Gunnerkrigg Court (TV series)

Gunnerkrigg Court is an American computer animated television series created by Tom Siddell, adapted from his 2005 webcomic Gunnerkrigg Court. The series is produced by Maloing Entertainment and BBToons Originals with animation outsourced to Canadian studio Mainframe Studios.

The comic tells the story of Antimony Carver, a young girl who has just started attending a school at a strange and mysterious place called Gunnerkrigg Court, and the events that unfold around her as she becomes embroiled in political intrigues between Gunnerkrigg Court and the inhabitants of the Gillitie Wood, a forest outside the school. The comic's style and themes include elements from science, fantasy creatures, mythology from a variety of traditions, and alchemical symbols and theories; the literary style is heavily influenced by mystery fiction and manga.

Setting
Gunnerkrigg Court is set in a boarding school in a country that resembles the United Kingdom, identifiable from the grey skies and mandatory uniforms. The comic contains other clues about the setting, such as the house system that is described at the end of the first chapter. This system is similar to that used by many UK schools, including the one the author attended; Siddell has even stated that the school in which Gunnerkrigg Court takes place is modeled after his own secondary school.

Gunnerkrigg Court, the fictional place around which the story revolves, is a mysterious and vast establishment that many characters suspect hides much more than just a school. The school appears to actively recruit many talented or extraordinary students. As the story progresses, it is soon revealed that the school is inhabited by a wide variety of both supernatural creatures – many of which become characters involved in the story's plot – and ultra-modern technology. One character explains that "the Court was founded on a union between technological and etheric design." Another describes it as "man's endeavor to become god."

The court is built on the edge of a wide chasm, on the other side of which lies the Gillitie Wood, which is inhabited by "etheric" or magical creatures. At the time when the main story takes place, the two sides exist in a kind of truce, with the Court as the realm of science and technology and the Wood the realm of nature and the etheric. The denizens of the Gillitie Wood do not allow technology in the Wood, and the rules of the Court forbid students from leaving school grounds.

Plot
The story of Gunnerkrigg Court involves several different ongoing plot arcs. The main story is that of the protagonist, Antimony Carver, and her deepening involvement in the intrigues between Gunnerkrigg Court and the Gillitie Wood, the forest outside Gunnerkrigg Court; she is accompanied throughout the storyline by her friend and classmate Katerina Donlan and her companion Reynardine, a demon living within her stuffed animal. As the story progresses, Antimony and her companions also slowly learn more about their surroundings, the relationship between Gunnerkrigg Court and the Gillitie Wood, and the beings they encounter.

The story begins when Antimony builds a robot to transport a mysterious shadow into Gillitie Wood, the forest outside Gunnerkrigg Court. Several chapters later in the comic, and apparently several months later in the story's timeline, the robot reappears on the bridge outside Gunnerkrigg Court; being controlled by a malevolent creature from Gillitie Wood, it pushes Antimony off the bridge when she goes out to it. Antimony spends a night at the banks of the river below the bridge, and encounters a ghost, before she is rescued by Kat and taken back to the school. Her brief time outside Gunnerkrigg Court, though, sets off a dispute between Gunnerkrigg Court and the Gillitie Wood. Not long after Antimony's return, the Court is visited by Coyote, a god from the Gillitie Wood, and General Ysengrin, the being who caused the robot to attack Antimony at the bridge. They express anger over the robot's visit to the forest, and over the damage Antimony caused when she left the Court.

During the time that the robot is gone, Antimony meets a creature called Reynardine, who tries to take over her body but, by accident, instead becomes trapped in the body of a stuffed animal she carries; and becomes subject to her command. Because of her relationship with Reynardine and the events with Coyote and Ysengrin, Antimony is nominated to begin training to become a medium, one of the individuals who moderate disputes between the Wood and the Court and communicates with etheric beings, a position last occupied by her mother, and she learns to use her innate etheric abilities, including fire manipulation and astral projection. From Coyote, Antimony she learns that in the past Coyote had granted some of his powers to Renard (called later Reynardine) and Ysengrin. He had given Ysengrin "power over the trees" and given Reynardine the power to take bodies, but bodies that Reynardine took always died after he left them and Ysengrin was hardly strong enough to stand without the help of Coyote's tree armor. Reynardine had been in love with Antimony's mother, Surma, and had used his power to steal a young man's body and woo Surma; the man died, however, and Reynardine was imprisoned in Gunnerkrigg Court until the events surrounding his first meeting with Antimony. She also learns that her mother was a psychopomp and the descendant of a fire spirit. It is suggested that the powers Antimony has are passed from mother to daughter, at the cost of the mother's life.

