Nickdisk and Toonzone Present: The Nicktoon Rewards 2005

It's that Nicktoons "awards show", back for a third go. See the first and second. First, the obligatory timeframe for organization:

Suggestions, submissions and votes will be solicited through 4 paths:

BTW, due to lack of interest at the alt.tv.nickelodeon newsgroup last year, Nickdisk and Toonzone get to "present" it this year.
And now, the categories and nominations.

1. Best Game Show Ep
"Fighting Families", Hey Arnold!
"Game Show Didi", Rugrats
"Next Question", As Told By Ginger
"Win, Lose, and Kaboom!", Jimmy Neutron
"Heffer in a Handbasket", Rocko's Modern Life

2. Biggest Downer
Life wasn't always a bowl of cherries in Nicktoons, especially with these storylines, and how they panned out.
"Arnold Betrays Iggy", HA!
"Helga and the Nanny", HA!
"No Hope For Courtney", Ginger
"Mother's Day", Rugrats
"Power Play", Rocket Power
"Odd, Odd West", Fairly OddParents
"Secret Origin Of Denzel Crocker", Fairly OddParents

3. The Charlie Brown Award for Biggest Personal Injustice
In "It's Your First Kiss", Charlie Brown was undeservedly bagged on for missing a key field goal in a football game, even (rather, especially) by Lucy "who loves to pull the ball from him" Van Pelt. These people also got the short end of the stick... the VERY short end.
Eugene, "Eugene's Bike", HA!
Arnold and Gerald, "Longest Monday", HA!
Eugene, "Eugene's Pet", HA!
Arnold, "Arnold Betrays Iggy", HA!: Arnold promises to keep a humiliating secret for Iggy. Sid and Stinky (after finding out about the secret) promise to keep the secret for Arnold. Sid and Stinky tell everyone else about the secret. Who gets humiliated in bunny PJs in the end? Not Sid and Stinky. I rest my case.
Eugene, "Eugene's Birthday", HA!: After all they've been through in this story (not to mention the previous episodes), Eugene more than deserves a birthday where nothing bad happens, and Arnold deserves to be acquitted from being a jinx. That's how I feel at least, and I bet Arnold feels that way too. Instead Arnold feels bad for goofing up not one, not two, but three out of three parties.
Sam, "Snow Day", RP: Let's go over the facts people. Twister is Otto's best friend, and the biggest goof on the show as well. Sam is probably the most honest person on the show. Who has a great day at school when Otto decides to play hookey? Not Sam. I rest my case. Again.
Ginger, "Driven to Extremes", Ginger: She makes a grand stand against an unlikable substitite teacher, and what happens? Just as she's getting to her demands, she gets detention!
Jimmy, "Out, Darn Spotlight", JN
Phoebe, "Phoebe's Little Problem", HA!: Phoebe has a point... she deserves more reputation than from her fart.
Danny, "Splitting Images", Danny Phantom: Dash had his coming. Poindexter had his coming. Dash got his. As for Poindexter? Well, see below.
Cat, various, CatDog: Well, what else is there to say, anyway?

4. The Bendy Memorial Award for Worst Defiance of Karma
2005 saw Angelica get a huge haymaker from karma in All Grown Up!'s "It's Karma, Dude!"... and an imaginary friend getting off scot-free in the Foster's ep "Everyone Knows It's Bendy". Two contrasting treatments of karma, and this category focuses on the latter, because any evil can commit a crime, but it takes a special kind of evil to actually get away with it.
Sid and Stinky, "Arnold Betrays Iggy", HA!: Their crime... telling everyone about a secret Arnold had confided to them not to tell anyone, with the upshot being Arnold being humiliated by (and angry at) the titular Iggy, and caught on film by the two.
Poindexter, "Splitting Images", DP: His crime... making Danny Fenton even more unpopular (and himself very popular) at school, a situation that has yet to be rectified.
Wolfgang and Edmund, "Longest Monday", HA!: Their crime... stuffing Arnold and Gerald (plus many other 4th graders) into garbage cans.
Sheen, "Out, Darn Spotlight", JN: His crime... causing a tornado to ruin Jimmy Neutron's adaptation of MacBeth, and Neutron to be bagged on for it.
Ludwig and Wolfgang, "New Bully on the Block", HA!: Their crime... taking away the vacant lot from Arnold and Gerald and hanging them by the goalposts.
Winslow, CatDog: His crime... all those pranks he played on the two.

