Terra 2050 Review
Skwigly
I have an eight year old son whose major preoccupations in life are attempting to make a flying car from bits of old washing machine and used toilet roll, avoiding a bath and worrying about global warming and robots taking over the world. For all except the hygiene problem and for any scientific obsessive young and old, the new animation series Terra 2050 by Shroom productions for Channel 4, is an absolute godsend.
It has been said somewhere recently (Skwigly Editorial, if you need reminding) that there is very little creativity left in animation. As an animation writer, I would certainly wish that this is the case and sit back and await the project offers, but as an obsessive animation fan I would, with caution, beg to differ. Certainly Shroom, an East London based animation company, have shown admirable creativity in the concept and research for Terra 2050. Starting with stock popular scientific / sci-fi issues such as global warming, GM Foods, intelligent loos (?) etc, they have based this series of animated shorts on interviews with scientific luminaries such as professor Colin Pillinger (wasn’t he the boffin whose spaceship failed to find Mars?), the head gardener (sorry horticulturalist) from the Eden Project and representatives form the Met Office. Although whether the latter is qualified to talk authoritatively about the future is debatable. They have thoughtfully added to this, impressive research list, amongst others, a group of ladies from an ‘over 60’s club’, a local restaurant owner and the filmmakers 5 year old nephew. The film makers have thoughtfully included some children’s illustrations and dialogue from an 11 year old. This all helps to give the animation a Blue Peter kind of feel although this is not a criticism as I remain a very big ‘Bleep and Booster’ fan. The animation itself will not have Shroom dusting the award cabinet but it more than adequately entertains. Having been bold enough to add the children’s jet pack illustrations it may have been a braver option to add further children’s illustrations to the others shorts. Nevertheless it is a graphic mix which works well for most of the four, three minute films.
Shroom, in tackling the bulk of the populist scientific issues (although they have left off the more important issues for the older viewer such as, will science ever develop a train driver who will wake up on time) are to be congratulated. Their ambition in trying to cover these vast issues in a relatively short series is the animation equivalent of fitting Meatloaf into Kylies stage costume and the end result is just as entertaining.
Disappointingly the Shroom website ‘www.shroomstudio.com’ is a temporary one (i.e. it doesn’t work) so that it is difficult to find anything further about future productions. They are certainly a company to keep a plasticine eye on. Their concept for this series, which is a sort of animated but politicised ‘Tomorrow’s World’, is an excellent one. The series is tucked away in the Channel 4 schedules which are still sadly seen as an animation success. It is to be hoped that Shroom will see this as a first step for the concept rather than a culmination. I for one, wish them well. They may not be able to assist with my son’s hygiene problem (although I can see Shroom breaking into numerous ‘educational’ areas and I would offer them ‘Don’t smell like Great Uncle Dougie: A Young Boys Guide to Taking a Bath’) but they have a series format which is guaranteed to engage many.