Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus (2019)

Writer: Jhonen Vasquez

Directors: Hae Young Jung, Young Kyun Park, Jhonen Vasquez

Studio: Nickelodeon Animation Studio, Maven Animation Studio

Watched on: 12/12/2020

Review contains ***SPOILERS*** for Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus

Ratings:

OVERALL	NB: These are not weighted equally (if at all)	Plot	Storytelling	Animation	Characters
7		7	7	8	6

What a pleasant surprise. Went to watch this for some nostalgia and a bit of a laugh but it turned out to be way more fun than I'd anticipated. It's top quality in every department and so well considered throughout. I have no idea why this wasn't more of a hit.

The movie (short film?) starts strong, with a quick recap monologue set over a sick anime-style opening scene. That there is a masterstroke, right off the bat: it gets the viewer interested, explains the basic premise of the show but also makes it clear that this is years later, so distances this particular story from the main series. No need for you to go back and watch 27 episodes of Invader Zim - you're already in and it looks fantastic. (The sequence was also animated by Spencer Wan!)

The animation is very bloody good. Every pose, motion and expression has clearly had thought put into it. It's flash animation but from what I could tell, they didn't just have 1 rig for each character/face - when they wanted to exaggerate expressions (which was often), they redrew them and really pushed the boundaries, which worked amazingly well, without ever going off-style. Then obviously, there was a nice mini-love-letter to animation towards the end, with all the different animation styles being showcased as the 'alternate realities'. The best of the bunch was the genga/key animations, which still had timing charts and notes on them; really let the animators have their moment.

    Action-y sequences were also great. They used simple but clever methods to make things feel quite dynamic, like the warped, stretched dimensions of the backgrounds. In addition to that, effects animation and the few CGI spaceships etc. all blended well with the style of the film.

Some of those simple tricks to make their flash animation feel really dynamic

Maybe I'm just dumb but the story was actually good enough to keep me really entertained. Stuff fit together, made sense for all the different characters and even caught me out once. That's not to say it was perfect - there were definitely a fair few things that didn't need to be in there - but it was surprisingly good.

The directing was pretty great as well. Stuff only made sense for the characters because we had each of them showcased nice and plainly and they even managed to do it all in funny ways. The genuine lunacy of the show is still there too, which you have to give props for. I laughed a fair few times watching it and as mentioned, everything's really thoughtfully done. Lots of nice little details. All the animation goodness is of course encompassed in the direction as well, so lots of points for that. Side note - with the anime bit and the crazy, strong poses, I did get slight Jojo vibes from this. I wonder if it would be the same for the original.

So yeah, a nice surprise on a boring saturday. Would recommend.

A still from Spencer Wan's wicked opening scene.

The Legend of Korra (2012)

Creators: Michael Dante DiMartino, Brian Konietzko

Various writers and directors
Studio: Nickelodeon Animation, Studio Mir, Studio Pierrot

Completed viewing on 22/09/2020

***SPOILERS***

OVERALL	NB: These are not weighted equally (if at all)	Plot	Storytelling	Animation	Characters
6		4	5	7	6

Legend of Kora had so much potential but they made such a mess of it. Watching the show, it's really clear that its biggest problem wasn't the script, wasn't retcon and wasn't feminism; it was the bullshit surrounding its production run. Season 1 was clearly meant to be the entire show and it was pretty great by itself (not perfect, mind) but the 3 seasons after that felt like they were each just randomly tacked onto the last. The show was still really fun to watch but on balance, I'd say it did more harm than good overall.

The thing that made series 1 so great, in my opinion, was its absolutely gorgeous animation. I really sat there in awe and amazement after episode 1, in complete disbelief at how good the show looked. That included everything from the expressive speech/body movement to the incredible action and combat sequences. Season 1's animation was an 8 outta 10. Sadly, the quality in that department fell off a cliff for seasons 2 and 3. Really stiff and stagnant, with a lot more faces drawn completely side-on. Speech was animated lazily and there's a load of floaty, robotic hover animations, especially for the spirits and the bison. Season 4 brought it back slightly, especially for speech but it never reached the levels of the first season. Two things were consistent throughout though: the disappointing but expected use of CGI for all the vehicles (and that awful mech-suit); and the stunning background art/environments. Just straight up really nice throughout but also distinctive and moody. It even worked well when the background was clearly a painting; it never felt at odds with the characters.

