The Sad, Strange Ending to 6Teen You’ve Never Seen

[Music] got to make the good times last 16 was a show I really loved growing up a show about 16 agers I see what you did there working at the mall and getting into crazy situations typical of teen drama comedies but definitely with more of a focus on the mall like Jude tries to teach Jen how to drive but how do you teach someone how to drive in the mall while you take him to the arcade and have them play a GTA parody game with a steering wheel hold on that would have gone kind of crazy every episode Jonesy gets a new job at the mall which is pretty funny cuz he always finds a way to lose his job with some kind of scheme like finding an exploit to make more money or leave his job on intended or hitting on someone's mom Jones so charismatic he can basically get any job he wants and the few times he really succeeds at his job it has some negative consequences like his new limeade stand is so popular it's running Caitlyn's lemonade stand out of business and she's going to have to go work in a different Mall the show always does a clever job of balancing elements of the mall their jobs and plots that aren't too crazy but with such funny distinct characters you know it'll be entertaining for a lot of kids the show might have appeared as a glimpse into what finally being a teenager could be hanging out at the mall having a cell phone and a job but these elements aren't really what made the show appeal to me it was more that it was just a nice Ensemble comedy with great characters and writing and that's why I can go back and enjoy the show just as much now the show was made to appeal to tweens who at the time were really into more adult comedies and sitcoms yeah this was probably made for kids like me that were watching Adult Swim Family Guy in South Park to watch something a little more age appropriate but still had the appeal and comedy and writing of a smarter older audience ironically over a quarter of 16's episodes were banned in the US so rewatching through the show again there was definitely episodes I didn't remember like the group gets arrested for shoplifting or all the gals periods get synced up or they pretend to be in college to date college students H yeah at times the show feels so Innovative and forward like it's Admiral to try to explain about periods and cramps in a way that isn't too focused on being a lecture or a brochure but the execution of it or the girls dating these college students is just a little too weird or graphic or played up for a joke their hearts were probably in the right places not advocating for bad things but when you play the date up and have them kiss it's hard not to think it's getting a little edgier or dare I say fetishy okay but like why did the shoplifting episode get banned they got arrested for doing it it's not like they're in it it's not like there's sublimal messaging kill John lenon kill John L I also got to say I love all the shows made by the Canadian Studio Nana like not only did they make 16 but Total Drama Island and stoked and yeah stoked made me want to live by the beach and become a surfer I've still never ridden a surfboard so the main reason I wanted to make this video was cuz I wanted to talk about the final episodes of the show a two-part special that really caught me off guard cuzz I didn't know it was the finale of the show until it was too late now I've watched through6 before when it was airing with Total Drama Island in the late 2000s but during lockdown in 2020 I remember getting the great idea to get into bed close my eyes and listen to an episode or two of 16 every night for like 2 months straight like with my eyes closed I just laid there and could pretty much just imagine the scenes in my head while trying to fall asleep what lockdown made us all do crazy things it could have been worse although I have watched show with my eyes closed I got to say I love the look of the show like this lineless style with the gradients is so charming and you get such a good grasp of their character from their portraits alone the animation isn't anything too special but for the early 2000s it's technologically Innovative they used the animation program Opus Suite which was a part of tboom animation which you may know as one of the largest industry standards nowadays reading the old press release about Opus and 16 are pretty funny cuz there's a lot we take for granted now days with animation like you can now add gradients to your lines or color that was noteworthy in 2003 maybe this influenced the art style of the show but the combination of the gradients and the lack of outlines could be a technological Flex of these new features you could do with puppeted animation if you want to know more about how they did this style of animation for 16 check out my video on kid Cosmic where I actually kind of break down and analyze how they animated the puppet Rigs of the show the last thing I want to quickly go over before getting into the final episode plot is the characters just in case you don't know them now the first episode does an ingenious job of introducing us to the cast through the responses to job application questions it's pretty brilliant because not only does it tell you who they are but it's a pretty funny observation of weird questions you get asked in interviews like what's my biggest flaw hire me first we have Jonesy the scheming but sve one who gets a new job nearly every episode but always finds a way to get fired Jonesy schemes are often the inciting incidents for a lot of episodes and is probably the biggest standout from the show one thing I found out while making this video is Jones's voice actor Terry mcgurren is actually the new voice of Chris mcquean in Total Drama Island I don't really have much to add to that it's just kind of cool like what if Jonesy hosted Total Drama now that'd be cool Jen is the sporty strict voice of reason for the group Jonesy and Jen's parents are dating so they eventually live in the same house together but like half those episodes are banned in the US so there's