5. The AWOL Award
For those eps where you think, "Hey, where's (fill in character name here)?"
Phoebe, "Gerald vs. Jamie O", HA!: With many fans in support of Gerald/Phoebe, "Gerald vs. Jamie O" seemed almost certain to contain at least a G/P subplot. Then the actual episode rolled around to the US, and many fans complained at the lack of Phoebe.
Gerald, "Phoebe's Little Problem", HA!: See above. Note that he was in several crowd scenes, but when all the kids were talking to Phoebe one on one, while Helga at least got a brief scene (too brief, if you ask most people), Gerald didn't even get one.
Tucker Wittenberg ("Benchwarmer"), "Best Man", HA!: Why wouldn't Coach Wittenberg's own son be considered for best man? For that matter, his non-appearance in the rest of the series is one to consider...
Angelica, "The Finster Who Stole Christmas", All Grown Up!: The Rugrats' Christmas specials all had some plot around Angelica attempting to rectify her nasty reputation. With AGU!'s first Christmas special, it seemed a sure thing to feature her (her teenage self was even in the promos for the holidays!). Next thing you know tho, Susie drops a mention of Angelica going to a ski resort in Aspen or something.

6. Best Kiss, Take Two
Apparently, I came up with the idea for the Best Kiss category a few years too soon, because there have been some memorable kisses in Nicktoons since then. So, let's have the top kisses from the first Rewards (highlighted with an underline) face off against kisses that have occured since 2004 began.
Ginger/Darren, "Foutleys on Ice", Ginger
Helga/Arnold, Hey Arnold! The Movie
Curly/Rhonda, "Deconstructing Arnold", HA!

Tommy/Olivia, "Fear of Falling", AGU!
Jimmy/April, "Win, Lose, and Ka-Boom!", JN
Eliza/Shane, "Eliza Unplugged", TWT
Danny/Sam, "Memory Blank", DP
Jenny/Kenny, "Is there a special way you'd like to say goodnight?", MLAATR.
Aang/Katara, "For Zuko" Avatar.
Tucker/Sam, "Life Lessons", DP
Tootie/Timmy, the birthday one, FOP
Chuckie, "RV Having Fun Yet?", AGU!

7. Best Fight in an Episode
Arnold/Gerald, "Part Time Friends", HA!
Eliza/Debbie, "Pack of Thornberrys", TWT
Zuko/Aang, Avatar
Jet/Aang/Katara, Avatar
Zuko/Zhao, Avatar
Zim/Dib, Zim
The jailbreak, "Prisoners of Love", DP
Danny/Vlad, "Bitter Reunions", DP
Danny/Vlad, "Maternal Instincts", DP
Crocker/Timmy, the FOP telefilms
N-Men/"League of Villains", JN
Danny and allies assult the Ghost King's castle "Reign Storm," DP
Queen Vexus/Jenny, "Escape from Cluster Prime", MLAATR
Catscratch brothers, "A Line in the Litter Box", Catscratch
Catscratch brothers/Squeakeus, "Bringing down the Mouse", Catscratch
The two Dannys, "Ultimate Enemy", DP

8. Biggest Continuity Gaffe
"Arnold's Room" aired before "Rich Kid", Hey Arnold!: The only other ep with Lorenzo in it was aired before the ep that introduces him.
Helga still shouts at Arnold post "Helga on the Couch", Hey Arnold!: Lonestarr and Javeman at Toonzone say that ep should have been the start of a nicer, more gentle Helga. Instead, Helga proved herself unchanged in season 5.
Rhonda specs-less post "Rhonda's Glasses", Hey Arnold!: And that ep establishes that she can't get contact lenses, so when exactly did she get them anyway?
"Preschool Daze" held back for 2 years, Rugrats: Meanwhile, other eps set at the pre-school aired. So much for continuity on that show...
"Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy 5", SpongeBob: Man Ray (reformed in MMBB3) and The Dirty Bubble (popped in MMBB2) are in it. You do the math.
The Emmy-nominated "Fear of a Krabby Patty", SpongeBob: It's a Plankton recipe-stealing caper. Which takes place after the movie. Enough said.
Sid and Stinky are not socially outcast by Arnold after "Arnold Betrays Iggy", Hey Arnold!: Arnold puts out his frustration on Iggy, but what about the people who tricked him into believing that Arnold spilled the beans?
"The Ulitmate Enemy" airs before Identity Crisis, and the Fenton Menace.
Nick airs MLAATR season finale before the rest of the season: Even Rob Renzetti complained about it.
Jimmy Neutron aired out of order (wasn't it, JN fans?)

