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Unicorn: Warriors Eternal

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Wandering Maiden (talk | contribs) at 02:46, 24 May 2023 (change wording, fix many tense issues. especially Episode 4's summary sounded like a cable channel synopsis, not a summary). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Not to be confused with Warrior Unicorn Princess.
Unicorn: Warriors Eternal
Genre
Created byGenndy Tartakovsky
Voices of
ComposersTyler Bates
Joanne Higginbottom
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes4
Production
Executive producersSam Register
Genndy Tartakovsky
ProducerShareena Carlson (supervising)
Running time21 minutes
Production companyCartoon Network Studios
Original release
NetworkAdult Swim
ReleaseMay 5, 2023 (2023-05-05) –
present

Unicorn: Warriors Eternal is an American adult animated fantasy television miniseries created by Genndy Tartakovsky and aired on Cartoon Network's night-time programming block Adult Swim. The series stars the voices of Hazel Doupe, Demari Hunte, and Tom Milligan. The look of the series is heavily inspired by the works of Osamu Tezuka and Max Fleischer.

Tartakovsky originally conceived Unicorn: Warriors Eternal in his early days at Cartoon Network Studios. The series took almost 20 years to get made, with Tartakovsky pitching it to various studios with little to no success. Eventually, it was picked up by Cartoon Network and HBO Max and was publicly announced in October 2020. It is produced by Cartoon Network Studios, with animation services by Studio La Cachette in France and Studio Zmei in Bulgaria.

Unicorn: Warriors Eternal was originally set to air on Cartoon Network as a part of its ACME Night programming block but was eventually moved to Adult Swim. The first two episodes premiered on May 5, 2023, and released on HBO Max the following day.

Premise

In “Unicorn: Warriors Eternal,” an evil force is looming across the dark, thick-aired streets of industrial revolution London when a group of heroes dubbed Unicorn are accidentally reawakened in the bodies of teenagers instead of adult hosts they’ve embodied in the past. Melinda, a powerful sorceress, Seng, a cosmic monk, and Edred, a warrior elf. With distorted memories and their magical abilities weakened and fragmented, the trio must work together with help from their steam-powered robot, Copernicus, to unravel the mysteries of their pasts and present that will reveal their path to defeating a timeless threat.

— Warner Bros. Discovery[2]

Cast and characters

The Order of Unicorn

  • Hazel Doupe as Emma Fairfax, the daughter of the wealthy Fairfax family and the current host of the soul of Melinda, a powerful sorceress.[3] However, due to the early reawakening of Melinda, Emma's personality has become the more dominant to the point of wanting her old life back, and she ends up losing control of her powers during any form of emotional outburst.
    • Grey DeLisle as the original Melinda.[4] She is credited as "Ancient Egypt/Original Melinda". DeLisle also voices Clarice Leydoux, a member of the "Reawakened" who claims to be descended from a prior incarnation of Melinda.
  • Demari Hunte as Alfie, an orphan who lived in the remains of an abandoned school and the current host of the soul of Seng, a cosmic monk.[3] Being reincarnated in a child has made the cosmic plane too much to comprehend, leaving him in a dream-like stupor.
    • Alain Uy as the original Seng.[4] He is credited as "Ancient Egypt Seng". Uy also voices Lao Xi Sheng, a member of the "Reawakened" who claims to be descended from a prior incarnation of Seng.
  • Tom Milligan as Dimitri Dynamo, a street magician and the current host of the soul of Edred, an elf warrior.[3] Unlike the others, Dimitri managed to retain most of Edred's memories and power, though he admits even his mind feels "clouded".
    • Jacob Dudman as the original Edred.[4] He is credited as "Ancient Egypt Edred".
  • Copernicus, a steam-powered robot who brings the three souls together.

Recurring

  • Ron Bottita as Lord Edward Fairfax, Emma's father.[5]
  • Rosalind Ayres as Lady Katherine Fairfax, Emma's mother.
  • Jeremy Crutchley as Merlin, the legendary wizard of the court of King Arthur, and the one who first brought the Order of the Unicorn together. It was Merlin who discovered Copernicus during a quest through time.[4]
  • George Webster as Winston, Emma’s fiance.[4]
  • Grey DeLisle as the Evil, an ancient ultimate evil that has been fought against and thwarted by Unicorn throughout history. It currently takes the form of a kitsune, which can manifest in a small or large form, or take the form of an anthropomorphic fox woman. The latter form, voiced by DeLisle, is credited in its first two appearances as the "Mysterious Woman".[4]

