The Body Electric

The Body Electric is an interesting little piece of sci-fi from the mid 80's. The story is not particularly original and is far too short for it to work properly, but combines many themes and ideas from Rush songs, particularly the Body Electric and Red Sector A. Those familiar with the band will recognize trademarks from their songs: the lone youth against the system, the futuristic post-armageddon feel, and the relationship between man and machine. Non-Rush fans will probably find The Body Electric forgettable despite it's entertainment value, but Rush fans will find it a treat. Rush songs are used as the background music for the entire story. On the whole, I find this piece to be quite a little gem, and a good companion piece for the music from the band that the mainstream has spent decades ignoring.

"The Body Electric" is a short, but pretty rare made-for-TV cartoon from 1985, directed by the uncredited David Feiss. It was produced by the former company Atkinson Film-Arts.

Basic plot: Red Sector A was not only a paradise for man's machine, but was also the home for the last people on Earth, until a mysterious force made the robots to get the people out of the city and right to the wasteland outside.

In the middle of the domed city, which is now in ruins, Woody and Andrea meet each other. And together they only have a few hours to escape, as the city is about to explode due to the shield generator approaching meltdown. But they soon learn that they're not alone...

This 23-minute short piece of animation was great. This short mature-oriented cartoon even uses songs from Rush (a Canadian rock band) as background music for the entire film. Even the film's title and the city's name Red Sector A are based on two on their songs. For the fans of Rush, this pretty rare film is not something to be overlooked.

Speaking about the film itself, I found this animated film to be pretty entertaining, even though the story isn't exactly original as it has the "man versus machine" scenario. The animation itself is very typical for anything being made in Canada during the 80s. And it's not often Canada makes animated films which deal with post-apocalypse.

Pretty recommended for fans of Rush the rock-band, and for the fans of 80s animation for the mature audience. All in all, I give this pretty rare animated masterpiece a rating of 8/10.