Hilda - Season 1
Stream on Netflix
Episode: 13 Episodes (24 minutes each)
Rated TV-Y7
Based on the graphic novels by Luke Pearson
“Well, that was pretty traumatic, but such is the life of an adventurer.”
Hilda, her mother, and her deerfox Twig live in a valley full of wonder, elves, trolls, ad all types of magical beings. When she discovers that her life disturbs neighbors she didn’t know she had her mother looks into moving the two of them to the city of Trollberg. However, an accident then forces them to move to the city. Hilda is hesitant about living in a city, but soon meets new friends and discovers there are all kinds of adventures that can be had even in the city.
Themes:
Adventure, friendship, moving, learning to live alongside others, paperwork, solving problems, helping people, making fiends, kindness, helping, overcoming challenges, school, not hiding things from adults, magical creatures/beings, witches, enchantments, poltergeists, disclaimers, researching, libraries, family, dealing with arguments with friends, the city, the country, the Woodman, trolls, Sparrow Scouts, lost stuff
Language:
“What the…” is said a few times as well as the word, “flipping.” One character also says, “good Lord.” As per usual cartoon scripts, the sentence is not finished. Insults like idiot, shut up,
Stuff to be aware of:
Scariness - Hilda’s world is full of fantastic and amazing creatures. Some, like Twig, are cute and furry. Others can be a bit more intimidating. The show has a unique animation style which keeps most creatures from looking too scary. Things fly around a room in one scene, when Helda’s house is attacked.
In episode 6, “The Nightmare Spirit,” there is a teen girl who’s eyes glow and she floats and moves in abnormal ways. She haunts a character’s dreams and gives him nightmares. Some of the nightmares might be intense for some. There are creepy shadow people, a face that gets ripped off like a mask showing someone else underneath. People with glowing eyes. Also, there is a ball of rats with glowing eyes that can talk. There teen girl spirits come back in a later episode.
In episode 7, “The Tide Mice” there is an enchantment spell cast. There is talk about it stealing people’s souls. Two characters have glowing eyes, growls, and drools. There is spell casting.
In episode 9, “The Ghost” the characters explore a graveyard trying to find a ghost. They read some magical words and a ghost in which you can see his skellington. He comes out of the grave scary, but quickly becomes comical.
In episode 12 and 13 there is a large black wolf with glowing eyes.
Violence - some kids throw rocks at birds. One bird gets hit and falls to the ground. He doesn’t die.
Other things - a guy opens the door and is seen in his underwear. There are some elves playing poker and making bets. The world in which Hilda and her friends exist is very different than ours. Not only are their mystical creatures and magic, there is also things like weather spirits, house spirits, and ghosts. All of these creatures and ideas seem normal and well know by the characters that inhabit this world.
Briefly, an ancient people is talked about that worship a raven like god. There is a bird parade to represent this culture.
Overall:
This creative show pulled me into a world I didn’t realize I needed in my life. It is just enough like our world that when weird and strange things pop up you don’t know what is going to happen next. It has it’s own rules, unique creatures, interesting characters, beliefs, and culture. my nine year old daughter and I enjoyed this fun fantasy story and we can’t wait to watch season two.
I really liked that there are story threads in every episode that get brought over into the next episodes or event episodes down the road. There are also a plethora of fun characters that randomly come in and out of the story. There are three seasons and a movie on Netflix.
We have no watched all three seasons and the movie. This show is amazing and very well written. Two things I will note: this show can be intense and creepy at times. Two, there is one blink-and-you’ll-miss-it scene in season two where it appears that a girl is proposing to another girl.
Below is a photo and link to the graphic novel. At this time, I have not read any of them.
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