Mongo Nation

Eight Years of adult animation in one convenient package

By Jeremy Azevedo

Adult Swim’s new box set (aptly titled “Adult Swim in a Box”) is a curious collection of seemingly random selections from their catalogue. Included are Aqua Teen Huger Force Volume 2, Space Ghost Coast to Coast Volume 3, Moral Orel Season 1, Robot Chicken Season 2, Metapocalypse Season 1 and Sealab 2021: Season 2.

I’m guessing that the selection is meant to showcase the best that Adult Swim has to offer and serve as a gateway for new fans. As such, it makes a great gift for people that haven’t already been collecting Adult Swim DVDs for years, but most hardcore fans are already going to own at least one or two of these.

In order to offers some incentive for longtime fans to purchase Adult Swim in a Box, it also comes with a disc of previously unavailable pilots, including The Best of Totally for Teens, Cheyenne Cinnamon and the Fantabulous Unicorn of Sugar Town Candy Fudge, Korgoth of Barbaria, Perfect Hair Forever and Welcome to Eltingville. Each one of these shows is a riot; it’s almost upsetting to watch, knowing that they didn’t go on to become fully produced series. Korgoth and Eltingville in particular are so polished that it’s hard to guess what could have possibly prohibited them from taking off, aside from budget constraints. I myself would’ve gladly tuned in for weeks on end of ultra-violence and nerd bashing (two of my favorite flavors!). Either way, it’s fun to have a glimpse at what could have been.

Official Synopses for the pilot episodes included in the Adult Swim in a Box DVD-set are as follows:

	Cheyenne Cinnamon and the Fantabulous Unicorn of Sugar Town Candy Fudge - On the outskirts of Taffy Valley lies a magical land called Sugar Town Candy Fudge, where pop-star princess Cheyenne Cinnamon lives in her fruitcake palace and leads a life dedicated to solving the world’s problems through the healing power of song.  Taffy Valley is located right next to Detroit, Michigan, where unemployment remains at record levels. Cheyenne Cinnamon  is created by Dave Willis, co-creator of Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Squidbillies.
	The Best of Totally for Teens - A live-action spoof of a show for teenagers, made and hosted by out-of-touch thirty-somethings, The Best of Totally for Teens picks up on the familiar custom of condescending kids’ shows hosted by adults.  In the tradition of Kids Are People, Too, our hosts use “teen lingo” and are dressed in “teen styles.”
	Korgoth of Barbaria - Barbarian on a quest who lives and dies by the sword. created by Aaron Springer, storyboard writer and director for Dexter’s Laboratory, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and SpongeBob SquarePants.
	Perfect Hair Forever - It’s Pokemon® meets Dragonball Z® when a young, bald boy goes on adventures in a mystical land. He encounters talking hot dogs and giant cat men, all while seeking the ultimate power - perfect hair.
	Welcome to Eltingville - Based on Evan Dorkin’s comic strip, Dork, the series was based around the Eltingville Club, a science fiction, horror, comic-book and fantasy gaming club consisting of four teenagers who are archetypal nerds.

Many of you are probably wondering why the classic selections included in this set aren’t all “Season 1”. I don’t really have an answer to that. Again, I think that the seasons that they chose are the strongest from each respective show, especially Sealab 2021: Season 2 and Space Coast to Coast Volume 3. Both of these shows had really hit their stride by this point, and there really isn’t any reason to watch these in chronological order. So why not put the best foot forward? Another explanation might be that they had a bunch of copies sitting around and needed to move them somehow. (It does, in fact, say “Cash Grab” on the side of the box, which may only be partly ironic.) This would also explain the inclusion of Moral Orel, which is only just an “okay” show. The set would have benefited much more from the inclusion of Venture Bros, The Brak Show, Home Movies or Harvey Birdman. Any of these would’ve been better examples of the Adult Swim legacy.

If you’re a big Adult Swim fan, this set is worth picking up even if you already have one or two of the seasons. It’s a helluva lot cheaper than buying the shows individually, and the bonus pilot disc is a great incentive. Newcomers should also consider picking up a copy of Adult Swim in a Box for the excellent Space Ghost, Metapocalypse, Aqua Teen, Robot Chicken and Sealab. If that doesn’t make an Adult Swim convert out of you, then dust the sand out of your vag, take a bong rip and watch it all again. If I remember college correctly, (I surely don’t), that’s how this stuff is meant to be viewed anyway.

A Bloody new animated series from G4.

G4’s new animated series, “Slasher School“, is the bloodiest cartoon I’ve seen since Metacpocalypse… And appears to share the same animators, as well! Check out the first two episodes, in which an unsettlingly average “Slashing” instructor at Berkowitsz Community College attempts to educate a hapless group of monsters and killers in the fine art of… um… slashing?

Has it really been ten years already?

