Beavis and Butt-Head Volume 4

First appearing on our screens in 1992, Beavis and Butthead was a genuine cultural zeitgeist. At first glance seemingly a show as dim witted as its protagonists, Mike Judge’s surreptitious satire on the “ME” obsessed Generation X revealed itself to be a Wolf in Sheep’s clothing, using its position as one of the mainstays of the MTV network to skewer the education system, the entertainment industry and more It also managed to introduce Daria Morgendorffer, the much loved spin off character and voice of apathy itself, to the world. Bidding adieu in 1997, the most popular duo since Dean and Martin – Or Bill and Ted, at least – were resurrected in 2011 to much fan anticipation.

Any fear that the show would feel different slips away the instant the twangy guitar jams out of your speakers and makes love to your ears. The artistic direction is identical to its earlier incarnation and the writing is pitch perfect; it’s really like just stumbling across some unreleased episodes from the shows initial run.

Mike Judge returns as the voice of practically every male character and slips back into the roles with great ease. Episodes see the pair getting a homeless man to bite them so that they can become werewolves in order to capitalise on Twilight mania, Beavis preaching the word of The Great Cornholio to an adoring cult, consume copious amounts of fast food and more in their tireless quest to score. The characters of Beavis and Butthead are timeless archetypical slackers and this astute season proves that what they had to say in the 90’s still holds true today, perhaps even more pronounced. 

If you’re familiar with the previous volumes in the series, you’ll be surprised to notice that, for the first time on an official DVD release, the episodes are presented as broadcast rather than split up individually with the mocking commentary over music videos collected on a separate disc. These snippets of the two dissecting clips from reality shows such as Jersey Shore, 16 & Pregnant and Teen Mom show how culturally relevant Beavis and Butthead still are.

 Initially I feared that shifting their sardonic commentary over to anything but music clips would serve to be nothing but a lame Mystery Science Theatre 3000 rip off, but if anything, it makes more sense to have the pair comment on the abomination known as Reality TV, holding a mirror up to the screen and effectively showing us ourselves. The shows they’re mocking are practically already one big punch-line anyway and Beavis and Butthead riff off of these already ridiculous situations and create something truly hilarious. Without a doubt these scenes inter-spliced between the main stories were my favourite part of this collection.

Some of the episodes, particularly the ones with a single storyline, can drag the jokes out a little in order to fill the running time but overall the whip smart writing of the previous seasons has returned as triumphantly as every other aspect of the series.

Episode Listing

Werewolves of Highland / Crying

Daughter’s Hand / Tech Support

Holy Cornholio

Drones

Supersize me / Bathroom Break

The Rat / Spill

Doomsday / Dumb Design

Copy Machine / Holding

Used Car / Bounty Hunters

Time Machine / Massage

School Test/ Snitchers

Whorehouse / Going Down

Video & Audio Quality

Retaining the aesthetic of previous seasons, the shaky, hand drawn animation looks simply stunning, with the use of digital colouring giving the image a crisper quality than the episodes from previous volumes. The snippets of MTV reality shows and the music videos aren’t quite up to the standard you’d expect but this doesn’t detract from the hilarious commentary at all. Interestingly the scenes of our two protagonists during these sequences seem to be directly sourced from the original prints, clearly evident by the sudden descent of the quality of the image to resembling that of being viewed through a Vaseline smeared Jam jar. I’ve always been a fan of Mike Judge’s animation style and washed out colour palette and these are replicated brilliantly on this set.

Audio is presented in 5.1 DTS and handles the difficult task of maintaining sound levels through the commentary scenes admirably well. There are some small audio inconsistencies, most prominent of which is the transition from the menu to an episode, but overall it’s a nice transfer in regards to both categories.

Special Features

The back cover lists the special features as the “2011 San Diego Comic-Con Panel” and “Beavis & Butthead Interruptions”, followed by a proudly stated “And More!”... Unfortunately that exclamation point is misleading, as the “And More!” adds up to a single 17 second clip. Woo-Hoo, be still my beating heart. This shall be the last time you deceive me, Exclamation Point.

The Comic-Con footage is basically a Q & A session moderated by Johnny Knoxville of “Jackass” fame. He and Judge discuss the inception of the show and field some questions from fans, including Cornholio himself; this is entertaining enough but most of the anecdotes will be familiar to long-time fans.

“Beavis and Butthead Interruptions” are short promotional clips of the dim witted duo overdubbing scenes of the Jersey Shore cast on the phone. Lastly we have the aforementioned “And More!”, a short clip of Butthead telling cinema patrons to turn off their phones.

List of features:

2011 San Diego Comic-Con Panel (19:17)

Beavis & Butt-Head Interruptions (4:57)

Silence Your Cell Phone (0:17)

Final Thoughts

Another seemingly unlikely resurrection for a cult classic (After this and Red Dwarf, I can only hope that the third time’s the charm with Arrested Development) Beavis and Butthead Volume 4 is, despite the light extras, an essential purchase for fans of the eponymous duo. Mike Judge’s absence from the world of Beavis and Butthead is not at all noticeable and it feels like barely any time has elapsed between episodes, retaining the unique voice that made the series such a massive hit the first time around.

Their sardonic commentary a perfect panacea to the consumerist obsessed, Reality TV devouring vapid programming that makes up 90% of MTV’s current programming line up, Beavis and Butthead are a welcome return to our screens and are just as cuttingly hilarious as you remember. Now go and buy the DVD, Dumbass.