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Post by fonebone on Apr 29, 2023 15:03:37 GMT -8
Talkback for the Paramount+ Revival.
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Post by fonebone on Apr 29, 2023 15:04:33 GMT -8
Mike Judge's Beavis And Butt-Head "Meditation Sucks / Polling Place"
Meditation Sucks
The video stuff was a riot particularly Butt-Head telling Beavis he was just going to pretend he never told him that. I love that Beavis is so broken he thinks BUTT-HEAD is the weirdo. ****.
Polling Place
The framing story was painful and awful (anyone remotely believe a strip club would ever allow free admittance in the middle of the day for people with an "I voted" sticker?).
The saving grace was the video and Beavis talking about the half of the Lego pirate ship he left in the toilet. Butt-Head remarks their teacher said he ruined the third grade. And then he retired. That got a HUGE laugh from ne. ***1/2.
Episode Overall: ****.
Mike Judge's Beavis And Butt-Head "Old Man Beavis / Hunting Trip"
Old Man Beavis
Not to be confused with Old Beavis And Butt-Head.
I loved Butt-Head saying "That's disgusting." No other clarification needed. It totally is. It appears Butt-Head DOES have a line and Beavis just crossed it.
Beavis has no game. But he weirdly still has ten times the game Butt-Head does. ***.
Tom Anderson's War Stories
If King Of The Hill is done to show why Hank Hill has value, Tom Anderson exists to prove why he sucks. I think Beavis and Butt-Head's take has the right of it on that kind of person. ***.
Hunting Trip
I question why this exists. Do the writers not understand seeing idiots like Beavis and Butt-Head playing with a gun in NOT actually funny in today's climate? I understand this show used to be edgy back in the day. The problem is because of real life this crap isn't actually funny anymore so it's actually a comedy dead end. How do the writers not already know this? *.
Episode Overall: **.
Mike Judge's Beavis And Butt-Head "Pardon Our Dust / Pranks"
Pardon Our Dust
I guffawed at the "3 minutes and 35 seconds later" card. I especially love Butt-Head getting up and saying he yielded the rest of his time to Beavis. I love that Old Butt-Head knows what the word "yield" means in a committee context. And yet he's still too stupid to realize his home has been destroyed. ****.
Pranks:
Not really a great mine of comedy gems, to be truthful. The video portion was nothing special either. **.
Episode Overall: ***.
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Post by classicswim on May 1, 2023 4:19:34 GMT -8
[Meditation Sucks + Polling Place]
Absolutely no complaints from me here.
Out of everything from this new series already shown to me as of yet, this episode was the first I can distinctively say is “#1 favorite” material.
Both segments struck home runs.
Even when they had Jesus pissed, there’s something infinitely more funny about Zeus being the first figure to be outsmarted by Beavis & Butt-Head.
Having music videos again was a good return to form. Today, I learned Beavis regularly pulls a Vito Spatafore Jr. in the shower.
“I bet Ronald Reagan had some big ol hooters.” - Legitimate spit take.
Polling Place had a very 90s structure. The interactions between the duo and the random characters felt somewhat natural again.
[Old Man Beavis + Tom Anderson’s War Stories: Incheon + Hunting Trip]
Roughly two minutes into the first segment, we see Beavis briefly get high off paint again. Takes me back to the “don’t try this at home” days.
Old Man Beavis started out as a good plot to thwart Beavis into something stupid. Took a weird turn, but also sorted itself out quick enough.
Tom Anderson’s War Stories was a real clever revisionist skit. As both an avid KOTH fan and someone who loved Anderson in the original show, I found it fascinating that the flashback took the history of Tom Anderson literally.
Mike Judge’s initial inspiration for the character was always some old guy in Texas mumbling about something pointless. Like the neighborhood having a new paper boy.
The short completely subverted expectations too. Tom starts off addressing the viewer much like he would *sometimes* do as Hank Hill.
This was the first ever time though where I could see a stark contrast between Tom and Hank. Hank in the end would fight to help his gang, where as Tom sees no correlation with how his formal complaint got his own men killed.
