Teletubbies

MKB is troubled and fascinated by Teletubbies, as perhaps he should be. I respond:

Teletubbies is possibly the most daring work of science fiction ever put on film. It takes place in a utopian alien civilization, set in a surreal landscape, with no human characters. The ritualistic social mores of that civilization, and its technological and industrial underpinnings, are never directly explained or explored. It utterly breaks from the western, Aristotilian model of storytelling with its lack of obvious conflict and eerie repetitions. "Again, again!"

Yes, Un Chien Andalous abandoned narrative, but it mostly focuses on recognizable human experience. Yes, The Dark Crystal gave us a non-human world, but it stuck to a very standard quest narrative. I can think of no other work of film that abandons so many familiar signposts. The show is a work of genius, a truly unique vision.

I'm being funny, yes, but I'm not kidding. It is deeply fascinating because it is made for the human brain ... but not the adult human brain.

If you've never seen it, believe us that we do not exaggerate in our astonishment at it.