I Watch TV: Creature Commandos

 

Creature Commandos

Amanda Waller, director of ARGUS, a spy agency in the DC superhero multimedia property, has been banned from using human prisoners with superpowers to deal with problems (see various Suicide Squads). There is a loophole, in that some of the prisoners are not human. She puts together a team consisting of The Bride (Bride of Frankenstein), GI Robot (World War 2 Nazi killing robot), Weasel (strange non-speaking beast), Dr Phosphorous (amoral burning skeleton), and Nina Mazursky (mutated person who can only breath underwater who goes about in a water-filled suit*) led by actual human Rick Flagg Sr. They’re sent to fictional Eastern European nation Pokolistan whose heir to the throne Princess Ilana is being threatened by Circe, a rogue Amazon magician seeking to take over the Amazon homeland.

Pokolistan turns out to be the home of the Bride, the place where she was created to be the Bride of Eric Frankenstein (the monster) but instead fell in love with Victor Frankenstein (the creator). This leads to her origin story, which reveals the format of the show; while the plot moves forward a little in the present the origin story of each of the creature commandos (and also Eric Frankenstein) is revealed.

The plot itself is slightly tangled; Princess Ilana seduces Rick Flagg Sr, allowing the Creature Commandos to wander off on their own business; eventually they confront and capture Circe; back in the US Circe reveals that she wants to kill the Princess as she (the Princess) will start World War 3; Amanda Waller sends the Commandos back to kill the Princess only for Rick Flagg Sr and Eric Frankenstein to discover this is a trick. Between gruesome, gory fights, six origin stories, some occasional actual conversations and this story, it moves swiftly, fairly stuffed in it’s short running time (7 episodes of just under half an hour).

This is an animated TV show, for adults, in that it is gory and has swearwords, and also isn’t afraid to confront us with actual difficult, complex situations. The Bride is stalked by Frankenstein for nearly two hundred years, the two immortal. Nina is rejected by her family and by mankind in general. Weasel isn’t guilty of what he’s accused of (though he is a violent monster). Rick Flagg Sr tries and fails to maintain a professional stance to the ludicrous events. None of which register especially, with the over the top violence and stylised confrontations. If we’re watching we probably like the characters for their dark, snarky dialogue, their iconic design and their funny ways of being beaten and returning worse on their enemies. Do we need the sympathetic backstory? Can it sustain itself for a second season, when it relies so much on flashback origin stories? That matters little, this is fine in itself, if neither ambitious nor great.

Watch This: Violent and often fun superhero cartoon
Don’t Watch This: Goes out of it’s way to try and convince you it’s just gory nonsense and it would be rude to deny it

* Continuing the theme from the (now non-canon) Suicide Squad film of putting together a team to counter the Justice League if they should go rogue, there always has to be an anti-Aquaman I guess