MovieChat Forums > Xavier: Renegade Angel (2007) Discussion > Don't Tell Me I Don't Get It

Don't Tell Me I Don't Get It

posted 15 years ago by mattbromagin
54 replies | jump to latest

I get it. I get it just fine. And hey, guess what? I'd rather inject LSD into my eyeballs than watch this trash.

First let me address some things said by reviewers.

One reviewer called this an "existential romp". If this is how we're executing an existential television program I would say Camus is rolling over in his grave right about...now. Take two viewings of the film "I Heart Huckabees" and call me in the morning. Er...wait. If you're watching Xavier you're probably sleeping off the hangover, so late afternoon works for me. It is possible to make a smart and well executed existential piece of work. Xavier is poorly executed in that visually it appeals to few and the shotgun dialogue (and those awful puns) appeals to even fewer. If you want people to listen to these ideas then you may want to rethink your execution.

Another reviewer tagged Xavier as "the future of entertainment". No. No, no, no, no, NO! Just stop it. Just because you really like something and there is nothing out there like it, nor was there ever before, does not mean it's the future of entertainment. If poorly animated trite (intentional or no) with zero balance is the future of entertainment...I'm shooting my television and never leaving the house. You sir, have given an 11 minute Adult Swim series far too much credit. Be reasonable. And for that matter, just because there is nothing like Xavier nor was there ever before does not give it any credibility. I always appreciate "something different" but that never means it will be good.

Xavier is a smart show. Xavier is a different show. It is not a GOOD show.

And this just tickled me. A thread from another fan of the show.

"Definitely a show the average tv viewer is too stupid to comprihend"

Evidently the level of intelligence it takes to understand Xavier doesn't leave much room for proper spelling.

The fact of the matter is when it comes to enjoying or not enjoying a show it comes down to personal taste. I GET Xavier but I just don't like it. I honestly believe it is the single most god awful thing I've ever watched. It is my OPINION and it has nothing to do with my level of intelligence. So if we could please stop saying "oh you would like it if you understood it."

I don't like puns and intentional or not the show is a visual nightmare. Xavier's voice truly annoys me and is hard for me to listen to.

So get over yourselves. People don't hate this show for the sole reason that they just don't get it.

[–] WOJet923 15 years ago

Fair enough. You just don't like it, and that doesn't mean you're stupid. It's definitely not for everyone.

I personally don't like it all that much because even just casually watching it feels like a bad trip. But listening to the dialogue, I have to confess, the creators are actually serious-minded, deep thinkers.

[–] mattbromagin 15 years ago

You're right. I enjoyed Wonder Showzen. I enjoyed it so much I own the DVD seasons. Ironic racism...the boy putting down everything he loves to be a man...I see these things in Xavier but they just fall flat because there is absolutely no yin to the yang. Even in episodes of Wonder Showzen there were the episodes that bombarded you with CRAP to make a point and I disliked that one episde (Patience). However, that episode was watchable due to the fact that OTHER episodes provided the necessary balance that made it enjoyable or at the very least, tolerable.

Xavier just isn't a good show and I think the few people who rave about it tend to think they are on a higher plane of thinking. I actually quote an Xavier line in social settings whenever a good conversation ensues and I, as Xavier would say, "blow someones mind". The line about the "thoughtocaster and conundrummer in a band called Life Puzzler".

The show is not without merit. Nothing really is. I just don't think disliking it means I don't understand it. It's a blitzkrieg of STUFF. I keep up with it just fine.

The worst part about it is I'm pretty sure I've seen damn near every episode as some friends and I meet up every Sunday for beers and Adult Swim.

Xavier is like the neighboors house being on fire. It's terrible. It's awful. People you know are losing everything they own and the family pets are running around outside with their fur on fire. But what do you do...

You step outside and you watch the damn thing burn. For some reason you just can't look away.

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[–] zeroevildarkcool 14 years ago

YOU DONT GET IT!

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[–] polysicsarebest 15 years ago

12 Oz. Mouse and Xavier are both the best shows [as] ever aired. Fact.

[–] lmbt 15 years ago

It's a random show, typically I think the episodes do have a story, but it's just random points across. At first it was hard to understand the whole purpose of the show, but really I kinda just see it as a show about Xavier, the main character, on how he was sent to earth to help out humans who face really bad issues and problems. It's still an awkward story, I kinda saw Wonder Showzen worked fine for the PFFR team because it was pretty much a sketch show, it also had a theme, but now they are working on Xavier, which is Vernon and John's attempt making a story with a plot.