Hunting Trip was a fun way to fully revisit Tom being tormented by Buffcoat & Beaver. Got pretty emotional unexpectedly.
Gotta say. I bitched a lot with season one, but this time around I’m really seeing some positive improvements.
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Post by fonebone on May 1, 2023 5:41:43 GMT -8
This was the first ever time though where I could see a stark contrast between Tom and Hank. Hank in the end would fight to help his gang, where as Tom sees no correlation with how his formal complaint got his own men killed. My interpretation of that was it sort of suggested what Hank would be like as a veteran. I think it's a realistic look at somebody that whiny and pedantic put in a position of more responsibility than selling propane or preventing his dumbass wife from going to jail because of the stupid shit she does. Tom Anderson is how Hank would fare around regular people instead of being King of the Hill in a community of dumbasses. This is the guy who's routinely outfoxed by Buffcoat and Beaver. I think Hank's portrayal was entirely too complimentary to that personality type.
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Post by classicswim on May 1, 2023 6:11:49 GMT -8
It was very unnerving in the Hunting Trip cartoon to hear Anderson on the brink of crying about his son, considering Hank would never let Bobby go like that.
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Post by fonebone on May 1, 2023 6:46:44 GMT -8
To play Devil's Advocate, are you sure Hank wouldn't do that? If Peggy up and died and he was in sole charge of Bobby? Are we 100% sure he wouldn't simply disown him? He treats Bobby with SO much open contempt, I'm wondering of Tom's sad story about his son could have been a But For The Grace Of God moment for Hank under different circumstances.
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Post by classicswim on May 1, 2023 7:20:04 GMT -8
I don’t know, man.
I know you don’t think as highly of either the show or the character, and I’m not trying to diminish your opinion.
And I’m well aware of all the flaws Hank happens to possess.
But he does truly love his son unconditionally.
The contempt you feel he has for him is mostly always something he rises above and learns from each time.
Truth be told, a lot of times Hank is just jealous of Bobby.
On that same subject of hunting... when Hank got Bobby into shooting, the kid was immediately even better with guns than his father. Rooted hostility between the childhood Hank had made him resentful. But ultimately, they both learned how to shoot together.
Anderson can’t even say he had any positive relationship with his Bobby in the slightest.
I’m sure the loss of Peggy would break Hank and make him want to be even better of a parent than he was before.
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Post by fonebone on May 1, 2023 9:58:38 GMT -8
The argument ends here because I want you to be right. Even if I WERE right, you SHOULD be right anyways. So let's just agree you are. I'll sleep better tonight.
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Post by classicswim on May 1, 2023 10:15:20 GMT -8
Eh. I mean if I’m wrong, then I’m wrong.
I’m not so stuck in my ways that I can’t see your point of view. I still feel roughly about the same, but this wasn’t a battle of wills to begin with.
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Post by fonebone on May 1, 2023 10:17:29 GMT -8
I love debate. Especially among friends. But I concede this one because it's better if you ARE right. So I'm going to choose to believe you are.
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Post by classicswim on May 2, 2023 19:43:03 GMT -8
[ Pardon Our Dust] “We’re being bribed. Uhuhuhuhuhuh.” For some reason, the backdrop of the low income housing at the beginning of the episode I found to look beautiful. I don’t know why that design out of all things impressed me. Beavis’ speech stole the show. The jackassery of going to a meeting, demanding to “DESTROY EVERYTHING,” mentioning bombs, etc. Butt-Head only wanted for Beavis to have his important matters attended to. [ Pranks] Yeah, this cartoon flopped rather quickly. One of my all-time favorites from the old show was the game of Ding-Dong-Ditch. When they rang doorbells in ‘97, they were stupid as hell, got yelled at by random people, and then pissed each other off once they tried the prank at their own home. Here, I didn’t mind them being unrealistically bad at pranks. Even though I’m calling absolute BS that they don’t know how to throw a damn egg at a house, because they certainly do know destruction. The problem was that they were unrealistically bad at pranks, AND there was no pay off at all. They found the sweetest couple of all time who had no problem being pestered multiple times in one day. One thing I liked at the beginning was when they spared people in poverty from the egging, calling them “badass.” That Nicki Minaj music video just reminded me of when they tried scoring with her back in the 2011 revival.
