Beavis And Butt-Head: The Mike Judge Collection, Vol. 2

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It is hard to believe that Beavis and Butt-Head have been absent for nearly ten years now. Though MTV2 may show repeats routinely of the idiotic duo, creator Mike Judge has not provided us with any new material since 1997. Their raunchy behavior and crude language that once sparked controversy are no longer part of modern pop-culture, but a side note in television history. The pre-teens of "South Park" have long since supplanted "Beavis and Butt-Head" as the animated cartoon of choice for those who think that "The Simpsons" is too tame for their tastes. "Beavis and Butt-Head" had a short lifespan in the annals of television. Four years is not a long run. They did spawn a full-length theatrical film, "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America," and the two found themselves thrust into the MTV limelight and made appearances in award shows and even a Thanksgiving Day parade. Still, they made quite an impression and are remembered by many. This DVD set is the second of (at least) three volumes that chronicle the two dumbest characters ever associated with the term boob-tube.

Within the packaging of the first "Mike Judge Collection," Mike Judge stated that the Beavis and Butt-Head series could be broken down into three parts. The first third would have been the very good episodes. The second group of episodes would fall into the ´decent´ category. Supposedly, the final third would encompass the ´crappy´ episodes. Crappy seems to be a good descriptor considering the material. Curiously, will these three volumes of "Beavis and Butt-Head" constitute the entire four year run for the show? Completists and hardcore fans of the show certainly would hope so. I´m sure fans would not consider the ´crappy´ episodes unwatchable, but anybody who does not particularly enjoy the cartoons´ humor would find all of them unwatchable.

I always found humor in "Beavis and Butt-Head." Whether they were threatening to cut off the genitals of a grasshopper with a chainsaw or slapping each other in the face under the cry of ´dumbass,´ I laughed. I laughed a lot. At the time of "Beavis and Butt-Head" I was a Penn State student who enjoyed hanging out with friends and putting down a few beers and the adolescent humor and pop culture references was a great way to relax from studying courses in my computer science and math majors. Differential Equations, Artificial Intelligence and Numerical Analysis could be quite frustrating and tedious. It was always downright boring. If it weren´t for the wisecracks of these two buffoons, my nights of studying would have been a lot longer. Of course, my grades would maybe have been better too, but I cannot imagine by much.

What I enjoyed the most was the comments made by Beavis and Butt-Head when watching music videos from their couch. I still remember one particularly funny moment when Milli Vanilli graced their screen. No words or smart-assed comments were made by either. Just a look of utter confusion and a click of the remote. Brilliant. Sadly, this is the major flaw and problem with the "Mike Judge Collections" being released to DVD to chronicle the adventures of B and B-H. The music videos are almost completely missing. Each box set does include a few of the videos (there are thirteen in this set), but they have been removed from the episodes and are contained on the third, supplementary disc. In this regard, "Beavis and Butt-Head" have been neutered. I can hear Beavis shrieking now in pain: "Butt-Head, they cut off my nads." Poor fella.

Still, there is a lot of entertainment value left in the neutered "Beavis and Butt-Head" episodes. Where else can you get humor of this nature:

Beavis: "I´m going to put it into her taco."

Butt-head: "Don´t you have to give her the Spanish Fly first?"

With a little adult knowledge, that quote is quite humorous and certainly perverted. Younger ears are going to not fully understand it. Still, a quality example of the type of conversation the two characters had between one another. If they weren´t talking about sex, they were talking about kicking each others´ asses or finding clever ways to discuss fire (The real "F-Word" of the show). Yes, it was juvenile. It was idiotic. However, "Beavis and Butt-Head" was far from the norm and the creators didn´t mind pushing boundaries. It was a cable show and it was shown after most school-age children´s bedtimes.

This second DVD collection is solid. The first "Mike Judge Collection" was supposedly the meat of the series. I assume this set is the potatoes. Not quite as good, but worthwhile. I found it to be just as entertaining as the first set. In fact, this set seemed a bit raunchier than the first collection. The "Spanish Fly" episode is a classic, as is the episode where B & B-H decide to get some plastic surgery to get bigger ahem, noses. I laughed frequently as I journeyed down memory lane with these two imbeciles of the small screen. Perhaps two or three of the forty contained episodes was sub-par, but for the most part, they easily yanked the funny bone. Yes, the music videos are sadly absent, but the animated parts of the series are still valuable bits of Nineties memorabilia. If you think about it, "Beavis and Butt-Head" is like mixing "The Three Stooges" with "Benny Hill." It is just animated and a little cruder in its language.

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