Ah, the joys of being a kid, the apprehension of moving to a new place, and the exhilaration of making new friends. The recent Amazon Studios live-action kids series, Annedroids, created by Sinking Ship Entertainment, filters all those tried-and-true experiences through the best possible lens: science run amok.
The pilot episode introduces Nick (Jadiel Dowlin), who moves with his mother to a quaint-seeming suburb, where he immediately befriends Shania (Adrianna Di Liello), an excitable girl about his age, and becomes curious about the strange garbage dump nearby. Eventually, they discover Anne (Addison Holley), a young mechanical genius, living among the many androids she has built herself (though as Anne herself explains, these aren’t robots, but androids, which are machines that display human behaviors).
What follows are some pretty wild adventures, including sparking Anne’s latest creation—which resembles a crash test dummy named Pal (Millie Davis)—to life. The initial episodes also have plenty of offbeat moments: At one point, the three protagonists organize a competition for Anne’s three prized androids to compete in, which results in epic slapstick. Despite the fact that a relatively advanced concept such as android-building is pivotal to the plot, the show conveys a lot of basic scientific terms and ideas, usually preceded by Nick or Shania not understanding what Anne is talking about. Any educational information generally accompanies the on-screen action, and in this way, young viewers—Annedroids is targeted at kids ages 4 to 7—can learn what a hypothesis or a lightning rod is, without the show grinding to a halt.
While the cast is appealing, the androids have compelling enough designs that they become effective supporting characters themselves. There’s Hand, which looks like a cross between a praying mantis and a construction vehicle, but is also a gentle giant that suffers from the occasional bout of jealousy or insecurity. The production design is also first-rate, especially Anne’s workshop and home environment, which have shades of the ’80s film, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure—particularly in her use of a Rube Goldberg device as an alarm clock. Meanwhile, the show may be aimed at young viewers, but a lot of the humor will also appeal to adults: There’s a scene in which one of the characters calls out, “I want to talk to the Hand,” while looking for the aforementioned android. This leads to another moment in which Hand, who in this episode is feeling unwanted, is shown in the improbable act of packing a suitcase as it prepares to run away from home.
Along with being entertaining foils for one another, Anne, Nick, and Shania are exactly what kids’ TV programming needs more of right now: smart, curious youth with an interest in science and technology. Annedroids debuted in late July, but given that the problem of getting more kids interested in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects hasn’t exactly vanished, it still seems worth recommending wholeheartedly.
