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"Come with us on a journey through time and space... to the
land of the Mighty Boosh."
The Show:
Nobody does off-the-wall cutting edge humor like the
British. From Monty Python
to The Young
Ones and Absolutely Fabulous,
bizarre, hilarious programs are definitely the forte of the English. You can add one more show to that list, The
Mighty Boosh. Offbeat, strange, and
incredibly funny, the show features a cast of strange characters and
even more
outlandish plots. The first season has
come out of DVD and is well worth watching.
Howard Moon (poet/philosopher/jazz enthusiast/kangaroo
fighter) and Vince Noir (who wants to be King of the Mods) work at the
Bob
Fossil's Zooniverse, a run-down zoo run by a guy who can't remember the
names
of any of the animals. Working at the
Zooniverse is no picnic though. Moon and
Noir's jobs include not only feeding the animals, but sometimes
dressing up as
them, or exploring dangerous sections of the
zoo that have been closed off for years.
Surreal and wacky, the show is wonderfully irreverent.
One of the highlights of the season is Bollo,
where Howard has to dress up as the zoo's ape, Bollo, when he gets sick. Unfortunately, Death takes Howard instead of
Bollo. It was an honest mistake, as
Death points out. After all, Howard was
in the ape enclosure and dressed as an ape... anyone would have done
the same
thing. He's taken to dispatch where the
boss tries to find out what to do with him.
Once Moon is dead though, he's dead and the only choices are
sending him
to Monkey Heaven or Monkey Hell.
Other adventures find the duo searching the Arctic
for a gem as big as a boy's small head, Vince joining
an electro-pop band, Kraftwork Orange, and Howard turning into a writer
by only
able to compose one sentence.
The program isn't filled with jokes and one-liners as
bizarre situations that are outrageously funny.
Seeing Vince in his earlier band, a folk/glamour rock fusion duo
(they dress
up in sweaters with Kiss-like makeup and sing Scarborough
Fair)
is hilarious, especially the folk version of Judas Priest's Breaking
the Law that they perform
during the end credits.
There are some shows that just miss the mark however.
The second episode where a mad scientist was
stealing animals from the zoo and splices them together in odd ways
doesn't
work. Having a dance number preformed by
the newly created creatures (where they incorrectly describe themselves
as
mutants) was an unusual choice, especially since the costumes were
really
wretched. It was neither funny nor
entertaining, and just failed. Shows
like that are in the vast minority however.
With such a cutting edge show, you've got to expect some
missteps.
The DVD:
Audio:
The show comes with a stereo soundtrack that suits it
well. There is some directionality and
the dialog is clear. Sometimes the
British accents can be a bit hard to understand, but that's mainly for
the
supporting characters who are adopting silly voices.
In any case that happens only infrequently.
Video:
The 1.78:1 widescreen anamorphic picture looks good,
especially for a British show that often look a little bit worse for
wear by
the time the get here across the pond.
The colors are bright and the lines are tight.
There aren't any digital defects worth noting
either. This is a nice solid looking
show.
Extras:
This season set has a good amount of bonus material.
First off there are commentary tracks by the
creators and stars of the show, Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding along
with supporting
actor Rich Fulcher (Bob Fossil) on four episodes. These
commentary tracks are a mixed bag. The
three guys have a party atmosphere going,
joking about and having a great time, but it doesn't really make for an
entertaining
commentary track. There are sections
that are pretty funny but those are sprinkled with in-jokes that I
didn't get
and lines that fall flat.
There's also a featurette, Inside the Zooniverse which
covers these first season
episodes. The piece talks to the
creators as well as the crew and they cover the animation, the musical
numbers,
the various characters, etc. It was fun
to watch.
More interesting was The
History of the Mighty Boosh. This
covers the origins of the Julian Barratt/Noel Fielding team and relates
how
they started the Boosh in clubs and pubs and slowly gained a following. It's less than ten minutes long, but features
some footage of them performing in a small club, which was pretty cool.
The extras are wrapped up by an outtake reel (most of the
scenes deserved to be cut), a picture gallery, and an option to see the
songs
performed in the show.
Final Thoughts:
This show is absolutely
hilarious. It took a couple of episodes
to get the series sense of humor, but after that it was pure gold. Funny, creative, and very bizarre, The
Mighty Boosh is a show that any fan
of unique humor should pick up. Highly
recommended. |
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