Sym-Bionic Titan

[Enshohma]

I wanted to start a thread for this series, seeing how Kaiju-centric it is, starting with my own review.

Sym-Bionic Titan: Enshohma's First Impressions

First episodes (or 'pilots') are not the best way to review a series, especially since the second episode of any series works better as a sign of things to come (the first Dalek story from Doctor Who), but seeing how this is the first real giant monster series on American television in a very long time, I wanted to share some basic impressions on Cartoon Network's Sym-Bionic Titan premiere Escape To Sherman High, while getting some of your feedback in return.

Sym-Bionic Titan tells the tale of three beings from the planet Galaluna, Princess Ilana, Corporal Lance, and the robot Octus, who arrive on Earth while fleeing the evil General Modula who has taken over their home planet. Disguised as human teenagers, they must now blend into everyday life in Sherman, Illinois, posing as high school students.

Lance and Octus work to conceal Princess Ilana from Modula and his hideous space mutants called the Mutraddi sent to harm the sole heir of Galaluna. When called into battle, the Galalunans are outfitted with individual armor that provides more than ample protection. It's when the gravest of danger appears that Octus activates the sym-bionic defense program and he, Ilana, and Lance Unite "Body, Mind and Heart" and come together to form the spectacular cyber-giant Sym-Bionic Titan.


************

I was happy that the first episode's emphasis was more on action than it was on the teen drama, especially since I hate the cliche in American pop culture that high school angst is always more important and overwhelming than murderous invaders from beyond (Danny Phantom and Power Rangers Dino-Thunder come to mind in this regard). Even Cartoon Network's advertisements for the series have been greatly misleading in this regards, though sadly I now have an eerie feeling that future entries of the series will fall into this trap (early synopsis for episode two involves a driving test, and while episode three deals with an eating contest...*sigh*).

And although we briefly meet the imprisoned alien King of Galaluna (Princess Ilana's father), Sym-Bionic Titan has made the wise decision of dumping the oblivious parent / family figures (or as I like to call it The Curse of Aunt May), who are just as overused and unwelcome as the aforementioned adolescence dribble. So there is a bright side here.

************

The heroes and villains are pretty basic, even though they are all hinted at having larger back-stories to be explored later, such as male lead Lance's dark and shameful past, and the maddening experience that turned the once heroic General Modula into a ruthless, monster-commanding conqueror. There is also a pair of human antagonists in the form of US Army General (real name never really given) who attacks our heroes with the same immunity as he does with Modula's invading monsters, and Soloman, a shadowy Man-In-Black-style agent who commands the anti-alien organization G3, and is like the American equivalent of the darkly handsome and mysterious villains of some anime shows, complete with long white hair. But these two foes are also quite basic, or even bigger blank slates than the others.

One notable standout however is Octus / Newton, the robot of the trio who acts as the 'Mind' of Sym-Bionic Titan. The robot form of Octus is the kind of unique design that can only truly work in animation (live action CGI would probably have him move sporadically, and needlessly, constantly so), while his human form is that of a rather large, somewhat opposing nerd, which is a good alternative for that character type (for once we can truly say 'he's not fat, but big boned' with truthful sincerity). Octus is voiced by comedian Brian Posehn, who has made a career of playing the same incredibly droll thirty-something nerd in a number of television shows and movies, yet he brings a certain robotic wisdom / simple nobility to Octus, while at the same time being incredibly droll.

************

This wouldn't be an Enshohma review without me talking about the show's title robot, the Sym-Bionic Titan (or simply 'The Titan' within the series itself); using the unlimited nature of animation as only the Americans can, the creative team has given us perhaps the first giant robot to headline a show that has a see-through outer skin, with an exposed mechanical skeleton, and an overall shape that slightly evokes Talos of Jason and the Argonauts fame.

Although it stands out from the rest of the giant robots of recent Mecha and Super Robot series of late, it isn't exactly that ground breaking either. Amazingly enough, the smaller cybernetic armor forms of our alien trio fair much better, again going back to Octus's computer inside a bubble form, and Princess Ilana's beautiful golden robot pixie, which brings up memories of Metropolis. Even Lance's armored form, which is a simple, yet more fearsome, solid metal version of the Titan itself, is quite impressive.

