Season Review: Dream Corp LLC Season One

Adult Swim definitely has something here.

The coolest thing about Adult Swim is that when an animation trend is growing, they like to answer it and up-end it a bit. Comedy Central gives us South Park, Adult Swim answers with Aqua Teen and Squidbillies. NBC’s dominance in late-night broadcast for decades? Keep a block of anime called Toonami, and service a different male-dominated audience. FOX wants to try and do a live-action/animation hybrid with Son of Zorn using long-time Adult Swim accomplice animation studio Titmouse (Metalocalypse, Superjail, Black Dynamite) as weapon of choice for the new franchise’s use of animation characters? Adult Swim responds with Dream Corp LLC, a live-action/animated series using the seldom-used animation art form of rotoscope.

Now, I’m not saying that Adult Swim head Mike Lazzo thought it out that way, but, it makes for a good opening doesn’t it? That was actually my favorite part of Dream Corp LLC’s first season…the opening. Because right away you knew you were getting something different. Joey’s (Stephanie Alynne) line of questioning for Patient 88 (Nicholas Rutherford) primed audiences pretty much for a weekly acid trip but setup in a sci-fi story akin to The Matrix or Total Recall but not taken nearly as seriously by Dr. Roberts (played by Jon Gries) whence compared to say Morpheus.

While Dream Corp LLC’s first season featured some decent guest stars, really the strength of the show shines through the cast. Much in the same way Children’s Hospital did it or Newsreaders, Dream Corp LLC works because it’s a group of actors playing the roles of scientists that are probably not great at their very unique jobs, but it’s hilarious in watching them try. Whether it’s Randy (Mark Proksch) having his hand severed by a laser or everyone forgetting to take Joey out of her alternate reality to the point of leaving her in a coma, or T.E.R.R.Y. (Stephen Merchant) acting like a drunken BB-8 unit. The episodes don’t feel planned or organized, instead, you get a weekly bombastic live-action effort that is only outdone by its wickedly gorgeous animated subplot that usually follows.

Dream Corp LLC  airs reruns on Adult Swim (and sometimes TruTV), check your local listings.