Plasmo: Science fiction has never been so beautiful

[Image from Plasmo and the Infinite Sadness]

Sometimes I really, really, really feel the need to have a bit (a lot) of nostalgia in my life, which is probably the reason why I love Kingdom Hearts so much. Very often I find myself on Google googling various keywords in search of shows that I used to watch as a child. I want to revisit them and in many cases I also want to confirm that they weren’t just things that I dreamed up or imagined.

I always knew for certain that Plasmo wasn’t something I dreamed up but I couldn’t really remember most of it. The most iconic scenes that stuck out to me were Parsty using her force field, Coredor’s slightly traumatic early-childhood-spent-in-a-bubble scene and Episode 3’s unforgettable brick wall at the end of the universe. It’s a short series and all of the episodes plus the pilot are available on Youtube on Anthony Lawrence’s account. That made things extremely easy. 

I watched a hell of a lot of TV when I was a child (my mother denies this but I assure you, it’s absolutely true) and Plasmo was one of my favourite shows to watch. It was incredible how much wonder, beauty, sensitivity, drama and action could be packed into Claymation episodes less than five minutes long. The lessons a child learns from the kindness of Plasmo are head, shoulders and hips above anything I’ve seen on children’s television these days. Each episode is succinct and direct while somehow remaining subtle and charming. They’re dominated by the morals of generosity, friendship and co-operation without needing to resort to the astounding levels of violence a lot of more modern children’s shows are inundated with. 

Some of the character design is pretty cute too.

I’ve got to admit that the pilot episode, Happy Hatchday to Plasmo, is also a kicker. I wasn’t even born in the year that it was made, so the first time I got to see it was recently on the internet with the rest of the series. The models are nothing like the refined versions they show in the 1997 series. It’s actually kind of incredible that something like that even managed to get off the ground. The creator even admits that they had a “shoestring budget” to shoot the pilot. The animation and voice acting is absolutely terrible but it’s still charmingly amusing. The plot is more fantastical than the series it preceded, which went with a more “hard science” approach but the underlying values and quirky characteristics of the characters are still there.

They do more stuff with technology that looks vaguely legit, therefore it's "hard" science. By the way, this is Coredor. Don't say anything about his face...

This planet's name is literally near-unpronouncable and is where most of the story takes place.

Now, I’m not a child. I am way, way, waaaaaaayyy too old for this show but somehow it’s still beautiful. In my recent revisiting of my past, the episodes of Plasmo still made me laugh and cry with joy, sadness, excitement and amazement. If you’re a parent, this show is something that you absolutely need to show your child. Even if you have no children, it’s something you just need to see because of the miracles it will perform on your heart. 

From left: Parsty, Brucho, Plasmo, Nik-nik (dog) and Professor Sashimi. The characters in this show are simply amazing, quirky, colourful. You need to see this show just for them.