Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero - Season 2 Review
Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero, the Disney XD animated series created by Jim Douglas and Gary Di Raffaele, concluded its second season in 2016. The show follows the adventures of Penn Zero, a teenager who discovers that his parents are time travelers and that he is destined to become a hero. In this review, we'll dive into the highlights and lowlights of Season 2, exploring the show's unique blend of humor, action, and heart.
Storyline
The second season of Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero picks up where the first season left off, with Penn (voiced by Adam McArthur) and his best friends, Kind (Jemaine Clement) and Sashi (Kiersey Clemons), continuing to navigate the challenges of being part-time heroes. The season introduces new villains, new allies, and new time-traveling adventures, all while maintaining the show's trademark humor and wit.
One of the standout aspects of Season 2 is its ability to balance lighthearted fun with more serious themes. The show tackles complex issues like the consequences of time travel, the importance of teamwork, and the value of learning from failure. The writers do an excellent job of making these themes accessible to a younger audience without sacrificing their depth and complexity.
Characters
The characters in Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero are one of its strongest assets, and Season 2 continues to develop and deepen their personalities. Penn, the show's protagonist, is a lovable and relatable hero who often finds himself in over his head. His friends, Kind and Sashi, provide comedic relief and support, often serving as a voice of reason when Penn gets too caught up in his heroics.
The villains in Season 2 are also noteworthy, particularly the introduction of new characters like Rippy (voiced by Rob Paulsen) and Mr. Fraar (voiced by Jeffrey Tambor). These characters add a new layer of complexity to the show's universe, and their interactions with Penn and his friends are often hilarious and action-packed.
Episode Highlights
Some of the standout episodes of Season 2 include:
Themes and Social Commentary
Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero - Season 2 explores a range of themes and social commentary, including:
Animation and Music
The animation in Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero is vibrant and engaging, with a unique style that blends humor and action. The show's visuals are consistently impressive, with creative character designs and imaginative settings.
The music in the show is also noteworthy, with a catchy and upbeat soundtrack that complements the show's lighthearted tone.
Conclusion
Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero - Season 2 is a delightful and action-packed animated series that will appeal to fans of all ages. With its talented voice cast, engaging storyline, and creative animation, the show is a must-watch for anyone looking for a fun and entertaining viewing experience.
The show's themes of teamwork, perseverance, and self-discovery are well-developed and relatable, making it an excellent choice for younger viewers. The villains are well-written and add a new layer of complexity to the show's universe, and the show's humor and wit are consistently on point.
Overall, Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero - Season 2 is an excellent addition to the Disney XD lineup, and fans of the show will be eagerly anticipating future seasons.
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Recommendation: Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero - Season 2 is a great choice for fans of animated series like Phineas and Ferb, Kim Possible, and Teen Titans Go!. The show's blend of humor, action, and heart makes it an excellent choice for viewers of all ages. Penn Zero- Part-Time Hero - Season 2
Season 2 of Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero served as the series' final installment, premiering on July 10, 2017, and concluding on July 28, 2017. This season shifts focus toward Penn’s ultimate goal: rescuing his parents from the "Most Dangerous World Imaginable" and uncovering the origins of the part-time hero program. Series Finale: "At the End of the Worlds"
The show concludes with a 44-minute special where Penn, Boone, and Sashi must travel to the three most dangerous places in the multiverse to finally free Penn's parents, Vonnie and Brock. TVGuide.com Episode Guide
Season 2 consists of 13 half-hour blocks, often split into two segments. Key Plot Points
Pirates/Parrot/Puzzles; Alpha/Unicorn; Wings/Sensitivity; Automatons/Past; Two Wizards/Rockullan
Highlights include pirate treasure hunts, fairy wrestling, steampunk boxing, and a Rock-Paper-Scissors war.
Ghost/Chinchilla; Kobayashis/Fugitives; Mountain Beast; Ninja/Son; Purple Guy/Rootilda
Features ghost hunting, Sashi's parents learning of her job, and the search for parents. Dangerous World; 13 Problems/Mr. Rippen; End of the Worlds
Features the rescue of Brock, origin of Rippen, and the 44-minute series finale. Cast & Production Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero Season 2 Episodes - TV Guide
Title: The Fracture of All Possibilities
Logline: With Rippen reluctantly reformed and the multiverse seemingly at peace, Penn Zero discovers a silent, creeping corruption called "The Static"—an anti-reality that doesn't just destroy worlds, but erases the idea of them ever existing.
Episode 1: "The Quiet Before the Zoom"
The opening shot is a mess. Not a villainous mess—a domestic one. Penn Zero is in his basement, surrounded by half-eaten pizza boxes and holographic blueprints of a dozen different dimensions. He's trying to fix an old toaster. Not as a hero. Just as a kid.
Since saving the multiverse from the "Reverse-Zero" anomaly (Season 1 finale), things have been... quiet. Too quiet. Rippen now teaches "Practical Villainy (Reformed)" at the Hero Training Annex. Sashi is running Advanced Zoology (with a special focus on horses). And Boone? Boone is officially the first part-time hero to earn a "Perfect Tangent" award.
But Penn is bored. The missions have become rote: "Defeat the Ice Cream Golem of Dairy-3." "Rescue the singing shrubbery of Flora-Flare." He misses the chaos.
That night, Penn is zapped to a new dimension: Chroma-Prime, a world where emotions are literal paint. Upon arrival, something is wrong. The sky is gray. The grass is soundless. The "Joy-Yellow" rivers are a murky, still beige. He finds the native Chroma-People frozen mid-laugh, their colors bleeding away into nothing.
Then he hears it. A low, omnipresent hum. Like a television channel that no longer exists.
His pen-zoomer flickers. A new warning appears: UNKNOWN MISSION TYPE: NULL.
