“Solar Opposites” Review by Josh Davis : Pop Culture Leftovers

“Solar Opposites” Review by Josh Davis

May 25, 2020 3:10 pm |

Hulu’s new animated series “Solar Opposites” could be to “Rick and Morty” what “Futurama” once was to “The Simpsons.”

The show was co-created by Justin Roiland, who also co-created “Rick and Morty.” And the similarities don’t end there.

Instead of a twisted “Back to the Future” meta riff, the premise of “Solar Opposites” is a small group of aliens who escape the destruction of their home planet of Shlorp in an interstellar spaceship, and then flee to Earth.

Roiland plays Korvo, leader of the group and the one most focused on the mission: repairing their crashed ship and preparing for an eventual takeover of Earth. He also sounds exactly like Rick, who he voices on the that “other” show.

The animation style also very closely resembles “Rick and Morty,” from the color palette, right down to the squiggly star-shaped irises of each character.

Also in the main cast are Thomas Middleditch (“Silicon Valley”) as affable sidekick Terry, and their child-sized replicants Yumyulack (Sean Giambrone, “The Goldbergs”) and Jesse (Mary Mack, a veteran of standup).

Each episode begins with Korvo narrating a fourth-wall breaking summary of the plot:
Planet Shlorp was a perfect utopia, until the asteroid hit.

One hundred adults and their replicants were issued a Pupa and escaped into,
uh, the space, searching for new homes on uninhabited worlds.
We crashed on Earth, stranding us on an already overpopulated planet.
That’s right, I’ve been talking this whole time.
I’m the one holding the Pupa.
My name’s Korvo.
This is-this is my show.
I just dropped the Pupa.
Do you see me?
… and each into varies at the end, similar to the couch gags in “The Simpsons.”

In the pilot, Korvo and Terry use alien technology to bring to life fictional children’s television character Funbucket – a sort of Sesame Street Muppet by way of Alf. Things don’t go the way they had hoped, so Korvo and Terry later create a lesser Funbucket clone that merges with the original into a grotesque, vomiting, destructive “Akira” monster that unleashes hell on the city. Because, of course it does.

Like “Futurama,” there are some consistent narrative threads that form a larger, recurring story. In one of the better subplots, Yumyulack shrinks down and collects various human test subjects and stores them in a giant ant colony tank in her bedroom.
The tiny humans, fueled only by candy and the occasional slab of beef jerky, form a post-apocalyptic society ruled over by a ruthless, menacing dictator known as “The Duke” (Alfred Molina, “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Spider-Man 2”).

Later in the season, in a bottle episode called “Terry and Korvo Steal a Bear,” there’s a revolution to overthrow The Duke. It’s both ultra-violent and strangely poignant – you’ll never care so much for a cartoon rat – and also notable because we don’t actually see Terry and Korvo stealing said bear.

While “Solar Opposites” doesn’t quite reach the sublime absurdity of peak “Rick and Morty,” it’s still a worthy companion series with enough off-the-wall humor and originality to make it stand out from weaker companion shows like, say, “The Cleveland Show.”

The entire first season is available now on Hulu, with a second season reportedly already on order.