Level Up

Level Up

Episode 1: Barbarian

The Series Premiere

By: Carlos Uribe

Level Up is a show about video game characters entering the real world. It is currently running on Cartoon Network

Spoilers Ahoy!

I'm a bit confused. The pilot of the series, the movie, had a conclusion. That conclusion was that the game portals were closed, there would be no more leaks, and the characters could go back to their lives. This episode is the first episode to air as part of the actual series. It's essentially the series premiere. What this show could, and should, have done is set up the series. It should have found a way to re-open the portal and then to explain that the characters were using one of Max's rooms as a headquarters. This would have explained the events in the episode, which make no sense when compared with how the movie ended. There is therefore a disconnect between what is happening in this episode and what happened in the pilot. This is common for series with stand-alone episodes and for shows that aired in the past, but it just feels odd in the age of the internet. It's true that kid's television works a bit differently. Shows don't have to worry about their continuity as much since children have short-term memory and their made to have sell products. This doesn't mean that they shouldn't worry to make sure things make sense. Parents often watch their children's programming and it makes a better program in general.

This episode had a basic story. A barbarian crosses over to the real world from the game and he endears himself to Dante. This is a good barbarian as he helps our heroes kill some monsters and then with their school life. It isn't until the barbarian saves Wyatt from some bullies that the group becomes largely in favor of keeping him in the real world. He's not only a force to be reckoned with, but the barbarian is on their side. The only character to remain opposed to keeping the barbarian is Lyle, who convinces the rest of the group to send him back when the barbarian freaks out during their history class. This leads to them having to figure out a way since the barbarian is too high-level to be sent back. This means having to create a portal to the game, which is accomplished by Max. Max is different in this episode. He's played by a different actor and he seems like a slightly different character. The Max from the movie was honestly better than this series Max. The story is basic but it works too much like a standard sit-com plot. It's simply different than the movie and it's actually worse than it. It might not be reinforcing bad stereotypes about gaming, but the episode has no point-of-view, very little actual originality, and it has little of the fun that the movie did have.

That fun was seeing the characters going around and trying to be heroes. I noted in my review that was the bright spot of the movie. While this episode has them trying to figure out a situation that arises from the show's premise, it doesn't really have them trying to save the day. They are all involved in school-centered plots that could honestly exist in other shows. This creates an episode that is more like what is seen as the average of television programming: jokes that are juvenile and only-for-kids and wacky situations. If the rest of the episodes don't pick up in quality, I can imagine me dropping this from the weekly review coverage faster than I expected. There's no reason to see a show that is content to merely exist and who doesn't try to do anything with it's existence. That also creates a show that makes it hard to cover. This is simply boring and dull television. As a kid, I might like it-but making your show attractive to people outside of your target audience makes a good show. This might be a good show for kids, but it's not a good kid's show.