Characters and voice cast

 * Abigail Breslin as Antimony Carver - The protagonist of Gunnerkrigg Court, eventually revealed to have fire elemental ancestry, she came to the school after her mother's death. Has a way with the "etheric" or magical beings that inhabit the Court and the Gillitie wood. She is able to see and communicate with the guides, spirits that lead humans into the afterlife. Acts as a medium between Gillitie Wood and the Court, as her mother did before her.
 * Ashly Burch as Katerina "Kat" Donlan - Antimony's closest friend. Daughter of two teachers at the Court, Mr. and Mrs. Donlan. Whereas Antimony has close contacts with the supernatural, Kat is gifted in the formal sciences. The robots in the Court started to regard her as an angel and later "Creator". Kat is in a relationship with fellow student Paz.
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Reynardine - A fox spirit that can take others' bodies, referred to as a demon on behalf of the Court by Eglamore. He is now trapped in the body of Antimony's doll and is subject to her command. In addition to inhabiting Antimony's doll, he may also take the form of a white wolf. He is very protective of Antimony, which one character claims is because Reynardine had once been in love with Antimony's mother, which he later admits. Reynardine is a cousin and former companion of Coyote's, but has been confined to Gunnerkrigg Court because he killed and possessed a young man in the past, led by Coyote into the belief that this would win him Antimony's mother affection, which in turn made him fall in love with her acting under orders from the Court, who feared him as Coyote's successor. However, it is suggested in various conversations that he remains there not because of "men's laws", but actually for the bond he has formed with Annie.
 * Baker also voices Shadow 2, A second shadow that began to follow Antimony when she first came to the Court. Kat and Annie have taught him how to speak English. In recent chapters Shadow 2 has become 3-dimensional, but retains all of his shape shifting abilities.
 * Baker also voices Robot, An anthropomorphic robot Antimony built. He is a model S13, with S standing for "Seraph". His original body, though simple in appearance, was of a highly complex design; he was later destroyed by Mr. Eglamore. Replacement bodies have included a robotic mouse. He is seemingly in some sort of relationship with Shadow 2. He has developed into a driving force in the robots belief that Kat is in fact an "angel."
 * Will Friedle as Sir James "Jimmy Jims" Eglamore - The instructor for physical education classes, and protector of the Court. He shares his name with a dragonslaying knight from a Northumbrian folk song, and some characters have referred to him as a "dragon slayer", He also was in the same class at the court as Annie and Kat's parents.
 * Olivia Olson as Zeta "Zimmy" - A student at the Court. Zimmy claims that she never sleeps. She frequently travels to a nightmare-like world recreated from scenes in her past, and sometimes other characters accidentally end up there as well. She has fangs and a black, smokelike substance obscuring her eyes, and rain seems to have calming effects on her, along with revealing for a short time that her eyes are red.
 * Olson also voices Jenny, It is unknown which house she is in, but it is likely Queslett or Chester as she's a sorcerer apprentice. She is also in a relationship with Jack. She also bears a bit of a similarity to Zimmy
 * Laura Bailey as Gamma - Zimmy's girlfriend. Gamma is able to calm Zimmy when she is seeing things or in the dream-world, blocking the "static" (as is Antimony, to a lesser extent). She and Zimmy share a telepathic link. Speaks only Polish, and communicates with others by allowing Zimmy to translate for her.
 * Nolan North as General Ysengrin - A creature who lives in the Gillitie Wood. He is a wolf, but was given a 'suit' of roots and boughs by Coyote, covering his body up to the neck, usually in a humanoid shape, though he can alter it at will through his power over the trees of the forest. He appears to leave it sometimes, for example to eat.
 * Roger Craig Smith as Coyote - A god who lives in the wood. He is also known as the Trickster, although Jones claims that he never lies ("and therein lies the danger"). Currently "dead" – he fused with Ysengrin to become Loup. However, he has been hinted to have some greater plan in mind.
 * Grace Rolek as Jones - The instructor in charge of training mediums. Some characters think she is romantically involved with Mr. Eglamore. She is incredibly strong, sinks like a rock when she is in water and does not seem to show any emotion, leading some to believe that she was a robot despite the fact that Gunnerkrigg Court robots are anything but emotionless, and that she herself denied the theory. Coyote calls her "wandering eye" when he encounters her, and accuses her of "stealing" the name Jones, implying also that she has done this before with other names – something Jones does not deny. It was revealed she has existed since the formation of the planet.
 * Danica McKellar as Paz Cadena-Blanco - She has been characterised as an idealistic, brave, excitable and resourceful girl. Despite her knowledge of what the laboratory animals go through, she deliberately choose to work at the animal lab in order to ensure that they are kept under the best possible conditions despite the bad experiences they will face as laboratory animals.