By Jeremy Azevedo

Have you ever had one of those mornings in which you sneeze all over your shirt in the car on the way to work, someone eats your breakfast before you get there, and then you spill scalding hot coffee on your hand before even reaching your desk?

So you’re all pissed off to begin with, but then you sit down and you find a giant “Bender the Robot” head filled with Futurama DVDs waiting for you, being all awesome and futuristic. This, of course, triggers an epiphany of sorts about the contextual give-and-take that occurs everyday in our life. Have you ever had somehting like this happen to you and said to yourself, “Wow, this seems all the more awesome in comparison to the setbacks that preceded it”? Because that’s pretty much how my morning went earlier this week.

Camouflage for an urban asault on Bed, Bath & Beyond?

Futurama fans have been granted a wonderful gift in the form of a life-size bust of everybody’s favorite alcoholic robot, Bender. Inside of this bust you will find all 72 original episodes of Futurama, as well as all four of the most recent direct-to-DVD movies, all neatly stacked up inside. Some people that were at this year’s Comic Con in San Diego will say, “Hey! I thought this collection was going to be a super limited edition and that I’d always be the only one to ever have one of these!” To which I might reply, “F**k you, nerd, your bullshit pop cultural elitism was just dealt a fatal blow this day, sir! This Giant Bender Head full of DVDs belongs to the proletariat!” Or something along those lines.

Futurama: The Complete Collection 1999-2009 is the ultimate catalogue of animated hilarity, leaving absolutely nothing out. For starters, not one shred of any episode has been left behind. Also, every single episode includes full-length audio commentary. Not just some, or most, but all. There’s all kinds of other bonus features, like deleted scenes, “how to draw” featurettes, animatics, character art and virtually anything else Futurama-related that you can think of. Barring Rule 34 (If it exists, there is porn of it.), of course.

Slurm!

I really can’t say enough to praise the presentation of this set. The Bender bust comes packaged in a box that is designed to have the appearance of one of those jars that historical figures always keep their heads in on the show. It’s a very fan-service-y detail. The DVDs are all stacked inside pretty nicely, but be careful when removing your Bender head form the “jar”. Mine wasn’t taped shut or anything, and the door swung open, spilling all of my discs ass-over-teakettle. Don’t let the same thing happen to you.

Futurama: The Complete Collection 1999-2009 retails for around $199.98, which sounds a little steep, I know. But it can be had for much less if you cop one right now on Amazon, more in the ballpark of $117.99. But when you consider that this set comes with 19 discs of one of the most well-written shows in television history, animated or otherwise, and I think it’s safe to say that it’s worth the cost either way.

I award Futurama: The Complete Collection 1999-2009 ten out of ten Unicorns Fighting a Robot Dolphin:

Lastly, it also bears mentioning that there is more good news for Futurama fans on the horizon. The entire cast and key writers have signed on for a new 26-episode season to air on Comedy Central beginning in mid-2010! Too bad there isn’t room for any more discs in that head!

Still not entirely sure what a “Frisky Dingo” is, actually

By Jeremy Azevedo

Frisky Dingo is perhaps one of the weirdest and best shows in recent Adult Swim programming history. Which is really saying a lot, especially the “weirdest” part…

The first season began as a spoof of the superhero action genre, pitting the murderous alien supervillian Killface against billionaire playboy/superhero/vaguely gay Tom Cruise caricature Xander Crews in a struggle for the fate of the world. While this sounds relatively straightforward, the humor originates from the fact that every single one of the characters in the show is a complete mongoloid (except Stan). At the end of the season, Killface’s “Annihilatrix” (a doomsday device meant to drive the Earth into the sun) malfunctions, causing the Earth to unintentionally be pushed several feet away from the sun and curing global warming.

As season 2 begins, Killface capitalizes on his newfound worldwide popularity by running for president of the United States. What ensues is a farcical political satire that touches on issues ranging from campaign funding and getting the coveted minority vote to bi-curious hobbit dating and the proper method of aborting a giant, illegitimate monster ant baby. If you’ve ever seen Sealab 2021, you can imagine the kind of humor at work here, bizarre plot threads, dialogue frequently repeated for hilarity (boosh! and/or ka-kow!) and lots of sexism, gratuitous dismemberment and many…

…

…

…long, uncomfortable moments of silence.

Many of the highlights from season 2 revolve around Awesome X’s former private army, The Xtacles, who blindly follow anyone who exhibits even the slightest bit of leadership quality. The new season of Frisky Dingo has evolved into am Xtacles spin-off, and it’s easy to see why. (Unless you happen to be blind, but even then it’s at least easy to hear why.) Even if Killface and Xander’s presidential campaign jokes are not your cup of tea, every last scene with the Xtacles is comedy gold and certainly warrant repeated watching.

Rating: 8 out of 10

+1 if you are under the influence of any illicit substances whilst watching the show.
-1 if you bought the DVD with the hopes that a “Frisky Dingo” was some sort of sick furry fetish type thing.