Fone Bone
Matt Zimmer
Need an actual talkback for this here. Here we go.
Mike Judge's Beavis And Butt-Head "Escape Room / The Special One"
Escape Room:
It was my opinion that the 2011 relaunch was the finest season of that show Mike Judge ever did, and this was similarly terrific. It had a classic Beavis And Butt-Head-style premise (they confuse the bathroom for the escape room) and resolution (they pee and poop in the escape room) and yet it's a modern NEW topic. Very well done.
I also noted the interstitials where they watch TV / online videos seem much shorter than they used to be. That makes sense because they were actually a cost cutting measure to save money on new animation back in the day and that's no longer necessary. The thing is, the music videos themselves back in the day were funny in their own right, and gave Judge a chance to riff and improvise comedy, so they obviously still need to be present, if not as prevalent. ****.
The Special One:
I love the questions this raised about Beavis' psychopathy. We'll discuss that in a moment, but what I loved about the cartoon is that the premise was subversive and unexpected, and the resolution made perfect sense to something that outright weird. It plays as if Beavis And Butt-Head is an animated fable, and always has been. Many long jokes are structured this way too.
As for Beavis' mindset, if he is crazy and imagining the Fire speaking, the smart things the Fire says suggests Beavis has a core of intelligence he doesn't normally have access to. That might explain why he is so enraptured with Fire and willing to do what it says until he realizes all it wants is for him to better himself. Alternately, it's possible Beavis is NOT actually crazy, and the Fire as seen IS sentient and alive, and speaks to him and only him. I'm going to choose to believe the second interpretation. Because the idea that Beavis is a struggling, untapped genius makes me too sad. I'd rather believe the world itself was insane.
For the record, I did not dig Judge's riff during the music video. Because the music video was SO unambiguously awful. It's been AGES since I've seen the original show, and I can't imagine that all they riffed during were bad music videos. This one was so bad, I felt it was low-hanging comedy fruit. I would be similarly unhappy to see those two commenting on an old Mentos commercial. Everybody already knows they are dumb. There is nothing funny Beavis or Butt-Head could say about them. I felt that very strongly about this awful country video.
The story itself was fantastic, but the intermission was surprisingly weak, which is troubling as it's part of the first episode back. ****.
Episode Overall: ****.
Mike Judge's Beavis And Butt-Head "Boxed In / Beekeepers"
Boxed In:
Van Driessen means the new episodes don't follow the continuity of Beavis And Butt-Head Do The Universe, in which the boys were transported for 1998 to the year 2022. I think that's probably for the best (they don't have to create an entirely new high school and neighborhood cast, and Judge can keep voicing those characters) although that movie remains my single favorite Beavis and Butt-Head project of all time. So it's a continuation of the previous two series operating in Peanuts Time, instead of the soft reboot operating in real time the movie was. It's more consistent because the 2011 season operated on Peanuts Time too.
Van Driessen confiscating the drill as Beavis was lowering it towards his eyes was probably the first responsible thing he's ever done when teaching those idiots.
Where do they find these online videos? I loved Butt-Head saying he was going to talk like this from now on.
I like Beavis, but the fact that he can't stop himself from spanking his monkey in front of other people if the urge arises says he's a problematic character at best. The whole intermission made me laugh though. I ain't going to deny that. I'm not proud.
Beavis is interesting because he quickly pivots to suggesting it might be fine to live in the box. I actually understand the mindset of weighing the pros and cons of giving up early on, especially if the task ahead seems so impossibly hard. Judge wants us to find Beavis stupid for the suggestion (along with his wishful thinking that there will eventually somehow be chicks in the box). I find his hopefulness in a hopeless situation relatable instead. ****.
Beekeepers:
It never fails to amuse me when Beavis likes a music video Butt-Head hates. The funniest time ever was when Beavis stood by his opinion so fiercely he scared Butt-Head into backing off, but I like seeing Beavis seeming to understand him digging this boy band is pretty much indefensible. And when Butt-Head sees him twerking the couch I don't recall ever seeing and hearing Butt-Head so genuinely upset. Butt-Head is a sociopath who doesn't really care about anything. It's interesting that that was the thing that majorly offended him. Butt-Head's demeanor is always snide and amused in a mean-spirited way. For the first time ever he drops that smirky facade because he's genuinely mad. Beavis spanks him monkey in front of him, he gets a slap across the chops. He does THIS, he must leave his own house never to return. I actually almost get it.
I actually missed the shampoo bottle during the scene in the bathroom, so it being shampoo WAS a surprise. What's hilarious is Beavis and Butt-Head being angry at the "bees" for making shampoo instead of honey.
We're supposed to laugh as Beavis' violent misfortune with the bees, but I felt sympathetic towards him when he says doesn't want to open the box because it hurt. He doesn't have the verbal skills to explain why he knows it's a bad idea, and Butt-Head talks him into it anyways, but one of things that I relate to Beavis with is the fact that he doesn't have the ability to properly express what he's feeling, and he clearly wishes he did. And even if he did Butt-Head would torment him about it. But it wouldn't matter, because that would mean he could hang out with better people than Butt-Head. There is something tragic to me about the fact that on some level Beavis knows he's broken and can't do anything about it.
Mike Judge deliberately made sure that we remembered that his voice for Anderson may have been the prototype for Hank Hill, but it's still slightly different. Not only is Anderson's voice slightly deeper, he talks MUCH slower and more deliberately than Hank. He's what Hank will probably sound like at age 80. But it's still a slightly different voice.
I felt bad for Beavis by the end of this. ***.