 * Mae Whitman as Parley - She outgoing, flamboyant person, prone to snide remarks. Her loud demeanor is a stark contrast to the much more reserved Andrew Smith, whom she is often seen with and refers to as Smitty, much to his chagrin. As everyone in the Gunnerkrigg universe knows, Parley and Andrew are totally gonna get married.
 * Ashley Eckstein as Surma Carver - Antimony's mom and Anthony's wife, She fell sick shortly after Antimony's birth and grew progressively weaker until she passed away at Good Hope Hospital two weeks prior to the start of the story. In accordance with her wishes, her daughter was sent to Gunnerkrigg Court, her alma mater, after her death.
 * Billy Kametz as Andrew - A student at Gunnerkrigg Court. He is in Queslett house, two years above Antimony Carver, and has the unusual ability to subconsciously create order where there was none. He first demonstrates this using a deck of cards that George Parley apparently carries around so she can "show off what he does", throwing them over his shoulder only to have them reassemble themselves into a perfectly ordered deck behind him.
 * Kimberly Woods as Ayilu - A name given to a Fairy whom Annie met by The Annan Waters. Originally a resident of Gillitie Wood, Ayilu was one of the two last members of her class to pass the Test--which required her to die to get a new body. Annie refused to help her in this, but Ayilu eventually passed the test with the help of Ysengrin and his stomach.
 * Ashley Johnson as Red - She raised in the forest, but together with her friend Ayilu decided she wanted to become human, and so they had to find someone to kill them to complete the Test.
 * Ben Schwartz as Matt - A student in Queslett, in the same class as Antimony. He is one of the students that breaks curfew, and accompanies Annie and Kat for the first viewing of the power station.
 * Kyle McCarley as William Winsbury - A student of Gunnerkrigg Court. He used to be a bit of a bully who enjoyed taunting others in order to upset them, but appears to have since grown out of it.
 * Erica Lindbeck as Janet Llanwellyn - A student at Gunnerkrigg Court and is also the daughter of the Headmaster, Jonathan Llanwellyn. She speaks in a formal, old-fashioned manner, and has something of a quick temper and is difficult to scare (as Mort, to his dismay, finds out). An extremely skilled archer, she is carrying on a secret romance with William Winsbury.
 * Eric Bauza as Sullivan's John - A student at Gunnerkrigg Court. He appears occasionally throughout the comic, usually in a classroom or school setting. He accompanied his classmates when they broke curfew to watch the power station experiment. He apparently plays the lute and resonator guitar. He and Margo seem to have a romantic interest in each other.
 * Cree Summer as Margo - A student in Antimony's year at Gunnerkrigg Court. She appears infrequently and speaks even more rarely. She is not known to have any sort of special powers, but she does have an interest in drawing and singing.
 * David Mazouz as Jack Hyland - A boy in Annie's year from Queslett South, He says himself that he goes exploring around Gunnerkrigg Court all the time, and he has some technical know-how since he is able to disable the Court's motion detectors and tend to damaged laser cows, as seen during the camping trip chapter.
 * Roger Craig Smith as January - a sixth form student at Gunnerkrigg Court. She is a friend of Parley and Lily Cooke. Not much is known about her except that she acts as a laconic foil to her more energetic friends and that she plays tennis.
 * Cristina Vee as Lily Cooke - She is also known by her nickname "Cookie Monster". She is a friend of Parley and January. Not much is known about her at this time. She seems to have an excitable and personality and likes to tease people. For example she picks on Annie and Kat for being younger, and on Parley when she starts suspecting she's going out with Andrew.
 * Kari Wahlgren as Anja Donlan - a science teacher at Gunnerkrigg Court. She is Kat's mother, and is married to Donald Donlan, who she met while attending Gunnerkrigg Court as a teenager. Anja was also close friends with Surma Stibnite, the mother of Antimony Carver, who is one of Anja's students, as well as best friends with her daughter Kat. Anja possesses strong etherial abilities, while her husband and daughter do not.

Release
The series premiered on BBToons on August 23, 2019. In Canada, the series started airing on Teletoon on November 23, 2019.

Reception
Gunnerkrigg Court have a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with too few reviews for a consensus. At io9, Beth Elderkin described Gunnerkrigg Court ' as a "must-watch", writing that it joined the likes of Gravity Falls and Steven Universe as a series with a broad appeal to many age groups, and highlighting its music and art design.

Writing for Polygon, Petrana Radulovic appreciated that beneath a standard fantasy exploration quest, the series is a "vibrant mosaic, with a unique world, multidimensional character relationships, and a deeper underlying plot" about the tensions between mutes and humans. She also noted that Benson was the first character to have an explicit coming out as gay in an all-ages animation series, and that the understated manner of the scene, in episode 6, made it all the more noteworthy. Charles Pulliam-Moore at io9 likewise wrote that the series's "casual queerness is fantastic" because Benson's orientation is not treated as a plot point to complicate Kat's feelings for him, but, "with a distinct matter-of-factness", as just one aspect of his character.