I don’t care what channel you work for, TV or online, this show may have made your writers look like silly nannies.

Some Spoilers Below

What I love about working in this business is that I am constantly surprised. Every now and again I’m like ‘Who is going to push the envelope of what we see every day’. I think the show Out There did this for IFC as it distanced itself from the creator’s South Park roots and created a world rooted in normal teenage nerd angst. I think this is a trend that will certainly continue on TV i.e. “Dark Comedy has been done before, let’s find something fresh” and as a result the future looks bright for animated television.

Now, what does that have to do with this short? Well, enter Chris Weller’s new short Goodnight, Sweet Pakman that takes a noir-style approach to one of the world’s oldest games Pac-Man. Whilst watching it,I kept trying to convince myself that this wasn’t produced  Archer HQ’s Floyd County Prods. With almost no dialogue, Chris and Co relied on simply tugging at heart strings of the kid that used to play Pac-Man all the time in my local laundromat but with a modern spin that challenges everyone in the business to up their game. Machinima’s Happy Hour is the only channel that could’ve put this out and rightfully so. It’s a work of thrilling art that’s funny, clever, and so well thought out that I think the people who wrote that Brad Pitt piece of shit last year Killing Them Softly should take notes on how bravado story-telling really should be done.  Could be a shoe-in for best short of the year as this is an animated cinematic achievement that still reminds me why I wake up in the morning.

10 out of 10

 

http://youtu.be/iuAhxxr40mQ