The Legend of Neil

Well, after watching the sensation of 'Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog' I decided to really delve into the world of Internet TV shows. While there are a ton of well known staples like 'The Guild' and 'Street Fighter: The Later Years', there are also a bunch of mediocre shows like 'Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show.' While 'Street Fighter' took a nosedive in its final episodes (the show ended up being a total letdown) 'Gorgeous Tiny' rehashes the same jokes over and over again. Moreover, while I wanted to like it (as I generally try to support any Asian American project), it just rehashes the same 'poke fun at our accent' jokes that get tired and for me (as a researcher who does work on race) raises questions as to what exactly are we supposed to be laughing at? Is it its corny humor or the fact that she can't speak English clearly? Anyway, its not like Asian Canadian initiatives are any better. Just about every VACT project that I've gone to see does the exact same thing (granted I've been gone for two year) and I've been a loyal supporter since its inception. Oh what I would do for some intelligent race comedy.

Which takes me to 'The Legend of Neil' created, written and directed by Sandeep Parikh. Like 'Street Fighter:TLY' its a video game spoof, this time of 'The Legend of Zelda' where a drunk Neil is teleported into the game in search of the princess. While uncertain at first about this project (having been burned before by video game spoofs) it easily wins the (generally male) gaming crowd over with entertaining banter.

Neil: A princess? is she hot?
Old man: She's fuckable. A seven...seven and a half. Although you're probably a six, closer to a five.

While it isn't anywhere near critical race comedy I talked about earlier, it briefly touches on some of these issues in a light-hearted way as Neil is dumbfounded when he finds out that Zelda is black. While just starting (its currently only on episode 3) the writing so far seems tight, and its pretty well cast (its kinda funny seeing Felicia Day as an insane horny pixie). While I don't want to hype it up for myself the way I did for 'Street Fighter' and then get let down, already its better than a lot of its contemporaries. Moreover, as Colin pointed out to me when I introduced him to the show, we see the phrase 'bag of dicks' used as much as it should.