Episode 3: "The Rippen Redemption Arc (That Nobody Wants)"
Penn returns to Headquarters, but his report is corrupted. The mission logs show no record of Chroma-Prime. Larry, the 9,000-year-old boss, looks genuinely afraid for the first time.
"There are old stories," Larry whispers. "Before the multiverse had heroes and villains, it had... The Static. An entropic null-zone. It doesn't destroy worlds—it never creates them. And if it spreads, there won't be a fight. There will simply be... nothing to fight for." Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero - Season 2 Review
The only person who has encountered anything similar is Rippen.
Cut to Rippen, now wearing a cardigan and holding a mug that says "World's Okayest Ex-Villain." He’s grading student papers. When Penn explains the Static, Rippen’s eyes go wide. He drops the mug.
"The Whisper-Void," Rippen says. "I found it once. In a dimension that didn't exist. I assumed it was a glitch. But if it's spreading..." He pauses, a flicker of his old gleam returning. "This isn't a hero problem, Zero. This is a reality discontinuity. You need a villain's mind to fight something that breaks the rules."
Against Larry's protests, Penn recruits Rippen. Sashi and Boone are furious. "He tried to erase us last year!" Sashi shouts.
"And I failed," Rippen says, grinning. "Which means I learned ten new ways to do it. Now I can un-learn them for you."
Episode 7: "Static Shock (The Musical)" (Yes, Season 2 gets a musical episode)
The team tracks the Static’s source to a dimension made entirely of sound—Audium. But when they enter, the music is wrong. It's a single, droning note. The inhabitants are "Echoids"—beings who repeat only the last word they ever heard.
Rippen tries to create a "Negative Harmony" bomb. Boone tries to talk to the Echoids. Sashi tries to ride one. Penn, frustrated, realizes the truth: You can't fight the Static with force. You have to create over it.
He pulls out his pen and draws a full orchestra. Not a weapon—a memory. He plays the song his parents used to sing to him before missions. The melody cuts through the drone. The Echoids pause. Colors begin to bleed back, just a little.
For the first time, the Static screams.
Episode 13 (Mid-Season Finale): "The Zero Who Wasn't"
The Static manifests a physical form: The Antagonist. It has no face, no voice—just a humanoid silhouette made of old TV snow. It speaks by deleting words from the air.
The Antagonist: "You are a variable. Variables cause errors."
Penn: "And errors cause stories. What's your point?"
The Antagonist: "That I am the delete key. And you... are a typo."
The Antagonist touches Penn’s chest. Instantly, Penn forgets his own name. He forgets his parents. He forgets what a "pen" is. He collapses, a gray, silent version of himself.
Sashi catches him. Boone panics. Rippen, for the first time, looks genuinely horrified. "It's not erasing him," Rippen whispers. "It's erasing the narrative of him. Without his story, he's just atoms."
Episode 20 (Season 2 Finale): "Part-Time Eternity"
The final battle takes place in the Null-Sphere—the white space between dimensions. The Antagonist has already eaten 2,000 worlds. Only Penn's team remains.
Penn, still half-erased, has an idea. He can't fight. He can't draw. But he can remember one thing thanks to Sashi's stubborn screaming of his name: his title. Part-Time Hero. "Time-Traveling Trip to the Mall" - A hilarious
"So fight part-time," Penn whispers to his friends.
They split up. Rippen doesn't attack the Antagonist—he attacks the concept of endings, using an old villain trick: he introduces a plot hole so large, the Static has to stop and try to "patch" it. Sashi and Boone don't fight—they distract, creating so much chaotic, ridiculous, un-erasable nonsense (Boone becomes a one-man polka band) that the Static cannot compute.
And Penn? Penn draws the only thing the Static cannot nullify.
He draws memory.
Not a weapon. Not a shield. He draws the first time he met Sashi. The first time Boone made him laugh. The time Rippen, as a reformed villain, saved a kitten from a tree in Dimension X-19. He draws every imperfect, weird, heartfelt moment the Static tried to erase.
The Antagonist begins to fizz.
The Antagonist: "E-m-o-t-i-o-n-a-l... d-a-t-a... c-o-r-r-u-p-t-i-o-n..."
Penn: "No. It's called a soul. You don't have one. And that's your flaw."
The Static overloads. It doesn't explode. It fades, replaced by a wash of color, sound, and chaos—the beautiful, messy noise of existence. The Null-Sphere becomes a new dimension: Remembrance, a world where every forgotten story lives on.
In the final scene, Penn sits on the roof of the Hero Annex with Rippen, Sashi, and Boone. They're not on a mission. They're just... there.
Rippen: "So. We saved non-existence. Do we get a parade?"
Penn: "No. But we get tomorrow. And the day after that." He looks at his pen. It doesn't glow. It doesn't need to.
Sashi: "That's weirdly philosophical for a guy who once arm-wrestled a sentient pancake."
Boone: "Hey, that pancake had a family."
They laugh. The camera pulls back to reveal the multiverse, glowing brighter than ever—every dimension humming with stories yet to be told.
Penn (voiceover): "The thing about being a part-time hero is... you never know when the next adventure starts. But you know it will. And honestly? That's the best part."
END CARD: "No dimensions were permanently deleted in the making of this season. Except for the dimension of boring TV. Good riddance."
Post-Credits Scene: A single pixel of Static flickers in the void. A whisper: "Delete... later."
If you are looking to experience the second volume of this cult classic, you are in luck (mostly). All 61 episodes are available to stream on Disney+.
On the platform, the show is divided into two "Volumes" rather than seasons.
Pro Tip: Do not search for "Season 2." Search for the show directly and scroll to the bottom of the episode list. The final four episodes (I’m in Love with an Alien / The Rippening and the two-part The End of the World as We Know It) are the crown jewels of the series.