Shorts Review: THE WALKING DEAD Zombies Eat TED: EP 109: TVoovies

Is Flash Friggin Gordon eating Ted or just doing a huge line of blow off of his arm? You be the judge.

Poets, athletes, and motivational speakers will all use the analogy of “catching lightning in a bottle” to describe the emotional jolt they receive when an idea really takes hold. “We really caught lightning in a bottle when we signed LeBron” or “Once I realized that the story would play out this way it was like catching lightning in a bottle.” Seem like two perfectly plausible examples. But combining Ted and The Walking Dead might just be the best example of lightning in a bottle that I’ve ever seen.

It’s incredible how well these two stories are able to juxtapose over each other. The outlandish theory of a zombie-torn apocalypse coupled with a grown man and his talking bear almost seems like the two were destined to meet.  The comedy is spot on, often relying on plot twists and advanced story notes from TWD comics to lend spoilers without actually spoiling the show. Changing the name to Fenwaybury was also a pretty ingenious idea. Michonne and Daryl from TWD make cameos, both with their fair share of one-liners and zings.

The artwork is stellar. This comes as really no surprise because Union Pool has been putting out quality animation for as long as I’ve been covering them. The detail work on the hair, facial expressions, and backgrounds are second to none.

The only real gripe I have with this short is the “Thunder Buddy” parody at the end. I’m not a big fan of censorship, and I certainly understand that “God’s farts” is really hard to rhyme, but I think we could have had a better ending than “dead meat.” But that’s just me, and it really didn’t take away from the overall mastery of the short. This one could be mentioned later on in the year when we’re talking about Best Animated Short for sure.