Is it our birthday? It feels like our birthday. What makes it feel like our birthday? Getting an Outposter contribution, that’s what! You all know we love it when an Outposter sends in an article to share with his fellow, superior, online movie beings that are their fellow Outposters. For a start, it means one of us doesn’t have to run the risk of getting fired from our actual day jobs for slaving away to bring you the daily content we know you crave. If you want to share something with your fellow Outposters, hit us up at [email protected]. Today, Toughguyrizzo wants to tell you all about a show – Unicorn: Warriors Eternal.
Unicorn: Warriors Eternal
Hello Outposters! This is Toughguyrizzo, once an AICN talkbacker and now Outpost loyalist) and I wanted to recommend a great show to you all, called Unicorn: Warriors Eternal.
I was thrown off when I saw the cover of the show. It didn’t appeal at first, but when my wife said it was Genndy Tartakovsky’s new show, I was sold. Growing up in the late 70s and early 80’s I was first introduced to classics like Robotech, Voltron and Transformers. But when we got cable, we had a service in the States called WHT. If you are in the States, you know this had the key in the box because they had porn at night and parents could shut that shit down.
WHT introduced me to Hayao Miyzaki’s Nausicaa, as well as a hidden gem called Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer. From there I began my anime fix. I also grew up with Popeye, Looney Toons, and all 80’s weekend and daytime cartoons.
In this write up I’m going to mention the styles Genndy tributes too. It’s a long list but it’s worth it. And to boot, I found a ton of more anime years later while working at Kim’s Video in NYC so, this show sparked all kinds of memories of the many movies I’ve watched. To prep you guys without spoilers, here’s a list of artists prominently displayed that I caught:
Chuck Jones
Don Bleuth
Osamu Tezuka
Hayao Miyazaki
(Was hoping for some Nevelanimation)
Tin-Tin
Pinocchio
Secret of NIMH’s Nicodemus
With all of that on the list, Genndy does a perfect blend of all the styles for Unicorn: Warriors Eternal. Hayao Miyazaki’s backgrounds are the predominant standout.
The synopsis is about warriors who are summoned throughout time to fight a reoccurring evil. However, this time they are summoned, and something goes wrong. When reading IMDB about it sounded like “monster of the week” but this plays out gradually in each episode.
Characters
Melinda/Emma – She is Betty Boop with powers.
Copernicus – A Steampunk all-function robot, but not like a Twice Upon a Time robot, more like Return to Oz.
Seng – A personal favorite, the Cosmic kid dealing with the multiverse inside a child’s mind.
Edrid – An Elf with an Excalibur-type sword.
Merlin – Yup, that Merlin.
Winston – Emma’s love interest.
9 – A tailed fox, to tel you anymore would spoile it.
The story’s pacing is what I liked, because when you are following it you feel as displaced as the heroes. This is because something has gone wrong when they are awakened to battle the evil once again. They do a recap of their history in the pilot, so we do get some texture on how shit is supposed to be going down this time. When they do get awakened they are in a “WTF” state, and so are we as the audience.
The battles are great and there’s an awesome Stone Centurion battle that made me laugh out loud. Some of the big city battles reminded me of another Cartoon Network/Adult Swim old show called The Big O.
I’m not here to do an episode-by-episode review, it’s only 10 episodes and can be watched easily over a weekend if you have the time. It’s not as brutal as Primal, but it’s something different from Genndy. Here are some small Easter eggs to look forward to, without spoilers:
- “You’re a mean one”
- The Dark Crystal
- Little Shop of Horrors – 1986 (That’s it, we’re closing!)
- Go-Go Gadget Quimby and the character Copernicus.
- Daddy’s Trophy (Dexter’s Lab)
There’s a bunch more but I’ll leave it there. I have been a fan of Genndy since his old-school Cartoon Network anime. I loved his run on Clone Wars, and would have loved to have gotten to see his version of Popeye. We do get to see a lot of this style in Unicorn: Warriors Eternal.
There’s going to be a season 2 but who knows when? All episodes are streaming on MAX in the US, anywhere else use a VPN. Hope this gets you Outposters to watch, it’s worth it.
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