The show is really hilarious and of course does remind me the humour presented in Wonder Showzen. I do think this show is awkward to get into first, but whatever, it gets me laughing because the humour is so absurd, random and dirty so I'm kinda getting into it. Sometimes it's hard to get the point across with the story but it might just be the character Xavier, he goes on rambling about crap, most do seem to be jokes, but also I can't really stand his voice in the show. But I suppose this show will still work for me, I'll just have to get used to it.

[–] vredesbyrd 15 years ago

Xavier is actually FAR less random than Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Lucy Daughter of the Devil, Squidbillies and quite a few other AS shows. If you find something 'random' in an episode then re watch it. TexasPsycho mentioned someone compared this show to Arrested Development in terms of how layered the jokes/plot points are as well as how interconnected they are. That was me and I think that's the best example to help people get into it.

The new season especially is so tightly constructed that it makes it really hard to follow. I own every episode available and even with the first season I'm still picking things up on my 30th watch. You know what? I dare say this show is the Dark Side of the Moon of TV shows for that very reason.

[–] atomicdomhnall 13 years ago

On the contrary, there is nothing random about the show. It is carefully crafted and calculated in its intricacies. It taps into the subconscious and liminal thought processes. It challenges preconceived notions of expectation at every opportunity and juxtaposes reality, with irrationality. But nothing is random. It is all very carefully and deliberately arranged.

As for the original poster, Xavier serves as an excellent intravenous-free proxy for ocular LSD injection. It defies the glib categorization of being a "show". I agree it is something entirely different.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] onethinwallaway 15 years ago

"GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE. "GOOD" IS SUBJECTIVE.

[–] vredesbyrd 15 years ago

onethinwallaway, if only more people understood that then we wouldn't have so many ignorant people come on here telling us how bad the show is.

[–] StanhopeFan 15 years ago

No, they'd simply say they "thought" it was bad instead. But those conversations would still be here. But unlike the discussions for most other shows, this one really gets people talking to each other (see above) and I think that's awesome.

I want season 3 dammit.

[–] newpicnictime 11 years ago

You're free to skateboard home now.

[–] getbaked 15 years ago

I'd rather inject LSD into my eyeballs than watch this trash.

I think this is why you don't like the show your the kind of person who sees lsd as a bad experience and this show is basically a tv show on lsd.

[–] delthafunky1 15 years ago

doses r cool

[–] vredesbyrd 15 years ago

LSD trips make little sense, Xavier does. If you can't make sense of it thats your issue, it doesn't mean it's senseless just because you think it is.

[–] ormas-554-961183 15 years ago

LSD trips are exactly what Xavier is like. They are not senseless but communicate deeper meaning in ways that are not at all normal which is which is what Xavier does.

If you can't make sense of LSD trips that's your issue, it doesn't means they are senseless just because you think they are.

[–] london_slag76 15 years ago

i've always been sober when I watched this. I go to college. I'm smart. Regardless of all that, I love this show. The one liners are funny, it's so absurd and disturbing that it's funny. It's not for everyone.

R.I.P Michael Jackson, your star will keep on shining

[–] newpicnictime 11 years ago

This show does seem to be inclined toward chemical enhancement. However, I legitimately get the feeling of being high just from watching "Damnesia You". THIS SHOW IS DRUGS. As I inferred, I doubt the OP is a "party person".

[–] countingdown7 9 years ago

The OP thinks you "do" LSD by injecting it.... not a very worldly individual. IMHO.

[–] TommyGun747 15 years ago

There's nothing "to get", either you like it or you don't...

[–] fooljeff 15 years ago

OP doesn't like xavier.

His first paragraph deals with reviewers calling Xavier an "existential romp". The OP's counter argument is that he doesn't like the shows visuals or dialogue. His prefrences do not overide the fact that the existential content exists.

His second paragraph deals with Xavier being called the future of entertainment. His initial counter argument is repetition of the word 'no'. I believe Xavier holds qualities that do represent the future of television.

For punchline humor to work, the punchline has to be unpredictable. Avid television watchers are constantly being bombarded with jokes. They are essential becoming humor masters. The more they hear same type of joke, the more the joke becomes predictable, cliche, and consequently less funny. The shotgun dialogue is one of the counters to this issue. The faster a joke is said, the less time the viewer has to predict it.

