Glitch Pitch Pilot Play: The Gaslight District vs The Amazing Digital Circus

April 18th, 2025, Good Friday. That was the day that GLITCH Productions premiered the pilot to their latest show, The Gaslight District. I've gotta say, this show was pretty hyped, the trailer got a fair bit of attention on social media, and on the pilot's premier date, amassed 3.6 Million views. To put that into perspective, that is almost 0.5 million views away from surpassing the teaser for another Glitch Production, Knights of Guinevere, the show that Owl House creator Dana Terrace is working on with Glitch. The teaser for that show was published on January 17th, and it has amassed 4.1 Million views, as of The Gaslight Districts release date. I'd say that the hype reminded me of another Glitch Productions show, but that would be untrue, from my perspective The Amazing Digital Circus kind of came out of nowhere and caught me off-guard. I've never heard of GLITCH productions until then, though I might have heard of Murder Drones, but it never really stuck in my mind.

So The Gaslight District pilot premiered, I checked it out, I liked it. Genuinely, I do like it, I would definitely rank it higher than the pilot to LS Mark's show Catching Up. The Gaslight District pilot is about a crime family in a post apocalyptic world pulling off a major heist, stealing "The Human Egg", which is problematic because one of the members, Mel, is prophesized to bring the end times to this world. I gotta say, I am definitely engrossed in this world, these characters and this scenario and I definitely want to see where it goes from here. I do really like this pilot... but do I love it? It's got everything here, good characters, great artstyle, fantastic premise... and yet, I don't know if I love it. Why?

I hate to do this... seriously, I genuinely do not want to make this comparison, but I think it would be pertinent to compare it with The Amazing Digital Circus pilot. To be absolutely clear, I am not making this comparison to bring down The Gaslight District, I think The Gaslight District is a good pilot and absolutely warrants a viewing, this is entirely an examination of why I had strong feelings for one and not the other. This is self interrogation, not an indictment of any pilot or show.

It would be wise to begin with what both pilots got right, and that is character designs. I can't say that either show has wholly unique character designs, but they absolutely stand out even among similar character types. What separates Ragatha from Raggedy Ann? Well Ragatha has a simpler style dress, she has a shirt button for an eye, and a less round head shape. What separates Mel from other Mummy type characters? She has red eyes, big gloves and boots, and also she doesn't have zombie green skin. Both shows have recognizable and identifiable characters, and that may be one of the reasons I'm not as much a fan of The Gaslight District. The characters are identifiable, and I've seen them before, the protective but loving father, the rambunctious daughter, the shifty-slimy side character. Granted these are not bad takes on the characters, in fact I actually really like Mel and Mud quite a bit, but I've seen them before.

"So what?' I hear you asking, 'It's not like the Amazing Digital Circus has wholly original characters either."
You're absolutely right, if anything the characters may be less original in Amazing Digital Circus, because let's see, a rabbit character who likes pulling tricks and getting under people's skin? Yeah, Jax is pretty much just the next "Trickster Rabbit" character, made popular by the likes of Br'er Rabbit or Bugs Bunny, but an archetype that has existed since Native American Folklore. Amazing Digital Circus does not have the most unique characters either, so it clearly is not the characters. Besides, it wasn't until episode 2 that the Digital Circus crowd got any real depth, so it's highly likely that the same will happen with The Gaslight District.

Maybe then it's the artstyle? Amazing Digital Circus has a much more colourful and cleaner artstyle than The Gaslight District does, but that is kind of the point, The Gaslight District is a gross, disgusting looking show, and it is meant to be. Amazing Digital Circus was meant to look like a more polished early 90s 3D animation, that is the artstyle that fits with that show. Gaslight District is meant to be an ugly looking show with violence, disgusting imagery and other nasty stuff. I think the moment I knew that I was not going to hate this artstyle was when Mud coughed up a bullet for his rifle in the opening, that was gross, absolutely, but it's the kind of gross that sets up the world and character. Really, I think The Gaslight District is visually more interesting than The Amazing Digital Circus, solely because it is darker, grittier and grosser.

