Secret Level- Series Review

Secret Level is an Amazon backed anthology series of videogame world inspired short stories that mixes cutting-edge animation styles with quick fire storylines. Each episode is stand-alone and is set within a different game universe and so, like all anthology shows, some will chime with you more than others depending upon your investment in the series or taste in genre and animation style. I was intrigued by the concept of this series as I am a gamer and have been for a long time so aa animated series, similar in scope to Love, Death and Robots, which gives creatives a chance to use known worlds to create a short narrative experience, intrigued me. The fact that Tim Miller, who executive produced LDR, was leading this had me hopeful. However, I was very aware that while the first LDR series looked phenomenal, pretty much half of the episodes were poor Alien derivatives and I was worried that this would be the fate of Secret Level. Well, I’m sad to say that after watching the series it does suffer the same fate as more than half the episodes are focused on one theme - gritty sci-fi shorts with a focus on gun porn, resurrection and the repetitive lifecycle of the protagonists. What are the episodes like individually though?

Well, uniformly the series is beautifully animated with the color and kinetic energy effectively translating the familiar aesthetics of each game world into the dynamic animated format. With the animation being handed to Blur though, there is a house style that only occasionally is given a chance to branch out. This is a visual feast though, make no mistake, and it is further amplified by the inclusion of celebrity voice talent, adding a layer of star power that, while not always consistently impactful, provides an interesting draw. The standout vocal performance is of a smug character portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger in episode 3, a real highlight. The episodes are interesting when looked at individually:

Dungeons and Dragons: The Queen's Cradle

When a party of four meets a cursed man, they take him with them to the dragon Oriel's lair to be cured. However, things do not go according to plan as they are attacked by the Cult of the Dragon.

This is a great episode to kick things off as the animation is spectacular and the story, whilst straightforward, is effective and leaves you wanting more.

Sifu: It Takes a Life

When a young man seeks revenge for the death of his father, he will lose many lives before getting to his goal.

The animation in this episode is brilliantly fluid, bringing the bustling rainy Hong Kong side streets to life in a painterly style. The fight scenes in this are spectacular; a cross between that visceral corridor fight scene in Oldboy and the more recent balletic fluidity of the John Wick series.

New World: The Once and Future King

An arrogant king arrives with a huge naval fleet to conquer another kingdom but, after a storm, washes up ashore all alone except for a single loyal servant. He still tries to take on the King of the land but is constantly defeated and realises that no-one ever dies in this land. Can he take over? Does it even matter

This is a really funny episode and I think this is because Arnold Schwarzenegger nails the character. He adds a lot of swagger and self-confidence to the king who is used to always winning, not because he is any good but because his subjects enabled him for fear of reprisals. The ending is quite beautiful though as it shows the opportunity time provides for self-reflection and growth.

Unreal Tournament: Xan

A group of mining robots turn against their corporate overlords and are punished to face off in an arena. What happens next is mayhem and chaos as everyone struggles to survive.

This episode is brilliant as it captures the vibe and kinetic energy of Unreal. The story is simple but the frantic shootouts are well choregraphed and so, they draw you in.

Warhammer 40,000: And They Shall Know No Fear

Set in the dark and nihilistic future, a squad of 5 marines look for their target on a hostile planet and proceed to hunt him down, bringing the pain on anyone who stands in their way.

I know of Warhammer but I have never played the board or videogames. However, I feel that this episode was a great primer as it's not heavy on lore but is just full of cool fights and set-pieces. I love the nod to Django with the squad dragging a coffin-like object behind them on a chain.

PACMAN: Circle

When an alien wakes up he has amnesia but a flying golden ball named Puck tells him he has to 'Eat or be eaten'. And so our protagonist goes on a journey to feed himself.

This is a weird take on the old Pacman game. The story is accurate to 'lore' but did it really have to be so grim dark? It seems so strange a direction to have gone down but different strokes, eh?

Crossfire: Good Conflict

As a storm hits the coast of America, two mercenary teams fight it out to retrieve a package. Who will win and who are the good guys?

This is an okay short film about the geopolitics of war; no-one thinks they're the bad guys but surely there is one side that is more responsible than the other. Right? I think it's supposed to show that people are just following orders but, irrespective of command, just following orders does not cut it- not when we are seeing real heinous acts happening in the real world. There must be a reckoning for decisions made and followed.

Armored Core: Asset Management

When a mech pilot is given an assignment he is wary as it is an unknown target. When the voice in his head, calling herself a result of obsolete augmentation surgery, warns him that he is pushing himself too far he disagrees and pushes himself to the limit.

Keanu Reeves leads this film and does a great job as a maverick pilot who is addicted to the highs of piloting. It's a quick action filled episode and the world created suitably grimy yet with awe inspiring vistas.