The shotgun dialogue also has another upside. Failed Jokes or misses are easily forgotten in the hits. Even if only half the jokes work, when a bad one comes you are still only seconds away from one that makes you laugh. It also doesn't grant the viewer time to even think a joke is bad when they have to spend their mental focus keeping up with what is happening on screen.

When the brain is constantly being engaged by more dialogue it leaves less time for repetitive thinking memory retention. Making the show better for multiple viewings.

The OP goes off on some guys spelling, tells us he doesn't like the show, and says we should stop telling him 'he doesn't get it'. Of course nobody would be telling him he doesn't get it if he wasn't posting his weak hate on the boards.

OP ends by telling somone to get over themselves. People who goes on IMDB boards to rant about their negative opinions-- needs to get over themselves.

[–] psicosismark 15 years ago

What I like about this show is the intricate level of observation concerning culture and life in general and the way it portrays each in an absurdist manner that you can completely identify with.

I have always found surrealism to be a meaningful form of expressionism because of the way it presents life and it's never ending situations by corrupting its very basis to the point you begin to understand just how silly it really is when put into perspective.

In my opinion the most genuine comedy is produced within this mentality and it makes watching Xavier is a truly fun experience.

I really do feel sorry for those who don't understand the harmless philosophy; these are the same people who will never question their existence and who will be perfectly content with the complicated world surrounding them.

[–] Kareiyasu 15 years ago

What I like about this show is the intricate level of observation concerning culture and life in general and the way it portrays each in an absurdist manner that you can completely identify with.

The same can be said about Baseball or Rugby. Anything is "deep" if you try hard enough. So I try to stay far away from those kind of assumptions.

I have always found surrealism to be a meaningful form of expressionism because of the way it presents life and it's never ending situations by corrupting its very basis to the point you begin to understand just how silly it really is when put into perspective.

Again, the same can be said about The Office, or The Simpsons. The difference between Xavier and the shows I mentioned, is the quality. They happen to be good with good outlines and linear themes. Xavier is an attempt to be "out worldly" via Irony and surrealism, but its just not good, if its this forced.

I really do feel sorry for those who don't understand the harmless philosophy; these are the same people who will never question their existence and who will be perfectly content with the complicated world surrounding them.

Don't do that, arm chair psychology is a very weak theme to dovetail off of. Many of us "get it", don't take the pompous pseudo illated intellectual road, just because you think you understand a show that throws random ideas worse than an entire season of Family Guy.

"One gay beer for my friend, because he's gay, and one normal beer for me, because I'm normal."

[–] newpicnictime 11 years ago

The shows name-dropped in your comment are more than happy to rely on lazy pop culture references for their gags, something Xavier never did. Also, the animation used here is radically different from everything else on [adult swim] and possibly all of television. From the subtle way the title card appears in each episode to the absolute visual feast that is the shakashuri blow-down, the animation of this show is unrefined but inventive, certainly more inventive than The Simpsons has tried to be in some time. And I'm a fan of the Simpsons. You sort of have to acknowledge that the ideas expressed in this show are more complex and emotionally conflicting than the themes of a typical sitcom. They just are.

[–] tawdry_hepburn 15 years ago

Oh, so you totally get this show? So you've read and understood;

Foucault
Baudrillard
Judith Butler
Hegel
Marx
Kant
Nietzsche
Douglas Adams
Kurt Vonnegut
Gogol
Voltaire
Ginsberg
Brecht
Beckett
T.S. Eliot
and
David Foster Wallace

Because really, this show is some genius level stuff. Half the joke is that they are hiding incredibly subversive, complicated philosophical points within the constraints of some of the most base, puerile dick and fart jokes ever told.

You can "get" this show and not like it. But if you're like me and you've chosen to read all of these philosophers for fun...well, then you're pretty well predisposed to enjoying it.

,Said the Shotgun to the Head--
Saul Williams

www.myspace.com/ohhorrorofhorrors

[–] tom_mangan21 14 years ago

i think i just met THE coolest person on the internet.

[–] tawdry_hepburn 14 years ago

Aw shucks, you're making me blush.

,Said the Shotgun to the Head--
Saul Williams

www.myspace.com/ohhorrorofhorrors

[–] sunnydayrealest 14 years ago

I would just like to say that when the OP cited "I Heart Huckabees" as a go-to guide for existentialism, I threw up in my mouth a little.

