Eagleheart –
Season 1 + Check it Out! with Dr. Steve
Brule – Seasons 1 & 2 (Both Warner/Adult Swim DVDs) + Regular Show – Slack Pack (WB/Cartoon
Network DVD)
Picture: B-/C/B Sound:
B-/C/B Extras: B/C+/C Episodes: B/B/B
Eagleheart -
Season One
Eagleheart stars Chris
Elliot as US Marshall Chris Monsanto in an action/adventure/comedy series on Adult Swim. The series is produced by Conan O’Brien’s
production company Conanco.
US Marshall Chris Monsanto takes us through 12 episodes of hilarious,
gruesome violence as the chief sends the Marshall and his crew on
missions. The missions range from
breaking up drug rings to finding kidnappers; they even take on tasks like
bringing down art thieves. The Marshall
is joined by his dim witted partner Brett (Brett Gelman) and the stern/by the
book Susie (Maria Thayer). The entire
series parodies over the top police series like CSI, Walker Texas Ranger,
and many others. Each episode seems
self-contained and relies little on continuity; something that is not unusual
for Adult Swim Series, but nevertheless
a tad frustrating at time.
What makes this series AWESOME is the over the top violence; it is out
of control and ‘gut busting’ hilarious.
The violence coupled with its odd, random brand of humor makes it stand
out. It has a similar feeling to many
other Adult Swim series like Children’s Hospital, Delocated, and yes
even Tim & Eric but does it much
better. Chris Elliot steals the show (as
always), but couldn’t do it without his stellar supporting cast. Each episode (15 minutes long) seems all too
short and leaves the audience begging for more.
Can’t wait to see Season 2
hit DVD and happy to know Eagleheart
has been renewed for a third season.
Check it Out!
with Dr. Steve Brule – Seasons 1 & 2
OH GOD! Here we go! Just when
you thought we had escaped the clutches of Tim
& Eric’s insanity we are treated (?) to a spin-off of their hit cult
series in the form of Check it Out! with
Dr. Steve Brule. The series actually
premiered on Adult Swim in 2010 when Tim & Eric were still going strong,
but (for whatever reason) has taken this long to get Seasons 1 & 2 on DVD.
The series stars John C. Reilly as Dr. Steve Brule in an odd, offbeat
series that has the feeling of a public access station and the rationality of
an insane asylum. It appears as if Dr.
Steve Brule has absolutely no clue what he is doing; as if he creeped on set
and took over. The series is poorly
filmed (on purpose mind you); full of mishaps/technical flubs, and more often
than not puts Brule in awkward and embarrassing situations. Brule is socially awkward to the max and as
he explores different facets of life, the audience quickly discovers he has no
clue what he is doing. He mispronounces
words/names consistently, displays ineptitude time and time again, and delivers
factoids that are grounded in nothing more than his imagination.
I want to hate the series (and Dr. Brule), but I can’t. In a bizarre way Check it Out! Holds itself together better than Tim & Eric ever did; taking a
lesson out of the Andy Kaufman playbook of deadpan humor. Reilly plays it so straight; you pause, go
WTF, and then chuckle. In an odd way he
is entertaining while concurrently making your head hurt.
It is one of those things where you go, one of us is insane…not sure
who.
Regular Show –
Slack Pack
Not an Adult Swim Series,
though it might as well be. Children’s
series today are so oddball and off center they often times gather an audience
of both adults and children. This can
most likely be contributed to two factors; one, if parents can’t stand it they
won’t put it on and two, animators who grew up watching Rocko’s Modern Life and Ren
and Stimpy now have jobs making their own series.
Regular Show:
Slack Pack features 12 episodes about best Mordecai the Blue Jay and
Rigby the Raccoon. The series has
Mordecai and Rigby generally slacking off from their assigned duties as
employees at a park. Most of the time
the duo is getting into and out of trouble, often times the situations dealing
in the supernatural or over the top insanity.
Mordecai and Rigby consistently anger park manager Benson (a living
gumball machine), while relying on groundskeeper Skips (a Yeti voiced by Luke
Skywalker himself Mark Hamill) to get them out of trouble. Mordecai and Rigby often get into tussles
with a green (zombie?) guy named Muscle Man and a ghost named High Five Ghost;
only escaping by their skin of their teeth.
I find the series hilariously entertaining as it delivers time and
time again. The tales are strange and the odd brand of humor couldn’t be any
better.
The episodes housed here are random and disappoint as this is not a
true season set. The episodes include:
·
The Power
·
Just Set up the Chairs
·
Death Punchies
·
Grilled Cheese Deluxe
·
Mordecai and the Rigbys
·
Rage Against the TV
·
This is my Jam
·
The Night Owl
·
Over the Top
·
Prank Callers
·
Brain Eraser
·
A Bunch of Baby Ducks
The technical features of these three series are wide ranging. Eagleheart
is the middle ground series as the widescreen presentation does not have a low
budget feel like that of Check it Out! but
does have some issues with color and clarity. Check
it Out! has a completely low budget/VHS quality to it that is intended, but
nevertheless distracting and even in widescreen can’t be saved. The colors, clarity, and crispness are
horrendous; but if that is what they were going for they accomplished it. Regular
Show is the best series featured here as far as technical quality; with a
crisp, clean image that boasts bright colors and dark inky blacks. Eagleheart is the only series that
states it has a 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound, which it does mildly use in its
action sequences as gore goes flying.
Nothing fantastic, but does manage to use much of the speaker
range. The other two series use Dolby
2.0 stereo that is heavy on dialogue that comes solely from the front speakers.
This series set houses many extras that is
not the usual for an Adult Swim
series, very nice. Eagleheart extras:
·
20 commentaries
·
Deleted Scenes and Outtakes
·
Scenes from the Never Aired Pilot featuring Conan O’Brien
·
NY Comic Con Panel with Season 2 Sneak Peek
·
Kill Reel
·
Promos
Check it Out! extras:
·
Deleted Scenes
·
Extended Scenes
Regular Show extras:
·
Rah-Ha Ringtone
-
Michael P. Dougherty II
