Paramount // 1996 // 226 Minutes // Not Rated
Reviewed by Judge Jennifer Malkowski // June 14th, 2006
Butt-Head: Being married must suck...you'll always be hanging out with
the same person --
Beavis: Oh yeah.
Butt-Head: --
saying all the same crap for, like, years and years.
Beavis: Oh
yeah.
Butt-Head: That would suck.
Beavis: Oh yeah.
Beavis and Butt-Head were the poster boys for Generation X in the mid-1990s. They were who the nation could turn to when they needed to sort things into a rigid sucks/cool duality. In the second of three volumes, creator Mike Judge culls 40 more good episodes and 13 more music video commentaries from the middle portion of the series.
Forty episodes from Seasons Five and Six are included, not entirely in release order:
Disc One:
* "Plastic Surgin'"
Hoping to make their wieners bigger,
Beavis and Butt-Head visit a plastic surgeon.
Beavis [about
wieners]: Butt-Head says it's, like, not really a bone.
Surgeon
[about noses]: Actually, it's cartilage, which acts like a bone.
Beavis: Yeah, mine acts like a bone in the morning sometime.
* "Stewart Moves Away"
Beavis and Butt-Head break into
Stewart's house to watch TV when some "movers" arrive.
Butt-Head [about the thieving movers]: These are the coolest dudes I've
ever met.
* "Top o' the Mountain"
Beavis and Butt-Head go to the hair
salon to see the stylist's boobs...and maybe get their hair cut.
Beavis: I was thinking of writing a song called "Dammit
Son-of-a-Bitch."
* "Bad Dog"
Without realizing the risks and
responsibilities, Beavis and Butt-Head adopt a vicious dog.
The boys want
to "teach it to bite stuff that sucks."
* "Lightning Strikes"
Imitating Ben Franklin from a PBS
special, Beavis and Butt-Head get hurt and wind up being used as an example of
kids harmfully imitating violent TV.
Butt-Head: He said BS.
Beavis: But first he said P.
* "Party"
Beavis and Butt-Head throw a party, taking pains
to get plenty of "the hard stuff."
Beavis: Where do you
get these ideas?
Butt-Head: They come from my wiener.
* "What's the Deal"
Neighbor Tom Anderson pulls Beavis and
Butt-Head into a poker game with very distracting nudie cards.
Butt-Head [playing rock-paper-scissors]: Rock smashes scissors. Smacks
Beavis.
Beavis: Ahhhhh!
Butt-Head: Paper smashes
scissors. Smacks Beavis.
Beavis: Ahhhhh!
* "Wet Behind the Rears"
The coach forces Beavis and
Butt-Head to shower after P.E.
Coach: Look at you, boy, you're
covered in crap!
Beavis: That was last week. This is blood,
sir.
* "Animation Sucks"
For a class project, Beavis and
Butt-Head animate lots of dead people.
Beavis: So, like, in
animation you have to draw tons of dead people just to end up with two dead
people?
Butt-Head: Animation sucks.
* "Candy Sale"
Highland High makes Beavis and Butt-Head sell
candy for a fundraiser. Their sales pitch:
Butt-Head: Uh, our
school's making us sell candy.
Beavis: Yeah. We're losers.
* "Here Comes the Bride's Butt"
Beavis and Butt-Head crash a
wedding. (See the quotation above in "The Charge.")
* "Pregnant Pause"
Beavis sees a commercial about morning
sickness and begins to think he may be pregnant, which every event in his day
soon appears to confirm.
Butt-Head: These guys think they're funny,
but they're just stupid.
Beavis: Yeah, it's like when you think
you're pregnant but you really just have to take a big dump.
* "Oil Change"
Ordered to change the oil in the Burger World
fryer, the boys head to their local oil change garage for supplies.
Butt-Head: Remember to check it with your dipstick.
Beavis:
No way!
* "History of Women"
Needing to complete a report on women's
history, Beavis and Butt-Head seek help from a female librarian.
Beavis
[asked what woman he most admires]: My mom.
Butt-Head: You
wuss.
Mr. Van Driessen: Butt-Head, I hope your oral report is a
little wider in scope than Beavis's.
Butt-Head: Uh...the woman I
admire most is...Beavis's mom.
* "Beavis, Can You Spare a Dime?"
The boys start a new
career as panhandlers.
Butt-Head: What's the best nation in the
world?
