Cartoon Network and HBO Max animator J.G. Quintel brings back his beloved show, Regular Show. On May 11, the cartoon’s official YouTube channel released the pilot for its sequel revival, Regular Show: The Lost Tapes.
I was unsure of what to expect from this animation project, for Cartoon Network reboots and sequels are mostly known to flop after a first viewing. My curiosity grew after some critics posted hateful reviews on social media, but I avoided watching at all costs. After waiting an entire week, I decided to check out its pilot special, “Fix That Tape/Skip’s Luau.” And, oh boy! I felt the 2010s rushing through my brain with previous seasons of the original cartoon. And that’s a good thing.
This article contains major spoilers for Regular Show.
Preserving Regular Show’s Original Ending
When Cartoon Network fans heard about The Lost Tapes being an anticipated revival, they were extremely anxious and doubtful about what it would become. They were afraid it would tarnish the original cartoon’s reputation if they did not stay with the canon timeline.
Some lowered their worried expectations when Rigby’s voice actor, William Salyer, attended Emerald City Comic Con. At the panel, fans wondered what the voice cast hopes for Regular Show’s next project.
He told the audience, “Theoretically, something that fans have said to me, and it echoed my own concern before I knew anything about it, was that I mostly didn’t want to ruin what I thought was one of the best endings in a series. […] I thought the writers had ended [the cartoon] on a brilliant note.”
At the end of Season 8, the Park Recreation crew battled Pops’ evil twin, Anti-Pops, in space. The jolly gentleman, Pop, decided to sacrifice himself and save the world. The remaining workers, Mordecai, Rigby, Skips, Benson, Muscle Man, and High-Five Ghost, pressed forward, presenting the future in a 25-year time skip. J.G. Quintel dedicated a comic miniseries of the Park Rec crew having adventures without Pops.
Sam Register, the CEO of Cartoon Network, confirmed that the cartoon will not change its narrative style on March 23. He jokingly commented, “Thank goodness J.G. Quintel works harder than Mordecai and Rigby, or we might have to wait another nine years to see these characters again.”
How The Lost Tapes Revived Pops
Regular Show: The Lost Tapes made use of its name. Instead of following the main best-friend duo, Mordecai and Rigby, it’s Pops experiencing lost memories in VHS tapes. At the end of the series’ finale, it is revealed that Pops is in Heaven. He was watching the cartoon in its entirety on a VCR CRT.
“Fix That Tape/Skip’s Luau” grew from its foundation as The Lost Tapes began with checking on the round-headed bloke’s afterlife. According to the supervising angel, everyone receives their memories in VHS tape form. He’s been enjoying it with his favorite pastime activity being watching his friends’ adventures.
Tragedy struck when he rewound too many times of Mordecai and Rigby saying hummus. The film unravels sporadically and later becomes irreparable. When Pops visited soup lady Gail in hopes she could help, door-to-door salesman Jampft Grimpfton insisted on using his service to preserve the damaged memories.
Pops chose to think about it because the Regular Show tape is valuable to him. The supervising angel advised checking if the Record Keeping Department has a copy. He explores the department’s back room with former pro disc golfer, Barry Sliceman, discovering Jampft is erasing every dead person’s precious memories and deleting VHS tapes. This may be a reference to how streaming services are actively trying to erase physical media.
While Pops couldn’t find a copy of the original tape, he was excited to find the lost tapes. He escapes the Record Keeping Department backrooms and begins watching them, starting with “Skip’s Luau.”
When is The Lost Tapes Dropping?
J.G. Quintel informed Variety that The Lost Tapes will be dropping its first 10 episodes on Cartoon Network after the May 11 pilot. Prime Video has published 6 of the first season, while HBO Max has published all 10 episodes.
However, I didn’t expect to learn that there will be 30 episodes for this Regular Show revival. That means Pops and the viewers will be watching three seasons’ worth. The shenanigans, the humor, and the characters preserved everything its predecessor was, and I’m happy to say that the harsh criticism is just ragebait. I hope to see more of The Lost Tapes when it fully releases in June.
If you are interested in seeing the pilot yourself, visit the official Regular Show YouTube channel.
