This show weirdly enough was a personal favorite cartoon of mine from say 2006 ro 2007. At the time, I craved to see more episodes of this odd little show, which unfortunately weren't provided all too often on cable. The show's more available now, bur I don't have a subscription to STARZ.
Anyways, this show is one I actually like still, but honestly for not very good reasons. I admire Muncy and company attempting to make the show some squash and stretch CGI show. Even if really dated and ugly looking with those results at times, I can't hate the show for its lower-poly models and texture quality. This was 2005 after all, developed on a low budget where fancy effects weren't really achievable. Even then, the show sometimes does have its pretty fluid and expressive movements. This show illicits a strange kind of charm to it with its aesthetic. Simply put, it blew me away as a child. The human characters however do look really unappealing to me, moreso than most of the aliens.
The show admittedly doesn't have a lot of characters which stick out. 70% of them are pretty one-note, including the protagonist Tommy Cadle. However, the character Dinko does bring some much needed life in the show. Not all the time, but he's probably the least one-dimensional character on the show. He's got this sense of friendship you just can't help but adore. Surprisingly likable given a lot of the other characters are either stupid. This is also likely to be the favorite for the animators; he clearly feels more alive compared to the others. Not in a very jarring way mind you. Though, I will kind of give points off for his design resembling Yoshi from the Mario series, albeit mixed with Scrat from Ice Age or something. Little green characters are one of my weaknesses, and I'm almost guaranteed to like them anyway.
As for the storyline and humor, it is kinda shaky. Very textbook premise that's been done better with other shows long before this crawled in. One notable example coming to mind is the French cartoon Space Goofs. I generally would recommend watching that or more creative plots and humor. Speaking of, it's pretty hit or miss... usually miss. There are a few good lines here and there, and some of the animations do look funny (probably for the all the wrong reasons depending on who you ask). Overall though, that is one of the show's weaker parts. It is stock, there's no doubt about that. However, I guess my nostalgia blindness prevents me from giving the show much flak.
Overall, I'd recommend this show as some sort of outlier for 3D Animation at the time, despite the bland premise. It's bound to not be everyone's cup of tea. Generally, thoughts on this program do vary from the general consensus. I think this show has enough redeemable qualities to give it a weak thumbs-up.
Anyways, this show is one I actually like still, but honestly for not very good reasons. I admire Muncy and company attempting to make the show some squash and stretch CGI show. Even if really dated and ugly looking with those results at times, I can't hate the show for its lower-poly models and texture quality. This was 2005 after all, developed on a low budget where fancy effects weren't really achievable. Even then, the show sometimes does have its pretty fluid and expressive movements. This show illicits a strange kind of charm to it with its aesthetic. Simply put, it blew me away as a child. The human characters however do look really unappealing to me, moreso than most of the aliens.
The show admittedly doesn't have a lot of characters which stick out. 70% of them are pretty one-note, including the protagonist Tommy Cadle. However, the character Dinko does bring some much needed life in the show. Not all the time, but he's probably the least one-dimensional character on the show. He's got this sense of friendship you just can't help but adore. Surprisingly likable given a lot of the other characters are either stupid. This is also likely to be the favorite for the animators; he clearly feels more alive compared to the others. Not in a very jarring way mind you. Though, I will kind of give points off for his design resembling Yoshi from the Mario series, albeit mixed with Scrat from Ice Age or something. Little green characters are one of my weaknesses, and I'm almost guaranteed to like them anyway.
As for the storyline and humor, it is kinda shaky. Very textbook premise that's been done better with other shows long before this crawled in. One notable example coming to mind is the French cartoon Space Goofs. I generally would recommend watching that or more creative plots and humor. Speaking of, it's pretty hit or miss... usually miss. There are a few good lines here and there, and some of the animations do look funny (probably for the all the wrong reasons depending on who you ask). Overall though, that is one of the show's weaker parts. It is stock, there's no doubt about that. However, I guess my nostalgia blindness prevents me from giving the show much flak.
Overall, I'd recommend this show as some sort of outlier for 3D Animation at the time, despite the bland premise. It's bound to not be everyone's cup of tea. Generally, thoughts on this program do vary from the general consensus. I think this show has enough redeemable qualities to give it a weak thumbs-up.
