Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Barbarian And The Troll’ On Nickelodeon, A Funny Puppet-Based Comedy About — You Guessed It — A Barbarian And A Troll

The mastery of puppet comedy is always underappreciated because it looks so natural. Puppeteers, many of whom have to double as voice actors, have to express emotion and fluidity while working puppets that are complex but still offer limited options versus animation. So we’re genuinely amazed when a show can pull things off as adroitly as The Barbarian And The Troll, a new series on Nickelodeon, does. Read on for more.

THE BARBARIAN AND THE TROLL: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Princess Brendar (Spencer Grammer/Colleen Smith) is battling a dragon. He tries to escape, and then she jumps on him and asks him where the demon who is holding her brother captive is or “I’ll find out what you had for lunch.”

The Gist: While battling this dragon, Brendar gets a telekinetic message from her mother, the queen. She’s gotten word that Brendar has been out battling and swinging her sword, instead of doing her princessly duties. As a punishment, she demotes her down to Barbarian, takes her crown, her comfy boots and — worst of all — her sword. When the dragon taunts her about losing her sword, Brendar breaks of a stalagmite and slaps him around with it until he caves.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Gothmoria, a troll named Evan (Drew Massey) tries to block a girl and her goat from crossing his bridge without paying a toll. He even tries to compromise, if she listens to his song about “bridge life.” She says it’s terrible, Helen the goat (Peggy Etra) head butts him, and they roll right over him. That night, as his father the Troll King (James Murray) lectures him about the incident, Evan says he wants to pursue a music career, not be a “troll booth” attendant. He knows that he needs to experience more in life in order for his songs to get better, so he leaves, literally burning his bridge in the process.

Weeks later, Evan begs the owner of “The Queen’s Goiter” pub for a place to play his lute and sing his songs for an audience. While there, Brendar the Barbarian is drowning her sorrows in semi-spoiled chicken, having had to battle to just get a new sword, and having gotten no closer to her brother. While all this is going on, General Skelly (Allan Trautman) arrives with an owl named Stacey (Sarah Sarang Oh). She wants Brendar to go on a quest that’s right up her alley, which means it’s full of danger and fighting and more danger.

Brendar knows that the “hacky has-been” wizard Horus Scrum (Trautman) is behind this request, and she refuses. When Skelly attacks, she fights him and all of his skeleton henchmen off (but not before asking about the dental plan). Evan helps her by smashing his lute over Skelly’s head, distracting him just long enough for Brendar to slice his skull off.

As Brendar leaves to go to Horus’ castle (which was what she was asked to do anyway), Evan wants to follow her on her quest, she’s reluctant, but he somehow convinces her via song, which is a longshot considering how bad his songs are.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The Barbarian And The Troll is part Muppet Show, part Monty Python and the Holy Grail, part Robin Hood: Men In Tights.

Our Take: Massey and his writing partner Mike Mitchell (who directs all the episodes) are the creators of The Barbarian And The Troll, and their extensive experience as writers and (in Massey’s case) performers comes to the fore here. They’ve created a genuinely funny show that’s not trying to be anything but a good story with a modern vibe, despite its “olde times” setting.

In a show like this, a lot has to come together, from puppetry that’s supposed to look lifelike, plus comedic voice performances that are supposed to appeal to a wide age range. Add in a live-action woodland setting and a musical element, then you have to appreciate the fact that Massey and Mitchell have been able to pull together a story that’s pretty clear and sets up the fates of its two main characters by the end of the first episode.

Grammer is great as the alternately aggro and laid-back Brendar, and Smith’s movements match Grammer’s vocal fry well. Brendar may have a “complicated and mysterious back story,” at least according to her, but she’s also “feared and revered”, as her slogan says. She is still on the quest to free her brother, but she’s also just good at smashing things. That joie de vivre is what Evan, who needs experiences to improve his music, is drawn to.

The story is deceptively straightforward: Two unlikely friends going on a quest. Because of that simplicity, there is so much room for funny fights and hilarious conversations. Massey and Mitchell aren’t under as much pressure for jokes to land. So when Evan accuses the girl of “body shaming” her goat it’s genuinely funny instead of forced. When Stacey the owl says right before the fight starts, “Droppings just got real,” we laughed our butts off because we love implied dirty lines in kids’ shows and movies (we still laugh at the line “Why have a ballroom with no balls?” from Frozen, that’s how mature we are).

When the story works and the characters are well-established, the funny stuff just feels that much funnier. If only half the sitcoms that premiere on network television could have half the intelligence of The Barbarian And The Troll.

What Age Group Is This For?: Most of the clever dialogue will likely go over the head of kids under 9 or so. There’s cartoon violence, but it’s cute, like when Brendar smashes the dragon open with the stalagmite and glitter and springy snakes come out.

Parting Shot: The head of Skelly says, “I’ll get you and your peppy goblin, too!” Then he gets pecked at by a crow, and he tries to blow it off like he’s blowing a hair out of his eyes.

Sleeper Star: There are so many people behind the scenes on a show like this, from the cinematographer who has to make sure everything is shot for puppets to people like Nicolette Santino who works Brendar’s right hand. The fact that they make it all look natural is amazing, no matter how many times we see it.

Most Pilot-y Line: Helen the goat asks his person about whether the Giants beat the Bears, and we see a newspaper article with giants stomping on bears. Actually, that was funny but one of the more on-point jokes of the pilot.

Our Call: STREAM IT. The Barbarian And The Troll is one of the few kids’ shows that you could watch and enjoy as an adult and not feel at all guilty about. It’s such a clever show with such a good story, adults should be able to enjoy it, whether their kids are into it or not.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream The Barbarian And The Troll On Nick.com