Beavis: Um, urination.
* "Premature Evacuation"
A bomb scare causes the school to
evacuate but fails to scare Beavis and Butt-Head.
Beavis: I bet if
we had a bomb, Pantera would hang out with us.
* "Bang the Drum Slowly Dumbass"
Beavis and Butt-Head
stumble upon Mr. Van Driessen and his New Age men's group having a drum circle
in the woods.
Mr. Van Driessen: And that's important, especially
today as we men wrestle with our manhood.
Butt-Head: Beavis
wrestles with his manhood.
Beavis: Yeah. I usually win.
* "Close Encounters"
Highland High's principal, fed up with
Beavis and Butt-Head, sends them to group therapy.
Facilitator:
Let's have a reality check. Does anyone think Michael's a jerk for what he just
shared?
Butt-Head: Uh...Yeah.
Beavis: Yeah, me too.
Jerk!
Facilitator: Butt-Head, perhaps you see a part of yourself in
Michael.
Butt-Head: Yeah, my butt.
* "Vidiots"
In another attempt to find chicks, the boys
visit Desperate Embrace Dating Service.
Butt-Head: My interests
are, like, doing it...and that's about it.
* "Tired"
Looney Tunes–style antics ensue when Beavis
and Butt-Head find a huge tire and ride it down a hill.
Butt-Head:
Shut up and get in the tire, dumbass.
Disc Two:
* "Whiplash"
Butt-Head masterminds a bus crash to give
Beavis whiplash so that they can get rich from a lawsuit.
Beavis:
This is cool. I hardly ever take the bus to school.
Butt-Head: You
hardly ever go to school, dillhole.
* "Spare Me"
Two hot babes ask Beavis and Butt-Head to
change their tire, promising to "take them for a ride" afterwards.
Daria: You guys are never gonna get any.
* "Womyn"
Beavis and Butt-Head find a place where lots of
chicks hang out: a militant feminists' meeting.
Butt-Head: So. You
chicks wanna get it on?
Feminist: We prefer to be called women.
Butt-Head: So. You "women" want to get it on?
Feminist: Jerks!
* "Murder Site"
The boys investigate a Highland murder site
they see on TV.
Beavis: Dammit, Butt-Head, stop calling me
Butt-knocker!
* "Another Friday Night"
Up to their usual Friday night
antics hanging around the convenience store, Beavis and Butt-Head find
themselves in the middle of a hostage situation.
Police negotiator:
Just tell us what you want. Anything.
Beavis: Get nachos! Get some
nachos!
* "Patsies"
The boys go on an outing with the PATs,
"Positive Acting Teens."
PAT member: But what if you
could go into the future and either give Geordi his normal sight back or make
Data a real human being, which would you do?
Butt-Head: Huh-huh.
Wood.
* "Spanish Fly"
Butt-Head finds some mythical Spanish Fly
and tries to give it to a chick, but ends up giving it to a dude, who the boys
then think is hitting on Beavis.
Coach: Dammit, Beavis, you have
been challenged! Now get down on all fours!...Tommy, mount him.
* "Sexual Harassment"
Beavis and Butt-Head charge a female
classmate with sexual harassment.
Beavis: She's doing it again!
She's doing it right now!...She's giving me a stiffy!
Judge: She's
giving you a what?
Beavis: Boi-oi-oi-oing!
* "Green Thumbs"
The boys try to counterfeit money.
Clerk [as Butt-Head pays with ratty, photocopied bills at the convenience
store]: Son, I have a mind to throw you out of this store.
Butt-Head [sliding one more ratty bill over the counter]: Maybe this will
change your mind...
* "Bus Trip"
Field trip! Mr. Van Driessen's class goes to
the mountains.
Butt-Head: I've got a rock formation in my
pants.
* "Blood Pressure"
Beavis gets stuck in a blood pressure
tester machine at the drug store.
Butt-Head: Whoa, I just thought
of something, Beavis! Someday, every one of these [condoms] is going to be on a
wiener.
* "Feel a Cop"
Beavis and Butt-Head try to score with a
female cop undercover as a prostitute.
Butt-Head: Like, do you know
any real prostitutes around here? Cuz I still have a stiffy.
* "U.S. History"
Beavis and Butt-Head have to come up with
some oral reports to pass ninth grade.
