This article was originally posted in Swedish to Bar Total.
The department of animation and existential bloobalooby at Bar Total have picked out three short animated series that have got us raving in ecstasy. As if by divine decree, we feel an importunate longing to share these masterpieces, and as weâve already pestered our closest relatives, the lot now falls on you dear reader. So here are three cartoons for your viewing pleasure:
⢠MTVâs Downtown
With stories and voice actors straight from the streets of 90s New York, there are few series as authentic as Downtown. The characters are based on interviews with real downtowners and the dialogues are mostly unscripted. The series, which aired during three months on MTV in 1999, got cancelled after only 13 episodes. It is however a lasting time capsule from âthe era of the slackerâ â when kids were just hanging around â and have grown a big following of young souls in recent years. If you like films by Harmonie Korine, Richard Linklater or Gus Van Sant this series is something for you. We pay our thanks to CKS RIchardson who revived this gem by uploading all episodes to Youtube đ
⢠Scavengers Reign
From an animation studio founded by none other than Chris Prynoski, the creator of Downtown, comes a criminally unknown series thatâs all weâve ever dreamt of. A group of space travellers gets stranded on a remote planet with incredible biodiversity. The animation of intricate biological processes are in the ranks of the best âtrippy psychedelic animationsâ found on Youtube or BBCâs Planet Earth. Tech and biology are woven together under a reverence for the unrelenting forces of nature, with an aesthetic that screams solarpunk. That Scavengers Reign also did not receive a second season is further testimony that the streaming giants, who took their turns owning the rights, simply do not keep our best interest at heart. Therefore, watch Scavengers Reign on Dopebox:
⢠Common Side Effects
For a happy ending weâll go with a series thatâs acctually been renewed for a season two by Adult Swim. Common Side Effects tackle the pharmaceutical industry and our collective medicating in the spirit of Luigi Mangione meets Terrence McKenna. In this conspiracy thriller we follow Marshall, discoverer of the âBlue Angel mushroomâ, through difficult conflicts of interest and mind bending experiences. Similarities in art style to Scavengers Reign may be because the shows share Joseph Bennett as a creator. We tried creating his Wikipedia page, but someone else had already got a draft of it rejected. The draft however did open our eyes to a book released by Joe Pera, illustrated by Bennett, called âA bathroom book for people not pooping or peeing but using the bathroom as an escapeâ. Anyways, binge Common Side Effects here:
- (HBO) Max: https://play.max.com/show/eaa21376-a54d-4245-95d6-a86dce6313c8
- Dopebox: https://dopebox.to/watch-tv/watch-common-side-effects-online-hd-120265.10920814
đ´ââ ď¸ Sail the high seas
Since the above links won't work forever, it's best we leave some wisdom for the uninitiated. Whenever your best streaming site goes down, simply fill the streaming sized hole in your heart by picking a suitable replacement from the curated list of sites in r/piracy's megathread. Keep in mind real cinephiles download instead of streaming, but eh, it's just not as convenient.
â Ads? no thnxs
To get rid of intrusive ads and pop ups it is recommended to use Firefox with the uBlock Origin extension, or if you for some reason refuse to leave your abusive relationship with Google Chrome, there's the nerfed Light version.