The Film Experience

By Nathaniel R

Love Death + Robots "Jibaro""Bob's Burgers" does "Blade Runner"

Finding myself in the mood for animation, I quickly binged two of the animated categories before the Creative Arts Emmys any moment now. Herewith some thoughts and predictions on the animation programs...

SHORT FORM ANIMATION
This is a prize for episodes of series or animated specials that are 15 minutes or less in length. It's a fairly new category that's been around only since 2008. Robot Chicken is the all time leader statistically (though, again, there are only 15 years of stats) with 12 nominations and 3 wins.

The Boys Presents Diabolical "John and Sun-Hee" (Amazon)
Season 1. While Diabolical loves gore as much as its parent series The Boys it proves easier to take in anthology animated form where the violence is usually cartoonish or comical with the visual style is constantly changing (the throughine being Compound V and the general Boys universe, though most of the episodes aren't about the main series characters). John and Sun Hee is atypical in that it's purely dramatic (no laughs) and is surprisingly touching as an elderly man makes a grave decision to rescue his wife from death by injecting her with "V". The V only superpowers the cancer which begins to consume everything. FIrst season.
Love Death + Robots "Jibaro" (Netflix)
Season 3. In this riveting episode of the anthology (which like The Boys has a different animation style each episode), a deaf soldier survives a siren attack which kills his entire regimen, driving them all, swords drawn and bloodthirsty into watery deaths in a lake. The creature wonders how he survived. Round two! The animation is jaw-dropping though the story is deeply unpleasant and nihilistic and that's a pretty common combo with this series. Love Death + Robots has been nominated thrice and won for each of its previous nominations.

Robot Chicken "Happy Russian Deathdog Dolloween 2 U" (Adult Swim)
Season 11. A stop motion spoof on time loop movies in which a nerd has to figure out who killed him before he runs out of cosplay costumes. The costume jokes offer some referential fun but the sophomoric humor and grotesqueries feel very of a time (aka the Aughts when this series was the most popular). Robot Chicken has won thrice, most recently in 2018.
The Simpsons "When Billie Met Lisa" (Fox/Disney+)
This is a stand alone short and not part of the regular Simpsons season. Lisa is invited to a jam session with Biliie Eilish and Finneas. At first this feels like a bit of nothing but once they're playing music good sight gags follow and Billie and Finneas are game for laughing at themselves. The Simpsons has won about a third of its nominations in the long-running animated program contest. Will that favouritism extend to this specialized category?

Star Wars: Visions "The Duel" (Disney+)
Season 1. Like Diabolical and Love Death + Robots, this anthology series has a different creative team and style for each stand-alone episode. In this first episode, a village under attack from a Sith Lord finds an unexpected defender. The animation style is striking, all black and white and charcoal sketchy, with the only pops of color coming from light saber blades and droid beeps and blasts. Could it win? It could! Depends on how much Star Wars is too much Star Wars these days given that Disney has banked so much on quantity with their various expensive universe purchases.

Will Win: Love Death + Robots
Should Win: Toss up. Lots of impressive art. For the art, Love Death + Robots, for the story... Diabolical
Spoiler: Star Wars: Visions

ANIMATED PROGRAM NOMINEES:
The regular category for animated programs. It's been a category since 1979 so it has lots of history, including a stretch from 1989 to 2009 where it split into two categories depending on whether the program was less than an hour or over an hour (for animated specials). Since 2010 it's

Arcane "When These Walls Come Tumbling Down" (Netflix)
Season 1. The first of two freshman series in the category. Technically gorgeous, and very consistent in style but this is not the sort of series you can just plop down in the middle of and figure out what's going on. So many characters, plot lines, and paced like a drama rather than action. Perhaps if I had started from the beginning?
Bob's Burgers "Some Like It Bot Part 1: Eighth Grade Runner" (Fox)
Season 12. Seems odd to go with a part 1 for your episode submission as it ends in a cliffhanger. The episode is part homage to Blade Runner and dystopian sci-fi and part musical with a smidgeon of Grease thrown in. It's not as funny as most episodes of the show, instead leaning into pathos. Bob's Burgers has been nominated 11 times, winning twice.

Rick & Morty "Mort Dinner Rick Andre" (Adult Swim)
Season 5. To even attempt to summarize this might result in madness. The nonsense laughs are like little wormholes, transporting you until other ridiculous consequential wormholes until you finally end up right where you were only changed. And the speed of it! By the end of it you might want a threesome with Mr Nimbus. This is Rick & Morty's third nomination in the category. It won for both of its previous nominations.

The Simpsons "Pixelated and Afraid" (Fox)
Season 33. Lisa and Bart fear their parents have lost their spark and send them to a week-long retreat. But on the way Homer and Marge end up lost in the woods living a spoof of reality survival shows. Lots of funny lines and a sweet romantic ending. A solid submission. The Simpsons has been nominated for this prize 31 times, winning 11 of those times.
What If "What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?" (Disney+)
Season 1. Dear reader I struggled with this freshman series, never finishing it after sampling a few episodes, since it has absolutely zero stakes. (Alas, the multiverse narrative problem in a nutshell) Anything can happen and does, while not affecting anything really as it's all reversabel or never happened given the alternate universes. This one is a cautionary tale as Doctor Strange tears reality apart trying to ressurect his dead girlfriend. The evil Strange take ties in fairly well with the multiverse antics of the second Doctor Strange movie.

Will Win: Arcane
Should Win: Technically Arcane is the most fascinating in terms of animation but I was partial to Rick and Morty for these episodes for both the madcap humor and the dizzying pace, cramming as much as possible into each moment.
Spoiler: What If? (which is also easy to see happening)

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