After the ridiculously different, bleak foray into existentialism that was last week’s episode, it seemed like it’d be harder for this show to outdo itself in terms of mouth-agape-what-is-going-on-ness, but then this episode begins with a metallic alien with a rainbow afro named Tom Travolta dancing on a giant golden disco ball with Dandy, and we’re again reminded that the ability of this show should never be doubted. Through all of this there are some wonderfully weird segments that are edited to the beat of funky disco tunes (or even the disco record that opens up the theme song this week), as everything takes more of a hand-drawn simplistic approach rather than the polished sheen that’s always present. This ultra-sketched design comes up repeatedly through the episode to punctuate things. The planetary chief’s mother (who’s in a 300 year coma) is permanently drawn this way, even, due to her decrepitness. This episode also manages to stand out with the further weirdness seen with Dr. Gel and Bea, whose sole contribution is merely to lament their role in the show. “I have to ask, why do we even chase after Dandy anyway?” Bea asks Gel, “I’m getting tired of getting blown up week after week.” This is absolute craziness in terms of the continuity of the show, with them fully aware of their deaths, but the idea of how they may not even know why they’re after Dandy, and are tired of doing it, is amazing. It’s like Dandy remembering the time they were zombies. It’s nuts, and I love it, and it doesn’t keep them from again getting blown to pieces this week. What I like so much about this episode is that much of it is just watching Dandy and crazy aliens dance, and it wasn’t even too long ago that we had the musical send up at Baverly Hills, but just as you feel like this may be a throwaway episode, the hugest turns are taken. Dandy’s weird other-dimensional record (“Superinflation”) is played and it causes time to pass at an alarming pace, turning Dandy and everyone into skeletons. There are some great jokes and “science” to this shown, like how playing the record backwards makes time move very quickly in reverse, reverting Dandy and crew into babies, and Meow, into what appears to be, a sperm. More importantly, this heavy speeding up of time causes this planetary lichen (that has largely been forgotten, according to the narrator) to grow and grow and eventually reveal itself to be the Dancingians. It’s a pretty great twist that at the end Tom Travolta is not a legendary Dancingian, but merely just a dude who fits the profile and loves to dance. The much more devastating conclusion that these are all-powerful super lichens is realized too late as Dandy and Travolta’s dancing combines with their presence and ends up resulting in a big bang that destroys the universe. Which, honestly, might not be the weirdest thing to happen on Space Dandy so far. “Dust in the solar wind, sir.” Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!
