Created, written and directed by Sam Pocker, ‘Sam Pocker’s Magic Banana: The Animated Series’ is an animated series. While the first two episodes of this series were released about a year ago, Pocker waited to raise money to make more. 16 more episodes are thus in production and they will start rolling out January 18, 2025.
The animated series finds Sam Pocker brought to life as former Saturday morning cartoon star ‘Sam Pocker’ who is living a quiet life in Burbank. In his spare time, Pocker drives his magical, space-and-time-travelling vehicle to shuttle an eclectic mix of passengers around Los Angeles. Once the star of a beloved animated series, Sam now works as a rideshare driver, taking passengers to routine locations while occasionally journeying to distant, surreal locales as well.
I did not know what to expect when I started watching this but honestly, I am pleasantly surprised. The writing is sharp, the voice acting is great and the central premise of existential crisis wrapped in a sort of a science fiction story is something I can truly dig. Pocker does try to create something original here and in my humble opinion, he has managed to do it. From its first scene to its last, the episode in no way feels derivative or something that we have seen before. It feels fresh, original and something that we want more of.
Perhaps the most surprising element of the film is its sly, wink and a nod, sense of humour. This can be viewed two ways. The first view is one of enjoyment and laughter. I loved it and was positively amused by it. But the humour has another meaning here; it is hiding the existential dread amongst all of us. In the vast cosmos that we find ourselves living in, we think we and our problems are the centre of the universe. This could not be further from the truth and it is humbling for a work of art to remind us of that.
For a six minute short, the narrative pacing is perfect and quite a bit of stuff happens here. The characters are briskly introduced and we hit the ground running. Pocker wastes no time here and I can only imagine that the next episodes will dive more into the background of our protagonist.
The animation is, in a word, interesting. It is simple yet it manages to convey emotions and action as best as live action. The movements are seamless and the character designs are also fascinating.
Pocker manages to capture the ‘weird yet believable’ aspect of the story quite well and once the episode starts, nowhere does it feel out of place or outlandish. Anything can happen in this world that Pocker has built and that is the most important point to note here.
To conclude, after witnessing the first episode of ‘Sam Pocker’s Magic Banana: The Animated Series‘, I can conclude that this is a fascinating animated endeavour for the adults. A Saturday Morning Cartoon for adults who grew up watching Saturday Morning Cartoons, ‘Sam Pocker’s Magic Banana: The Animated Series’ captures the ‘magic’ of our youth whilst also poking a little fun at it. Alas, time leaves us all behind and I am sure most of us would like to return to our childhoods when the most important and stressful thing was not to miss our favourite episode. This series is thus a timely reminder of how our young past selves were carefree where we dared to dream big. Pocker’s series accurately captures our eternal struggle for belonging and we commend him for getting this just about right; akin to lightning in a bottle, Pocker manages to create something unique here, something that may come to define him. We loved the series and await the rest of the season with bated breath.
