Game Over

Another attempt to look behind the screen of videos games comes up short against "Reboot".

Granted, it matches Mainframe's animated classic series in the technology, but for all it's attempts, it comes up short with lackluster gags, lame jokes and also ran dialogue. The pilot offers no real difference in this show and a dozen other live TV sitcoms that have failed for being nothing more than copies of other sitcoms. Adding the aspect of digital animation doesn't change the fact that it's nothing new.

Sorry guys, spend your quarters on better writers. In fact, you may want to considering spending less on the technology and more on the writers.

Created by some of those behind 3rd Rock from the Sun and starring a decent lineup of voice actors, we follow 'Rip' Smashenburn (Patrick Warburton), a video game race driver who by day drives in circles in his own game, but by night heads back to his average sitcom family, with his Tomb Raider inspired wife Raquel Smashenburn (Lucy Liu), and two teenage kids. All 3D CGI animated, the show looks quite terrible given its 2004, nearly a decade past the likes of ReBoot, which itself followed a similar plot from within a video game and was one of the earliest 3D rendered shows, which makes this one seem even worse. Not only does Game Over look dated, but its jokes and subject matter are more than questionable. An "adult" sitcom, the jokes are never truly vulgar, but there is certainly a lot more tasteless sexual humour than I expected, and some surprisingly gross moments, although at the same time plays it safe more often than not. The jokes are also quite dated and superficial, even for the time it aired, with very little actually having to do with video games, and more just making a family sitcom but that takes place in a game, however even that isn't consistent or fleshed out. The references themselves tend to be for that older audience, meaning the games noted were themselves a decade past their prime when this even aired, again with the jokes being more of the "remember this existed?" form than anything clever. Although was cool to see Oddworld or Crash Bandicoot show up even if just for a second. Only 6 episodes airing before its quick cancellation, I was secretly hoping for more from this one, but yeah it honestly its just really bad, and not in any good ways.

The series premiered last night, mostly to chilly reviews, but that should really come as no surprise. All of the subtleties would have been completely lost on the majority of television critics, who are well into their forties or older, and probably haven't played a video game since the first wave of Arcade Games hit the market, twenty-five or so years ago. Ironically, these are the same critics who laud and applaud The Simpsons for fast-as-lightning sight gags, and subversive humor. I'm sure that the series' target audience (gamers 15- 35) did enjoy it, and that demographic alone can probably sustain the show, but it will be a shame if that's the case. It's about time a show tackled the stereotypes of the games played by kids and teens (and adults -great Vice City gag last night!), and perhaps this will make certain adults aware of the content of the games that they blindly buy for their children, regardless of the age recommendation on the box. While it isn't necessary to have played any of the games being addressed, it certainly helps, and the obvious targets are plentiful; The buxom female action hero, and overly hip skater games took a punch last night, as well as DOA Volleyball, Pokemon, and the portrayal of Asians in VG media; and this was only the pilot. The opportunity to tackle current events hasn't even been addressed -can you image a CG Kobe Bryant pantomiming that ridiculous apology on the sidelines of an animated basketball game, while a young lady polishes a HUGE diamond ring, which happens to be the prize that Mom Smashenburn is seeking? Or a ski-masked #32 stabbing players in an animated football game, only to be arrested by a platoon of SOCom Navy Seals wearing George W. Bush masks as the real George W plays cheerleader at the John Madden Superbowl (I won't even go into the half-time show!)? And these aren't even my below-the-belt suggestions! (Producers take notice: I've got dozens of these gems -call me!) Celebrity cameos alone could be huge.

Marcy Carsey has previously helmed some amazing, groundbreaking shows, and this is a show where the possibilities are truly endless. That said, I was somewhat surprised by the level of violence (Thomas in the pet store for instance), and the language seemed a tad inappropriate for the time slot, but it does reflect the games portrayed, and I'm all for pushing the envelope if it's done cleverly.

Game Over follows the life and times of the Smashenburn family, a typical traditional family save for the fact they are video game characters(kind of). The family consists of family patriarch and racecar driver Rip(played by Patrick Warburton), mom/wife/secret agent/archaeologist Racquel(Lucy Liu), cynical mopey and activist daughter Alice(Rachel Dratch), wannabe rapper Billy(Elizabeth Daily) whose gimmick is speaking in incomprehensible "urban" slang and mindlessly following whatever the current trend is at the moment, and lastly Turbo(Artie Lange) a cigar smoking, binge drinking, philandering schemer who scores what few laughs there are to be had in the show and is more or less the show's equivalent of Bender from Futurama.

None of the characters really make much of an impression and it's all on the part of the writing. Despite the show taking place in a world whose basis is "after the game ends" we never get much of an idea as to how the world operates nor are there many jokes about video games or the surrounding culture/fandom attached to them. Racquel is probably the most defined human character if only because of the surreal nature of her job that involves taking monkey statues composed of various elements from temples and other obstacles that are reasonably well animated and have some entertainment value, but they're humorous dry spots in this alleged comedy. Rip is more or less the Homer Simpson/Al Bundy archetype but drives a car(badly) and his inability to keep his car in tact for the entirety of a single race is something of a running gag I suppose. Billy and Alice never really go beyond their surface level identities and they're basically used to go through traditional sitcom motions be it stories involving going on first dates or losing your "identity" when others copy you.

