In 'Scott Pilgrim Takes Off,' Scott Indeed Takes Off
A beloved franchise takes a surprise twist in its newly adapted TV series.
By Sharon Kim
A beloved franchise takes a surprise twist in its newly adapted TV series.
By Sharon Kim
The series “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” landed on Netflix on Nov. 17, and it rocks.
“Scott Pilgrim” as a franchise has been around since 2004 when the first comic book debuted, followed by its big screen debut in 2010. This created a dedicated fan base for the story, retold in its many forms, yet the anime carves a new path in the narrative from both the film and comics.
Scott Pilgrim (voiced by Michael Cera) is a 23-year-old who is unemployed, in a band and makes questionable life decisions. He falls for a girl named Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), upon seeing her in his dreams. However, his pursuit is thwarted by the League of Evil Exes, and to date her, he must first defeat each of the seven. Now in the series, all of this is true right until Scott’s encounter with Ramona’s first ex subverts the plot when Scott is beaten in the fight, presumed dead. In the following episodes, Ramona conducts her investigation, confronts her exes and searches for a Scott who may not be truly gone.
The series is written by original comic author, Bryan Lee O’Malley, and BenDavid Grabinski, and executive produced by Edgar Wright, who directed “Scott Pilgrim vs The World.” Not wanting to retell the same story a third time, the author chose to take the creative liberty by using the series as a chance to expand on Ramona’s character by transforming her role from a love interest to a main character, along with fleshing out and shining the spotlight on secondary characters. Even the original acting cast of the film all returned to voice their character's roles 13 years later such as Chris Evans as Lucas Lee, Brie Larson as Natalie "Envy" Adams and many others.
Even if you aren't one for romance, many more elements like fantasy, comedy and drama shine throughout the series.
In a world that functions on video game mechanics and has people sprouting superpowers left and right, you bet these fight scenes go hard. The animation by Science Saru goes over the top with the quality of these stunning heated battles. The style of the comics is also reflected in the series giving it a nice touch to nostalgic fans.
Episode three, “Ramona Rents a Video” is what I perceive to be one of the most entertainingly choreographed yet emotionally driven fight sequences out of all the exes. Ramona's relationship with Roxie Richter (Mae Whitman) was given the proper explanation it deserves rather than being brushed off as a phase. Expanding their backstory, the reason why the two fell off, and making Ramona admit and face her mistakes head-on was one of the rawest episodes and gets a 5/5 from me.
Like the characters, the show isn’t without flaws yet if you don’t stress on the plot I would say the series is a good time. Now do you need to read the comics or watch the movie before you should watch the series? The short answer is yes, but the movie alone does a sufficient job of providing enough context for new viewers. Both “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” and “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” are available and streaming now on Netflix, so go watch them both!
“Scott Pilgrim” as a franchise has been around since 2004 when the first comic book debuted, followed by its big screen debut in 2010. This created a dedicated fan base for the story, retold in its many forms, yet the anime carves a new path in the narrative from both the film and comics.
Scott Pilgrim (voiced by Michael Cera) is a 23-year-old who is unemployed, in a band and makes questionable life decisions. He falls for a girl named Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), upon seeing her in his dreams. However, his pursuit is thwarted by the League of Evil Exes, and to date her, he must first defeat each of the seven. Now in the series, all of this is true right until Scott’s encounter with Ramona’s first ex subverts the plot when Scott is beaten in the fight, presumed dead. In the following episodes, Ramona conducts her investigation, confronts her exes and searches for a Scott who may not be truly gone.
The series is written by original comic author, Bryan Lee O’Malley, and BenDavid Grabinski, and executive produced by Edgar Wright, who directed “Scott Pilgrim vs The World.” Not wanting to retell the same story a third time, the author chose to take the creative liberty by using the series as a chance to expand on Ramona’s character by transforming her role from a love interest to a main character, along with fleshing out and shining the spotlight on secondary characters. Even the original acting cast of the film all returned to voice their character's roles 13 years later such as Chris Evans as Lucas Lee, Brie Larson as Natalie "Envy" Adams and many others.
Even if you aren't one for romance, many more elements like fantasy, comedy and drama shine throughout the series.
In a world that functions on video game mechanics and has people sprouting superpowers left and right, you bet these fight scenes go hard. The animation by Science Saru goes over the top with the quality of these stunning heated battles. The style of the comics is also reflected in the series giving it a nice touch to nostalgic fans.
Episode three, “Ramona Rents a Video” is what I perceive to be one of the most entertainingly choreographed yet emotionally driven fight sequences out of all the exes. Ramona's relationship with Roxie Richter (Mae Whitman) was given the proper explanation it deserves rather than being brushed off as a phase. Expanding their backstory, the reason why the two fell off, and making Ramona admit and face her mistakes head-on was one of the rawest episodes and gets a 5/5 from me.
Like the characters, the show isn’t without flaws yet if you don’t stress on the plot I would say the series is a good time. Now do you need to read the comics or watch the movie before you should watch the series? The short answer is yes, but the movie alone does a sufficient job of providing enough context for new viewers. Both “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” and “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” are available and streaming now on Netflix, so go watch them both!