9. Best School Play
"School Play", Hey Arnold!
"Arnold's Thanksgiving", Hey Arnold!
"Eugene, Eugene!", Hey Arnold!
"Out, Darn Spotlight", JN
"Love with a Proper Transfer Student", Ginger

10. Best Guest of 2005
Olivia, "Fear of Falling", AGU!
Danielle, "Fear of Falling", AGU!
Leslie the Fridge, "Wouldn't It Be Nice?", AGU!
Harriet, "Wouldn't It Be Nice?", AGU!
The cowboys at the dude ranch, "Dude, Where's My Horse?", AGU!
Okay, where are the non-AGU! guests, you ask? Here they are:
The Ghost king, "Reign Storm," DP
Clockwork, "The Ultimate Enemy," DP
Jenny's new Cluster friends "Escape from Cluster Prime," MLAATR
Bato "Avatar the last Airbender"

11. Best Moment of 2005
Chuckie points out that Reptar gave him a mom, "Curse of Reptar", AGU!: Tying the show back to the show that began it all? Always a good idea.
The Rugrats flashback, "Curse of Reptar", AGU!: Same as above, only even more so. Note one of the "worst" nominations, however...
The debut of Avatar
The Debut of Catscratch
The Debut of Fatherhood
Skyland announcment
Oh yeah cartoon pitches/production continues full steam ahead
Danny gets his new emblem, "Memory Blank", Danny Phantom
Tommy gets his first kiss, "Fear of Falling", AGU!: The only perceivable downside to it is that he gets it from a single-episode character (Olivia) as opposed to a regular.
Angelica chews out Tommy, "Fear of Falling", AGU!: Angelica is a few years older than Tommy, and he wasn't really looking for a kiss while she was looking forward to a kiss as the most important moment of her life (that's what she calls it). Add in a few extra circumstances, and we got ourselves a sour Pickle.
Susie at the derby queen contest, "Rats Race", AGU!: Thought Susie was a perfect girl? Think again. And the writer of that story didn't even have to get Susie to sing in this ep for her singing talent to be a factor.
Tommy/Angelica peace offering, "Rats Race", AGU!: Most viewers would expect Tommy's guts and determination to overcome Angelica's foreign sponsorship (!) in spite of everything that's going on with the team. When Harold's mom trumps them both, we have a peace offering instead of bragging.
Susie singing about cheese, "RV Having Fun Yet?", AGU!: Susie sure worked hard memorizing 352 types of cheese to sing in the Big Apple, and unlike Lil, her hard work payed off.
The revelation of "The Ultimate Enemy", DP: Two can play that game... or should that be one? ;)

12. Biggest Disappointment of 2005
Chuckie throws away Reptar, "Curse of Reptar", AGU!: Chuckie's reminisence (see above) was an emotional moment. Except for one major detail: after he saw his friends fall into the pool, he fears the curse and unceremoniously throws the doll away.
Susie sings "Runaround Susie" song at talent show, "It's Karma, Dude!", AGU!: Look, it's bad enough that we're getting another plot which points out Susie's singing talent (is there much else to her?), and that Susie ends up getting the role at the school talent show even though she didn't audition for it (even if Susie would like to blame that on original role-winner Angelica), but couldn't you have at least given her something new to sing like Angelica was going to sing?
Everyone is better off without Timmy, "It's A Wishful Life", FOP: Denzel I can understand. Others? Not so.
SBSP season 4 is as if the movie never happened: The first ep centers around another Plankton recipe-stealing caper. Pointless much?
Wanda ceases to be the voice of reason and gets sucked into the morass of stupidity, "Just Desserts", FOP
Debut of Catscratch
Not enough new episodes of Teenage Robot
That other first kiss in 2005, "RV Having Fun Yet?", AGU!: And many wouldn't even count that, especially since Chuckie had gotten a kiss on the cheek on Rugrats as well.
Frederator announces MLaaTR cancellation

13. Best Nicktoon Special of 2005
"School's Out", FOP
"Dude, Where's My Horse?", AGU! "My Big Fat Spy Wedding", JN "Reign Storm", DP The League of Villains", JN "Escape from Cluster Prime", MLAATR "The Ultimate Enemy", DP "R.V. Having Fun Yet?", AGU!

14. Best Regular Ep of 2005
A write-in category, involving episodes that ran 30 minutes or less and premiered on Nick US in 2005.

15. Biggest "Huh?" of 2005
SBSP: Season 4's first ep centers around another Plankton recipe-stealing caper, even though he just stole it in the movie. Huh?
AGU!: Harold's mom helps him to build his race-winning car, but Tommy's dad is nowhere to be seen fixing up his. Huh?
Skyland: What is it?
Avatar: Airbenders and Waterbenders get beat up by Firebenders?
DP: People can figure out Danny Fenton=Danny Phantom?