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Titan Maximum: Season One Review

One hundred years in the future, our solar system is protected by Titan Force Five, a squadron of crack pilots whose spaceships combine to form the giant robot Titan Maximum. After years of peace, the inactive team must hastily reassemble to square off against the biggest threat humanity has ever faced - but before they save the day, this new version of Titan Force Five must overcome their astounding incompetence.

Welcome to the world of Titan Maximum, 50% Power Rangers, 23% Voltron, and 64% Thunderbirds Are Go! This stop-motion series combines the worst of all those shows with the best of Robot Chicken and rolls it up into a 9-episode giant robot parody, the likes of which you've never seen before.

And there's a monkey, because, dang it, a monkey makes every TV show better. Just ask Greg Evigan.

The series was created by Tom Root and Matthew Senreich and includes the creative input and voices of Seth Green, Breckin Meyer, Rachael Leigh Cook and Dan Milano. There are also scifi guest voices like Billy Dee Williams as Admiral Bitchface, Adrianne Palicki as a little girl who is a demonic super villian and Tahmoh Penikett as a sex-addicted, rich boy who plays pilot for fun.

Unlike Robot Chicken, Titan Maximum has an actual, and rather complex, backstory behind it and each episode has an actual plot. Not always much of a plot, but a plot. Like Robot Chicken, the humor is over-the-top, often gross and, big warning here, full of foul language. This isn't a DVD for kids.

The most amazing thing about this series is the production itself. They use a combination of stop-motion animation and computer graphics and they meld them together in a nearly seamless fashion. The DVD contains some behind the scenes featurettes where you'll see the level of detail that goes into the sets and costumes and the lighting guy on this show works as hard as any in the TV business.

As fun as the show is, the special features are what makes this DVD worth buying. Tom, Matt and Seth Green take you inside the process with "Anatomy of a Sequence" and you'll get to see the actors try on different voices as the first table read. The commentaries are as funny as the show, so that's twice the laughs and the pop-up trivia portion will load you up with fun facts you can use to stump your friends.

The most ridiculous, and in some ways, the funniest special feature is an attempt at a live redub. Like a sketch from Whose Line is It Anyway, the actors sat down in front of an episode and attempted to dub in new dialogue on the fly. They go from mildly funny, to swing and a miss, to a chaotic mess and soon realize that this was a bad idea. Not their most brilliant moment, but you have to give them credit for trying something out there and new. I'd love to hear the cast of my favorite shows overdub each other on the fly, so kudos to the company for not only trying it, but for including the attempt on the DVD.

If you're a fan of giant robot movies, TV shows where puppets save the world, or you've gone, gone with the Power Rangers, you'll love Titan Maximum. It's like getting a super-awesome toy at Christmas with batteries included.

Titan Maximum: Season One Overview

Titan Maximum: Season One Specifications

Created by Tom Root and Matthew Seinrich of Robot Chicken fame, the stop-motion animated series Titan Maximum follows in its predecessor's footsteps by skewering a fanboy-favorite genre--specifically, Japan's Super Sentai, which pits giant robots against outlandish monsters--with the same level of hilarious pop culture obsession and below-the-belt humor that made their first series an Emmy-winning hit. Titan Maximum follows all the touchstones of the Sentai meme--the youthful crew of the title mecha is torn asunder (by budget cuts), only to reassemble when a former member (voiced by executive producer Seth Green) attempts to overtake the solar system--but with one significant difference: the crew are, at best, complete idiots, and at worst, the most awful people imaginable. Their inability to get past their own egos and ineptitude form the backbone of the first season's nine episodes, which, unlike Chicken's machine-gun bursts of sketches, actually follow a story arc; it's one of several elements that set it apart from that series, as well as improved animation and scripting. That's not to say that the humor in Titan Maximum is any more sophisticated--crotch trauma, obscene gestures, and berserk party girl/crew member Sasha Caylo's every action should assure viewers that the show is definitely for grown-ups--but the attempt to blend a consistent story line with a barrage of jokes is a definite step forward. The robot action also does a fine job of balancing parody with appreciation for the real thing, with several sequences offering a seamless mix of CG and stop-motion animation, and the vocal talent, which includes Robot Chicken vets Breckin Meyer, Rachael Leigh Cook, Eden Espinoza, Billy Dee Williams, and Dan Milano (Greg the Bunny), handle their outrageous characters with the appropriate degree of near hysteria.

Extras on the single-disc set are plentiful and highlighted by over a dozen commentary tracks for the nine episodes; though you might have to do some digging to find them (they're listed in the episode selection menu), you'll hear Green, Root, and producer-director Chris McKay, as well as several of the cast members, offering some amusing observations on every episode, with a second audio track featuring members of the production crew on five episodes. There's also an impressive exploration of a 40-second sequence as it moves from animatic to final version, while interviews with the cast and crew--some serious, some less so--give a history of the series and its production. The supplements are rounded out by a peek at a scene read-through with the cast, a frantic "Episode Re-Dub" featuring the cast and crew winging their way through "Went to Party, Got Crabs," and even a mini comic that brings viewers up to speed with the show's back story. Oh, and for the curious, the whole thing's uncut, which means that the frequent strong language is in full cry here. --Paul Gaita

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Customer Reviews

Watched Season One: Got Crabs - Jason - Backwater, Alabama
Just imagine the Robot Chicken creative voices teaming together with George Carlin, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and Sam Kinison (preferably alive) to make a Voltron parody with enough censorable material to make the cast of Scarface blush. Add in a monkey with a persistent 1000-yard stare that gets funnier each time he's shown, and the product is pure gold. Well, believe it or not, they did it without all that help (Kinison's corpse may have been involved).

