The Big Picture
Son of Zorn
is a blend of high-fantasy and sci-fi comedy, featuring an off-the-wall He-Man-esque character.
The show humorously mixes 80s cartoon nostalgia with everyday life, focusing on absurdity and comedic conflict.
Zorn tries to repair his relationship with his son while also embracing his Zephyrian heritage, leading to a chaotic family comedy.
For many readers of a certain age, there is a fond remembrance of lazy Saturday mornings full of sugary, kidney-destroying breakfast cereals and those oh-so-iconic 80s cartoons. He-Man and The Masters of The Universe gave many children giddy little thrills as the seamless blending of high fantasy and sci-fi struck a chord with its primarily male audience. There, safe within the confines of Eternia, children were free to dream their dreams of overtly masculine, painfully virtuous heroes battling it out with diabolical monsters in a fictitious land full of magic and wonder. But now, as adults, we know that such places only exist in those honey-sweet memories of yore. Life is indeed more complex and a more complex life deserves a more complex a nuanced show. Son Of Zorn is the completely unhinged and wildly chaotic bastard child of those Masters Of The Universe, staring Jason Sudeikis as the fully animated, sexually promiscuous, off-the-wall He-Man-esque barbarian from the suspiciously Eternia-like Zephyria. In this beautiful blend of animation and live-action, high-fantasy and sci-fi comedy, Zorn embarks on what will be his greatest adventure to win the love of his estranged son.
Son of Zorn
Release Date September 11, 2016
Seasons 1
Creator(s) Reed Agnew , Eli Jorne
What Is ‘Son Of Zorn’ About?
Son Of Zorn takes place in a world not unlike our own but with one key difference: animated characters from a mysterious South Asian island called Zephyria live alongside regular run-of-the-mill folks. Zephyria is a wild place parodying the He-Man universe, full of bestial magic-wielding villains hell-bent on conquest and fierce and hedonistic warriors who stand in their way. Among them is Zorn, the most bad-ass warrior of them all, who has been kicking butt in Zypheria since 1971, defending it from Glombeasts, Lava Monsters, Vampires, and Liberal Media.
Everything about Zypheria is reminiscent of 80s Saturday morning cartoons. Zorn has a magic sword, rides around in a combination of futuristic technology powered by what seems to be magic, and often finds himself defending the land from a humanoid vulture who wants nothing more than to see Zorn dead. Even the show’s opening is a parody of the classic 80s cartoon Thundercats, invoking in its audience that joyous sense of childlike wonder and dropping it smack-dab into the center of middle-age mundanity to great comedic effect.
Jason Sudeikis Plays a He-Man Parody in ‘Son of Zorn.’
Image via 20th Century Fox
Jason Sudeikis lends his voice to Zorn, an obvious parody of He-Man minus virtues, in this unhinged fish-out-of-water series. Zorn is hedonistic, feral, and a sexually promiscuous barbarian, lacking in both civility and responsibility. Somewhere in the 80s, he found himself married to a human woman named Edie Bennet, played by Cheryl Hines of Curb Your Enthusiasm fame, who loved and fought beside the legendary defender. Together, Edie and Zorn had a half-human, half-Zephyrian child, Alangulon “Alan” Bennett, played by Johnny Pemberton from Fallout. Edie, knowing that Zepheria is no place for a half-human child, left Zorn for the sunny skies of Orange County, California, where she re-married the stable and affable Craig Ross (Tim Meadows) and raised her son.
Zorn spent those precious early years indulging in his hedonism and shucking the responsibilities of fatherhood and, as a result, Alan fell further and further away from his roots and is a regular American teenager in every way except one. He has animated legs that are super strong, which he is ultimately ashamed of. In the pilot episode, after a battle with his enemies, Zorn visits his estranged family, where he learns that Alan hates him for being mostly absent in his life. He also discovers that Alan hates his heritage and body, soZorn decides to abandon the Barbarian life to stay in Orange County to try and get closer to his son and prove his love and… slay giant falcons?
‘Son of Zorn’ Blends Animation and Live Action to Hilarious Effect
Son of Zorn answers the question: what if He-Man had a midlife crisis? There is something so funny about watching a feral cartoon barbarian try and fit into the work-a-day world where conflict resolution comes in the form of an HR department instead of the end of a sword. The blending of live-action and animation is not that unique, think Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but what makes this series a cut above is the farcical use of 80s cartoon nostalgia. There are things this show can do that others can’t achieve by dropping the weird and wacky world of Zepheria smack-dab alongside everyday things. Picture He-Man interviewing for a corporate office gig and then slicing a table in half or seeking medical attention for cartoon-specific sexually transmitted infections when the magic animal doctors’ treatments fail. Zorn’s quest to repair his broken relationship with his son is endearing, but his inability to let go of his more animated nature is a constant source of humor.
As kids, we sat in wonder, watching the magical vehicles of the He-Man world come to life. We thought it would be so cool to drive one of those things. Son of Zorn plays directly to those childhood fantasies, sort of like The Lego Batman Movie does. So, when Zorn acquires a war falcon for Alan in order to win his love, it strikes a chord in the audience, and it, of course, backfires. Giving a normal child such a vehicle is bound to create carnage, and so it does. Then there is the time Zorn helps Alan use the Stone of Sight to help Alan get the inside scoop on his crush because Zepherians are famous for their ability to…get the ladies. What teenager wouldn’t want to be able to peer into the private lives of people? But this wholly inappropriate creepy magic puts Alan at odds with the love of his life and pushes him further away from his father.
The desire to reconcile the relationship but also to impart pride in Alan for his Zepherian roots is actually pretty beautiful. One should never be ashamed of who they are and where they come from because those things are important pieces of ourselves that help orientate us in the world. Zorn is proudly Zepherian. In fact, he’s contemptuous of modern American culture, so Alan’s self-loathing is, in some ways, Zorn’s greatest failure, and Zorn doesn’t care much for failure. Alan is a shadow of his father, a nerdy waif who could be the top dog in his high school if he would only accept who he is and embrace his heritage. Alan could kick a lot of bully butts with those cartoon legs if he would only try, but his shame prevents him from doing so. Zorn seeks to remedy this, but he must also accept Alan on his own terms and recognize some of the shortcomings of the Zepherian way of life, which has no place in the modern age.
Son of Zorn is a chaotic family comedy that uses the 80s cartoon tropes as a vehicle for comedic conflict that just simply works. The jokes in the show are totally rooted in the absurdity of the animated coming into contact with the live-action. What we have here is a wholly unique series that puts a spin on the redemptive family drama, one that will take you back to care-free childhood days of sword and sorcery and sci-fi mayhem, but also one that explores the contemporary troubles of middle age in a criminally underrated series that hopefully one day gets a reboot.
Son of Zorn is available on Prime Video in the U.S.
WATCH ON PRIME VIDEO