User blog:DarkClaw3/Big Hero 6: The Series Review

If you ask me, so far, TV Animation has been a blaze this year. From ongoing series' that have been accelerating to new heights (such as Friendship is Magic, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir, OK K.O.! Let's be Heroes, Adventure Time, Steven Universe, etc), to new series' that have grabbed my attention (like the ridiculously adorable and heartfelt Big City Greens, the Ed, Edd and Eddy spiritual successor, Craig of the Creek, the out-of-nowhere gem that is The Legend of the Three Caballeros, etc) and many cartoons I have just now gotten into (Tangled: The Series and Trollhunters being very good examples). I honestly haven't been this invested in television animation in years, and it feels good to have that child-like sense of wonder and be desperately waiting for new episodes once more. I might talk about all the aforementioned shows when I have the time, but, for now, I'd like to focus on one in particular. As you may have guessed, that one, particular show is Big Hero 6: The Series.

Disney has had a history of turning it's famous animated movies into shows once they prove popular enough. Aladdin had one, The Little Mermaid had one, Hercules had one, Tarzan had one, 101 Dalmatians had one—generally, any movie that could make Disney a buck had it's own animated series back in the 90's and early 2000's. However, the quality of these shows...varied; at best, they were usually decent with quite a few noticeable flaws (like Aladdin 's occasionally stiff animation or Hercules 's glaring continuity errors), and, at worst, they were totally forgettable (did you even know that 101 Dalmations had a show? I didn't). Disney soon dropped this trend of their's later on in the aforementioned 2000's when their movies began to turn out less successful than what they had been (but really, did you want a Home on the Range cartoon series?), with them even reworking some produced episodes from the failed Beauty and the Beast and Atlantis: The Lost Empire series' into crappy straight-to-DVD sequels. As of late, Disney has returned to this trend, starting off rough with the horrible inept Dora the Explorer-inspired adventures of Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and then deciding to actually try with The Lion Guard, which has gotten better over time, especially now that Scar is that main antagonist once again, and, oh yeah, Tangled: The Series, something I never saw coming yet have now totally gotten into.

This mindset of adapting animated movies into shows, of course, has transitioned into Big Hero 6: The Series. Now, the Big Hero 6 film was definitely one of the more unique ones Disney has done, with it not only being a superhero flick but and adaptation of a relatively unpopular team from Marvel Comics as well, but it generally wasn't something too special in terms of superhero movies. In fact, if you ask me, it had a lot more potential than was shown in the final product. Most of the supporting cast was not done true justice, the villain was cool yet could've been better, the high-tech Asian-American environment of San Fransokyo had more to be shown, and the ending itself set up that there would be a sequel or continuation in some form. Thankfully, the series follows up on this untapped potential, and follows the team through new adventures, new challenges, and new enemies, while also better exploring them as characters and heroes. I'd cover the series as a whole, but I think its best to look at the episodes individually while analyzing it's particular features as we go along.

"Baymax Returns"
The series' hour-long pilot episode starts up directly after the movie, with Hiro deciding to attend the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology (or SFIT), discovering Baymax's healthcare chip and deciding to rebuild him. Meanwhile, Fred tries to push the gang back into superheroics despite their clear reluctance to resume crime fighting, especially when it appears unneeded. However, after stopping Mr. Yama from stealing a powerful sculpture for his mysterious employer, the team decides to band together as the superhero team Big Hero 6.

First off, this episode is a fun one. There's quite a bit of action for a pilot episode, which all showcase the abilities of the heroes decently, maybe even a little better that the movie in some cases (a prime example being Hiro actually using his suit for something more than piggybacking on Baymax) and a lot of humor show too (the gang trying to stop a "car thief", Granville awkwardly attempting to console Hiro, and most of Yama's scenes being some of the funniest moments in the episode). This establishes the tone of the series quite well, with more focus put on comedy and action than heart and relationships like in the film. The characters are, as they were in the film, likable and lovable—the kid genius Hiro, the tomboyish and serious GoGo, neat-freak Wasabi, the positive and positively adorable Honey Lemon, rich superhero fanatic and slacker Fred, and, of course, Baymax, who's just as endearing as ever. All of the main cast members have a moment to shire, as well as enough screentime for you to get the idea of who they are without needing to watch the film. Yama, too, is a good and entertaining villain for the start of the series, who's portrayed as more blundering and incompetent here than in the film, yet is still pretty fun to watch. There's also the new character introduced in this episode, Professor Granville; the new Dean of SFIT following Callaghan's arrest, whom I really got to like. Her establishment as a stern yet caring mentor for Hiro who has her own little mysteries to explore as the series goes on is done fairly well, although there is some sloppiness in her going out of her way to teach Hiro that he has to earn his privileges only to immediately give him Tadashi's lab to work in anyways.

Of course, this episode isn't perfect. I feel that the characters and their abilities really could've been reintroduced to the audience better, as it relies too heavily on the idea that you have seen the movie recently and have memorized who's who and what they can do. As I said, the introductions are handled decently, but you'll miss a lot if you haven't seen the film (like why the characters have their powers, Heathcliff, who Callaghan is, etc) which is a major misstep in any adaptation. Speaking of characters, Fred really did tend to get on my nerves a little here, with him being too pushy and too obnoxiously stupid at points. There are quite a few minor continuity errors with the first film too, but that doesn't really detract from the actual episode as a whole. Overall, this was a good episode, yet could've been a better starting point for the series.

Final Rating: 7/10