Glitch Productions’ latest animated series, the 2D sci-fi thriller ‘Knights of Guinevere,’ is more than some horror-tinged Disney potshots.
For years, animation fans have clamored online for new, original works to fall in love with alongside cherished, already established IP. After this summer’s KPop Demon Hunters provided a successful (and ongoing) bit of originality, that momentum continues with Knights of Guinevere, whose pilot premiered this past weekend on YouTube.
Created by Dana Terrace, Zach Marcus, and John Bailey Owen, the creator and key writers on Disney’s The Owl House, Guinevere feels at once like its own distinct, freaky thing while also being informed by the trio’s previous (and truncated) collaboration. That’s made clear right away at the start, where a young girl named Olivia Park is working on an android in a dark room. When her father, Orville, beckons her over, Olivia brings Gwen behind her using cords coming out of the android’s stomach, which look like intestines and are slathered in blue goo.
When she’s of age, Olivia is to inherit the Park Planet run by her father, a vibrant, Disneyland-looking place that touts Gwen as its key mascot, primarily as a princess but in additional outfits. The girl is stone-faced while hearing this information, but after dragging her Gwen droid around, the droid suddenly decides to escape by jumping off the building and falling into the ocean below. She’s not found until years later by Frankie, a factory laborer and scavenger living in the city of M7 with her park engineer friend Andi. While unaware of the value of this specific Gwen droid, Frankie thinks fixing it could help her rise above her station and get a better Park Planet gig.
