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Back when Beavis And Butt-Head originally aired on MTV, I loathed the suckers. Let me explain. That was back in the day when I had problems making decisions for myself, you see. If everyone loved it, I hated it. If people were quoting it left and right, I made it a point to not laugh or pretend I didn’t know to what they were referring. This type of behavior made it very difficult to truly enjoy anything, for once I discovered more than six people liked something, I turned my back upon it. Case in point, Beavis And Butt-Head. I gave the odd episode a chance, but I would never DARE allow myself to find it funny in any way whatsoever once all those T-shirts and stickers and lunch boxes and stuff hit the shelves. Besides, this was lowest common denominator stuff. Penis humor combined with obvious nose thumbing at authority. My sense of humor was waaaay too refined for poorly animated, lowbrow junk like that.
How did I become less of an asshole over the years?
 Beavis And Butt-Head: The Mike Judge Collection Volume One presents us with 40 handpicked episodes by creator Mike Judge. Sifting through the episodes and discarding the one third of stories which he deems “really awful and embarrassing,” we get the first third of the two thirds he doesn’t mind so much with volume one of a proposed three volume series. As if. I’m sure if Paramount sees $$$ with all three volumes, a fourth set won’t be all that far behind.
But that’s beside the point. Beavis and Butt-Head now make this 31-year-old laugh. Like, a lot. What happened?
Aside from my oh-too-obvious attempts to march to the beat of a different tuba, I think the change in perspective really helps this tittering duo. When viewed by a pseudo-intellectual early teen, the chaps came of as crass. Foul. Obvious. Prophets for an ever mentally dulling generation of dick and fart joke lovers. Now however, when viewed by a pseudo-intellectual early 30something, I’m able to sit down and take it all in. I had these Beavis and Butt-Head fellas pegged all wrong. Sure, authority figures are being shat upon and of course there are penis jokes aplenty, but this show actually pokes fun at the main audience who was supporting this show in the first place. The MTV viewers.
These two guys are simple. Very simple. Boobs, TV and rock music, that’s all Beavis and Butt-Head need to survive - and not coincidentally all that MTV supplied. (And still supplies to this day, now that I think about it.) Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. Week after week, day after day, Mike Judge brazenly took potshots at a viewing audience who didn’t really seem to notice that they were being made fun of. Not only that, but those disciples of Kurt Loder embraced the guys. The youth of the day were portrayed as snickering freeloaders who didn’t have enough sense to come in out of the acid rain, and Beavis and Butt-Head were beloved for it. Turned into pop culture icons for it. Heck , you gotta respect the show for that fact alone.
These little fellas have a way of burrowing into your skull. It only takes three or so episodes before you yourself are tittering like a buffoon at any utterance that even remotely resembles a double entendre. You become them. It’s a little scary, actually, but it’s true. Once you begin to see things through their beady little eyes it becomes even more apparent how clever it is to center a show on such complete idiots when so much of the humor depends on other character types which we all recognize from our own lives. Our two leads are a blank slate upon which we can project our own points of view and thereby not judge them as harshly as we would the other colorful characters that populate their cheaply animated world. We become Beavis. We become Butt-Head. Suddenly, the two stupidest characters on the show are no longer so; we identify more with them than anyone else. It’s a seamless transformation from viewer to participant that so effortlessly transpires between chants of, “Breakin’ the law. Breakin’ the law,” and, “I am Cornholio. Me need tee-pee for me bunghole.” As we view the world in which Beavis and Butt-Head live from their own unique and uncomplicated point of view, our own world then becomes judged within the same context and our own place in society comes into question.
Wait, where the hell did all that come from? Oh well, just ignore me. Sometimes that’s best.
These guys is funny.
How's It Look, Smart Guy?
What can I say? Crappy animation in pristine digital clarity. Next.
How's It Sound, Ya Bum?
All pretty nice with a Dolby Digital 2.0 track. Not really all that impressive until the last disc where Mike Judge decided to bury 11 music videos where the boys do what they do best. You know, I’ve come across a great deal of grumblings concerning how few of these music videos are contained on this set. Considering how much of the show consisted of this money saving device, I must say I was a little shocked as well, but do you REALLY want to sit through that many shitty music videos? Didn’t think so. Hats off to your editorial choice there, Mr. Judge.
You Think I Just Wanted The Movie, Pal?
We get a featurette entitled Taint Of Greatness: The Journey Of Beavis And Butt-Head, Part 1 that features interviews with Mike Judge and some of his cohorts. It times out to about 30 minutes, so this ain’t really filler or anything. We get some solid info as to the origins of Beavis And Butt-Head the cartoon and Beavis and Butt-Head the characters themselves.
Next, we get an assortment of Beavis And Butt-Head VMA Awards Appearances. Certainly funnier than any animated character appearances you would see on The Oscars. Shrek can kiss my ass.
The Beavis And Butt-Head Thanksgiving Special With Kurt Loder is a bunch of edited highlights from the boys chillin’ with the guy that put the word “News” in “MTV News” from turkey days of the past. Some good giggles to be had here from the boys, but that Loder fool can’t even make a decent straight man. That’s right. You heard it SLAM BANNNG BANNGG BOIINNNG SLAPPPPPP first.
Some amusing, and quite dated, promos hang out on disc three as well as couple of pointless montages. Eh.
Finally, in the DVD-ROM arena, we get a weblink to The Animation Show website. There they showcase toons from around the world, so that means a few funny clips and a whole mess of pretentious water colored crap.
Bring Us On Home, Brother
Here we have a show that centered around two guys in their early teens that constantly giggle at some inside joke that never seems to end while huffing paint thinner or taking rides in washing machines. Stupid guys. Stupid behavior. Years later MTV would resurrect Beavis And Butt-Head as a live action show and call it Jackass, but that’s another story…
Honestly, folks, I loved every second of it. Each episode is only about five minutes long, making it easy to digest in small bite-sized pieces. Like a big ol’ bag of Starburst Jellybeans, I found myself reaching for “just one more handful” before I found the bag was empty. Worth your time.
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