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

Thursday, April 24

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - "TV Money" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Mandy tries to prove she’s financially responsible after Jim and Georgie call out her poor spending habits, and Connor’s new girlfriend needs a place to stay.

Ghosts - "I Know What You Did Thirty-Seven Summers Ago" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
When Sam and Jay host a fundraiser for the mayor to earn a favor for Jay’s restaurant, they learn of his bizarre connection to one of Woodstone’s ghosts. Odessa Adlon returns as Stephanie, the ghost who died on her prom night.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of April 21)

Thursday, April 24

  • Da'Vine Joy Randolph (Only Murders in the Building/High Fidelity/People of Earth/Selfie) - Catch Da'Vine on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
  • Michael B. Jordan (The Assistants) - Michael appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Olivia Munn (Perfect Couples) - Olivia is a guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Walton Goggins (The Righteous Gemstones/The Unicorn/Vice Principals) - Walton appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
  • Sasheer Zamata (Home Economics/Woke/Robbie) and Greta Titelman (Fantasmas/Search Party/Los Espookys) - Sasheer and Greta are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
  • Will Forte (The Four Seasons/HouseBroken/MacGruber/The Last Man on Earth/The Cleveland Show) - E! News has an interview with Will at 11pm on E!.
  • Tika Sumpter (mixed-ish/Final Space/The Game) - Tika sits down with the Tam Fam to talk about her new children's book I Got It From My Mama on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
  • Michael Urie (Shrinking/Krapopolis/Partners) - Michael swings by the studio on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
  • Edi Patterson (The Righteous Gemstones/Vice Principals/Partners) - Edi chats about The Righteous Gemstones on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
  • Ernest Lee Thomas (Everybody Hates Chris/What's Happening!!/What's Happening Now!!) and Haywood Nelson (What's Happening!!/What's Happening Now!!) - Ernest and Haywood talk about the 49th Anniversary of What's Happening!! on NBC's Today in the 9am hour.
  • Cheech Marin (Rob/The Golden Palace) and Tommy Chong (That '90s Show/That '70s Show) - Cheech and Tommy talk about Cheech & Chong's Last Movie on NBC's Today in the 9am hour.
  • Tiffany Haddish (The Last O.G./The Carmichael Show) - Tiffany co-hosts NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
  • Casey Wilson (The Righteous Gemstones/Black Monday/The Hotwives/Marry Me/Happy Endings) - Casey talks about The Great American Baking Show on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
  • Michelle Buteau (Survival of the Thickest/Bless the Harts/Enlisted) - Michelle is telling Drew about her show Survival of the Thickest on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/Café Americain/Sydney/One Day at a Time) - Dating expert Damona Hoffman is joining Drew and Valerie for a Q & A about first dates on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Morris Chestnut (Out All Night) - Morris tells Sherri about the new season of Watson on CBS, so check your local listings.


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