Moral Orel

Moral Orel, created by Dino Stamatopoulos, is my favorite television show of all time. The show depicts (at least in the first season) young Orel Puppington growing up in Moralton trying to be a good protestant by sticking to the moral code and lost commandments, unfortunately screwing it up in the process, only to be corrected (in his study with belt in hand) by his supposedly good father figure and father, Clay. In the later seasons, though, it turned much, much darker, focusing on the dramatically repressed citizens of Moralton. In the final season, however, they abandoned the brighter episodes to much more depressing story lines (did I mention this is all done, very well I might add, in stop-motion animation?).

The show has ended, much to Moral Orel fan's dismay, but it was a pretty bad decision. Moral Orel was VERY well written and funny throughout, less we forget dramatic, offensive and blasphemous. Let me warn those of you whom are offended by parody of religion, TURN BACK NOW. This show parodies religion every episode somehow, whether subtle or blatant. For those of us who can take a joke, Moral Orel is over, but Orel shall forevermore live within our hearts knowing the ending. He was canceled before his time, yes, but we have 43 episodes of amazingly done animation. This show is nothing like anything else on Adult Swim, since it contains very few vulgar words (nothing needed to be censored), it's overall style is comparable to Davey and Goliath. Watch it and enjoy one of the best achievements in American television in only eleven minutes.

A juvenile religious fanatic. His alcoholic, closeted homosexual father. A sexually and emotionally repressed mother. The father's gay, satanist lover. Scenes of gay bashing, molestation, and underage drinking. All the things that make a comedy great.

Moral Orel is an Adult Swim comedy with an extremely dark heart, even crossing over into dramatic territory in its last season. It focuses on the family of Orel, a young evangelical Christian living in the Midwestern town of Moralton. Due to his often literalistic interpretations of his parents' and other adults' advice, Orel's actions frequently culminate in distinctly immoral results.

This is a show that gets better as it goes along. The first season and a half were characterized by an extremely formulaic approach as each episode followed Orel's screw ups. (The episode "Loyalty," for instance, is a masterpiece of dark humor.) Although many of the individual episodes were funny, watching more than one or two at a time could grow very tiresome, very quickly.

However, the third season is arguably a masterpiece of adult animation. It marked a dramatic shift in tone for the series, with much more emphasis on the development of individual characters aside from Orel. For example, the episode "NUMB" focuses on Orel's repressed mother Bloberta, and often crosses between the darkly comic and the genuinely disturbing.

Moral Orel will clearly not appeal to all people, and is best enjoyed by those whose sense of humor leans toward the warped. Nevertheless, with those who are up to it, it is a great, under-appreciated series.

After watching so many adult animated cartoons from the past few years-many that tackle serious issues and real life problems-I was surprised to hear that Moral Orel, which preceded all of them, managed to do what those shows did but even better and even grander than I thought.

I think one of the best things about this show is that despite it's extreme ways to push the boundaries of darj subject matter, it still manages to portray an optimistic and careful view on our world and the concept of religion as a whole. Even though it is very clearly satire on religion and has constant gags and jokes about religious teachings, it doesn't insult Christianity nor does it downright dismiss it completely-it is only making light of those who misuse passed down morals to hurt others in contrast to those who use it to be better people, and that is very much shown all the way to the final episode. And to me that is a very powerful message and recurring theme of the show, and one I wish many other shows tried to do but better

The stop motion animation is also incredible for a TV production. Some of the scenes and shots in this show are incredibly impressive and unique. The work done in ShadowMachine to make this show come to life is admirable and one that shouldn't be taken for granted.

Please give this show a chance, you will not be disappointed. (And you may cry, like how I have with several episodes because of how deeply they resonated with me)

Most Christians will probably be severely offended by this show, but that's part of its charm. Its offensiveness is riding on the shoulders of an innocent little boy who simply doesn't know any better. He misinterprets others' advice and chaos ensues. The same could be said about religion itself. What I find so continually compelling about this show however, is that it dares to be different. The line-up on Adult Swim has swiftly shifted to gore porn as of recent (Metalocalypse and Robot Chicken being perfect examples), but Orel focuses its sights on the way religion controls people, changes them. Lying beneath the bitter sentiments however, is something even better: character development. Throughout the series, we see the various demented characters of Oralton for who they really are. This really kicks off in season three (which is currently nearing its end) and it's truly gripping. What you thought were one-off humor characters in the first season are revealed to be deeply troubled human clay-things in the second. Speaking of, the series gets quite dark at times, and with only the personalities of the characters... Yes, things can be dark without buckets of blood. But in the little town of Oralton, Statesota, we see much more than a bewildered mass. We see a portrait of the American psyche. (other psycho-analytical jargon here)

I can't for the life of me figure this show out. Sometimes I find myself genuinely laughing almost uncontrollably, others I'm left reflecting on the message, and still others I'm just lost and a little bored even; the episode with orel's stop-motion animation for example. Interesting concept but fell very short. In any case I admire the uniqueness. Now I've seen jokes in a negative light and dark comedy in plenty other animated shows but this one manages to pull off full on cynicism about a wide range of topics using some very unique yet inexplicably relatable characters.

In fact the character analysis alone makes for interesting conversation. I mean for a show that takes a pretty good number of jabs at Christianity the reverend seems to be the most logical down to earth character. Which may be a statement about people's inability to truly understand what's being said to them. In any case the entire show has so many undertones that can be interpreted in just about any way depending almost entirely on the individual. I know I found some new little thing each time I watch the show.

The soundtrack used is another thing I loved about this show. Unique again but you feel an instant attraction to almost every song. Be it tongues in other people's mouths from the first season or The strangely alluring mountain goat songs in the 3rd season.

Which brings me to the third season. It in my opinion is one of the best final seasons of any show I have ever seen. This doesn't just include animated or comedy shows but just about every series I've followed. I am very sad this show was unable to come to the end intended of it.

I'm sad that adult swim couldn't let it run its course to the end. I mean I like their programming for the most part but I would have preferred keeping something like metalocalypse (a show I also enjoy) at 15 minutes so this could continue, if not just for curiosity's sake to see how it would continue to play out. C'est la vie. Thank you Mr. Stamatopolous, this will forever be one of the more memorable shows I've ever seen.

I watched the full series again recently and had to up my rating even higher. I miss this show.