Episode Overall: ***1/2.
Mike Judge's Beavis And Butt-Head "Escape Room / The Special One"
Escape Room:
It was my opinion that the 2011 relaunch was the finest season of that show Mike Judge ever did, and this was similarly terrific. It had a classic Beavis And Butt-Head-style premise (they confuse the bathroom for the escape room) and resolution (they pee and poop in the escape room) and yet it's a modern NEW topic. Very well done.
I also noted the interstitials where they watch TV / online videos seem much shorter than they used to be. That makes sense because they were actually a cost cutting measure to save money on new animation back in the day and that's no longer necessary. The thing is, the music videos themselves back in the day were funny in their own right, and gave Judge a chance to riff and improvise comedy, so they obviously still need to be present, if not as prevalent. ****.
The Special One:
I love the questions this raised about Beavis' psychopathy. We'll discuss that in a moment, but what I loved about the cartoon is that the premise was subversive and unexpected, and the resolution made perfect sense to something that outright weird. It plays as if Beavis And Butt-Head is an animated fable, and always has been. Many long jokes are structured this way too.
As for Beavis' mindset, if he is crazy and imagining the Fire speaking, the smart things the Fire says suggests Beavis has a core of intelligence he doesn't normally have access to. That might explain why he is so enraptured with Fire and willing to do what it says until he realizes all it wants is for him to better himself. Alternately, it's possible Beavis is NOT actually crazy, and the Fire as seen IS sentient and alive, and speaks to him and only him. I'm going to choose to believe the second interpretation. Because the idea that Beavis is a struggling, untapped genius makes me too sad. I'd rather believe the world itself was insane.
For the record, I did not dig Judge's riff during the music video. Because the music video was SO unambiguously awful. It's been AGES since I've seen the original show, and I can't imagine that all they riffed during were bad music videos. This one was so bad, I felt it was low-hanging comedy fruit. I would be similarly unhappy to see those two commenting on an old Mentos commercial. Everybody already knows they are dumb. There is nothing funny Beavis or Butt-Head could say about them. I felt that very strongly about this awful country video.
The story itself was fantastic, but the intermission was surprisingly weak, which is troubling as it's part of the first episode back. ****.
Episode Overall: ****.
Mike Judge's Beavis And Butt-Head "Boxed In / Beekeepers"
Boxed In:
Van Driessen means the new episodes don't follow the continuity of Beavis And Butt-Head Do The Universe, in which the boys were transported for 1998 to the year 2022. I think that's probably for the best (they don't have to create an entirely new high school and neighborhood cast, and Judge can keep voicing those characters) although that movie remains my single favorite Beavis and Butt-Head project of all time. So it's a continuation of the previous two series operating in Peanuts Time, instead of the soft reboot operating in real time the movie was. It's more consistent because the 2011 season operated on Peanuts Time too.
Van Driessen confiscating the drill as Beavis was lowering it towards his eyes was probably the first responsible thing he's ever done when teaching those idiots.
Where do they find these online videos? I loved Butt-Head saying he was going to talk like this from now on.
I like Beavis, but the fact that he can't stop himself from spanking his monkey in front of other people if the urge arises says he's a problematic character at best. The whole intermission made me laugh though. I ain't going to deny that. I'm not proud.
Beavis is interesting because he quickly pivots to suggesting it might be fine to live in the box. I actually understand the mindset of weighing the pros and cons of giving up early on, especially if the task ahead seems so impossibly hard. Judge wants us to find Beavis stupid for the suggestion (along with his wishful thinking that there will eventually somehow be chicks in the box). I find his hopefulness in a hopeless situation relatable instead. ****.
Beekeepers:
It never fails to amuse me when Beavis likes a music video Butt-Head hates. The funniest time ever was when Beavis stood by his opinion so fiercely he scared Butt-Head into backing off, but I like seeing Beavis seeming to understand him digging this boy band is pretty much indefensible. And when Butt-Head sees him twerking the couch I don't recall ever seeing and hearing Butt-Head so genuinely upset. Butt-Head is a sociopath who doesn't really care about anything. It's interesting that that was the thing that majorly offended him. Butt-Head's demeanor is always snide and amused in a mean-spirited way. For the first time ever he drops that smirky facade because he's genuinely mad. Beavis spanks him monkey in front of him, he gets a slap across the chops. He does THIS, he must leave his own house never to return. I actually almost get it.
I actually missed the shampoo bottle during the scene in the bathroom, so it being shampoo WAS a surprise. What's hilarious is Beavis and Butt-Head being angry at the "bees" for making shampoo instead of honey.
We're supposed to laugh as Beavis' violent misfortune with the bees, but I felt sympathetic towards him when he says doesn't want to open the box because it hurt. He doesn't have the verbal skills to explain why he knows it's a bad idea, and Butt-Head talks him into it anyways, but one of things that I relate to Beavis with is the fact that he doesn't have the ability to properly express what he's feeling, and he clearly wishes he did. And even if he did Butt-Head would torment him about it. But it wouldn't matter, because that would mean he could hang out with better people than Butt-Head. There is something tragic to me about the fact that on some level Beavis knows he's broken and can't do anything about it.
Mike Judge deliberately made sure that we remembered that his voice for Anderson may have been the prototype for Hank Hill, but it's still slightly different. Not only is Anderson's voice slightly deeper, he talks MUCH slower and more deliberately than Hank. He's what Hank will probably sound like at age 80. But it's still a slightly different voice.
I felt bad for Beavis by the end of this. ***.
Episode Overall: ***1/2.