User Reviews

Mason's Rats is a clever episode, an allegory for war and how bloody awful it can be regardless of which side of the conflict you lie. The whole idea of war going on without actually looking, kept behind closed doors, is such a clever way of interpreting conflicts across the world.

That ending, with Mason seeing all the rats brutally slaughtered and killed, is eye-opening and very revealing when you stop to think about how this parallels drone warfare and armies using high-tech machines to take out enemy forces.

The turn-around at the end is a nice way of closing the chapter on a positive note, with the two sides eventually reconciling their differences and realizing that war is hell and not worth the price paid to see things through to the end.

Another fun episode that was surprisingly unpredictable. I assumed the rats would just keep killing the machine, and mason would have to keep getting a new upgrade. Instead what we got was an epic battle between the rats and the machine. I did not expect mason to destroy his machine and join the rats. Because of the twist ending and the battle scene, I'll give this episode a 7/10.

I was expecting something better. The co-existence shown at the end, right after the fight, was forced, too quick (you just become friends with your enemy who has been killing your friends and family just that quick, huh?) and out of place.

Great to hear Craig Farguson's voice though!

I remember the short story and this is a decent short version of that short story. There were some bits missing because this version ends at the truce between the farmer and the rats. Wheteas the text has them team up against a different enemy.

That aside there was real humour and pathos. The salesman was terrific. The auto pest control was just so over the top. Very well done.

First warning: If you find furry animals to be cute, be prepared to see them get massacred.

So if these guys have evolved to a point of making tools, weaponry, and beverages; couldn't they do some critical thinking? If star wars like artillery is being deployed and literally pulverizing your kind to a pulp, just go. What's the huge incentive for staying at this barn anyways? Find one that's less patrolled.

Better yet the rats can build their own civilization away from humans if they have this kind of intellect. Considering that they are trespassing, the farm owner has a just cause for trying to get them out of his barn. Set up a town down in the middle of a field somewhere and now you should be fine. Land developers come? Start shooting, that'll probably get them to leave.

Also why the hell did there need to be this much gore? And the pet cat dying wouldn't lead me to asking for a discount. I'd be filing a lawsuit.

Giving this a 4 because the animation, art style and voice acting was good. It also kept me entertained throughout the whole 10 minutes with all the pew-pew stuff going on.

Mason (Craig Ferguson) of "Mason's Rats" is a foul mouthed Scottish farmer who has a problem every farmer must contend with at some point, rats. But these aren't just any rats, they're organized rats. Set in the near future with some hand waiving pseudo-biology, the rats have advanced to an early technological age. Their society resembling that of the 11th century Scottish clan's themselves, with rudimentary swords and bows for warfare. So Mason calls an exterminator to handle these vermin, but this is sci-fi after all. The exterminator is a cheesy salesmen peddling auto pest killing lasers and most terrifying of all a pint sized chrome murderbot.

Where the fun lies in this brisk 10 minute short is watching the tug-of-war between the farmer and the early rat civilization. Its easy to empathize with Mason's grouchy charm and pest problem. But quickly the viewer begins rooting for the rats. As the 80's caricature of a used car salesmen deploys more hi-tech modes of dealing with the rats, the rats outsmart their exterminator. This leads to a veritable arms race where we no longer feel threatened by the tiny creatures but instead join their cause.

After some absolutely gruesome rat genocide by the latest murderbot, we find our hearts (and Mason's) completely won over by their tiny last stand. To see such cold calculated death rain down on a minuscule species carving out their own place in a human dominated world, transforms them from pests to people.

Its in the last moments when Mason has had enough with the bloodshed and ends the war, that a possible harmony between rat and man glimmers. Could such an accord be reached or would a "rise of the planet of the apes" be the only outcome? One things for sure, "Mason's Rats" is a bloody, glorious and charming short that treats its 4 legged mammals as hero's of their own tale.

The animation is super solid, so is the voice acting, but it feels like an allegory for forgiving those who have killed your people and overall wronged you.

It like there telling us to forgive the rich for starving the poor, because the rich decide not to totally kill all of us.