The Series:

Although Adult Swim's Squidbillies was supposed to start airing in late 2004 the show didn't really show up until about a year later in October of 2005. Since then the series has slowly but surely built up a well deserved cult following and, two years later, the first season sees the light of day on DVD.

So who or what are the Squidbillies? Good question! In short, the show revolves around a hillbilly squid named Early Cuyler (voiced by Stuart Daniel Baker better known as singer/songwriter Unknown Hinson) who lives in a small redneck town in the hills of Georgia. At one point during his younger days, Early had a thirty-two second sexual relationship with a mammoth woman named Krystal (voiced by Mary Kraft) that lead to the birth of Rusty Cuyler (voiced by Daniel McDevitt). Krystal didn't want a squid baby and so the child was left on the doorstep of Rusty's sister, Lil (voiced by Patricia French), who works as a hair stylist when she isn't making meth. Why didn't Early take care of his son? He was in jail for fifteen years for robbing a liquor store. The local Sheriff (originally voiced by Charles Napier then later Bobby Ellerbee) takes pity on Early when he finds out that he has a son and so Early is given early release. He sets out to find a job and winds up a patsy CEO for Dan Halen (voiced by Todd Hansen), a local evil corporate industrialist.

That's more or less the setup for one of the most bizarre shows to come along in some time. At times hilarious and at other times a little bit creepy, Squidbillies skewers redneck culture with merciless enthusiasm. Plenty of subplots and running gags continue throughout the series, such as Early's consistent scamming of the Sheriff or the family's racial issues (they hate white people and refer to them as chalkeys). Early's mother, Granny (voiced by Dana Snyder), talks to Jesus on a pretty regular basis and pops up to help out from time to time while Rusty is always trying to learn from his father who he obviously looks up to in his own dumb way. Early's hats often contain different slogans and catch phrases on them such as 'Booty Hunter,' 'Breathe If You're Horny,' and 'David Allen CEO.' Little details like this give the show quite a bit of replay value as there tends to be a lot of odd little background jokes scattered throughout each episode. There are plenty of references and digs at the state of Georgia throughout the series as well, which isn't surprising considering that Adult Swim and many of its creators are based in Atlanta.

The animation is often very sketchy, giving the characters a sloppy, sketchy unfinished look but it suits the material well. The backgrounds employed throughout the series are more interesting in that they look to be painted in an almost surrealist manner. As such, Squidbillies is a really interesting and unique looking show. The show also makes excellent use of music. From the opening theme (performed by country legend Billy Joe Shaver) to the background music, the instrumental bits that pepper each episode really help bring the atmosphere out into the open.

The show is also surprisingly clever for a series based around 'the love between an uneducated father and his illegitimate son.' You'd think that the show would go for the lowest common denominator but that's simply not the case. The series does fine job of taking shots at redneck culture but it also makes jabs at corporate control and American politics. The subject matter and premise are probably too weird to really capture a mainstream audience but that doesn't mean the material is any less enjoyable.

The episodes in this set are laid out as follows:

Disc One:
This Show Is Called Squidbillies
Take This Job And Love It
School Days, Fool Days
Chalky Trouble
Family Trouble
Office Politics Trouble
Government Brain Voodoo Trouble
Butt Trouble
Double Truckin' The Tricky Two
Swayze Crazy

Disc Two:
Giant Foam Dickhat Trouble
The Tiniest Princess
Meth OD To My Madness
Bubba Trubba
Asses To Ashes, Sluts To Dust
Burned And Reburned Again
Terminus Trouble
Survival Of The Dumbest
A Sober Sunday
Rebel With A Claus

The DVD:

Video:

The 1.33.1 fullframe episodes look decent on this set with some noticeably strong color reproduction and black levels. There are no problems with edge enhancement or mpeg compression at all thought some very obvious aliasing and line shimmering is hard not to notice. Aside from that, this is a pretty nice effort and the series looks quite good. The odd painted backgrounds are colorful and sloppy just as they should be and detail levels are fine. No problems with print damage, dirt or debris are evident and aliasing aside, this material looks nice.