Beavis & Butt-head: The Mike Judge Collection (Complete Collection In Gold Foil Box)
Picture:
C+/B- film Sound: C+/B- film Extras: B- Episodes: B Film: B
We were
on a roll covering the new upgraded releases of shorts from the Beavis & Butt-head franchise. Creator Mike Judge was not happy with the
entire series overall and had enough power and ownership to convince MTV and
Paramount to only do three best-of sets dubbed The Mike Judge Collection.
The underrated 1996 feature film was also issued and here is our
coverage of those releases:
Volume
One
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2959/Beavis+&+Butt-Head+-+The+Mike+Judge+Collection:+Volume+One
Volume
Two
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3953/Beavis+&+Butt-Head+-+The+Mike+Judge+Collection:+Volume+Two
DO
AMERICA theatrical feature film
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4376/Beavis+&+Butt-Head+Do+America+–+Special+Collector’s+Edition+(10th+Anniversary)
Having
missed the third and final Judge set, we catch up to it as part of the nicely
packaged Mike Judge Collection that
includes the feature film and all three volumes of what Judge felt was the best
material worth releasing. This time we
get 42 episodes hand-picked by Judge from the 1995-1997 period including the
following:
DVD 1: No Service, Sprout, Yard Sale, PTA,
Substitute, Shopping List, Buy Beer, A Very Special Episode, Just for Girls,
Head Lice, Vaya Con Cornholio, Nosebleed, Underwear, Follow Me, On Strike, Take
a Lap, Pierced, Ding-Dong-Ditch, Huh-Huh Humbug, It's a Miserable Life
DVD 2: Citizens Arrest, A Great Day, Dumbasses
Anonymous, Woodshop, Shopping Cart, Bride of Butt-Head, Special Delivery, TV Violence,
The Miracle That is Beavis, Impotence, Inventors, Canned, Drinking Butt-ies,
Garage Band, Die Fly, Die!, Breakdown, Speech Therapy, Work is Death,
Graduation Day, Butt Flambe, Leave it to Beavis, Beavis and Butt-Head are Dead
That
leaves the third DVD with a later feature of the series that was a big hit, but
much cheaper to produce than the animated shows: spoofing Music Videos! For the record, the clips sent up here
include Stakka Bo’s Here We Go,
Crowbar’s Existence Is Punishment",
Salt 'N' Pepa (Featuring En Vogue) - Whatta
Man, Poison’s I Want Action, 2
Unlimited’s Get Ready For This,
Tripping Daisy’s I Got a Girl, Jesus
Lizard’s Glamorous, Sonic Youth’s Dirty Boots, Soundgarden’s Spoonman, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s Dang, PJ Harvey’s Down By The Water, Alice Cooper’s Teenage Frankenstein, Toadies’ Possum
Kingdom, Rollins Band’s Liar and
Paul Broucek’s Hollywood Halloween. Even when the clips were good (Whatta Man, I Got a Girl, Liar), the
Music Video was in trouble and this success confirmed why MTV was unable to
stay strictly in the Videos business and though the comments can get tired
quickly if you are not interested, the success of the initial show proved that
MTV itself was in trouble. It never
truly recovered.
As for
the shorts chosen, I have to say that Judge is absolutely correct in the shorts
he picked. They are the best and
anything else makes the characters and franchise seem as tired and dated as it
became before its original run was finally ground to a halt. Judge knows how and why this material works,
so it is with a sense of satisfied closure that will make all fans happy and
show how smart the show really was.
The 1.33 X 1 image has once again been updated as much as
possible, but the shows were produced hand drawn, with analog video
compositing. The result is some fringing
in the fine details, but the series purposely had crude animation as its style,
which actually upped the humor. With that
said, they look good and those with 1.78 X 1/16 X 9
video playback can zoom in and will be surprised how well they reformat. The image quality is a bit better this
time. Widescreen is still not the way
they were intended to be seen, but it is an alternative that works. Extras this time include the original, uncut Beavis &
Butt-head short Frog Baseball, rare
special “appearances” & promos and the Taint of Greatness: The Journey of Beavis
and Butt-head, Part 3 featurette.
On its
own, the third set is as strong as the first two, but as part of this Gold set,
it amounts to a complete record of a cultural phenomenon that knew stupidity
with ironic distance. That is something
its imitators missed.
- Nicholas Sheffo