RogerBorg

I went into this blind, on a recommendation, with no idea of the source or what to expect, and was shocked by how thoughtful and well made it was.

The animation is basic but clear and appealing. Sound is fine, and it makes good use of outro music tracks.

What really makes it are the ideas, which are huge the characters, who are well realised; and the attention to technical detail which is commendable. As a programmer, it was such a treat to see real technology, concepts, and implementation shown - hat tip to the consultants.

What really makes it is the character of Maddie, voiced to absolute perfection by Katie Chang in her last role before bowing out of acting. Chang produces a beautiful, calm, nuanced, and utterly human performance, a perfect counterpoint to the increasingly post-human nature of the material. Watching her voyage and personal growth is fascinating and hugely compelling.

The finale is divisive, as it's clearly an "Oops, no season 3, wrap everything up" episode. Personally, I love it, as it cranks the science up to 11, and commits to the core concept and its ultimate conclusion, leveraging Kardashev type II technology to loop right back to the very humanity in which the series is grounded. I'd have loved to spend more time with Maddie, but found the next step of her journey both satisfying and deeply affecting.

Rarely has a crowdfunded project more comprehensively dunked on the mugs who gave it money. But Rouge Elephants goes all-out to subvert expectations by displaying all of the very same tropes that its creator mercilessly mocks when he observes them in others:

An anodyne, anonymous John Guyman lead with no character or presence. I've watched this twice and still couldn't name one trait of Nothing Dork.

Pacing that opens with a mild bang then immediately slips into flashbacks, tell-don't-show, and even as-you-know exposition to pad out the run-time.

Not one but two girlbosses who perform ridiculous feats of combat, when they would be laid flat by the first hand put on them.

Dialogue that's stilted, cheesy, clumsy, interchangeable, repetitive and rambling.

An utterly generic plot that's so genre-compliant that surely it must qualify as parody.

Bear in mint that all this comes from a writer / producer who can recognise all the traits of a great indie production, and yet chooses to use absolutely none of them himself.

It's telling that not one of the creator's circle of content creators has reviewed this short, because there is literally nothing in it to praise, either objectively, or in comparison to any contemporary production like Terminal List or Reacher.

A creator with courage would do a "The Drinker Fixes: Rogue Elements", but we still await that moment of humility and self awareness.

A mopey, masculinised Cara Loft meanders through some slow, dragging, uninteresting, overly verbose scenes, with utterly generic animation, pausing every few minutes to cry about some event from her past that we haven't seen, in order to be flattered, praised and validated by all around her.

This is the She/Her-Hulk version of the character, written by the writer, to represent the writer, for the writer - the same stunning talent that previously brought us Witcher: Blood Origin.

Like that absolute calamity, it's baffling who the audience for this is meant to be. I know who it's not though - me.