What to Watch: Baymax!
by Mike Lunsford, Editor-In-Chief
We live in a stressful world. Often times, the pressures and things that are happening in our day-to-day grind can beat us down, so we turn to entertainment to help us feel better. Thankfully, for all us geeks and nerds out there, the streaming services have not disappointed lately as there is an almost endless amount of good content out there. We talk about it on our podcasts all the time! Some of that content is action-packed, some emotional, and then you have content like Baymax! which manages to do something that a lot of us might need right now: it’s wholesome and makes you feel encouraged for the future.
Baymax, the heart and soul of Disney’s 2014 breakout hit Big Hero 6, has become one of Disney’s biggest new hit characters.
Big: both size-wise AND in popularity :)
In the classic Disney tradition of finding less-than-mainstream source material, taking some liberties with it and then turning it into a fan favorite, Big Hero 6 was a little known Marvel property that turned into a $658 million dollar box office smash. Many wondered if Disney would follow up this surprisingly successful film with a sequel. They did produce a hand-drawn, 2D style series that picks up where the movie left off but the new Baymax! series is different, going back to the 3-D/CG style of the original movie. It is the first series in an upcoming lineup of Walt Disney Animation Studios TV productions. Zootopia, Moana, and a hand-drawn The Princess and the Frog series are slated to follow. Baymax! seems like a test bed of sorts to see if the animation studio can do film-caliber content, and frankly, it succeeded with flying colors.
The show follows the titular Baymax, an inflatable robot with a carbon fiber skeleton built to serve as a personal healthcare companion. His handler, robotics wiz-kid Hiro, allows Baymax to adventure around the city of San Fransokoyo freely so he can accomplish his programing and desire to help others. Through the 6 episodes of the series, Baymax helps a different person in each installment, being triggered by phrases like “OW!” or groans of pain. As he attempts to help, he ends up doing more than just providing a band-aid, some pain medication and a lollipop. He ends up being a counselor of sorts as he helps his patients work through emotional pain and trauma.
Some snapshots of our buddy Baymax helping others
The series is so adorable and wholesome. It’s like a digital hug that makes you feel hope for humanity, even though these characters are just animated, and the one helping them is a giant, balloon-like robotic humanoid. Baymax may be emotionless, but he provides a warmth and kindness in his mission to help others. There’s something incredibly touching that a robot programmed to help others with their healthcare ends up being the most humane and benevolent of us all. The community in San Fransokoyo sees this as well, forgiving him for the clumsiness that comes with being an inflatable panda-bear-sized entity. They know he just wants to help and they love him for it, and help him on his quests. The people in the show are caring, considerate, and kind to each other which was an unexpected source of joy to watch.
It looks exactly like the Big Hero 6 as well. The animation style adds a depth to the city of San Fransokoyo, making it feel like a living, breathing entity itself that only adds to the series. Now, this is not knocking the 2-D animated series at all. It is worth your time to watch as well, but it was much more classic cartoon: style wise and story wise. It was more action, fighting monsters, goofy jokes, etc. which is a ton of fun in its own right. But Baymax! takes the gentle, altruistic nature of our fluffy friend and makes that the centerpiece. In returning to the 3-D style of the film, the creative team are telling us that was on purpose. Big Hero 6 was a movie about healing from trauma, about helping others and that is what Baymax! is all about at its core.
The biggest knock on the series (at least a legitimate one) is that the 6 episodes are only 10-15 minutes long each. You get approximately an hour of Baymax! wholesomeness in total and some feel that isn’t enough. I disagree with this take though. It’s not about quantity: it’s quality. These episodes pack a punch and are able to tell great stories in a short amount of time. Would more episodes be great? Of course! But with the amount of warmth and kindness they filled these episodes with, I don’t think it was even necessary.
The other critique (which is NOT legitimate) is so insulting I will not mention it here, but allude to it. If you’re reading this article via GGR, the ideas of gay characters, young women dealing with their first menstruation, and trans representation will not outrage you, nor will they turn you off of the show. In fact, the representation is exactly what it should be doing: normalizing that all of these things exist and are a beautiful part of our world. And the moment in question that caused another tantrum from the unhinged, always-looking-for-something-to-be-outraged-about nutjobs? This:
The person wearing the striped shirt giving advice about pads…that’s the issue. Un-friggin-believeable…
Baymax! is a delightfully wholesome show and a welcome distraction to all that is going on in the outside world. To quote my 13 year old son:
I love how Baymax wants to help everyone and I love how inclusive it was.
Granted, he might be biased: he fell in love with Baymax as a youngster and consumes every piece of media involving Big Hero 6.
It’s not a huge time investment either, which many of us with busy schedules will appreciate. I loved that I was able to spend some time with my son disconnected from our phones to enjoy this show. It’s a great start for hopefully much more Baymax content to come. Baymax! follows in the footsteps of many other robotic characters who show us that their humanity can remind us of what we should strive to be.