Saturday, January 13, 2007

Mini-DVD Review: Beavis and Butt-Head: The Mike Judge Collection

Welcome to another edition of mini-DVD reviews! Today we take a look at MTV/Paramount's Complete Collection of Beavis and Butt-Head. Beavis and Butt-Head of course was the popular MTV animated series which featured the crazy duo. Music videos were also seen on the show. See skees53's mini-DVD review of Beavis and Butt-Head: The Mike Judge Collection:

Beavis and Butt-Head: The Mike Judge Collection (MTV, $124.90) contains 122 of the "best" episodes (keep in mind that each episode is only about 5 minutes, although there are a few that are longer) of the former MTV animation hit, along with several bonus features and the motion picture film, "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America." The set itself is actually comprised of three smaller DVD sets and the movie, all of which had previously been released and are also available separately.

Beavis and Butt-Head: Volume 1 (MTV, $39.98) contains 40 episodes, primarily from the earlier years of the series In this set, we get to see who Beavis and Butt-Head are before they become REALLY stupid. The boys help Mr. Anderson prune a tree (and accidentally cause his whole house to fall down in the process), become friends with an escaped serial killer (and reforms the killer, or "Kyler" as they call him, by getting him to put a tattoo of a butt that has a tattoo of a butt, on their butt), discover the joys of a 1-900 number, get sent back a grade, again and again, until they end up in kindergarten, and try to find oil in the backyard after watching "The Beverly Hillbillies." In Volume 1, the special features include 11 music videos from artists such as Pantera, Korn, Beastie Boys, and a bunch of other artists that are, well, not so well-known. Additionally, this set contains original series promos, appearances from the MTV Video Music Awards, appearances with Kurt Loder on an MTV Thanksgiving special, and Taint of Greatness Part 1, which is the first of a three part series (one part on each volume) that is just interviews with those involved with creating the show.

Beavis and Butt-Head: Volume 2 (MTV, $39.98) contains 40 more episodes, beginning with "Plastic Surgin'" (Beavis and Butt-Head discover that women can get their breasts enlarged, and decide they too want a body part enlarged--I'll let you guess what part) and contains many other great adventures such as the boys getting struck by lightning (after imitating Benjamin Franklin), changing the oil in the fryer at Burger World (with motor oil), creating a video for a video dating service, trying to set up a whiplash scam, taking a field
trip where they can't stop misbehaving on the bus (and nearly kill their teacher because of that), trying to buy a prostitute for less than a dollar, and making a series of prank phone calls. Music videos from Beastie Boys, Pantera, Madonna, Rush, and Radiohead are included on this set. It also includes Part 2 of the Taint of Greatness featurette, appearances from the Butt-Bowl, clips from the MTV 20th Anniversary Special, Calvin Klein ad parodies, Moron-A-Thon (an MTV marathon of the show from several years ago) featuring Snoop Dogg, an unaired segment from VH-1's "I Love the 90's," and original series promos.

Beavis and Butt-Head: Volume 3 (MTV, $39.98) contains the remaining 42 of the "best" episodes. In this set, they save a baby bird, get head lice, visit a lingerie store, pierce their own ears, try to get hurt while playing in a shopping cart (to make money), discover impotence,
get drunk from drinking non-alcoholic beer, and imagine themselves as stars of the show "Leave it to Beaver" in the short titled "Leave it to Beavis." This set also contains the Christmas episodes about the boys, and contains the full-length (22 minute) final episode, "Beavis and Butt-Head Are Dead." It includes music videos from Salt N Pepper, Poison, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, Alice Cooper, and more. Special Features include Part 3 of the Taint of Greatness featurette, the original uncut "Frog Baseball" episode (this was the pilot), Yule Log clips, letters to Santa Butt-Head, Beavis and Butt-Head interview with Chris Connelly, clips from the 2005 Video Music Awards, and original series promos.

Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (Paramount, $14.99) is the original motion picture about the boys, where they go on a journey across America to find a stolen television. It includes some behind the scenes footage and commentary. It isn't really a great movie, but it is a nice thing to have in this set.

In general, these sets are well-done, and I have to admit, I like having the episodes without the music videos intact. That is not how they originally aired, but I remember recording and fast-forwarding through those videos when the series originally aired. My only complaint is that they didn't include the rest of the episodes (there are roughly 80 more). Apparently, Mike Judge feels that the remaining episodes were "poor quality" and for that reason, they shouldn't be seen. Why not put them out and let us decide if we want to buy them?
Among those 80 episodes, there are definitely some in there that, in my opinion, were better than ones included in these volumes. It is also worth noting that, along the same lines of Mike Judge deciding for us what is a "poor quality" episode, he decided to edit out small scenes on episodes in Volume 1 (due to slight animation errors that the average person would probably never notice) and had the audacity to advertise this a "Director's Cut," as if we were getting more footage! Fortunately this practice didn't take place on Volumes 2 and 3.

This set is definitely worth buying, but if the price tag on the entire series doesn't appeal to you, you may want to consider buying it in smaller chunks, maybe a volume at a time. Actually, if you look on Amazon.com, it is cheaper to buy each volume individually than it is to buy the complete collection! The gold box that is included in the complete collection is somewhat nice, but seriously, does anybody really need that? In any event, you'll want to get this somehow, but don't try anything they would do while trying to get it.
-- Reviewed by skees53
(4.5/5 stars)

To purchase the Complete Collection DVD, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
Amazon.com
Or you can buy in Volumes:
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Beavis and Butt-Head Do America


Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
Beavis and Butt-Head TV.com Page


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Friday, May 23

Happy's Place - "Sisters Ink" (NBC, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Isabella gifts Bobbie matching sister mugs, Bobbie is forced to quickly think of an equally thoughtful gift, resulting in Isabella expecting the sisters to get matching tattoos; Steve and Takoda investigate where Emmett has been sneaking off.

Happy's Place - "Whiskey Business" (NBC, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Steve drops his favorite pen down a crack in the bar, Bobbie decides to pry the bar open to find it, discovering a very valuable bottle of whiskey in the process; Steve is thrown by Emmett's reaction to breaking a knife that Steve gifted him.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of May 19)

Friday, May 23

  • Milly Alcock (Sirens) - Watch Milly on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Michael Urie (Shrinking/Krapopolis/Partners), Jessica Williams (Shrinking/Love Life/Just for Kicks) and Luke Tennie (Shrinking) - Michael, Jessica and Luke are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
  • Sarah Jessica Parker (And Just Like That.../Divorce/Sex and the City/Square Pegs) - Sarah talks all things And Just Like That... on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
  • Method Man (Method & Red) - Method Man talks about his new film Bad Shabbos on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
  • Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso) - Hannah talks about Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
  • Joe Jonas (Jonas) - NBC's Today catches up with Joe sometime between 7-9am.
  • Kerry Washington (UnPrisoned) - Kerry talks about Shadow Force on a repeat of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
  • David Hyde Pierce (Frasier) - NBC's Today catches up with David in the 9am hour.
  • Rebel Wilson (Super Fun Night) - Rebel joins Sherri to talk about starring in the new film Juliet & Romeo on a repeat of Sherri, so check your local listings.
  • Terri J. Vaughn (She the People/Mann & Wife/Meet the Browns/All of Us/The Steve Harvey Show) - Terri talks about starring in the new Netflix series She the People on a repeat of Sherri, so check your local listings.


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