Garbage
Pail Kids - The Complete Series (Animated)
Picture: B-
Sound: B- Extras: D Episodes: C-
It seems that two schools of though exist regarding this
late-eighties clunker of a show. One
prefers the idea that The Garbage Pail Kids as a regular TV series just
might have been too extreme and gross for mainstream kid’s TV programming. An opposition to that thought should now
exist that feels that the network execs had enough sense to can this turd (pun
intended?) and to bail out of this vehicle before any of the episodes they had
produced could hit the airwaves. Who
knows, though - had I been exposed to this as a child, I might have held onto
some fond memories of it that would have kept my opinion somewhere in the
median at this time.
In any case, it is considerate of CBS/Paramount to have
finally brought these out, at least for the sake of curiosity on behalf of the
fans who have labored over their GBK collections for so long, and who continue
to buy into the recently-revived product line.
There are 13 episodes in all, spread out over two discs, with no bonus
features to be found embedded within.
At least a booklet would have been nice, perhaps detailing the influence
of the cards on 80’s pop culture and a history of the show’s production. Despite how uninteresting it might have
been, there’s surely some story to be told as to why CBS pulled it before it
could ever reach the air. Nothing as
such exists here, and while it’s something of a shame, I’m sure that no one’s
going to be losing any sleep over it.
The 1.33 X 1 full-frame picture is of pretty good quality
for a show of this type, and though the animation itself is lacking any
splendor, all of the colors remain vibrant and have held up over the years
spent in storage. The sound is average,
and though I’ve rated them the same, I’d probably consider it to be a slight
notch below where the picture quality resides.
While this was a largely boring show, containing many
jokes and references that would completely go over a kid’s head, a select
corner of the market will still treasure it.
The feature film was issued by MGM on DVD and is a constant seller, so
the commercial reasons for issuing it now make sense. Those looking for once obscure nostalgia at an early age and
finding it now for sale on DVD in abundance will doubtless want to add this to
their collection. These five hours of
cartoons are worth a quick watch-through, but many of the jokes and puns are
absolutely groan inducing and will probably lead to pawning off this set on some
other soul relatively quickly.
- David Milchick