I mean really, on a technical level The Gaslight District is fantastic, I really do like a lot of the visual flairs that give it almost a comic book kind of feel, like I can see this pilot being adapted into an amazing comic book, it took me by surprise when The Amazing Digital Circus was announced to be adapted into a manga, but I would not be surprised if a comic book adaptation was announced for The Gaslight District. Plus, the music is great, maybe not as memorable as The Amazing Digital Circus, but it might grow on me, and the voice acting is once again perfectly cast. Allanah Fitzgerald really did capture that spunky and rambunctious vibe of Mel, Jason Marnocha as Ken was just a role I can not imagine a person in the booth, it really did seem like that voice was meant for that character. of course, Michael Kovach is also in this, but he's in every webshow by now.

So, I guess the truth of the matter is, I just prefer the kind of Show The Amazing Digital Circus is a lot more than the kind of show The Gaslight District is. The Amazing Digital Circus is a dark comedy with a more psychological edge to it, whereas The Gaslight District is a crime drama, the video description for the pilot even says as much. I love me some crime movies, but I'll admit I'm pretty basic with the genre, The Shawshank Redemption and The Usual Suspects are my two favourite crime movies for example. The Amazing Digital Circus on the other hand reminded me a lot of things like The Gregory Horror Show and The Stanley Parable, and I am just going to gravitate more towards that kind of thing, I think. I definitely think this is the kind of show that I will grow to love as it goes along, but it's probably not something I would have checked out if it wasn't associated with Glitch Productions.

Again, I don't want anyone to come out of this thinking that The Gaslight District is not at all worth watching, it absolutely is, and I really can see arguments for people saying it's better than The Amazing Digital Circus. Honestly, I think it has the potential for being better than The Amazing Digital Circus, but I think I'll still like The Digital Circus just that tiny bit more. Still, I am absolutely down to seeing more of The Gaslight District, I have no worries that it will get picked up and we'll get a good selection of episodes. So, right now I may not love it, but I am open to the possibility of the show making me love it. Well Glitch Productions, you seem to have another hit on your hands, keep up the fantastic work,

Autism Awarness Month: Is the Media's Representation of Autism Actually Good?

It must be annoying to hear another person complain about representation in media. I get it, trust me, I hate talking about it as much as people hate listening to it, arguably even more because people hate listening to it. Representation is important though, it matters to people, it used to not matter to me because I internalized my ableism thanks to years in a school system that tried its best but was still not as accommodating as I needed it to be in hindsight. In recent years I have been better at accepting, accommodating and adapting with my Autism, I have found comics and graphic novels to be a good alternative to traditional novels, I'm finding new stim-toys that I enjoy, and I'm doing what I can to educate people about autism.

I think ultimately, the answer I can give is "No, but yes, but absolutely not, but kind of, but really I don't know" and that is sadly the straightest answer I think you'll get from me. The media representation of autistic, and really most other neurodivergent people, has never been particularly favourable, with one end of the spectrum being cases like Forrest Gump and Rain Man, the character who is not very smart except for one or two very specific interests, typically some form of mathematics or science, not socially bright, usually needing someone beside them to get them through life, you may also notice that these characters tend to be on the scrawnier, beanpole-ier side of physical builds. This kind portrayal is usually offensive to those in autistic communities, but on the other end of the spectrum, you get things like Music. The problem is, those are cases where the characters are confirmed, or heavily implied to be on the spectrum, it really is sad when the best representation autistic people have comes from characters who are not canonically autistic.

I did a blog last year where I talked about characters that I related to, and the sad thing is that not a single one was canonically autistic, but they had so many traits and characteristics of Autistic Spectrum Disorder that, canon or not, they resonated with me, and some of them have resonated with other people as well. It really does make me question why autistic traits can be given to characters who are not officially autistic. I have to wonder if the creators of these characters were undiagnosed or knew undiagnosed people, which would not surprise me because... well something you may notice about "Hollywood Autistic" characters is that a good number of them are white men. Media does not reflect reality, it reflects ones perception and opinions of reality, and the perception really does seem to be that only certain people get autism, and sadly, people are not helping the perception.

