Total Drama Island/Headscratchers

''' Important note: all spoilers on this page are untagged. If you are not completely up-to-date with the total drama series and do not wish to be spoilered, don't read on. This is so that edit wars over where the line between "This vote off is not a spoiler" and "this vote off is a spoiler" will not happen. The only exceptions are if spoilers from other series are listed. '''

Total Drama Island
"Early episode:
 * The cursed tiki arc. The reason they lost the challenges was because of their own actions (such as opening fire on your own teamates). The curse apparently made them lose three challenges in a row, but that happens to the other team as well.
 * Yes, it did, but not until after the arc in question. Additionally, the Screaming Gophers had been performing significantly better than the Killer Bass the entire time up until that point. Prior to the arc one of their losses was ostensibly because one of their own members refused to do anything, and another could have been seen by the team as just plain badly scored (the Gophers had one more point even with Harold's perfect ten). Those were the only two losses prior. Surely some cockiness must have developed among them that would prevent them from admitting that the Killer Bass just did better because of skill.
 * With the talent show, the winner was supposedly decided on the highest individual score.
 * Collectively, the team did better, though (it's not about whether they're worse than just Harold after all); which would still help lead to cockiness.
 * Why is Harold angry at just Duncan for pranking him? Geoff and DJ were just as guilty. Heck, Geoff was the one who fed Harold the underwear.
 * That just gave me a thought: Why do they say Geoff and DJ are nice in the first place?
 * Technically, DJ was only mean to Harold in one episode, so it's possible that that was a goof (after being civil to each other in the following episode, they become friends in the following season), and it certainly seems inconsistent with his characterization to pick on anyone. As for Geoff, well, people probably just forgot about Harold. Poor Harold, always forgotten.
 * They had a reason in the main episode where they did it; Duncan is the only one who actively went after Harold without provocation. Meta-reason: Duncan is more in-focus in terms of character than the other two.
 * Why is Ezekiel's face on a milk carton?
 * He was kidnaped by angry feminists.
 * They forgot mentioning the resort, so his parents got scared.
 * Nobody really knows; it was more than likely just a one-time gag that was supposed to be caught by viewers.
 * The directors explained in an interview that it was just a little meaningless joke they threw in.
 * Wouldn't it make more sense to bring back... you know, Courtney Than Eva or Izzy because she wasn't even voted off, but was, elimination because Harold rigged the votes and Chris knew about it?
 * The competition is unfair, and I don't mean implicitly through writing errors. A number of eliminations, as well as Chris's assertion that there aren't any rules, suggest that Chris is essentially allowed to make things up as he goes. Presumably, the huge contract that the contestants signed says something to that effect, which was probably why Courtney lost her original lawsuit. He wasn't accountable to Courtney until she forced her way onto the show. Eva and Izzy were presumably returned because Chris liked them, or at least liked their tendency to make the contestants' lives difficult, not because they deserved a second chance. Complaints are just met with amusement or indifference, so it doesn't accomplish too much from a narrative perspective to show every complaint that the campers make.
 * Chris clearly doesn't like Izzy; I think it's because Chris is something of an Attention Whore and Izzy steals his thunder (and every scene she's in). If Chris demonstrates genuine affection for any one camper, that would be Owen. He's visibly sad when he gets booted off and even allows him to make a speech, even fighting Courtney on her claim that he shouldn't be allowed to. When Izzy / "Explosivo" was voted off, on the other foot, he was clearly very happy about it, and even expressed his dislike of her in the next episode's Cold Open (after the Aftermath).
 * Then why did we bring her back in the first season?
 * He may not be crazy about her stealing his publicity, but the girl is Crazy Awesome, and that's good for the ratings. As for bringing back Eva, Chris himself stated "but we like her" when the others asked about her being a favorite enough to bring back. It's pretty clear Chris allowed her back into the show because he knew she'd be the one to raise the most hell.
 * It just bugs me that the campers were so easily manipulated by food in the third episode (The big sleep). Look, I understand that Chef's food sucks, but come on, it's only been a week, they've barely got one foot in the door. Why couldn't he have saved that ace until after they'd forgotten what real food tastes like?
 * It actually makes a little sense when you think about it, the contestants weren't used to the food back then (Gwen gets freaked out by her food moving) so the chance of having normal food would sound great to them. But if the food reward had been later on, then the contestants would have already grown to tolerate Chef's food, so it would be that big a deal to them, not to mention that by then they'd probably be Genre Savvy enough to realize that Chris was trying to trick them. Basically, what I'm saying is this:

Campers: "Free food just for running a race? Hey maybe this Chris guy isn't so bad!"

Late episode:

Campers:"Free food just for running a race? From Chris? It must be poisoned or something.""


 * Again, TDDDDI. the fact that Tyler and Cody didn't make it to TDA but Owen and DJ did, yet they where tied together. (No, not that way)
 * Yet again. Same episode. So we have Ezekiel and Beth under Justin's parachute, the parachute get's pulled to the dock, we see Beth in the water and-wait, where did Ezekiel go? Did we just vanished to the Ed, Edd n Eddy verse or something? He's seen by the dock as if he failed but... um... what? He just vanished.
 * Courtney apparently has a great singing voice in Total Drama Action, so...when Bridgette smashed her violin in the first season's talent show episode, couldn't she just sing?
 * Courtney is no good with improvising, so once the original plan fails, she is helpless.
 * DJ's elimination. By this point it had been established that Heather was universally loathed by everyone on the island. Why wasn't she voted off?
 * It was implied that DJ was sent home by Chris for failing the challenge.
 * It was said straight off that DJ was being sent home because he didn't complete the challenge, as most of the challenges at the time were. There was no vote.
 * Wouldn't the parents of the contestants be watching..? I know it's a cartoon, but it just kinda bugs me...
 * They may not care. Heather's parents were celebrating that she was gone...
 * In the Extreme Sports episode, Trent mentions them signing release forms so I guess there must a bit in the contestant's contracts legally absolving the show of any injuries done to them during the challenge no matter how threatening the challenges may be. The psycho killer cornering Gwen in Hook,Line and Sinker doesnt count since he wasnt part of the challenge. Chris hates losing money and having a ton of lawsuits from angry parents would cramp his luxurous lifestyle so it would make sense he'd add something to the contract preventing their families from suing the show. Add to that he's got lawyers who like to make LOTS of copies.


