Australian independent-animated action comedy horror web series
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Murder Drones is an Australian adultindependent-animatedcomedy horrorweb series created, written, and directed by Liam Vickers and produced by Glitch Productions.[6] The series revolves around two factions of autonomous robots—worker drones and disassembly drones—following the extinction of humans on their planet, and a rebellious worker drone who accidentally befriends a disassembly drone. Together, they uncover an eldritch force that threatens their post-apocalyptic world.
29 October 2021 (2021-10-29)– 23 August 2024 (2024-08-23)
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The pilot episode premiered on Glitch's YouTube channel on 29 October 2021. The remaining seven episodes were released from 18 November 2022 to 23 August 2024. The show made it on to Amazon Prime Video on 16 May 2025. The series received positive reviews from critics for its animation, voice acting, action sequences, cinematography, and plot, though its pacing and humour have received criticism. The series received three nominations for a Webby Award in the Best Animated Video category, winning two.
Synopsis
The series occurs in 3071 on Copper 9, an Earth analog owned by the megacorporation JC Jenson (a parody of SC Johnson). Worker Drones, autonomous robots designed to serve humans, inhabit the planet and harvest it for natural resources.[7] The planet suddenly suffers a catastrophic core collapse, wiping out all biological life on the planet, including humans.[‡ 1] As a result, the planet becomes a frozen wasteland, and only the Worker Drones remain. One day, three violent killing machines known as Disassembly Drones—nicknamed "Murder Drones"—invade Copper 9 to exterminate the remaining Worker Drones. The Worker Drones live in constant fear of the Murder Drones and hide behind a series of blast doors, in an attempt to protect themselves.[8]
The protagonist of the series is Uzi Doorman, an angsty teenage Worker Drone who plans to defeat the murderous drones and save her kind. In the process, she forms an unlikely partnership with two of the Murder Drones—N, a drone with a friendly and curious disposition toward Worker Drones; and V, a sadist who is purposely elusive about her history with N—and works with them to uncover the truth about their origins and purpose in the planet's harsh environment.[9]
Characters
The three main characters in the series. From left to right: V, Uzi, N.Uzi Doorman (voiced by Elsie Lovelock), a rebellious teenage Worker Drone who seeks to end her oppressed lifestyle.[9]
Serial Designation "N" (voiced by Michael Kovach), a friendly and eager Disassembly Drone who befriends Uzi and provides her with emotional support throughout her possession.[9]
Serial Designation "V" (voiced by Nola Klop), a sadistic Disassembly Drone and N's teammate who secretly harbours protective feelings towards him.[9]
Serial Designation "J" (voiced by Shara Kirby), the neglectful leader of N and V's Disassembly Drone squad.[9]
Khan Doorman (voiced by David J. Dixon), Uzi's father, architect of the hydraulic doors protecting the Worker Drone colony, and leader of the colony's defense force.
Thad (voiced by Sean Chiplock), Uzi's friendly jock schoolmate. Much like Uzi, he dislikes that they hide behind the doors instead of fighting the Disassembly Drones.
Lizzy (voiced by Katie Hood in episode 1 and Caitlin Dizon from episode 2 onward), Uzi's popular classmate who bullies her and befriends V.
Doll (voiced by Emma Breezy), Uzi's Russian-speaking classmate who harbours a vendetta against V for murdering her parents.[9]
Cyn (voiced by Allanah Fitzgerald), a Worker Drone who serves as the Disassembly Drones' system administrator and the primary host of an evil, reality-altering computer program called the Absolute Solver (also voiced by Fitzgerald).[9]
Tessa James Elliot (voiced by Steph Crothers),[a] a human girl who salvages N, V, J, and Cyn, before the former three's remodelling into Disassembly Drones.[9]
Nori Doorman (voiced by Darcy Maguire), Uzi's mother, and one of the Absolute Solver's hosts.
Yeva (no voice actor), Doll's mother, and a host of the Absolute Solver.
