The Video Jerks store is kind of an odd place. Not only does it feature legitimate DVD and VHS releases, but it also has garbage home-made tapes of TV recordings that our owner Donny made. Some of them are actually kind of neat. Like EVERY FUCKING ADULT SWIM SHOW EVER MADE PRETTY MUCH. Yeah, he’s taped everything Adult Swim has ever aired. He uses these special 10-hour long VHS tapes you’re supposed to use for security cameras and records them in the crappiest mode possible. That’s the crazy thing, he still does it! So here now is my review of EVERYTHING EVER AIRED ON ADULT SWIM. This will be an on-going thing, and I may get a little punchy here and there. But that is the price you pay. You deserve this. You deserve it all.
SYNOPSIS: Captain Murphy starts a pirate radio station and the FCC fucking hate it
I remember this episode was the first episode to stand out to me as a "least favorite." This was back when Sealab only had about 5 episodes to its name. Boy, if only I ever knew how much lower the lows were going to get with this show. This episode is a SEND-UP of rude radio "shocker" jocks, especially Andy Breckman; in one scene Capt. Murphy says "GO TO HELL" to a caller! Also in it's satirical cross-hairs are the FCC, comically portrayed here as potty mouths.
This episode stinks, but I kind of like the quietness of it. Like it totally feels like a thing that's supposed to be on late at night when you are putting off going to sleep that almost nobody watches. I like that quality! Now stuff on adult swim seems like it's meant to be played on a frat house computer in the middle of the afternoon. Doesn’t it?
SYNOPSIS: Harvey defends Dr. Benton Quest for custody of his son Johnny.
Welcome to the first episode of “DRAMATIC MOMENT COMICALLY RUINED BY EVERY-DAY MINUTIAE INTERFERING SOMEHOW: THE SHOW.” This episode is called “GAYS ARE GROSS.” I remember being the only person that didn't like this episode, but as much of a stinker as Birdman wound up being I could easily see how this show could've gone down a much better path than then one it did. There are some genuine laughs. The way the jokes are played are much better. The scene with the Lizardmen was funny, and the Doug Henning reference also got me. This episode easily blows what would follow it out of the water. Make no mistake, I'm not claiming to be the first person to realize Birdman stunk. I just didn't like this episode! That's all.
SYNOPSIS: The Sealab crew discuss brains in robot bodies while Sealab explodes.
I can't tell if I should think this stinks or not! I remember LOVING it when I first saw it, but I saw it so many times it's possible the only reason I'm not laughing at it today is because it's committed to memory. I guess it reminds me of a dumb conversation you'd have AND take super seriously because you're just going nuts being bored, and I like that aspect of it a lot. I also think the fact that Hesh wants to be a robot cat is hysterical, especially how it's just breezed past. Like a lesser show would have the characters looking at each other like "what’s with this guy??" and it would be hell of lame. Also "you think we're gonna honor those bogus treaties?" is a great line. I guess I still like this, even though it's about robots, and I'm not a child OR an easily impressed hipster.
SYNOPSIS: Captain Murphy sends members of Sealab on a suicide mission to recover his beloved Happy Cake Oven.
The best part of this episode is the stock footage from Sealab 2020 where it shows a school of squid and a couple of sharks swim in and grab a squid each for lunch and then swim away! This episode isn't offensively bad or anything, I just never cared for it much. Kinda unmemorable. Kinda mediocre. Kinda me spinning my wheels trying to think of ANYTHING to say about it or even a single thing to recount as being particularly good or bad even though I just watched it less than a minute ago. That's kinda how I've felt about this episode always. Lets move on.
SYNOPSIS: Space Ghost interviews Willie Nelson, shills for a liqour corporation, and refers to his documentary for information regarding critters (Promo)
Jesus Christ, this episode really is killer. It's so packed full of funny stuff. I'm not even going to write a proper review for it. It'd just be me listing all the funny stuff in it. One of the all-time best episodes around of Space Ghost or ANYTHING. Space Ghost is the best, and it can easily show up a normal Adult Swim show any day of the week.
