Maximum Entertainment

Titan Maximum
(2009)

4 Stars

As regular readers will know, I spend far too many hours of my life searching for those rare gems of TV gold that do occasionally surface amongst the general drudge of televisual mundanity.

One of the few channels to regularly deliver little unknown cult gems is the home of “grown up” cartoonage, Adult Swim. Over the past few years, AS has given us such classics as Robot Chicken and Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law, as well as being the current home to the more mainstream hits Family Guy and South Park.

Having exhausted Robot Chicken over the past few months (I may or may not do a review shortly, dependant on my mood), I was delighted to discover another little show from creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, along with writer Tom Root.

Titan Maximum, like its predecessor, is a wonderfully fun adventure in stop-motion animation, this time taking us into the all too familiar world of giant robot space escapades. Paying homage to Voltron, Battle of the Planets, Power Rangers and just about any teenagers/battle robot-based show, Titan Maximum tells, over nine ten minute episodes, an intricate tale of adventure, romance and betrayal, interspersed with cutting comedy and captivating crudeness, all spiced up with a crotch-crunching robot.

A cast of loathable yet loveable characters, ranging from douche-bag egocentric hero Palmer, sex symbol Sasha and the fantastic Admiral Bitchface, brought to life by a collection of some of the finest voice actors in the business; Breckin Meyer, Seth Green, Rachel Leigh Cook and even the legendary Billy Dee Williams, create a truly memorable experience, interspersed with one of the sharpest scripts I’ve seen in an adult cartoon in a long time.

Low viewing figures has left Titan Maximum’s future uncertain, but rest assured, this is a ball-busting piece of genius from a team that never fails to impress.