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<\/a>Time-Warner finally gives the Cartoon Network’s first major hit the proper DVD treatment! Yes, I know this came out last Summer but I only watched it all the way through recently and 2008 is the 10th anniversary of the show\u2019s debut; the two shorts in the Mid-Nineties don\u2019t count because it wasn\u2019t an ongoing series. On the two-disc set (painted to look like Blossom\u2019s eyes) are all 13 episodes, the two shorts I mentioned earlier, all the promos CN did at the time and a good trove of extras (more on these later). I guess <\/span>Foster\u2019s Home for Imaginary Friends<\/span><\/em> hasn\u2019t been around long enough for Craig McCracken\u2019s other creation to accumulate such stuff. It was great to see this show again after CN ended it a few years back and then stopped showing it <\/span>ad nauseum <\/span><\/em>which they and Nickelodeon do. I had forgotten how funny the girls\u2019 recurring enemies were, other than the redundant, can\u2019t-be-succinct, verbose, prone-to-digressing, Mojo Jojo. Who else? The Gangrene Gang, Sedusa, the Amoeba Boys, Fuzzy Lumpkins and the creepy\u2026Him, a cross between the Devil and Dr. Frankenfurter. One-shot foes were in the first season: the Roach King, some manipulative telepathic cat (Mark Hamill), the Boogie Man (my personal favorite) and their male counterparts, the Rowdy Rough Boys. The show\u2019s humor and pop-culture references range from the obvious: the <\/span>Star Wars <\/span><\/em>Death Star sequences; to the obscure: mostly from Japanese monster movies\/shows. It was also the most action-packed, ultra-violent superhero cartoon on the air in its day. This was something I didn\u2019t realize until I read an <\/span>Onion <\/span><\/em>interview<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a> of McCracken. In it he commented on how the current Batman cartoon was mainly just talking. When I watched and compared the two shows, he was right. Batman usually jawed his foes into submission like the old, lame <\/span>Superfriends<\/span><\/em> while three little girls beat the snot out of their foes. So maybe it\u2019s best not to share this program with children who demonstrate imitative tendencies.<\/span><\/p>\nWhen it comes to extras, a real make-or-break factor, this one was given more thought. The original student films McCracken made are here, <\/span> Whoopass Stew <\/span><\/em>or what most people refer to as the Whoopass Girls<\/em>. These originally made the rounds through the annual Mike & Spike festivals (I\u2019ve never been to one) and then the Internet. I didn\u2019t pay attention to the credits until now though; a classmate named Lou Romano helped (he’s the voice of Linguini from <\/span>Ratatouille<\/span><\/em> and other Pixar movies). The best extra is the special contest episode of <\/span>Space Ghost: Coast to Coast<\/span><\/em> with McCracken being interviewed by the fictional host along with four other directors pitching their shows. Afterwards, you can watch how the writers recorded his original responses before fleshing out SG\u2019s lines around them, it was hilarious, especially his last reply.<\/span><\/p>\n This is a highly recommended set. It\u2019s not quite on par with <\/span> The Simpsons w<\/span><\/span><\/em>hich is the standard of a good DVD seasonal package. It\u2019s pretty close. Besides, there\u2019s a whole new bunch of kids such as my nieces and nephews who are under 10. Now I\u2019m wondering when there will be a second season set which better include the <\/span>Legion of Doom<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a> rescue mission gag; and the new, made-for-TV movie as Tara Strong (the voice of Bubbles) stated earlier this year.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Time-Warner finally gives the Cartoon Network’s first major hit the proper DVD treatment! Yes, I know this came out last Summer but I only watched it all the way through recently and 2008 is the 10th anniversary of the show\u2019s … Continue reading