The show is credited with its creation to David Sacks and the writing team has had success in other shows such as 3rd Rock from the Sun and The Big Band Theory, but the show feels like it has little to no understanding of its subject matter save for a few points. There are some references here and there to Pong, Frogger, and asteroids, and there are some walk on cameos by characters and mascots such as Crash Bandicoot and the Oddworld Inhabitants, but the most indepth piece of video game parody comes from Turbo who with his lechery, scheming and generally bad behavior I guess is supposed to be a parody of Sonic the Hedgehog type characters like Bubsy the Bobcat, Aero the Acrobat, and Gex. This illustrates the underlying problem with the show, namely that it doesn't seem to know anything about video games past the early to mid 90s. If they were going to do a show like this, then they should've tried to at least make an attempt to stay at least somewhat relevant.

The one point of praise one can say for Game Over is that it is a nice looking show. The geometry and polygons are well rendered and do well to avoid the uncanny valley(save for some scenes) and the characters are expressive and move with fluidity. With that said however the show's art direction is severely lacking when compared to reboot with rather bland and uninspired environments and an overall lack of creativity in its characters and settings.

Game Over has a decent enough premise, and a talented cast who has done good work elsewhere, but its technical competence does not make up for its poor writing and bland characters.

Network UPN; Genre: Animated Comedy; Rating: TV-PG (language, mild adult situations and mild animated violence); Available: DVD; Perspective: Contemporary (star range: 1 - 4);

Season Reviewed: Complete Series (6 episodes)

With CGI animation exploding on the big screen and the geniuses at Pixar turning it into a high art, it is only a natural progression that this style find it's way to the small screen. The footnote in the TV history books next to UPN's "Game Over" will be that it was the first primetime "adult" CGI animated series. Luckily too, because that is the only thing noteworthy about the show. Warning: this review will have a lot of references to other works. Try to keep count.

Created by David Sacks, "Game" actually has an odd, convoluted premise that is stripped down to a single line uttered by a narrator in the show's intro just to make sense of it. Have you ever wondered what happens to the video game characters when the game ends? This is the other side, where apparently all manner of species live together in human cities and have their daily routines interrupted by the adventures you might see in a video game. Really trying to think about the logistical reality of the world (or why there is a zombie in the school) will give you a bit of a headache, but the point is that this is where the Smashenburn family lives.

"Game" is jammed with video game references - some direct, some indirect and some using images so liberally I'm wondering how copy-write wasn't violated. The Smashenburn family is lead by mom Raquael (Lucy Liu) who looks more like "Tomb Raider's" Lara Croft than Angelina Jolie, dad Ripley (Patrick Warburton, typecast again) a NASCAR driver who can't seem to win on the track and strikes out communicating with his family, daughter Alice (Rachael Dratch, "Saturday Night Live") the typical non-conformist, nagging, protester daughter and son Billy (E.G. Daily, "Rugrats"), an airhead who talks exclusively in fads. They also have a cigar-chomping pet (Artie Lange, "Howard Stern") named Turbo who I guess is supposed to be Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog from hell.

I could sit here and hang this on the very real possibility that this show was rushed into production to be that first CGI series and that as a result all the characters are underdeveloped, but that doesn't quite do justice to how repellently annoying all of them (except Raquel) are. Ripley is the whiniest of all the whiny, childish, post-feminist TV dads since Bryan Cranston on "Malcolm in the Middle". Although I am consistently impressed with E.G. Daily, Billy is written in that stereotypical way that people think teenagers talk when they have never actually heard one. And Turbo is the Bender of the piece.

Speaking of, it would be a good contrast to put this up against Matt Groening's excellent "Futurama". Both shows are packed with nerdy in-jokes, but "Futurama's" are nerdier, smarter and more obscure. As "Futurama" showed us the computer and video game world is filled with clichés and annoyances just ripe for satire, but "Game" goes for only the most obvious sight gags. The pilot lifts directly into "Oddworld", a Crash Bandicoot with a milk mustache is prominently displayed, Mario is referenced by all the characters with awe and there are digs at everything else from "Frogger" to "Pong" to "Pitfall", any first person shooter and "Grand Theft Auto". Not word one of this is funny. The most clever bit in the entire series isn't even a video game joke, but a subtle reference to "That 70s Show's" basement circle - and I may even be reading to much into that.

The show's heart lies in it's "Tomb Raider" sequences where the animators get to put Rachael in all sorts of exotic caves and fight hideous monsters in her never-ending quest to find monkey statues made of every known element. These adventurous set-pieces are far and away the highlight of the series. It is also the time when the animators get to take the swooping CGI "camera" out for a lap around the block.

The fundamental problem with "Game" is that it doesn't know that. It puts the action sequences - what the show is good at - on the back burner and focuses almost exclusively on the kind of domestic family drama you can find on any studio audience CBS sitcom. Case in point: "Alice and the Cats" works because (aside from the fact that a B-story involving a Japanime character named Suki is so utterly bizarre) it uses the family dynamic as a catalyst for the action. The other episodes don't work, because they use the action as a catalyst for the family stories. Who cares if father and son end up playing Catch on a trip into the woods.

For what it's worth the show does look good in the animation department. It has a richly detailed landscape, not the mechanical movements of "Reboot" and the bare walls of the later Dreamworks effort "Father of the Pride". And Christopher Tyng's music is kind of cool too, though it borrows heavily from his "Futurama" theme.

"Game Over" was produced by Carsey-Warner productions which was also behind 2000's "God, the Devil & Bob". The two share the same quality of being animated shows produced by sitcom people, not cartoonists. "Game" is a prime example of how often TV shows would rather take a unique premise and squash it into the traditional mold then take a traditional premise and make it unique.

* / 4