Got six minutes? You could do far, far worse than using them to watch this giant preview of The Barbarian and the Troll, a new Nickolodeon series that adds puppetry to the sword-and-sorcery genre. Also, explosions. Lots and lots of explosions.
Brendar, a surly warrior out to rescue her brother from a demon, is the titular barbarian, while Evan the peppy bard is the titular troll who travels with her on this adventure. However, this clip — which is followed by what can only be called an explosive trailer — features the two first meeting when a wizard’s owl and skeleton minions request her presence at their master’s castle. It goes poorly:
As you can tell, there’s a strong Disenchantment vibe here, partially because it’s a comb of classic fantasy and comedy, and also because they both feature a female protagonist with a tiny, happy-go-lucky monster for a sidekick. There’s also a large dose of Rick & Morty in there, specifically because Brendar is voiced by Rick & Morty’s Spencer Grammer, who plays the warrior exactly as if Summer were the one swinging the sword. That’s not a knock on the show, that’s a delight.
As in most puppet entertainment, things get unpleasantly uncanny when a puppets’ legs are shown, such as when she’s delivering a dropkick to a skeletal goon, but otherwise, this show looks like the perfect show to fill that upcoming DuckTales-shaped void in my heart.
It’s set to debut on Nickelodeon in the U.S. on April 2. Stay tuned for its Australian air date.