EPISODE REVIEW
Substitute Teacher
Release date: 6/2/2004
"You can see your doggy after school. Don't be a grumpy-pants!" "Grumpy-pants? GRUMPY-PANTS?!?"
Vendetta becomes powerless when a substitute teacher takes over.

Plot Summary

Charlotte is pestering Vendetta about her favorite kind of lettuce when their banter is interrupted by a voice coming from the front of the room. To everyone's surprise, in Mr. Milk's place is an elderly teacher named Mrs. Minty, who explains that she is substituting for the day as Mr. Milk is out sick. Charlotte expresses her concern by saying she hopes he doesn't have the ague. Mrs. Minty tries to begin class and says they will be learning about moths today, which Vendetta immediately objects to. Unfortunately for Vendetta, Mrs. Minty isn't intimidated at all and gently scolds her for not raising her hand. Vendetta then tries her "Isn't it time for recess?" shtick on the lady, but it doesn't work. Mrs. Minty then notices Grudge and shoos him out of the room as "pets" aren't allowed in school.

Furious, Vendetta gets up out of her seat and goes up to argue with Mrs. Minty, who continues to anger the green girl by calling her cutesy names and calmly reminding her of all the rules she's breaking. When once again told to raise her hand, Vendetta remarks "Oh, I will raise my hand alright!", promises to bring in some fiends, and exits the school, which Mrs. Minty fails to stop her from doing.

Shocked at how much of a "grumpy-lumpy" Vendetta was being, Mrs. Minty decides to make another attempt to start class. She instructs the students to open their textbooks, only to learn that the kids don't have any; nor do they have pencils, or any other supplies at all (besides a single piece of construction paper belonging to Marion) as they were all eaten by fiends. Mrs. Minty digs through Mr. Milk's podium to see what he does have, and conveniently finds a packet with no. 2 pencils inside, which she distributes among the students. Naturally, this prompts Charlotte to sing a song about pencils (which Mrs. Minty calls 'interesting')

The brief moment of peace ends when the wall is busted in by two fiends shaped like giant pencils, of course accompanied by Vendetta. The fiends grab Mrs. Minty and carry her off outside. Then, Vendetta calls someone else into the room - it's Mr. Milk, who looks visibly sick with off-center eyes and spots all over his face. Vendetta asks him if it's time for recess, to which he says yes and immediately passes out on the floor. Vendetta laughs and says "That's better!"

Fiendish Findings

  • The title used on this page ("Substitute Teacher") was the original name for this episode. At some point, it was changed to "Mrs. Minty" I used the old title because I like it more, personally.
  • Charlotte's pencil song was made into a promo short for the TV series years later, in 2007.
  • Mrs. Minty was voiced by Peter Merryman.
  • If I'm correct, Mrs. Minty uses a total of 17 different pet names in this episode. They will not be listed here.
  • During the scene where Vendetta walks out of the classroom, we see a one-time-and-never-used-again 45 degree shot of Vendetta from the side, similar to the angle of Charlotte used in her walking animation. It looks weird.
  • "Ague" is a term used for diseases that cause shivering and fever (usually referring to malaria) So this implies Charlotte is either knowledgeable enough to infer that Mr. Milk may have contracted an infection from an animal (such as a fiend), or may have just learned a new word from Malachi. Though it looked more like Mr. Milk had chickenpox...
  • The DVD commentary is back in this episode's exclusive version. This time it's provided by Mr. Milk. It's one of the best ones. Throughout the whole thing he is constantly expressing regret and insists he "wasn't that sick" and probably should have gone in that day. Poor guy.
  • The poster at the back of the classroom reads "C is for Communism"
  • This episode's hidden message read "The NINTH episode of Making Fiends. Mr. Milk is sick today! A cartoon series by Amy Winfrey, the creator of Muffinfilms.com and Big Bunny."
Final Thoughts

As you can see I had quite a bit to say here (especially in the fact section. 9 facts! WOW!!!!!) What can I say? I love this episode. It's one of the funniest in the whole series in my opinion. I strongly enjoy the increasingly ridiculous names Mrs. Minty gives to the students. Also Pete does a very good female voice. I never would've guessed it was him if I didn't know.

My favorite part is Vendetta being absolutely powerless (until the end at least) This whole scenario is so perfect. It's actually sort of realistic. I like when she just straight up leaves because she can't take Minty's crap anymore. Beautiful. Also I like when Minty pats her on the head. It's very cute. And how could I forget the pencil song? Iconic. That's one of the many songs from this show that's always hung around my head for years.

This took a little bit to do because I've been a little busier lately (school and stuff) I do hope to speed up updates. Okay, I'll shut up now. See you at episode 10.