As for the Mutraddi, the race of alien beasts that Modula commands; we only get a peek at two such breeds, the regular cannon-fodder Mutraddi that despite their slobbering, demonic ogre appearances, aren't much to speak of, and the first of the Mutraddi Mega-Beasts, who's a giant magma rock giant covered in expanding flames. Its the kind of monster that you could only do in American animation (the Japanese excel in imaginative live action kaiju, but surprisingly not as much in anime), but its still overly simplistic, and pales in comparison to other flame beasts of fiction, despite the impressive destruction it dishes out to the city of Sherman.

Even the advertising for the series gives glimpse to very basic archetypes for future monsters (oily slime monster, robotic dragon, amphibian thing, squid alien), so I can't really be impressed until I see these characters in individual action.

************

My thoughts on the Mutraddi kind of coincides with Sym-Bionic Titan itself; despite an impressive execution and colorful appearance, its all old hat, and doesn't quite have that magical quality that the show's creator Genndy Tartakovsky past works possessed, most notably Samurai Jack and the TV movie Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip. I'm probably being incredibly harsh on this one single pilot, and its certainly no way to judge what is about to come in the rest of the series, but it seems a step down for Tartakovsky...and the high school element still bugs the crap out of me.

As mentioned before however, its great to have a new giant monster / super robot series on American television, with more recent attempts being quite lackluster failures (the crude Titan Maximum whole first season clocks in at under two hours, and Power Rangers RPM was a virtual no-show thanks to Disney politics). But lets face facts, its on the Cartoon Network, meaning it will probably be canceled at any given moment to make way for some surrealistic comedy cartoons (Flapjack, Chowder, Adventure Time...funny stuff, but they all feel like they were pumped out of the exact same mold / creative staff), or another more 'in-house' action series from Sam Rigest...huh, I mean, 'The Man of Action'.

So enjoy the short ride while it lasts, kiddies!

On a less cynical note, I plan to share another, more overarching review of Sym-Bionic Titan towards the end of this first season. In the meantime, here's io9's more positive review on the matter:

http://io9.com/5642329/sym+bionic-titan-brings-the-snazzy-big-robot-space-operatics?skyline=true&s=i

[Enshohma]

Sym-Bionic Titan EP 3: Elephant Logic Review

Last night's episode, the aptly named Elephant Logic was the strongest of the first three episodes aired thus far, with its great sense of humor mixed in with the monster threat, even if that said monster-of-the-week, despite being a retuning villain, was a little on the conceptual side design wise.

Lance and Luna are still having a rough time getting along and working together, which ends with a disastrous training session in the middle of country farmlands. Octus the robot, who has assumed a second human form as the alien teenagers' fictional father, Mr. Lunas, decides something needs to be done. And after witnessing two neighbor children resolving their own differences by applying lessons from a PBS-style children's program (The Animal Friends), Octus starts to view the series himself for Lance and Luna's sake. And Octus in his own stoic, deadpan robotic way, comes to take the show's lessons and cuddly animal characters (a wise elephant and a little penguin girl) to figurative heart.

Meanwhile, General Steel and his troops recover a fragment of the fire / molten rock monster from the first episode (or the 'Mutraddi Fire Beast' until we hear an official name), in an attempt to advance his own forces against Sym-Bionic Titan's alien technology. But his overzealous actions leads to the resurrection of the 'Mutraddi Fire Beast', as a massive, literal storm of devastating energy.

Although the troupes from the first two episodes remain (high school setting, suburban home life drama, and giant monster battle in the last quarter), everything was mixed together perfectly, and eased my fears of this show becoming another Danny Phantom or Power Rangers Dino-Thunder where petty human situations get in the way of fighting the mutant Hell-beasts and deadly space invaders. Elephant Logic is still the obligatory 'learning team work' morality play that's common of animated action shows (American, Japanese, and otherwise), but manages to do it in a subtle, yet humorously cleaver way, complete with an hilarious, almost fourth-wall breaking ending gag with the Animal Friends themselves.

