See, that’s what I love about animation. It can go anywhere, do anything, with anyone…it’s the most flexible entertainment medium the world has ever seen, no joke.
I just finished watching ‘Chef At Work’, the spin-off about the popular antagonist in an alternate universe where he gives up on his dream to be perfect, and instead gets a job as a hotel desk person. It’s mostly just him greeting patrons of the hotel, giving them room cards, showing them where the coffee machine is and dealing with the occasional complaint, but they make it quite engaging.
Now I’m onto ‘Wok Around the Clock’, about a fellow who travels around in a van that can also fly, catering events with his commercial wok burner and magical talking cat. The twist is that he’s actually part of a global group of magical caterers who cater to events, with magic. All his equipment is totally ordinary because he’s a first-generation magical chef and he didn’t inherit any mystic kitchen equipment from his parents. So he’s just got a normal wok burner, a normal commercial steamer, and…well, he doesn’t have a commercial deep fryer any more since he tried to cook a special Welsh recipe of fish and chips that can only be made in a magic deep dryer. He tried it anyway, despite the protests of his magic cat, and the fryer was ruined by the grease being too greasy. Beyond that, he’s quite the accomplished chef, despite his lack of powers.
See, what Western animation would be bold enough to try such a thing? You just wouldn’t find one…because they’re so unwilling to experiment. They’d be too afraid to even have a show set in a kitchen, because ‘kids can’t relate to commercial ovens and grills’ or something.
Now, I really want fish and chips, preferably from a commercial deep fryer. Magical or non-magical, either is fine.
-Dylan