When playing video games, I tend to be a bit of a completionist. Despite many Dutch people saying they’re going to ‘uitspelen’ (finishing a game, literally, ‘to play out’) Netflix if they have some time off, with the amount of content offered, that isn’t really a possibility. Still, I did want to finish all Neill Blomkamp content on Netflix, so I ran into Oats Studios, which is number of Blomkamp’s smaller projects heaped together and put online. I hesitate to call it a collection or an anthology because there does not really appear to be an overarching theme or even style or format. Still, Key and I settled in for a night of varied Blomkamp viewing, ready to be surprised.

Oats Studios is to disparate a set of films to review together, so here’s a couple of lines per project below – I’ve rated the whole thing three stars, assuming you’ll skip over most of the trashy or forgettable stuff.

1. Rakka

   Worth watching – a post-apocalyptic, post-first contact setting in which the earth is taken over by a hostile alien species and rag-tag bands of human survivors are left to make a home in the ashes, resisting as well as they can. Mostly follows established tropes, but there are a couple of interesting concepts and story hooks, though being just over 20 minutes long, the story sadly only scratches the surface and doesn’t knock down its own set up. Ends making you want more. Also surprisingly features Sigourney Weaver!

2. Firebase

   Also worth watching – mixes some beautifully weird occult/paranormal and sci-fi elements into a Vietnam war setting: a CIA operative is sent into the jungle to find the lone survivor of a unit of U.S. troops absolutely massacred by Viet Cong with what appears to be an incredibly advanced Soviet weapon system. Oozes Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now in atmosphere. Again, feels like a great set up but doesn’t quite get to the pay-off – but that’s short movies for you.

3. Cooking with Bill

   Skippable – some cringey/gorey sketches spoofing teleshopping ads for imaginative kitchen products. Not bad at what it is trying to do exactly, but not at all my taste.

4. God

   Skippable – a couple of sketches showing God as a careless overlord throwing random disasters at his worshippers for his own amusement. Neither particularly original nor well executed. Thankfully not to long either.

5. Zygote

   Worth watching – Disaster has struck a distant mining outpost, and two survivors are trying to get to safety, pursued by a great original monster that I’m not going to spoil for you. Follows established tropes, crams a bit much exposition and social commentary in its first five minutes, and I feel like the set builders could’ve done with a bit more budget, but has all the makings of a blockbuster sci-fi horror movie – and it’s only 22 minutes long, so some allowances have to be made. Really what holds this back most is that Blomkamp shows his hand prematurely – it would’ve probably worked better if he had held back the monster a little longer (for a masterclass: see Ridley Scott’s Alien)

6. Bad President

   Skippable – a couple sketches showing the president of the US as a trashy guy that prioritises parties over running the country and shows up to the Oval Office hungover. Not not funny, but that is about all there is to be said about it.

7. Adam

   Worth watching – Netflix only has episodes II and III of the Adam storyline, since Episode I wasn’t directed by Blomkamp. So you’ll have to watch episode I on YouTube (where episode II and episode III are available as well). This is apparently a bit of an out of control tech demo for the Unity game engine that turned into a real story. More than with any of the other stories, you might leave feeling frustrated that there is no game or movie finishing what these three episodes started. The graphics are slightly dated by now but the world and character design are still great.

8. Gdansk

   Literally a four minute tech demo. Looks cool.

9. Kapture: Locust

   Skippable. Another tech demo, though this one is a lot more cheesy (while also casually really violent) than the others. Also looks worse.

If there is anything of an overarching takeaway, it is that Blomkamp loves gore and guns, and will not miss an opportunity to put them front and centre in his films, at the expense of the deeper message that he does seem to want to send. Also, he loves cyborgs and exploring the borders between man and machine. But maybe all that is already apparent from his other works we reviewed.

Overall, a bit of a mixed bag, but well worth watching if you feel like an evening of low-threshold, low commitment, but throught-provoking television. Especially the longer and more serious stories Rakka, Firebase and Zygote are well made and made me wish there was more. If you go on YouTube for the other parts, Adam isn’t too bad either.

Oats Studios is a collection of director Neill Blomkamp’s idea’s that were never  developed into something big. And they are exactly that: interesting (and less interesting) ideas. Don’t expect neatly tied-up story arcs or well thought-out worldbuilding (if you can speak of any of that in the other Blomkamp movies…). For stories so incomplete, I was surprised by the amount of great actors and performances, the special effects and the production in general. The themes I could discover throughout the season were typical Blomkamp: guns ‘n gore, goo, plugging machines, experimental medicine, human hubris and AI consciousness. The season provided a nice evening with Peter, but no more.

A short review of the episodes (I left the descriptions to Peter):

1. Rakka

   Felt very unfinished to me, even for this series. An interesting start, then another one, and then another one, but without something to connect the dots.

2. Firebase

   Apocalypse Now meets Rambo. Interesting and slow setup, but then a quick reveal. That might be because because in contrast to the other episodes, this one had an end goal in mind that was tied to a strong theme.

3. Cooking with Bill

   A cringe fest of sketches. First one was predictable, but good. The rest was unnecessary.

4. God

   A two-parter with not much originality and no point. Could have been interesting when well-executed and with something to say.

5. Zygote

   I love this trapped-in-a-spaceship kind of stories. It might be easy, but it works. However, the more I thought about it, the less good it became. There were quite some plotholes, it acts only as if there is social commentary, and after the (early) reveal the monster was a bit too ridiculous to be truly scary. Nevertheless quite enjoyable watch, who know what could have been when this were a feature film.

6. Bad President

   A bit like God. Not really funny, not really original, not really a point. Moreover, reality has become too absurd to parody like this.

7. Adam

   I liked these two episodes the most. It really felt there was a world behind this short story. And there is, to some extent: there is already a prequel short film (on YouTube). These three short stories build an interesting and original scifi world and deal with moral dilemma’s about killing consciousness and religion that feel true. However, they also feel als pure setup for a greater story, without a resolution of their own. Would have loved more of this.

8. Gdansk

   Knight from Middle Ages meets space ship. He has shiny armour. The end.

9. Kapture: Locust

   Cruelty with a thin layer of social commentary. I don’t see a larger story in this, but it might have worked as a scene in a movie about something else. Reminded me a bit of Squid Game.