I am a huge science fiction fan, it’s my favourite genre. Give me anything about space, robots, aliens, or the future and I’m all over it. I also adore David Fincher, he’s my favourite film director and his more recent foray into TV has always had me very excited, even if he is just a producer. So, when I saw David Fincher talk about Love, Death & Robots a few years back I was super hyped. Even more so when I saw that Blur Studios (who have animated some of my favourite video game cutscenes) was responsible for some episodes, I just needed it.
So, with Season 2 of Love, Death & Robots on the horizon, it’s time to look back at the first season of the adult animation anthology series with some of the greatest animated shorts I’ve ever seen.
Love, Death & Robots has a very straightforward premise. It consists of eighteen episodes, all of them totally unconnected from each other, and made by various different animation studios from around the world. Each episode deals with the themes of love, death, or robots…or a combination of the three. What each studio brings to the table varies greatly, with some episodes being comedies, some being action focused, some being horrors, and some leaning more into hard sci-fi; some are 2D, some are 3D, and the styles of animation vary greatly within those two categories. The average episode length is around ten minutes, which makes them the perfect length for binging, or if you prefer, watching an episode or two without taking too much time out of your day.
Now talking about an anthology series in a single review is no easy task as each episode is completely different to the last, and the quality will often vary greatly. However due to the very short length of the episodes, writing a review of each individual episode would probably be even more difficult because there wouldn’t be a huge amount to talk about. So, I’m going to talk specifically about what my favourite episodes do well, because I love all the episodes, they’re all great. In fact, I have almost nothing negative to say about the vast majority of the episodes, but there are some I love more than others and I’d really like to talk about them with you.
So, with Season 2 of Love, Death & Robots on the horizon, it’s time to look back at the first season of the adult animation anthology series with some of the greatest animated shorts I’ve ever seen.
Love, Death & Robots has a very straightforward premise. It consists of eighteen episodes, all of them totally unconnected from each other, and made by various different animation studios from around the world. Each episode deals with the themes of love, death, or robots…or a combination of the three. What each studio brings to the table varies greatly, with some episodes being comedies, some being action focused, some being horrors, and some leaning more into hard sci-fi; some are 2D, some are 3D, and the styles of animation vary greatly within those two categories. The average episode length is around ten minutes, which makes them the perfect length for binging, or if you prefer, watching an episode or two without taking too much time out of your day.
Now talking about an anthology series in a single review is no easy task as each episode is completely different to the last, and the quality will often vary greatly. However due to the very short length of the episodes, writing a review of each individual episode would probably be even more difficult because there wouldn’t be a huge amount to talk about. So, I’m going to talk specifically about what my favourite episodes do well, because I love all the episodes, they’re all great. In fact, I have almost nothing negative to say about the vast majority of the episodes, but there are some I love more than others and I’d really like to talk about them with you.
First up is ‘Three Robots’. This episode follows three robots as they take a vacation in a post-apocalyptic destroyed city, following the extinction of humanity. Despite the episodes dark premise, it’s actually a comedy and one of the funniest episodes in the whole season. Seeing the robots interact with what humanity left behind, and objects of significance in the same way we look at historical objects from thousands of years ago is genius. The animation is a highly detailed, realistic looking 3D style. Where particularly the detail in the model of a cat is a standout moment, as well as the way the lighting reacts to different surfaces.
Another comedy episode is ‘When the Yogurt Took Over’. This episode chronicles the rise of sentient yogurt bacteria who solve all of the world’s problems and help humanity to become an advanced civilisation. It’s a very silly concept but it does highlight the level of incompetence that humanity has as a race that even when offered solutions to all of our problems we still manage to screw it all up. This episode is also 3D animated and looks very simple and cartoonish. It’s also one of the shorter episodes in the series, so despite not having quite the level of complexity of some of the other episodes it doesn’t overstay its welcome despite exploring the premise thoroughly.
‘Zima Blue’ is another excellent episode that deals with purpose. Initially artistic purpose, and what art means, but gradually shifting into the purpose of existence, and whether individuals are designed with a purpose from the beginning. This episode is strikingly beautiful with bold colours, dark shadows, and angular 2D animation. It’s one that’ll definitely leave you thinking as the credits roll.
‘Good Hunting’ is an East Asian tale about a young man who develops a bond with a shapeshifting creature. The tale has some steampunk themes and some pretty cool action sequences, as well as some gorgeous Avatar: The Last Airbender style animation. It’s a concept I’d love to see taken further into a feature length story as I feel like it really has a whole lot more to offer than what we get to see in the episode.
