Strange Planet is an animated science fiction comedy television miniseries based on the webcomic of the same name by Nathan W. Pyle. Pyle co-created the series with Dan Harmon. The series premiered on August 9, 2023, on Apple TV+.
Contents
Premise
Blue beings find themselves exploring and trying to understand the complexities and nuances of human traits.
Cast
Main
All main cast members portray multiple characters which vary between episodes.
Tunde Adebimpe
Demi Adejuyigbe
Lori Tan Chinn as Guide
Danny Pudi as Regular
Hannah Einbinder as Manager
Guest
James Adomian
Mamoudou Athie
Yvette Nicole Brown
D'Arcy Carden
Colton Dunn
Naomi Ekperigin
Cynthia Erivo
Fortune Feimster
Jo Firestone
Theo Germaine
Dallas Goldtooth
Patti Harrison
Jackie Hoffman
Erika Ishii
Jackie Kashian
Ken Leung
Riki Lindhome
Billie Lourd
X Mayo
Jessica McKenna
Tawny Newsome
Charlotte Nicdao
Toks Olagundoye
Bronson Pinchot
Nathan W. Pyle
Karan Soni
Beth Stelling
Nate Torrence
Jerry Trainor
Janet Varney
Production
The series was greenlit by Apple TV+ in June 2021, with Nathan W. Pyle collaborating with Dan Harmon to co-create the series. Amalia Levari was set as showrunner. In July 2023, Tunde Adebimpe, Demi Adejuyigbe, Lori Tan Chinn, Danny Pudi and Hannah Einbinder were set for the voice cast.
Release
The series was released on August 9, 2023.
Reception
Strange Planet received positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 82% approval rating with an average rating of 5.9/10 based on 28 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Leveraging its alien conceit to make astute observations about society, Strange Planet is wryly amusing and relatably human." Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone praised the show for its "reliable level of sweetness", while noting that most of its humor "hits the level of wry amusement and not much more, not unlike the experience of reading a comic strip, smiling, and saying, 'I get it,' without actually laughing." Lucy Mangan of The Guardian, though it has not been confirmed if they had watched the program, gave the show 3 stars out of 5, opining that the comic strip's premise wore too thin during a season of ten 25-minute episodes. In a more mixed review, Maya Phillips of The New York Times found the show's comedic moments to be more uneven and less interesting than its philosophical musings, writing, "More often than not, 'Strange Planet' is cute and delightful".