Mr. Van Driessen: People,
these have been some of the best oral reports I've ever heard.
Butt-Head: Oral.
Beavis: I'm gonna do an anal report.
* "Date Watchers"
The boys see Mr. Van Driessen on a date at
the mall and follow him home.
Butt-Head: Yeah, baby. Cuz like, if
we were on a date, we'd already be naked by now.
Beavis: Yeah, and
you would, too.
* "Gang of Two"
Tired of being beaten up by Todd, Beavis and
Butt-Head form their own gang.
Beavis: Yeah, we're just kickin' it.
Hangin' out in the crib. In the hey-ouse.
Butt-Head: Hey, Beavis,
how will anyone know we're a gang if we're just like, hanging out at home?
* "Stewart Is Missing"
Stewart is missing, and Beavis and
Butt-Head help his parents search for him.
Stewart's mom [crying]:
I've looked over and I can't find him.
Butt-Head: Uh, maybe he's in
the bathroom.
Beavis: Maybe somebody killed him and buried him in a
shallow grave.
* "Prank Call"
A month of prank calls from Beavis and
Butt-Head heightens their victim's thirst for revenge.
Butt-Head:
Huh huh huh huh, Harry Sack.
* "Babysitting"
Some lunatic mother trusts Beavis and
Butt-Head to babysit her kids.
Butt-Head: You idiot, she was
probably gonna pay us until you started going on about poop.
Beavis: That's okay, because I left a little something in the bed.
* "Buttniks"
Cornholio and Butt-Head perform at a beatnik
open mike night.
Butt-Head: There once was a man from Venus, with a
rocket ship for a...uh, wiener.
* "Bungholio: Lord of the Harvest"
An extra-long episode
about trick-or-treating. Butt-Head pours cheese over his head and goes as nacho,
Beavis as "a nad."
Beavis [with a sheet over his head]:
These sheets smell funny.
Butt-Head: Yeah, these are my special
monkey sheets.
Beavis: Ahhhh! Dammit, get it off me! Ahhhh!
Disc Three contains the extras and a selection of music video segments with Beavis and Butt-Head's commentary:
* Beastie Boys, "Sabotage"
* Seaweed, "Kid
Candy"
* Pantera, "I'm Broken"
* Mercyful Fate,
"The Bell Witch"
* Compulsion, "Delivery"
*
Madonna, "Secret"
* Six Finger Satellite, "Parlour
Games"
* Pizzicato 5, "Twiggy, Twiggy"
* Rush,
"Stick It Out"
* Radiohead, "Fake Plastic Trees"
* Extreme, "Hole Hearted"
* Helium, "Pat's Trick"
* MC 900 Ft. Jesus, "If I Only Had a Brain"
Since their music video commentaries are so funny, I thought we should bring Beavis and Butt-Head in to record a commentary for this review. Hi, guys.
Butt-Head: Hey baby. We're, uh, happy to be here.
Beavis: Yeah. I'm, like, so excited that I've got a stiffy.
Back in the old days of the mid-1990s when I was even younger than ninth graders Beavis and Butt-Head, I used to crack up at their immature antics. Revisiting them now, as a 23-year-old lesbian and feminist --
Butt-Head: Whoa. This chick's a lesbian! That's like, a chick who
does it with other chicks.
Beavis: No way, man. That's called...um,
a les-bi -- Oh yeah.
-- I didn't think I would be so drawn to these awkward teenage boys whose twin obsessions are fire and chicks (plus, of course, their own wieners). But I still cracked up every time Beavis says "Boi-oi-oi-oing," "Oh yeah" --
Beavis: Oh yeah. That is pretty cool.
Butt-Head: Maybe
if you do that "Boi-oi-oi-oing" thing, we can score with this
chick.
-- or just does that little grunt giggle.
Butt-Head: Huh huh. She said "grunt."
Sometimes the anti-women tone becomes a little much, though, as in "Womyn," when Butt-Head remarks at the feminist meeting, "I didn't know this town had so many sluts."
Butt-Head: It was true. Before then, I didn't know.
It's fun and in a weird way almost touching --
Butt-Head: Huh huh, touching.
Beavis: Yeah, if she can't
find any other les-bi-ans, she can, like, touch me any time.
-- to see these two morons continually think they've discovered ingenious ways to beat the system.
Butt-Head: Beavis found a way to beat his system.
