occasion (I find Patrick annoying but at least Squidward and Sandy give me a reason to watch the show.) but the star really shines with shows like "Fairly Oddparents", "Danny Phantom", and "Avatar: The Last Airbender". While the shows have their own unquie quality to them that make them all fun and enjoyable to watch, for example, like Danny Phantom has great action with great comedy or Avatar tells an compelling, epic story with excellent action sequences or Fairly Oddparents has great situation comedy while teaching those of younger ages a lesson in the process, or even Spongebob with it's zany comedy and charaters that you tend to grow and love. . .alas. In a sense, it will never measure up to the old days of Nickeloden and their nicktoons. Perhapes I dream of a past long forgotten. Or maybe I'm one of the few that still yern for the greater days of Nickeloden as a whole. Sure, there are seperate networks for such shows like Nicktoons TV for the older nicktoons, Nick Gameshow Network? for the older Nick shows. Or even a website like Turbo Nick. But in the end--is it *really* the same? I suppose we shall never see the *old* days of Nickeloden or their Nicktoons as we use to. But in the end--there's always the memories, right? -Kamirine