Koala Man is an Australian-American superhero animated sitcom created by Michael Cusack for Hulu. Developed by Cusack, Dan Hernandez, and Benji Samit, the series premiered on January 9, 2023 on Hulu in the United States and on Disney+ in Australia.
| Koala Man | |
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| Genre | |
| Created by | Michael Cusack |
| Based on | Fresh Blood: Koala Man 2018 Pilot by Michael Cusack for ABC Comedy |
| Developed by |
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| Voices of |
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| Composer | Brendan Caulfield |
| Country of origin |
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| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 8 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producers |
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| Editor | Scott Henry |
| Running time | 23–24 minutes |
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| Original release | |
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| Release | January 9, 2023 – present |
Plot
The series takes place in an alternate universe called "Bushworld", where the sinking of the Titanic never happened, indirectly resulting in the United States of America being destroyed (except Hollywood, which became an island), Australia becoming the world's superpower, and Nicole Kidman becoming its Queen. The story follows Kevin Williams, an average middle-aged family man who decides to issue justice to the town of Dapto as the incredibly average superhero Koala Man. Possessing no powers and a simple costume, which is apparently enough to hide his identity, Kevin encounters a variety of evildoers that wish to do harm to his town. Kevin is joined by his family who put up with his misadventures including his down-to-earth wife Vicky, and his 14-year-old twin children, a popularity-obsessed daughter Alison and a nerdy son Liam who secretly possesses psychic powers.
Cast
Main
- Michael Cusack as Kevin Williams/Koala Man, a father and IT expert who moonlights as a low-rent superhero
- Cusack also voices:
- Liam Williams, Kevin's son who possesses psychic powers
- Damo and Darren, a pair of low-level criminals
- The Tall Poppy
- The Great One
- Nicole Kidman, the Queen of Australia
- Huge Greg, Big Greg's older brother
- Additional Voices
- Cusack also voices:
- Sarah Snook as Vicky Williams, Kevin's wife, who works at the school canteen
- Demi Lardner as Alison Williams, Kevin's daughter
Guest
- Hugh Jackman as Big Greg, a beloved celebrity fishing expert and the head of the town council, who is Kevin's boss
- Jemaine Clement as Principal Bazwell/Christopher/The Kookaburra, the ineffectual principal of North Dapto High who is Vicky's boss and reveals himself as a supervillain.
- Alexandra Daddario as Herself
- Rachel House as Janine, Vicky's friend and co-worker at the school canteen
- House also voices Louise, the owner of the local bowling club who harbours an attraction to Koala Man
- Angus Sampson as General Peckmeister, Wizened Garbage Man and many more.
- Jordan Shanks as the Town Shopkeeper, Chippy, Snuff film victim
- Hugo Weaving as King Emudeus, Summer Santa
- Justin Roiland (season 1 only) as Chad Wagon, an American who wants to turn Australia into a second United States
- Jarrad Wright as Spider, Kevin's boorish next door neighbour
- Wright also voices:
- Maxwell, a wheelchair-bound septuagenarian with a long complicated history
- Maxwell's father
- Additional Voices
- Wright also voices:
- Michelle Brasier as McKayla Taylor Mercedes, a popular girl who speaks with a vocal fry and Alison's initial nemesis
- Brasier also voices Tanya, a fish who is Huge Greg's wife
- Miranda Otto as Mindy, a koala that Kevin found and cared for before she died after being hit by a car before the events of the series.
- Claudia O'Doherty as Rosie Yodels/Rosie 2, the most popular girl in school
- O'Doherty also voices:
- Rosie 1 and Rosie 3, Rosie's sister clones who want to take over Australia
- Additional Voices
- O'Doherty also voices:
- Natalie Tran as Lulu Liu, Neighbour
- Nisrine Amine as The Egyptian Mummy, a survivor of the Titanic who became US president and fled to the moon
- Anthony Salame, Jordan Shanks, and Steph Tisdell as The Tradies, corrupt tradespeople who secretly run every working aspect of Dapto and possess supernatural abilities.
