The author of "Rick and Morty" has released "Crapopolis". It turned out to be incredibly exciting
Miscellaneous / / September 26, 2023
On September 24, the premiere of the series “Krapopolis” took place. Dan Harmon, the creator of Community and Rick and Morty, has once again come up with an absurd and funny cartoon with great jokes.
"Krapopolis" has an unusual fate. Fox ordered the first season from Dan Harmon back in 2020. Then it was planned that the premiere would take place in 2022. But production dragged on, dates shifted. The TV channel decided that this was not a problem, and therefore ordered a second season. Dan Harmon continued to work, and, apparently, Fox producers loved the sketches so much that in May 2023, 4 months before the premiere, they extended the project for a third season.
The series tells about the ancient Greek city of Krapopolis. It is led by Tyrannis, who dreams of creating a civilization - although he himself does not understand what he means. He is helped (and sometimes hindered) by his brother Hippocampus, sister Stupendus, as well as his mother, the goddess Delirium, and his father Schlab. Tyrannis is forced to negotiate with the barbarians, fight the wrath of the gods and come up with ways to unite the population.
Aggressive and very different humor
Harmon's previous project, "Strange planet", looked too soft and even cute compared to "Rick and Morty". “Krapopolis” is noticeably different - it is bright and aggressive. Literally everything that is known about Ancient Greece becomes the object of jokes. It goes as far as slut shaming of the goddess of attractiveness (her lifestyle angers Athena) and distortion of myths.
Many jokes are based on anachronisms. For example, a sports competition has commentators who work in the same way as modern ones. But at the same time, they admit that they are not able to predict when the tournament will end, since “the measurement of time is not yet invented».
But at the heart of the series is the long-standing interest of Dan Harmon, who has always been fascinated by the logical inconsistencies in society - on This is what “Community” was built on, and the conflict with alien civilizations in “Rick and Morty”, and the whole concept of “Strange Planet”. The ideal hero, according to Harmon, is the one who thinks for a second and does not understand why people are calm accept the state of affairs, for example they want to get an unnecessary education or consider something simple unethical. It is quite logical that the screenwriter got to the birth of civilization.
Ancient Greece and its vast heritage gives Harmon a wealth of potential oddities upon which to base his jokes. In one scene, Tyrannis states that the creation of civilization is a good thing, because it will allow people to become lazy and fat.
Interesting characters
"Krapopolis" is a whole treasure trove of characters, one way or another connected with myths. Sometimes the characters are completely borrowed, sometimes they are created more based on motives. Tyrannis's mother is Delirium, the goddess of human attractiveness who can transform into anything. However, this does not prevent her from being the goddess of self-destruction. The result is a mixture of Eros, Aphrodite and Dionysus.
Long-familiar heroes are not as simple as one might expect. Hermes turns out to be the main gossip of Greece, Athena - a bloodthirsty warrior, disrupting peace negotiations for the sake of battle. Well, the father of the main character, Shlab, plays for all the “half” creatures: when describing himself, he says “I’m half scorpio, half a lion, half eagle, half horse, half man." Due to Delirium's active sex life, Tyrannis has a half-cyclops half-sister and a half-mermaid half-brother.
Based on the first episodes, it seems that the original characters are more interesting than the classic ones: they are simply more absurd. Perhaps the situation will change in future episodes.
Unrealized potential yet
Despite the original idea and the abundance of unusual characters, in some places “Krapopolis” is too much reminiscent of famous animated series. The analogies can be drawn endlessly: Schlab and Peter Griffin, Tyrannis and Steve Smith, Hippocampus and Roger Smith. The interactions between the characters are also quite understandable, which leads to predictability.
On the other hand, familiar archetypes create a reliable structure for the series, keeping it from going too far into dangerous experiments. Harmon can draw on the experience of "American Dad" or "Family Guy", playing with a completely different setting. This predictability can help Krapopolis stay on screens for a long time.
At the same time, even a powerful structure of clear archetypes does not help Harmon make a strong first season without any buts. There is a feeling of dampness, an incomplete understanding of the very idea of the series - the huge heritage of Greek mythology is used too superficially. This is a small and solvable problem, since we are talking about a Dan Harmon cartoon that can turn a project around on the fly. «Community"in the first and third seasons are completely different series both in terms of quality and in terms of concept. It is obvious that Krapopolis will accelerate and change over time. The first two episodes show that the series has enormous potential, it just hasn't been realized yet.
"Crapopolis" looks like a potential hit that could stay on screen for a long time. The bright idea, varied humor and courage of the scriptwriters are already pleasing. If Harmon can (and he most likely can) solve the minor shortcomings of the first episodes and work on the concept, then we have the next “big one” series. And Fox's faith in the project suggests that Harmon will be given both time and creative freedom.
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