Shorts Review: Happy Hour Tales Presents: Trial of the Songbird

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Spoilers Below

Let’s start off with saying; I’m not too familiar with the Bioshock lore, so please excuse me if I missed any references to the game. I quit playing video games back in 2002, after spending countless hours marauding Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto III (coincidentally around the same time I quit smoking pot… habitually). Perhaps I would have been more on the ball with that other popular web series called Sonic for Hire, reaping the 16-bit era nostalgia of my childhood. But without further ado, I give you Happy Hour Tales Presents: Trial of the Songbird.

Our story begins in the town of Columbia. A steampunk settlement in the sky, with structures hovering via balloons (Unless Disney Pixar’s Up has developed a new subgenre in speculative fiction; heliumpunk!) Speaking of Disney, the introduction to central character Elizabeth channels the mundane Disney princess introduction perfectly, starting with an establishing shot through a window, a song and dance, and a few critter companions in attendance; not to mention Songbird, a lofty “cybird” that would make mincemeat out of Sesame’s resident yellow-feathered big game. All is well, as Elizabeth recounts some recent memories of her and Songbird’s trip to the park – her feathered friend decapitating a mugger and bursting an elderly food vendor’s eyeballs, telekinetically.

Elizabeth seems untouchable, as long as her Songbird is around to protect her. Enter Booker, a strapping lad who has come to take Elizabeth away to “do nefarious things in a unsavory nature to [the] fine young trollop!” Booker is also strapping an arsenal, yet he deviates from an all-out brawl with the bird by distracting him with the oldest trick in the book: MOTHER. FUCKING. BREADCRUMBS!

Booker makes off with the damsel-in-distress, letting the narrator ask a series of questions, in the fashion of the classic 1960s Batman series: Will the songbird get his shit together and stop eating those sweet sweet breadcrumbs? What creepy things will the nefarious Booker do to sweet young and totally legal Elizabeth? Well, you, the viewer, gets to decide. The creators have opted to allow the fans to make suggestions in the comment section, to determine where the story will go next.

Regardless of not knowing a single thing about the video game that this new series was adapted from, it is effective enough for non-gamers. The character introductions are quick and to the point, and there is a blend of humor, from slapstick to ultra violence, crude language and parodic siuations.

Happy Hour Tales Presents: Trial of the Songbird is a satirical ride that soars higher than me on a Saturday afternoon circa 2002.

9/10