Something that really bothers me is the "Cutie-fication" of autism, largely because it plays on another big stereotype of autistic people, infantilization. It really does feel like a lot of people want to focus on the "cuter" parts of autism, you know the plushie collecting and the stimming and hyper-fixations and the like, rather than the uncomfortable parts. The parts like not being able to sleep because every piece of physical stimuli is causing you agony, emotional outbursts and the mountains of unfinished projects that you never got around to finishing because your hyper-fixation lasted less time than you anticipated and now you're obsessed with something completely different. If I were to hazard a guess, I would assume that this is a response to all the "Autism is evil and a disease" rhetoric that groups like Autism Speaks have been spreading over the years. So instead, let's focus on aspects of autism that are not that harmful, adorable even, stuff like the ability to build Minecraft mega-builds in an hour or "Autism Nests", because we don't want people to associate Autism with the bad stuff.

It's kind of a horribly imbalanced scale, because in media representation, Autism representation is terrible, and I haven't even listed the worst examples, I don't even want to dignify Music or The Good Doctor, but on the other side is people going too far in the opposite direction. It reminds me, on some level, about portrayals of disabled people, how they're often made to be super competent despite their disability as some kind of inspiration, or on another hand are made to be bad guys because of their disability. I remember one journalist being mad at Detective Pikachu because the antagonist of that movie was a disabled man in a wheelchair, and his entire plot revolved around him being a disabled man in a wheelchair. I think to me, the problem lies in the fact that for disabled people, including neurodivergent people, there really is no in-between, it's either one end of the character spectrum or the other, with very little in between. Sure wheelchair users have Joe Swanson, Professor X or that episode of Little Clowns of Happytown, but they also have Elijah Price from Unbreakable. It's either, "this character might as well not be disabled" or "This character's arc entirely revolves around being disabled".

I guess the deeper issue here is that media representation of all disabilities is kind of awful, so I guess the next question is "what do we do?", and the answer to that is really simple. People like to think that getting into media creation is difficult, and yes it can be, if you're aiming to be a Steven Spielberg. The thing lots of people don't really talk about is how much media is created by independent, underground and smaller creators, we all like to dog on Kevin Smith but he was an independent film creator when he made Clerks. I want to give this advice to everyone who says things like "Hollywood should tell this story" or "There should be more of these characters", tell those stories and create those characters yourself. It's kind of harsh advice, I get it, but it is the truth, you can't just wait until business folk decide that this super-niche story is worth telling.

To wrap this up, I guess it is only fair if I do my part and point you all into some directions of autistic creators. My go to recommendation for autistic and neurodivergent content creators is usually Animation reviewer TheMysteriousMrEnter, and as he is the first person I learned about Autism Speaks from, I think his video is a good place to start. YouTube user I'm Autistic, Now What? also has a video about Autism Speaks, and a video about Hollywood's representation of autism, full disclosure I haven't watched these videos, but that latter video came upon my feed and seeing the title gave me the inspiration to write this. Paige Layle also has a video about Autism Speaks, PhantomStrider has a video about busting myths about autism, and to wrap this up, Amethyst Schaber also has a video about Autism Speaks, yes it is a very popular topic amongst autistic people. This is by no means a complete list, but it should be a good start. I think proper education is always the first step in fighting any adversary, and while the media might not represent autistic people very well, we can at least do our part to change that.

Where is the Affection Coming From for Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure?

In may of 2021, I did a review of the 1977 movie Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure, a bizarre and kind of over-stimulating movie that I thought was worth watching solely for the fact that it was one of very few kinds of movies. Weirdly enough, this little cult movie has taken on quite an interesting legacy, as in 2023 a pilot was released for this internet series titled The Amazing Digital Circus, and to say that the show has obvious influences from Raggedy Ann is putting it lightly. It is interesting to me because, this show may have revived the Raggedy Ann fandom, or at least made it more visible. Everyone pointing out references and entire lines taken from the movie, it is quite clear that the movie had left an impact on Gooseworx, enough for them to sneak all the references into their own show. There definitely is a growing appreciation for this movie, and while I cannot say that it is all thanks to The Amazing Digital Circus, I think it helped to put this movie back into the spotlight. Which makes me ask, where does the affection come from?