The stories had varying levels of quality and potential but none were executed perfectly. As mentioned, season 1 was great and part of that was the idea of an avatar who is fiery and non-spiritual, in complete contrast with Aang. It asks the question of what relevance bending has in a more modern world. It also has a pretty cool villain. I'd level similar criticisms at it as I did ATLA though: the ending kinda comes outta nowehere. Korra is struggling with her patience, with fear, with air bending and with spirituality and the solution to all of these should come together at significant plot points with a story-relevant solution or explanation. They just don't though. She suddenly just can air bend, then suddenly just can go into the avatar state. It basically doesn't really tie together. The other stories are okay. In fact Season 2's probably had the most potential - Unalaq was actually the best villain because he not only had some redeeming qualities but also a clear and quite clever plan. This also fit in with all the world-building of the series (on a side note, the avatar Wan episodes were possibly the high point of the entire show). But again, the resolution at the end of that story comes out of almost nowhere and what the hell is that giant avatar fight? Season 3 had a good premise as well but needed fleshing out. The poisoning and stuff felt really insignificant, so it was a bit weird to find it being such a turning point for Korra going into Season 4. And Season 4's story was the worst and easily the simplest. Kuvira was a terrible, bland villain, who was given about 30 seconds of backstory. Can't help but feel that was just another slap in the face for female characters (as she was the only female antagonist). Her voice actor was none other than Zelda Williams though, who did an excellent job and has a great voice - hope she does more stuff.

That said, the stories weren't criminally bad but the way they tried to make the stories drastically change the ATLA/LoK universe was forced and unnecessary. They could have completely left alone the link to Rava and the past avatars and been absolutely fine. Korra would still be a great, flawed avatar but she wouldn't have fucked it up for all the rest of them going forward. Similarly, the union of the material and spirit worlds was really cool but completely redefined (or even nullified) the role of the avatar. That's the difference, really: they let Aang just be a good avatar, restoring the balance to world but they forced Korra to be a special/unique avatar, fundamentally changing what that balance was. That kinda ruined it. Also, as the story went on and Korra became more in touch with her spirituality, it would have been cool to see her getting advice from past avatars (I'm obviously intrigued by Kyoshi but they could even have introduced new older avatars), the way we saw a lot of Roku in ATLA.

As far as other characters, there was a whole range of them in there. The broad spectrum of characters is best summed up by Mako and Tenzin, who are both 'boring' but end up being arguably the worst character and one of the better characters respectively. Through the 50-odd episodes, Mako basically has no opinions, no development and no surprises.Tenzin, on the other hand, although a boring person, starts off as this pillar of wisdom and spirituality but as the show goes on, you realise he's self-centred, insensitive and not even talented spiritually. That's what a good character should be - sadly there weren't too many like that. There's a range of villains too, with Zaheer being another example of unrealised potential ( great motive, stupid plan and again, too little backstory). Jinora was also great and I don't know how to describe it but Su Beifong literally felt real. Like she could be your aunt in real life. Character designs were mostly pretty cool but nothing amazing.

The storytelling was fine. As I often find myself writing, there wasn't much story to tell, so it followed that there was only so much telling to be done. I did really enjoy the change in style for the Wan story though.

Overall, I think the world would pretty much be the same without the Legend of Korra ever airing (or not airing for the later seasons), except maybe people would be gagging for more from the creators of Avatar. Maybe that would be a good thing.

Other random thoughts: It was very cool getting to see Aang as a parent and even beyond that, breaking his perfect image by showing him as a bad parent; Adding in the resilience of Kya and Bumi and how they grew as people took that all up to excellent; Meelo kinda only worked for 1 season, because kids get un-cute so quickly; Prince Wu was alright; the airbenders adapting to the modern world and changing their outfits was sweet.

Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005)

Creators: Michael Dante DiMartino, Brian Kanietzko
Various writers and directors
Studio: JM Animation, DR Movie, MOI Animation

Completed viewing on 04/04/20

***SPOILERS***

OVERALL	NB: These are not weighted equally (if at all)	Plot	Storytelling	Animation	Characters
7		6	6	7	8

I enjoyed the hell out of Avatar. There was a whole lot it got wrong in my opinion but I could never say I didn't have mad fun watching it and even get a bit gassed at certain parts like I actually was a 10-year-old watching it for the first time. The ending disappointed me so much that I had to write an entirely separate rant about it. However I am pretty particular in what I like, so the fact the ending didn't do it for me really shouldn't detract from what a great watch Avatar is.

