Let’s Talk About: KORGOTH OF BARBARIA

Be a 12 year old in 2006. Eating pizza, playing Newgrounds flash games late at night, and being in the company of friends for what’s shaping up to be one of the best sleepovers of all time. We turn on the tv to find the Adult Swim logo staring back at us. The night’s centerpiece then came in the form of the most gory and sexual 22 minutes televised cartoons would know for the next ten years.

This caricature of the sword and sorcery genre was created by legends Aaron Springer and Genndy Tartakovsky. Watching it again in 2020 is still just as hilarious and insane as I remembered all those years ago. In quite a few respects, I’d say Korgoth of Barbaria paved the way for Turner Broadcasting’s leadership in adult animated programming. At the time, Metalocalypse hasn’t premiered, so no show yet held a flame to the level of gore showcased in this pilot. Yes, the intro gets the point across, but the whole thing constantly builds up in its insane kills and imagery.

The show was also my first exposure to explicitly queer characters and scenes in any form of media. Yeah, the characters were villains, but Korgoth introduced these ideas to televised cartoons long before Adventure Time and Steven Universe would later be accredited and praised for similar accomplishments. From “inserting” a parasite in Korgoth’s stomach to using mind control to make two supporting male characters make out (Tom Kenny’s character yelling, “I never felt so free!”), both Gog-Ma-Gogg and Specules additionally remark how “arousing” Korgoth is throughout the episode.

While it is an absolute shame we never got so much as one more episode, this pilot would go on to be aired a few more times throughout the next 14 years with the latest being early 2019. In light of the positive reception to Samurai Jack’s final season and Primal’s first season, Genndy Tartakovsky might just have the means and or want to bring it back. Go on the incredible animated journey that is Korgoth of Barbaria if you have yet to do so.