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Post by fonebone on May 7, 2023 3:38:33 GMT -8
Mike Judge's Beavis And Butt-Head "Hellhole / Take A Bow"
Hellhole
A little too stupid, even for Beavis and Butt-Head. The warped thing is at the end they are upset they are still actually alive. Part of me doesn't blame them. ***.
Take A Bow
It's SO weird and refreshing seeing Butt-Head actually remorseful about hurting Beavis and feeling bad. He doesn't exactly apologize at the end but he does say he's glad he didn't die.
Just that alone justify angels singing. Take a bow, Michael. Great ending.
The stuff with the guy chugging the Mountain Dew is Classic Beavis And Butt-Head, and why I'm glad the show has expanded from JUST music videos. Trash TV and web videos deserve deconstruction from these idiots too. *****.
Episode Overall: ****.
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Post by classicswim on May 7, 2023 7:25:19 GMT -8
[Hellhole]
I think this had the good makings and structure of what a typical cartoon should be. It’s only weak in execution because all they really did was jump in a sewer and blow up a gas pipe.
It brings back Butt-Head’s classic illiterate misunderstandings.
Plus, it brought back the head banging!
[Take a Bow]
I unfortunately just can’t stand behind this one.
I think it’s a good episode for all the detractors from the previous season who didn’t like the one-sided smackdowns from Butt-Head.
My only dog in that fight was how Beavis should learn to stand up for himself again, as these days he’s mostly submissive. Case in point.
I had to stop the episode for a minute right at the part where Butt-Head’s showing visible remorse and grave concern for Beavis. It was just the one thing I could visibly pinpoint was horribly wrong to do in an unironic fashion.
You know how last season, they had Butt-Head take medication and he became the ideal respectful young man? That was played out as a dire horror scenario for Beavis. As it should for the context of this duo.
You remember when Beavis first “died” in the old show? And how Butt-Head dragged him by the leg and tried burying him in a shallow backyard grave while laughing about it? That again was more in vain to his identity.
This cartoon also missed what ultimately, should’ve been the big picture...
- Beavis being gullible always leads to him being killed by Butt-Head in the end.
I’m not saying the show can’t have valid moments of clarity. The two Anderson cartoons whether you liked them or not recontexualized Tom into something more tragic and pitiful.
The most heavily under appreciated moment from the original show was Principal McVicker having a brief change of heart once Beavis apologized for one Cornholio incident. They turned that back around comedically by having Beavis instantly resume Cornholio chanting, but the intent was still successful. His apology had no meaning at all.
You can revisit characters under a more pivotal, emotional lens. Lol, just, um.... not with the titular characters.
When you create a fictional body as a satirical jab at teenagers, and then spend roughly 100% of the IP’s lifespan showing them to be idiotic gremlins not to be taken seriously, I’m never going to ask for either of them to express remorse or shame. It’s not nice, but that’s not what they are designed for.
Butt-Head never actually apologized here. But again. That look of fear and disbelief on his face has to be the show’s biggest sin to date.
Though really, I’m not so sure if a whole episode dedicated to punching Beavis in the dick would have sufficed.
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Post by fonebone on May 7, 2023 9:05:06 GMT -8
It was a nice thing. I am not going to begrudge a generally unpleasant show for doing a nice thing. Was it out of character? Probably. Do I care? No.
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Post by fonebone on May 7, 2023 9:14:04 GMT -8
Also I want to put it into your head that I've always found there to be a certain level of melancholy at times regarding the bleakness of their lives. Even on the old show I occasionally felt bad for them, particularly Beavis. To say that the titular characters have had NO pathos attached to how broken they actually are is simply not true.
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