That's So Raven
“Come on, she's black, she's psychic, and she's fat. It's hard being like her. Giver her a break.”
That's So Raven is a popular american wildlife documentary broadcast on the Disney Channel. Set in Baltimore, the plot revolves around a common Raven behaving typically and tackling the social issues of the day.
Story structure[edit]
Each episode is broken up into different segments as Raven or other birds of prey deal with real-life situations, such as molting, racial prejudice, and crippling depression. The focus of the show is Raven and her day-to-day habits although on certain occasions the focus of an episode will switch to a neighboring sparrow or occasionally a finch. Although in one of the episodes, Raven was eating a sandwich the whole time.
Social Issues, Football Jokes[edit]
That's So Raven deals with many social issues in today's societies through Raven. Racism is constantly touched on, and the ravens are usually treated like second-class citizens by all seagulls. One memorable episode dealt with the group of ravens accepting the newest raven in town into the group. At the end of the episode, the new raven is revealed to be a seagull covered in oil. The seagull precedes to peck out the eyes of the ravens' leader.
The most notable show of racism was found in the episode titled "Hurricane Isabel." In this episode, most of the city birds were leaving before the hurricane hit the city. Whenever new birds joined the group leaving the city, the ravens were always forced into the back of the flock, along with the crows, to make room for the other birds.
Much of the show features the dog-eat-dog mentality of today's society, as shown by the ravens' yearly fights with their top rivals, all of which are cleverly disguised football jokes... did I say that out loud?:
- The "Steel Men from the North," represented by their steel helmets, are constantly trying to shoot the ravens for some unexplained reason. Their leader is a man simply known as "Big Ben".
- The ferocious Bengal Tiger of Ohio, which boasts superior offensive skills, but forgets to defend itself.
- The ugly brown bulldogs, who were friendly with the ravens, until they abandoned the bulldogs, and left for Baltimore.
- Occasionally the nearby Native Americans will come to Baltimore to attack the ravens. Luckily for the ravens, the Native Americans usually set such an excruciatingly slow pace, that the ravens end up escaping their clutches.
These contests were usually brutal. Some years the ravens came out on top, but some years they were nearly wiped out by the others. In recent years, the Steel Men of the North have been eating a mysterious burger that has given them much strength. The ravens have yet to figure out how to combat this.
Popular episodes[edit]
- "Voodoo Futures" (pilot) – Raven finds out she can see into the future, so she anticipates every piece of food a human drops.
- "Choking! Not Joking!" – Raven mistakes a Pepsi bottle-cap for a blue beetle and almost dies of internal bleeding.
- "Battle of the Corn" – Raven viciously attacks a house martin after it steals some of her corn; the newly-blinded house martin stumbles into catflap. This character does not return.
- "Driven to Insanity" – Raven accidentally flies headfirst into the windscreen of a hillbilly's truck, where she loses her right leg and approximately a quarter of her blood.
- "Four's a Crowd" – Raven successfully mates and produces four offspring, all of which die due to the low food levels caused by the deforestation of the area. Raven is nearly driven insane with grief.
- "Resident Weevil" – Raven is pranked by a group of weevils while sleeping, and sets out for a gruesome but satisfying revenge.
- "One Flu Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (finale) – Raven is attacked by a Turkish Cuckoo during its migration; she becomes infected with bird flu and endures a long and inhumane death.