Alice (voiced by Amber May), a minor antagonist who takes and harvests drone parts.
Episodes
Every episode is written and directed by Liam Vickers.
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No.
Title
Storyboard by
Original release date
1
"Pilot"
Liam Vickers
29October2021(2021-10-29)
The human population of the planet Copper 9 is wiped out by a planetary core collapse, leaving behind their robotic workforce, the Worker Drones. The workers are massacred by a trio of Disassembly Drones from Earth—designated N, V, and J—ostensibly sent by the interstellar corporation JC Jenson in response to the workers' newfound independence; the survivors retreat into a bunker fortified by worker Khan Doorman. Uzi, Khan's rebellious daughter, leaves the bunker to salvage parts for a railgun to use against the Disassembly Drones. She tests her weapon on N, who regenerates with short-term amnesia and malfunctioning optic sensors. Mistaking Uzi for a new teammate, N tries to befriend her until J restores his memory and vision, and Uzi escapes. N infiltrates the bunker, kills the guards and attacks Uzi, but falters after Khan refuses to help his daughter and shuts them out to protect the other survivors. J installs a corrupting virus on N for questioning their directive. Uzi repairs N, and together they prevent the others from wiping out the colony, destroying J and capturing V. Heartbroken by Khan's betrayal, Uzi banishes herself with N and V and declares vengeance against the humans of Earth.
2
"Heartbeat"
Liam Vickers, Matthew Peckham and Jarrad Rumble
18November2022(2022-11-18)
A flashback shows N, V and J working for a wealthy male human in a mansion, the man's daughter Tessa shows up to them with another drone. J's mutated heart emerges from her remains and produces an eldritch worm monster that kills several Worker Drones. Uzi and N are informed of the incident by Uzi's classmate Thad while trying to repair the Disassembly Drones' space pod. Returning to the bunker to investigate, they learn about a supposed reboot program called the Absolute Solver, symbolised by an insignia that has begun appearing in place of Uzi's right eye; Uzi concludes that J is using the Solver to repair herself with the drones' assimilated matter. They are soon attacked by the worm-like Solver, which proclaims J and the other drones to be its puppets. The Solver unnerves Uzi with disturbing, lifelike holograms, including one of itself killing Khan. N rescues Uzi as her damaged railgun explodes, causing the Solver to vanish. Frightened and confused by the Disassembly Drones' true nature, Uzi shuns N and returns to Khan. Meanwhile, Uzi's classmate Doll telekinetically crushes a robotic cockroach while glancing at a photograph of V, with the Solver symbol appearing over Doll's right eye.
3
"The Promening"
Liam Vickers, Robin French and Cameron Qayoom-Taylor
17February2023(2023-02-17)
A guilt-ridden Uzi is approached by Doll and her friend Lizzy to receive a makeover for the upcoming school prom at Khan's insistence. However, Uzi escapes upon discovering that Doll is targeting her in a recent incident of prom queen candidates disappearing, while Lizzy, who befriended V, is conspiring to let her into the bunker. Meanwhile, N refuses to participate in V's plan to slaughter the prom-goers for their own sustenance, leading V to go alone. Uzi and N reconcile and head to the prom to stop V. Against the trio's expectations, V is crowned prom queen as part of a trap devised by Doll, who seeks revenge against V for killing her parents. Uzi and N rescue V, overcoming Doll's reality-bending Solver powers before V shoots Doll. Doll later regenerates and attacks the group again, but flees when Uzi manifests her own Solver powers against her. Meanwhile, the human JC Jenson technician Tessa Elliott and a living J arrive on Copper 9 to perform "maintenance work".
