This new dance competition show on Netflix has me so confused that I can’t even tell if I like it or not.
That’s a dangerous spot for a new TV show to be in, although I must admit right off the bat that I am absolutely not the target audience. Let’s face it, I know little to nothing about dancing, but I do know a little bit about technology, and that’s where this show has me completely rattled.
See, this show is unlike any dance competition, or talent competition, in the history of shows like this. Oops, I almost forgot, the show we’re talking about is Dance Monsters, which released last month on Netflix.
This dance competition is honestly tough to explain, so I’ll just try my best. Think about it like the Masked Singer, where the identity of the contestants are kept secret until they are eliminated, or they win the competition. The only difference there is that these contestants are not celebrities, but instead, they are every day dancers who got away from dancing at one point in their lives. For most of the contestants, this show represents an opportunity to do what they love on a big stage. That part of the show, I absolutely love.
Here comes the tricky part… They are not wearing costumes. Nope, in fact, they never even dance on the stage. That’s because they keep their identity a secret by performing as a 100% digitally created CGI “monster”. This is the part that has me rattled to my core.
Watching the show, it presents itself like everything is normal, and we are to just accept that this technology exists. One problem…. It absolutely does not exist, at least to the extreme detail as it’s presented on the show. The show explains what you are seeing by telling you the contestants are performing on a motion capture stage off-camera, and their avatar is relayed in real time onto the performance stage. Which is simply not possible, at all, in anyway whatsoever.
Watching the show for the first time, I have to understand what the live audience is seeing, and also what the judges are seeing. 100% they are looking at a completely empty stage, except when the performer has back-up dancers, and honestly that makes it even more confusing. None of it makes sense and I feel like I’ve been lied to. I’m not saying that the technology they use is not cool, it’s absolutely awesome and my daughter loves it. I just feel duped watching it myself, because there is absolutely some TV magic at work, but the show presents itself like it’s cut-and-dry simple technology. I don’t think Area-51 has the type of technology needed to pull something like this off.
Check the trailer out below and see if you can make any sense of it.
