July 2004 - August 2004
Reviewed by Jasper
Segment 1
"Summertime Groove"
"Fishin'"
Intermission 1
Summer Of Fun VJ Spot 1
Wildlife
Coke Groove 1
7 Minute Countdown
Segment 2
"In My Pool"
"Beach Song"
Intermission 2
Summer Of Fun VJ Spot 2
Baking With Betty
Kool Aid Promo
7 Minute Countdown
Segment 3
"Baseball Diamond Dreams"
"Dog Jammin'"
Intermission 3
Summer Of Fun VJ Spot 3
Super Jasper
"America"
Coke Groove 2
7 Minute Countdown
Segment 4
"Picnic"
"Bar B Q"
Intermission 4
Cinemark Summer Movie Clubhouse Promo
Summer Of Fun VJ Spot 4
Carl & Phil Monkey Ninjas: Episode 1
7 Minute Countdown
In 2003, a brand new Summer Show debuted - featuring eight excellent songs and plenty of reused material for intermissions (besides a brand new Super Jasper). There were pros and cons to that summer show - the pros being awesome show segments - with new originals, parodies, and classic CEC song remakes - and the cons being reused material from way too recent shows...plus the show clocks in way too short, repeating segments and intermissions about every 45 minutes. And this is what spear-headed this upgrade to Summertime 2003 - featuring longer intermissions and slightly new and tweaked material.
First thing to talk about Summertime 2004 is the fact that the intermissions have been lengthened to break down the show repetitiveness. Hearing the same songs every hour can get quite annoying to some - and Department 18 realized this problem and decided to take action. The intermissions in this show clock in about 10 to 12 minutes - thanks to longer countdowns and tweaked music intermissions. When Department 18 brought back the countdown concept, they were 7 minutes in length. Considered boring and tedious, they were shortened to 5 minutes - and eventually down to 3...which has been the length for the previous year and a half. Department 18 makes a bold move with this show and brings back the original 7 minute countdowns - with one having new video footage...and all seems to work well in this show. Intermissions are also longer with the two Coke Grooves from January 2004 Show - both having new footage of Chuck E from "Drinkin' A Coca-Cola". And finally, there are brand new VJ spots (and a Kool Aid Promo) promoting the hugely popular Summer Of Fun. All these elements are tastefully done, and complete their purpose of helping make the show longer.
The intermission line-up from Summertime 2003 returns - including the popular fan mail episode of Baking With Betty, and the More Fun campaign episode of Super Jasper. CPMN Episode 3 has been replaced with Episode 1, and Wildlife replaces the goofy "Boat Of Love/We Sail The Ocean Blue" song. In all, the intermissions are great in this show - featuring plenty of in-house material and variety!
The segments are lifted straight out of Summertime 2003, and are all mentioned in the review I wrote last year. Check it out if you want to learn more about the show segments and original intermission line-up in the Summertime 2003 Showtape Review.
Summer Of Fun VJ Spots - After each show segment ends, there is a short VJ spot promoting Chuck E Cheese's "Summer Of Fun" campaign. The people in the spots include Matt Schartz, Jared, Jason, and Hank Howdy! All footage takes place outside or in the newly remodeled Chuck E Cheese's.
Cinemark Summer Movie Clubhouse - This short, computer-animated promo is for Cinemark Theatre's summer movie program for kids, sponsored by Coca-Cola. Studio C stores in areas that have Cinemark Theatres received a special software upgrade that allowed this spot to play before the Hank Howdy VJ Spot in Intermission 4. So in a sense, this is an exclusive promo for stores in Cinemark Theatre areas.
Wildlife - The music intermission, Wildlife, replaces "Boat Of Love/We Sail The Ocean Blue" from Summertime 2003. Wildlife (also known as For The Birds) is from the original Summertime 2000 - 2002, and also appeared in Best Of CEC TV 2003.
Coke Grooves - The two "Coke Groove" intermissions have some new video footage - including Chuck E Cheese footage from "Drinkin' A Coca-Cola" (Matt Schartz is in Coke Groove 2). The music is the same from their original appearance back in the January 2004 Show.
