Season Review: The Jellies Season One (Golf Media App)

The Adult Swim show’s gonna be a lot different in terms of presentation, but let’s hope the writing is as strong as this.

With the Adult Swim adapted series coming, we thought it’d be wise to revisit the Golf App version of Tyler, the Creator’s The Jellies available to stream now.

The Jellies follows Cornell Jelly, a kid adopted by a family of jellyfish which includes rather normal father Barry, drunken mother Debbie, and super smart sister Karla Yancy. We also meet Cornell’s best friend, the super rich Reggie, and probably gay neighbor Marvin the whale.

During the course of the season, we follow the crazy adventures of Cornell more often than not, whether it’s shit going on at home or at school, he’s not all that different from a normal 16-year old. As a matter of fact, other than his family and his next-door neighbor, everyone else in the world is (for the most part) entirely human, so if there were to be any sort of clash it would be the Jellies or even with Marvin a la The Addams Family, however we really don’t get presented with this at all.

What’s a bit different about Cornell is the extremes in which he is able to go to get what he wants. Looking to impress a girl that might be into Easy E? Cornell works up a sweat to contract AIDS (and has to pay the consequences for it). When Cornell wants to help out a pal by getting him a date to the dance, Cornell undergoes a sex-change operation to become a girl. Want to lift his mother’s spirits while she’s on the rag? Go to China and try to adopt a kid. As you’ll notice throughout the series, the episodes (typically under 10 minutes) tick off rather normal, but then get crazier and crazier as they run through with hilarious results. Pop culture icons are NOT safe, Daft Punk, MTV programming, Kanye West, and a slew of others all are subjected to the backhand of smart wit and unique punch lines that make for solid fare.

Augenblick Studios (Superjail) does a great job in producing the series with character designs not entirely unlike those you’d see in Lucas Bros. Moving Company. Characters have squiggly arms and small frames with the notable exception being anything animalistic. Augenblick’s Superjail! DNA shows up quite a bit as well, with gratuitous violent scenes laden throughout the series, like when the Coca-Cola panda bear gets destroyed by a gang of underserved Chinese kids, or when we discover the true identities of Daft Punk (not really), and how about Cornell burning down a Buddhist temple? All good stuff.

In terms of voice acting, the series is absolutely the first legit work Brock Baker has done, having mostly played bit parts before, I think The Jellies could be his break out as a reliable voice star that perhaps other animated franchises will take notice. Kevin Michael Richardson is excellent like he is in just about everything he does, and Doc Willis (as “Barry”) provides a rather comedically docile attitude that pairs brilliantly with his really nutso wife.

For those looking for something very fresh and frenetically paced, a good companion series to say a Lucas Bros. Moving Company or even Regular Show where things seem normal at first, but then go insane, this is a good show for fans of that type of animated fare. Hopefully, the Adult Swim version will be just as good if not better when it premieres this summer because the network could have a really strong franchise.