Bill Plympton doesn’t make animated movies that look like Disney classics. He has zero desire to make “normal” stories that works for major studio productions. He’s a maverick who has his own animated look and a perspective that doesn’t mimic Disney productions. I remember first seeing his short cartoons in “festival” films that highlighted strange and bizarre animation. In the ’90s, Plympton’s cartoons found themselves on MTV as the bumpers. They were better than the videos. Eventually Plympton brought his animation to the world of feature films. He didn’t backdown in his weirdness. He made movies you can’t imagine Disney, Pixar or other studios would release to lure in the kiddies. His feature films are pure Plympton and not watered down to appease to crowd eager to watch another Ice Age or Minion film. Mutant Aliens is his third film that exposes the dark side of a space program.
Things open with a press reporter at the landing of a strange rocket. Things have gone bad since the president has been eaten by something. The action goes out of control when mutant animals eat the rest of the press pool. The movie flashes back 20 years to an amazing face of what we think is a woman in the shower in close ups, but Plympton reveals it’s a guy. And not just any guy: Astronaut Earl Jensen (Dan McComas) is getting ready for his trip to outer space. He says a sweet goodbye to his daughter Josie and loads into the rocket. The mission goes wrong and Jensen is lost in space. Dr. Fubar (George Casden), the head of the Department of Space uses this moment to run audio where Jensen asks people to send money to help out the program, so no other astronauts suffer his fate. Josie (Francine Lobis) grows up to be an astronomer at a major observatory. One night during a romantic encounter in the control room, she bumps the telescope control. She sees an incoming rocket and alerts the Department of Space. After a bit of investigation, she realizes that this is her dad’s spaceship. She goes racing to the predicted landing spot. Jansen steps out of the capsule and doesn’t quite kiss the earth. Josie greets her bearded father. He has a story to tell of what happened when his mission failed. He eventually landed on a planet occupied by creatures that looked like detached human body parts. He also encounters various animals that were shot into space over the years. They’ve mutated a bit. Now they all want to return to Earth and have a talk with Dr. Fubar about why he abandoned them in outer space.
Mutant Aliens is hilarious and biting as it deals with what the space programs have done over the decades to animals such as Laika, the Soviet space dog. What if the animals abandoned in space as part of mission could get their revenge for being forced to die in orbit? Plympton has nailed the Atomic Age Space flick of the ’50s except without having to obey the norms of the Hayes Code. While Plympton teases us in the opening carnality, he later lets us see what it looks like when a man gets freaky with a giant nose. They’re not going to be playing Mutant Aliens on Svengoolie. Which is a shame since anyone who enjoys those Universal films will appreciate the action. Bill Plympton plays with the cliches and expectations found in the drive-in classics. If you enjoy bizarre science fiction and animation, Mutant Aliens is a masterpiece of freakish proportions.
The Video is 1.66:1 anamorphic. The transfer looks great and gives texture to Bill’s pencil animation feel. The Audio is DTS-HD 2.0 stereo. You get the sounds of the strange world of nose people. The movie is subtitled.
2025 Commentary Track has animation producer Adam Rackoff and critic John Hancock talking with John Holderried who worked on Mutant Aliens as associate producer. They get into how the DVD had a washed-out image compared to the new transfer on this Blu-ray. The Oscar folks now have the negative.
2003 Commentary Track was recorded by Bill Plympton for the DVD release. He does ponder the scene where Jensen hooks up with the queen of the aliens. He explains the rivalry between noses and eyes. Is Bill Plympton “anti-mouth” gets a thought. He gets into his frustration of not finding the right distributor for the film. More importantly Plympton discusses his animation techniques and work arounds.
The Plympton Diaries (90:09) is a weekly diary that he created showing how Mutant Aliens was made. He goes from the initial drawings to playing festivals. The interesting part is that he takes a bit of an approach found in Japan when he basically releases the storyboards as a graphic novel before he starts animating the film. This helped him raise budget funds and get fans hyped up for the film to come.
Interview with Bill Plympton (32:16) is the second half of the interview Dennis Bartok started on the Blu-ray of I Married A Strange Person! Plympton gets into how he came of age when space age began. He gets into how he writes down ideas for his next shorts and features. What seems like the most fun is what gets made next. He was inspired after reading his friend Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love. The space dog shot up by the soviets also got to him. He merged the concepts together for Mutant Aliens.
Hot Dog (5:44) has his guard dog eager to join the fire department, but it’s not an easy gig. This was made in 2008.
The Cow Who Wanted To Be A Hamburger (6:05) has a cow eager to be part of a hamburger joint. He has no idea how cows participate to be a Happy Burger. This short was produced in 2010.
Deaf Crocodile presents Mutant Aliens. Directed by Bill Plympton. Screenplay by Bill Plympton. Starring the Voices of Dan McComas, Francine Lobis, George Casden, Matthew Brown, Jay Cavanaugh, Amy Allison & Bill Plympton. Running Time: 82 minutes. Rating: Rated R. Release Date: November 11, 2025.