- Michelle Brazier, Leigh Joel Scott, Anthony Salame, and Ian Zaro as The Tigglies, villainous parodies of the Wiggles who kill their victims, which are children, by draining them of their youth.
- Liam McIntyre as Emus
- Nazeem Hussain as Clarko
- Nina Oyama as Little Nina
Episodes
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Bin Day" | Roberto Fino | Michael Cusack | January 9, 2023 | 1HLX01 |
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Kevin Williams is Koala Man, Dapto's resident superhero. Despite his good intentions, nobody likes him and considers him a nuisance. Inspired by his boss Big Greg, Kevin decides to write a theme song for himself, but supposedly forgets to take the bins out, causing the entire neighbourhood to forget to put their trash out. Because of this, his house gets dumped with garbage. Meanwhile, Kevin's wife Vicky becomes obsessed with fixing things around the house, including the garbage, while his daughter Alison tries to make a slutty photo to get popular. The garbage is devoured by a being called the Tall Poppy who escapes its pit and proceeds to eat all the garbage in Dapto, which includes the people. Kevin battles Tall Poppy with the help of Vicky and their son Liam and rescue the Daptonians. Everyone is about to kill him, but Kevin empathizes with Tall Poppy and they send him away to Hollywood. Kevin and Vicky finally have a date night and it is revealed that Kevin did take the bins out, but a villain named the Kookaburra put them back as revenge. | |||||
| 2 | "Deep Pockets" | Andrew Bowler | Dan Hernandez & Benji Samit | January 9, 2023 | 1HLX02 |
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Kevin creates a Koala-Hotline with mixed results. Big Greg promises to give him a license if he solves a big case. Vicky institutes a soda ban in the school, causing all the kids to hate Alison and Liam and they start an underground soda ring. Vicky and Kevin, in his Koala Man attire, try to find the culprits, but Vicky becomes frustrated and tells Kevin that he is not a real superhero. Janine sets up Alison and Liam with her connections and they meet the corrupt Tradies, who had earlier given Kevin a hard time. Liam begins to regret his actions and calls Kevin for help while Vicky discovers his connection. At the trade off, a fight breaks out with the Tradies who capture Kevin and Vicky and knock out Liam. Kevin manages to beat the Tradies, but they form into one being. Vicky feeds them soda, causing them to explode. Liam uses his hidden psychic powers to direct Alison to save them and she blames the soda incident on her nemesis McKayla, while Big Greg lifts the soda ban and spurns Kevin. Vicky apologises to Kevin by making a licence for him. | |||||
| 3 | "The Red Hot Rule" | Maik Hempel | Nina Oyama | January 9, 2023 | 1HLX03 |
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The elderly Maxwell recalls how due to Australia's five-minute time zone difference, he prevented the Titanic from sinking. This resulted in America electing a Mummy as their president, who leaves for the moon with her lover, turning America into a lawless wasteland, except for Hollywood which broke off and became a civil island. American Chad Wagon opens a restaurant in Dapto and influences Liam to be like him, much to Kevin's chagrin. Chad actually wants to use Liam so that he can murder Queen Nicole Kidman and transform Australia into America 2.0. Alison wants to win the Miss Sausage Roll Pageant and Vicky decides to train her to get revenge on her rival Saucy and her daughter Saucy Jr. With Kidman at the pageant, Chad puts his plan into action, but Maxwell uses the time zone difference to warn Kevin while Alison has Saucy Jr. killed, forfeiting the pageant crown. Kevin defeats Chad using freedom of speech which shrinks him and he gets crushed by a bus. President Mummy returns from the moon and scoops up Chad's remains, vowing revenge. | |||||
| 4 | "The Great One" | Roberto Fino | Georgie Aldago | January 9, 2023 | 1HLX04 |