 * Rewatching Total Drama Island, episode 2. Why isn't Noah shown jumping? He obviously did because he's shown in the water with Trent just before Owen's jump. Sooo...
 * Honestly, I thought it was a cop-out: they couldn't show Noah doing anything first season (hence why he "passed out" during the running) but they had to have the Gophers win and they didn't have him talking that episode anyway. So the camera just missed it or something.
 * I for one think it was just a good old fashioned goof, this show is chock-full of them. Noah randomly appearing with Trent in the next scene was probably the animators trying to cover up the fact they forgot to show him jump. That, or Noah jumped the way a normal person would (Rather than flailing insanely like Cody, cheering like Geoff or hitting the side of the cliff like Ezekiel) so they cut it out to save time.=
 * During the TDI special Courtney finds out that they aren't on an island at all, just an isolated area that's actually very close to civilization, yet, during Phobia Factor and X-treme Torture characters take a plane above the island, wouldn't they have noticed what Coutney discovered nearly a season later?
 * It could be possible that they were brought to a different area for TDDDDI so that one of them would have that moment. It's just that they probably weren't expecting Courtney to go crazy. They could've been just acting that they were worried that one of the contestants found out.
 * No, that was the same island, the characters run past their cabins, the communal bathroom is still there, the yeti cave is still there, the moose is still there and the dock is the exact same one. Not to mention the campers seem familiar enough with the surroundings to navigate through the forest. And I think Courtney explicitly mentions it at one point.
 * I just assumed it was an Aborted Arc, along with the secret Eva was going to reveal on the boat of shame that Izzy interrupted nervously.
 * No, she was just talking about Playa Des Losers.
 * A lot of the confessionals defy logic, like in Paintball Deer Hunter Cody in a full body cast kept talking about his chances of winning in the Confession Cam yet in the time right after he was put in said cast to when he left the island his mouth was bandaged up in every scene where he wasn't using the confessional.
 * Gwen tells the Escaped Psycho Killer that he has bad breath. Either he quickly ran to the confessional to smell it, than ran back and tried to kill her, or he did it in the end. Either way, I think some confessionals just follow Rule of Funny. Maybe a crew member took Cody's bandage off to let him talk.
 * Why didn't they give Heather any lines in the TDI episode "Phobia Factor"? She's the villain, SHE should be the one psyching Courtney out, not Gwen!
 * Two theories; one, the writers decided that she had been speaking too much and decided to cut her lines during the episode. Two, the writers forgot to make Heather talk, similar to how Justin was silent for almost every episode in the series.
 * do you know what I don't get? why did Lindsay help Owen win Island for the yacht party?, she's a rich Daddy's Girl, she could probably afford one of those herself, but she has an excuse, she's a Dumb Blonde
 * Remember, she felt guilty about changing sides... Maybe she did it to go with the more popular response...
 * Her wealthiness is never confirmed on the show. She could just be a Dumb Blond. And if she was rich, why would she sign up for a reality show to win money? Her being "spoiled" has never been confirmed, either, so I doubt that she's rich at all.
 * According to her biography, she signed up "So her gorgeousness could be shared with millions of people on TV."
 * All the way back to the first challenge... what exactly is stopping the sharks from attacking the person in the "safe zone"? It's not like the boat picking them up would get there right away... Was it coated in shark repellent?
 * I assumed the ring signified a net below the markers that prevented the sharks from entering the circle.
 * I know it was to hurt him emotionally, but why didn't Harold rig the votes to get rid of Duncan? That way, he'd be hurt AND he couldn't bully him anymore.
 * Duncan wanted to go home.
 * I don't think he wanted to go home. He might've hated the camp, but if he wanted to go home, he could have just quit. I think it was more of just "hurting him emotionally". Maybe Harold figured that eliminating Duncan's girlfriend would make him more miserable than eliminating Duncan himself.
 * Since the lavatory where the Confession Cam is set up appears to be the only bathroom on the plane and the camera appears to be working 24/7 with the contestants having no control of whether it's on or not, does this mean that Chris or whoever edits these things for the show actually has to see the contestants do their, uh, business?!?
 * Yep. When Cody needed to use it in Paris, he got Alejandro to stand in front of the camera so that the audience wouldn't see anything indecent.
 * Also shown way back in TDI in the episode "Search and Do Not Destroy", where Lindsay does practically nothing but pee while the camera films her. She did catch on though, and tried to hide behind her magazine.
 * What happened to Bunny? (Or, if you want to be technical, the second bunny) Where was it after "Haute Camp-ture"? Did DJ let it go back into the wild? Did he take it home with him? Did it get flung far away?
 * I don't know about the first two, but it wasn't the last one - Bunny landed in Lindsay's lap about three minutes before the episode ended. (She thought it was Tyler, remember?)
 * For that matter, what happened to Irene?
 * This show seems to have trouble keeping up with its animal characters. There's also Britney, Duncan and Courtney's raccoon from the Celebrity Manhunt special.
 * I don't get Cartoon Network's early censorship standards. They remove the word "suck" a bunch of times (sometimes replacing it with "stinks" or just removing it. "How does it feel to so much?") But they left the title to episode 6 alone - "The Sucky Outdoors". Now, unless they just changed the title completely, did they just expect kids to not read the title? (Assuming they had the program to do so?)
 * It gets worse. They actually censored the word "stupid" a few times, despite it being fine on there other shows. But they're alot better now, editing very few things and even giving you the uncensored versions on iTunes and the CN website.
 * It bugs me that Katie and Sadie never realised they were on TV until TDDDDI even though they're on a reality show and the fact that everyone's being filmed is brought up a hundred times.
 * It bugs me that it took you until TDDDDI to realize Katie and Sadie are idiots.
 * Somethings been bothering me for a while now, back in season one, people were complaining about how everyone cheated to help Owen win and how unfair that was. That always bugged me because, please, this is Total Drama, the rules never make sense. Did Chris even say anything about outside help being forbidden?
 * No he didn't. Chris pretty much adjusts the rules to make it more fun for him whenever he can.
 * Exactly! Chris always bends the rules, so it was odd to see people complaining about the cheating.
 * I always assumed that they brought the others to help in the challenge, but, barring Trent and a couple others, it never ocurred to the others.

