The Golden Axe TV series on Paramount+

[Jahydin]

Wow... that was awful. Was really hoping for a Western Record of Lodoss War, but of course it's the same tired millennial meta humor as ever other "adult" cartoon.

Thanks @GreyLord for posting the episodes for us.

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

Pro Tip: If you unplug the machine and then plug it back in you get a free game!

That's when the angry mob of quarter clerks first chased young Jahydin with pitchforks.

 

[sevenbastard]

I played a fair amount of Golden Ax on my friends Sega, but i am not sure I remember any of the lore or that it had a story outside of hack hack hack. So it feels like a odd choice to make a series about regardless if it is serious or not.

That said I would play a Golden Axe tactical battle RPG and something like D&D 4e would be perfect for that.

 

[Mad_Jack]

Wow... that was awful. Was really hoping for a Western Record of Lodoss War, but of course it's the same tired millennial meta humor as ever other "adult" cartoon.

Yeah, I watched about twelve minutes of the first episode and turned it off - it's like they were trying to make an entire episode out of nothing but punchlines.

 

[Belen]

I played a bit of the Golden Axe series decades ago. I enjoyed the series.

Just saw this cartoon and I hated it thus far...at least the first episode. It's a travesty of the highest mockery. It feels more like someone who took an idea to mock the game rather than to actually respect the game. Maybe that's what the younger generation likes these days, but I hated the first episode. Looking for a reason to watch more, but was so turned off after the first episode that I can't see me finishing the series. It seems based off of the 2nd and 3rd games rather than the first one.

This feels like a lot of writers these days. When someone brags that they got writers who are not fans of the material, then I am out.

 

[Jahydin]

Just saw this cartoon and I hated it thus far...at least the first episode. It's a travesty of the highest mockery. It feels more like someone who took an idea to mock the game rather than to actually respect the game. Maybe that's what the younger generation likes these days, but I hated the first episode.

Missed this comment before I made my last post. I feel exactly the same, except I think that "Younger generation" = millennials in their late 30s and early 40s (at least as far as writers are concerned). My only guess is a lot of these people grew up loving that style of humor when it was new and novel, but lack the love of the original source material and the actual wit to say something insightful as say, Kevin Smith waxing intellectual about Star Wars in Clerks. Most of it just comes off as shallow observations of story patterns without any real thought into why there's patterns to begin with. Like noticing most strong, male leaders are stoic fellows with large muscles and long beards, so I'm going to make my mine an insecure, asthmatic pipsqueak! I'm so smart!

Maybe even more so though, the internet via Reddit, TVTropes, Tumblr, etc. has made everyone an expert on all things meta, so seeing it in actual media feels like beating a dead horse. I don't think I'm the only one who's craving actual authentic takes on franchises; most of the "YouTube creator" movies seem to be doing pretty successful doing just that...

 

[GMMichael]

I got through 64 seconds. I'm not opposed to a snarky take on Golden Axe, but I am opposed to one that isn't funny.

Who's the writer? ChatGPT?

 

[GMMichael]

There's a link for some authentic Golden Axe.

In fairness, the original game begins with generic plot ("we're all avenging family deaths"), bikini armor, charging at enemies ala Call of Duty, and kicking dwarves. . . I'm not sure how much respect needs to be delivered.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Who's the writer? ChatGPT?

Lisa Gilroy, at least, is an S-tier improv comedian (she absolutely kills on Make Some Noise), and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of this was improv around a very loosely written outline.

 

[Alzrius]

I played a bit of the Golden Axe series decades ago. I enjoyed the series.

Just saw this cartoon and I hated it thus far...at least the first episode. It's a travesty of the highest mockery. It feels more like someone who took an idea to mock the game rather than to actually respect the game.

It's unfortunate that this seems to be the case for a lot of properties these days.

I get that the original Golden Axe was paper thin in terms of plot, world-building, and characterization. But it didn't make fun of itself; no one was winking at the camera the way this show seems to be every few seconds. For me, that's a problem, and not just because I'm tired of the postmodernist trend of mistaking bathos for self-awareness.

The entire point of using an existing property is to appeal to fans of that property, otherwise why not just make an original show? But the thing is that those original fans have invested in more than just the characters or the stories; they're invested in the manner in which those things are depicted. In other words, the genre. Taking something which presented itself seriously and making it into a constant punchline doesn't feel like it understands why the fans liked it to begin with; it feels like they're mocking that.

Showrunners (or whoever decides how something is presented) don't seem to understand that. They seem to think that if they personally can't take something seriously, then no one else can either, and so the only way to handle something is to treat it like the joke they think it is. Maybe they think that will widen the appeal (since they also seem to be of the opinion that the original fans will show up based on name-recognition alone), but I'd be surprised if it does, if for no other reason than we're flooded with content these days, and there's a surplus of everything.

I should also note that humor in a serious property isn't out of line; it's just that (if it wasn't humorous to begin with) it needs to be treated as comedy relief, as in, something that's a brief aside before returning to the original tone. Even then, this comedic aside should be presented in a way that's contextual to what's happening rather than saying "this is all really rather stupid, don't you think?"