The Outer Worlds: The Company We Keep

When Amos, an orphan on garbage duty, sees a poster for a job he works hard to earn his right to go there and work for the company off-world where his old friend (and crush) left to work for. With his upbeat personality and honest character Amos succeeds and finds her, only to discover she is a chief scientist with designs on being the head of the company, even if it hurts people in its testing process.

I really loved this episode as it had a lot of levity amongst the darker episodes in this series. The message of unwavering brand loyalty in the face of incredible corporate malfeasance is very much front and centre but is done in a humorous and thought-provoking way.

Mega Man: Start

When their base is attacked by Dr Wiley's minions, Dr. Light and Rock discover their true strength and fight back.

This is a very short but cool origin story for Megaman, down to the cool pose with billowing hair on top of a building.

Exodus: Odyssey

When an engineer pursues his runaway daughter he goes through hell and high water to get her back, fighting an alien force and overwhelming odds. However, with time dilation he ages slower than his daughter - can he get her back before she ages too much?

This is quite a powerful episode on how far a parent is willing to go to rescue their flesh and blood. It ends on a note of hope and optimism and by gosh could we use some of that sweet, sweet optimism right now.

Spelunky: Tally

When two explorers keep dying as they try to escape from their subterranean world, they discuss the human cost to their rogue-like powers. Even if you always come back, are you the same person?

This is a good short piece about the meaning of life and why each turn is special, but this subject t has been covered before in New World and Sifu so seems repetitive. The art is stylised in a painterly, blockyish way and I quite liked it.

Concord: Tale of the Implacable

When a free gunner (I'm guessing this is a space swashbuckling type of job) captain is caught, her crew attempt to get her out. It goes South quick and they have to make contingencies on the fly.

This is quite a cool, lighthearted episode with a less accomplished Cowboy Bebop/ Firefly vibe. Watching this episode is a little bittersweet as the game was pulled within several days of release, potentially being the most expensive media flop of all time at a cost of $1/2 billion. Wowzers! The story had potential but, in a crowded market where people are time poor, it didn't stand out enough to build a fanbase.

Honour of Kings: The Way of All Things

When an AI controlled city goes power crazy, a young orphan teen challenges it to a game of Weiqi- a battle with winner takes all. He chooses Go and so, a duel for the soul of city is contested.

This is a gorgeous looking episode that looks at freewill, determinism and self-discovery. I quite liked it but it was not a standout.

Playtime: Fulfillment

A bored courier is sent to deliver a special package and her life is turned upside down by others who want it. The package allows her to manipulate the world around her but a military organisation want it for their own nefarious means.

This is a weird episode with a Colossi, Dad Kratos, Sackboy, Journey dude and others from the PlayStation stable out in force. It's a nice Leo Pointing Meme moment but as an episode, pretty inconsequential fanservice.

Overall, Secret Level is a solid anthology series and this season shows that the format in this style does have some legs. I look forward to seeing the maturity and flowering of ideas as creatives get more confident with the format. Love, Death and Robots honed its craft over a few seasons and I'm sure, given the chance, Secret Level will too. The standout episodes for me were the ones based on New World, The Outer Worlds and Sifu but there will be something here for everyone to enjoy. Roll on season 2!

Future Boy Conan- Series Review

I'm a huge Mysterious Cities of Gold fan and had heard that it was part inspired by a series called Future Boy Conan. I'd never seen this series before, as it was never shown in the UK to my knowledge, but had heard that it was definitely worth a watch. When a Blu-ray was released, I jumped on it and ordered it on release day. However, it sat in my pile of shame for over a year until I finally got around to it earlier this month.

Even though the series is old and I have no personal attachment to it, I hoped that I was nuanced enough to overlook its nearly 50 plus year old production values in order to appreciate what many others saw in as it's inherent good qualities. I can honestly say that, after its 11 hour runtime, I was very impressed.

The show starts off very quickly, with a prologue about Earth being destroyed by man's folly in 2008 by using ultra-magnetic weapons that destabilised the Earth's poles, creating natural disaster and breaking up the landmasses.

Fast forward a few decades and one of the scientists, now an old man, takes care of a boy he helped raise on the island. When the boy, Conan, find a mysterious girl, Lana, washed up on their shore they help get her back to health.

When a military force from Industria take her and kill the old man, the boy travels across the world to rescue her. What follows is a heartfelt and adventurous tale of friendship, resilience and heart as Conan attempts to rescue Lana and finds out about the wider world.

After Lana is rescued, Conan and Jimsy get to experience life in her village of High Harbor. They get to understand what it is to be part of a community and the difficulties that arise during difficult times in a close community. The socio-political conversation is thoughtful as the people fight back against Industria.
After a tsunami nearly devastates High Harbor, Conan decides to go to Industria to help the people there after the consequences of the giant wave. His selflessness and empathy, even for those who want to harm him, is heartening to see and a good message for people of all ages to follow. I won't spoil the ending but the last 3 episodes are some of the most intense and we'll-paced episodes of any serial ever.

