One show I haven’t seen discussed at all this season is Journey Home (or, if you go with a more literal translation from the Japanese, “Space bugs”). Could be a number of reasons for this: It’s aimed at a young audience; it’s done in a different, 3D-model kind of style; maybe it just bugs some folks. (Aha aha! I’m so funny!)
Still, having followed it thus far this season, I can find very little to complain about. The basic premise is simple: Several bugs are living on a space station. They were intended for science experiments, but the company running the station lost its funding and all the humans went home. At first, the bugs are content to live on the space station; but when they realize that the station is running out of power—meaning they’ll have no air or food eventually—the bugs decide to return to Earth.
Of course, it’s not going to be an easy trip. “Bug-buster” robots are loose on the station, a trio of frogs stumble upon the bugs and decide to eat them, and once they make it off the station in an automated supply shuttle they end up crashing on a decidedly-not-Earth planet. Last week’s episode had them escape an artificial black hole by meditating with the aid of a Buddhist water bear!
If this sounds like a ridiculous romp aimed at kids, perhaps it is—but it is by no means shallow. There are some deeply moving scenes, such as when the spider remembers the trauma of watching his fellow arachnids being raised in tiny confined jars, then made to spin thread until they died from exhaustion. Or when the honey-bee reveals that the tips of her arrows are the stingers of her late family. Or when the bugs’ conversation turns into a debate over whether there’s anything worth returning to on Earth after the humans have been ruining the environment for so long. (The answer? Yes, of course. I mean, it would have been a really short series otherwise.) The story isn’t preachy—its purpose is to entertain—but the themes are sufficiently present to add some weight to what is otherwise a sci-fi flight of fancy.
Or, if you don’t care about themes, check out the humor! There’s plenty of funny for all, adults included. If you’ve never had the pleasure of laughing at frogs getting flushed down space toilets, now’s the time! We also get treated to delightful conversational moments, like this one—
—which takes place right before the computer makes a grievous error, of course.
Even though it’s supposedly aimed at kids, you still get a lot of moments like this one:
These provide some adult-level mind bites to chew on.
Of course, if you do let your kids watch it, prepare for some awkward moments: e.g., explaining to the dentist that your little boy is pretending to be a frog, and does not actually eat bugs as he just announced. This is a purely hypothetical example, naturally.
In sum: It’s a treat for the whole family. I encourage you to give it a go!
Oh yeah, and Ellen the honeybee is definitely in the running for Best Girl of the season. I mean, she’s courageous, she knocks around amphibians with Kung-Fu, and she takes out robots with archery! My appreciation for honeybees has been taken to a whole new level!
Notes:
- Source: Schokraie E, Warnken U, Hotz-Wagenblatt A, Grohme MA, Hengherr S, et al. (2012) – Schokraie E, Warnken U, Hotz-Wagenblatt A, Grohme MA, Hengherr S, et al. (2012) Comparative proteome analysis of Milnesium tardigradum in early embryonic state versus adults in active and anhydrobiotic state. PLoS ONE 7(9): e45682. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0045682, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22716809.
** From the Lord of the Rings, you know.