An Actual Tried-Gun Stamp’d 3D Animated Sci-fi TV Show Ramble
Ok ok I’ll try to say at least a few more paragraphs about it. Several paragraphs actually. It’s not very insightful or anything, but I’d like to get it out of my system anyways.
(Also yes I’m changing up names to avoid key word searches. Hope it’s not too confusing.)
I’m stating the obvious here, but the animation alone is groundbreaking and carries the entire show from start to finish. I’ve got scenes that live in my head forever now just because they were that cool. Stamp’d’s one of the best looking shows I’ve seen in a long time. The attempts at world building were nice too, and I’m also not that against some of the streamlining they’ve done (like replacing the 5th moon scenario with July). Didn’t hate most of the redesigns either; Bug Fella got the best update, and I grew fine with Red Guy and Tiny Woman’s new looks by the end. The way they have the cities encased in the ships is interesting too. It loses a good chunk of the Wild West charm but I can see what they’re going for at least, and I don’t mind it. But man did this show need double the episodes it got for the story it tried to tell... The Studio tried to cram so much in every episode, and as a result a lot of the major moments felt empty to me; as soon as you try to process what happened it’s time to move on to the next big thing. I finished almost every episode feeling burnt out while at the same time wishing it was 20 minutes longer, just so they could’ve jangled 2 sets of keys at a time in front my face instead of 5 all at once.
It’s the dangers of trying to retell an old story in a new way in such a limited time. You can change up the visuals and setting, but you still need familiar enough plot points to still be y’know, that story. With how little time The Studio was given, it feels like they reached those plot points like they’re checking off a list. A glaring example for me is how Cross Guy and Red Guy never had a chance to pal around for the entire show; but because the Laws of Tried-Gun dictate that these guys are supposed to be close, they have to be close here too (even if we never fully see how or why). Now for some people that’s not an issue. Plenty of viewers are willing to fill in the blanks themselves. And that’s fine... but in this context I’m not one of those people. I know what should be there, and it’s just not there! Let me see these goofballs eat spaghetti and bicker towards one another, please!
Just to save time and your brain cells, I’m not gonna try to go over every single change in the story I had issues with. Not even sure how to go about talking about it... Really the root of my problems come from how these changes were presented, which again, comes from them having no time to flesh anything out properly. (But I’ll be fair to the pacing, I don’t think extra time would’ve made me feel better about GHG and EoM being merged into a secret eugenics agency run by Bald Scientist)
So I dunno... I feel very conflicted about Stamp. I was frustrated with a good chunk of it, but it was still fun to look at, and in the end I don’t feel like I hate it. It’s why a 6/10 feels right to me; it’s not the worst thing ever, and there’s enough going for it that I see why it’s hooked so many new people into the series, which is something I’m very happy about.Trigun deserves to be appreciated by a wider audience, and if the new show means even an extra 10 people start checking out the older material, then I can’t be mad. I know we’re supposed to get a 2nd season, so maybe now that The Studio knows this isn’t a one-and-done deal, they’ll be able to stretch the story out more comfortably now. I can’t say I’m fully looking forward to it... but I’m in it for the long haul now. I have to know what happens next.
