Why The Gaslight District Could Be Indie Animation's Next Big Hit
For those of you who know of Glitch Productions, it's likely you've at least heard of their upcoming show called The Gaslight District. Glitch has had several other hit shows under their belt, from the post-apocalyptic Murder Drones to the colorful existential dread of The Amazing Digital Circus. But I honestly feel like The Gaslight District could very well be one of their biggest, for a number of reasons:
The Supernatural Crime-Comedy Genre of the Show.
Aside from their early shows like Sunset Paradise that spun off from their Super Mario-spoofing routes, Glitch's other shows have run the gauntlet more along the lines of science-fiction, whether understated or overt. Meta Runner involves a girl who can enter video games she plays, Murder Drones is a straight-up robotic post-apocalypse, and while The Amazing Digital Circus is very vibrant with fantasy vibes, the overall world itself is digital—it's right there in the title.
The Gaslight District looks to pivot from those elements, with the mafia main cast having weapons but otherwise steering more toward dark fantasy. The location is lit by gas lamps, and while it also caries a similar post-apocalyptic feel as Murder Drones, the overall environment feels more supernatural in nature, with the main characters being undead and crows with the halos of angels being present within the marketing. It really gives a feel of combining the movie 9 with the movie Coraline—both stories that have captivated me for a long time (even despite finding out that Neil Gaiman, the author of the latter, is awful). The concept of following the cast into a world abandoned by God as the undead remnants fight with each other is a compelling narrative it will be quite intriguing to follow.
2. The Marketing Gives a Sense of Mystery
Back when Cartoon Network's Infinity Train was set to air, the online marketing involved visitors solving puzzles in order to enter the website and learn some details about the show. The Gaslight District follows a similar vibe. One the show's website visitors must enter a password, and getting it wrong grants you similar gaslighting statements as the initial announcement trailer (i.e. "Your eyes remain closed"). Passwords such as "Abandoned" or "Smiling Dead" do work, the first playing whispering voices, and the other, an image saying "Go Away, Come Back Later". It's unknown what these mean just yet, but the marketing already permeates with an air of haunting allure.
3. The Promise of Unique Characters
When you create any work—a show, a book, a film—you want to make sure your characters are memorable. Your audience is, after all, going to be following the cast through their adventures, and it doesn't matter how amazing and in-depth your world building is—if the characters don't matter, the audience won't watch. Ideally a good character name and design not only makes the character instantly unique, but tells you something about them.
Take, in this case, the main character, Melancholy Hill, who goes by Mel for short. Already the name alone is incredibly unique, giving a sense of not the haunting conventions of the world she inhabits, and also a bit about Mel herself—her going by Mel could indicate she's a lot more vibrant and exuberant that the doldrums her birth name might suggest.
Her clothes largely consisting of mummy wrappings also instantly tells you that the members of the Smiling Dead are, well... undead. Her dull-colored clothes and striking red hair give a very unique design that's also relatively animation-friendly.
Not much is known about the other members of the Smiling Dead, but even they have a unique flair to them that helps each stand out. Ken the Butcher is a large zombie who's mostly intact, but the skin on his left arm has been flayed off. His accidental son, Breadhead, is exactly what he sounds like—a man with a loaf of bread for a head. And Mud is a thin-faced zombie wearing a suit, with the one image we do have of him from the show conveying him as a possible mentor figure to Melancholy.
4. Glitch Has Become Well-Established With Their Previous Shows.
Their Mario-themed spoofs and Meta Runner gave the company a name for themselves, Murder Drones put them in a position of prominence, and the juggernaut that is Digital Circus propelled them to easily the biggest name in indie animation. So much so that Digital Circus is on Netflix as well as Youtube, and Murder Drones almost was as well (Netflix wanted to change the name to Meta Drones, while Liam didn't, hence it not being on there).
The Gaslight District already has a built-in audience for those who are fans of Glitch as a company, and fan-art already exists of several of the characters. With the trailer set to drop later this month, the show seems primed to have myself and many others tuning in to be swept into the show's grisly and macabre world.
I leave you with the statements from the announcement trailer years ago, before the show was picked up by Glitch:
There is nothing hiding in the dark.
