Spoilers Below

Shut Up Cartoons has been doing a whole bunch as of late to help re-establish itself as a premier brand for online animated content. They did this by moving away from promising content from independent artists all chilling with Flash, to content that seems to be more diversified for the 2013 campaign. With shows like Just Shut Up and PaperCuts, the network is doing just that, but I don’t think the net had a KILLER intellectual property one that could establish the brand of Shut Up Cartoons like Happy Tree Friends does for Mondo…until now.

Enter Smosh Babies, a new series from Shut Up Cartoons starring Smosh heroes (and owners) Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla as well the babies. The premier episode looks to be almost like a comedic way of showing the early days of Ian and Anthony before they teamed up to try and take over the world. Problem is, these babies need to get through the horrors of child care first as we are almost introduced to a setting best described as a Rugrats from Hell where instead of sweet and kind-hearted kids and adults as part of the ensemble cast, we get for the most part, more of a prison sentence with inmates trying to make the best of everything. From babies brandishing shivs to a litany of torture practices, this day care is not for the faint of heart.

After watching the first episode, I came away rather impressed. The drawings/animation looks like something RIGHT out of Klasky-Csupo which should tug on the heart strings of the targeted age group. Ian and Anthony check in with more than adequate performances, but I think Lenny, Bruce, and especially Hector were my favorite characters played by Ryan Fabian, Galen Howard, and Alex Faciane respectively. I hope we get to see more of Ms. Hugs-A-Lot from Kellie Whisler which clearly is a veiled attempt at me asking for more episodes of Smosh Babies. The one thing I didn’t like was the censored dialogue, but if that’s the worst of it then this is going to be a good show.

9 out of 10