Beavis and Butt-Head: The Mike Judge Collection, Vol. 1 [3 Discs]

Mike Judge

Overview

"After years of piecemeal DVDs housing a few episodes per disc, Beavis & Butt-Head finally received a creator-approved treatment on disc with this 3-DVD set from Paramount. Surprisingly, Beavis & Butt-Head: The Mike Judge Collection Vol. 1 turns out to be a mixed blessing. Video and audio quality are fine for what the show is: Beavis & Butt-Head was made quickly and ""on the cheap,"" so it was never designed to look pristine. Everything included here looks fine and sounds decent (in fact, the old stereo mixes sound surprisingly crisp). The only problem with the episodes is that a good portion of them have been re-edited by show creator Mike Judge, losing lines, gags, and in some cases, entire minutes of footage. Thus, these re-edited episodes essentially rewrite history and do not present an honest representation of what viewers saw during the show's original MTV run. This after-the-fact editing is unfortunate because the un-doctored episodes show that the program holds up pretty well. Beavis & Butt-Head: The Mike Judge Collection Vol. 1 fares better in the area of extras. The third disc is devoted entirely to bonus features: first up is a series of 11 music videos that feature Beavis and Butt-Head riffing over them. The disc also offers a series of appearances the duo made on MTV, including appearances at the VMA awards and a Thanksgiving special with Kurt Loder. However, the best of the extras is ""The Taint of Greatness, Part 1,"" a comprehensive featurette that covers the show's beginnings and includes new interviews with Judge and the many others who worked on the show. It's funny, fast-paced and full of nice surprises like footage of the show's original test screenings and readings of angry letters from irate viewers. Ultimately, Beavis & Butt-Head: The Mike Judge Collection, Vol. 1 is a decent value and offers some fun extras but the re-editing of several episodes is likely to rub its target audience the wrong way. As a result, they might want to check this set out before they commit to buying it."

Product Details

Release Date:	11/08/2005
UPC:	0097368817449
Original Release:	2005
Rating:	NR
Source:	Mtv
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Full Frame]
Language:	English
Time:	3:34:00
Sales rank:	38,347

Special Features

Featurette: "Taint of Greatness: The Journey of Beavis and Butt-Head, Part 1"; Beavis and Butt-Head Thanksgiving Special with Kurt Loder; Beavis and Butt-Head video music awards appearances; An interactive link to Mike Judge and Don Hertzfeldt's The Animation Show website; Beavis and Butt-Head promos; Montages: "Terms of Endearment" and "Greatest Hits

Editorial Reviews

In 1992, a short, crudely drawn cartoon entitled "Frog Baseball" premiered on MTV animation showcase Liquid Television. The short's stars, Beavis and Butt-head, were an instant hit, and they were back with a show of their own on MTV a year later. The two dimwitted teens -- Beavis (the chattering blonde) and Butt-head (the muttering dark-haired one) -- barely stayed awake during school and spent the majority of their time watching music videos and eating nachos. Each episode comprised two shorts in which the boys mainly hung out, laughed, and patrolled the pre-South Park border for televised profanity. Words that even sounded like references to body parts, bodily functions, or sexual acts would always crack the boys up. (Heh, heh, heh…crack!) They also watched, and commented on, the music videos of the day, an aspect of the original show that's limited to 11 outings on this DVD release, due to the prohibitive cost of licensing the clips. The show became a mainstay on college campuses and reached its peak in 1996 when creator Mike Judge (who also voiced the twosome) took the duo to the big screen in Beavis and Butt-head Do America. This first volume in the Beavis and Butt-head Collection bears the creator's personal stamp, with 40 of Judge's favorite episodes, including 14 never before released on home video, plus 23 that were previously censored by MTV. Fortunately for us, Judge's picks include "The Great Cornholio," in which Beavis mixes sugar and caffeine with hilarious results. Also included in the collection are the duo's MTV Video Music Award appearances, a Thanksgiving special with MTV mainstay Kurt Loder, and a few Easter eggs.