Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends: The Complete Series Review: Destination Imagination

By Aaron Perine

How well do you remember your own childhood? Is it a blur of summer days set to the backdrop of blue skies and fresh cut grass? Or is it visions of winter holidays with your whole family assembled? For a certain set of TV viewer, it was the sound of Fridays and cartoons. 

Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends: The Complete Series serves to bring that magic flooding back. Cartoon Network is celebrating their 30th Anniversary and is openly courting that nostalgia at a full sprint. All 79 episodes fo the beloved show are here and it's a wild ride for longtime fans.

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(Photo: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment)

If that wasn't enough of a blast from the past, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is also releasing full series runs for Ed, Edd n Eddy and Courage the Cowardly Dog. Foster's occupies a slightly different bit of the entertainment landscape than those other two works. The Complete Series only highlights those differences.

1,738 minutes later, it becomes clear that while some of those Cartoon Network favorites carry the unmistakable air or summer, Bloo and Mac's adventures feel a lot like Fall.

What's The Series About?

"What happens when a child outgrows his trusty Imaginary Friend, the pal that stuck with him through all of the highs and lows of growing up? Well, these creations pack up and head for Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends! Foster's is a one-of-a-kind Victorian mansion filled with hundreds of unique characters from all over the world, thought up by completely different children for completely different reasons. These creatures all live together in this vast, sprawling home with more rooms than you could ever dream possible! Mac, a clever but somewhat shy 8-year-old boy, discovers Foster's when his mom tells him he's too old for his Imaginary Friend Blooregard. Not ready to part with his trouble making best buddy, Mac takes Bloo to Foster's with the hope of giving him a safe place to live, while still being able to visit every day."

How Does This Collection Stack Up?

That $54 price tag while the show is still available to stream might scare off some newcomers. But, this era of shows being juggled around streaming lends some credibility to the idea of owning all six season in one immutable spot. Special features are also included on the DVD release. 

10 DVDs encapsulate this collection that helped push Cartoon Networks signature style into some other arenas. There are still lots of primary colors and plots about avoiding trouble after a big mix-up, but the touch is undoubtedly lighter than some predecessors. Courage is spooky and surreal, the Eds have absurdism on lock, and the grotesque of Cow and Chicken aren't here. Foster's feels very sweet and that's because it is for lack of better adjective.

This isn't Charlie Brown specials though, there's a bit of edge from Bloo and friends. Some heavy emotion comes through in certain adventures that illuminate characters like Wilt, Eduardo, Mr. Herriman, and Coco. The episodes that explore their former childhood friends tug on the heartstrings.

Older viewers will probably have grown an appreciation for Frankie in the intervening years as well. Her routine with Madame Foster plays especially well for the more advanced set. We could all use a chance to lighten up in recent years and Foster's extends that chance in spades.

Another point in the series' favor is how the animation still feels very lively despite all the pages on the calendar that have flipped by. 2004 was basically another era. Risk-taking and stylistic subversion would reign supreme by the end of the decade on Cartoon Network, and this show was taking such a different approach. 

Longtime fans and people looking to round out their CN DVD collections can step right up and deposit their money. There are a lot of people who find this to be their favorite show from the network. If you're looking for Blu-ray quality or some new insights for the program should keep on searching. 

You can purchase Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: The Complete Series right here.

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