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Titan Maximum: Season 1
Other // Unrated // August 10, 2010
List Price: $19.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Show:
Following on the success of Robot Chicken, co-creators Tom Root and Matthew Senreich went back to the creative well and came up with a new TV comedy series, Titan Maximum. Airing on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block of late night programming, this parody of Japanese giant robot shows is hilarious. It makes a few missteps, but the over-the-top action and quick-fire humor more than make up for the shortcomings.
There are only 9 15-minute (with commercials) episodes in this first season, so the story zips along at a fast pace. Unlike Robot Chicken, there's a lot of continuity and this set of shows tells one continuous story. After the super robot Titan Maximum defeats the Martian forces attacking their home (Saturn's moon Titan, naturally) and effectively ending the war, the crew piloting the mecha is given medals, and then the sack. Without a war going on there's no need for a very expensive robot and its pilots to be on the payroll.
Two years pass and the members of Titan Force Five have gone their separate ways. Cheerful and spunky good girl Jodi is a karate instructor and does volunteer work on the side. Jovial comic relief Spud died by falling off of a hotel balcony filled with hookers and cocaine, and 'bad girl' Sasha basically sleeps around and parties all night long. The leader of the group, all around good guy and narcissist Palmer likes to hit on girls and drink a lot, while the second in command, Gibbs, has created his own giant robot and wants to take over the entire solar system so that everyone would have to call him "King Big Nuts".
When Gibbs unleashes his killer mechanoid on Titan, the other (living) members of Titan Force Five rush to their old hanger. Unfortunately, their robot is in a terrible state of disrepair. But with the help of Palmer's genius geeky kid-brother Willie and the monkey janitor Leon, they quickly patch together Titan Maximum and go out to kick Gibbs in the nuts. It won't be quite that easy though, and the quest to capture their rouge ex-teammate leads Titan Maximum across the solar system.
This is a funny show, with the same rapid fire crude jokes that made Robot Chicken so enjoyable. Yes, there is a lot of potty humor, and Sasha's secret weapon is to kick every enemy in the balls, even if that enemy is a robot. Definitely low brow, but it's hilarious.
Even if you've never seen a single episode of a super robot anime, you'll get most of the jokes, but fans of anime will appreciate some of the jokes a bit more. They exaggerate the stereotypes that are usually found in mecha shows to great affect. The boy genius turns out not only to be a nerd, but a pretty obnoxious one too. The leader is confident and determined to the point of being a self absorbed narcissist, and attractive female member of the team is a slut. No, they're not appealing characters, but they are funny.
The problem with the show is also one of its strengths - the short time frame. It would be hard to stretch this type of humor out to a full half hour without having a lot of dead spots, so the quick and dirty 15-minute show works in that respect. Unfortunately the continuity aspects of the show don't work as well. The story feels very rushed and the episodes sometime end a bit abruptly. The show would have worked a bit better if they had been just stand alone adventures.
The DVD:
Audio:
The show is blessed with an active DD 5.1 soundtrack that is just as over the top as the show itself. From the explosion that starts of each episode to the frequent sound of metal hitting metal as one giant robot punches another one in the crotch, the show makes sure the room is filled with sound. The sub gets a fairly good workout and there is a lot of directionality to the sound that works well. This is a fun sounding show.
Video:
The anamorphic widescreen image looks very good, even better than I was expecting. The image is very sharp and detailed and the primary colors that are used in the show are nice and strong. The second half of the season takes place on Mercury and all of the scenes on this planet that occur outside are bathed in red light. The disc reproduces this well with the fine detail staying strong and the tone of other colors looking fine. Overall I was very pleased with the transfer.
Extras:
My favorite bonus isn't actually on the disc, it's included inside the DVD case. It's a four-page mini-comic (with three story pages and an ad on the 4th) that serves as a prequel to the show. It's pretty funny.
On the disc there are commentary tracks for each episode provided by various members of the cast and crew, a pop-up trivia track for the second episode, and photos of all the crew. (One episode features a "re-dub" where the cast dubs the show again, but goofing around this time around. It's not very funny.) In addition there's Anatomy of a Scene, where one sequence is broken down and shown in different stage from storyboard to completed scene. It's pretty cool if you're into the nuts and bolts of this type of animation. Design Showcase is a series of four side shows (with narration) that illustrate how the look of the show came about. That's followed by a Behind the Scenes featurette with the cast talking about the show, and there's also a series of deleted animatics, rough versions of scenes that were cut. All in all it's a nice collection of bonus material.
Final Thoughts:
Titan Maximum is a funny show, even if the continuity is a bit rushed. The jokes are shot out at a machine gun pace and the low brow humor had me laughing. My main complaint is that the season is really short, only 9 shows that clock in at under 13 minutes a piece. It's still worth picking up. Recommended.
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