The Hollow: Adam and Kai Hugging

Three teenagers awaken in a locked room with no windows or doors.  They don't remember who they are, but slips of paper in their pockets give them names.  As they try to escape, distinct personalities emerge:














Adam (voiced by Adrian Petriw, left) is the strong (as in super-strong), logical, level-headed leader.

Kai (Connor Parnall) is the skittish, easily frightened goofball, but a mechanics whiz (he can rewire a spaceship).

Mira (Ashleigh Ball) has mystical powers, like being able to talk to animals.

They escape, only to find themselves in a secret scientific facility, chased by devil-dogs.

Then in a world occupied by minotaurs from Greek mythology, who intend to eat them.

They escape into a lair of witches who want to inhale their souls, meet the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, rewire a spaceship, crash it into the ocean, meet the Cyclops of Greek mythology, and...

More after the break

Well, it goes on like that, from parallel world to parallel world, fleeing from danger, overcoming obstacles, solving mysteries, searching for clues to their situation, trying to find a way back to the home they don't remember, with every episode ending with a cliffhanger that practically forces you to keep watching.

The only one who seems to understand what's going on is the flamboyant, petulant Weird Man, who pops in, says cryptic things like "You chose to be here!"  and "Do you think this is a game?", and zaps them to the next world.

I haven't seen the last episode yet, but yes, I do sort of think that they're in the equivalent of a giant video game.

The animation is beautiful, with detailed backgrounds and a large color palette, reminiscent of the golden age of the 1970s.  The stories are intricate, some humorous, some exciting, some both, and the plotline is propelled more effectively than the episodic "trying to get home" series of the 1960s and 1970s (Gilligan's Island, H.R. Pufnstuf, Land of the Lost)

You're probably wondering about the beefcake and bonding.

Beefcake: this is animation, so there's not a lot of muscle, but the male characters are pleasant to look at.  I couldn't even find any beefcake photos of the cast (mostly Vancouver-based actors with few screen credits).

Bonding: there's a lot of Adam-Kai hugging, soft looks, and "if it weren't for you" rescues.  But the same thing happens between Mira and both Adam and Kai.  No one expresses any overt  romantic interests, so you can read all of them as gay.  Or none of them, if you prefer.

See: The Hollow: Adam is Gay