a lot of sweet episodes about their family Dynamic we just miss out on Nikki is the sassy goth gal maybe seen gal but she's pretty funny and has a sweet side deep down she and Jonesy date throughout most of the show and are a pretty fun couple with a great Dynamic like it's not every day you see the J coolish guy and The Goth chick dat let alone work but there's a lot more to their characters and they're not just stereotypes but characters with a lot of depth Jude is the chill clueless skater dude Wyatt is a bit of a hipster coffee addict hopeless romantic and probably one of the harder characters to aign like a one sentence stereotype kind of Caitlyn is a bit of a spoiled girl who ends up working at the mall when her dad cuts off her credit line and the first episode actually introduces Caitlyn to the rest of the friend group Who We Gather was already established so the continuity of the relationships and friendships of the characters is always cool to see like not only does Caitlyn become more of a member of the group but a character like Nikki warms up to Caitlyn a little more slowly because she doesn't like vapid people probably on account of working at a clothing store in the mall with three AirHeads she refers to as the Clones team welcome to the team no way I don't believe it welcome to the Khaki bar team this is going to be a long summer so one night I was listening to 16 and there was an episode about Nikki's family moving away and I thought oh that's a funny plot the group is distraught because Nikki's dad is applying to a new job in the Canadian city ealo which is such an interesting destination to use I wanted to look more into this so here's a couple fun facts about eal ealo is the capital of the Canadian territory nunit which would be the 15th biggest country in the world if it was a country now the crazy thing is despite its size ealet is the only city in the whole territory and there's just under 40,000 people in this whole territory like the characters were saying oh man Nikki you're going to have to move to a new school have a new mall to hang out at and Nikki's like there's not even a damn Mall Nikki mentions her family would be moving so far north they could see 4 hours of sunlight for some seasons and 20 for others it's twilight here dusk if you will 2:45 p.m. and Jude sees this as a genius Revelation that daylight all day means party all day and ties a flashlight to his head to stay up and party I feel like this would make you go blind before it just keep you up but yeah Jonesy seems relatively unfazed by his girlfriend moving away but it turns out he's in denial as he goes through the seven stages of Anguish which is played up in a pretty funny way making me still believe this is just a comedy episode like we see Jonesy goes through bargaining by literally bargaining with the taco stand gal about getting two tacos for the price of one moving on to Gilt and anger in an electric guitar performance but when he goes to the movies and realizes his depression leading to his final stage of acceptance Jonesy gives this speech that acceptance is next I may have gone through the first six stages but the Jones Meister doesn't accept anything not ramping failure at my many jobs not rejection at the hands of too many girls to count and I will not accept that Nikki is moving away so they come up with a plan for Jonesy to take the interview in place of Nikki's father whereas Mr W will actually be interviewed by Jude as they call him and tell him his interview got moved to the mall despite his worst efforts Jonesy ends up nailing the interview no washrooms in my stores employees can pee on their own time well that'll cut down building cost you know this really says a lot about our society Nikki's dad is so good at interviewing he even passes Jude's impossible interview where the entire point of it was for Jude to tell him he won't get the job in the end making them have to stay here later on Jen offers to let Nikki room with her and finish the school year which I really enjoyed the episode exploring as an option cuz it makes sense for friends this close to offer a setup like this not only does it show just how close they are as friends and more like family but it gives a little perspective of the parents like yeah she'd be moving in with Jen but that also means moving in with her boyfriend Jonesy at which would be a little crazy so Nikki and Jonesy pretend to break up and Nikki's allowed to have a trial sleepover at Jen's despite Jonesy living there Nikki and Jen don't really get along well as roommates like Nikki eats chips in bed and hates Jen's obsession with cop shows [Music] CH no crummies in bed but the final straw is Jonesy and Nikki making out in Jen's room which I guess would kind of be like half Nikki's room now but still it's just a bit much for everyone involved and creates a dilemma even worse than Nikki moving away which would be Nikki staying and ending up hating her best friends which is kind of profound coming from a show where minutes earlier Jude got naked and took a bath in the lobster tank of a sushi restaurant in the mall because his parents are out of town and he locked himself out anyways the theme of Nikki growing apart from the one she's close to is done really well because it's not just Nikki and Jen not getting along as roommates but she and Jonesy talk about breaking up if she ends up moving because she doesn't want them to end up hating each other either if it doesn't work out it seems like it would be more painful than not trying to make things work the tension between them all leads Nikki to accept that she'll be moving to a cow and Nikki ends up quitting her job at the the Khaki Barn standing up on the counter and calling everyone out for what she dislikes about them take that sweater off if you ever want to date again and you khaki Barn represents everything wrong with the world today it's just robots dressing robots until everyone looks exactly the same uh yeah that's why it's cool it kind of reminds me of the movie Max keo's big move a movie all about a kid