[–] tawdry_hepburn 14 years ago

That was me being sorta glib. Obviously I Heart Huckabees is not a viable source for an intro do existentialism (that would be Camus's The Myth of Sisyphus or the Torah's The Book of Job), but if you're trying to gradually acclimate a mainstream viewer to this worldview, there are worse places to start.

EDIT: Funny story, I thought this was another topic and I was puzzled as to why I would have considered I Heart Huckabees to be a great example of existential thought. Then I realized, I was not the original poster here. That said, I still think it could be used as a reasonable intro.

,Said the Shotgun to the Head--
Saul Williams

www.myspace.com/ohhorrorofhorrors

[–] tom_mangan21 13 years ago

i bet you gizzed in ur pants when xavier said "i'm a survivor. we're a dying breed." and then you said something like "holy toledo, that was so deep and thought provoking! this show is too smart for 'regular' people!"

Cleveland Browns, 1964 Nfl Champions

[–] tawdry_hepburn 13 years ago

No, but I did get a bit of a brain-hard-on when Xavier showed up in a virtual reality representation of the Middle East and caused a robot to explode by mentioning that it could be a robot. Don't remember exactly what he said before dying, but it was a pretty funny Jean Baudrillard joke.

,Said the Shotgun to the Head--
Saul Williams

www.myspace.com/ohhorrorofhorrors

[–] tom_mangan21 13 years ago

i can't wait to tell my children that story and their children

Cleveland Browns, 1964 Nfl Champions

[–] maxpayne71973 13 years ago

@ tom_mangan21 - Judging by your comment, you couldn't POSSIBLY get ANY girl to sleep with you, even if you were a millionaire. So telling a story to YOUR biological children won't EVER happen, just like you are NEVER going to "get" Xavier. Keep watching Disney channel and sitting in your dank basement apartment on your $50 e-bay bought notebook acting like you're some kind of relevant human being. The WORST episode of Xavier has more intelligent dialogue than your sugar coated and fatty-filled veins could come up with in your short, lonely lifetime. Eat a salad and read something besides Cosmopolitan you fruity bastard

Stab Me Or Shoot Me, There's Nothin' Else You Can Do To Me

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] tom_mangan21 13 years ago

you sound like a bigger loser than the guy i originally called out. i've never seen so many big words forced into a weak as$ retort comment. just keep not getting laid and swearing by failed cartoons like all you other big-headed snobs on this site. no one likes it because it sucks wang and the rest of america agreed judging the swift cancellation.

Cleveland Browns, 1964 Nfl Champions

[–] tawdry_hepburn 13 years ago

Yeah...I mean, yeah. I would totally tell my children all about Descartes and Plato's Allegory of the Cave and Jean Baudrillard. In fact, those are EXACTLY the kinds of ideas I would want to share with them.

You can tell your kids all about sports games, or whatever, from like 20 years before I was born, and I'll tell my kids about philosophy that challenges them to question their perceptions of reality. And maybe your grandkids will beat up my grandkids, but my grandkids are gonna have a way better basis for interpreting the world around them.

,Said the Shotgun to the Head--
Saul Williams

www.myspace.com/ohhorrorofhorrors

[–] tom_mangan21 12 years ago

let me know how that goes in the future when i can't fall asleep one night.

Cleveland Browns, 1964 Nfl Champions

[–] newpicnictime 11 years ago

No, he simply jizzed the universal pants of his own misunderstanding and, in so doing, liquefied the goo hole of our own introspective ejaculate.

[–] newpicnictime 11 years ago

LOLOLOLOL me too, the irony is RICH! I could not stop thinking about how much that quote from the op reminds me of xavier, in the way he will ironically misconstrue his own "deeper understanding".

[–] felixmaybe 13 years ago

You're really pushing it there, mate. I don't think you can give the writers of xavier that much credit. "...incredibly subversive, complicated philosophical points"... "...incredibly subversive".

Come on. You know you're trying to show off. That's such an exaggeration. It has some thoughtful ideas, philosophically, as do most crappy cartoons that rely on their writing. But your statement, my friend, is obscene. Utterly.

[–] tawdry_hepburn 13 years ago

No. I'm not being glib in the slightest. Xavier is tuned into the exact same frequency as my brain. I see very deep and very specific political and philosophical content in this program. What's more I think it is legitimately subversive. And not in a Fritz the Cat kind of way, in a Huey Newton kind of way.

I mean, did you SEE Wonder Showzen?

,Said the Shotgun to the Head--
Saul Williams

www.myspace.com/ohhorrorofhorrors