Saturday, July 26, 2008

Mini-DVD Review: Freakazoid! Season 1 (July 29)

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for mini-DVD reviews! Today we have we take a look at Warner Home Video's animated series Freakazoid! The Complete 1st Season. Freakazoid! was an animated series on Kids' WB. See Seth Thrasher's mini-DVD review of Freakazoid! - The Complete 1st Season:

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
(5/5 stars)

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Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
Freakazoid! TV.com Page


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Monday, December 23

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.

Poppa's House - "Sleepover" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Dr. Ivy Reed joins Poppa’s family for dinner, she begins scrutinizing Nina and Junior’s relationship for potential catastrophe. Junior spends the night at his dad’s house while Nina and Ivy devise a plan over a bottle of wine.

Bob Hearts Abishola - "Black Ice" (The CW, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
On Valentine's Day, when it comes to showing affection, Bob and Abishola have to find a way to meet each other in the middle.

Bob Hearts Abishola - "Where's Your Other Wives, Tunde?" (The CW, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Dottie, Auntie Olu and Uncle Tunde must find a way to reconcile when they're forced to eat dinner together; Bob and Abishola have differing opinions on the progress of their relationship.

The Conners - "Rage Against the Machine" (The CW, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Dan gets injured while covering D.J.'s vending machine route, the decision to sue the company could cost D.J. his job; Jackie is appalled when Becky seeks life coaching from her nemesis.

The Conners - "Smoking Penguins and Santa on Santa Action" (The CW, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Dan is disappointed when everyone but Becky forgets about his birthday; Darlene faces another issue; Dan excludes Jackie from the family Christmas Santa photo for mistreating Louise.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 23)

Monday, December 23

  • John Mulaney (Mulaney) - Watch John on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Linda Cardellini (No Good Deed/Dead to Me/Guys Like Us) - Linda is a guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Sabrina Carpenter (Girl Meets World) - Sabrina appears on a repeat of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
  • Nathan Lane (Only Murders in the Building/Modern Family/Charlie Lawrence/Encore! Encore!/One of the Boys) - Nathan is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
  • Rosemarie DeWitt (United States of Tara) - Rosemarie appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
  • Brandon Kyle Goodman (Human Resources) - Brandon is a guest on After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
  • Ilana Glazer (Broad City) - Ilana appears on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
  • Megan Hilty (Sean Saves the World) - Megan appears on a repeat of Sherri, so check your local listings.
  • James Van Der Beek (Friends with Better Lives/Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23) - James chats with the ladies of The View on a repeat on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
  • Tony Shalhoub (We Are Men/Stark Raving Mad/Wings) - NBC's Today has The 70 Club with Tony in the 9am hour.
  • Jennifer Love Hewitt (Shaky Ground) - Jennifer talks about Lifetime's The Holiday Junkie on a repeat of Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
  • Alexa PenaVega (Ruby & the Rockits) - Alexa talks about Great American Family's Love at the Kettle on a repeat of Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.


New on DVD and Blu-ray

Friends - The Complete Series (4K UHD) Young Sheldon - The Complete Series Veep - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) I Love Lucy - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) Seinfeld - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)

09/10 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-7
09/10 - The Ropers - The Complete Series (VEI)
09/10 - Ted - Season One (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/17 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - Video Scrapbook
09/17 - Top Cat - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
09/24 - Friends - The Complete Series (4K UHD)
09/24 - Young Sheldon - The Complete Seventh Season (DVD) / The Complete Series (DVD) (Blu-ray)
10/08 - Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete Twelfth Season / The Complete Series
10/22 - Veep - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/05 - I Love Lucy - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/12 - The King of Queens - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (2024 Release)
11/19 - SpongeBob SquarePants - The Complete Fourteenth Season
11/26 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 4 (Blu-ray)
12/03 - Angel (1960-1961) - The Complete Series, Volume 1
12/17 - Seinfeld - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (4K UHD)
02/04 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)

More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD and Blu-ray Releases / TV Shows on DVD, Blu-ray and Prime Video / DVD Reviews Archive


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