A popular graphic novel has been adapted to a series, as Strange Planet premieres on Apple TV Plus August 9. Dan Harmon is behind the animated show, about a distant world full of blue beings who may not be all that different from their counterparts on Earth.
There are 10 episodes. Three are available August 9 and the finale transpires September 27.
Harmon’s shows include Fox animated comedy Krapopolis, Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty and NBC’s Community.
The Strange Planet voice cast includes Tunde Adebimpe, better known as the singer in TV on the Radio, Demi Adejuyigbe, Lori Tan Chinn, Danny Pudi and Hannah Einbinder.
Adebimpe wrote the score for PBS Kids program City Island. Pudi played film connoisseur Abed in Community.
Apple Studios and ShadowMachine produce Strange Planet. Harmon and Nathan W. Pyle, author of the Strange Planet book, created the show. They executive produce with Alex Bulkley, Corey Campodonico for ShadowMachine, Lauren Pomerantz, Amalia Levari, Steve Levy and Taylor Alexy Pyle.
The Strange Planet book came to be in 2019 after Pyle’s Strange Planet web comics blew up. The book has a 4.33 rating, out of 5, on GoodReads, with over 37,000 people rating it.
A review of the TV series in the New York Times said Strange Planet “successfully marries Pyle’s wholesome, observational humor with Harmon’s love of cerebral, dark-tinted comedy that unpacks the human experience via eccentric characters. For a show that doesn’t actually include any humans (just these ‘beings,’ as they’re called, and various creatures), it has plenty of humanity.”
One in The Guardian said: “This charming animated series — adapted from the popular web comic — has the potential to be wonderful. Sadly, the 25-minute episodes are full of gimmicky characters and repetitive takes.”
Another review in The Hollywood Reporter was similarly mixed. “Though its feather-lightness makes the series an easy binge, I don’t recommend trying to watch it all at once for the same reason I wouldn’t recommend trying to eat an entire birthday cake in one go: it’s simply too much sugar to be digested all at once,” THR said.