'
 * Why was the first chalenge so much more life-threatining then every other thing Chris gives out?
 * And by the same token, the last challenge seemed very anticlimactic. I mean, all they had to do was climb a flagpole, walk across a cliff (cakewalk compared to the other things they did), and then run a completely obstacle-less race. Gwen put it best in Monster Cash: "What, no explosions? No burning buildings? No bears?"
 * What was the point of that race, anyways?
 * The pilot needed to be impressive, maybe? As for the finale, I guess they wanted something that could be drawn out, allowed the other characters to be continuously present, and wouldn't be a rehash of the previous challenge. (The cliff was pretty dangerous, but it just wasn't very long or impressive-looking.)
 * This actually might have another explination. When This Troper was in high school, his health teacher mentioned that on Survivor, the earlier challenges were all physical and difficult, while later challenges were simpiler and more directed toward the mind. This is because after living on the island all that time with limited food, they're in little condition for the earlier challanges (I'm only going on what I've heard, I don't watch Survivor). The kids at Camp Wawanakwa are probably better fed, even if it is just Chef's cooking, but after all that time of putting up with Chris, they're still probably were exhausted enough to get an easier challange, either because of executive mandate or just because Chris doesn't expect them to finish anything too difficult.
 * Well, is said that they (Chris and the producers) ran out of ideas by Triple Dog Dare, so they could have used the first idea they had.
 * In the episode Phobia Factor, the campers are forced to face their biggest fears. Tyler is too scared to go through with his challenge (staying in a pen with a family of chickens), even though Courtney tells him that without him, they'll lose. Cody points out that they can't possibly win, because the score is 7 to 3, and 1 more point won't change it. Chris says that the surprise challenge for Courtney (jumping into a pool of green jello) would earn The Killer Bass triple points. However, even if she did go through with it, and if Tyler overcame his fear, the score would still be 7 to 7. As it were, neither Courtney nor Tyler completed their challenge, but they still claim that Courtney could have won it for them. Tyler backs out first, so even if Courtney jumped, they'd STILL lose.
 * Maybe he meant that he'd triple the measly three points they'd accumulated.
 * Even though we don't see it, I think that off-screen the players must have done the math and realized that Chris was tricking them when he tried to make it sound like the three points would change the results, because otherwise there's no way Courtney wouldn't have been voted off that night.
 * Not a big Harold fan, but again, in phobia factor (Which is NOTHING like fear factor) hitting your self on the head does not mean you didn't face your fear.
 * Speaking of Harold, where was he during the elimination ceremony? Was he still knocked out?
 * By the same token, outsmarting your fear is not same thing as conquering it. (I'm looking at you, Trent.) After all, I'm afraid of snakes even though I know I can outscore one on an IQ test.
 * Both this and the later "torture" challenge seem to vary between forcing the characters to face something unpleasant and forcing them to do a challenge related to the unpleasant thing where success or failure don't directly correspond to facing the unpleasantness itself. (By the way, I don't think it's meant as a Fear Factor parody; just a "pun" in the challenge name akin to how many of the episodes have puns/references in the titles.)
 * Leshawna's No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of Heather in the third season wasn't the first time she broke off an alliance between the two with no explanation given. At the end of the second episode, Heather apologizes to Leshawna. She isn't being sincere, but Leshawna doesn't know that. Come next episode, Leshawna despises Heather again for no reason. And this was before Heather did anything really awful, like read Gwen's diary out loud or trick Trent into kissing her.


 * I love Noah and am very happy he is on the show but I have a question: why? Why would someone like Noah sign up for a reality show in the first place? He obviously didn't care about staying on the show in season 1, and said his time was "completely uneventful", and then was the one who first voiced concerns about season 3, only to try not to play the "chance to return" game after being eliminated. If he hates it so much--which seems entirely consistent with his characterization--why did he even sign up? Aren't there any academic and/or video game tournaments he can try to win money from if he needs it so badly (and you'd think he'd try harder if he actually did)?
 * According to his Canon biography, he wanted to apply skills from fantasyland survival video games to the real world. He had no interest in the prize money at the time.
 * Also, the only reason he saw it as "uneventful" was because he was only in the game for about three episodes and was still bitter about it. Not to mention he did care about staying there, he worked during the first few challenges and seemed pretty pissed off when he got eliminated. However, after seeing more of the show (he watched the rest of TDI and the entirety of TDA from the stands after all) he eventually realized how unbelievably unpleasant the game was, which is why he didn't want to go back after all his suffering on TDWT.


 * Why does Harold never stand up for himself agaisnt Duncan? Maybe if he told him he was bugging him, Duncan would bully him less. Also, what does Duncan see in bullying Harold?
 * Duncan bullies Harold because he finds it fun. I think Harold believes that if he tries to stand up for himself, Duncan will laugh and pound him into the dust again.


 * Why does everyone take Heather's crap? Heather is one of the weakest contestants in the series so they could just beat the crap out of her when she acts up.
 * Because if they beat her up, they would be next on her list of targets. No one wants to piss off someone who has the power to manipulate others into voting them off.