4
"Cabin Fever"
Matthew Peckham and Cameron Qayoom-Taylor
7April2023(2023-04-07)
Uzi travels to the abandoned Camp 98.7 to investigate a set of collars with significance to her mother, Nori. Uzi's class is forced to come along as part of a field trip, with N and V acting as supervisors as a pretence of finding Doll. Uzi eventually finds the "keybug", a golden robot cockroach designed to activate an elevator in the Cabin Fever Labs. When she returns to the campsite, a startled classmate fires at Uzi with an arrow, which her Solver powers turn into a living organic mass. Uzi flees into one of the cabins, where she grows fleshy wings and a tail similar to those of the Disassembly Drones. Against V's wishes, N searches for Uzi and finds an instructional video cassette titled "Zombie Drones", triggering some of his repressed memories. Overcome with a craving for the drones' oil, Uzi kills several of her classmates and battles a hostile V, who believes Uzi to be possessed by a figure named "Cyn". N intervenes, calming Uzi and returning her to normal. Uzi, N, and V leave with the other survivors, bringing the keybug and video cassette with them.
5
"Home"
Liam Vickers and Neda Lay
9June2023(2023-06-09)
N relives his repressed memories as a Worker Drone servant at Tessa's mansion alongside V, J, and a malfunctioning "zombie" drone named Cyn. After ignoring several cryptic messages instructing him to enter the mansion's basement, N establishes contact with Uzi, who has hacked into the comatose N and V's minds to keep their memories from being erased by Cyn, the Solver's host and the Disassembly Drones' administrator. With the past Tessa and J's help, Uzi and N evade a monstrously mutated V and unlock the basement, where they discover evidence of Cyn remodelling N and the other servants into Disassembly Drones. Uzi's hacking is interrupted when Doll intrudes to take the keybug, which Uzi begrudgingly gives her to save N and V. While the past Cyn takes control of the other drones and massacres the humans in the mansion, the present Cyn attempts to use V to lobotomise N in Uzi's absence, but N returns V to her senses before Uzi overrides Cyn's administration. Sometime later, Doll brings the keybug to Tessa and J at the frozen Camp 98.7 lake, where Uzi, N, and V find them.
6
"Dead End"
Neda Lay
18August2023(2023-08-18)
Tessa and J ally with Uzi's group, revealing Cyn as the one who sent the Disassembly Drones to Copper 9. Doll immediately takes the keybug back and enters the nearby Cabin Fever Labs alone, leading the group to give chase while J stays behind to guard Tessa's ship. The group is quickly captured by Alice and Beau, two cannibalistic Worker Drone lab subjects who have used the facility's Velociraptor-like Sentinels to kill the other subjects and intruding Disassembly Drones. During their escape, Tessa privately reveals to N that Cyn has already destroyed Earth, and urges him to save the universe over Uzi, who risks being possessed by Cyn the more she uses her Solver. After the Sentinels kill Alice and Beau, Doll traps the group in the elevator hallway with more Sentinels and descends further down, damaging the elevator in the process. When the others are cornered inside the elevator, V remains outside and severs its cables to save them while the Sentinels surround her.
7
"Mass Destruction"
Neda Lay and AD Taeza
29March2024(2024-03-29)
Uzi, N, and Tessa are separated underground when Uzi's Solver triggers a cave-in. N encounters Nori's sentient heart, who owns a patch on a crucifix-shaped USB drive used for "exorcising" the Solver from its hosts. Doll is killed by Cyn while demanding the patch from Tessa to cure herself. Tessa follows the dying Doll to a cathedral where she finds and attacks Uzi. N decapitates Tessa and gives the drive to Uzi, but Cyn possesses Uzi and destroys the drive. Uzi regains control when N provokes her and Nori into bickering by confessing that he and Uzi "hang out", although Uzi accidentally kicks Nori down a pit into Copper 9's core in the process. Tessa reattaches her head and reveals herself as Cyn, having been disguised with the real Tessa's corpse since her arrival on Copper-9. Cyn eats Doll's heart and drags Uzi and N into the pit with her. Above ground, J is confronted by Khan, Thad, and Lizzy after destroying the Disassembly Drones' landing pods under Cyn's orders, dropping her spaceship key into the pit. Before falling, Uzi throws N to safety with the key. Uzi later awakens in outer space, where she sees the planet's exposed core.