SYNOPSIS: Space Ghost interviews Dave Thomas from SCTV, acts like a baby, and gets jilted by Super Heroes that live in a hole.
This episode made me notice that this season (except for Knifin' Around which has it's own unique opening) doesn't have an opening sequence at all. I NEVER PUT THAT TOGETHER UNTIL I WATCHED TWO EPISODES IN A ROW. In this episode, Dave Thomas gives the Ghost some guff, and Space Ghost pouts it up with some monsters living in a hole on Earth. Dave Thomas is super funny in this, and Space Ghost's getting jilted by the Justice Hole proves that Heaven ISN'T a hole on Earth (you know, like that one song and that one religion says).
My one enduring memory of this episode is watching it on some College TV thing at Shasta College, I'm guessing it was some pre-packaged closed-circuit thing for colleges to air in their cafeterias, and it occasionally would show Adult Swim shows early on. It was noisy as hell in there, and I remember struggling to hear it, because I'd yet to see it on TV yet. It was the best thing to ever be shown on there. The second best thing was an episode of the Brak Show. The third best thing was a Weezer video. The fourth best thing was 9/11 news footage, and the fifth was every other garbage music video they aired.
Adult Swim (September 2, 2001)
The first official night of Adult Swim. It started at 10:00 PM. The block started with a literal adult swim motif, with show bumpers and promos featuring footage of old people swimming, with a lifegaurd announcing the shows. It was genuinley cool, and simple!
The first schedule went something like this:
10:00 - Home Movies #6: "Director's Cut"
10:30 - The Brak Show #2: "Goldfish"
10:45 - The Brak Show #3: "Time Machine"
11:00 - Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law #1: "Bannon Custody Battle"
11:15 - Sealab 2021 #4: "Chickmate"
11:27 - Captain Linger #1: "Stranger in Town"
11:30 - Space Ghost Coast to Coast #79: "Knifin' Around"
11:45 - Space Ghost Coast to Coast #51: "Piledriver"
12:00 - Cowboy Bebop #1: "Asteroid Blues"
12:30 - Cowboy Bebop #2: "Stray Dog Strut"
I think I actually taped the first block. I wish I knew to keep it in tact. I instantly started transplanting shows to their own show tapes. It's amazing Donny has this collection, but even he doesn't have the entire block, just the new stuff from it.
SYNOPSIS: Dwayne writes a rock opera about Franz Kafka. Brendon selfishly favors his own script despite everyone else's enthusiasm about Dwayne's project.
This episode is really a second pilot. It does a pretty good job re-introducing the characters and the premise behind the show, but it's still feels enough like a continuation of what already exists of the show that it doesn't stick out. That said, I can't really think of much to say about this episode. It's amusing, but it doesn't exactly pummel your funny bone like later episodes would. But I was one of the few people who saw and liked this show on UPN, so I kinda watched it already knowing it was good and therefore DIDN'T pay much attention to it at the time. The scene with Jason watching scenes from the Franz Kafka musical and crying is oddly moving, even though they went with a gross snot joke at the same time.
On a more critical note, I remember thinking this episode was a little too referencey, especially since I only have vague knowledge of Louis Pasteur, Louis Braille, and second-hand knowledge of Franz Kafka. All three of these names are dropped in the opening scene. Where do most people read Franz Kafka? School? I feel like I've missed out on a shit load of "classic" literature because every school curriculum that I've had that calls for a book to be read was taught by some young maverick who was determined to NOT use the old standard book that EVERY OTHER school kid in America has to read, but to use more obscure titles to teach critical reasoning and reading comprehension with. As a result of this, everything I know about Moby Dick came from an episode of Futurama. Yes, Mr. Nelson. Just because you're sick of OF MICE AND MEN doesn't mean we've all had the pleasure of reading it. Also, Mr. Nelson, sorry for ending a sentence a few sentences back with a preposition.