Total Drama Action

 * Mr coconut's, E-scope's, and Explosivo's vote offs show that you don't have to be a real camper (or real person) to be voted off. Then what if someone votes off Chris? Someone from another team? Chef? Or, the boat of losers? For the latter, does that mean no body could lose anymore? The boat would have to ride it's self? Another boat would come out of no where?
 * All good questions. I hope we find out the answers.
 * Much as I'd like to see them vote off Chris, it would probably just invalidate their votes if it were actually used in the show. While imaginary/invalid people can be eliminated, that doesn't necessarily mean it's the case that you can succeed at voting off anyone.
 * I don't think Mr. Coconut was actually voted off by the campers... I think Chris just did it to stop Owen's obsession.
 * Also, Explosivo was not eliminated officially; it was really Izzy the second time. And the team did VOTE for Izzy the first time, but the documentation was void because it mentioned a non-real person.
 * What was the purpose of having Heather in Total Drama Action, for so long, anyway? She hadn't really done anything... not been particularly evil, but hadn't really bettered herself, either. She just seemed kind of "there."
 * I imagine the writers felt that fans would expect her, but also knew that she couldn't realistically continue her manipulation for another season with people who all knew her. They took the lazy approach to it and just made her a gag source and elimination fodder.
 * In a dramatic sense, it kinda does. The first time her team lost, she would have been eliminated had it not been for Gwen feeling guilty. They built up Gwen's conflict over the previous episodes. The next loss for the team was DJ, who also had his personal drama building up for the previous few eps. He was also eliminated on another teams loss. The first time they lost, Heather was voted off, and it was this close between her and Leshawna because Leshawna had been acting bitchy. If the other team hadn't lost so often, we probably wouldn't have seen her stick around quite as long.


 * In Red Carpet Rivalry, part 1, Beth is again going on about her as yet unseen boyfriend Brady. But that doesn't make any sense, because in the space episode, she dumped him for Harold.
 * New idea: All the characters have a rare learning disorder that sometimes causes them to take a few days to move thoughts from short-term memory to long-term memory. This would explain a lot.


 * What was really the point of the producers making Owen spy on the others? Were they trying to fix the game or getting dirt on the teens to sell to a tabloid? I seriously don't see any point to it. Plus if they and Chris wanted to bring someone back to stir up the doo-doo i.e. drama why didn't they choose Gwen so that they could push the whole possible love triangle theory? Considering how Duncan and Courtney roller coaster relationship was the main focus of the season since Courtney came back and the fact that there's a conflict between the the two girls, through it's really a one-sided conflict, Gwen was a far better choice. Now I will admit I also personally felt Gwen was more deserving to come back since in my opinion she was cheated out of the game because of Justin using her guilt to have her vote herself, and considering the crap she took for Geoff and the others after the break-up. I kinda think Owen's family debt screwed up any possibility for her to get a second chance in season 2. I also admit I was kind of ticked at Owen for getting the comeback, but after his funny return scene and being used like he was, I'm okay with it now.
 * 1. they didn't think of it and 2. Owen is the writer's pet


 * Now, it seems like a good Crowning Moment of Heartwarming, but Trent's obsession with the number 9 came out of nowhere. If he was so attached to 9 (because of the train his grandfather gave him before he died) why wasn't it(the attachment) shown in TDI... ever?
 * he was probably stressed due to the straining of his relationship with Gwen.
 * But he was obsessed with nine in season one. Don't you remember? ...No, of course not, but Harold says he was, and since they've had so much screen time together he would know, right?


 * Okay, I know this is probably just me, but Courtney's return seriously bugs me. First off, Courtney blatantly says that she lost her lawsuit against the show due to her bad lawyers in TDDDDI. Fast forward to when she returns in TDA, saying she WON the lawsuit. What gives?!! Do they not have continuity in this show?
 * Considering that she spent the majority of the first aftermath on the phone with her lawyers, I thought we were to assume that she was trying to sue them again, and succeeded this time.
 * "Okay, I know this is probably just me, but Courtney's return seriously bugs me." Haha, what?


 * Lindsay and Beth suddenly becoming immune to Justin's good looks for no reason.
 * It was explained that they just got used to him. He was only around for the first four challenges in season one, this time they spent more time around him and the effect just wore off.
 * Why did they scrap the plot of Owen being a bad guy? If he remained that way throughout World Tour, him and Alejandro could have competed as villains.
 * Owen just isn't cut out to be a villain. He was only being a bad guy in TDA because Chris was going to pay him $50,000 to cover his family's cheese cellar debt, IIRC.

Total Drama World Tour

 * All contestants must sing every episode? Well, Owen sure didn't.
 * That annoys me too, but maybe it's because he was either unconscious or in panic mode throughout the song and so Chris decided he was in no state to sing OR Chris counted his, "Stop the plane!" line as part of the song OR he used his magical Creator's Pet powers to become immune.
 * Maybe Chris only counted it because he did something during the song. In the recent Yukon episode, Cody was apart of the Team Amazon + Bridgette song, but he didn't sing/say anything (due to the extreme cold he was facing). Maybe Chris counted his chattering as part of the song.


 * If Ezekiel's parachute didn't open in World Tour's opening, why did he hit the ground after everyone else?
 * Rule of Funny, Ezekiel just lying on the ground in the final shot (like Courtney, DJ and Tyler) isn't as funny as him randomly falling from the sky. That or maybe he managed to hold onto the plane for a few minutes before falling off it (he is in the bottom row after all.)
 * This troper saw it as more of Fridge Brilliance. Ezekiel all of a suddenly drops to the ground after everyone has landed and settled in which captures his tendency to pop out of random in various points of the show when the rest of the crew least expects it


 * Bridgette's elimination in Total Drama World Tour. Yes, Alejandro tricked Bridgette into getting her tongue stuck to the pole. No, that's got nothing to do with why her team lost. Even if her tongue wasn't stuck to the pole, her team would have lost, since DJ never passed the checkpoint to pick her up like he was supposed to! So her team losing was almost completely DJ's fault, so naturally, they eliminate Bridgette instead, for seemingly no reason. Makes perfect sense.
 * LeShawna's plan was for everyone to run toward the finish line instead of waiting at a checkpoint. Bridgette ignored this plan thanks to Alejandro. Even if DJ did lead them off track, who would you keep around: someone who tries his best, or someone who doesn't do what the team has agreed on? They might have lost faith that Bridgette could be relied on later and decided to eliminate a weak link.


 * Izzy in Yukon episode. Why would she mistake radiation with radio? She's Crazy Awesome girl genius, not Too Dumb to Live. Maybe she was high or something?
 * Again, she's Izzy.


