My View On Prime Video Show Murder Drones

 

    When I first started watching Murder Drones about a year ago, it was still being added onto and a friend had recommended I watch it. It was first introduced on YouTube before also making its way to Prime Video, where I continue to re-watch it every now and then as there is only 8 episodes.

    The genres surrounding this show would be animation, horror, action, romance, dystopia, adventure, and many more as there's a quite a bit it covers.

    The entire show is about worker drones who've gone rogue after humans had ruined Earth and turned it into a frozen wasteland, however, some humans had moved to a new planet. Murder drones were made to hunt and eliminate all worker drones since the company didn't enjoy the idea of runaway AI. Then we learn that there's also a program infection some specific drones that allows a darker force to take over and destroy more worlds and that program needed to be taken care of.

    We follow a character named Uzi as she becomes the only worker drone to try and do something about the murder drones, however somehow befriends one of them and gets him on her side. That drone is "N", and he is often bullied by the other two murder drones "J" and "V". We first learn about the infection from a character named Doll.

    As for the people who have voice acted the show, we have Elsie Lovelock, Michael Kovach, Nola Klop, Shara Kirby, Allanah Fitzgerald, and Daisy Rose. Most of these actors are also featured in other works of the people who made Murder Drones; Glitch Productions, and even a few who have made it to voice acting in video games, the most popular one being Poppy Playtime.

    Articles I have read tend to go in-depth about what they'd consider changing in the show or what they thought ruined it. For example, this article by GiovanH states that "Instead of using visual cues to give the viewer more information and signal a contrast between different locations as shots change, the lighting/design almost obscures information about the environment, and even obfuscates some scene transitions." This is due to how gray most scenes are and how few have other colors. However, other articles express how well the show was made. Like this article by Ava Tilley, she adds "Nevertheless, one of the reasons why I enjoyed Murder Drones so profoundly is because of its uniquely inherent talent for creating appealing characters in the horror comedy genre," which talks about how ever though the series is meant to be somewhat scary, the characters add some comedy on top of it. 

    Murder Drones also takes a combination of J.C Dention and Adam Jensen and make a company from that. They call the company J.C Jenson and make jokes about brand made pens and the good quality of their products. The brand logo is similar to the one of the original S.C Johnson. (Yes, that is a real screenshot from the show itself!)

    The show connects with its audience by having engaging characters, relatable themes, and a unique type of aesthetic. For example, Murder Drones show relatable themes like dysfunctional relationships in family, identity and belonging, and social commentary. As for attitude and style, the show presents a dark-humored post apocalyptic horror comedy that is great for teens and young adults. 

    Murder Drones is similar to other new animated shows like The Amazing Digital Circus, Helluva Boss, and Hazbin Hotel. Those shows are also made from a small group who have been posting their stuff on YouTube and moving it to other streaming services. However, unlike those shows, there is very few episodes with any sort of music or a song that would be used as a musical number. I believe there is only one episode however the song used (Bite Me - Normal Pitch), is to represent the fight they get into. There is also a lot more plot/backstory which helps carry the story along.

    The show has avoided showing any stereotypes by not having any ethnicity or any other thing of the sorts present in the show. Other than the humans who show up for very short periods of time, and a majority of them being Australian and one Russian worker drone. However, nothing stereotypical is made from it. Due to most of the characters being robots and focusing more on story than anything else, avoids there being much of anything stereotypical.

    This show is appeasing to ages ranging from 13 - 24 years old, and even ranging to other ages. Some being as young as 12 years old. Due to the slight gore and horror in the show, the recommended age is 14+, however the fan base has a wider variety of people that have watched it. If I were a visitor to the U.S and watched Murder Drones, I think the picture that would give me of American culture is that it has more horror-comedies that tend to be more animated than they would be acted out.

       The shows strengths personally would be how they made their characters and just the uniqueness of the story line itself. Along with some of the visuals. I think they could have done a better job with animating some parts but I understand their budget was lower than a normal animation company. Making it difficult to thoroughly go through the story without mushing it a ton. I view it as a parody of real life due to it being a fantasy world but with our real world problems sprinkled in between. What makes the show memorable is just how it first captured my attention due to the fact that it was still decently good other than some of the low quality bits. Other YouTubers, fans, and professionals say that while Murder Drones has wonderful action and horror, they also agree that the story had been too rapid paced and was convoluted.

    I find this show to be my comfort show, and watch it whenever I feel upset or just don't know what to put on or need some background noise when working. I have watched it a total of 13 times thoroughly and have still continued to enjoy it. However I don't get into any of the fan base stuff and don't follow the show specifically, only learning new things about it by stumbling upon it on TikTok or there being a new thing posted on YouTube. The people who made the show seemingly don't use social media to present their show, but offer advertisements separate from the show so people will buy custom made merchandise.

    I learned a lot about my favorite show, like the cast that was put together for it since I never looked into that. I was surprised to learn that a lot of the people on the cast also voice animated characters on other shows I enjoy watching.