SYNOPSIS: Brak takes care of Thundercleese's goldfish while he's gone, but kills it on accident.
This is the first episode of Brak I actually saw! I was there for the first night of Adult Swim. This much I can brag about. I was excited for the Brak Show as much as most people were. We all thought it would be the big break-out show of the block. Goldfish has a lot of great stuff in it, and I think it's one of the stronger episodes of the Brak Show. There's a lot of good silliness, like the absurd turns that the plot takes (every plot turn is based on something completely stupid), and the occasional non-sequitur from Dad (though just as many of these make me groan). I don't think anybody's hopes were dashed just yet from this show being great, because this really is a great episode.
My one memory attached to it was that it was one of the other Adult Swim related things I happened to catch in my college's Cafeteria. I watched it standing really close to the high wall-mounted TV so I could hear it. Me and some nice punk-rock looking kid watched it, I'd seen it on TV already but I laughed mostly for his benefit. When it was over he turned to me and said "I haven't watched this show in years!" "It's actually a new show!" I responded back with probably the first in-person endorsement of adult swim I ever gave. I explained that there were new Space Ghost episodes and a bunch of other shows made by the same people, and demanded he watched on Sunday. He happily agreed, but then 9/11 happened so he probably forgot about it. Oh well, can't win 'em all.
SYNOPSIS: Brak fails to finish his homework even after multiple trips back in time to complete it.
When Adult Swim started there was a half hour of the Brak Show following Home Movies. This quickly ended, since there were only about 4 episodes to go around. This episode isn't quite as good as Goldfish, but it's still a strong episode. This episode includes the concepts of Grandma Prison and Headkicker, the video game Brak and Zorak play. I say that as if those are important recurring things in the series, but they aren't. Headkicker did become an online game on adultswim.com though, right? Or did I imagine that?
I can remember me and some friends did a lot of writing on our own for a sitcom concept we had called THE HABIB WALTERS SHOW, about a surreal, sort-of alternate-universe version of Yemen and the main character who is an extremely childish middle-eastern father. I remember immediately picking up that the absurdity of the plots on these two episodes of the Brak Show were extremely similar to the absurdity we used when we came up with plots for the Habib Show. So when my friend Bryan (the creator of Habib) was on leave from the air-force, I excitedly told him about this show, and in particular this episode. And I deconstructed EVERY story beat to him, from memory. And I think about that now and ew boy, I must owe him an apology for that. Sorry Bryan.
SYNOPSIS: Debbie's biological clock goes off and the men of Sealab fight over her approval to impregnate her.
The first episode of Sealab I ever got to see! This was the first instance of "Hey, Adult Swim might actually offer some good shows other than ones I already know or star characters I already know!" I remember really loving this episode and it officially hooked me on Sealab 2021. I remember being very enthusiastic about it, even using the phrase "great dialog-based comedy" in several of my reviews. But this was probably back when I was calling Kevin Smith movies the same thing, so what did I know?
Like "I, Robot," I can't really tell if I should think this stinks now or not. But there are some good moments. The line at the end with the mustache is great (Murphy, before bedding Debbie: "Do you want the Mustache on or off?" Debbie: "Off, please." Murphy: "too bad."), and I bet I howled the first time I heard it. There’s one moment where Sparks references A Modest Proposal, and calls it a book, which I'd actually read in high school and remembered it being NOT a book, but just an essay that was easily contained on a few xeroxed pages held by a single staple. So I remember calling bullshit on that when Sparks pulled up a big leather-bound book of it. Also the fact that the essay itself is being IRONIC, and is being treated by this episode like it's NOT ironic, it leads me to believe the writers only had second-hand knowledge of "A Modest Proposal." Yeah, that's right. I'm not afraid to scandalize some dudes with accusations of second-hand literary references.