Production

Development

Genndy Tartakovsky conceived Unicorn: Warriors Eternal in his early days at Cartoon Network Studios. He stated: "All the projects we worked on - Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, and Sym-Bionic Titan - were like a training ground getting us ready for this series." According to Tartakovsky, it was difficult for to get the series off the ground, and it took almost 20 years to be made.[5] After he left Cartoon Network, no studio wanted to work with him, and every time he got one to back the project, it would fail to make progress, first with Cartoon Network, then with Netflix, before being picked up by HBO Max.[6] As a result of the long development of the series, a lot of ideas that were originally present in Unicorn: Warriors Eternal were changed because Tartakovsky felt that they had already been done in a lot of media and wanted to avoid being cliche. One example is the idea of technology versus magic and the robot rising, which took a backseat over the years because they had already been explored in popular films such as I, Robot (2004) and The Terminator (1984).[7] Tartakovsky came up with ideas for several seasons of Unicorn: Warriors Eternal and pitched it as a four-season story. He explained that "the world is so ripe and it's so brand new that you can do so much." He added, "If we get tired of these characters, we can go back to another time period or they're re-awoken in the future."[7]

In October 2020, Deadline Hollywood reported that HBO Max and Cartoon Network had greenlit the series, alongside Tiny Toons Looniversity and three projects from Mo Willems. The series was described as a supernatural animated series inspired by myths and lore from around the world, and some details regarding the premise were disclosed.[8] Sam Register executive produces alongside Tartakovsky, and Tyler Bates and Joan Higginbottom provide the series' music.[5] Animation was handled by Studio La Cachette in France and Studio Zmei in Bulgaria.[9][10]

Inspirations

Tartakovsky drew inspiration from Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), particularly the funeral scene, for being emotional yet featuring cartoony and goofy dwarves.[6][11][12] He stated: "There's a dirty word in animation of being 'too cartoony'. They say that you can't feel emotion if it looks too goofy. And that's bullshit. And so that's what I really wanted to do is have this very cartoony thing, but the emotions are real. And the drama really is a soap opera almost, it's so heightened."[11] The story was partly influenced by Tartakovsky watching his children grow up, which he thought the series lengthy development benefited from.[9]

The look of Unicorn Warrior Eternal was inspired by the works of Max Fleischer and Osamu Tezuka.[11][12] Tartakovsky acknowledged that Tezuka himself was influenced by Fleischer and Disney cartoons and described the look as an "incestual pool of beloved characters." He started drawing influences from Tezuka's work when he was writing an Astro Boy script for Sony in 2004 and read the manga.[11] Stephen DeStefano, who worked with Tartakovsky on Sym-Bionic Titan, Primal, and his cancelled Popeye film, served as character designer.[6][11] The two wanted the series to have an "old aesthetic but told in a very contemporary way with contemporary filmmaking."[11] The works of Hayao Miyazaki and general steampunk aesthetics also inspired Tartakovsky.[13]

Episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date [1][14]Prod.
code [1]		U.S. viewers
(millions)
1"The Awakening"Genndy TartakovskyDarrick Bachman & Genndy TartakovskyMay 5, 2023 (2023-05-05)1010.23[15]
21020.19[15]

Part 1: In Ancient Egypt, the three mystical warriors: The Powerful Sorceress Melinda, The Elven warrior Edred, & Cosmic Monk Seng fight against an evil spirit as it quickly injures Melinda and flees into (another) time. Their ally, Merlin, summons the steam-powered robot Copernicus from the future and devises a plan to reincarnate their souls to continue the fight against Evil throughout history, establishing the Magical order known as the Unicorns. In 1890, automatons sent by the Evil desecrate the slumbering Copernicus' grave, which activates him. After single-handedly defeating the automatons, Copernicus ventures into the urban steampunk streets of London to find the hosts and reawaken the Unicorns once more. At the Cathedral, Emma Fairfax, the daughter of the wealthy Fairfax family, is proposing marriage to her fiance Winston at the wedding, until Copernicus interrupts them and casts a soul to Emma, transforming her into Melinda. However, Melinda suddenly lashes out at the wedding guests and flies off while Copernicus follows her. Meanwhile, at the cemetery, a mysterious fox woman rebuilds one of the damaged automatons and learns about Copernicus's activation and devises a plans to summon a deceased Royal pet Indian Elephant, Lulu, to test the Unicorns' abilities. After following Emma (Melinda) from her departure, Copernicus takes Emma (Melinda) underground and shows a tapestry of herself as Melinda. However, her current personality of Emma begins to affect her memories and her life. Emma (Melinda) decides to find others to learn more about Melinda's past. Copernicus then takes Emma (Melinda) further away from the city where he tracks another host from across the misty sea.

