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Mighty Boosh: Season 3, The
BBC Worldwide // Unrated // July 21, 2009
List Price: $29.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
After more than a two-year absence from the small screen, The Might Boosh returned in 2007 for their third season (and so far their last, though another set of shows is rumored to be in the works for 2010) which the good folks at BBC Video have just released here in region one. Unfortunately this set of shows is a step down in quality from the earlier seasons, with writers/creators Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding falling into some sitcom pitfalls and losing some of the magic that they once had. The show is still funny, and there are still moments of brilliance, but it doesn't compare with the first two seasons.
As they did with season two, the setting changes with season three. In this season Howard Moon (depressed aged emo guy and jazz enthusiast) and Vince Noir (nearly famous sunshine boy) are working in a knick-knack shop owned by their friend Naboo the Enigma, a mystic, and his familiar Bollo, an ape. Working at the Nabootique is a little dull at times, but things mange to happen to the hapless pair. While the plots are slightly less surreal than earlier shows, the boys still find themselves in the middle of bizarre and comic situations.
In this season the stories are a bit more standard. Which, coming from where The Boosh started means they are still far out weird, just not as avant-garde as they once were. There are still some strange and comic events, like The Crack Fox, a sewer-living Fox who is addicted to cocaine, and Sammy the Crab, an unstable actor. But they seem to go for more typical plots this time around. When Vince bites a jazz record at the behest of his punk friends he gets infected with a Jazz cell that causes him to scat. The resolution is a parody of Fantastic Voyage where Howard is shrunk down to microscopic size and injected into Vince to destroy the cell. The thing is, the parody isn't that funny, and while the Jazz cell is a neat idea, it isn't utilized as much as it should have been.
They also bring back a lot of characters from the earlier two seasons, too many in fact. Dennis the Head Shaman is in two episodes, and The Hitcher makes another appearance too. The problem with these reappearances is that it's taking the place of creativity. It's almost like they're saying "hey! Remember how funny it was the first time you saw this guy!"
The characters of Vince and Howard have changed too. In the first season they were a lot like Laurel and Hardy: a dumb guy and a dumber guy. They were two slacker with Howard thinking he was more intelligent than Vince. Now Howard is a guy who spends a lot of time moping around and Vince is a smart, popular guy. Vince is a much better salesman than Howard and is able to spot trends and cash in on them. Howard is just a dolt. A humorous dolt, but he comes across more like the comic relief in a standard sitcom in this series more than the star.
That's not to say that this season is bad. It's actually quite funny. The problem is that it doesn't live up to the standard that the earlier show sets. They are starting to play it safe a bit. The episode where someone is copying Vince's look is a good example. Lance Dior is dressing and acting just like Vince and is doing it better than Noir. Dior is on the cover of fashion magazines and is the talk of the town. When Lance teams up with a tall, older guy with poor fashion sense named Harold Boom, starts a band called The Fighting Zeus, and even take their weekly slot at a local club, The Velvet Onion, Vince and Howard get made. While the concept is funny, and there are some great moments including the retro-band performance, it unfolds like any sitcom would. The Boosh perform against Zeus and loose, and then when everything looks hopeless they come up with a new idea! I have to admit I laughed through the show, but I was also a little disappointed that it was so standard in the execution.
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, like the last one, 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. Like the earlier season's tracks, these commentaries are a mixed bag. The 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.
The rest of the goodies include a making-of featurette that is similar to the ones accompanying seasons one and two that runs 27-minutes in length and talks to the creators and crew. Boosh Publicity is a 29-minute look at what Barratt and Fielding go through to publicize the show... following them to radio shows interviews, public appearances, etc. The rest of the disc is taken up with deleted scienes, outtakes, the Boosh Music reel, and some promos.
Final Thoughts:
Though it might not sound like it from the body of my review, I enjoyed this third season of The Might Boosh. I just didn't like it as much as the first two seasons. Some of the magic has left the series and it feels like the creators are having more trouble coming up with plots and stories. In any case, it's still a disc worth checking out. Funny, surreal, and absurd. Recommended.
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