The Maxx (1995– )

Maxx is a purple-clad superhero living in a cardboard box. His only friend is Julie Winters, a freelance social worker. Maxx often finds himself shifting back and forth between the "real" ... See full summary »

Stars:

Amy Danles, Glynnis Talken, Tony Fucile

2 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Amy Danles	...	Sarah (7 episodes, 1995)
Glynnis Talken	...	Glorie (7 episodes, 1995)
Tony Fucile	...	Sgt. Ocono, Cop, Fridge, The Crappon (7 episodes, 1995)
Michael Haley	...	The Maxx (6 episodes, 1995)
Barry Stigler	...	Mr. Gone (6 episodes, 1995)

Storyline

Maxx is a purple-clad superhero living in a cardboard box. His only friend is Julie Winters, a freelance social worker. Maxx often finds himself shifting back and forth between the "real" world and a more primitive outback world where he rules, and protects Julie. Mr. Gone, a self-proclaimed "student of the mystic arts" seems to know more about Maxx and Julie and their strange relationship than they could ever guess, but he's not exactly telling all....not yet, anyway.

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Plot Keywords:

superhero | social worker | friend | sergeant | monster | 

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Genres:

Action | Animation | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Also Known As:

MTV Oddities Presents The Maxx

Company Credits

Production Co:

MTV Animation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

23 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The comic book series was adapted into an animated series as part of the MTV program Oddities. It covered Darker Image #1, The Maxx #1/2, and issues #1-11 of the regular series, depicting the introduction of Julie, the original Maxx, Mr. Gone, and, later, Sarah. The series included few of the revelations of the characters' origins, however, and did not describe the interconnections between them. The series made wide use of scanned artwork and CGI.

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Quotes

The Maxx: Everybody dies.

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Connections

Featured in Atop the Fourth Wall: Top 15 Screw-Ups of AT4W (2010)

User Reviews

an animated masterpiece

This is some of the best animation I have yet seen come out of this country. "The Maxx" is, after its two hours have passed: scary, very funny, thoughtful, intelligent, profound, disturbing, highly imaginative, and ultimately quite moving.

Part of the charm of "The Maxx" is that it's clear that the directors of the series are familiar with how people read the comics; how all the elements and dialogue reach the eye. In this way "The Maxx" is far more imaginative than live-action stuff, because it's loose of the bounds of physics laws and a clear-eyed camera. It makes other films based on comic books, "Batman," "Blade," etc., seem clunky and artificial by comparison.

The plot, though drawn from a mish-mash of dream interpretation stuff, pop psychology stuff, Freudian stuff, and miscellaneous mythological references, matters little in the end -- when all is explained, it's a little disappointing because the confusion that "The Maxx" envelops around the viewer was part of what was so good about it. It's the confusion, the intricate layers of reality and unreality, that helps make this show so special.

When you get down to it, it works anyway, thanks to a number of really magnificent things. First, the characters of The Maxx, Julie, and Sarah are multi-faceted and very endearing. Despite the exhilarating cascade of visuals, this is ultimately a character-driven fantasy/drama. That's not all that "The Maxx" ought to be treasured for, though. Sam Keith has created a world (heck, a number of worlds) that are so fiercely original, so imaginative, that nothing short of a complete lack of sympathetic characters would be able to ruin his visionary achievement. To his credit, Keith gives us everything that we've been missing in Hollywood's interpretation of the comics: not just strong visuals, but great writing, a mass of original ideas, and memorable characters.