Season Review: Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix Season One

Overview (Spoilers Below):

The year is 1992. The country formerly known as the U.S.A. is now called Eden, a technocracy ruled by propaganda and corruption. Super-soldier Dolph Laserhawk (Nathaniel Curtis) has just been betrayed by the love of his life and locked up in Eden’s top security prison, Supermaxx. He must now lead a team of rebel outcasts, known as the Ghosts, on risky undercover missions in order to survive.

Our Take:

From the title alone, we would’ve thought it would be another superhero series for mature audiences, like Invincible and The Boys. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case after seeing the poster for the latest Netflix animated series. Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix is another addition to the cyberpunk-esque action catalogue that involves plenty of futuristic and sci-fi elements we wish to get in real life. Given my experience with this type of sci-fi content, this show seemed to be right up my alley regarding its presentation, concept, and the appearance of Rayman as a newscaster. But do these things equate to an entertaining and unique approach to the genre? Yes, they do.

Captain Laserhawk has plenty of expectations set for itself in its six-episode narrative. For starters, the series is created by Adi Shanker, who’s involved with the successful Castlevania series on Netflix, which I briefly watched before switching to something else. With how well-received that television adaptation was, there’s no doubt that hopes were high for Captain Laserhawk to reach the same heights as Castlevania. More importantly, it’s the first adult animation series produced by the gaming company Ubisoft, featuring alternative versions of its characters, like Rayman, and being inspired by the Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon expansion content. Now I understand where the “Blood Dragon Remix” subtitle came from. These elements alone may not be enough to generate a profound and thought-provoking take on the cyberpunk dystopian subgenre, but they do provide a mildly entertaining and distinctive representation of the Ubisoft catalogue.

Consisting of six episodes, Captain Laserhawk chronicles the titular character’s path of vengeance, which starts with the betrayal of his boyfriend Alex Taylor (Boris Hiestand). He is now forced by the Warden of Supermaxx, Sarah Fisher (Caroline Ford), to lead a rebel team to destroy Eden from within. However, as they progress with their fight for freedom, Dolph encounters a more significant threat to the dystopian world than he imagined. Based on this premise alone, the series is basically a sci-fi anime version of The Suicide Squad, with the prisoners becoming a rule-breaking team to avoid getting their heads blown up by the Warden’s bombs implanted inside them. The similarities are very on-the-nose for those who read the comics or watch the film adaptations, yet they don’t quite match the DC villain team due to its characters.

Having the show be six episodes long may not be enough for me to get attached to the supporting characters before they bit the dust due to its rushed arcs. That includes Pey’j (Glenn Wrage) and Jade (Courtney Mae-Briggs), with the former having feelings for the female prisoner. Thankfully, the show allowed them to shine a bit with their humor before their demises. The only side character I’ve been enjoying besides Dolph is Bullfrog (Balak), a frog assassin who takes heavy inspiration from the Assassin’s Creed franchise. He’s obviously a badass with his skills, and he’s decently voiced by Balak. Lucky for me, he survived long enough to fight another day in a potential second season, which should help improve its character arcs. Then, there’s Sarah, a warden seeking to redeem herself for her mistake, who’s later revealed to be a back-stabbing cyborg bitch near the season’s end. This twist threw me off guard but also made her emotional depth frustratingly pointless. She’s clearly no better than Hans from Frozen. 

Besides that, the characters are enjoyable enough through the show’s voice cast. Nathaniel Curtis brought plenty of range into his performance as the moody yet enraging Laserhawk, whose anger was caused by Alex’s betrayal. However, the main highlight of the cast would have to be David Menkin as Rayman, who makes his television debut in Captain Laserhawk as a newscaster and television personality. Menkin provided enough energy in his voice to bring the popular limbless character to life but also manifested his mature, edgy side in a surprising yet clever manner. Be warned, though, this Rayman differs from the one you grew up with in his main games due to the show’s mature rating. 

If there’s one other thing I could give the show credit for, it’s that it doesn’t use Ubisoft’s trademark characters just for cameo purposes. It offered refreshing and adult-rated versions of them to drive its original narrative instead of using cut-and-paste versions of their former selves. Rayman is an excellent example of this aspect, with him being a televised role model with a drinking problem who discovers his disturbing involvement with Eden’s propaganda agendas. You also have the Niji 6 inspired by Rainbow Six Siege and Marcus Holloway (Mark Ebulue) from Watch Dogs 2. It helps Captain Laserhawk be more than just a bland easter egg bonanza courtesy of Ubisoft, which I thought was the show’s best part.

Finally, we have the animation, which is “remixed” by Bobbypills. Bobbypills is an animation studio from Paris known for producing several online shows like Peepoodo, Vermin, and Crisis Jung. So, I’m assuming this is the studio’s first attempt at bringing its animation techniques to life on a streaming service. If so, then color me impressed at how amazing it looks. It features the usual Western anime style from other shows like Castlevania, which still looks stellar. However, it also takes a step further by displaying its retro game presentation during specific sequences. So, you can say that it’s also a homage to the old-school 8-bit games from the 80s and 90s. The retro effects also worked surprisingly well for the live-action versions of Dolph and Sarah, paying tribute to the early games involving pixelated actors. I feel bad for not knowing what they’re actually called.

Overall, Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix is stylistically diverting, even though the story and characters struggle to live up to its dystopian commentaries. The six-episode length doesn’t do much for its character arcs and rushed plot, resulting in it not reaching its intended emotional heights. However, since the finale sets itself up for Laserhawk’s possible return, I’ll be willing to withhold my judgment on its narrative until the battle is actually complete…unless Netflix pulls the plug on it without giving it a proper conclusion. From its voice cast to the stellar animation, the series is a solidly clever homage to Ubisoft’s game catalogue and the old-school retro games that shaped every gamer on the planet.