Part 2: Melinda and Copernicus arrive at Squeersby, the abandoned school for orphan boys, where Emma and Winston first met. They encounter orphaned ruffians who use the abandoned school as a home. Copernicus chooses a young rebellious orphan, Alfie as Seng's host and reincarnates Seng's soul into him. Alfie's childhood persona begins to cause Seng's capability to use his power to deteriorate, resulting in Seng/Alfie being blissfully mesmerized and lacking concentration. Having trouble with Seng's new host and persona, Melinda stumbles upon an amateur street magician Dmitri Dynamo. Having impressed her with the power to appease the audience, Copernicus decides to reincarnate Dmitri as Edred's host. Seng and Edred both remember themselves and are shocked to learn that Melinda doesn't remember them. However, Lulu rampages and attacks the group, overwhelming them. Winston arrives and tries to convince Melinda of his desperate love for who she was (Emma), but she denies him. Fearing for Winston's safety, Melinda summons her power to finish off Lulu, but is unable to control it—resulting in mass damage and casualties. Feeling ashamed of injuring Winston and for the damage she caused to others, Melinda/Emma storms off in resentment towards the trio for ruining her life. At the same time, the Evil observes the entire event and foreshadows its last mission.
3"A Fateful Encounter"Genndy TartakovskyDarrick Bachman & Genndy TartakovskyMay 12, 2023 (2023-05-12)1030.19[16]
A shipment of Greek warrior statues is stolen by the Evil’s automatons. Following the incident of the Unicorns’ prior battle with Lulu and Melinda’s/Emma’s actions, The Inspector General, chief of the Scotland yard, denies to the press about the existence of magic, believing the Unicorns are a trouble-making gang of parlor trick practitioners. In the process, numerous magicians, illusionists, and spiritual practitioners are arrested. Meanwhile, Melinda/Emma tries to sort out everything she’s going through in Emma's life—having run-ins with her desperate parents, Winston, and the police, until she meets a false medium who ultimately helps Emma actually confront Melinda for the first time. Arguing over the control of their body, Emma demands Melinda leave her body to get her own life back, while Melinda insists on the importance of her own calling and demands Emma relinquish herself. At that moment, Copernicus, Seng, and Edred, who were tracking Melinda/Emma after being briefly chased by the police, arrive, causing Melinda to return to Emma. Suddenly, the animated Greek statues arrive, and while the rest of the Unicorns engage them, Emma refuses to let herself and Melinda get involved unless Melinda leaves Emma's body, but the increasing danger forces her to remorsefully allow Melinda to unleash her power, finishing the fight. However, due to the nature of his powers from the cosmic realm, Seng is indirectly attacked by the Evil disguised as a nine-tailed fox he encountered earlier while Edred spots a mysterious woman standing on a rooftop.
4"What Lies Beneath"Genndy TartakovskyDarrick Bachman & Genndy TartakovskyMay 19, 2023 (2023-05-19)1040.18[17]
The Unicorns find that the woman, revealed to be the fox woman, and the Evil are one and the same. They pursue the fox woman, but it traps them on an old galleon it sends to sea. Due to Emma's reluctance to try unleashing her full power after inadvertently nearly harming innocents during the chase, Melinda/Emma is unable to use it to free the Unicorns from the ship, so they must find another way off. During their search, they fight undead sailors and the ship itself. With unexpected help from Winston, they then race against time to prevent the ship's magic from negating Seng's connection to the cosmic realm, which would cause him to completely fade away. Melinda/Emma calls upon the help of an octopus monster to break the ship's magic, but the octopus monster goes on a rampage and the Unicorns stop the creature. They leave Winston but he is determined to follow.
5"The Past Within"UnknownUnknownMay 26, 2023 (2023-05-26)105N/A
6"The Mystery of Secrets"UnknownUnknownJune 2, 2023 (2023-06-02)TBAN/A
7"The Heart of Kings"UnknownUnknownJune 9, 2023 (2023-06-09)TBAN/A
8"Darkness Before the Dawn"UnknownUnknownJune 16, 2023 (2023-06-16)TBAN/A

Release

Footage of the series was shown at Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2022.[18] The series was previewed at New York Comic Con in October 2022.[19]

