Beavis and Butt-Head do DVD right
- The Mike Judge Collection, Vol. 1
- America's two dumbest teenagers return in a collection of episodes hand-picked by Mike Judge.
- Check it on Amazon
In March of 1993 I stayed home from school the day “Beavis and Butt-Head” premiered and I have to say that it was one of the best television experiences of my life.
The crude exploits of the two dumbest teenagers to ever exist were a staple of my life — and many other 20-somethings, I’m sure — for the next five years. Their media empire could not be avoided: clothing, CDs, toys, books, a feature film; there were precious few people who didn’t know who these two were. Then, in late 1997, Mike Judge closed the book on the duo, and the media saturation that was once unavoidable had now been shuffled off to the clearance racks of Spencer Gifts nationwide to make way for all the crazy new South Park merchandise the kids were going ga-ga over.
In the ensuing television archival boom that came with DVD, a Beavis and Butt-Head collection seemed like a no-brainer. A show about media-obsessed teenagers that wound up shaping the pop culture landscape itself? Duh. Unfortunately, several behind-the-scenes issues, like Mike Judge being at odds with Viacom and retaining the rights to the massive number of music videos the boys watched have kept us from having a truly definitive collection of episodes — until now.
Quite simply put, Beavis and Butt-Head: The Mike Judge Collection, Vol. 1 is the absolute best representation of the show that we could possibly ask for.
In lieu of a complete chronological approach to the releases, Judge selected 120 of the best episodes that were produced (this is the first of a three volume set). Expect each volume to overlap seasons, as this one culls episodes from the entire run. Many of these are touted as “director’s cuts” of each episode, but with an average run time of around five minutes, it’s hard to really discern what was added or deleted from each cartoon.
Nit pickers are already complaining that these cuts actually removed lines of dialogue from episodes, confusing “censorship” with “editing.”
A letter to these people:
Dear Frustrated Nerds,
Editing is one of the most important parts of comedy. Learn to kill your babies.
Love,
Everyone that has ever written comedy
I loved this show so much that I was actually a little worried to re-visit it for fear that nostalgia had made the show in my head better than the actual show that aired. By three episodes in, my fears were allayed; it holds up surprisingly well.
The classics are indeed represented in the collection, such as “No Laughing,” where the boys are forced to not laugh for fear of expulsion while neo-Conservative drill instructor Mr. Buzzcut rattles off the subjects of the upcoming sex-ed week, and “The Great Cornholio,” which spawned Beavis’ nonsense-spewing, caffeine-fueled alter-ego. As a die hard fan, I am very impressed at what’s included. My top five are here:
- No Laughing
- 1-900-BEAVIS
- Choke
- Manners Suck
- Held Back
The third disc contains all the extras, such as the first part of a documentary covering the show. They dug deep for this feature, which actually includes footage from the initial test-screenings of the show (where a Starter-jacketed teenager asks to buy the copy of the tape that he had just seen, something the TV execs had never seen before).
Judge talks about the genesis of the show, from Spike and Mike’s Twisted Animation Festival to Liquid Television to getting its own time slot. He also goes into detail about the problems they had with the studio that was initially hired to animate the show: On the day the show was supposed to premiere, the network was to have 20 episodes in hand; they had two. Trust me when I say that 80% of the people that work in the media arts are retarded, and are also in charge.
One of the best aspects about the original show was the boys’ comments on the videos they watched during an episode. None of these have been included in any type of collection before this due to licensing issues, but we finally have some, albeit a paltry 11. It’s an anemic number to be sure (there were usually about three videos per five-minute episode), but at least it’s something. The Pantera clip for “This Love” is here, though, which has to be one of the best Beavis moments during the video commentaries.
The remaining bonuses are typical throwaway DVD fare: a couple old promos, some appearances at the MTV Video Music Awards (which are relevant only to remind viewers that the VMAs were once entertaining), two montage clips of violence and insults, and a one-off Thanksgiving segment co-hosted by MTV’s very own fogey Kurt Loder (yes, he was the already the old guy when I watched the station 10 years ago).
I do find it funny that companies are trying to promote advertisements for other DVDs as extras (trailers for South Park: Season 6 and Drawn Together are listed as bonuses), as if we’re supposed to be excited that they stuffed more commercials onto our shiny plastic discs. Isn’t that the whole point of watching TV on DVD, to avoid commercials? Yeah, thanks for that bonus!
All in all, this handsome little collection is a satisfying trip back to a time when MTV wasn’t overrun by pseudo-celebrities cashing in on the public’s unhealthy, obsessive voyeurism. They weren’t playing videos back then either, but at least the station was doing what it was created to do: push the creative envelope further. Now it’s just reactionary programming looking to appease the golden demographic in hopes of scoring a huge quarterly rating for its advertisers, but that’s a rant for another time. I can’t give this collection the ultimate thumbs-up because of the lack of videos, but it’s a step in the direction we had all hoped for. But honestly, when were these two ever concerned about being over-achievers?