 * In the season premiere of World Tour, Noah is shown in the musical number to be terrified because of the (lack of) safety of the plane, but two episodes later, not only is he uncharacteristically confident that nothing terrible will happen, he seems genuinely surprised to find out the plane is a death trap. Did he forget about what he thought earlier, or was he just lying to try to comfort Owen? It occurs to me that Owen was right next to Noah when he made his first, scared comments, so that should not be likely to work.
 * He wasn't surprised.
 * Well, he was more "weirded-out" by the propeller than terrified. But more on topic, he wasn't surprised, and given his line ("Air travel is the 15th safest mode of transportation, unless you're in a death trap.") he was probably leading into a snark about how the plane is a deathtrap. When the door came off he was disturbed but went along with it for the most part.


 * Where did the beach ball in Team Victory's Japanese commercial come from? Did it serve a purpose (since Harold was holding it after they lost)?
 * Not sure, I think it was just a joke, a random prop that accidentally rolled on set as they were filming, which explains why Bridgette looks at it awkwardly as it goes past her. Harold stamping it later was probably just his attempt at being dramatic.


 * CN is promoting the next episode (the Alps) AS WELL AS the first Aftermath episode, which is online. So... are they basically saying that
 * I'm not sure why they're advertising it so much but we know for a fact the Alps
 * The Aftermath is (like its TDA counterpart) actually episode 6, so the person voted out in the Alps won't appear until the next aftermath (aka ).


 * Did Blainely really think that Brigette and Geoff would have an actual boxing match? I mean, did she really think Geoff was angry enough to punch Bridgette?
 * Maybe she was still bitter over, or she's even more sadistic than Chris?
 * But she was playing Truth or Tractor-Trailer!


 * What was Justin doing talking to Harold in his Good Times Montage? Justin isn't/wasn't competing!
 * It's from Island, which is the only season that Justin and Noah are in together. That doesn't explain why Heather's hair is like that, but meh.


 * In 'The Am-AH-Zon Race', there's a scene where Heather tells Gwen to use the X-ray glasses to find out the color of Cody's underwear, resulting in Gwen getting some massive Squick when she finds out firsthand that oh, yeah, by the way, Cody just so happens to not be wearing underwear that day. My issue? Why on Earth did Cody just stand there as Gwen used the X-ray glasses on him?! I mean, at first, I just chalked it up to him getting some bizarre, exhibitionist thrill out of it, but he's clearly embarrassed after the fact. I can't imagine Gwen would even risk using the glasses on him if there was even the slightest possibility of getting an eyeful of Naked!Cody...he totally could've stopped her just by telling her he was Going Commando! WHY DIDN'T HE?!?!
 * Oh come on, you know he wanted her to see it!
 * Which explains his weird grin right before she looks down. Squiiiiiiick.... But seriously? I guess it's because he was too embarrassed to actually say it out loud, and just resigned himself to being embarrassed about it later.
 * Wouldn't X-Ray glasses show people's privates, underwear or not? Isn't that the point of X-Ray glasses?
 * I don't know, X-Ray don't work this way. How do they work in TD world so allowed X-Ray glasses to exist is matter of rule of funny.


 * Where did Tyler get an extra pair of pants from in the Amazon episode? I find it hard to believe that Chris would give him another pair...


 * Why would Alejandro question Chris not letting them continue the challenge without Owen? They lost the "Liberty Or Death" challenge because they didn't have Noah at the finish, and Team Victory lost the Yukon challenge because they didn't have Bridgette at the finish. Why would Alejandro, who is Genre Savvy, complain about it NOW? (Other than that he was pissed at Owen...)


 * So apparently Sierra's idea of a computer is a pizza box with a picture on the inside of the lid. Does that mean everything she's ever blogged about was all in her head?
 * No, I don't think so. It's just a surrogate computer, because she hadn't got real one. How could Celebrity Manhunt find her, if her blog wasn't real?
 * I took it as her being so addicted to blogging, she was going through withdrawal without her laptop, so she made a makeshift one to try to fill the void.


 * Why didn't Courtney sing in the Am-AH-zon Race? I know the "Not singing = Elimination" rule has been broken/altered in almost ever episode up to this one, but it still bugs me. Only one team has to sing, and Courtney wasn't under any circumstances why she couldn't sing...
 * I think she sung one line.
 * No, she had no lines.


 * Minor Nitpick: Why would Ezekiel be sent to Team One (Victory) instead of Team Three (Amazon)? He was the last one to cross the finish line... Was it because Chris counted it as "after" the race was over, and reset it and sent him to the first team? (Although, maybe I'm glad he wasn't sent to Amazon... The writer would probably bring back the "sexist comments" which would give him a different reason to be eliminated first again.)


 * So, Noah's gone because although his team completed the challenge and brought Chris the Ripper, Team Amazon wins because they brought Duncan? Even though the challenge was to capture the Ripper? WTF?
 * The rules change at Chris' whims, remember? He'd probably be happy to have Duncan back, especially if he had seen Gwen's confessional two episodes ago and knew what kind of drama he could stir up.
 * It was still utterly asinine. Frankly, they shouldn't have booted him off at all if they had all these big plans for a Love Triangle with him. And what ticks me off even more was that it was just when Noah was going from "amusing Deadpan Snarker" to "amusing Deadpan Snarker who actually had his own agenda and could have started affecting the game." This Troper always wanted to see Noah in a subplot like that, but nooooo, we wouldn't want Alejandro to have to deal with some kind of intelligent and sneaky opponent, especially one that everyone loves! That would be way too boring. (Granted, at least Heather started to get back her mojo in the next episode so that she was finally a significant obstacle for him...)
 * Actually, I think it was the best move the writers made the entire season, considering the other two Ensemble Darkhorse characters and their treatment this season. Look at what happened to Cody this season, a guy who had a similar fanbase - his extended time made him do some things that not everyone liked, and he didn't always come off looking as sympathetic thanks to Gwen and Sierra, and became a bit of a boring Base Breaker. Ezekiel... well, the less said about him the better (although in my opinion the massive Take That was justified). But Noah? The writers saw that he did have some positive traits, developed them correctly, gave him friendships, and showed off his cunning side. Then he left before the massive Flanderization and Character Derailment of the rest of the cast, making him STILL a darkhorse, and one of the few characters STILL almost universally loved by the fanbase (it's basically down to him and Lindsay) for season five. If he had stayed, his game would have been affected by the goddamn triangle and an open conflict with Alejandro, which was unneccesary now that Heather and Duncan were there.
 * Alejandro's action was also one of the more realistic moves in-show: Noah was a threat that he didn't see coming and that manipulated him, which made him extremely dangerous. It's not being a Villain Sue, it's just not being stupid. It also gives the implication that Noah is more of a threat than Heather, Courtney, and Duncan (considered some of the best players of the game) because Al didn't forsee it, and got rid of immediately, rather than stringing him along to the finals like the other three, because Noah knew better than to play out in the open - it was only his big mouth that got him.
 * See my Wild Mass Guessing (about Noah being the reincarnation of Socrates) to understand why I think that Noah had to say what he did. As for Cody... he didn't "become" boring, he just wasn't given enough alone time/interactions with/about people other than Sierra to actually develop, despite making it to the final three. Would Noah's game be affected by the triangle? I doubt it. Unless he did a 180 and started being more Nietzchesque (or however you would say so) than Platonic. But if that happened, then yes, the fans would be annoyed.