There are a lot of aspects of the show that probably wouldn't be allowed on children's TV nowadays, like underage drinking, smoking and physical abuse where the kids are smacked on the rump with planks and beaten up. This definitely IS your dad's animation. I haven't clutched my pearls this hard since Upin and Ipin were smacked across the face for lying! Additionally, there's difficult stuff to cover like branding, slavery and imperialism but it's all dealt with pretty sympathetically and no-one is presented as irredeemable. We get an insight into the imperial powers intentions through the actions of Monsley, a General of sorts who carry out most of Industria's orders without question. When we gain a flashback as to her origin story it offers insight into her motivation. Characters are well fleshed out and we understand them even if we don’t agree with them or their actions.

The animation, under the direction of the legendary future Ghibli animator Hayao Miyazaki, is brilliant and consistent throughout. The backgrounds are extremely detailed and create a believable world. The character designs are superb and have a timeless quality, belying it's age whilst the pacing is excellent throughout. The High Harbor episodes, where the characters get a taste of island life offers insight into society post-catastrophe, is thankfully well done. They do not overstay their welcome, unlike those in Nadia: Secret of Blue Water where island episodes killed the pacing for several episodes.

The Blu-ray transfer is excellent as the colours really pop and the animation is crystal clear with little to no blurring, colour bleeding, fuzz, scratching, artefacting or pop in. It's an excellent way to presents the show in the best possible way and I can see why the show is so highly regarded. In the West we had cheaply animated children's shows but rarely did they have the lavish production costs, focus on character and story that this has. The only thing that came close would be the Disney movies but a 26 part TV animated series aimed at kids didn't really take off until the 80s when we had DIC produced shows like Ulysses 31, Belle and Sabastian and MCOG as well as BRB’sWillie Fogg and Dogtanian.

Future Boy Conan is a remarkable piece of work and, whilst not the rosetta stone for many series, it is a landmark production that obviously affected the animation industry going forward. It is well worth your time!

LINK- Mysterious Cities of Gold Season 3 (English Dub) -Complete Series Review

LINK- MCOG Series 2 Review

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Midnight Gospel - Series Review

Midnight Gospel is a surrealists delight; weirdly trippy and highly pretentious but knowingly so. Protagonist Clancy is a space caster, a kind of intergalactic DJ/ YouTube influencer/ Interviewer. He travels across the universe in his failing, beat-up machine and, after putting his head through a portal-like hole that appears on his arse-shaped machine, finds out about certain aspects of the human condition. Creators Pendleton Ward (Adventure Time) and comedian Duncan Trussell are stating their intent quite clearly to show that this series is quite tongue in cheek yet also earnest. I watched the 8-part show impressed but also surprised that this show had been greenlit in the first place.

There are 8 episodes, all about 25 mins in length and they cover a range of topics:

Episode 1- whilst speaking to a little President during the zombie apocalypse, the topic of drugs is discussed. The final point of there not being good or bad drugs but good or bad situations is one I align with overall.

Episode 2- Clancy discusses death and how there is an existential fear of it.

Episode 3- speaks to a pirate with a fish in a bowl as a head. They discuss 'magic' but as in enlightenment rather than the Paul Daniels/David Blane nonsense.

Episode 4- whilst speaking to a Knight with a bloodsucking sword, Clancy looks at the loneliness we all sometimes feel and how a feeling of belonging and community can make all the difference in the world. It also looks at forgiveness and how it can be challenging to do. This episode had a passage from Rumi in it so it's alright in my book.

Episode 5- Existential dread is the theme for this light hearted episode... jk... It is heavy but profound as it talks about Hinduism, Buddhism and sitting with one-self and realising that death is a release. It isn't nihilism but more like an awakening that everything will end, but this is good for us as it's a release from worldly pains.

Episode 6- this episode talks about meditation and how it is important to listen to our thoughts and let them wander.

Episode 7- the industrial death complex in the West is considered. It drops some knowledge bombs about embalming in the American Civil War and how this warped the idea of the body as dangerous in death.
It's an intriguing episode as it does look at how western counties seem to fear the death body, something that people have been doing for tens of thousands of years.

Episode 8- the final episode sees Clancy talking about his birth and formative years with his mother. It's quite sweet as they discuss hardwired behaviours learnt within the first 5 years and the impact these years have on us as adults. They also talk about the ego and why people avoid talking about death as it's all too real. We get an insight into why Clancy has been interviewing people about some deep stuff and it's all quite powerful and sweet actually.

