This was a definitive step forward from season five of the Total Drama franchise, certainly. Many of the new characters (and even a couple of the old) showed a surprising amount of depth; most notably Team Daters. Ryan in particular showed an unprecedented amount of development, and by the time the team was eliminated, I was actually a little sad to see them go. I also think that Team Sisters and Team Surfers were very well done, with many funny scenes and engaging story lines intertwining them with several other teams. The Goths were very fun to watch as well, along with the Father & Son team and the Rockers, once the latter's characters were fleshed out a bit.
This show was not without its flaws, though. The Tennis Rivals and Fashion Bloggers both, in my opinion, had much more to offer, and were eliminated too soon. The Step Brothers, on the other hand, offered virtually nothing in terms of plot advancement, and could have easily been eliminated several episodes before they actually were. By the same token, I feel as though the use of Leonard as a reoccurring character was a waste of a slot based on how he was used. With the amount of characters in previous installments that still had room for development (Justin, DJ, Beth, Heather, Trent, Harold, Cody, Tyler, LeShawna, Dawn, Brick, Sam... you get the idea), the use of Leonard feels like such a waste.
As for the main villains, I felt as though the Ice Dancers were really rather flat. Every episode they appeared in had them become more and more malicious until around the time where they started sabotaging the other teams. After that, they basically stagnated. And even before then, most of their dialogue consisted of them either praising their own greatness, putting down the other teams, scheming over their next evil plan, or a combination of Jacques' high-pitched screaming and Josee's enraged yelling. There wasn't much that made them enjoyable to watch at all. All the criticism aside, though, I thought that Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race was a fresh and welcome change in the world of Total Drama and would be happy to see another season in the future.
This show was not without its flaws, though. The Tennis Rivals and Fashion Bloggers both, in my opinion, had much more to offer, and were eliminated too soon. The Step Brothers, on the other hand, offered virtually nothing in terms of plot advancement, and could have easily been eliminated several episodes before they actually were. By the same token, I feel as though the use of Leonard as a reoccurring character was a waste of a slot based on how he was used. With the amount of characters in previous installments that still had room for development (Justin, DJ, Beth, Heather, Trent, Harold, Cody, Tyler, LeShawna, Dawn, Brick, Sam... you get the idea), the use of Leonard feels like such a waste.
As for the main villains, I felt as though the Ice Dancers were really rather flat. Every episode they appeared in had them become more and more malicious until around the time where they started sabotaging the other teams. After that, they basically stagnated. And even before then, most of their dialogue consisted of them either praising their own greatness, putting down the other teams, scheming over their next evil plan, or a combination of Jacques' high-pitched screaming and Josee's enraged yelling. There wasn't much that made them enjoyable to watch at all. All the criticism aside, though, I thought that Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race was a fresh and welcome change in the world of Total Drama and would be happy to see another season in the future.