 * Was there any purpose in given TCIRRRRH a radioactive box in the Yukon, other than to make Izzy green? Did Chris just want to make it harder on them and give them extra weight (even with Owen)? Did he want to mutate them all?
 * It wasn't meant for TCIRRRRH in particular; it was the third place sled for the ice flow challenge. (Team Victory's sled was clearly the top prize, and Team Amazon's was second place.)


 * Why isn't Sierra mad at Cody for winning the tie break in Greece? Sierra is genre savvy enough to know what that means about the Sierra-Cody-Gwen love triangle, but Sierra completely ignores it.
 * It's not that obvious that he did it for Gwen. He could've easily claimed that he wanted to show Chris and Courtney that he could win, since they didn't respect him.
 * Alternatively, now that Gwen is supposedly taken, Sierra's expecting another I Want My Beloved to Be Happy, freeing him up for her.
 * She was too busy gushing about Cody punching Duncan
 * She already knew that Cody has a crush on Gwen; she blames Gwen for that, not Cody. Logical? No, but then, she is a fangirl.
 * Cody does the same thing with Duncan.


 * If Harold was angry over Chef's Chinese outfit, shouldn't he have known that Pandas aren't native to Japan?
 * Chris had already had the cast thrown off the plane for that remark, he probably didnt want to risk any more emnity from the cast by giving Chris another excuse to torture them


 * Why would Blaineley be so shocked to hear Geoff singing a song about how awful she is?
 * She's an egotistical bitch


 * The Heather/Alejandro/Courtney/Duncan/Gwen/Cody/Sierra heptagon. So much build up, and Gwen's voted off. I knew she'd lose, but it was just as things were heating up, and the end was so ambiguous, are Gwen and Duncan still a couple?
 * I'm not sure,
 * Well we know Duncan is definitely still into Gwen since he was last seen carving a portrait of her into a first class seat. Gwen... yeah, she's ambiguous. She was angry and upset with his 'jealousy' over Courtney and then we have


 * Are Harold and LeShawna an Official Couple or what?
 * By the looks of it, yes.


 * Wait, if Chris doesn't have permission to land the plane in London, how did everyone get back onto the plane once they caught their respective "criminals"?


 * How Sierra suddenly found out that Chris is the biggest Jerkass on the show. Shouldn't she know that already?
 * Four words, Draco in Leather Pants.


 * Another one about Duncan's return... Chris's excuse for keeping him in the show made no sense! He's constantly said that the penalty for refusing to sing is instant elimination. Duncan refused to sing, therefore he was eliminated. But in later episodes Chris said that by leaving, Duncan had violated of his contract. I'm sorry, what?!?! You shoved him out of the plane in episode 2 yourself, Chris, you can't say he was in violation of his contract! You eliminated him, you removed him from the game, deal with it! If anything, they should have brought back Izzy, who was never actually eliminated this season!
 * I was thinking EXACTLY that! I would've been absolutely fine with Duncan coming back(even at Noah's expense), if they had a better excuse to pull out of their asses. Even an in-universe excuse would suffice, such as, "Hey! Since we found Duncan and we're gonna be down a man anyway, welcome back, drama-bringer/fan-favorite! -insert smug Chris laugh-". I would completely buy that, but--Noooo!--we get a bullshit excuse that makes no sense upon comprehension. And no! Chris's bullshiting does NOT excuse this. ...but I suppose an in-universe excuse would be that Chris is getting increasingly stupider and more smug, because he may very well be the "hottest and bestest host of the hottest reality tv show in the world EV-ER!" and thinks he can get away with anything because of that fact. That may explain the fact that he didn't remember that Duncan was kicked off by himself....or...maybe Duncan wasn't allowed to quit(which he did before Chris eliminated him) in the first place, but Chris wasn't in the mood to deal with it and eliminated him early because he was secretly planning to bring back Duncan in an earlier episode, but since he went missing instead of appearing on the Aftermath(like all of the ex-contestants should do...apparently), Chris couldn't do that and so, when Duncan DID appear on the London episode....Chris...brought him back...but worded it the wrong way...because he's an idiot. Shit. I just made myself have an epiphany.
 * I just felt like he brought Duncan back and kept him on even when he should have been eliminated so that he could engineer the huge hellstorm that was the Courtney/Duncan/Gwen love triangle. Remember, Chris was the one who broke the lock on the door leading to the kiss affair and its witnessing. I just saw it as his chance for revenge against Courtney for her lawsuits and lawyer-rulebending in TDA.
 * Izzy has had enough second chances, don't you think?
 * I personally thought Chris bringing Duncan back was Chris somewhat deliberatly showing how little he cares about the rules, and how much he cares about the drama. Ezekiel was hanging onto the plane's wing and somehow clawed his way into the cargo hold to prove himself worthy of the competition, and was willing, in his derailing sanity, to hunt down his former comrades. Chris doesn't really like him, so he's thrown headfirst from the plane with no parachute. Duncan was WILLING to jump out of the plane again to be away from the show, but Chris just wants drama.
 * Hey, why does Heather want to kick Courtney out for throwing challenges in Picnic at Hanging Dork? It's obvious she just wants to get rid of Gwen, and after that she's going to go back to winning.
 * Considering that Duncan and Owen are both previous winners and on the other team, and that Alejandro is proving to be a formidable opponent, keeping a numbers lead on them is a pretty good idea. Especially when half your team are finalists from previous seasons. Taking advantage of a moment of weakness is one thing, but Heather has been on Gwen's team every season and she has never thrown a challenge just because she thought she could get her eliminated. A strong teammate is far more useful than petty revenge.
 * Plus, you know, that's still at least one night in the lame section of the plane.
 * No matter who she votes off, that's still one night in the lame section...
 * Heather wanted both Courtney and Gwen off; she didn't care who went first.