Beavis: Oh yeah. I beat my system at least twice a day.
They think they've found a great source of chicks at a militant feminists' meeting, they sell each other candy bars by trading the same two dollars back and forth, and they try to copy their dollar bill at the copy shop to make more money. Butt-Head remarks, "I can't believe no one's ever thought of this before," while Beavis makes ten-cent copies of a nickel.
Butt-Head: Whatever happened to those nickels?
Beavis:
Um, I left them in my shorts in the laundry and they, like, got all wrecked.
Butt-Head: You dumbass.
They're so dumb that they don't even realize the depths of their own stupidity. When the copy shop clerk asks them, rhetorically, "Hey man, are you aware that you're asking me to commit a federal crime?" Butt-Head simply and honestly says, "Uh, no."
"Pregnant Pause," "Close Encounters," "Green Thumbs," and "Stewart Is Missing" are highlights on these discs. Each episode is around five minutes, although some are as long as six.
Butt-Head: Huh huh, she said "long."
Okay, I know the word "package" is coming up, so I'm going to turn off Beavis and Butt-Head's mikes at this point. Anyway, the set comes packaged in three slim cases with an outer box and then another window box that slides over that. The artwork is a lot of fun, with Beavis and Butt-Head drawn into works by Magritte and Michelangelo, among others. It's great to watch the episodes right through without video and commercial interruptions. However, it would be nice to see more of the videos on Disc Three. Here are a few gems from the ones we do get:
Commenting on Seaweed:
Beavis: These guys are cool. Like, they
kind of remind me of myself.
Butt-Head: You remind me of Urkel.
Commenting on Madonna:
Butt-Head: Madonna's always masturbating
during her videos.
Beavis: Yeah, so am I -- during her videos.
Butt-Head: Yeah, but like when she masturbates, she's still doing it
with Madonna. When you spank your monkey, you're just doing it with Beavis.
Beavis: Um, little Beavis.
From a technical standpoint, the quality is about as bad as the original series. Some scratching is visible, and the brightness is inconsistent. Mostly, one notices the same crappy, washed-out colors featured when the episodes aired on TV. But Beavis and Butt-Head live in a pretty crappy, washed-out world, so I can't fault Mike Judge for the coloring. The dialogue is pretty clear, although it is mixed so that the music is all much, much louder, resulting in annoying constant volume changes. This is especially a problem with the special features. The picture will also freeze partly faded out at the end of each episode, and the discs begin with unskippable previews.
The extras are plentiful, but most of the "special appearances" are a little dull. I did enjoy the 20-minute making-of featurette, "Taint of Greatness." It is mostly an interview with Judge and a few writers, though Snoop Dogg and South Park co-creator Trey Parker are also featured. Snoop Dogg, for his part, would "love to see Beavis and Butt-Head get some p****." Judge insightfully counters that scoring for Beavis and Butt-Head was like Charlie Brown kicking that football. It was never going to happen, but we always rooted for them anyway. Be on the lookout for a couple of Easter eggs in the "Cartoons" menus, too.
Though not up to the standards of later spin-offs Daria and King of the Hill, Beavis and Butt-Head stands the test of time. It still makes me laugh out loud a decade later, which is an eternity in Generation X pop culture time. But I can't quite remember why I thought Butt-Head was the smart one...
Huh huh, this is cool.
Review content copyright © 2006 Jennifer Malkowski; Site layout and review format copyright © 1998 - 2008 HipClick Designs LLC
Scales of Justice
Video: 80
Audio: 80
Extras: 85
Acting: 95
Story: 92
Judgment: 87
Perp Profile
Studio: Paramount
Video Formats:
* Full Frame
Audio Formats:
* Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (English)
Subtitles:
* None
Running Time: 226 Minutes
Release Year: 1996
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Distinguishing Marks
* "Taint of Greatness: The Journey of Beavis and Butt-Head, Part 2"
* "Butt-Bowl '94-'96"
* Beavis and Butt-Head on MTV's 20th Anniversary Special
* Beavis and Butt-Head Calvin Klein Ad Parodies
* "Moron-a-thon" Clips Featuring Snoop Dogg
* Unaired I Love the '90s Segment
* Promos
* Montages
* Interactive Link to Mike Judge Website
Accomplices
* IMDb
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0105950/combined
* Official Site
http://www.mtv.com/onair/beavisandbutthead/main.jhtml