"Monkey Ninjas - This episode of Monkey Ninjas is the second version of Episode 1 (the Rabbi jokes are absent in this version). Episode 1 (which originally ran with the January 2002 Show) replaces Episode 3, which ran with Summertime 2003.
Kool Aid Promo - The Kool Aid Promo is brand new - featuring the Kool Aid Man dancing around in front of a Chuck E Cheese's restaurant. Matt Schartz does the voice-over work in this promo. There was originally a Kool Aid Promo with Summertime 2003 that had a short store run.
Countdowns (Part 1) - The Countdowns are from the September 2002 Show. In Summertime 2003, they were shortened to 3 minutes. Since Department 18 wanted to make intermissions longer, these Countdowns have been restored to their original length of 7 minutes. The 5 Minute spot (where a character would comment there is 5 minutes left 'til next show) is absent.
Countdowns (Part 2) - The Countdown in Intermission 4 is brand new, and features the hot air balloon footage once used as a short music intermission called Chuck E Goes Ballooning in Chuck E's Rockin' Rhymes. The music in this intermission is from the Studio C only Countdown in Intermission 4 from the September 2002 Show.
America - Once again the Stand Alone Song, "America", only appears in showtapes sent to stores in the U.S. "America" appears between Super Jasper and Coke Groove 2 in the Studio C version, and at the end of the showtape in the Existing Stages version.
CEC TV IDs - CEC TV IDs are the short animated bumpers usually found at the beginning and/or end of each intermission. -Intermission 1 - Blender ID
-Intermission 2 - Janitor ID, CEC TV Jingle 1 ID
-Intermission 3 - Stars ID
-Intermission 4 - Haircut ID, Animals ID
Birthday Break - The Birthday Break music and video is the same from the April 2004 Show.
-4 out of 5 Tokens-
Summertime 2003 was my all-time favorite Chuck E Cheese's summer show. It has everything you can possibly want - awesome songs and fun in-house intermissions. There were some problems I found with it, including reused material from way too recent shows at the time, and the show itself felt ridiculously short.
Luckily Summertime 2004 takes care of all these problems - making it the best summer show to come out of Department 18 to date! Although most of the material is still reused, there are plenty of new elements added to them - such as the character footage added in the two Coke Grooves and Countdown 4. I absolutely love the character oriented stuff in the intermissions...adding the hot air balloon footage and "Drinkin' A Coca-Cola" footage in the intermissions above were excellently executed. It's so much more fun to watch footage featuring the CEC gang instead of generic video.
Although my September 2002 Show review mentioned the 7 Minute Countdowns are very boring and tedious, I take my comments back due to their useful purpose in making shows longer. They actually go by pretty fast, and the generic music is actually catchy. And as I mentioned, the footage of Countdown 4 with Chuck E and Helen in the hot air balloons is very welcomed, and I hope future music intermissions and countdowns feature more characters.
The VJ Spots for the Summer Of Fun are tastefully done - it's really neat to see what the new store model looks like - and it's always fun to see Matt and Ryan do what they do best. The Kool Aid Promo, on the other hand, is really goofy - but heck, I've seen worse. At least it's CEC oriented with the Kool Aid Man dancing in front of the newly remodeled store.
As the rest of the intermissions go - I'm glad to see Baking With Betty and Super Jasper return from the 2003 version...these two episodes are some of the best in-house intermissions to date. And it's great to see Wildlife again - brings back fond memories of the first Summertime show. Monkey Ninjas is okay - I guess I have seen these episodes so many times that they aren't as funny as they use to be. And, of course, the show segments are excellent and really hold this show together - it's definitely worth the 10 - 12 minute intermission wait to hear these songs... especially "Summertime Groove", "Fishin", "Picnic", and "Bar B Q".
In all Summertime 2004 is a great summer show. Lengthening the intermissions is a smart idea, and I hope to see more character-oriented video footage for the countdowns and more in-house material in the future shows. Everything seemed to flow just fine - and although it'll take almost an hour and a half to get to your favorite song segment again - I think it's worth the wait! With Summertime 2004 in stores, you and your family can have a summer of fun!
