Your Favorite Dark Western Animation Story Line (None Adult)

[Shin Mefilas]

For me one that will always stand out is this.

Mighty Max - Day of the Cyclopes

 

Ok so lets get the ball rolling on this dark tale, the story starts with some elderly man sleeping in a roach infested prison cell when a large shadow falls over him, he wakes up and starts screaming bloody murderer.

Cut to our titular hero Max, his mother (who is an archeologist) and his two companions Virgil and Norman. The group are on vacation in Turkey and due to a misunderstanding with a shop keeper Max and Norman are thrown into the local prison for stealing a hat. Now Max's Mother (who I dont think is ever named) and Virgil will be spending the episode trying to get Max's cosmic cap back. To cut a long story short the cap basically allows Max to travel throughout time and space, it chooses its owner, who becomes known as the Mighty One and its their destiny travel around fixing things and stopping bad guys. Think of the story as being like Doctor Who but with mystical elements as well as sci fi.

Were things really get dark is with Max and Norman, they are now in the same horrible prison the old man was in, were they suffer some light police brutality and then at night find themselves attack at night by a hulking troll-like creature. Norman fights the creature while Max calls the guards but by the time they show up the creature has vanished as quickly as it had come. The guards laugh at the story, telling him the creature is the mythical "Torlak the Torturer", who has "come to clean the prison".  They then explains that Torlak was one of Odysseus's men who was left behind on the island of the Cyclopes and that he know feeds the Cyclops which resides in a cave below the prison.

So to catch up we have had wrongful imprisonment, police brutality, a dirty horrible prison and a psychotic immortal/ghostly Greek who sacrifices people to a one eye'd monster....you know for kids. Also killer baboons but thats another side story.

Anyway Max and Norman discover that Torlak didn't just vanish into thin air, their is a hidden passageway behind a wall. This leads to catacombs below the prison were they find a very big cyclops themed door, skeletons chained to the walls and in cells, a spiked wall trap, a very well stoked torture chamber (I'm not kidding here we have a rack, an iron maiden like cupboard, a spike pit, maces on chains, tongs, weapons) and Torlak who has upgraded himself to an axe-wielding homicidal Greek. After a short fight, Torlak is kicked into the aforementioned iron-maiden cupboard with the door shutting (also as he tried to get out, Norman re-slammed the door in Torlak's face for good measure) and then is promptly thrown down the spike pit!

Now putting aside the fact that one of our heroes just killed someone in a rather grisly manner (Norman is an ancient warrior so you can let the fact that he doesn't have a modern morality in regards to killing his foes slide) what is implied here is truly horrifying! Given what we see, its implied that Torlak has killed and tortured countless numbers of people (a few of whom were likely innocent) for an incredibly long time, not only that but we are also given a very good look at the likely implements he used to do the deeds. They don't call him "The Torturer" for nothing. And to top it off this is all being done in a prison were the brutal guards clearly do not care about what happens to their prisoners. If you ever wanted to keep your kid out of jail, let them watch this.

Anyway after disposing of Torlak, Max and Norman move on and come to an incredibly large cave, inside of which is the colossal skeleton of the Cyclops! Our heroes decide to explore the cave, finding weapons, chests and more normal sized bones scattered all over the cyclops's remains. However something is watching and waiting inside the one-eye'd skull. Max goes inside, seeing a way out above it, and touches something slimy. Backing out of the eye socket, he is followed by none other then the still living Eye of the Cyclops! The gigantic Eye attacks with its nerve like tentacles, grabbing Max but he's able to injure it (wince) forcing it to retreat. Norman catches Max and using one of the giant ribs they are able make their way to the tunnel behind the skull. But the Cyclops is not finished yet, the monster bursts through the skull (winces again) and gives chase. The optic fiend grabs our fleeing heroes but with some quick thinking Max gets Norman to scrap one of his gauntlets against the wall, creating sparks that ignites some bug repellent his mother had given him earlier. Max then throws it at the Cyclops, setting it violently ablaze and they dash for the grill at the end of the tunnel, making it out just before the flames catch them. They now find themselves in the person courtyard surrounded by armed men, fortunately Max's mother has been able to prove him innocent during all this and they are free to go. Its at this point that our old nightmare Torlak the Torturer decides to pop back up (he must have the same plot armor as Jason Voorhees and Micheal Myers), standing high up on the prison wall, roaring his head off. The guards chicken out and run for it while Torlak grabs some barbed wire then leaps of the wall at our heroes. However Norman is having none of it, as he catches Torlak mid-fall and, once again, promptly chucks the mad Greek down the escape tunnel and into the Cyclops fueled inferno! After all this our heroes head home.

Now I have skipped over some of the plot and lighter elements here but you can't tell me that this is not dark, maybe not the darkest but dark. To top it of this is not even the darkest the show gets at times, it just this is the story I remember the most. That being said its a great show that lasted two seasons and was able to rap itself up before it was discontinued. 

 

 

 

Edited December 5, 2016 by Mazin Emperor G