tek's rating:

Golan the Insatiable, on FOX
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"Golan the Insatiable" began as a series of darkly humorous "letters to the editor" of the Oak Grove Gazette, on the website Something Awful. As such, I'd never even heard of it until after the animated series started, as part of FOX's ADHD late night programming block.

Season 1
The first season consisted of six episodes, each about 11 minutes long. It's about this monstrous warrior king named Golan the Insatiable: Godlord Terrible of Gkruool, Crusher of Wills, Defiler of All (though in the original stories his title uses the word "Raper" rather than "Defiler"). He's been exiled from his home dimension, Gkruool. He'd like to return there and reclaim his throne, but for now he's stuck on Earth (in Oak Grove, Minnesota), living with the Beekler family. They include the parents, Carole and Richard, and their daughters, Dylan and Alexis. Dylan is a 6-year-old goth kid, who hates all the other kids in town, and they hate her... especially a 9-year-old queen bee named Mackenzie B. Now, Dylan has become Golan's acolyte, and is basically the only person on Earth who actually worships him (though he doesn't seem to like her as much as she likes him). Alexis is a shallow, screechy Valley girl teenager or something, and doesn't like Golan or her little sister, but Golan has a crush on her. Also, Alexis has a boyfriend named Keith, with whom Golan wants to be friends, because Keith is the most popular kid in high school. Anyway, the show's humor comes from the fact that Golan is basically an ultra-violent monster who engages in things like rape and murder, but the show mainly just alludes to that, rather than showing it. (And I get the impression that the "rape" part, at least, doesn't really happen at all. Golan may be into wanton sex and orgies, but I think it's all consensual... though I can't speak for what might have happened in Gkruool.) What we mostly see is Golan's softer, more civilized side. He still talks like the monster he is, and still gets annoyed by everyone and everything, when things don't go exactly his way. (So I can relate.) But... there's a bit more to him than that. I'm not sure what else to say. Except, I think in her own way, Dylan has a much darker soul than Golan, and is much cooler, in an evil-yet-adorable sort of way.

Season 2
The second season is a regular half hour series (also consisting of six episodes), as part of the Sunday Funday block. It's more apt to call it a reboot, because it seems to negate the events of season 1. The characters are all exactly the same (except some of them have different voice actors, a fact which concerned me before the season started, but turned out not to bother me, after all). And so far, Richard isn't in the show (Carole is a single mom). Golan and Carole obviously have sexual feelings for each other, a fact that was heavily implied in season 1, but it's more overt now. I'm guessing that might be why Richard is out of the picture, this season: to avoid depictions of infidelity, or whatever. Also so far, Golan doesn't seem to be sexually interested in Alexis, presumably to avoid any statutory issues. But the weird thing is that while you'd expect the show to be tamer, more family-friendly now that it's in prime time, there's actually more graphic violence, profanity, and irreverence than in the first season. (I'm watching it online rather than on TV, so I'm not sure if there's more editing on TV, but it's hard for me to believe some of this stuff gets past the censors.) Also, while the first season started when Golan was already living in Oak Grove with the Beeklers, this season starts with him still in Gkruool. Dylan (now voiced by Aubrey Plaza) finds a Gkruoolian Tome of spells, which she uses to summon Golan to our world, hoping he'll be her friend (since she doesn't have any). However, Golan is just pissed and wants to get back home. But by the end of the pilot, he manages to do so, and discovers that his chief acolyte there, Kruung, has usurped this throne in his absence. Not only that, Golan learns that everyone in Gkruool hates him, and now they want to kill him. So he returns to Earth, and begins living with the Beeklers. (Which makes me wonder if this is all a prequel to the first season, rather than actually negating it. Time will tell.) Anyway, the show is just unbelievably twisted, and therefore awesome.


animation index
Animation Domination High-Def / Sunday Funday