The first Captain Linger aired after Sealab 2021. It featured a T-Rex getting tossed so hard into another planet that the planet explodes! And then the comedy idea here is that the super hero (Captain Linger) hangs around for too long and has boring conversations with grateful citizens, making everyone feel awkward. He's also Captain RUDE because he never says "Thanks!" when people compliment him, or "You're welcome!" when they thank him. Anyway, I'm not gonna have much to say about these, but I've always wondered if these were actually made for Adult Swim? I have distinct memories of seeing this exact one on regular Cartoon Network before Adult Swim existed, but it could've been back when everything was in development and they just figured why not show them off early? Who knows. I don’t!
SYNOPSIS: Space Ghost interviews Thom Yorke while getting interupted by his new wife, Bjork.
Another laugh-fest from Space Ghost and Company!!! Space Ghost whispers deceitful things about burning a Radiohead CD in front of Thom Yorke, possibly inspiring him to let everyone steal his last album. Björk is an adorable freak show. There is a moment I fucking love, where Space Ghost forces himself into camaraderie with Thom Yorke, simply because he's not Björk (ah fuck this kind of rhymes. Fuck me.), and in a blink of an eye regretting it because he's sort of a freak show himself (Thom pulls out some pocket lint and calls it a worm) "Lets drink until our hearts stop." Space Ghost sardonically says after being toasted by Mr. Radiohead! This episode is a testament to creating an honest-to-goodness story using the normal Space Ghost process of retro-scripting. I'm honestly in awe of it. Also note: You can hear Zorak very faintly smashing light bulbs after he leaves! That's some attention to detail!
Aquaman Dance Party #1: Drive-Thru (September 2, 2001)
There's no Reason to really review these! Aquaman walks up to a piece of stock footage and shakes his butt around. If you wanted to be critical of Adult Swim you could argue that, in a way, these things basically boil down Adult Swim's essence (at the time) in an extremely simple, low-brow way. It's a children's super hero character doing something unexpectedly "adult." I mean the block has Space Ghost, Birdman, Aquaman, AND Captain Linger (Yes, even internationally famous super hero Captain Linger isn't sacred here) basically doing the same thing. Sealab sort of fits into this category if you take the superhero element out of it. Heck it's kind of a reach but Home Movies kind of works under that thesis with it being KIDS acting adult-ish instead of superheroes. I obviously don't feel like that's REALLY true. Or, at least it's not ALL Adult Swim is about. But it's probably why that Aquaman pilot never went anywhere on the network. Kinda samey, right?
SYNOPSIS: Brendon is enlisted to make a video about the life of Melissa's grandfather, but winds up making a video making fun of him.
I love this episode! It's so charming and funny! There are so many great improvy scenes. I honestly thought season 1 was going to be a chore to watch, but this episode caught me by surprise. Jonathan Katz really adds a lot to this show when he's on it. I like that he gets to be a funny dude because in Dr. Katz he mostly had to be a straight man. Sure Dr. Katz cut loose when he was hitting on the black bartender babe (WILL BE REFERED TO AS BBB FROM HERE ON OUT) or was having a moment with his son where he wasn't politely trying to tell him to stop being a fuck-up, but in this he gets to be a silly dude dad (WILL BE REFERED TO AS SDD FROM HERE ON OUT) and I like it!
Speaking of Dr. Katz, I can't exactly pinpoint the moment when McGurk's voice dominated Ben Katz in the Jon-Benjamin-association-off in my head. I mean, when I stopped hearing McGurk's voice and thought "THIS IS BEN KATZ'S VOICE, I CAN'T TAKE THIS CHARACTER SERIOUSLY." I probably had to clarify that, since the idea of an “association-off” is really confusing. It’s like a rap-off! Do you get it now? Anyway, McGurk’s voice did take a while to replace Ben Katz voice and now it's easily the other way around when I watch Dr. Katz.
SYNOPSIS: Zorak coughs up a blob and suddenly has a beautiful singing voice. The blob manages his singing career and rips him off
I seem to remember this episode was a favorite of people's. I thought it kinda stunk! Zorak gets a sexy voice and sings boy-band type stuff and nobody notices his songs are violent and mean-spirited. A blob Zorak pukes up betrays Zorak and spends all of his money on a mansion. Brak pretends to be a dude with a mustache and a hat, and says "I hope you don't make me shave off my mustache and derby hat." and that's pretty much the highlight of the episode.
