Chadam is a 2010 Web Animation series created by artist Alex Paradee, based on characters he had created for The Used, and broadcast online by Warner Bros.. The series was highly experimental, animating the characters with the latest video-game technology, the Unreal Engine 3
. There are ten episodes in total, as well as a behind-the-scenes special.
The city of Vulture was built on the imagination of its residents, but the rise of strange monsters known as Pallids had forced everyone to move into the inner part of the city, and struggle daily against the growing threat. The reclusive Chadam, who somehow didn't know what was going on, gets pressured by his friend Sandy into using his innate magical ability to save the day.
The series can be watched here.
Tropes found in Chadam:
- Aerith and Bob: Character names range from slightly-uncommon names like Ripley and Sandy, to stranger names like Chadam and Simkin.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Viceroy, born deformed, was ostracized from the start, even as a baby.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: The characters range from purple, to blue, to yellow, to...
- Art Shift: The art style varies between Video-Game CGI, and a hand-drawn Limited Animation style.
- Boulder Bludgeon: During a large battle, Sandy is seen killing a Pallid by smashing their head with a rock.
- Big Bad: Viceroy, whose experiments directly led to the Pallids plaguing Vulture.
- Bittersweet Ending: Sandy is dead, and most of the city is destroyed, but Viceroy was defeated, and Chadam managed to at least save Ripley.
- The Chosen One: Only Chadam's unique talent can stop Viceroy.
- Dark Is Evil: In addition to living in the shadows, everything about Viceroy is dark: he has dark gray skin, black clothing, black tentacles, and even uses black and purple magic against Chadam.
- Deadpan Snarker: Chadam can be quite sarcastic, such as telling the 8-year old Ripley that her drawings are good "for a 6-year old", and tells Sandy that he'll "just pour some ink on the Pallid".
- Doorstep Baby: Viceroy was left on the doorstep of an orphanage, in the rain, by his mother.
- Crunchtastic: Ripley coins the term "Drawsome".
- Evil Brit: The villainous Viceroy has a British accent, and is the only character to have one.
- Evil Is Not Well-Lit: Viceroy spends his time in a dark, dingy lair. He hides out watching normal citizens from dark places, and operates on people from inside a dark room.
- Evil Laugh: The villain, Viceroy, has a rather psychotic sounding one, and it can be heard at points when he furthers his plan.
- Facial Horror: Simkin, who survived Viceroy's attempt to extract his gland, has been left disfigured, with half of his face gray and sunken, while the rest of him is blue; his mouth is cut off half-way, and a second mouth formed on the Pallid side, and only one of his eyes remain as well.
- Flashback:
- Chadam has a flashback, told in a hand-drawn style, about what happened to his dog, Bella, as he narrates the situation to Sandy.
- Viceroy's backstory is told in the same style and, in-universe, exists as a story he wrote in his journal.
- Freudian Excuse: Viceroy was abandoned by his parents and ostracized by the rest of the community for being born deformed and with no imagination, so he turned to studying, and thus got started on the path to being a Mad Scientist.
- For Science!: Chadam asks Viceroy why he did what he did, and Viceroy claims he had to, because his research had to continue.
- Gender-Blender Name: In-universe; Chadam jokes about how Ripley's imaginary friend Manda has troubles because he's a boy with a girl's name.
- Ghost Butler: When Chadam and Simkin go to explore the Pallid part of the city, they have to enter through a dark tunnel, and the door immediately slams behind them.
- Gory Discretion Shot: The shot of Bella being crushed is off-screen; all the audience sees is Chadam's terrified face, and blood splattering the screen.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: When Sandy insists that Chadam has to save the day, he argues back that he's utterly useless.
- Imaginary Friend: Manda, Ripley's panda puppet, who she talks to and claims to listen to, as though he was a real person.
- It's All My Fault: Chadam says this word-for-word when he fails to save a young boy, named Palco, from the Pallids and must confront the boy's mother and brother. Simkin tries to convince everyone that it wasn't Chadam's fault, but they aren't having it.
- Kidnapped While Sleeping: The first person we see Viceroy capture is an innocent artist he'd been stalking until the night, and who he'd ambushed and kidnapped in bed; the artist woke up, but wasn't able to save himself from Viceroy's tentacles, and wound up Strapped to an Operating Table in the next scene.
- Lean and Mean: The evil Viceroy is tall and lanky, with a long, thin head to boot.
- Little Miss Snarker: Ripley may be a cute little 8-year old, but she can also be rather sarcastic, especially when around Chadam.Chadam: (Using a paper-bag puppet) Hey, Manda, puppet mom called and said you can't hang out with babies anymore.Ripley: (Speaking as her puppet, Amanda) Well, then I can't hang out with you!
- Mad Scientist: Viceroy threw himself into studies from an early age and became thirsty for knowledge, and began conducting experiments on dead bodies to understand why he was so different, and began to start killing people for the sake of said experiments...only to eventually start using the living, instead.
- Not Using the "Z" Word: The "Pallids" are this universes' equivalent to Zombies, being gray, bone-thinned monsters that have lost all semblance of sanity and just want to swarm and feed on the living. They, in fact, were once normal people, who became Pallid after losing their creativity glands.
- Off with His Head!:
- A Pallid manages to kill someone by ripping their head off- with their bare hands, no less.
- Simkin kills a Pallid by chopping off their head, when he and Chadam go to save Palco.
- Ominous Knocking: We are first introduced to the titular character sitting alone in his house, when the sudden knocking at his door puts him into a state of dread and paranoia, which in turn makes the audience also feel tension at who is behind his door. Mood Whiplash occurs when it turns out to just be the young daughter of his friend, come to give him a picture she drew.
- One-Word Title: That word being the name of the protagonist, "Chadam".
- Protagonist Title: The show is named after the hero, Chadam.
- Power Incontinence: Chadam has trouble controlling his magical abilities at first, which gets his dog killed and his friend hurt.
- Reality Warper: Chadam himself; with his overflowing imagination, he can do things such as bring trees to life or make notebook pages move on their own.
- Say My Name: When Sandy is left dying from a Pallid attack, Chadam screams her name as the episode ends.
- Scream Discretion Shot: The villain kidnaps an artist from their bed, and then as the screen goes black, all we hear is the artist screaming for help.
- Strapped to an Operating Table:
- A unknown woman wakes up in episode 1, strapped down to an operating table, seeing nothing but the bright lights above her head before her captor suddenly appears and clamps his hand over her mouth...
- The same thing happens to an innocent artist later, who gets captured by Viceroy and then wakes up in the same operating room.
- Even later, Ripley herself ends up getting kidnapped and strapped down by Viceroy.
- Tentacled Terror: Viceroy is able to give themselves long, inky-black tentacles, which can then be used to smother and kidnap people.
- To Be Continued: Each episode, save for the finale, ends with a black screen saying, well, "To Be Continued..."
- When Trees Attack: Chadam's dog Bella was crushed by a living tree, that had grabbed her with a branch before Chadam could get to her. However, it was Chadam's own magic that brought the tree to life, proven when the tree attacks Sandy while Chadam gets enraged at her.
- Would Hurt a Child: Viceroy ends up kidnapping eight-year old Ripley as another living person to dissect.
- You Monster!: Chadam screams that Viceroy is a monster after he steals Ripley's gland.
