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"This sounds dildos."
Have you ever watched a show and wondered, "Why the hell am I enjoying this?" Have you ever watched something so stupid, insipid, sexist, racist, dark and dismal that you feel guilty for enjoying the sheer hilarity of it?
That was my experience with Metalocalypse.
Somebody who shall remain anonymous explained the show to me like this: "It's this Adult Swim show that premiered in August and it got like the highest ratings ever and there's all these famous musician guest stars and merchandise tie-ins and it's like a phenomenon, dude! and Mark Hamill does the voice of the villains."
The last bit sold me. So I went to check it out.
The premise of the show is thus: Dethklok is a half-American, half-Scandinavian metal band whose members have a low collective IQ, and who are only concerned with leading the most "metal" lifestyle possible. Dethklok is also the world's most popular band (and the twelfth-largest economy in the world), claiming most of this planet's population as devoted, fanatical fans. Wherever Dethklok goes and whatever they do, they leave a wake of brutal destruction and bloodshed behind them. Dethklok's power to influence the world population has brought them to the attention of a secret cabal of top military, government, and religious leaders, who spend every episode plotting to undermine Dethklok.
As with most Adult Swim shows, the premise sounds a lot funnier than it actually plays out. At least, that was my impression of the first couple of episodes of Metalocalypse. But then, I dunno, the show kind of... reverse-jumped the shark, or something. The first episode that made me laugh all the way through was "Dethtroll", and then for some reason I just couldn't stop laughing. Maybe it took me a couple of episodes to get used to Metalocalypse's brand of gore-soaked, bleak humor. Or maybe the music finally hooked me in. But anyway, I now officially love Metalocalypse, and I feel kind of guilty about it, the same way that I feel kind of guilty about loving metal rock music in the first place.
But here's why I keep watching Metalocalypse over and over again, and why I'm going to keep watching it:
For Toki. For Ofdensen, the most ruthlessly awesome and hilariously evil manager ever. For Nathan. For Nathan drinking barbeque sauce straight from the bottle. For Nathan's "metal" reading of the complete works of William Shakespeare. For Murderknobs. For Toki. For Pickles and his alchohol soup. For the cop that is also (dun! dun! dun!) a serial killer. For "I love Sausage Festival!" For the Space Vikings. For Skwisgaar turning "dildo" into a verb, an adjective, and and adverb. For Doctor Rockso. For Toki. For the defacing of Mount Rushmore. For the viking funerals. For Toki and Skwisgaar's mangled English. For William finding and losing religion. For Toki glueing his face to a wall. For the banana stickers. For Nathan learning that "we can buy psychological validation." For the senseless slaughter of the London Philharmonic. For Toki. Did I mention for Toki?
Toki and Ofdensen are far and away my favorite characters. Ofdensen wasn't even in the early episodes, so I feel as though he was added as an afterthought, but he eventually becomes one of the most important (and most hilarious) characters in the show. He's great fun to watch on screen, being in turns sternly fatherly to the members of Dethklok, and brutally, mercilessly protective of their interests. The band members refuse to listen to anyone except Ofdensen, which shows how hard-core he is. And Toki... Toki is just great. There are no words for the greatness that is Toki.
Nathan and Skwisgaar are tied for my second-favorite characters. Pickles comes next, because I love the way that an off-the-wall character like Pickles can actually be the voice of reason and sanity compared to the rest of his band.
Okay, I'm done now. Watch this show if you like metal and/or can bring yourself to think that the members of the London Philharmonic being sliced in half by a laser show gone wrong is hilarious. If not... I wouldn't watch this, if I were you.
That was my experience with Metalocalypse.
Somebody who shall remain anonymous explained the show to me like this: "It's this Adult Swim show that premiered in August and it got like the highest ratings ever and there's all these famous musician guest stars and merchandise tie-ins and it's like a phenomenon, dude! and Mark Hamill does the voice of the villains."
The last bit sold me. So I went to check it out.
The premise of the show is thus: Dethklok is a half-American, half-Scandinavian metal band whose members have a low collective IQ, and who are only concerned with leading the most "metal" lifestyle possible. Dethklok is also the world's most popular band (and the twelfth-largest economy in the world), claiming most of this planet's population as devoted, fanatical fans. Wherever Dethklok goes and whatever they do, they leave a wake of brutal destruction and bloodshed behind them. Dethklok's power to influence the world population has brought them to the attention of a secret cabal of top military, government, and religious leaders, who spend every episode plotting to undermine Dethklok.
As with most Adult Swim shows, the premise sounds a lot funnier than it actually plays out. At least, that was my impression of the first couple of episodes of Metalocalypse. But then, I dunno, the show kind of... reverse-jumped the shark, or something. The first episode that made me laugh all the way through was "Dethtroll", and then for some reason I just couldn't stop laughing. Maybe it took me a couple of episodes to get used to Metalocalypse's brand of gore-soaked, bleak humor. Or maybe the music finally hooked me in. But anyway, I now officially love Metalocalypse, and I feel kind of guilty about it, the same way that I feel kind of guilty about loving metal rock music in the first place.
But here's why I keep watching Metalocalypse over and over again, and why I'm going to keep watching it:
For Toki. For Ofdensen, the most ruthlessly awesome and hilariously evil manager ever. For Nathan. For Nathan drinking barbeque sauce straight from the bottle. For Nathan's "metal" reading of the complete works of William Shakespeare. For Murderknobs. For Toki. For Pickles and his alchohol soup. For the cop that is also (dun! dun! dun!) a serial killer. For "I love Sausage Festival!" For the Space Vikings. For Skwisgaar turning "dildo" into a verb, an adjective, and and adverb. For Doctor Rockso. For Toki. For the defacing of Mount Rushmore. For the viking funerals. For Toki and Skwisgaar's mangled English. For William finding and losing religion. For Toki glueing his face to a wall. For the banana stickers. For Nathan learning that "we can buy psychological validation." For the senseless slaughter of the London Philharmonic. For Toki. Did I mention for Toki?
Toki and Ofdensen are far and away my favorite characters. Ofdensen wasn't even in the early episodes, so I feel as though he was added as an afterthought, but he eventually becomes one of the most important (and most hilarious) characters in the show. He's great fun to watch on screen, being in turns sternly fatherly to the members of Dethklok, and brutally, mercilessly protective of their interests. The band members refuse to listen to anyone except Ofdensen, which shows how hard-core he is. And Toki... Toki is just great. There are no words for the greatness that is Toki.
Nathan and Skwisgaar are tied for my second-favorite characters. Pickles comes next, because I love the way that an off-the-wall character like Pickles can actually be the voice of reason and sanity compared to the rest of his band.
Okay, I'm done now. Watch this show if you like metal and/or can bring yourself to think that the members of the London Philharmonic being sliced in half by a laser show gone wrong is hilarious. If not... I wouldn't watch this, if I were you.