Fired On Mars Is Must-Watch Sci-Fi Tragicomedy Adult Animation
(Welcome to Animation Celebration, a recurring feature where we explore the limitless possibilities of animation as a medium. In this edition: "Fired on Mars.")
I've dedicated a lot of time to writing about the various ways the Hollywood machine disrespects the work of those in the animation field, which is to say I'm completely unsurprised that HBO Max released their new series, "Fired on Mars," with little fanfare. This is the same streaming app that quietly removed a massive chunk of its animation library for tax write-offs, and one that's run by a billionaire CEO who thinks a "love of working" will end the current WGA strike, rather than, you know, paying them fairly.
It's doubly ironic considering "Fired on Mars" is a show about a man named Jeff who gave up everything he held dear for the job opportunity of a lifetime, only to be unappreciated and tossed onto the chopping block after "some bean counter on Earth" decided his hard work wasn't essential. Who cares that Jeff moved to a new planet for this job? Who cares that Jeff's girlfriend is still on Earth? Who cares that he is now stranded on a foreign planet and is trapped by the whims of his employers, who are in control of whether or not he makes it back to his home planet? Profits are booming and influencers make Mars look like the coolest new place to be ... why should anyone care about the well-being of an unemployed graphic designer?
This is the core of "Fired on Mars," the best new adult animation series of 2023, and one that deserves far more attention than what it's been given by the streaming platform that houses it.
Painful relatability
Back in 2014, Netflix released the darkly comedic "Bojack Horseman," and changed the landscape of what the general public thought was possible with serialized adult animation. The balance of anthropomorphic animation with deeply personal and mature storylines proved successful, showing the suits in charge that audiences were willing to watch more than just animated sitcoms about dysfunctional families.
"Fired on Mars" is a worthy successor to a show like "Bojack Horseman," where the painful relatability of the story and the nuanced portrayals of broken characters force a sense of empathy against unimaginable odds. I've never worked on Mars, but I have worked for employers that devalued me to the point that I wanted to leave the planet. I've never moved millions of miles away to start a new life only for it to blow up in my face, but I have moved across the country in the hopes of living somewhere safer and more affirming only to find out that "progressive states," are filled with just as many monsters as where I left, they just use more flowery language to express their hatred.
Jeff, voiced perfectly by Luke Wilson, is an everyman not in the sense that he's ordinary as a person, but because his situation happens to just about everyone, with very few exceptions. If you are reading this and can't relate to the struggle of having to prove your worth to a boss or else risk losing your housing or the ability to put food on the table ... congratulations on also not knowing about the hell that is using generic brand garbage bags, I guess.
The most mundane person in a fantastical world
Jeff's problems start when he's unceremoniously fired from his position as a graphic designer because, as anyone who has ever worked in a creative field can attest, corporate overlords value the efforts of an artist less than the person who scrubs the skid marks out of their own underwear (also an important job, to be clear). In a perfect world, firing Jeff would mean that he simply goes away, but since they're working at a startup on Mars, it's not like they can throw some per diem at him to pay to Uber home.
Journalist Ben Kuchera took to Twitter to praise "Fired on Mars" by saying, "I'm trying to watch 'Fired on Mars,' but it's a show that's based only on the bad thoughts I have when I'm trying to sleep, and I'm not sure how they pulled that off." This might sound like an insult, but trust and believe this is a compliment in the highest order.
As he lives on the colony, Jeff luckily isn't alone, but he's also trapped with people whether he likes it or not. Even on another planet, bosses still find ways to screw over their employees while acting like they're doing nothing wrong, which forces Jeff to try and find his own community, lest he has another existential crisis-fueled breakdown. This is where characters like Jax (the always phenomenal Cedric Yarbrough) and Reagan (national treasure Pamela Adlon) come in, who help paint a well-rounded portrait of this incredibly bleak world, and show that there's more to life on Mars than just Jeff's series of misfortunes.
If you like Mike Judge, you'll love this
The impact that Matt Groening and "The Simpsons" has had on adult animation is undeniable, but "Fired on Mars" feels more like something birthed from the influence of Mike Judge. The animation style echoes that of "King of the Hill" or "Beavis and Butt-Head," but with gorgeous backgrounds and a cinematic camera style, rather than a TV sitcom. But the show doesn't just harken back to Judge's animated successes, but his films as well. Luke Wilson in a futuristic but not too futuristic environment feels like "Idiocracy," and the chaotic drama of the workplace comedy echoes his films "Office Space" and "Extract," with a little bit of his series "Silicon Valley" thrown in for good measure.
Animation analyst/writer/podcaster/YouTuber Johnny2Cellos made an entire video about why people need to be watching "Fired on Mars," and described the series as a combination of "King of the Hill," "Infinity Train," "Last Man on Earth," and "Severance." If those comparisons don't pique your interest in the series, I don't know what will, because he's absolutely right. "Fired on Mars" doesn't follow the familiar structure of adult animated shows like "Family Guy," "Futurama," or even "South Park," instead feeling like the result of what would happen if Mike Judge was allowed to animate an episode of "Black Mirror."
And the animated medium really allows the sci-fi setting to thrive. They don't have to skimp on building an entire space station or foreign planet or spend ludicrous amounts of money trying. The animation team can draw the colony and planet as rich and complex as possible, and Jeff's journey is not trapped by the limitations of live-action.
A refreshing, exciting, and hopeful look toward the future
Nate Sherman and Nick Vokey have created something special with this show, and it would be a real shame if it only got one season. In our increasingly existing IP-obsessed culture, it's almost a civic duty to highlight new, original programs. "Fired on Mars" is a show that gets better with each episode, and while there have been some reports that the series was the second-most watched animated series on the streaming platform, there's still been little promotion. As Johnny2Cellos pointed out in his video, the show doesn't even have a Wikipedia page and his personal sharing of the show's trailer garnered 4x the amount of likes on Twitter than the official post from HBO Max, which only appeared three days before the show hit the streaming platform.
We're currently living in a golden age of serialized adult animation, but "Fired on Mars" isn't more of the same good thing — it's a show pushing the boundaries of what an adult animated series can be. This is not a slight against my beloved shows featuring funny families like "Bob's Burgers" or "The Great North," but an acknowledgment that "Fired on Mars" is doing something wholly different than what currently dominates the airwaves, and that's worth celebrating.
And considering HBO Max has been gutting its animated offerings, it's also something worth protecting.