8
"Absolute End"
Neda Lay, AD Taeza, Robin French and Liam Vickers
23August2024(2024-08-23)
Having merged with Copper 9, Cyn begins consuming the broken pieces of the planet. Uzi reunites with Nori, who explains the Solver can be stopped if Cyn's heart is destroyed. N rescues Uzi in Cyn's spaceship, which Cyn destroys; Uzi and N affirm their relationship as they fall back towards the planet. J reveals her allegiance to Cyn and attacks Khan, Thad, and Lizzy, but V intervenes, riding a Sentinel she managed to tame. Uzi and N reunite with V while battling Cyn, who repeatedly attempts to possess Uzi again via callback. N and V eventually knock J into a chasm, while Uzi, who has learned to resist Cyn's hacking attempts, rips out the latter's heart, causing Cyn's body to melt; when Uzi's Solver fails to destroy the heart, she resorts to swallowing it, imparting her with the Solver's abilities while allowing her to retain her sense of self. The drones resume their normal lives, with N and V now living in the bunker, and hold a funeral for Doll; meanwhile, J begins repairing her spaceship, and the Solver, whose consciousness now inhabits Uzi's tail, harmlessly pesters her.
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Production
Liam Vickers had previously achieved online attention for his 2D animated series CliffSide and Internecion Cube, both currently unfinished.[‡ 2] He first pitched Murder Drones to Glitch Productions with some early concept art and story, before becoming the series' writer and director.[‡ 3]
Murder Drones is animated on Autodesk Maya and Unreal Engine.[‡ 4] Including the pilot, the series lasted 8 episodes. It pushes into darker territory while making it more photorealistic than previous shows on Glitch.[4] This series (alongside Meta Runner) also marks to many fans a departure from the Machinima style often associated with Glitch, as its co-founder Luke Lerdwichagul is well-known for his channel SMG4, which posts Super Mario parodies videos.[original research?]
On 6 August 2021, Vickers released the full version of "Disassembly Required", the song that plays in the teaser.[‡ 5] The video description reveals the character seen in the teaser to be "V", one of the titular Murder Drones. By the time the series was announced, it had been worked on for one year until 18 February 2022, when Glitch Productions announced that the full series was in development now at the studio and would be released later in 2022.[‡ 6][10] The show ended with the eighth and final episode released on 23 August 2024.[‡ 7]
On 16 May 2025, all eight episodes of the series were made available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.[3]
A Kickstarter for a graphic novel adaptation to be published under Oni Press was created on 8 September 2025,[1][2] reaching its goal the same day.[11] The first issue of the graphic novel is planned for release in February 2026.[12]
Reception
Critical reception
Prior to the release of the pilot episode, Lauren Rouse of Gizmodo Australia praised the character designs and visuals.[4]Common Sense Media reviewer Melissa Camacho said that the show "combines dark humour, dystopian themes, and fantasy violence to tell a good story."[5] Joel Keller of Decider praised the characters and CGI and complimented the "zooms and shaky 'camera' work" for making the action sequences more immersive.[13] Writer GiovanH criticised the show for being hard to follow due to the fast pacing, excessive humour and poor visual language. Despite this, he praised the plot, CGI, voice acting and soundtrack, writing that "it really intentionally embraces the edgy random mid-2000s teen vibe."[14]
Awards and nominations
In 2023 and 2024, the series earned a nomination for a Webby Award in the category of Best Animated Video and won it in the same category in the 2024 edition.[15] It was also nominated for the Scripted (Series & Channels) category for the 2025 edition, later winning that category.[16] Meanwhile, the voice actress for Uzi, Elsie Lovelock, won the 2023 edition of One Voice Awards UK in the Animation - Best Character Performance - Female category for her portrayal of the character.[17]
