Thread by @adrianchm

A 🧵 on #lovedeathandrobots. For me, it all started back in the 1980s. One small beacon of light for a kid in the communist Poland was Relax, "a magazine of drawn stories". I read each issue about a hundred times. /1

Relax was published once a month ...or once a year. Again, communist Poland. Once, on a random day a new issue was published and I had no cash and no way to contact my mum. So I've stolen a precious coin from a collection she had, ruining it -- but getting my copy of Relax... /2

Later, I learned that Relax was in a way a copy of Métal hurlant (Howling Metal), a French comics anthology of sci-fi and horror that started in 1974. It almost made me learn French, just so I could read it. Almost... /3

And then I have discovered Heavy Metal, a mag that published many Métal hurlant stories in English. It's mostly full Euro graphic novels split into multiple issues, with occasional short stories. I love it. Some of my collection before they went digital: /4

In 1981, Heavy Metal magazine gave birth to Heavy Metal movie (and then its less successful sequel nearly 20 years later). Yes, it has aged, but it's a proper cult movie every fan of sci-fi should watch. More importantly, it has inspired, and we're finally getting there... /5

#lovedeathandrobots. To be precise: Love, Death + Robots. Did you know, as @EneaszWrites has observed, that its acronym - LD+R - is an anagram of TLDR? Makes sense, doesn't it? Considering that most - 95%? - episodes are adaptations of short stories from a variety of writers. /6

I have finally found the time and watched all seasons of LD+R, and I'm absolutely in love. I hope it never ends. Let me share the joy of seeing it all by sharing my 10 favorite episodes. P.S. If you want the original short stories, check Amazon for LD+R anthology, volumes 1-3. /7

It was crazy hard for me to select the top 10 of #lovedeathandrobots out of the 20 eps I loved. Great shorts like Good Hunting (science is magic), The Dump (hilarity ensues), The Drowning Giant (light weird fiction) or Fish Night (Icarus myth as urban fantasy) had to go. /8

#10: In Vaulted Halls Entombed (3x08). A Special Forces squad chases enemy insurgents into a cave and... I won't ruin it. The core idea is great. However, the short is often unintentionally silly. And the ending in @AlanBaxter's original short was slightly better. /9

#9: Mason's Rats (3x07). The only comedy in my top 10. But look, there's a scene here, and you WILL KNOW IT WHEN YOU SEE IT, that's so outrageously funny it alone has secured the elite status of this episode. /10

#8: The Secret War (1x18). Red Army fights evil in Siberia. Both the ep and the original text by David Amendola feel more like the first chapter rather than a short story. Aka don't expect a satisfying ending. Still, a gory, haunting, beautiful nightmare worth repeated views. /11

#7: Snow in the Desert (2x04). A sci-fi Western about a man trying to hide from bounty hunters. But that's just a staffage for the story about the deepest of our needs. Beautiful mix of darkness and light that elevates the great original story by @nealasher. /12

#6: Jibaro (3x09). A siren's charms don't work on a deaf knight. There's just no fucking way this is exclusively CGI. Just no way. And yet... Absolutely unbelievable. Best I've ever seen. Watch this after: /13

#5: Sonnie's Edge (1x01). Underground cage fights featuring monsters -- but it's way more than this. One of the few episodes that have the perfect structure with a deeply satisfying ending, and improve on the original story (by Peter F. Hamilton in this case). /14

#4: Pop Squad (2x03). A cop hunts, uhm, children. Sci-fi, noir, and the rain that never ends -- what's not to love? Atmospheric af. However, the original story by @paolobacigalupi is superior, and here's why: deathisbadblog.com/the-book-was-b… /15

#3: Bad Travelling (3x02). A ship crew tries to survive the attack of a sea monster. David Fincher's animation directorial debut and it just oozes quality. Not quite Lovecraftian but still Lovecraftian. Original story once again by @nealasher. /16

#2: The Very Pulse of the Machine (3x03). The always enticing classic premise (an astronaut crashes the ship on an alien planet/moon) is taken to the next level with where the story goes. I watched it with childlike sense of wonder. Phenomenal, based on a Hugo-awarded short. /17

#1: Beyond the Aquila Rift (1x07). A space jump takes a crew to a random destination. A year after I watched this, I cannot stop thinking about it. Perfection. And those freeze frame revelations... Chef's kiss. Makes me want to make a serious sci-fi game in the future. /18 END 🧵