One thing that's quite nice about A:TLA is that it's a good length. Definitely could have been streamlined a bit but the creators used their 3 seasons (61 episodes) pretty well, really growing and developing some of their characters, building an immersive, intricate world and even creating an elaborate history for it. You feel like you're really on a whole journey when you watch it. They also got to have a whole bunch of fun with character designs as characters and situations changed, like when the MCs have to wear Fire Nation outfits for most of season 3. It was like a timeskip but you actually went through it with them, so it felt even more rewarding.

The characters are the best thing about the series. They have strong, clear personalities but they're also visibly moulded by the events and experiences of their journies. The series' major characters are also suprisingly multi-dimensional from the start. My favourite character by some distance was Toph. She's a tough as fuck girl with a disability but she isn't a token - the writers didn't use these things in place of her personality but instead used them to add to it and make her genuinely interesting. More importantly though, she's just very well written. She brings contrasting attitudes and opinions to the group, which creates complications and conflicts. She's a master earth bender but she can only fight when her feet are touching the ground. She's powerful and she's tough but she also has flaws and limitations. She serves as a fantastic example of how to write diversity properly - it never ever feels forced. Avatar also blurred the line between goodies and baddies with Iroh and Zuko but showed they did not forget where that line was with the introduction of Azula - three truly great characters, who play their respective roles perfectly. Zuko's character arc is also sensational. Lastly, it does sadly need to be said that Sokka was really under-developed throughout. I didn't feel like he suited almost exclusively playing the 'comic relief' role and as one of the main characters, he should have got much more than just romances and his 1 pity episode of actual story.

Character design is also great. I say Azula, you instantly imagine her two little side-bangs; Katara, 'hair loopies'; Aang, arrow; Sokka, that terrible middle bun. The best example of this is Zuko's design, which changes as he does - they even include plot points to drive these changes. He becomes more likeable as the series progresses and his hair and outfits change to reflect that, however his original season 1 design, whilst definitely unlikeable, is still very appealing and distinctive. They did a top job.

This leads into another great aspect of the show, which is its animation. Again, this isn't perfect - the CG tanks and airships are a bit disappointing to see and there are all the hallmarks of a cartoon produced to a deadline - but the general art and animation are solid and the action sequences are absolutely phenomenal. Watching the show, you get the impression that including at least one proper fight in each episode was something the producers agreed right from the jump. I also appreciate how much thought and consideration went into every character's fighting style - even for characters who only appeared once. The show's artists and animators did a good job creating great drawings and poses without burdening themselves with too much detail and light/shadow. One thing I definitely didn't like however was the use of anime styled faces (particularly eyes and noses). In my opinion, these felt borrowed and didn't really agree with the rest of the art style. Sadly the borrowing didn't stop there.

My biggest criticism of the series is definitely its heavy use of Asian symbolism, cultures, belief systems, names, architecture etc. I think it was a cheap way of making the show seem cooler and a shortcut in terms of world building. It was also just pretty cringey to watch an american TV show use the Japanese symbols for the elements and have characters named things like Zhao and Chan. The creators showed that they were capable of coming up with great original material when they chose to, so it's a shame they took this route.

The storyline for the most part was nice and straightforward, whilst still providing depth and complications. Season 1 was a bit 'monster of the week' but they found a good balance between the main story and side plots as the series went on. The introduction of loads of unimportant side characters would have been a little bit annoying by itself but I think they actually made this worse by having some of them return randomly for one or two episodes later on. I won't get into my dislike of the series' ending but ultimately, I was very disappointed by the fact that a lot of the interesting plotlines aren't really concluded very well. The worst example being the main overarching storyline not being honoured at all: Aang doesn't master the 4 elements. If the series had had a running theme about how your destiny isn't what you think it is, that would make sense but the show's actual theme is pretty much the opposite. I also felt like there were definitely issues with pacing and inconsistent ideas between different writers and directors (both of which were particularly noticeable in season 3).Still not a bad plot though.

So in conclusion, the show's a whole ot of fun and its problems can be glossed over because of that. I'd recommend to anyone who grew up on DBZ, Pokémon, Digimon, Beyblade etc. 7/10

Other random thoughts: the Earth Kingdom WWE episode is fucking brilliant; I liked how Toph's addition to the group almost made it feel like a D&D party; after taking inspiration from a lot of anime and manga, the show did pay its respects to a lot of them, which was cool - they even did Star Wars; I know they did a lot of research on fighting styles etc., so they get credit for that but coming back to the Asia thing, they really could have looked at world martial arts.