who creates a bunch of Havoc at his school cuz he's moving away next week so he gets revenge on all his bullies and in the end his family ends up staying and he's got to own up to the crazy things he's done this is kind of an archetype of story structure called the joyful defeat where at the end of the third Act of a show or movie characters often end up with what they need often times at the expense of what they wanted in the episode so all these factors combined led me to believe that Nikki's family will end up staying but in turn she'll have to fix everything like getting her job at the Khaki Barn back but this won't be a big deal to her because they'll be staying and she she won't be the weird mid-semester transfer student she dreads becoming on Nikki's final day the rest of the group ends up surprising her with a laptop and a video montage of everyone in the mall saying their final goodbyes to Nikki and I just thought wow there really was a lot of characters in this show this mall was so full of life and interesting characters and seeing how they all felt about Nikki is so cool to see and Nikki's final goodbyes to everyone she gives everyone a sentimental gift and these speeches are so sweet like she gives Caitlyn her cut up credit card from the first episode when they met you know you can't shop with these right it's the one the Clones cut up on your first day here I saw it in the trash at the crappy barn and saved it cuz I was going to prank you we didn't get off to a great start but now you're the kindest person I know and this is to remind you that you'll always land on your feet no matter what happens like that's so sweet genuinely she gives Jen a flyer from her first snowboarding competition so she never forgets where she's headed and I love her interaction with Wyatt I think this is going to be almost as hard as saying goodbye to the girls I'll take that as a compliment like it makes me appreciate Wyatt even more he's sensitive and often acts in line with the girls more at times while still being uniquely himself her gift to Wyatt is his first album he made when he was 12 which she still listens to so she ends up not actually giving it to him but still it's a sweet gesture she gives Jude a tra her hat as he finally falls asleep for the first time after staying up throughout this whole episode because of the flashlight on his head leading to her goodbye to Jonesy who for one of the few times in the series ever shows fear she tells him despite this being it she'll always love him and they hug as a montage plays of the moments the group shared over the course of the show the Montage features an acoustic version of the theme song sung by Brian Melo a winner of Canadian Idol stting to my way for tomor tomorrow don't forget about yesterday thank God I'm on my own for the first time I didn't even know there was a Canadian Idol and it's a really great song and sequence to look back on everything throughout the course of the show a great sense of closure goes such a long way for me but there's still 4 minutes left in the episode so in the back of my mind I keep thinking something's going to happen this can't be it and sure enough as soon as the Montage is over Nikki's parents announced that they see how much this all means to Nikki and they've decided they'll be staying here everyone celebrates but Nikki understands how much this job promotion would mean for her parents who've sacrificed for her her whole life and her father's dream coming true it's such a mature lesson and conclusion for the show and really makes you feel like these characters are truly growing up and making these hard decisions as a result the first time I was listening to this episode I was like waking up because of how good it was and how sentimental it was but when Nikki said no we have to leave I sat up in my bed like this like to dangle this awful scenario over our heads the whole episode of Nicki moving and going to a new school and potentially being the weird kid breaking up with Jonesy living in damn near the North Pole you begin to think no way this actually happens right the group will solve this with their love for each other but when Nikki was the one to decide they had to do the move for her family it's so Bittersweet and satisfying the episode ends with Jonesy calling Nikki just before her plane takes off and they decide they don't want to break up the last shot we see is a wide shot of the mall as everyone in it goes about with their daily lives almost to say Life Will Go On and whether things work out or not will be in the future but yeah this ending caught me super off guard cuz I didn't know it was the conclusion until it was too late I was like wait Nikki's actually going to move are they going to call the show 15 from now on 5 [Music] and then I looked up oh that was the last episode that's the last episode of my comfort show oh and this was the last time they were ever heard from ever again well except for that special they made to vote where Jonesy said make America great again Jude was smoking pot in the lemon and they all realized they can't vote in the US election because they're Canadian anyways if this is the first you're hearing the show I always say it's worth checking out even if you know the ending now it's a fun show that probably holds too special of a place in my heart but it's a really solid Ensemble comedy with great characters and writing and is conveniently all uploaded to YouTube so yeah let me know what you thought about 16 in the comments below I'd love to know who your favorite character was this is my tier list of the characters so yeah that's that feel free to like And subscribe and I'll talk to you later all right bye h

Channel: Colby2D

Views: 365,461

Keywords: 6Teen, teletoon, nelvana, cartoon, anime, manga, cartoon network, 6 teen, nikki, jonesy, jude, wyatt, caitlin, jen, mall, toronto, canada, canadian, toon boom, toonboom, toon boom harmony, disney, nickelodeon, avatar, aang

Id: FbUL1ovmA38

Length: 17min 0sec (1020 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 28 2024