Xavier: Renegade Angel -- FROM THE CREATORS OF WONDER SHOWZEN

Started by hedwig, November 06, 2007, 06:48:57 PM

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hedwig

NEW SERIES FROM THE CREATORS OF WONDER SHOWZEN.

it's the story of a fawn on the search for the mystery of his origin, pondering the deep philosophical questions of.. LIFE. and it's animated like a video game.

it premiered last sunday night on Adult Swim. the latest episode is available to watch here under the Video index.

EDIT: link fixed.

Pubrick

so i watched it and i liked it.

it has the typical randomness that everyone gets off on at adult swim but it's tempered by showzen-like pacing.

looking around online it seems a lot of AS fans are taken aback by how this show just came out of nowhere. they talk as if that's a bad thing, it's PERFECT. i was actually looking for good showzen clips online the other day and i came across a teaser for this show, i thought it was remnants of some old cancelled project they did before/between showzen. i didn't even catch the name so yeah it wasn't advertised very well.

it's less "mean" than wonder showzen but more explicit. i wanna see another episode to see what they can do with this character. the story was a bit self-conscious with the whole messing about with computer images and such.. his lines were the highlights, all the quips and inter-dialogue monologues.

showzen meant something right? it was clever, it was surreal and bizarre and had palpable ideas. not sure if this means anything, or is in fact making fun of things that mean something. no, i see glimpses of brilliance.

there's potential.
under the paving stones.

hedwig

Quote from: Pubrick on November 07, 2007, 06:29:21 AM
his lines were the highlights, all the quips and inter-dialogue monologues.

YES.. the writing is just amazing. so many hilarious lines. and the delivery too, i love the way he says "liiife"

Quote from: Pubrick on November 07, 2007, 06:29:21 AM
showzen meant something right? it was clever, it was surreal and bizarre and had palpable ideas. not sure if this means anything, or is in fact making fun of things that mean something. no, i see glimpses of brilliance.

wonder showzen definitely meant something. things like the beat kids, horse apples, the entire episode of Patience.. it was truly ferocious satire. i remember one bit about cosmetic surgery that was almost TOO painful to watch. and really really funny.

i LOVED this first episode of Xavier. the aids thing gave me heavy showzen flashbacks. the character is kind of lovable too -- this philosophizing, oblivious idiot -- ON A QUEST. now that the character's been established, it might get even weirder and hopefully "meaner," as you put it. can't wait!

ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ

PFFR's sense of humor is very apparent in Xavier, which is a great, great thing.  The line I've been dying over lately is when he talks to the girl and says "Your brother died of some severe life choices."

Although Wonder Showzen was so freeform because of how random it could be, it seemed boxed in to be shocking as far as soliciting content inappropriate for children, but in Xavier, we get to see their humor in a somewhat congruent narrative. 

Thumbs fucking up.
"As a matter of fact I only work with the feeling of something magical, something seemingly significant. And to keep it magical I don't want to know the story involved, I just want the hypnotic effect of it somehow seeming significant without knowing why." - Len Lye

Pubrick

Quote from: Walrus on November 11, 2007, 02:40:22 PM
The line I've been dying over lately is when he talks to the girl and says "Your brother died of some severe life choices."

"your brother died of a shameful lifestyle choice."

what you've been dying over is not actually funny.
under the paving stones.

ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ

Oh come on, even though I misquoted it, it was an awesome way to word that the guy drank AIDS out of a camo jug, sort of implying that he died from homosexuality or sharing needles.

Yes, that is humor.

Plus, this new episode was even better.
"As a matter of fact I only work with the feeling of something magical, something seemingly significant. And to keep it magical I don't want to know the story involved, I just want the hypnotic effect of it somehow seeming significant without knowing why." - Len Lye

Pubrick

Quote from: Walrus on November 11, 2007, 11:23:11 PM
Oh come on, even though I misquoted it..

Yes, that is humor.

it's not the same humour. i agree that the ACTUAL quote was an awesome way to word the joke, but not the misquoted one which doesn't even make sense as a description. that would only be "funny" as something random to say, not because of what it means. FG-syndrome.

i'm not sure if the second episode was any better. there was one amazing moment when the shiny dude was killed like T1000 and at the very last moment right as he goes under he quickly accepts jesus christ as his personal saviour "yes, i made it!" and punches the air. that was just about the most i laughed all month. of course, it reminded me of when homer (..The Heretic) tells lisa "if i'm wrong i'll recant on my deathbed".

the improvement on this episode was a more solid narrative: a deed that arose out of his circumstances, not something he instigated himself like "What Life D-d-d-doth?". i hope they don't get cancelled before an arc is apparent. the bad thing is that right now i think i know LESS about Xavier than i did in the first episode. so his guru teacher hated him... and? his mission is pointless? give me something. i'm writing way too much for such a stupid show..

i think he needs to affect a bigger town. he needs to leave the desert. and finally, if there's gonna be any pay off to the only apparent "theme" of the show so far, he needs to give everyone AIDS -- or shut up about it. the ending of the first episode was better.
under the paving stones.

ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ

Quote from: Pubrick on November 12, 2007, 06:36:05 AM
Quote from: Walrus on November 11, 2007, 11:23:11 PM
Oh come on, even though I misquoted it..

Yes, that is humor.

Well now that's out of context.  I wanted to quote it better, but when I checked the adult swim website, the episode had been replaced by the new one, so I just tried quoting the gist of it.  I didn't think it'd offend you so much that I typed it in wrong.

I do agree though, that less happened in the new episode in the last.  I only said it was even better because of pretty much the same reason you thought it was funny, when the guy repens immediately.  There were some funny jokes in it, but mostly I was still laughing about that when I replied last night. 

This show looks like it'll get better. Only time will tell, though.
"As a matter of fact I only work with the feeling of something magical, something seemingly significant. And to keep it magical I don't want to know the story involved, I just want the hypnotic effect of it somehow seeming significant without knowing why." - Len Lye

Pubrick

Quote from: Walrus on November 12, 2007, 02:15:25 PM
so I just tried quoting the gist of it.  I didn't think it'd offend you so much that I typed it in wrong.

the gist of it made no sense. i wasn't offended. you said that both ways were an "awesome way" of making the joke, but they weren't.

anyway, someone else watch this, please.
under the paving stones.

picolas

i've been watching. it's pretty darn funny. i think my fav moment of the first ep was the jumping through windows to the receptionist for the us army who offered aids from the lost and found. i also loved wonder showzen. particularly the final "make good tv!" episode. this and that and the sarah silverman program to an extent thrive on that which is supposed to be offensive no matter what.

i haven't seen ep 2 yet.

hedwig

i thought the second ep was even better.. mainly because of everything with the Locos, from the argument over the color of the business card ("its haunting elegance is so restrained") to that fucking HILARIOUS scene where they all confess their secrets to each other. oh my god.

the first ep was the third highest rated show that week so hopefully there's enough support that it won't get cancelled.

Pubrick

for all its apparent unpredictability, each episode is starting to follow a fairly dependable structure. so here's a template for reviewing this show.

episode 3
Weapons Grade Life.
controversial topics:
handicapped kids, abortion, religious fundamentalism vs science, patricide.
comedic genius:
everything up to and including the 'eversplosion' (name and event).
overall impression:
probably the best episode so far. it was clever satire while keeping xavier from being COMPLETELY unlikeable. the gag is always going to be that he is the most hateable character in the show, but he is also naive and through serendipitous events he comes to be a kind of hero. in the best episodes, he enters a flawed world, destroys it, and leads it to a kind of rebirth --- but here is why ep2 was better than ep1., and why ep3 was the best so far. -- the worlds have to be fundamentally flawed, he merely accelerates their undoing. in the first episode he was moreso the cause for it, but in ep 2 and 3 he was actually right in his righteousness against arguably bad things (gangs, religious zealotry).. which leads me to ep 4.

episode 4
The 6th Teat of Good Intentions.
controversial topics:
child kidnapping, baby eating, death penalty. (schizophrenia?)
comedic genius:
________________ (see below)
overall impression:
huge drop in quality. the worst episode ever. as i explained above, there has to be a loose thread which he can pull on to absurd lengths. there was NOTHING wrong with this world., the lady was not negligent, everyone was an innocent victim and there was nothing bad that he didn't bring himself. this could be attributed to the introduction of his snake arm as his "tyler durden", which is why i put schizophrenia in brackets.. and then the snake takes over so he comes off as completely iredeemable even on his own terms. there was nothing good here. obviously i laughed in parts like the rhino sex, but this isn't one i would recommend. if the episodes normally don't mean anything, this one meant less than nothing.
under the paving stones.

cine

i've watched all seven eps so far.. it's alright. as they push the level of silliness, it gets better obviously. i don't see how it could last.

but hey, it's better than Heroes, so..

hedwig

Quote from: Cinephile on December 18, 2007, 03:16:34 PM
i don't see how it could last.

well i'm glad the people at adult swim don't agree.

the show got picked up for a second season. :yabbse-thumbup:

cine

oh well thats cool they got picked up for a final season.