Season Review: Toonami’s Countdown

Streaming now on Adult Swim’s Youtube page.

Aside from the IGPX series from over a decade ago, TOM and SARA have had a rather long run in their own run of limited series (or Total Immersion Events) on Toonami. Whether it was the numerous Intruder events, Lockdown, or getting Trapped in Hyperspace, this duo has been doing it for a while now.

The last iteration is known as Countdown, and in the four-part series comprising of shorts about four minutes and under, we see TOM and SARA split up into two different points in time. For TOM, he’s sent to a time where SARA takes over the Vindication ship and is reeking havoc. SARA heads to Future TOM’s ship where she’s held until the other TOM successfully completes his mission.

Countdown is not for the faint of heart. If you’re not a regular practitioner of proper sci-fi epics like Blade Runner, Interstellar, or Arrival, well then Countdown may fuck with your head unless if you take on repeated watchings. But for hardcore sci-fi fans, it might be the best-animated sci-fi epic on television. GOOD sci-fi leaves you with questions even after the conclusion and that’s just what this series does so well, and yes, this go-round definitely gives you some good ones.

Dana Swanson checks in with a solid performance for SARA and Steven Blum is always excellent, and despite being a prolific voice actor that has done quite a bit of work, I think his obituary is gonna read “T.O.M.” first under career achievements and for good reason because he voices the role with such passion in this particular series that I’m eagerly anticipating the next chapter of Total Immersion Events and hope it’s sooner rather than later.