The creator of Adventure Time returns with a trippy fantasy about life, death, and everything in between.
It’s difficult to explainThe Midnight Gospel, an unbelievably great animated series currently streaming onNetflix.
The blown mind struggles for straightforward description.
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There are sequences bone-dripped with hard-R freakout imagery but the vibe is whimsical, full of freewheeling conversation.
Much of the dialogue comes straight from co-creator Duncan Trussell’s interview podcastThe Duncan Trussell Family Hour.
Those discussions have been adapted into stories with goofily apocalyptic stakes.
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Comparisons are fun, if shriveling.
Imagine if the2001wormhole scene launched its own talk show.
Imagine Disney and Dali composing a dreamy ode to the Shy Guys fromSuper Mario Bros. 2.
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Is it cheating if I use some visual aids?
Midnight Gospelfixates on Clancy, a young (?)
who lives in a trailer with his “used Universe Simulator,” a bio-technological god computer.
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Episodes begin with our hero (?)
scrolling through the Universe Simulator’s collection of planets, programmed full of individuals and interactive environments.
Inside the Universe Simulator is, well, a universe.
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Clancy is an aspiring “spacecaster,” see, hosting a series calledThe Midnight Gospel.
Therealinterview subject is the person voicing that episode’s focal character.
Example: Fishbowl Man is played by Damien Echols, a member of the wrongfully imprisoned West Memphis Three.
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At the same time, Clancy’s adventures offer a timely portrait of loneliness in a culture-soaked age.
Clancy is sheltering in place far from anyone he knows, and burrowing deep into simulated worlds.
Is he, like, a videogame addict?
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Everyone Clancy interviews isreal, or as real as he is.
In this game, every non-playable character has a soul.
There have been attempts to animate podcasts, likeThe Ricky Gervais ShowandHarmonquest.
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This is the first time I’ve seen the adaptation process really work.
Midnight Gospel’s other co-creator is Pendleton Ward, the genius who invented Cartoon connection’sAdventure Time.
The subject matter is spiritual, and pretty druggy.
We live in a magic era of TV animation.
I get the sense, though, that most people still view cartoons kid stuff or stoner fodder.
The later episodes trend more ambitious.
The season finale is simply one of the most moving pieces of art I’ve ever seen.
There’s some kind of religious thing happening across great TV lately.
AMC’sLodge 49suggested that the recession created a cataclysm in the American soul, curable only with mystical community alchemy.
Midnight Gospelis heavier than those shows, insofar as its whole plot is “people talking about spirituality.”
But it’s lighter, too, in love with geeky genre thrills.
Even by Netflix’s throw-everything-at-the-wall standard, this is a new benchmark for utter unique eccentricity.