 * How come the Cartoon Network website calls almost every song "(Name of song) Mix"?
 * Possibly for censorship purposes. "Strip Them Down" was changed to "Changing Guards Mix".


 * Here is something that has been bugging me for quite some time now, but what happened to the barf bags that are supposed to be passed out during the season? They haven't been giving them out since Slap Slap Revolution and seems to be completely ignored afterwards.
 * They couldn't afford any more, the budget really is terrible after all. But joking aside, I suppose the writers just forgot about them.


 * In I See London... why was it even necessary for Team Amazon to win? Even if the show wanted to push the Gwen/Duncan/Courtney love triangle, at the time the team would have (with the exception of Cody) been happy to vote off Heather instead (and Cody's remaining vote would also go to someone not in the love triangle)? Not only that, but Chris had decided to fake-out eliminate on that team before; who could stop him from doing so again?
 * They were shooing out the clowns. The only reason Tyler made it this far was for his role in the triangle. In fact, any character who has nothing to do with the triangle was out by then.
 * Gwen is in the triangle.
 * Duncan is the reason for the triangle.
 * Courtney is in the triangle.
 * Courtney flirted with Alejandro,
 * which made Heather jealous.
 * Tyler saw Duncan and Gwen kiss.
 * Cody likes Gwen.
 * Sierra loves Cody, who likes Gwen.
 * Owen is The Artifact.
 * So naturally, Noah was next on the chopping block. Not to mention they needed Heather for her Belligerent Sexual Tension with Alejandro.
 * I support this theory given that Tyler (still a clown) only stayed in the game long enough to serve his purpose of revealing the kiss in Greece, so then he'd be voted out next episode to make room for more drama.
 * Why did Alejandro brag about his Latin heritage to Courtney, who is Hispanic too? Does he think Courtney is racist or something?
 * Perhaps he just thought she was Ambiguously Brown?


 * It bugs this troper how much Alejandro seemed to grab the Idiot Ball in Aww, Drumheller. First, he faked that picture of Cody and Heather and made LOTS OF COPIES to turn Sierra against Heather. If Cody even saw that picture, (which was extremely likely), he could easily dispute it and they would both suddenly be against Alejandro (which is exactly what happened). Second, did he honestly think that leaving Heather wedged in the hole was a good idea? Did he think Chris would say, "Oh well, I guess Heather's going to rot in the desert and we'll just move on to the next challenge." Chris may mistreat the contestants, but he has never just eliminated any of them like without at least personally telling them off. I mean, CHRIS KNOWS WHERE SHE IS! He would have had Chef or someone get the rock off and then Heather along with Cody and Sierra would all be after Alejandro anyway. He just seemed to make so many mistakes in this one and It Just Bugs Me.
 * Almost no one's behavior made sense with respect to the rules of the challenge. Any one explanation seems to be contradicted. Did Alejandro expect to steal Heather's invincibility? Then how does helping her affect the game unless he deliberately throws it? Or did they think Chris would let them tie for first? In that case, but why would Cody continue searching for a barrel when he let Sierra finish ahead of him? Was there an omitted rule that every contestant had to retrieve a barrel to stay? Apparently not, because Cody never found a barrel. Seems like the rules/behavior there needed some editing.
 * He was willing to leave all the contestants in Africa if they didn't catch Ezekiel in an hour, and tried to leave him behind anyway, so if Chris was angry with Heather, then maybe he'd leave her behind. I think Alejandro leaving her in the hole would've given him more time to find his own barrel, then once he went back to the plane and got immunity, he would've told them that Heather was stuck, or she went missing, he goes and "saves" her, blah blah blah he's a hero.
 * It bugs me that contestants and Chris in show seem to emphasize the Heather-Alejandro sexual tension as a weakness for Heather. It's definitely a weakness for Alejandro, but there isn't a single episode where Heather performs noticeably weaker because of her Alejandro issues. It just feels like an informed weakness.
 * What they really know is that mentioning her crush on Alejandro gets under her skin.


 * How do pineapples cause a volcano to erupt? I mean, seriously? Was that the best reason they could come up with for the volcano erupting? PINEAPPLES?
 * Since saying something like, "You have angered the spirit of the volcano with your fighting" would have made more sense, I'd say it's just Rule of Funny.
 * But was it funny?
 * Not "ha-ha" funny, but silly, it's just one of those random goofy things cartoons have.


 * Relatedly, did no one in the peanut gallery see the signs? I mean shouldn't the signs that very clearly said "No Pineapples" around the volcano have been suspicious to say, Noah? Or for that matter, Harold? And if no one saw them, why didn't they just bother turning around?
 * Well, Chris likely just marched them up the volcano and made them stand there, so they probably didn't see the signs in the first place. And with the uncomfortable heat and ultra-important final two battle going on right in front of them, why would anyone turn around?
 * 1) The peanut gallery were at the top of the volcano before the final battle started so they could have checked beforehand and 2) how would they not see the signs if they were walking right up to them? I guess it's possible they didn't see what the signs said, but someone who was a) cautionary, b) intelligent, or c) both would likely check to make sure it wasn't anything important.
 * Why is it that couples, save for Lindsay/Tyler and Geoff/Bridgette, can't be seen in the same shot together after hooking up without causing or continuing some sort of conflict? In other words, how come couples are never just shown hanging out, and not on the verge of some sort of emotional trauma?
 * So Izzy and Owen don't ever just hang out? As far as I could tell Harold and LeShawna also had mostly pretty sane moments, although their relationship seems to be off-and-on. As for why other couples always seem to have some sort of conflict, I think it's the difference between Rule of Funny abiders and Rule of Drama abiders. Frankly, a good number of the former category (DJ, Noah, Ezekiel, Eva, etc.) aren't and never were in a relationship. If they were, they would probably be perfectly fine with just hanging out.


