When I watched Total Drama as a kid and teenager (I was a teenager when All-Stars came out), I remembered all the season names ... except for this one.
Even as a teenager, I completely forgot there was an All-Stars season, and having rewatched it in April 2022, I can completely see why this was the case.
I could make a 5 page list of all of the problems in this season, but to give you the short answer:
1. Many of the contestants we knew and loved have been flanderised into idiotic or charmless versions of their former selves.
2. Mal is the worst villain in Total Drama history.
3. Chris McLean has worsened his sociopathic, sadistic personality.
4. The eliminations are too predictable.
5. Much like Revenge of the Island (the previous season), there are only 13 episodes instead of 26 like Island, Action and World Tour (the first three seasons), excluding Island and Action's specials.
This season was apparently also rushed and had just four writers, the least of any of the seven iterations of the show (counting the Ridonculous Race spin-off), which really shows in the final product of some episodes including the infamous Sundae Muddy Sundae, which is the worst episode in the show's history.
In my opinion, the only contestant who wasn't ruined was Scott who actually improved from his Revenge of the Island self and had a wholesome romance with Courtney.
Speaking of Courtney, while she did appear to improve on her behaviour displayed in previous seasons, the aforementioned Sundae Muddy Sundae episode completely destroyed her character. And I later found out that the show did NOT intend to improve Courtney meaning that her romance with Scott and friendship with Gwen were pointless!
Alejandro is also flanderised. Despite being one of the best players of the game in World Tour, he thinks it's OK to tell Mal (really an obvious evil alternate personality of Mike) that he knows about him and wants to take him down. Keep in mind, Alejandro's cleverness got MOST of World Tour's contestants eliminated.
Speaking of Mike, the show's portrayal of his Multiple Personality Disorder is confusing as hell. How on earth did Chris know what was going on inside Mike's brain? And why did Mal, the personality who became the season's prime antagonist, get defeated by a stupid reset button? The latter event was so underwhelming.
Also the finale was the worst of the show's seven finales to date. Not only was this the first finale not to have all the eliminated contestants return on-screen (eight of the twelve were seen inside balloons in silhouette but did not appear), but it was hard to root for Mike due to Mal or Zoey (who is ironically Mike's girlfriend) because of her stupidity in choosing to ignore the clearly dangerous Mal. I live in Australia, and we got the ending which had Zoey as the winner, and while I was happy Mike didn't win due to what he did under Mal's influence, I can't say I was entirely enthused about Zoey's victory.
Also, Camp Wawanakwa, the season's setting, sinks to the bottom of the ocean even though Total Drama Island's special established it was not an island (this itself has been contradicted multiple times in the past) and there is no indication as to what Mike and Zoey would want to do with the $1 million they won. Also, the finale was a bad ending for Gwen, Cameron, Alejandro and Heather as there was little indication as to what they wanted to do in the future (except for Heather and Alejandro now being in a relationship) and the characters never returned to the show (excluding Total DramaRama).
Some additional issues include Lindsay and Jo being completely wasted, Sierra and Sam being pointless, especially the former due to Cody's absence and the fact that there are only 14 contestants. Personally, I would have wanted Bridgette and Geoff to come back, especially because Bridgette's eliminations in Island and World Tour didn't make any sense and I feel like she should have made it to at least the top 5 in one of her competing seasons. I also feel like Geoff not competing after Action meant his character did not get sufficient development, though he returned in the Ridonculous Race spin-off.
Also those who have watched the previous seasons of Total Drama may notice that 6 of the 14 contestants (Gwen, Duncan, Alejandro, Heather, Cameron and Lightning) have already been finalists in a previous season. While it is kind of understandable why Gwen, Alejandro and Heather would be fine coming back as their prize money ended up being lost (Gwen's was eaten by a shark, while Alejandro's/Heather's was burned in Hawaii), the other 3 probably don't need to come back as they have already won the million dollar prize in the past.
Even as a teenager, I completely forgot there was an All-Stars season, and having rewatched it in April 2022, I can completely see why this was the case.
I could make a 5 page list of all of the problems in this season, but to give you the short answer:
1. Many of the contestants we knew and loved have been flanderised into idiotic or charmless versions of their former selves.
2. Mal is the worst villain in Total Drama history.
3. Chris McLean has worsened his sociopathic, sadistic personality.
4. The eliminations are too predictable.
5. Much like Revenge of the Island (the previous season), there are only 13 episodes instead of 26 like Island, Action and World Tour (the first three seasons), excluding Island and Action's specials.
This season was apparently also rushed and had just four writers, the least of any of the seven iterations of the show (counting the Ridonculous Race spin-off), which really shows in the final product of some episodes including the infamous Sundae Muddy Sundae, which is the worst episode in the show's history.
In my opinion, the only contestant who wasn't ruined was Scott who actually improved from his Revenge of the Island self and had a wholesome romance with Courtney.
Speaking of Courtney, while she did appear to improve on her behaviour displayed in previous seasons, the aforementioned Sundae Muddy Sundae episode completely destroyed her character. And I later found out that the show did NOT intend to improve Courtney meaning that her romance with Scott and friendship with Gwen were pointless!
Alejandro is also flanderised. Despite being one of the best players of the game in World Tour, he thinks it's OK to tell Mal (really an obvious evil alternate personality of Mike) that he knows about him and wants to take him down. Keep in mind, Alejandro's cleverness got MOST of World Tour's contestants eliminated.
Speaking of Mike, the show's portrayal of his Multiple Personality Disorder is confusing as hell. How on earth did Chris know what was going on inside Mike's brain? And why did Mal, the personality who became the season's prime antagonist, get defeated by a stupid reset button? The latter event was so underwhelming.
Also the finale was the worst of the show's seven finales to date. Not only was this the first finale not to have all the eliminated contestants return on-screen (eight of the twelve were seen inside balloons in silhouette but did not appear), but it was hard to root for Mike due to Mal or Zoey (who is ironically Mike's girlfriend) because of her stupidity in choosing to ignore the clearly dangerous Mal. I live in Australia, and we got the ending which had Zoey as the winner, and while I was happy Mike didn't win due to what he did under Mal's influence, I can't say I was entirely enthused about Zoey's victory.
Also, Camp Wawanakwa, the season's setting, sinks to the bottom of the ocean even though Total Drama Island's special established it was not an island (this itself has been contradicted multiple times in the past) and there is no indication as to what Mike and Zoey would want to do with the $1 million they won. Also, the finale was a bad ending for Gwen, Cameron, Alejandro and Heather as there was little indication as to what they wanted to do in the future (except for Heather and Alejandro now being in a relationship) and the characters never returned to the show (excluding Total DramaRama).
Some additional issues include Lindsay and Jo being completely wasted, Sierra and Sam being pointless, especially the former due to Cody's absence and the fact that there are only 14 contestants. Personally, I would have wanted Bridgette and Geoff to come back, especially because Bridgette's eliminations in Island and World Tour didn't make any sense and I feel like she should have made it to at least the top 5 in one of her competing seasons. I also feel like Geoff not competing after Action meant his character did not get sufficient development, though he returned in the Ridonculous Race spin-off.
Also those who have watched the previous seasons of Total Drama may notice that 6 of the 14 contestants (Gwen, Duncan, Alejandro, Heather, Cameron and Lightning) have already been finalists in a previous season. While it is kind of understandable why Gwen, Alejandro and Heather would be fine coming back as their prize money ended up being lost (Gwen's was eaten by a shark, while Alejandro's/Heather's was burned in Hawaii), the other 3 probably don't need to come back as they have already won the million dollar prize in the past.