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At the Dapto Fair, Janine gets an alien rock stuck in her while masturbating and becomes possessed. She begins to infect everyone with shoulder massages, turning everyone into zombies. Vicky feels ignored by Kevin who thinks that she too is possessed and hides with the survivors including Big Greg and Louise. Meanwhile, Alison wants to be liked by the popular girl by giving her a showbag, until she is informed of the forbidden showbag. With Liam's psychic help, they locate James Showbag, a brain in a jar, who tells them where it is hidden before Alison mercy kills him. The showbag takes over Alison's sanity and Liam is forced to get rid of it to save her. All of Dapto builds a rocket to, presumably, travel to space. With Kevin and Vicky the only two not possessed, due to smelling of shellfish, they come to the realization that the rocket is actually a giant dildo that is being soothed by The Great One, a tentacle creature. They blow up the dildo and The Great One leaves after realising that all of Dapto have kids. The entire town cleans the mess. | |||||
| 5 | "Ode to a Koala Bear" | Andrew Bowler | Lucas Gardner | January 9, 2023 | 1HLX05 |
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In flashback throughout the episode, Kevin rescues a koala and names her Mindy. As a way to feed her properly, Vicky makes a koala mask for Kevin to appeal to her. Having had a toughened upbringing due to his detective father, who was framed for a crime, Kevin opts to let Mindy back in the wild, only for her to get hit by a car. In the present, Liam and Alison are sent to music camp. Vicky is about to talk to Kevin about Koala Man, but he notices that Liam left his jacket and drives off to deliver it to him, only to get mugged and carjacked by kangaroos. He finds the studio of The Tinglies (parody of The Wiggles) who are revealed to feed off of the youth they entertain. Kevin is rescued by Spider and they chase them to the music camp where The Tinglies kidnap Liam and the talented Little Nina. Nina is killed, but Kevin and Spider manage to kill The Tinglies. Kevin tells Liam it is okay if he needs help from him from time to time and Vicky and Big Greg arrive to drive them home, with the former not interested in discussing Koala Man for now. In a pre-credit scene, the Kookaburra discovers a remain of the Tigglies, when he was tricked by Koala Man after the accidental urine. | |||||
| 6 | "The Handies" | Maik Hempel | Dario Russo & David Ashby | January 9, 2023 | 1HLX06 |
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At the Annual Handball Tournament, Dapto's promising team is suddenly incinerated. Big Greg is humiliated by his older brother Huge Greg who coaches the Sydney team and Kevin steps in to recruit the replacement Dapto team, which ends up being Alison and Liam. Despite Kevin's best efforts, Alison refuses to listen to her father. Big Greg offers her a mysterious manimal ooze that turns her into a dingo and makes Dapto win several games. Meanwhile, Vicky learns that Dapto is cursed due to a pair of sunglasses getting destroyed and travels to Mt. Kiera to get a new pair from the Gods. She meets the God of Seeing Your Potential who encourages her and she collects a box of new shades. Big Greg reveals to Kevin that the games have always been fixed, but Huge Greg opts to not rat them out, having transformed his team. Kevin turns Alison back to normal and together with the shades Vicky brought, Dapto finally wins the Handies Tournament. Alison refuses to admit that she loves her father as The Kookaburra manages to secure a vial of the ooze for himself. | |||||
| 7 | "Emu War II" | Roberto Fino | Anca Vlasan | January 9, 2023 | 1HLX07 |
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Someone cracked the royal emu egg as Liam suddenly begins to spout prophecy, but only when he is playing the piano. Maxwell informs Kevin that the emus are planning to attack Dapto in revenge. True to his word, the emus attack as some of the townsfolk hide. Vicky reveals to Kevin that she was the one who broke the emu egg and Kevin ventures off to speak with the emus. To power Liam's piano to prophesize, the survivors send Alison and popular girl Rosie Yodels to find the generator. Alison gets over wanting to be popular and becomes friends with Rosie as they successfully bring the power back to Dapto. Kevin is taken to King Emudeus and tries to reason with him, only for Dapto to arrive. As the fight rages on, Vicky is about to reveal herself as the culprit, but Kevin takes the blame, resulting in him getting banished. He is suddenly kidnapped by the Kookaburra who takes him to Tooth Brush Island and reveals that he was behind all of the recent misfortune including the death of Mindy to kick out Kevin and become Dapto's new hero. | |||||