Another comedy episode is ‘When the Yogurt Took Over’. This episode chronicles the rise of sentient yogurt bacteria who solve all of the world’s problems and help humanity to become an advanced civilisation. It’s a very silly concept but it does highlight the level of incompetence that humanity has as a race that even when offered solutions to all of our problems we still manage to screw it all up. This episode is also 3D animated and looks very simple and cartoonish. It’s also one of the shorter episodes in the series, so despite not having quite the level of complexity of some of the other episodes it doesn’t overstay its welcome despite exploring the premise thoroughly.
‘Zima Blue’ is another excellent episode that deals with purpose. Initially artistic purpose, and what art means, but gradually shifting into the purpose of existence, and whether individuals are designed with a purpose from the beginning. This episode is strikingly beautiful with bold colours, dark shadows, and angular 2D animation. It’s one that’ll definitely leave you thinking as the credits roll.
‘Good Hunting’ is an East Asian tale about a young man who develops a bond with a shapeshifting creature. The tale has some steampunk themes and some pretty cool action sequences, as well as some gorgeous Avatar: The Last Airbender style animation. It’s a concept I’d love to see taken further into a feature length story as I feel like it really has a whole lot more to offer than what we get to see in the episode.
‘Helping Hand’ is a shorter, and gorier version of the 2013 film Gravity. A spacewalk goes horribly wrong leaving an astronaut floating in space, leading her to make some horrific sacrifices in order to survive. Whilst this episode is certainly a great looking 3D animated episode, it’s the way the story manages to cram in just the right amount of shock value without overdoing it that makes this one of my favourites.
‘The Witness’ is one of the most visually distinct episodes in the series that toes the lines between live action, 3D animated, and 2D animated. When a woman witnesses a murder, she is chased through the streets of the city she lives in by the murderer, only to discover that she and the murderer are in an endless loop of mistakenly killing each other, switching roles between pursuer and the pursued each time. It’s also one of the more…adult episodes, with some very explicit sexual imagery and a whole lot of gratuitous nudity.
Finally, there’s ‘Beyond the Aquilla Rift’ which is by far my favourite episode in the series. After a lightspeed jump goes wrong, the captain of a spaceship awakes to find himself docked at an unknown space station far beyond the outer regions of the Milky Way, thousands of lightyears off course. However, as he learns more about the station and the people aboard it the more he questions the reality around him with horrific results.
I would love to see this expanded and turned into a film, I don’t think it’s got enough material for a series, but I could get into a two-hour psychological horror adaptation of this story.
Do I recommend Love, Death & Robots? Absolutely, one hundred percent. So long as you like sci-fi you’ll love this show. You may not like every episode, depending on your tastes, but considering the extremely high quality of all the episodes in the show you may even find yourself loving things that would normally be outside of your area of interest. Considering the short episode length, I would say it’s a crime not to check out at least some of Love, Death & Robots, and it is without a doubt one of the best reasons to have a Netflix subscription.
‘The Witness’ is one of the most visually distinct episodes in the series that toes the lines between live action, 3D animated, and 2D animated. When a woman witnesses a murder, she is chased through the streets of the city she lives in by the murderer, only to discover that she and the murderer are in an endless loop of mistakenly killing each other, switching roles between pursuer and the pursued each time. It’s also one of the more…adult episodes, with some very explicit sexual imagery and a whole lot of gratuitous nudity.
Finally, there’s ‘Beyond the Aquilla Rift’ which is by far my favourite episode in the series. After a lightspeed jump goes wrong, the captain of a spaceship awakes to find himself docked at an unknown space station far beyond the outer regions of the Milky Way, thousands of lightyears off course. However, as he learns more about the station and the people aboard it the more he questions the reality around him with horrific results.
I would love to see this expanded and turned into a film, I don’t think it’s got enough material for a series, but I could get into a two-hour psychological horror adaptation of this story.
Do I recommend Love, Death & Robots? Absolutely, one hundred percent. So long as you like sci-fi you’ll love this show. You may not like every episode, depending on your tastes, but considering the extremely high quality of all the episodes in the show you may even find yourself loving things that would normally be outside of your area of interest. Considering the short episode length, I would say it’s a crime not to check out at least some of Love, Death & Robots, and it is without a doubt one of the best reasons to have a Netflix subscription.