 * Heather's treatment for much of this season. Now I'm no fan but even toward the ending she's still treated like the villain even though that job as been handed off to Alejandro. While I understand Cody having the most supporters, Alejandro still has more supporters then Heather. Even Bridgette Lampshades this by asking how many were voted off due to him.
 * It is unfair, but all of the people who supported Alejandro except Courtney who would have personal qualms with supporting Heather, were either extremely shallow or a bit slow (or both). The remaining smart people, and even the people who were only slightly slow, almost unanimously supported Cody instead, and many of them were perfectly happy to see Heather beat Alejandro in the end.
 * Four words: Never. Live. It. Down. You have to remember, Heather WAS the Big Bad Manipulative Bitch back in season one, and the Alpha Bitch in season two, of course a lot of contestants still hate her even after she stopped being a villain, you can't expect them to just forgive her on the spot like that. As for Alejandro's supporters: Lindsay, Sadie and Katie think he's hot, Tyler is probably still accepting of Al or just wants to sit with Lindsay. All four dislike Heather, and aren't friends with Cody (except maybe Tyler). Besides, all the members of her in-universe hatedom cheered for her at the end, that was fair enough.
 * Not to mention those four have the combined IQ of Patrick Star.


 * "The Am-AH-zon Race". I don't get why Team Amazon babbled on about who they wanted to vote off. Whenever they showed the "who's voting for who" scenes all times before (which was, humorously, only Team Victory), they never gave their reasons for why they were voting whoever off (of course, most of these were either obvious or used for humor). Did Chris tell Team Amazon to say who they'd vote for and why in order to stir up drama? I'm guessing it was also used to start the Sierra and Cody subplot in the next episode, but still.


 * Minor nitpick on why "Brainzilla" would keep Izzy's bikini on. It just doesn't seem like something "she'd" wear. Maybe the army didn't have anything else for her to wear (she did leave from Jamaica, after all)? (And yeah, I get the obvious answer of Rule of Funny)
 * Lazy animators (it was made in Canada after all)
 * Way to be racist bro.
 * I don't see why you assume Canadian animators are lazy. Also, why is this of all things getting attention? The character's wardrobes in general are very limited. One set of clothes, one set of pajamas and one set of swimwear is all they get unless the challenge requires them to dress up. For season one it wasn't that big a deal (no one gets a change of clothes on Survivor, do they?) but when season two started it became a blatant Head Scratcher moment. What, Beth had time to get her braces off between seasons but no one had time to change clothes? And then there's Courtney, who joined mid-season but still wore the same clothes from the last one. And THEN, season three took place at least a month after season two in-universe, but everyone STILL wears the same clothes from season one. I don't disagree that this is a Head Scratcher. It's just too specific.
 * This is only a headscratcher because the show seems to be following a linear timeline. Most cartoons have Limited Wardrobe and a sliding timeline or Comic Book Time, and the ones that don't have both tend to have neither (e.g. As Told By Ginger). Here, we seem to have one but not the other, and that's what seems off. And no, it doesn't have to do with the show being Canadian. King of the Hill was exactly the same way in its early days, before it stopped the characters' aging.
 * For the same reason that most kids' shows have them stick to one outfit only most of the time. One, it's just more unnecessary time and expense to animate changes in clothes, even from season to season change, because the character has to be completely redrawn (I'd rather they fix more of the constant Off-Model problems first). Second, even though the characters all look so unique, a change of clothes might confuse children who use that to help them identify who is who. Third, the outfits are kind of iconic, especially for cosplay, and if they did decide to sell more merch it would just be confusing. Also, who's to say that Total Drama is linear? Only a few of them appear to get taller, and there's no changes in hairstyles or faces in what amounts to almost two years, give or take the time between seasons 2 and three.
 * They were sixteen when the show began. I don't imagine many of them would need to grow that much, especially the girls. Cody, who is the most likely of the group to be a late bloomer, was among those who did get taller. Not to mention that the show could take place over the course of less than one year (Summer, immediately after, the following winter/spring) and probably did, given that Heather still needed hair extensions in World Tour. As Told By Ginger which I cited in my previous post featured characters who were twelve when the show began and even they didn't seem to grow that much by the time they got to high school, so I don't think that necessarily would mean anything for the timeline even if growth was expected. And changing hairstyles I suppose is exactly like changing clothes; redrawing for no reason.
 * If Chris wanted to get rid of Ezekiel so badly, then why, when all the animals were carted up after the plane exploded, did he have the interns box Ezekiel up too? made evn more confusing when he complains to Sierra about how they can't get rid of him, minutes before Alejandro finds him captured by the interns.
 * Perhaps Ezekiel simply sneaked on board like he did in Africa and hid in an empty crate?

Total Drama: Revenge of the Island

 * So apparently the season was already aired inside certain parts of the world (France, italy, apparently Australia) So were the outcomes for those essentially the same as what's going to happen out in North America?  So far, it's following the boot order, but are they going to change it up a bit for the NA version(s)?
 * Yes, that's how it happens.
 * Why on earth do they hate Ezekiel so much?
 * Explain.
 * Well he is an unholy feral monstrosity.
 * Where does everyone go after they get catapulted?
 * So before anyone asks why...I'll just put it here - B and Dawn were eliminated despite being likable simply because it's supposed to be a Kick the Dog / Moral Event Horizon for Scott, who is literally 100% Russell Hantz expy.
 * In "Grand Chef Auto",
 * Probably foreshadowing in a way.
 * Does having multiple personalities really work that way?
 * No, not exactly. Then again, expecting the creators of a cartoon (who probably don't have degrees in psychology) to get it right and simultaneously make it entertaining are slim.