Nickelodeon’s new series Glitch Techs, currently streaming on Netflix, is the third Nicktoon that co-developer Eric Robles has worked on following The X’s and Fanboy & Chum-Chum, and I think this is his strongest series yet. Collaborating with Dan Milano (from the short-lived and underrated sitcom Greg the Bunny), it’s more story-based and has deeper elements than the rest of his work while still leaving plenty of room for laughs.
For those of you that hated Fanboy/Chum-Chum- and there seems to be a lot of folks out there who rank it pretty low in the Nicktoon scale, I personally thought the show was harmless and pretty inoffensive- this cartoon’s nothing like that. As goofy as it gets, the dynamic and interactions feel way more natural than F&CC, which just makes the funnier bits much more so.
Visually, if you photoshopped out the Nick logo, I would have easily mistaken this based on the character models (with some good animation and exciting scenes from studios such as TopDraw and Flying Bark) for a Cartoon Network show. And premise wise it even feels like one, detailing the exploits of teenage game store workers High Five (Richard Hurtado and Miko (Monica Ray)- who in reality, are part of the titular strike force assigned to fight and capture glitches that rampage outside of their games.
Using mind wipes to cover their tracks publicly, they resemble a hybrid of the Ghostbusters and the Men In Black. When the arrogant high-ranked tech Mitch Williams (Luke Youngblood) tries to wipe Five and Miko’s memories after sorely losing a Hinobi-sponsored gaming event, Miko resists and tries to uncover the mystery- leading to the discovery of the company’s robot BITT (voiced by Milano himself) who provides her and Five with a crash course in glitch-fighting.
Ray’s performance as Miko is hyperactive to be sure, but it’s still toned down from Spongebob’s usual demeanor, so it doesn’t become too overwhelming, while Hurtado gives Five an adorably appealing nerdy tone that still allows him to be convincingly heroic. Their dual rivalry with Youngblood’s Mitch provides for some strong comedy, with Mitch being the epitome of the “butt-monkey” trope, that overzealous and arrogant rival who always falls on their face in the end (think Chuck Jones’s Daffy Duck). From getting eaten by a giant cat monster to getting stuck in a giant class chamber after coming down with a tech-virus, Mitch provides some quality butt-monkeying through the show.
Of course, Glitch Techs isn’t the first cartoon to focus on gamers as a specific demographic. Kids WB released a series called Da Boom Crew in 2004, except instead of e-sports players, it starred a group of teenagers who designed their own video game before a lightning storm trapped them inside it. On paper that’s not necessarily a bad idea, and casting Morris Day from The Time as one of the villains was a nice touch.
Unfortunately, then the teen programmers started talking. And then it all fell apart. There were so many painful attempts with the titular crew’s dialogue to be hip and relatable from the writing staff that at no point did they ever come off like real kids.
And luckily, while the characters in GT are quite nerdy (like Josh Sussman’s tech Bergy’s obsession with quests, and Sandeep Parikh’s Haneesh’s fixation on hacking everything), they’re not exactly *pandering* to nerds, if that makes sense. It doesn’t reach the point where they can’t be related to (Zehra Fazal’s Zahra especially seems down-to-earth) and I can imagine having a decent non-game related conversation between them.
Most of the lessons the cast learns are concerned with them growing into better people and better connecting with their friends, families and co-workers, even as they gain more skills (as Scott Kreamer’s droll supervisor Phil explains, the Hinobi HQ even allows the Techs to gain XP/experience for successfully defeating monsters).
It also doesn’t hurt that this is way more visually interesting than Warner Bros’s previous effort. The writers give Hinobi a large amount of background, which is a good excuse to churn out plenty of cool looking glitch designs for the heroes to battle (some cute, some terrifying). But another thing that works about this series is how from the first episode on, there’s an effort to prioritize Five and Miko’s friendship, its gradual development, and their efforts to protect the town over their success and status as gamers.
In spite of the stakes in the story, there’s a very cheery atmosphere to Glitch Techs. Particularly with Miko, she has a major “kid in a candy store” factor to how amazed her and Five are to be combating iconic game characters from their childhoods. In fact, the designated “haunted house” episode is a full bore Castlevania parody, right down to memorizing the attack patterns of a flamboyant and extremely tough boss. This along with nods to series like Sonic and Metal Gear, is a sign the writers are appropriately knowledgeable and they’re taking full advantage of lovingly lampooning gaming culture.
So if you’re seeking a show that successfully blends humor and compelling action, I can highly recommend this one. Hopefully, it’ll get picked up for future seasons because there’s a ton of untapped potential here to expand the story. And of course, if you’ve watched it, head by @official_FAN and let us know how you felt!