The Liberator (miniseries)
The Liberator is an American adult animated war drama miniseries created and written by Jeb Stuart. It is based on the book "The Liberator: One World War II Soldier’s 500-Day Odyssey" by Alex Kershaw. Directed by Greg Jonkajtys, the miniseries was released on November 11, 2020 on Netflix. Synopsis. "The Liberator" takes place during World War II where maverick U.S. Army officer Felix Sparks and the 157th Infantry Regiment fought for over five hundred days alongside the Allied forces during the Italian campaign. "The Liberator" is a character-driven action miniseries based on the true  story of World War II infantry commander Felix "Shotgun" Sparks (played by Bradley James), who led the members of the 157th Infantry Regiment of the 45th Infantry Division, an integrated group of white cowboys, Mexican Americans and Native soldiers drawn from across the west. Sparks and his battalion of "Thunderbirds" were classic citizen soldiers, and for over 500 days they led a special group of American soldiers from Italy to France to the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp, through some of the most grueling battles of the war, becoming one of the most decorated American combat units of World  War II. Production. Announced in November 2018, the miniseries's production would be handled by A&E Studios and Unique Features with animation services by Atlanta-based studio School of Humans. In January 2019, Bradley James was cast in the leading role of Felix Sparks and Martin Sensmeier was cast as Samuel Coldfoot. Later, the animation team behind the series launched Trioscope Studios, with the show as its first series in production. On November 9, Brandon Barr, chief content officer at Trioscope Studios, was interviewed. He stated that the project was "particularly challenging" and a lot of work, while arguing that  anime opened the door for other visual techniques and styles. He also hoped that the company could be part of "bringing nuanced emotional drama to that broader adult animation push." The miniseries was the first to use Trioscope Enhanced Hybrid Animation, a technique that blends live-action actors with CGI. According to its developers, L.C. Crowley and Grzegorz Jonkajtys, the technique gives off “unprecedented level of emotion and fidelity to the animated drama experience.” Release. The limited series was released on Veterans Day, November 11, 2020. Reception. On Rotten Tomatoes, the miniseries holds an approval rating of 64% based on  11 reviews, with an average rating of 7.15/10. The website's critics consensus reads, ""The Liberator" eccentric animation gives it some creative gloss, but clichéd storytelling and stock characters keep this World War II tale from being wholly salute-worthy." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100 based on 7 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Reviewing the miniseries for "Rolling Stone", Alan Sepinwall gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars and said, ""The Liberator" more often than not is an effective reminder about why pop culture keeps revisiting World War II material again  and again." On contrast, Daniel Fienberg of "The Hollywood Reporter" called the show a series which is "very watchable" but is infuriating due to its "inconsistent focus and narrative choices" even though his interest never wavered due to the interesting and "eye-popping" animation. Fienberg concluded that people should check out the show for the animation, for a commemoration of Veterans Days but to be prepared for frustration over "how much more complicated, and how much richer" the actual history is and how the show could have been better.