Featured Photo by Cartoon Network
Story by Larry Rincon
Reality television has been an important part of television history. And in 2007, one of the greatest reality television series released, “Total Drama Island.” The animated series premiered in Canada and made its way to the United States through Cartoon Network, and it was actually the third kids series to be rated PG at the time.
The “Total Drama Island” reboot aired back in April of this year in Italy on K2 and Discovery+, but only recently began airing in Canada. Unfortunately, the show won’t be available in the United States until next year.
The reboot has an entirely new cast, minus Chris and Chef, and takes place 15 years after the original series. 16 new contestants are divided into two teams, the Ferocious Trout and the Frogs of Death. All of them are after the winning prize, 1 million Canadian dollars.
The original cast was iconic and definitely were fan favorites throughout the series, and as the original seasons went by the original cast would slowly gain new contestants while keeping few of the original ones. There was never a completely new cast of players until now.
If you were a fan of the original series, this season has so many call backs to the original island. The confession toilet is back, and all the deadly challenge rounds were just as terrible as those from the first season.
The new cast of characters are also a fun new mix and far less toxic than the original slate of characters in the 2007 series. The eliminations for this season are actually strategic much to my surprise, but they also still rely on the characters’ own personal feelings against one another.
In just episode one, the first player eliminated was Caleb who is type casted as “the smoking hot player”. One of the other players, Bowie, managed to convince his whole team to eliminate Caleb considering his good looks and high potential to do well in the challenges. It was refreshing to see eliminations that were actually smart.
The characters themselves were very competitive this season as well. They all genuinely wanted to win the million dollars minus one or two of them, so the mind games they played this season were top-notch. It was like Heather from the original “Total Drama Island” series came and possessed all the characters in the reboot season.
Mary Kate downloaded everyone’s confessionals to get dirt on everyone. Julia knew everyone wanted her off, so she kept making sure she got immunity to ensure her stay on the island. Priya and Millie were the first to make an alliance, and that ensured their position in the final five. We’re seeing common and old tactics be used effectively this season.
This reboot season was practically perfect, but unfortunately the final episode did not deliver. The final challenge was so boring and the way they copped out of showing who ended up winning was ridiculous.
If you’ve never seen any “Total Drama” show, all seasons have two different endings. Meaning the person you end up cheering for at the end will win as long as you watch the right version. As of right now, only one ending is available for this season, and it’s not the person I think should have won for narrative purposes.
A second season for this new cast is already in the works and has been confirmed since 2021, so I hope that the writers take this season as a base and make it better. So many characters need more development and growth, and because this is a reality television cartoon, this isn’t out of the question.
Look forward to the official release here in the United States or use a VPN to get access to the Canadian release. “Total Drama Island” is back, and it is going to be a wild ride from here on out.
To contact Lifestyles Editor Destiny Mizell, email lifestyles@mtsusidelines.com. For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com, or follow us on Facebook at MTSU Sidelines or on X at @MTSUSidelines.
