Final Space is a space-opera series that is on Netflix. It is very much in the same kind of parody and dark humor of other shows such as Disenchanted. With the setting, it does remind me most of Futurama. In the initial impressions, Gary is sent to a prison ship and is slowly going insane. His only companion is his jailer, an AI called Hue. He then stumbles into a plot that is much bigger than himself.
The story of how he gets to the prison ship is actually pretty good. It isn't revolutionary, but it is believable and fits the shows fun sense of humor. In addition, how he arrives into the situation he is in and how he gets out of these also reinforces the shows sense of fun.
Overall, the show is quite fun. The relationships between the characters and how the mysteries and depth to them slowly unravels is well paced. It isn't a revolutionary show, and shows such as Futurama I still feel still do this future space parody better. One of these reasons is that Futurama's humor does appeal to different people, while Final Space tends to go for the most obvious jokes which tend to lack too much depth.
However, once again, the style of humor and the pacing of the show reinforce eachother. Overall, the storyline is engaging and the show is fun. It is definitely worth checking out.
Showing posts with label animated series. Show all posts
Showing posts with label animated series. Show all posts
Thursday, 14 February 2019
Thursday, 17 January 2019
SERIES REVIEW: DISENCHANTMENT (SEASON 1)
Disenchantment is a Netflix series created by Matt Groening (creator of the Simpsons). The story follows a princess, a demon, and an elf, through fantasy-times. Similar to Futurama, it seems to be aiming to be a very irreverent look at the normal tropes of fantasy cartoons.
For example, Princess Bean is a drinking, brawling princess. The elf leaves his land of singing that is taken to the extreme. The demon keeps encouraging them to keep making wrong decisions. The king is an oaf, etc. And that is the setup. Combine this with a bunch of semi-meta jokes, it seems to be a set-up for success.
And it mainly succeeds in what it sets out to do. It has wise-cracking and absurd situations where the main characters get through them in comedic fashion. It plays around with the tropes of the genre and also carves its own identity to an extent.
My only criticism is that it doesn't go far enough. Similar to Bart in the Simpsons, you can predict the moments where the irreverent nature of the show will stop and the heart-warming end sequence will begin. This is a shame, as it means that it gets dragged back into the generic territory, where it constantly plays it safe.
There are no shortage of irreverent animated comedies available these days. The show is still good to watch, but it doesn't quite do enough to stand out. It keeps getting dragged back into familiar territory, which is a shame considering the humour hits more often than it misses.
3.5 out of 5 elf blood waffles.
For example, Princess Bean is a drinking, brawling princess. The elf leaves his land of singing that is taken to the extreme. The demon keeps encouraging them to keep making wrong decisions. The king is an oaf, etc. And that is the setup. Combine this with a bunch of semi-meta jokes, it seems to be a set-up for success.
And it mainly succeeds in what it sets out to do. It has wise-cracking and absurd situations where the main characters get through them in comedic fashion. It plays around with the tropes of the genre and also carves its own identity to an extent.
My only criticism is that it doesn't go far enough. Similar to Bart in the Simpsons, you can predict the moments where the irreverent nature of the show will stop and the heart-warming end sequence will begin. This is a shame, as it means that it gets dragged back into the generic territory, where it constantly plays it safe.
There are no shortage of irreverent animated comedies available these days. The show is still good to watch, but it doesn't quite do enough to stand out. It keeps getting dragged back into familiar territory, which is a shame considering the humour hits more often than it misses.
3.5 out of 5 elf blood waffles.
Saturday, 3 March 2018
TV SHOW REVIEW: TROLLHUNTER (PART 1 and PART 2)
Trollhunter is a Netflix series by Guillermo Del Toro. In it, this sees a young high school student (Jay) become chosen by an amulet of power to command daylight and hunt trolls. All of this is going around his normal high-school life including bully-problems, the girl he likes, etc.
First things first, the animation is really good. There is a real sense of movement and technique to what people do. This doesn't go the route of Dragonball, with the "faster than light" movement things, but instead you are always given a sense of the environment and how each character fights. The lithe characters feel fast, while trolls feel brawny.
The storyline begins with the normal high-school hero story. However, along the way, there are several small twists and turns to it. Although Netflix calls it Parts 1 and 2, there are probably 3 seasons of a normal animated show in here. Each character, although starting as an archetype, has more going on under the surface than first appears.
My only criticism of the show is that it has all to noticeable moments of idiocy by the characters to progress the episode plot, or delay the end of the episode to meet the time quota. This includes regressions by the characters. Thankfully, these are more to do with the threat of the week and don't often affect the overarching global story.
The other thing is the few genuine moments that bring out the feels often are undone quite quickly after. I know it is a kids show, but some actions should be shown to have consequences that stick. These moments sometimes make you face-palm with the moment they have undone.
However, they are only minor complaints. It is a bit of a slow boil to get started until you get to know the depths of the characters a bit more. However, if you have time, I would recommend this.
4 out of 5 rocky waffles.
First things first, the animation is really good. There is a real sense of movement and technique to what people do. This doesn't go the route of Dragonball, with the "faster than light" movement things, but instead you are always given a sense of the environment and how each character fights. The lithe characters feel fast, while trolls feel brawny.
The storyline begins with the normal high-school hero story. However, along the way, there are several small twists and turns to it. Although Netflix calls it Parts 1 and 2, there are probably 3 seasons of a normal animated show in here. Each character, although starting as an archetype, has more going on under the surface than first appears.
My only criticism of the show is that it has all to noticeable moments of idiocy by the characters to progress the episode plot, or delay the end of the episode to meet the time quota. This includes regressions by the characters. Thankfully, these are more to do with the threat of the week and don't often affect the overarching global story.
The other thing is the few genuine moments that bring out the feels often are undone quite quickly after. I know it is a kids show, but some actions should be shown to have consequences that stick. These moments sometimes make you face-palm with the moment they have undone.
However, they are only minor complaints. It is a bit of a slow boil to get started until you get to know the depths of the characters a bit more. However, if you have time, I would recommend this.
4 out of 5 rocky waffles.
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