| 8 | "Hot Christmas" | Andrew Bowler | Michael Cusack | January 9, 2023 | 1HLX08 |
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One month later, Kevin is still stuck on Tooth Brush Island, Vicky is tending an unconscious Liam, Alison is now dating Rosie and plans to run away to Hollywood Island with her and The Kookaburra has become Dapto's new superhero. A bushfire suddenly starts and The Kookaburra loses support due to his incompetence. Alison goes to save Rosie, only to learn that she is one of three Rosies who plan to take over Australia. Alison's Rosie sacrifices herself to save her, causing all Rosies to die. The Kookaburra is revealed to be Principal Bazwell who kidnaps Vicky and Liam. Kevin has a vision of Mindy and returns as Koala Man to rescue his family, discovering that Bazwell is his childhood friend Christopher who has plotted his revenge following a childhood urination incident. Using the ooze, he transforms himself, but Kevin talks him down and use his held in urine to put out the fires. The Kookaburra, now reformed, leaves town to become the hero to Albion Park, and Koala Man is finally lauded by Dapto as a real hero. A now-powerless Liam wakes up and Alison suggests he move to Hollywood Island as she becomes the most popular girl. Vicky accepts Kevin's double life as Koala Man and he supports her run for Dapto's council. In a post-credits scene, Kevin gets a call from The Uncommonwealth to join their team, but he hangs up on them, thinking they are telemarketers. | |||||
Production
It was announced in March 2021 that Hulu had given a series order for the show.[1] Michael Cusack, who is the creator, voices the titular character, with Hugh Jackman, Sarah Snook and Demi Lardner joining the voice cast.[2][3] In October 2022, Jemaine Clement, Rachel House and Jarrad Wright joined the cast, with Miranda Otto and Hugo Weaving announced to be making guest appearances.[4]
On January 25, 2023, Justin Roiland was removed from the show, alongside sister show Solar Opposites, after he was charged with felony domestic abuse. Both shows are produced by 20th Television, via their 20th Television Animation division.[5]
Release
The series premiered on January 9, 2023, on Hulu in the United States, in Australia and other international territories on Disney+ via Star Hub and Latin America on Star+.[6][7]
Reception
Season 1 has received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, season 1 has an approval rating of 86% based on reviews from 14 critics, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's critical consensus states, "While Koala Man can feel like a hodgepodge of quirky ideas, its distinctive Australian identity gives it a pungent personality."[8]
See also
References
- ^ Del Rosario, Alexandra (23 March 2021). "Hulu Orders Koala Man Animated Series From Michael Cusack, Dan Hernandez, Benji Samit & Justin Roiland". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
- ^ Goldberg, Lesley (19 July 2022). "Hugh Jackman to Lead Voice Cast of Hulu's 'Koala Man'". The Hollywood Reporter.
- ^ Cordero, Rosy (21 July 2022). "Koala Man: Sarah Snook & Demi Lardner Board Hulu Animated Series". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
- ^ Rice, Lynette (6 October 2022). "Koala Man: Hulu Animated Comedy Adds Jemaine Clement, Rachel House & Jarrad Wright". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
- ^ Rice, Lynette (25 January 2023). "Hulu Follows Adult Swim By Splitting From Justin Roiland, Co-Creator Of 'Solar Opposites'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
- ^ Fuge, Jonathan (8 December 2022). "Koala Man: Animated Series Starring Hugh Jackman & Michael Cusack Gets Release Date". MovieWeb. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
- ^ Palmer, Roger (8 December 2022). ""Koala Man" Hulu/Disney+ Release Date Announced". What's On Disney Plus. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
- ^ "Koala Man: Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 6 February 2023.