The quick jokes of movie posters, the melodramatic supporting characters who act anything but the part, and the frequent movie parodies all make “The Critic” a fun, and quite funny, show.
Video:
Presented in its original fullscreen broadcast aspect ratio, "The Critic" looks like a show that was created nearly a decade ago. Copious amounts of grain mar this print, so much so that you may need to rub your eyes. Film artifacts also pop up, white and black flecks and small scratches that cover the video. And, much like was the case with the recent "Family Guy" sets, this new transfer does clean up the print so a lot of the manufacturing errors become patently, almost painfully obvious. Stutters in the animation and awkward character pauses are immediately apparent, and exist from the beginning of the series on to its end. The character animation smoothes out in the second season, and the colors don´t vary as wildly, but the specks and scratches still abound. I´ll grant you this is a cult TV show, but I´d think that it deserved a little better treatment.
Audio:
Unlike the video, I have absolutely no gripes about the audio. Clean, clear, and crisp, the Dolby Digital stereo sounds just fine. Actually, it might have been better to have suppressed it a little, since it becomes almost distracting when you hear the same actors continually doing different characters and their voices come through so clear. Just a quibble on an excellent audio transfer.
Extras:
Most prominent, perhaps, is the scattered commentaries included on a handful of episodes by a host of creators, writers, directors, producers, and talent. It´s surprising how many people are included, like Al Jean and Mike Reiss, veterans of the Simpsons sets, Executive Producer James L. Brooks, talent Charles Napier and Maurice LaMarche. Conspicuous by his absence is Jon Lovitz. The crew spends time reminiscing on the creation of "The Critic," why they made the artistic choices they did and the origins of some jokes. Perhaps most interesting is the way the crew also talks about the failure of the show. Unlike the commentaries for "Family Guy" which just said "People didn´t get us and people are stupid," veteran TV creators here attempt to understand why they failed so they can rectify their mistakes on their next project. Unfortunately, as they make note in the commentaries, this is the first time in a decade some of them have seen these shows, so their memories aren´t exactly razor sharp and they do spend some time watching what´s actually happening on screen, because it´s all new to them, so you are going to get some dead spots.
On disc 2, there is a neat feature that allows you to watch episode "A Pig Boy and his Dog" with a branching feature that will allow you to compare the episode with its story boards. Neat feature, but the story boards are only accessible through this feature, which is disappointing.
Next up is an amalgamation of clips, called "Trailer Parodies" on the third disc. Actually, the best part of this extra (none of it will be new if you watched all the episodes first) is a parody of those slides they show before a movie, with great movie-themed jokes. Some pretty funny stuff.
"Top Ten List" is a great set of the movie parody previews from the beginning of the show.
"Creating The Critic" is a retrospective interview/documentary with writers Al Jean and Mike Reiss where they explain how Jim Brooks came to them with an idea that almost organically grew into the "Critic" concept. They follow how the show grew into a cartoon, how Jon Lovitz became involved for the part that was created for him, and how the characters were created. Brief, but interesting.
Columbia-Tristar has seen fit to put the Animated Shorts created for the Internet in 2000. The dozen 2-3 minute Flash animated episodes are generally set in and around Jay´s new Internet-based television show. It gives him a chance to rip on recent movies and throw in a few new parodies. The shorts also introduce a buxom blonde makeup artist, the new apple of Jay´s eye, and a brief love affair between the two. An excellent addition, truly making this a complete set for fans of "The Critic."
The first disc of the DVD also includes a couple of commercials to let you know what´s available out there in the world of TV-on-DVD. Actually, it reminds me, I want to pick up "Dilbert" and "The Tick."
Film Value:
Admittedly, "The Critic" is a guilty pleasure for me. Admittedly a cult classic TV show, the folks at Columbia-TriStar have put together a solid package for the man that all film critics both aspire and fear to become.
Presented in its original fullscreen broadcast aspect ratio, "The Critic" looks like a show that was created nearly a decade ago. Copious amounts of grain mar this print, so much so that you may need to rub your eyes. Film artifacts also pop up, white and black flecks and small scratches that cover the video. And, much like was the case with the recent "Family Guy" sets, this new transfer does clean up the print so a lot of the manufacturing errors become patently, almost painfully obvious. Stutters in the animation and awkward character pauses are immediately apparent, and exist from the beginning of the series on to its end. The character animation smoothes out in the second season, and the colors don´t vary as wildly, but the specks and scratches still abound. I´ll grant you this is a cult TV show, but I´d think that it deserved a little better treatment.
Audio:
Unlike the video, I have absolutely no gripes about the audio. Clean, clear, and crisp, the Dolby Digital stereo sounds just fine. Actually, it might have been better to have suppressed it a little, since it becomes almost distracting when you hear the same actors continually doing different characters and their voices come through so clear. Just a quibble on an excellent audio transfer.
Extras:
Most prominent, perhaps, is the scattered commentaries included on a handful of episodes by a host of creators, writers, directors, producers, and talent. It´s surprising how many people are included, like Al Jean and Mike Reiss, veterans of the Simpsons sets, Executive Producer James L. Brooks, talent Charles Napier and Maurice LaMarche. Conspicuous by his absence is Jon Lovitz. The crew spends time reminiscing on the creation of "The Critic," why they made the artistic choices they did and the origins of some jokes. Perhaps most interesting is the way the crew also talks about the failure of the show. Unlike the commentaries for "Family Guy" which just said "People didn´t get us and people are stupid," veteran TV creators here attempt to understand why they failed so they can rectify their mistakes on their next project. Unfortunately, as they make note in the commentaries, this is the first time in a decade some of them have seen these shows, so their memories aren´t exactly razor sharp and they do spend some time watching what´s actually happening on screen, because it´s all new to them, so you are going to get some dead spots.
On disc 2, there is a neat feature that allows you to watch episode "A Pig Boy and his Dog" with a branching feature that will allow you to compare the episode with its story boards. Neat feature, but the story boards are only accessible through this feature, which is disappointing.
Next up is an amalgamation of clips, called "Trailer Parodies" on the third disc. Actually, the best part of this extra (none of it will be new if you watched all the episodes first) is a parody of those slides they show before a movie, with great movie-themed jokes. Some pretty funny stuff.
"Top Ten List" is a great set of the movie parody previews from the beginning of the show.
"Creating The Critic" is a retrospective interview/documentary with writers Al Jean and Mike Reiss where they explain how Jim Brooks came to them with an idea that almost organically grew into the "Critic" concept. They follow how the show grew into a cartoon, how Jon Lovitz became involved for the part that was created for him, and how the characters were created. Brief, but interesting.
Columbia-Tristar has seen fit to put the Animated Shorts created for the Internet in 2000. The dozen 2-3 minute Flash animated episodes are generally set in and around Jay´s new Internet-based television show. It gives him a chance to rip on recent movies and throw in a few new parodies. The shorts also introduce a buxom blonde makeup artist, the new apple of Jay´s eye, and a brief love affair between the two. An excellent addition, truly making this a complete set for fans of "The Critic."
The first disc of the DVD also includes a couple of commercials to let you know what´s available out there in the world of TV-on-DVD. Actually, it reminds me, I want to pick up "Dilbert" and "The Tick."
Film Value:
Admittedly, "The Critic" is a guilty pleasure for me. Admittedly a cult classic TV show, the folks at Columbia-TriStar have put together a solid package for the man that all film critics both aspire and fear to become.
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Average user rating (1-5):
[release]11500[/release]