Animation Domination: Captain Laserhawk A Blood Dragon Remix

In 1992 in an alternate reality, the United States is known as Eden and run by a megacorporation of the same name and is populated by cyborgs and anthropomorphic animals known as hybrids.  Dolph Laserhawk (Nathaniel Curtis), a cybernetically enhanced super soldier, and his boyfriend, Alex Taylor (Boris Hiestand) attempt to steak the Codex, a program that would make them rich and help the “Resistance” fight Eden.  Although Taylor does love Laserhawk, he betrays him in service of the resistance and Dolph lands in the Supermaxx Prison.  Warden Sarah Fisher (Caroline ford) recruits a group of skilled assassins from the prisoners and enlists them for special missions battling Taylors plans. And so, concludes the first episode of Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix.

This animated series that began streaming on Netflix on October 19^th, is based on the Ubisoft video game Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon but does use and combine characters from other Ubisoft franchises.  This is not a cartoon for kids, the story, action, and dialogue are all very adult with prolific swearing, over the top violence and of course, two of the main characters are gay, and I absolutely loved all of it.  The animation is beautifully done in an anime style with some stunning visuals. There are whole segments that look like very old console game graphics, which added a bit of whimsy to the dystopian storyline.  The dialogue was witty and clever, and I laughed out loud a couple of times while viewing Episode 1.  But it also has a lot of heart and I felt just as betrayed by Taylor as Dolph does when his true plan comes to light.  The voice actors are all well cast, and the characters are both drawn well and defined with their own endearing qualities.  We don’t really get to meet the full team until the end of the first episode, and so it is hard to tell how well they connect with the audience including some of the more over the top characters, like the hybrid, Bullfrog (Yves Bigerel a.k.a Balak).

The series, created by Adi Shankar, is a French–American joint production, with Ubisoft Film & Television, Bobbypills, and Bootleg Universe all producing.  It was well received by critics, with Hayden Mears of IGN giving the series a 9.0 out of 10 and stating that the show is “as brutal as it is heartfelt, Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix never feels robbed of clever ways to mesh an eclectic group of Ubisoft favorites into a single madcap story.” And The Verge’s Chrles Pulliam-Moore states that the show “Plays like a joyride through Ubisoft’s vast library of classic video game IP”. I have not played any of the games, but seriously enjoyed the pilot episode which is a testament to its production value.  I am sure I will miss a lot of “easter eggs” and “in jokes”, but over all this is a quality, albeit an adult animated series.