Those who would like to respect their wishes should stop reading after this paragraph. O’Malley, Grabinski and their collaborators have kept the details of “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” tightly under wraps, including the basic premise of its plot. But at the end of its pilot, “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” swerves in an unexpected direction - one that both distinguishes the show from previous iterations of the “Scott Pilgrim” concept and comments on them from our current cultural vantage point. (Wright remains involved as an executive producer.) The film’s entire cast, from Cera to Chris Evans to Aubrey Plaza, even reprises their roles as voice performers. At first, “ Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” seems like a straightforward adaptation, just rendered in the visual style of O’Malley’s original artwork instead of Wright’s kinetic live action.
Yet O’Malley, in partnership with writer BenDavid Grabinski, has brought the franchise into 2023 with a new animated series for Netflix, revisiting his best-known work after over a decade. This is not to criticize “Scott Pilgrim,” but simply to note that it’s a story very much of its time.
