Cleopatra in Space

This series, based on a 2014 comic series by Mike Maihack of the same name, has a simple premise: then-Princess (and future Queen) Cleopatra is transported tens of thousands of years (30,000 to be exact) in the future to attend an elite school on an Egyptian-themed planet and fight a space tyrant with her friends. Cleopatra, known as Cleo for short, is super sassy, reckless, careless, and cocky, as she adjusts to the future...and is the only prophesied hope for the universe. As one reviewer put it, this adventure focuses on the untold story of Cleo's teen years, figure out how she will get home, fit in, find out the identity of a spy sent to the school, and her mysterious powers. The music of this series is also really awesome. This justifies its current rating.

The show itself is nothing special in terms of character and plot, though my kiddos were entertained by it, mostly for its action sequences, which are plentiful (though rarely resulting in death or serious injury, unless you count robots). My daughter had read the graphic novel series and noted numerous differences. She also found Cleopatra mostly annoying - impulsive, narcissistic, and uninterested in learning. In some ways like an exaggerated version of Korra, but far less appealing than, say, Adora, Kipo, or Allura. So not much to recommend the show or the protagonist, over all. And then there is the added issue of the inane exoticizing of "Egypt": beyond featuring pyramids, fake hieroglyphs, and Cleopatra herself, there is not even a remote attempt to accurately portray the ancient culture. Octavian, her mentor, was not Egyptian, and he was not an "Octopus." I could go on and on but the general effect is not to encourage interest in Egyptian history or culture but to present it as an exotic other which is merely a hollow shell of reality, and, more generally, to promote this treatment of different cultures.

After watching this show, it's become one of my favorites.

I really wanted to like this show, I really did. I like its space adventures, the abundance of cat characters and Akila, who is the best part of the show. Those are all great and the show would have been awesome if not for its one giant flaw..

Cleo herself.

She is one of the most obnoxious, arrogant and reckless protagonists that I've ever seen in any series. And the worst part is that her numerous flaws are seldom questioned and she never learns a lesson from her constant screw-ups that put the people around her in danger.

She is a fish-out-of-water in the future she knows nothing about, yet has little interest in learning about it and ignores the rules and warnings offered to her by the people who inhabit this futuristic world, even if it's her own friends. The number of times she put people in danger due to her recklessness is hard to count as its present in almost every episode. Yes, she is supposed to be an entitled princess as per her background, but that doesn't justify her being rewarded for her poor behavior, not to mention her "chosen one" status and unexplained martial arts and marksmanship skills which put her above the rest of the characters, despite most of them being trained in combat.

The problem with Cleo is that she is given everything without having to work for it and she doesn't grow as a person throughout the show despite her many mistakes, her attitude simply remains the same regardless of how many times it puts her and the people around her in danger. It would be one thing to have a deeply flawed character in a story aimed at adults, but in a show for kids a main character like that is downright dangerous, as it creates a terrible role model for the kids to look up to.

There are a number of cartoons for kids that parents can sit and enjoy with their children together. This is not one of them. It's not bad really. The character designs are enjoyable, the acting is very good, and for what it is the music is perfect. The problem is the direction, pacing, and editing where this falls short. It's not just that parts feel rushed and others linger too much. It's that half the time it feels like something really important was skipped over or cut. I've re-watched the first 2 episodes twice and each time I'm left waiting for a "2 days ago" cut-away scene that will explain what's missing, but it never comes. My guess is that while boarding and table reading this, whenever someone might have said "wait, how did we get here?" someone else responded "who cares, it's just a stupid show for dumb kids, they won't even be paying attention." And maybe they're right, but if they're expecting a show about teenagers to be watched by actual teenagers, they're in for a rude saturday morning awakening.