THE EPIC TALES OF CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS IN SPACE: Overview

OVERVIEW REVIEW: THE EPIC TALES OF CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS IN SPACE is a new animated Netflix series based on the popular illustrated children’s books by Dav Pilkey. It’s a spinoff of THE EPIC TALES OF CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS.

The series follows two best friends in elementary school, George and Harold. The boys love to pull pranks and go on adventures, but ultimately they want to do the right thing. Their mean Principal Krupp has a goofy superhero alter ego, Captain Underpants. The boys can summon Captain Underpants by snapping their fingers.

In this series, George and Harold’s entire school is chosen to go on a special adventure in space, filled with aliens, spaceships and other planets.

The story is told by a narrator, and there are often hilarious fourth wall breaks where either the narrator or the characters will acknowledge the audience directly. The writing has superb comic timing, and each character serves a role in the story. Older children will likely connect with the fun and imaginative adventures that the characters undergo.

The violence is very cartoonish and always comical. No serious injuries occur. There is sci-fi style shooting with lasers, as well as superhero fights with punching and kicking, and slapstick accidents. Most of the aliens only look goofy, but there are toothed creatures, and an unsettling clown is shown briefly. In one episode, a student is turned into a people-eating creature by some chemicals.

There is upper male nudity, as Captain Underpants runs around – well – in his underpants.

Scatological humor relating to toilets and bodily functions makes up some of the jokes. A toilet monster is in one of the episodes. Characters are seen looking green while motion sick. Nothing graphic occurs.

The language is limited to playground insults and occasional bathroom humor. One character says “Oh my gar” as a variation of OMG.

George and Harold truly care about each other and those around them. They will risk them-selves if it means helping someone else, even someone who treats them poorly.

While there are goofy adults, there are an equal number of goofy children, and the most responsible and intelligent character is an adult and the captain of the ship. The show doesn’t fall into adult-mocking. There’s even one episode where the children come to learn that the world is better when adults are in charge – even if adults aren’t perfect.

There is a strong moral worldview found in teamwork, adventure and creativity. Further-more, George and Harold often disobey authority (and so does Principal Krupp) to go on adventures. However, their disobedience usually has consequences in the form of dangerous situations that would have been avoided if they had heeded the warnings of adults.

There are some elements of other immoral worldviews, including occultism and other false religions with references to Nirvana (equated with being happy) and bad luck. One character is afraid that there’s a ghost nearby (there isn’t). In addition, there are two monkeys in a cutaway scene named after an Egyptian god and a mythological Greek king. Also, there’s a joke about true democracy being a pipe dream.

The children also love to pull pranks and make jokes about the people around them, but they don’t do it in a mean-spirited way.

THE EPIC TALES OF CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS IN SPACE is a genuinely entertain-ing animated series with well-timed comedy. It promotes values like friendship, integrity and doing the right thing, even when it’s difficult. MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for younger children.