Scott Pilgrim Takes Off Review

Haven't done one of these in a while...

I finished watching Scott Pilgrim Takes Off earlier tonight. Here are some light-spoiler thoughts, outside of what the show actually is. If that statement makes no sense to you and you care, stay away from this post and social media in general until you watch the show. I will have some more spoilery thoughts later, but I'll mark them out.

I was always very lukewarm on this series; I liked the movie enough to watch it a few times over the years, but I found the comic a real slog to get through. If this had just been a 1:1 remake of the comic, like people had expected, I probably wouldn't have bothered, or I wouldn't have tried it out so close to launch. So I guess you got me there, Netflix!

This new show has been described as a bait and switch, but there's little signs in the first episode that something is going to be different, though they only seem obvious because I knew the punchline.

This is basically Steins Gate: Zero for Scott Pilgrim: an alternate timeline where its main selling point is getting to see familiar characters in different situations. Did you want more Wallace? Boy, do you get Wallace! Do you want to know about what makes an evil Ex? You get more insight into the evil exes.

Some characters get more shine of shine from this, others do not. Knives is my favorite character, and I think there were actually some plot holes regarding her characterization. Ramona benefits from the extra attention, though I still don't LIKE the character. Matt Patel, the first evil ex, was a real highlight; if you'd have asked me, I wouldn't have asked for more of him. I would have been wrong.

Getting the movie cast in on this was a great decision, and it was nice to hear them again. Hearing Chris Evans' edgelord voice was great. Also, Brie Larsen should pursue more voice acting gigs. She did a great job at acting over the top, which really fits animation. Mary Winstead brought a lot of life to Ramona. Some others didn't do as well, but I won't call them out here. Voice acting and physical acting are very different skills.

As for the story... it definitely reflects changes in Brian Lee O'Malley's life, from my understanding of it. I don't want to psychoanalyze somebody I don't know, but it feels like it's grappling with some personal issues. From where I sit, I'd have rather had a Knives centric story, but that wouldn't have been as meaningful a story for him or his writing partner on this project.

The writing is hit or miss for me. The overall story mostly hangs together by the standards of the silly source material. This show's humor had about a 25% hit ratio for me, which is probably the same as when I slogged through the comics. So if you love Scott Pilgrim vs the World, this series should be right up your alley.

One major flaw is that this show wouldn't mean much if you hadn't read the comics or watched the movie. I don't believe they explained much about the flimsy 'rules' of the universe. Two examples: the spacetime highway that goes through Scott's head is given less explanation than in the source material, and faking a death by throwing some coins on the ground is treated as an established rule of the universe, when it isn't. In the original, it was introduced as a joke about the gamey nature of the universe, not as a plot critical point.

Adding to the newcomer's confusion is that the show is very meta, especially with the whole screenplay storyline. Since we haven't had Netflix do a 1:1 adaptation of the comic, the movie is required viewing if they don't feel like reading a 7 volume comic, though movie fans unfamiliar with the source material might wonder about the art style. That being said, the movie is also on Netflix, and the show is presented more as a sequel to it than the comics, from where I sit. Characters more resemble their movie versions in cases where they seriously differ.

The animation is simplistic since it's matching the original comics' style, but it's very good at selling action, and the fight scenes were exciting and inventive. The way the characters are drawn really made me think of Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt with more fluid animation.

****SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!*******

Scott Pilgrim is largely absent from this show, and the main focus is Ramona. Even after Scott returns, Ramona is still the driver of the plot.

I've heard megafans of the comics bemoan that it isn't a 1:1 adaptation, and it likely means they won't get one any time soon, if ever. If that's what you wanted, stay away and don't subject yourself to it. If the idea of an alternative story and more insight into lesser characters from the original story intrigues you instead of making you unhappy about a bait and switch, give it a shot.

I will say that for the bait and switch crowd, I get it. I've met a lot of young men like Scott Pilgrim who are in their early 20's, are slackers, and aren't sure what they're going to do with themselves. Hell, there's somebody in my life in particular who was Scott Pilgrim into his 30's, and I doubt he's turned himself around now. The value of the original work was the journey of Scott, from a selfish jerk to a selfish jerk who understands that about himself and is trying to get over it. If that story spoke to you, having Scott sidelined for most of the series is going to feel like a slap in the face. It's so funny that Netflix decided to do that to themselves AGAIN after the Masters of the Universe debacle, but some exec at Netflix seems to have decided that it's a winning strategy.

********SPOILERS END!**************

Would I recommend the show? If you're like me and you're lukewarm on Scott Pilgrim vs The World going into it, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off won't turn you into a fan. I didn't love it; there were moments I liked, but there were more times where I was literally rolling my eyes and groaning. Tiresome was a word that kept coming to mind with certain repeated scenes (how many times do we need to see Ramona dye her hair?) It was an easy watch, at least, but I don't think I'd have finished it if I wasn't going to be reviewing it on the show with Daniel Parker this Thursday. I did go into the series somewhat spoiled, so I can't speak to the quality of the "what happened to Scott Pilgrim" mystery myself. So, I find myself still having lukewarm feelings on the franchise, so at least it didn't make things worse. Not a bad use of my time, overall.

Though, a second season is teased at the end, and I have absolutely no interest in it. We’ll see if it happens. The show has left X’s trending that I can see, and outside of a few reviews, YouTube reviewers aren’t running with the “bait and switch” angle as hard and long as they did with Masters of the Universe, and it was not on Netflix’s Top 10 TV shows when I went to check it earlier. People seem to be moving on after about a week on the service. The Netflix cancelation algorithm has no mercy, so it wouldn’t surprise me if it didn’t hit whatever metrics they demanded.

And if you’re wondering “what show,” I do a YouTube show called Critique Corner on Thursdays. You can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/@critiquecorner679