"Summertime Groove"
"Fishin'"
Intermission 1
Summer Of Fun VJ Spot 1
Wildlife
Coke Groove 1
7 Minute Countdown
Segment 2
"In My Pool"
"Beach Song"
Intermission 2
Summer Of Fun VJ Spot 2
Baking With Betty
Kool Aid Promo
7 Minute Countdown
Segment 3
"Baseball Diamond Dreams"
"Dog Jammin'"
Intermission 3
Summer Of Fun VJ Spot 3
Super Jasper
"America"
Coke Groove 2
7 Minute Countdown
Segment 4
"Picnic"
"Bar B Q"
Intermission 4
Cinemark Summer Movie Clubhouse Promo
Summer Of Fun VJ Spot 4
Carl & Phil Monkey Ninjas: Episode 1
7 Minute Countdown
In 2003, a brand new Summer Show debuted - featuring eight excellent songs and plenty of reused material for intermissions (besides a brand new Super Jasper). There were pros and cons to that summer show - the pros being awesome show segments - with new originals, parodies, and classic CEC song remakes - and the cons being reused material from way too recent shows...plus the show clocks in way too short, repeating segments and intermissions about every 45 minutes. And this is what spear-headed this upgrade to Summertime 2003 - featuring longer intermissions and slightly new and tweaked material.
First thing to talk about Summertime 2004 is the fact that the intermissions have been lengthened to break down the show repetitiveness. Hearing the same songs every hour can get quite annoying to some - and Department 18 realized this problem and decided to take action. The intermissions in this show clock in about 10 to 12 minutes - thanks to longer countdowns and tweaked music intermissions. When Department 18 brought back the countdown concept, they were 7 minutes in length. Considered boring and tedious, they were shortened to 5 minutes - and eventually down to 3...which has been the length for the previous year and a half. Department 18 makes a bold move with this show and brings back the original 7 minute countdowns - with one having new video footage...and all seems to work well in this show. Intermissions are also longer with the two Coke Grooves from January 2004 Show - both having new footage of Chuck E from "Drinkin' A Coca-Cola". And finally, there are brand new VJ spots (and a Kool Aid Promo) promoting the hugely popular Summer Of Fun. All these elements are tastefully done, and complete their purpose of helping make the show longer.
The intermission line-up from Summertime 2003 returns - including the popular fan mail episode of Baking With Betty, and the More Fun campaign episode of Super Jasper. CPMN Episode 3 has been replaced with Episode 1, and Wildlife replaces the goofy "Boat Of Love/We Sail The Ocean Blue" song. In all, the intermissions are great in this show - featuring plenty of in-house material and variety!
The segments are lifted straight out of Summertime 2003, and are all mentioned in the review I wrote last year. Check it out if you want to learn more about the show segments and original intermission line-up in the Summertime 2003 Showtape Review.
Summer Of Fun VJ Spots - After each show segment ends, there is a short VJ spot promoting Chuck E Cheese's "Summer Of Fun" campaign. The people in the spots include Matt Schartz, Jared, Jason, and Hank Howdy! All footage takes place outside or in the newly remodeled Chuck E Cheese's.
Cinemark Summer Movie Clubhouse - This short, computer-animated promo is for Cinemark Theatre's summer movie program for kids, sponsored by Coca-Cola. Studio C stores in areas that have Cinemark Theatres received a special software upgrade that allowed this spot to play before the Hank Howdy VJ Spot in Intermission 4. So in a sense, this is an exclusive promo for stores in Cinemark Theatre areas.
Wildlife - The music intermission, Wildlife, replaces "Boat Of Love/We Sail The Ocean Blue" from Summertime 2003. Wildlife (also known as For The Birds) is from the original Summertime 2000 - 2002, and also appeared in Best Of CEC TV 2003.
Coke Grooves - The two "Coke Groove" intermissions have some new video footage - including Chuck E Cheese footage from "Drinkin' A Coca-Cola" (Matt Schartz is in Coke Groove 2). The music is the same from their original appearance back in the January 2004 Show.
