Cartoons are wasted on the young...

Earlier this week I caught the first episode of a new CBBC show called Freefonix. I came in a few minutes after it had started, drawn from my channel-flipping by the gorgeous CGI animation. Not only are the characters beautifully designed, they also live in a wonderfully fluid and colourful futuristic city. It was true eye-candy from start to finish... even the digital zooms and pans, which I normally detest, worked well.... presumably because the characters are 3D models? I don’t know. I don’t have the faintest clue how such sorcery is achieved, but I want it bad! Oh, what I could do with an animation studio that skilled... oh, the dark wonders I could conjure! And that’s the point of my post title, I guess... in this country at least, animation is only ever employed for children’s programmes and advertising. Presumably it’s too costly and complicated to risk on an untested market like grown-ups. The country, on the whole, seems to be getting geekier, but perhaps it’s still too soon to hope for a mature animation movement like the one they have in Japan, and other such civilised countries.

And, sadly, I'm not sure if Freefonix is likely to appeal to many viewers beyond its target tween audience. It’s mean to judge a show purely on the first episode, since they have to lay down a lot of exposition, but frankly it all seems somewhat baffling... in the same way that many people found the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy “baffling”. There were lots of magickal types appearing out of thin air, talking twaddle, and lots of cool flashy set pieces, but nothing especially solid to hang on to. Added to that, the heroes talk in an overtly “cool” manner, with plenty of futuristic jargon... which is easier to take in a comic book, where you have the time to digest and translate it... but this show whips along at such a frantic pace, it all starts to feel like a bad trip. Sadly, now that I’m trying to write adventure stories myself, I’ve become very bitchy about how other people plot their stories. Frankly, I found the episode quite frustrating, as the heroes were shuttled from location to location, being fed McGuffins as if they were in line at a cafeteria... “Here are your powers... here are your enemies... YOU FIGHT NOW!!!”

Freefonix

Aside from the lush visuals, the show’s major saving grace is it’s music... which is also an integral part of the premise. To quote the press release: “The action unfolds as the band Freefonix set out to stop Mya De Zya, her cronies the band Mantyz and Vox, an evil Sonic Lord, from causing havoc in the city of Los-Bosmos... by using the power of the Thirteenth Note, an awesome force that can bend space and minds when the perfect sound is created. When the two rival bands meet, the result is an explosive Soundclash, where the opposing forces do battle as all the energies of the Thirteenth Note are released.”  The songs, when they came, were damn good. Personally I’ve always been a metal-head, but I’ve come to appreciate electronica and pop over the years, so it was great to hear both the different genres powering up to let rip for the “soundclash” section. It was over far too soon for my liking, and frankly the thing would probably work a lot better if they ditched the story altogether, and just left it as a ten minute musical freak-out.

Apparently, Freefonix will run for a staggering FORTY half-hour episodes! Oy! “The show producers have generated over 50 original tracks and 800 minutes of musical score for the series.” Bonus! I wish there were a way to just skip straight to the songs, but I guess I’ll have to sit through the other hogwash anyway. I can while away the wasted minutes trying to figure out how to get my hands on that animation technology... perhaps some sort of Satanic pact? But seriously, that schmoove animation, combined with my wacky banter and pulp fiction plots... that’s the stuff such as dreams are made of!

Note: There's an official website for the show here... but it doesn't "launch" until January 10th! There's no Wiki-page either yet, and the IMDb page is practically blank. Did they blow all their money on the production, and forget about marketing? Seriously, if I spent $10 million (US) on a TV show, I'd at least want people to know about it... preferably before it aired...