I think it's pertinent to begin with the movie's reception at the time, because like most cult movies it did not have the smoothest start. From what is documented as a four-million dollar budget, the movie was a massive flop not even coming close to breaking even, this is of course, not the biggest budget or lowest box office returns, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within had a budget of 137-million dollars and only made up just over 85-million at the box office, but the disparity is still pretty notable. The film also did not do so hot critically, which is not to say it didn't do well critically, Roger Ebert had some positive words on the movie, and another critic even said the movie "Compares favorably with the best of Disney." This is not low praise, however there were criticisms about the story, pacing, characters, and the songs. As of right now (March 12th, 2025 as of writing) the movie has a 6.7 Rating on IMDb and 58% on Rotten Tomatoes. Clearly this is not a movie that everyone will enjoy, but those who do enjoy it absolutely enjoy it.

I must confess, I can't argue with the movie's criticisms, I think the movie does have a sloppy plot, sort of bland characters and an overabundance of songs, I also found the movie to be very overstimulating at points, but with all of that said, I still can't help but love it. I don't think I can put this highly in my list of favourite movies, but I can't think of any other movie that is this level of anything, in my review I said "It's like Yellow submarine dialed up to twelve", and I stand by that, it is a one of a kind movie that I don't think we've seen the likes of before or since, and that is why I admire the movie as much as I do like it. If there was one movie I could suggest you absolutely have to watch at least once, it would be this one, solely because it genuinely is a "You have to see it to believe it" kind of movie, and that is no guarantee you'll like it, I don't think all that many people will like it, but it's just that kind of movie where watching it is an experience, something that really showcases what is possible in animation, and I think this is what a lot of people are gravitating towards.

If I had to hazard a guess as to where the affection for this movie comes from, and I must stress this is simply assumption on my part, I think the affection comes largely from the unique identity of the movie, and the love for bizarre animation. I think people have a craving for things that are weird and more out-there, stuff like a Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared or even a Sam & Max: Freelance Police, and we shockingly get little of that in animation. Yeah, there are weird things in animation, but there is always a grounding in these weird projects that give them a sense of normalcy, and there really is not much of that here. Plus, there also has to be affection for this movie on a technical level, the animation is excellent at points, almost hypnotic, and when the songs are good, they are memorable and well put together. I think affection for this movie also comes from the same kind of affection I have for Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings movie, in that there is an ambitious project here that is not fully realized, but in this case I think it is a lot more realized than Lord of the Rings was.

Given the movie's unique identity, animation and songs, and the ambition of Richard Williams and the rest of the crew, I think the affection this movie has is more than understandable. Of course there is one aspect that has yet to be touched upon; nostalgia. Raggedy Ann & Andy are a big part of a lot of people's childhoods, and seeing as this was the only movie based on the characters, it makes sense people nostalgic about them would gravitate towards it. It also does not hurt that this is probably the best Raggedy Ann animation we currently have, with things like the Fleischer Studios cartoon being kind of sucky, the Chuck Jones shorts being alright, and the 1980s cartoon series being... a thing that exists, the only real competition the movie has are the original books, and maybe the comics. It makes sense that someone feeling nostalgic would probably find this movie, give it a watch and have the bizarre adventure stick in their mind like that annoying commercial jingle that will never go away.

I think it's nice to see this movie kind of given a second life, it's practically one of a kind so I like that it's being pulled out from the obscure abysses. I don't see this movie taking over the internet in the same way that Shrek or SpongeBob or even Bee Movie ever has, but I definitely see a growing fanbase for it. While I can't say it is a particularly great movie, the affection for it is not undeserved in the slightest. Maybe the fanbase will be vocal enough at some point for the characters to come back into popularity, but as for now we have some charming books, some delightful comics, a wild and wonderful movie, and some other animated properties that are nice to have around. Plus that Fleischer Studios short film, that one also exists. If you haven't seen this movie yet, I gave it a slight recommendation in my initial review, but that is still a recommendation, I do not want anyone to pass up the experience of this weird, bizarre, but all around lovable movie.