Tetris: The Animated Series?

That was a joke, you twits!

Look, I grew up with a cartoon about a living Rubik’s Cube and even I think this is ridiculous. Imagine my confusion a little while ago when Ben Kellogg’s comment in today’s Daily Video tells me that there is a Tetris cartoon announced. I had thought there was a Tetris themed gameshow, possibly on Peacock since they have one for Frogger (which was surprisingly boring when I watched the free preview episode), but the best I found was a Belgium show called Blokken. Tetris could actually work as a game show.

Instead, the announcement is that a new narrative based cartoon is being developed based on the classic Russian game so popular two countries and a bunch of different game companies fought over it.  Somehow someone looked at…

…and said “there’s a good story here”. GAME THEORY couldn’t come up with lore for this (though I’m sure both MatPat and Tom have tried) and somehow Tetris: World Builders is about to become reality unless development hell claims another victim. Okay, so what is this about?

Today at Annecy, French animation studio TeamTO and The Tetris Company announced that they are working on a new CG-animated series based on the popular game Tetris. Titled Tetris: World Builders, the 52 x 11” adventure show targets kids age 6-plus and blends imaginative storytelling with STEAM-inspired problem-solving. Currently in early development, Tetris: World Builders was created by TeamTO producers Marco Balsamo and Tara Sibel Demren with veteran executive producer Chuck Williams, known for his work on major video game adaptations including Sonic the Hedgehog.

Variety says that TeamTO makes a bunch of shows for both kids and adults, but I’ve never heard of them. Pyjamasks keeps bringing up P.J. Masks, so maybe that’s their original French name. Apparently they also made some Raid: Shadow Legends miniseries for YouTube distribution. I guess they also did something with Skylanders but I couldn’t find a full listing of their works by post time. Their website is just their logo with a “coming soon” notation. We do know what the show is going to be about thanks to the press release.

According to the official show description, “When massive, mysterious Tetrimino blocks begin raining from the sky, a fearless team of young “World Builders” must help their world adapt and evolve. Using ingenuity, collaboration and STEAM-based thinking, the Scouts transform unexpected challenges into exciting new opportunities, reshaping landscapes, solving community problems, and building a brighter future together.”

Reimagining the iconic geometric language of Tetris as a dynamic world of transformation, construction, and discovery, the series introduces foundational STEAM concepts through imaginative world-building, cinematic adventure and character-driven storytelling. Inspired by the iconic falling blocks and puzzle-solving mechanics that have captivated players for generations, the series reimagines the world of Tetris as a living landscape shaped by creativity and construction.

Of course the main characters are going to be kids. That somehow makes it less silly. Also the show is for kids, around elementary school age, with the goal of getting them into science. Wait, isn’t that STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)? Where does the “A” come in and stand for? Google AI, please?

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. STEAM is an evolution of this framework that adds “Arts” to the mix. While both prepare students for high-demand technical careers, STEM focuses heavily on analytical skills, whereas STEAM incorporates creativity, design, and empathy into problem-solving. [source: K12]

So they took a game of falling blocks and made a pro-science educational show. So do the blocks explode when they form a full line? Are we keeping them from blowing up the city or something? Giant blocks falling from the sky in weird shapes doesn’t sound like a positive. As for the arts, can’t wait to see how a painting stop non-sentient blocks from destroying the city or whatever. I’m just guessing that’s part of the plot. They may have something even weirder in mind. They should have just imported the kids version of the Belgium quiz show. They made one of those (Blokjes) so you already have the rules.

“For more than 40 years, Tetris has brought people together through a universal language of logic and play,” said Maya Rogers, President and CEO of The Tetris Company. “With Tetris: World Builders, we are expanding the Tetris universe in an entirely new way, transforming one of the most iconic games of all time into a new adventure that inspires creativity, collaboration, and discovery. We are thrilled to partner with TeamTO to bring this vision to life and create a series that celebrates the limitless possibilities that emerge when people build together.”

Marco Balsamo, TeamTO’s president and CEO/producer notes, “What has made Tetris timeless for more than four decades is the universal simplicity of its core idea: working with the pieces you’re given and discovering how they can come together. We saw an opportunity to transform that philosophy into an adventurous, optimistic world for a new generation of kids, using storytelling to celebrate ingenuity, collaboration, and the power of building something together.”

Again…I grew up with this:

Yes, that is Menudo doing the theme song, possibly because the kids were Hispanic. I don’t know. Somehow the most unbelievable part of the show was how fast those kids would solve the puzzle and get Rubik back on his feet. And yet it’s still easier for me to believe this existed than a narrative show based on Tetris. I’m not ruling out the fact that it’s been there since I was a kid, but still makes more sense. No listing for a US distributor so I don’t know if this will be on TV or streaming. Everything seems to head to streaming now because Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon are in flux, I don’t know what happened to Discovery Kids, and Disney would just do both, depending on the country. Nobody else does kids shows anymore outside of streaming options.

Look, the show may end up being good and convince me this wasn’t stupid. People can’t believe Rubik The Amazing Cube existed for a full Saturday Morning season. It just seems like some properties are better served being what they are, or better mined than this. A game show would have been cool. A narrative about giant blocks dropping on everyone? Right now I just can’t see it. Mostly I just wanted to talk about how this existed. Thanks for messing me up, Ben. (Actually, thanks for giving me a topic for today so I don’t use up my buffer when I had time to actually write something.)