The story behind Titan Maximum is essentially a futuristic tale in which five pilots form an unlikely team called the Titan Force Five - named so because of Saturn's moon - and battle the solar system's evil foes with creativity, crassness, cunning, and cursing. And if they happen to curse like sailors on shore leave? Fine with me. Suppose they join ships into a pseudo-Voltron that inevitably promotes their affinity for punching enemies in the groin? So be it. The fact that their primary enemy is a genius but immature former copilot is just icing on the cake. A cake that has a middle finger instead of a candle.

With pop culture references all over the place - three favorites of mine were from Top Gun, Over the Top, and Soulja Boy's "Crank That" - and extremely crude humor, it's quickly established that absolutely nothing, including mass genocide for a planet full of octogenarians, is off limits. Sign me up.

If you like Robot Chicken, you'll love this. I laughed almost continuously, and the fact that the plot continues over multiple episodes just made the recurring jokes that much more funny.

Jason Elin

Loving it - The Werewolf Mage - Georgia, USA
I have liked Titan Maximum ever since seeing the two minute preview. But then that's the type of humor I can really get into. Dirty, sometimes smutty, stupid humor. Titan Maximum has definitely become one of my favorite shows on Adult Swim, probably second only to Venture Bros.

The parodies are ripe for the picking, including a Top Gun parody with two senior citizens. The characters offer a nice variety, from self absorbed Commander Palmer to Titan's sweetheart (but has a thing for villains in eye patches) Jodi Yanerella, to the only competent character on the show (who I personally feel sorry for, stuck working with nitwits before his move to conquer the solar system) Gibson "Gibbs" Giberstein. I'm waiting anxiously for a second season, can't wait to see what would be done with them all!

The only reason I didn't give it a full blown five is the DVD features. It seems we were given a lot, but I just felt them lacking. And the deleted scenes! Most were great! I was saddened by the fact that some weren't included. But despite that fact I watch it so often I'm terrified I'll have to get a new copy. Nothing beats actually being able to watch the episodes whenever I want instead of waiting for the Adult Swim lineup to shuffle. Yet again.

Like a dozen Hitlers running a train on your childhood. - trashcanman - Hanford, CA United States
Sooooooo, how are you with compulsively vulgar stop-motion animated Voltron parodies? Yeah? Good. The sick S.O.B's who gave Robot Chicken to the world decided to do something with an actual plot and characters and it is gloriously base and obscene. I love it. Titan Maximum takes all of your wonderful giant robot-related childhood memories and touches them in all the naughty places. With a villain who slings middle fingers like Santa gives candy canes on Christmas and a "heroic" team consisting of the world's biggest d-bag, his nerdy little brother, an all-American girl next door type with a serious bad streak, a pop-music skank, and a monkey with a strangely unnerving (and neverending) stare how could you not love this show? Oh. Right. You're one of those people with "standards". Well, la-dee-da, Mr. Fancypants. I like my humor base and profane and good lord does this show deliver on that front.

Aside from the pilot, the episodes are typical Adult Swim 11 (or so) minute morsels of wonderfulness. But what sets Titan Maximum apart is that it has an actual story arc as opposed to the usual standalone eps of other shows of this type and the sketch comedy format of Robot Chicken. That means character development, right? Maybe? Well, maybe if a character can be developed as it stares cooly at the screen or screams genitalia-based threats at the other characters. No genre cliche goes unmocked and the constant barrage of insult humor is brutal. Running gags are to be expected as well. And as far as teamwork between cast members.......well, here's an excerpt of dialogue from a Titan Force 5 strategy session:

"Hold on, Palmer! We don't know anything about this creature!"
"We know it has a crotch and we have a fist. Meeting adjourned."

GOLD!

Titan Maximum is many things. Things I am too lazy to mention so I will skip to the good stuff. Stuff such as it's really damn funny. And what more could you ask for? There's songs about booty that sound suspiciously like something Fergie would put out, billions of senior citizens roasted, rape humor, giant monster attacks, and believe it or not there is an homage to the film "Over the Top". That's an 80's-era arm-wrestling movie, kid! It exists. Lots of commentaries on the disc along with trailers, a featurette or two, and even an episode with a dub completely ad-libbed on the spot. Ummmm....gee....thanks guys. You shouldn't have. Really. Anyways, if you're a big Robot Chicken fan or just want to laugh hard at some of the crudest humor that can be bought played out with modified action figures, then this is you cup of tea. Now buy this set before I whip you like an uppity rentboy!

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Oct 31, 2010 18:15:06

Animation

Sunday, October 31, 2010