The Doomies Shares A Premise With Many Others

The Doomies falls under a growing subset of shows, at least in my experience. A new slew of creatives are trickling into the industry, some of them my age or—more likely—younger, and with them comes reexaminations of classic tropes and storylines while still making things ultimately of very similar ilk to what came before. History, even in art, rhymes. And this makes my job as a critic more difficult because I have to keep in mind that for every story concept there’s someone new experiencing it. Just because I have seen The Doomies formula of preteen/teens versus monsters done before, doesn’t mean everyone has.

So, I’m left looking for the subversions. The flourishes. What, if anything, does this show do better than others? And if I cannot find anything interesting, well, then I have no choice but to (with a heavy bias) condemn the whole show. Fortunately, such an outcome isn’t in the cards for The Doomies. It does have a few things going for it. More than a few, actually.

The Doomies Has Fun Twists On Expected Tropes

The main appeal I spotted in my three episodes of watching The Doomies was the character work and the twists on their archetypes. I’d call it “updated,” for lack of a better word. We have a main character, Bobby, hit with a curse that keeps drawing monsters (which almost plays out like the formula for Power Rangers, of all things) but Bobby isn’t—for once—the Chosen One hero (the Chosen One is named Kim). And this is actually more radical a shift than it sounds. The dynamics of monster attacks go way different than in most shows. We have the badass fights and superpowered cool moments while still maintaining tension, since Bobby is unable to do more than run or throw stuff most of the time.

The Series Remembers That It’s Inspired By Horror

There’s obviously a consequence for every decision, though, and you would be forgiven for thinking this choice would result in a very passive main character—especially because a lack of action would be the most logical thing for Bobby to do. If monsters are always coming for you, then you bunker down (in your small-town Paris home) and hide behind the Chosen One and hope the curse is resolved. But the Chosen One isn’t knowledgeable about the current version of the town or adapted to modern tech—being displaced in time—and our main character is a paranormal investigator whose best friend (and the best character), Romy, is constantly pushing for more adventures. Modern audiences can really lean into nitpicking premises, so having as many reasons to buy into this one as possible really goes a long way toward enjoyment.

And, yeah, I know I’m being very technical here. Much more than usual. But this show really is cut from well-known clothes. And it wouldn’t be much of a full-scale review if I just (and only) told you that the friendship dynamic between the two leads is really well done and that the animation style has a strong personality and can really look great in motion when it wants to. Those two things are both true, but it doesn’t properly get across why even jaded viewers of media should give The Doomies a chance. You should give it a chance because it’s not generically flipping through tropes. You should give it a chance because it’s got a good sense of children’s horror and goofy slapstick. The Doomies—if it had been my first exposure to this type of story—could’ve been one of my creative inspirations.