Unicorn: Warriors Eternal was originally set to premiere on Cartoon Network as part of its ACME Night programming block, but was instead moved to Adult Swim.[5] The first two episodes premiered at midnight ET on May 5, 2023, and was available on HBO Max the following day. The series is 10 episodes long.[20][21]

In addition to its Adult Swim airings, the series will run weekly encores on Toonami, as well as rerunning on Cartoon Network's ACME Night programming block. Michael Ouweleen claims this is because "By programming this during peak hours and re-airing across multiple dayparts, we are ensuring that all generations of animation fans can see this event-level series."[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Unicorn: Warriors Eternal – Listings". The Futon Critic. Retrieved April 25, 2023.
  2. ^ "Official Trailer Released for Genndy Tartakovsky's Newest Animated Series, "Unicorn: Warriors Eternal"". Warner Bros. Discovery. March 29, 2023. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d Milligan, Mercedes (March 29, 2023). "Official Trailer for Unicorn: Warriors Eternal Unveils Tartakovsky's Epic Tale for Adult Swim's Expanded Block". Animation Magazine. Archived from the original on March 29, 2023. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Baron, Reuben (April 27, 2023). "Unicorn: Warriors Eternal Is Genndy Tartakovsky's Weirdest Cartoon Yet". Paste Magazine.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ a b c d Khan, Amna (April 3, 2023). "Unicorn: Warriors Eternal: Release Date, Cast, Trailer, and Everything We Know So Far". Collider. Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c Motamayor, Rafael (June 15, 2022). "Unicorn: Warriors Eternal Review: Genndy Tartakovsky Is Back With Another Thrilling And Genre-Bending Series [Annecy]". /Film. Archived from the original on July 10, 2022. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  7. ^ a b Valdez, Nick (April 24, 2023). "Genndy Tartakovsky Talks Creating Unicorn: Warriors Eternal, Returning to Primal, and More". ComicBook.com. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
  8. ^ Del Rosario, Alexandra (October 28, 2020). "Unicorn: Warriors Eternal: HBO Max & Cartoon Network Order Supernatural Animated Series From Genndy Tartakovsky". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on March 29, 2023. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  9. ^ a b De Wit, Alex Dudok (June 16, 2022). "Annecy WIP: The Latest from Tartakovsky, Trueba, Aardman & More". Animation Magazine. Archived from the original on January 27, 2023. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  10. ^ Toncheva, Desislava (April 26, 2023). "Bulgarian Animators Share in New Genndy Tartakovsky Series". BTA. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  11. ^ a b c d e f Bennett, Tara (April 24, 2023). "Genndy Tartakovsky Shares News of a Primal Sequel and How Unicorn Survived the WB-Discovery Purge". Paste Magazine. Archived from the original on April 24, 2023. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  12. ^ a b Rouse, Isaac (April 25, 2023). "Genndy Tartakovsky Explains Unicorn: Warriors Eternal Coming-Of-Age Tale". TV Insider. Archived from the original on April 24, 2023. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  13. ^ Lab, Jesse (October 9, 2022). "NYCC 2022: Genndy Tartakovsky reflects on Cartoon Network's history and premieres his newest show". Flixist. Archived from the original on November 29, 2022. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  14. ^ "Unicorn: Warriors Eternal Episode Guide". TV Passport. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  15. ^ a b Mitch Metcalf (May 5, 2023). "Thursday 5.4.2023 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  16. ^ Mitch Salem (May 12, 2023). "Thursday 5.11.2023 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  17. ^ Mitch Metcalf (May 19, 2023). "Thursday 5.18.2023 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved May 19, 2023.
  18. ^ Hopewell, John (May 2, 2022). "Annecy Gets Pinocchio, Spider-Verse, Puss in Boots Footage and Lightyear, and Unveils Festival Lineup". Variety. Archived from the original on May 31, 2022. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  19. ^ Milligan, Mercedes (September 12, 2022). "NYCC: WBD Spotlights Velma, Tartakovsky's Unicorn, DC Animation & More". Animation Magazine. Archived from the original on January 8, 2023. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  20. ^ Schwarz, John (March 28, 2023). "Unicorn: Warriors Eternal gets premiere date for...Adult Swim". Bubbleblabber. Archived from the original on March 28, 2023. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  21. ^ Hayes, Dade (March 29, 2023). "As Adult Swim Gets Set To Add An Hour Of Daily Programming, President Michael Ouweleen Sees Warner Bros Discovery In A More Settled Post-Merger State: 'We're All Feeling More Possibility'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on March 29, 2023. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
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