We also get more screen-time with 'supposed human villains' General Steel and G3 Agent Solomon, and with surprising results for both. I thought General Steel would be the more sympathetic of the two, but his actions motivated by his jealousy and mistrust of the Sym-Bionic Titan lead to incredible destruction; destruction the General was more than willing to deny in involvement with. On the other end, Solomon tries to work with Steel in hopes of stopping the Mutraddi Fire Beast, but to little effect. And yet in a small but effective character moment, Solomon cracks a very sincere-looking smile when the Titan starts to broadcast the Animal Friend's teamwork song before the final battle (I'll explain in a moment), making the Man-In-Black a more human than we've ever seen him before. Again, its a minor detail, but says much about the mysterious Solomon.

About that cute children tune being pumped out by giant alien super robot; this episode really highlights that Octus is the stand out character of the series. Lance and Luna got a lot of character development in the previous, second episode Neighbors in Disguise, with the unwilling body guard and naive sheltered princess forced to deal with the situation at hand, while trying to find some common middle ground between them. But again, they along with everyone else in this series stand in Octus's shadow, as he's like the Robot from Lost In Space, who is said not to have emotions, and is supposed to be a being of pure intelligence, yet he's a better guardian and parent figure to the younger heroes than the bloody real parents are.

Yes, true, Luna's royal father is being held as a prisoner of war back on the home world, whereas the Robinson parents of Lost in Space where no-nothing characters, but Octus has taken his role of fake father rather seriously. And his viewing and imitating the Animal Friend's morals were among the most heartfelt and downright funny moments of the episode, which isn't lost of Luna and Lance, when Octus plays the aforementioned teamwork song, while outright informing them of its significance.

Elephant Logic is a very solid episode that dispelled the doubt I had with Sym-Bionic Titan the first episode, or the following Neighbors in Disguise, which was a vast improvement, but was hampered by way too much screen time spent with the rather annoying suburbanite Barb; the alien trio's new human neighbor, who seems attracted to Octus's father form (guess everyone loves that 'bot).

Next week's episode looks particularly fun, where Lance takes the human law into his own hands, by becoming a hooded vigilante, while Luna and Octus are being targeted by a squid-like alien assassin - can't wait!

[X-SOLDIER]

Little bump for this, because it hit Season 2. It's now showing on Wednesdays. Despite the odd lineup its in, the viewers have gone up significantly since Season 1.

The episodes of Season 2 have been REALLY good at balancing the character development/drama and the alien invasion/action. "The Ballad of Scary Mary" & "The Demon Within" have been particularly good. The second being the show's only **minor spoiler** Titan-less episode thus far. **minor spoiler** There's a TON that's happened between the episodes that Enshohma's reviewed and the current episodes. It's easily my favorite show on Cartoon Network, [Adult Swim] included. I'm quite looking forward to the new episode tomorrow.

I'd highly suggest finding a way of watching the past episodes and jumping on board with this series.


X :cool:

[X-SOLDIER]

One thing that I'd forgotten to mention previously is that I've been starting to catch brief, subtle Kaiju film references in the latest episodes that you guys would probably appreciate. More specifically the latest episode is quite full of them.



The Demon Within
When Ilana is transforming into the amphibian Mutraddi and fights the mutant alligator, she defeats it by snapping its jaw back. This is very similiar to the scene where Mechagodzilla is disguised as Godzilla and gets into a fight with Anguirus, and wrenches open, and breaks his jaw.


I Am Octus
While I'm almost certain that there is at least one Rodan reference in this episode, and probably a Battra one as well, I didn't notice them specifically.

When Octus is running from the Giant Bat-like Mutraddi, and dashes into the Subway system, the shot of the stairs, followed by the explosion, and then the pan up into the subway platform is almost shot for shot the same as the clip from Cloverfield when Clover confronts the army and Rob, Hud, Lily, & Marlena duck into the Subway system.



X :cool: