Final Space; The Progression of Adult Cartoons
For many people, the word cartoon refers strictly to the legacy of children’s programming using the animation medium. Of course, in reality the genre is much more complex, but the vast majority of programs included in the definition are aimed at the child market. This is the case because children tend to have a shorter attention span, and respond more quickly to cartoons that contain visually engaging elements. However, there is definitely a section of the genre that is occupied by extremely thoughtful and mature productions that are intended for adult minds. This side of the genre has grown exponentially over the years with notable favorites like; The Simpsons, Family Guy, Rick & Morty, Archer and the list goes on.
Final Space is the new frontier for this eclectic and increasingly popular genre of Adult Cartoons. Originally developed for TBS, its the brain child of Youtube creator Olan Rogers, that was picked up by Conan Obrian’s production company Conaco. The series follows the life of space prisoner Gary Goodspeed sometime in the distant future. Of course Gary’s sentence is disrupted by a string of events that brings the universe to the brink of destruction when he meets a planet destroying green blob that he nicknames Mooncake. As the episodes progress, what appears to be a simple story, reveals itself to be a thoughtful plot of interconnected events and characters.
The show taps into the space opera sub genre with it’s melodramatic, high impact scenes, extreme risk taking, interplanetary travel and battles. A sub-genre popularized by scores like Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, which were meant to open or prepare our minds for the possibilities of life in space. During that time it was also apart of a campaign to promote investment in space travel and exploration. These types of productions are conscious projections of where we want to see ourselves in the future and it’s always interesting to see how they age. In the case of Kubrick’s 1968 epic, we have achieved very few of the things that he imagined we would, even in 2018.
Final Space’s projection for the future, sees a variety of sentient beings scattered across the universe, and human beings as very active and dominant aspects of this variety. But who can really say? All in all, the show comes well recommended despite it’s misuse of Quinn’s character as an arbitrary love interest for the development of the protagonist. The humor doesn't stifle the efforts of the story to deliver moments of serious impact. But most of all, the gore and the unforgiving finality that governs the show, establishes every single moment as legitimate and not whimsical which is typical of cartoons. When someone dies, they don’t come back, and if say, someone were to have their arm ripped off, they absolutely do not get it back in the next episode. It’s definitely worth the watch and it’s only a single season.
Is there a show you would like to see us feature? Drop your suggestions in the comments section or in my inbox.
