Cheirinn // March 18th, 2021
In this day and age media services are exploding – expanding to provide the world with an array of varying sitcoms, dramas, serials, documentaries and other shows that appeal to the vast demographics. And, thanks to YouTube, everyday content creators don’t need to rely on Hollywood or production companies to make satisfying shows for people to watch. An especially notable case is that of YouTubers Evan “VanossGaming” Fong, Tyler “Wildcat” Wine, Marcel “BasicallyIDoWrk” Cunningham, and Brian “Terroriser” Hanby. They have each garnered their large viewership while providing videos that center around gaming and their commentaries. With their supportive fanbase, this quad set out to complete an even larger goal. With the creative minds of Chris Bruno and David Howard Lee, they planned on creating an actual show that they are hoping will be picked up by a network and adored by the populace. This idea of theirs is named “ALPHA BETAS”.
The pilot episode for Alpha Betas is currently available on VanossGaming’s YouTube channel, and can be found here. The story revolves around four gamers that are employed by the CIA to protect and maintain the power mainframe of the USA. The Energy Division that oversees them consists of a level-headed and serious superior, a friendly but slightly naïve assistant, and a snarky and annoyed supervisor. For the gamers themselves, the show does a quick bit in which the superior simplifies the characters to their one trait, of which each responds exactly as described. The cast for these characters does not rely on the four founding content creators alone. Though the main four characters are voiced by the aforementioned YouTubers, they were even able to get some actors to participate in their pilot episode, such as John DiMaggio (Futurama, Adventure Time, Gears of War), Chris Parnell (Archer, Rick and Morty), Paget Brewster (Criminal Minds), Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), and Brent Morin (Undatable).
The show is drawn extremely well and is smooth in its animations. Its style looks like a polished-up version of Rick and Morty or a variant of Final Space to me. It is clean and well-detailed, and each character has their own look. When it comes to the writing of the show, there was nothing really amazing about the story itself as the idea I feel is not extremely original. It appears to be a less serious and more edgy version of Code Lyoko. This, of course, has not deter me as I enjoyed the premise and the entirety of the pilot. The story itself both does and doesn’t make sense in certain cases and you are left thinking, “Why did they do that?” The voice acting was great all around except for Even Fong and Stephanie Beatriz in some parts. I felt that the emotion behind the words were missing and it sounded like they were just speaking the lines rather than trying to act out the lines. The best acting was done by Brian and Tyler, their voices were definitely made for this. The characters were all well written and entertaining in regard to the story, but I did not like the way that they made Chris Parnell’s character as it just felt like a re-skin of his character Jerry from Rick and Morty. This show does have a lot of potential and is completely worth the time to watch.
Though the pilot didn’t blast me away and is definitely not the best show out there, these guys performed much better than I expected. And I do hope that, with a little more work, Alpha Betas can be picked up by an actual network. I have a strong respect for Tyler in his comment on Twitter in which he says, “… Thank you guys so much! Just so you know that the pilot is always the worst episode of a series. This show will only get better if we get to make more seasons. Promise you that!” Of which he is right. What made me respect him in this case is the awareness that what they made is not perfect nor the best, and that they are ready to improve and continue on with the project for their fans. It is great to see people not be full of themselves and to be grateful to those that are supporting them on their journey. Please give this show a chance and support them as they continue to provide this show for free.
NOW, ON TO THE SPOILERS!
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
I am not going to tell you everything that happened in the show, not that kind of spoiler. Rather I am going to talk about certain things that happened in the show that I thought were notable, for good or bad reasons.
I will start off with the problems I had with the show. The biggest gripe I had with the show was the rationale behind the “antagonist”. If the whole purpose was to fire the Alpha Betas, just referred to in the show as Alpha Team, then why go through the whole process of creating a ruse to try and make them fail? Just fire them.
I understand that there needs to be hidden tension or a mystery aspect to some shows to make them interesting and to have the story move forward without needing a lengthy or complicated explanation, but this just seemed ridiculous. The story I feel would have been better if the Alpha Betas were aware that their superior hated them and wanted them fired, and that they had to feel the pressure of not messing up to be replaced with Bravo Team. OR, that they are aware that Bravo Team “exists”, but think that they are a foreign entity trying to destroy America which would allow for the mystery aspect to take place as they discover things that show that it is not a foreign power, but their own boss trying to sabotage them.
I felt that the superior could have easily just said to the Alpha Betas that Bravo Team performs better and quicker, so we are letting you go. Or, they could have just killed Alpha Team like they did with the auditor, which also made no sense as he was sent by the president and thus him disappearing would cause even more problems for the superior. I am assuming that the next episode they will have a robot or clone of the auditor to cover their tracks, but still bad writing.
Also, why try to do this plan while the auditor is there? If they needed a witness, they could easily show video recording of the teams’ failure as they execute their plan at another time. Why jeopardize your funding just to fire four successful incompetents? Make no sense, but still lead to an entertaining episode and gave them a reason to explain the premise and purpose of the team to the audience.
There were other smaller things in the show that were either out of place or annoying, but not big enough to cause any larger care than a confused expression or an eye-roll. Such as making fun of Buck’s legs when he said there are too many bandits to blast their way in. Or, Eddie refusing to shoot the hooker to impress Ruby who said she didn’t care if he shot a fake hooker (which was only put in to make the scene more suspenseful and tie back to the beginning).
For the good parts of the show, the show did well in making the world interesting and I am looking forward to seeing if we can meet other country’s Energy Division teams. The show did not make me feel bored and I really enjoyed the feel that the characters had. The explanation given in the show for the purpose of the Alpha Betas was enjoyable and made me chuckle at some parts. Such as trying to get power from a waterfall only to be electrocuted. I did not think that showing the Area 51 scenes needed to be so focused on, but now I am intrigued on if the aliens are a one-time thing for the pilot or if we will see more of them. I mean, c’mon. What is gonna happen to Ed and Lisa? Will she ever get back home to her family? I need to know.
The show did have some funny parts to it, but not enough I felt. Then again, the main aspect for the story may not be comedy, but more episode will give us a better feel of their direction. I especially enjoyed Tyler’s character Tommy trying to overcome his fear of horses to just be murdered by the horse. The show does a great job of making you feel invested and wanting more.
Overall, I would give the show a solid B, but please take the time to watch for yourselves. Maybe I am dead wrong on my critiques. You be the judge for yourself. All in all, I think you won’t be disappointed. Thank you all for reading. This has been Clayton. Take care.
Thunder's Remnant 