StuGo is the latest Disney Channel animated series, and it’s here to take us away to an island of the strange. The series is about six gifted middle school students who go to an island for the summer, on the pretense that it is a summer camp. Instead, there is no summer camp, but there is a mad scientist on an island of her creations.

The show has a cast of six interestingly strange middle schoolers.  Starting with Pliny, she’s the one to take charge and not give up easily. While I think the group doesn’t seem to have a leader, she does seem to be the most leader-like of the characters.  Merian has an interesting ’80s power suit look; she is the one who breaks down the easiest, and she never can relax. She has a dolphin sister, which gives you a sense of what this show is like. “Chip Manhands,” that’s not his real name, but he’s going for a summer image, and this name he dubbed himself gives you what he is about. He’s a nerdy boy, who wants to be seen as strong and tough.  He doesn’t have that, but he has good brains and a heart.

Larry is the only other boy in the group; he gives off a younger brother vibe to the whole cast  in his character. He’s sweet and charming, and brings his own strangeness.  Sara is interesting in that she seems to be the least moral of the characters. She can be a jerk, but she does care about the others. She also has a few little secrets.  Her toughness and competitiveness put her at odds with characters, especially Pliny.  Francis speaks matter-of-factly and seems to be in a state of constant chill. She’s definitely the opposite of Merian. She is kind and caring, but you don’t get that impression from her expressions.

This group is really fun, I love their interactions and how they play off each other. They are smart kids,  but not written in stereotypical ways, which makes them stand out.

There’s the reason they are there; her name is Dr. Lullah. She needed someone to fix her laser, so her idea was to create an entire fake summer camp and bring smart kids there to do it. She actually got the finished in episode 1, but the kids wanted to stay.  She wants them out of her hair, but they do cross paths.  She’s a mad scientist who loves inventing, and she also created the mutants on the island. She doesn’t have a vast plan to take over the world or really commit much villainy, and mostly wants to keep to herself.  She’s not alone; there’s her loyal dog, Mr. Okay.  Wait, her loyal mutant dog that is able to talk and walk on two legs. He has a dog bond and is loyal to her, but if there’s anyone she deeply cares about, besides herself, it’s him. It’s sweet in its own way.

The island is inhabited by Dr. Lullah’s different mutants, who are sentient.  This makes the island interesting and slightly dangerous, but only slightly because of the mutants.  The setting really allows for some weirdness, mayhem, and some freedom to do things they couldn’t do otherwise.

I enjoyed this show; it really gives more than its first impressions suggest.  There are great touches that really make the show fun. The characters all have their own stand out way of being intersting and don’t fall into stock characters, and it easily could have gone that way.  A fun thing is how episodes’ plots make one think one this going to happen or how something is going to happen, but then goes into directions you’d not expect.  “Noodle It (A Little Bit)”, for example, is about Pliny showing Larry how to noodle -catching fish with your arm by letting the fish bite on it, usually catfish- sounds simple. Larry ends up being really good at it to the point where he is able to noodle bigger fish, and then ramps up to almost anything to the point he ends up being able to noodle a meteror.

There’s an episode where Merian’s sister shows up, which is funny for a show where the kids are on  random unknown island, but the sister is her adopted sister, a dolphin.  You get a sibling rivalry episode with a human and a dolphin.  There’s an episode where Sara goes to the moon, because why not?  There are some funny twists and turns that I think you need to see the show to get without me saying what they are.

The comedy is really the main core of the show and it’s funny. Episodes are top loaded with funny moments or have concepts that just are funny. Charcter interactions are also fun how the kids interact with each other, or with Dr. Lullah, the Mutants,and Mr. Okay.  Francis’ line delivery makes a joke work for her , especially a non sequiter.   Larry, being curious, gets some of his jokes with more physical humor. This series loves its physical humor too. There’s quick pace to its humor and some abusirdst humor is thrown in.

There is a good balance, as the characters are also very fun and interesting, and we learn about them as the series progresses. They have a nice bond with each other from the start, which is interesting as they might of not known each other before this trip.  They all bring something to the group in their own way, where I think something would be missing without any one of them.  It’s fun to see things like Pliny bringing  Larry out of his zone of being sheltered, as he’s a cello player, and his hands were being protected.

Chip and Larry have a bro bond, and Sara and Larry mesh together better than one would think. Sara and Pliny having a little rivalry with each other at times is fun.  Francis sometimes plays the only sane one or the one who has lost it the most.  Mr. Okay seems to get along with the kids, given he’s a dog, but still fiercly loyal to Lullah. Dr. Lullah is a fun mad scientisit as it seems she’s mostly focused on her comfort and recreation. She really only uses the kids when she needs them for something, or they end up bugging her in some way; her caring about them is between there.

I think every episode really builds upon the show’s fun and gets better each time. The whole series is fun to watch. If I had to choose a few standouts, there’s “Dog Eat Dog”, which is where you see this show’s starting humor and what it’s going for in that style.  “Noodle It (A Little Bit)” for an episode that starts off simple and goes to a big degree of it deciding to have a giant metor being brought to Earth.  “Mailbog” is about Francis deciding to deliver a letter but really lets the weridness run through it as seeing the fun of the island. “Plantcis” gives us a whole plant royal struggle and it’s amazing. “PANTelevision” has a collection of island television by the mutants and it’s great television.   Those are just a few.

I think it’s a stand out show, embraces a sense of humor and weridness that just works. It’s a fun watch and makes for fun rewatching too.  There’s so much stuff packed into an episode that there are jokes and concepts you might not catch at first.  The cast is fun, the island is a great setting of different mutants and its enviroment is varied.   Give it watch, it’s now out on Disney+ and airs on Disney Channel.

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