"Monkey Ninjas - This episode of Monkey Ninjas is the second version of Episode 1 (the Rabbi jokes are absent in this version). Episode 1 (which originally ran with the January 2002 Show) replaces Episode 3, which ran with Summertime 2003.
Kool Aid Promo - The Kool Aid Promo is brand new - featuring the Kool Aid Man dancing around in front of a Chuck E Cheese's restaurant. Matt Schartz does the voice-over work in this promo. There was originally a Kool Aid Promo with Summertime 2003 that had a short store run.
Countdowns (Part 1) - The Countdowns are from the September 2002 Show. In Summertime 2003, they were shortened to 3 minutes. Since Department 18 wanted to make intermissions longer, these Countdowns have been restored to their original length of 7 minutes. The 5 Minute spot (where a character would comment there is 5 minutes left 'til next show) is absent.
Countdowns (Part 2) - The Countdown in Intermission 4 is brand new, and features the hot air balloon footage once used as a short music intermission called Chuck E Goes Ballooning in Chuck E's Rockin' Rhymes. The music in this intermission is from the Studio C only Countdown in Intermission 4 from the September 2002 Show.
America - Once again the Stand Alone Song, "America", only appears in showtapes sent to stores in the U.S. "America" appears between Super Jasper and Coke Groove 2 in the Studio C version, and at the end of the showtape in the Existing Stages version.
CEC TV IDs - CEC TV IDs are the short animated bumpers usually found at the beginning and/or end of each intermission. -Intermission 1 - Blender ID
-Intermission 2 - Janitor ID, CEC TV Jingle 1 ID
-Intermission 3 - Stars ID
-Intermission 4 - Haircut ID, Animals ID
Birthday Break - The Birthday Break music and video is the same from the April 2004 Show.
-4 out of 5 Tokens-
Summertime 2003 was my all-time favorite Chuck E Cheese's summer show. It has everything you can possibly want - awesome songs and fun in-house intermissions. There were some problems I found with it, including reused material from way too recent shows at the time, and the show itself felt ridiculously short.
Luckily Summertime 2004 takes care of all these problems - making it the best summer show to come out of Department 18 to date! Although most of the material is still reused, there are plenty of new elements added to them - such as the character footage added in the two Coke Grooves and Countdown 4. I absolutely love the character oriented stuff in the intermissions...adding the hot air balloon footage and "Drinkin' A Coca-Cola" footage in the intermissions above were excellently executed. It's so much more fun to watch footage featuring the CEC gang instead of generic video.
Although my September 2002 Show review mentioned the 7 Minute Countdowns are very boring and tedious, I take my comments back due to their useful purpose in making shows longer. They actually go by pretty fast, and the generic music is actually catchy. And as I mentioned, the footage of Countdown 4 with Chuck E and Helen in the hot air balloons is very welcomed, and I hope future music intermissions and countdowns feature more characters.
The VJ Spots for the Summer Of Fun are tastefully done - it's really neat to see what the new store model looks like - and it's always fun to see Matt and Ryan do what they do best. The Kool Aid Promo, on the other hand, is really goofy - but heck, I've seen worse. At least it's CEC oriented with the Kool Aid Man dancing in front of the newly remodeled store.
As the rest of the intermissions go - I'm glad to see Baking With Betty and Super Jasper return from the 2003 version...these two episodes are some of the best in-house intermissions to date. And it's great to see Wildlife again - brings back fond memories of the first Summertime show. Monkey Ninjas is okay - I guess I have seen these episodes so many times that they aren't as funny as they use to be. And, of course, the show segments are excellent and really hold this show together - it's definitely worth the 10 - 12 minute intermission wait to hear these songs... especially "Summertime Groove", "Fishin", "Picnic", and "Bar B Q".
In all Summertime 2004 is a great summer show. Lengthening the intermissions is a smart idea, and I hope to see more character-oriented video footage for the countdowns and more in-house material in the future shows. Everything seemed to flow just fine - and although it'll take almost an hour and a half to get to your favorite song segment again - I think it's worth the wait! With Summertime 2004 in stores, you and your family can have a summer of fun!