Moral Orel

Moral Orel, created by Dino Stamatopoulos, is my favorite television show of all time. The show depicts (at least in the first season) young Orel Puppington growing up in Moralton trying to be a good protestant by sticking to the moral code and lost commandments, unfortunately screwing it up in the process, only to be corrected (in his study with belt in hand) by his supposedly good father figure and father, Clay. In the later seasons, though, it turned much, much darker, focusing on the dramatically repressed citizens of Moralton. In the final season, however, they abandoned the brighter episodes to much more depressing story lines (did I mention this is all done, very well I might add, in stop-motion animation?).

The show has ended, much to Moral Orel fan's dismay, but it was a pretty bad decision. Moral Orel was VERY well written and funny throughout, less we forget dramatic, offensive and blasphemous. Let me warn those of you whom are offended by parody of religion, TURN BACK NOW. This show parodies religion every episode somehow, whether subtle or blatant. For those of us who can take a joke, Moral Orel is over, but Orel shall forevermore live within our hearts knowing the ending. He was canceled before his time, yes, but we have 43 episodes of amazingly done animation. This show is nothing like anything else on Adult Swim, since it contains very few vulgar words (nothing needed to be censored), it's overall style is comparable to Davey and Goliath. Watch it and enjoy one of the best achievements in American television in only eleven minutes.

Many people say that adult swim is losing its touch with brand new shows like Perfect Hair Forever and Squidbillies but I see it as a new direction. Moral Orel is adult swim's newest show. Animated using claymation, this show is about a young boy named Orel and his troubles growing up Christain. This show uses offensive humor sort of like South Park which is the main cause of the negative feedback but the show feels innocent and with that brand of offensive humor brings hilarious results. If you like twisted situations and claymation you should watch Moral Orel. If your a big baby that gets offended by this sorta humor Moral Orel is defiantly not for you. 8/10

After watching so many adult animated cartoons from the past few years-many that tackle serious issues and real life problems-I was surprised to hear that Moral Orel, which preceded all of them, managed to do what those shows did but even better and even grander than I thought.

I think one of the best things about this show is that despite it's extreme ways to push the boundaries of darj subject matter, it still manages to portray an optimistic and careful view on our world and the concept of religion as a whole. Even though it is very clearly satire on religion and has constant gags and jokes about religious teachings, it doesn't insult Christianity nor does it downright dismiss it completely-it is only making light of those who misuse passed down morals to hurt others in contrast to those who use it to be better people, and that is very much shown all the way to the final episode. And to me that is a very powerful message and recurring theme of the show, and one I wish many other shows tried to do but better

The stop motion animation is also incredible for a TV production. Some of the scenes and shots in this show are incredibly impressive and unique. The work done in ShadowMachine to make this show come to life is admirable and one that shouldn't be taken for granted.

Please give this show a chance, you will not be disappointed. (And you may cry, like how I have with several episodes because of how deeply they resonated with me)

If there is any Adult Swim show out there that has comdey and drama as a the main genre, it's Moral Orel. The writing is not bad, their is some character development in this show, also people said that this show is dark and they're right. It's a shame that Adult Swim canceled it after 3 seasons and some episodes from this show are considered unaired. But in 2012, Adult Swim released a Moral Orel tv special, Before Orel and it was pretty entertainment and enjoyable. Without a doubt, Moral Orel is one of the greatest cartoons Adult Swim has ever made. I give Moral Orel and 8.5/10

I can't for the life of me figure this show out. Sometimes I find myself genuinely laughing almost uncontrollably, others I'm left reflecting on the message, and still others I'm just lost and a little bored even; the episode with orel's stop-motion animation for example. Interesting concept but fell very short. In any case I admire the uniqueness. Now I've seen jokes in a negative light and dark comedy in plenty other animated shows but this one manages to pull off full on cynicism about a wide range of topics using some very unique yet inexplicably relatable characters.

In fact the character analysis alone makes for interesting conversation. I mean for a show that takes a pretty good number of jabs at Christianity the reverend seems to be the most logical down to earth character. Which may be a statement about people's inability to truly understand what's being said to them. In any case the entire show has so many undertones that can be interpreted in just about any way depending almost entirely on the individual. I know I found some new little thing each time I watch the show.

The soundtrack used is another thing I loved about this show. Unique again but you feel an instant attraction to almost every song. Be it tongues in other people's mouths from the first season or The strangely alluring mountain goat songs in the 3rd season.

Which brings me to the third season. It in my opinion is one of the best final seasons of any show I have ever seen. This doesn't just include animated or comedy shows but just about every series I've followed. I am very sad this show was unable to come to the end intended of it.

I'm sad that adult swim couldn't let it run its course to the end. I mean I like their programming for the most part but I would have preferred keeping something like metalocalypse (a show I also enjoy) at 15 minutes so this could continue, if not just for curiosity's sake to see how it would continue to play out. C'est la vie. Thank you Mr. Stamatopolous, this will forever be one of the more memorable shows I've ever seen.

I watched the full series again recently and had to up my rating even higher. I miss this show.