Welcome to part three of a multi-hundred part series where I boil absolutely every last title on Disney’s hit streaming service down to the essential experience, saving you that tasty, tasty subscription fee.
Today the 2015 to 2019 animated series created by Daron Nefcy… Star vs. the Forces of Evil.
It is difficult not to compare this series directly to Gravity Falls. Mostly so because the two shows seem to share a common online fanbase. I mean, the only reason I picked up SVTFOE in the first place was Disney+ recommended that I watch it after I finished GravFa.
I’m fascinated at the common interest between two shows that, at a glance, seem verrrrry different. Gravity Falls is a forward focused, Twin Peaks-esque mystery show that is thematically contained to one verrrrry interesting town. SVTFOE, in contrast, is set throughout the multiverse. It is combat focused and loves digging at the conflicts that arise from value differences in rubbing against neighboring dimensions.
However, just watching the shows though, you can feel that they value similar things. Both sport incredibly strong characters (though SVTFOE more often lets them drive the plot where as GravFa prefers its plots to drive the characters). Both shows begin with a “monster of the week” story-arc to ease their audiences in until they decide to move onto bigger and better things. Both shows have that adorable-chubby cheek animation thing going.
It makes a lot of sense that people jumped from GravFa to SVTFOE. It feels like they belong together.
In a sense, it’s very apropos as Star, in it’s essence, is a show about relationships… maintaining them through distance, preserving them through strife, managing overlapping ones. And so, if you will forgive me, the rest of this is going to be about the relationship between Star Butterfly and Marco Diaz.
I know, I know, I hate it too. I can’t stand that plugging in a love triangle with strong characters is a surefire way to get me to invest in a story. Even worse that I feel the need to dedicate my whole summary around it… but I can’t honestly say I wasn’t misty eyed and melancholy by the end of Cleaved, thus… here we are.
Not to say SVTFOE isn’t a multifaceted show. It tackles big and interesting ideas, but any attempt to address these before I confess that I was “shipping” Starco super hard would be acting in bad faith. Clearly the show valued this relationship as well. This is evidenced by actually paying it off and making it the central plot of the series’s closing moments.
I will note that poorer crafted stories have attempted this particular gambit before resulting in products that end up rather… well, hacky. We are able to avoid that result this time around because much like GravFa and SVTFOE feel like they belong together, Star and Marco feel like they belong together.
Allow me now to dive into SHIPPING 101. Many a ship originates from a show telling its audience that the potential is there. It’s a simple formula:
- Put two characters together.
- Have them open up to things they have previously been unwilling to open up about.
- Add hugs/blushes.
It is much more difficult to manufacture honest moments that convince everyone (characters and audience included) that two people belong together. Relationships are messy… Star and Marco’s timing is terrible throughout the show. They both get knocked off course by easier feelings and less complicated situations.
Yet they endure through the messiness. They do so because they belong together. No matter the complicated minutia of a situation, at their core they have an unrelenting adoration of each other that they know is stronger than the tides that pull them apart. This is forged, not through the writing saying it should be, but by work. Dozens, hundreds, of moments proving this is something that should be.
No knock to anyone whom supports TomStar, but this is relationship told and not forged. Tom is an amazing character that is presented as a rote member of the rogues gallery until, through self determination, he becomes a bettered being and more complicated character because of it. His level of communication and respect with Marco despite being caught within the same love triangle is something I legitimately haven’t seen in fiction. It was a breath of fresh air and hopefully I’ll see it again.
All that said, Tom and Star’s relationship was weak by design. They begin the series as exes and it is not explained what drew them to each other in the first place. Their reconciliation is revealed in a conversation between Star and Marco that serves as friction between them rather than a purpose unto itself. Star’s intentions are clear because at every opportunity, when given the choice, the answer is Marco.
I should probably attempt to pull myself out of this gushing deluge but SVTFOE hits the that universal idea that most want and plenty envy… the thought that there is someone out there that you can trust, rely upon, and love beyond all.
Someone that will pay off your love and ask you if they can kiss you.
Someone that will always find a way to bridge the physical distance between you.
Someone that will put themself through the emotional gauntlet to stay in your life.
The last episode of SVTFOE could have easily veered towards tragedy and another version of myself would argue that by not actually sacrificing their relationship, the series ended took the easy way out.
That said, this version of me will never knock a plot for giving characters a happy ending they deserve.
In closing, I will shoehorn in a surprisingly poignant Scrubs quote:
With this one in the books, I wish the best to everyone trying to forge their own Starco. If you’re anything like me, SVTFOE will hang with you for awhile if it’s something you want but haven’t gotten yet.
That’s a good thing.
As they say…
It’s nothing a few re-watches won’t cure.
Gamer's Daytimer 