Game Over: We Shouldn’t Have Pressed Start on 2004 Show
As a network, UPN took chances in their programming to try and stand out, but some efforts looked a lot more like chasing trends, so it was no surprise that they’d want to take advantage of the rising popularity video games were seeing at the time. Instead of just talking about the games industry or upcoming products, however, why not do an animated sitcom with cutting-edge graphics and some adult humor? But that’s the type of thinking that gives audiences forgotten shows like Game Over.
Like TRON and ReBoot before it, Game Over explores the intriguing concept of what happens to the video game characters after the console is turned off. Specifically, we follow the Smashenburns, a middle-class suburban family of video game characters trying to make it, but there’s very little that’s ideal about their dynamic. They’re all pretty horrible when it comes to their personal relationships, there’s no communication, as a unit they’re quite destructive, and the group almost leaves their new family pet to die at the hands of monsters. I don’t think we need to say more, but as individuals, they get worse.
There’s Ripley “Rip” Smashenburn (Patrick Warburton), the handsome father who drives racecars when he isn’t struggling to connect with his children or worried about how his wife makes more money than him and is actually effective at her job. It seems Rip’s charm is greater than his driving ability, as he’s constantly crashing on the track and with his family, but at least he’s trying. Raquel (Lucy Liu), his wife, has gone back to work full-time as a generic secret agent with a lot of Lara Croft vibes, which means she has no time for her duties as a mother. She’s concerned about her kids but more worried about finding treasures and showing up one of the other local moms. It’s hard to relate to your mother when she’s picked up for work in an attack helicopter and cooking the turkey with a laser cannon.
The kids aren’t doing much better. Alice (Rachel Dratch) is an angst-ridden teenage girl who protests for what she feels are great causes, usually pitting her against her parents, as she tries to decide what she wants to be in this crazy video game world. Rounding out the humans is Billy (E.G. Daily), a typical young boy in his position who is worried about his fashion, fitting in, and using his passion for Hip Hop to write songs to serenade his crushes. Lastly, it’s Turbo (Artie Lange), a purple dog-like mascot that comes across as a 40-year-old cigar-smoking con artist who blackmails the family into keeping him.
Most elements of the characters are solid. It’s hard to put any of the blame on the voice actors, as they are all playing their roles to the letter. Warburton is the standout, with Liu also shining in many scenes, and some of Lange’s deliveries killing it, but that doesn’t mean it was working. Turbo is probably part of the problem. Sometimes I wonder if the material just isn’t funny or if it’s him, and that’s a tough call because, again, I don’t mean Lange, but the character. Turbo feels out of place, like the family pet has his own show he’s trying to spin off, or he’s from another world we never see. The writers just didn’t do a lot with him or his video game connections, being a Sonic-like mascot. Billy needs to take some blame also, as his stereotypical suburban white kid wannabe rapper gimmick makes certain scenes fall flat.
One of Game Over’s greatest weaknesses was its foundation in gaming. This was around when video games began taking the blame for pulling younger viewers away from traditional television, so why not try to give them the best of both worlds? Game Over didn’t feel like it truly leaned into that aspect, though; it was a comedy with a little bit of lewd humor and themes that could have probably been done better as a regular sitcom. Most of the plots and jokes were tried and true staples of the genre, where the video game elements could have easily been replaced, and the joke still worked fine. The scripts didn’t go for anything new, even if the concept and animation were trying to be. They got close to this, with the stuff about Raquel’s job as a video game heroine being the crux of her problems at home, but more was needed.
That’s not to say they didn’t try to put in gaming elements, references, and even a few characters, but they mostly feel like afterthoughts. We see icons like Crash Bandicoot, monsters from Oddworld, nods to Frogger and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, while Donkey Kong, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Pitfall are all paid brief lip service. We also see some PlayStation-like controllers, hear iconic game sound effects, and there is imagery clearly inspired by popular franchises without risking any lawsuits, but so much of that feels light and cosmetic, unlike ReBoot’s living computer world.
Where the show excelled was the visuals, especially if they were shooting for that Sims and PS2 era look that would have been more common at the time, but much less impressive now. Game Over was the first fully CG-animated series to take a primetime television spot. The computer graphics were done by DKP Studios, who had created new tech to help them fight against the rigorous production schedule the show would require. With a team of 80 animators to hammer out the episodes, this cutting-edge presentation helped Game Over stand out, even if only for a moment.
There were some other fun names behind the scenes as guest stars. Marisa Tomei (Spider-Man: No Way Home, My Cousin Vinny) was originally the voice of Raquel for the unaired 12-minute pilot, but scheduling issues caused the need for her to be replaced. Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development) voiced Dr. Zed, Raquel’s boss. At the same time, Jennifer Coolidge (American Pie, A Mighty Wind), Danica McKellar (The Wonder Years, Young Justice), and Tom Kenny (fucking SpongeBob SquarePants) all made small contributions.
The 2004 show was created by David Sacks, a name that became more famous later on as the president of Nickelodeon Animation Studios. Game Over was different from what he’d become known for, as it tried to push the vulgar family humor as much as they could in primetime while still vaguely having the characters learn lessons. There was a large amount of sexual exploitation – mostly with the mom – themes of growing up as a woman, and the network even made the studio cut out two seconds of a female character’s bare ass, so the boundaries didn’t get pushed too far. Even the drug episode used ‘magic cookies’ as a metaphor for what seemed like a little bit of weed. Most of the humor that feels out of touch isn’t, “You can’t do that today,” as much as that the conversation around these subjects is simply different now and there are different jokes to be made.
Game Over is six episodes long and only five of those made it on television, as the show flopped pretty hard. This isn’t completely surprising because UPN often struggled as a network and wasn’t big on giving underperforming shows much time unless the audience really came out in force for them. Game Over was sufficiently praised and given a push from the network leading up to its debut, but supposedly, the marketing suffered after that, and the limited number of episodes aired over so few weeks likely didn’t help either. There was even a playable PC game to help promote the show, sponsored by GameFly and built on the Quake III engine.
It’s kind of a shame, as the show looked to be finding its voice more with the last two episodes, and DKP sounded proud of what they were learning to do with the character animations. I’d like to think six more episodes could have made a difference, but that might be the passion from the creators shining through more than anything.
For anyone wanting to see Game Over for themselves, it isn’t hard to find on YouTube, but if someone is looking for physical media, the series hasn’t gotten too expensive yet, even though it is no longer being printed. The DVD does have a few interesting bonus features and a trivia game, that if the viewer wins they can see the alternate credits sequence. Okay, it’s not that exciting, I admit, but it’s still neat. You got me, this show isn’t that good, but I wanted more people to know it existed. Now if everyone will excuse me, I think I’ll go play a video game instead of watching this one again.
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