Tim Burton rewatch! Time to do the “early internet historian” thing and go back to the days of flash animation. How many of Burton’s fans even know about 2001’s The World of Stainboy?

Here’s what happens: Stainboy is a superhero of sorts. Following orders from a police chief, Stainboy investigates strange goings-on in his hometown of Burbank. Wordlessly, Stainboy dispatches a series of outlandish supervillains in grotesque, often gory ways.

Origin story: When all those flash animation shorts were being passed around the internet in the old days, Universal Studios wanted in on it. They partnered with Burton via a group called Flinch Studios for six shorts. These characters originated in Burton’s 1997 book The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories. If you’re wondering why that book was never adapted as a movie… this is it.

Outsider theory: Stainboy is an unknowable character. Sometimes he uses his power of leaving behind stains to stop the villains, but usually the villains are their own undoing. But in the final episode we get Stainboy’s origin, and it’s deeply, deeply sad.

And about the villains. An argument could be made that they’re not villains at all, and their only crime is that they’re different. This is a classic Burton-ism if there ever was one.

Reality breaks through: Setting this in real-life Burbank and having an angry police chief barking orders at our hero would seem to be reality looming over the strangeness on screen.

Best bits: The chief: “Thank you, Stainboy, once again for making it safe for citizens to waste huge amounts of power and energy, rapidly speeding up the destruction of our planet. And on a personal note, thank you for showing me it’s better to live life than just watch it on TV. Now get the hell out of here!”

Thoughts on this viewing: This is a lot edgier than Burton usually gets. There’s a lot of comedic gore and death, and a lot of here’s-everything-wrong-with-society jokes. One dig on the Disney corporation is especially mean-spirited, which is odd considering that’s where Burton would later make some of his biggest hits. But Stainboy is nonetheless a fun watch, if a little baffling.

Next: …and chips.

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