Saturday, July 26, 2008
Mini-DVD Review: Freakazoid! Season 1 (July 29)
Freakazoid - The Complete 1st Season (Warner, $26.98) is finally on DVD. Featuring the craziest hero in all of cartoons, Freakazoid ran for a year and a half on Kids WB in the mid 90s -- right smack dab in the middle of the huge wave of great cartoons of the mid 90s. In 1995 -- the year of Freakazoid's debut, you had on the air dozens of cartoon series all of whom were equally good, if not vastly different series on the air. Lost in the shuffle was this crazy cartoon. Freakazoid starts out as mild-mannered geek Dexter Douglas. After a string of nonsense gets typed into his keyboard while surfing around in cyberspace he gets zapped into the internet where he gains every last bit of information on the internet. Stop and really think about just about every superhero origin story. They ultimately make about as much sense as this one does. Come on, aliens from an exploding planet send their kid here, and he happens to react *really* well to our sun, giving him super-strength, flying, and other powers? Doesn't make much sense either when you think about it THAT way. Anyway, one of the effects of this is that the superhero that results, while very fast, strong, and blue -- is that when he's in Freakazoid form he's pretty much completely insane. It's this insanity that drives much of the show.
Presented here are the first 14 episodes of the series. Considering I was under the assumption that there were only 13 actual episodes in season one, I checked. Included in the set is not only all 13 regular episodes from season one, but one of the compilation episodes (with two acts from previous episodes thrown together) from Summer 1996 as well. This compilation episode is the sixth on the DVD, and features The Cloud (from the later 11th episode), and Candle Jack (from the previous 2nd episode). Redundancy -- neat! Freakazoid used a lot of pop culture references -- and as a result led to guest stars appearing. In addition, a couple of names you might recognize played recurring characters. See if you can spot who voices what – it's incredibly easy! Special guests include Mark Hamill, Ricardo Montalban, Ben Stein, Rose Marie, Bebe Neuwirth, and of course, TV's Craig Ferguson, whose Late Late Show I'm a huge fan of.
I think you can tell when I love a show when I spend so much of a mini review talking about the show. I really wish I could've given this show the full review treatment -- but due to space concerns we now move ahead in the review to the technical side.
This is probably a good time to mention that while disc 1 is one-sided disc 2 is dual-sided. Warner wasn't willing to put more than 6 episodes per disc/side, and so as a result the final two episodes and the features spill over to the next side. The video quality is just fine -- perhaps a bit soft, but that's really not out of the ordinary for animation from the mid 90s. Audio is just fine – And by just fine I mean Dolby 5.1! Yes, for a cartoon from the mid 90s that isn't as remembered as its counterparts, Warner still gave it 5.1 audio. Says so right on the box. In fact, this cartoon got a lot of extra little things put into the release -- there are even several special features! There’s commentary! on three of the fourteen episodes with senior producer Tom Ruegger, writer John McCann, and the voice of Freakazoid Paul Rugg. But wait, there's more! We also have Freakazoid-less Freakazoid promos. The network wanted footage, and they didn't have anything to give them. So, inspired in part by Carnival Cruise Lines, they created some crazy promos for the show. There’s about a minute introduction by the staff to explain just how these incredibly oddball promos came to be, and then the 4 minutes of promos. There's also a feature detailing how Freakazoid went from a super-legitimate hero to the comedy series it became. One day, you wake up and you're in the middle of a colonoscopy...
As if what may be the longest "mini" review in history didn't already tell you, I love this show. Even if the technical side were crap, I’d still tell you to buy it because the show's good. But the technical side is really *really* good too! I was going to give it a solid 4.5, but after having seen what I've given 4's to around here, it deserves the half-point for the full five. 5.1 Audio! Commentary! Promos! Freakazoid! Buy it!
-- Reviewed by Seth Thrasher
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SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
Freakazoid! TV.com Page
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Monday, July 28
The Neighborhood - "Welcome to the Vote" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Dave gathers everyone for a lengthy ballot-palooza party to discuss the merits of every candidate and prop on each of their election ballots. Also, Gemma is determined to run a tight ship as their local precinct captain when polls open at Walcott Academy. Kevin Pollak guest stars as Lamar.
The Neighborhood - "Welcome to Great Beyond" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Marty and Courtney prepare for Daphne’s christening. Meanwhile, Malcolm is dating someone new and Tina is delighted to meet her.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of July 28)
Monday, July 28
- Matt Rogers (No Good Deed/I Love That for You) and Bowen Yang (Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens) - Watch Matt and Bowen on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
- Sandra Oh (Arli$$) - Sandra appears on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Jason Ritter (Another Period/The Class), Skylar Astin (Ground Floor) and Riki Lindhome (Another Period/Enlightened) - Jason, Skylar and Riki are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Jamie Lee Curtis (The Sticky/Anything But Love/Operation Petticoat) - Jamie Lee talks about Freakier Friday on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
- Eddie Murphy (The PJs), Keke Palmer (Scream Queens/True Jackson, VP) and Pete Davidson (Bupkis) - Eddie, Keke and Pete talk about The Pickup on NBC's Today in the 9am hour. Eddie will also be on sometime between 7-9am.
- Julia Butters (American Housewife) and Sophia Hammons (Up Here) - Julia and Sophia talk about Freakier Friday on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
- Paul Walter Hauser (The Afterparty) - Paul talks about Marvel's Fantastic Four: First Steps on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Kathy Bates (Disjointed) - Kathy talks about Matlock on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
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04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season
05/13 - The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered)
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