The series reminded me of Fantastic Planet, Yellow Submarine and various other surreal 70s and 80s animations including the eastern bloc animations I caught on occasion on Channel 4 in my youth. It also recalls many late night conversations with friends after they had been drinking heavily and/or taking something recreational (I'm a total tea to taller and 'Just say no' kinda guy but more power to those that chose to partake responsibly). The show shares much of the surrealism of Adventure Time but the colour pallete is bolder and stronger, all neon purple and pink hues, and the art isn't in the same superflat style.

I liked the show for discussing some deep stuff and being like an idiots guide to some complex topics. It also gave me a chance to reflect on what I thought as well as giving me potential reading material and authors to explore. Also, the content was not skewed towards Western ideas as it did discuss eastern ideas, philosophies and religions too.

Unfortunately, I don't think it works as an animation. The 'story' is usually Clancy following some individual through various surrealist landscapes discussing things but they're more of a distraction to what is being said than a complement. Maybe that's the aim, like in transcendental meditation, where they don't want to link ideas and words to imagery but allow it to pop out of your subconscious. Either way, I liked the show for being so daring and swinging for the trees but I don't think it's for me at this time of my life. Yup, I'm falling back on the 'it's not you, it's me' trope but I believe that long and short form essays by other creatives have stolen it's thunder. For example, Like Stories of Old and Jacob Geller cover much of the same material as Midnight Gospel but do so in a calmer, more coherent and meaningful way for me. The Good Place looked at moral philosophy to answer similar questions and, even with its absurdities, covered the material in a much more cohesive and meaningful way... at least for me. But, having said that, it doesn't mean I don't appreciate what The Midnight Gospel is trying to do and I'm sure it'll find its tribe who will love it for what it is.

It's just a shame that Netflix decided to pass on season 2 as I would have been interested to see where it could have gone and what existential questions it could have looked at.

The Storyteller: Greek Myths- Series Review

I remember it well, Jim Henson's The Storyteller aired in the evening on Channel 4 and scared the bejeezus out of 7 year old me. The year was 1987 and the show had been heavily advertised for a few months so the anticipation had been building. When finally the show aired it became an instant classic in my mind, the stuff of wonderful nightmares. The show presented nine lesser known northern European fairytale with a a mixture of live acting, animatronics, muppetry and surreally stylish imagery. With excellent production values, marvellous special effects and stunning matte paintings the various fantasy settings all came to life and drew me in.

John Hurt played the role of the eponymous Storyteller, and next to a hearth he would tell a story with relish, accompanied by his muppety canine companion. There would be occasional interludes where the Storyteller would elaborate or expand upon a point and his verbosity and wordplay would be like music to my young ears, even if a lot of his wordplay went over my head. Even after 30 years, The Storyteller fills my heart with warmth and joy, and a little bit of a chill, but in a good way.

So, what is less well known is that there was a shorter follow up series in 1991 created by Anthony Minghella (of The English Patient fame) which looked at the Greek myths. The 4 part series swapped out Hurt and instead placed Michael Gambon into the eponymous role. He is ably supported by seasoned theatre performers such as Derek Jacobi and Art Malik and this gives the show added gravitas. With the wonderfully emotive music the show really does shine with that early 90s glow. The soft focus and fuzzy recording make the show seem like a wondrous dream and even now fill my heart with warmth.

The 4 episodes include:

Daedalus and Icarus- the classic tale of the inventor who's son reached too close to the sun is ably retold and expanded to include what happened after the death of the progeny. It is deliciously dark and arresting and Jacobi gives it his all in the title role.

Orpheus and Euridyce- the tale of a man whose music moves a wood nymph to the world of man. After getting married the nature of the wood nymph reveals itself and she dies after being bitten by a snake. Orpheus challenges the Gods to bring Euridyce back from the underworld but just as he is about to succeed a twist prevents her return. Malik is solid in the main role but the music is the real star, being equal parts joyful and mournful. I really enjoyed this episode, especially and production values of Hades.

Theseus and the Minotaur- The classic tale of man versus beast. The minotaur is well designed and the maze is suitably creepy in this well directed retelling.

Perseus and the Gorgon- The best visually arresting and special effect heavy story is saved for last. We get the tale of a hero fighting the monstrous lady who turns anyone who witnesses her visage to stone. The special effects on Medusa are amazing for the time and production costa.

The Greek tales presented are quite mature and darker in essence than much of the sanitised, Disney-fied versions out there. I would recommend it for ages 7 and above as many of the themes touched upon are to do with the human condition and the tales are, in large part, part of the European monomyth but they do cast a wondrous spell. The love, care and attention of the production comes through on the screen and even though some of the special effects have aged, this ethereal other-worldliness leaves the show an almost timeless quality. The show is well worth the short time investment and will leave its glow long after you've stopped watching.

LINK- An English Geek in Saudi

LINK- Manga Exhibition at the British Museum

LINK: Japan: My Journey to the East

LINK- On And On And Colston ( Or, How We Kinda Sort of Learned to Talk About the Legacy of Colonialism and the British Empire)

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