Genndy Tartakovsky is a master of his craft and a legendary modern animator. He helped with the creation of Cartoon Network Studios, while his work on "Dexter's Laboratory" and "The Powerpuff Girls" helped establish Cartoon Network as the successor to Hanna-Barbera, ushering in a new era of American cartoons along the way.
Tartakovsky has tackled plenty of genres throughout his career since then, going from comedy to fantasy, sci-fi, drama, and even horror, but he's often combined all of them into
a single story, as he did with his masterpiece, "Samurai Jack." And while Tartakovsky is arguably best known for his work on all ages projects, he is just as adept at making animation for adults. His latest project is "Fixed," a raunchy, transgressive, and very hard R-rated animated comedy about a dog going on a wild adventure out on the town the night before he's due to be neutered. It's the filthiest movie of 2025, yet it's also a film with stunning animation and fantastic physical comedy.
Then there's "Primal," arguably Tartakovsky's greatest project since "Samurai Jack" and an incredible feat of animation. The show follows a caveman and a Tyrannosaurus Rex who bond after experiencing tragedies and journey through a prehistoric wasteland, encountering plenty of brutal danger, monstrous creatures, and more. That show is entirely devoid of dialogue (whenever characters do communicate, it's either with grunts, roars, or ancient languages that viewers are not meant to understand). Its action is brutal, gnarly, and also rather emotional, with Tartakovsky imbuing the fights with emotional stakes that make them important to the characters' stories in fascinating ways.
While we wait for "Primal" to return for season 3, fans should check out "Unicorn: Warriors Eternal," Tartakovsky's latest Adult Swim cartoon and a series that feels like the culmination of the animator's previous output.
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Unicorn: Warriors Eternal Is A Show That Embraces Cartoons
"Unicorn: Warriors Eternal" is an animated steampunk fantasy series that revolves around a team of heroes -- namely, a sorceress, an elf warrior, a mystic monk, and a Victorian-era automaton -- who've been gathered by the wizard Merlin (Jeremy Crutchley) to protect the world from evil. The show, in particular, focuses on the latest incarnations of these characters, who are much younger and more messed up than they were in their previous lives.
A thrilling, genre-bending show, "Unicorn: Warriors Eternal" combines the serialization and action of "Primal" with the world-building of Tartakovsky's "Sym-Bionic Titan" and the sense of mythology of his "Star Wars: Clone Wars" series. Animated by Studio La Cachette (which also made "Primal"), the show has a unique visual style that is heavily influenced by Max Fleischer and Osamu Tezuka ("Astro Boy"). The result is a series that has the look of 1930s rubber hose animation, but with the expressions and mechanics of sci-fi anime.
Just as "Primal" takes inspiration from vintage pulp novels and titles like "Conan the Barbarian" (especially in terms of how the series presents brutal, heightened action and a world that supports a wide variety of tones and characters), so, too, does "Unicorn: Warriors Eternal" embrace the totality of cartoons to explore the versatility of the medium. The word "cartoonish" has gained a bit of a bad connotation over the years and is often regarded as being synonymous with childish and simplistic, but Tartakovsky's show recognizes that "cartoonish" simply means malleable. Characters look very cartoony, with designs that allow for them to have big and broad expressions, but the silliness of these visuals actually enhances the emotions of the series' storytelling. Tartakovsky even took inspiration from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and the way Disney's classic film presents the dwarfs as being rather ridiculous-looking yet also capable of expressing deep emotions.
The result is a show that feels like an ode to the Golden Age of Animation, but also one that illustrates how American cartoons have evolved in modern times thanks to serialization and various technological advancements. It's a hugely entertaining, badass, and often emotional series, and the perfect show to watch as we wait for "Primal" to return.
"Unicorn: Warriors Eternal" is currently streaming on HBO Max.
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