I was not so excited to watch The Amazing Screw-On Head because I was visiting a friend from out of town and he insisted that I sit at the computer and watch this online rather than other things we were planning to do. But I was fascinated by it. The animation, firstly, seemed like it would not draw me in, however it is perfect for the noncomformist comic tone of the cartoon. There are so many pitch-black shades of definition in the images and at times, it's as if over two thirds of the screen consists of shadows. The creatures are watered- down Gothic with a coating of the physical presence of sci-fi and anime-loving, computer- savvy quasi-Goth-dressing teenagers. The colors are never bright or positive, always swampy, antiquated, and moody. Mike Mignola's visual style is carried through motion by director Chris Prynoski, who creates a grungy little onslaught.
It begins as if it were a serious cartoon, violence preparing to break out, but then there is a hilarious German accent, played very incidentally. The show progresses into a very offbeat farce with a witty, creative sense of humor that grows elementally out of the material.
The material is founded by terrific comic book concept, a robotic head that screws onto compatible bodies who works as a secret agent serving under Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, and fighting battles that lead to points in history in completely different ways than how the nation believes. America having two histories is not something so far-fetched, and it latently satirizes the self-secrecy of this country's history.
It's very troubling to think that network heads (no pun intended) didn't find this pilot worthy of a series, because there are many less intelligent and imaginative cartoon shows that have been turned into successful series, and that actually may be the reason why this show was turned down. However, in a sense, it may not be so bad that The Amazing Screw-On Head never grew beyond this twenty-two-minute passage. Perhaps the impact of such ideas that seem so fresh coming straight out of left field is greater and will stay as great rather than becoming old hat after awhile as the creators scramble to concoct more premises and build on the show's substance. The animation, like with many cartoon shows, might have scaled up the ladder to smooth, state-of-the-art, computer-assisted animation, and with a style like Mike Mignola's, it must be preserved in the grungy sketchiness that is present forever in this maintained little cartoon.