SYNOPSIS: Zorak bullies Brak over his affinity for talking to his dolls.
So, Brak is talking to his stuffed animal, and he's telling a story about getting Jello spilled on himself, and says "Jello was everywhere! Yes, even there!" I like to think he was talking about his urethra! Because I’m gross!
Anyway, this episode is a total snooze. Uh oh, Brak show is now 2 for 4 (not including the pilot, since most people didn’t see it yet)! Maybe this show isn't gonna be so hot after all. The only good thing about it is the song at the end, which is catchy as shit and even today, years since I've watched this episode, I will absent-mindedly sing it to myself. It's such a great idea for a show! A stuffed animal judges your trash! If you have the best trash, you win! And you win CASH! Like, literally they hand you bills at the end of the show straight from some dudes wallet. That's how I imagine it, anyway. That should be a show! I'd watch it!
SYNOPSIS: Leprechauns steal a rainbow tractor beam machine and use it to steal stuff.
Hey, this episode is a dud! Night 2 of Adult Swim is turning out to be a real clunk-fest! Radio Free Sealab aired after this, and we all know how I felt about that episode. Pretty much Home Movies and Space Ghost (Justice Hole had it's "official" premiere tonight) are the real straight A students in this class, and the meat of this sandwich is all stinkers. Sorry for mixing up student and sandwich metaphors, but I'm too unentertained to write an okay thing.
Anyway, This episode was selected as the worst episode of ATHF on the 2007 Turkey Day marathon, and it's a fair choice. It's especially bad that this is the first episode most people saw, leading everyone to believe this show was garbage, including myself. It was this point when I began filling the ends of my MST3K tapes with Adult Swim Shows, just so I could make use of the space, which was a trick John Charles Deagan taught me. He was a guy I traded MST3K tapes with. He taped a LOT of Comedy Central era MST3K himself and had beautiful quality tapes of them, and he didn't get sci-fi channel so I wound up being his main supplier of sci-fi era MST3K. His tapes always came with randomly taped Comedy Central shows at the ends, and that's how I first got to see EXIT 57. I remember taking credit for "breaking" Exit 57 to the tape-trading community. I also re-discovered The Young Ones this way (I'd seen it once before in the 90s but mistook it for an overly-long Kids in the Hall sketch for some reason). Man, now I really wanna re-watch all the Young Ones episodes. It's too bad I'm doing this Adult Swim thing.
Captain Linger #2: "She Wore a Veil of Sorrow" (September 9, 2001 - 11:27ish PM)
Again, this aired after Sealab. In this installment, another Super Hero saves the day before Captain Linger gets the chance, and Linger spends his Linger time complaining about it, ruining a wedding. Also, it sounds like the other Super Hero is voiced by a mix of Brian Doyle-Murray or Chris Farley. I wonder if there was ever any Murray/Farley cross-breeding? Talk about winning the nepotism lottery. Throw a little Belushi in there, maybe a little Aykroyd, you got a stew going.
SYNOPSIS: Brendon wants to take acting classes. Paula has an affair with a student.
I remember thinking this episode was a snooze when it first aired, but maybe I was just sad because of the end of America happening a few days earlier. Oh yeah, this is the first Adult Swim after 9/11! And even 5 days later, it was one of the only things on cable at this point that wasn't simulcast news coverage of Armageddon. Adult Swim just kept going! Anyway, I liked this episode a lot better this time around. Brendon is rude in an acting class, and Paula makes out with a cool dude in her creative writing class. I guess this episode just has a lot of class!! One of my favorite bits is the cool dude's sexy poetry. It's funny! Like this episode! Like 9/11 (now, not then)! LIKE LIFE.
SYNOPSIS: A rabbit robot wrecks havoc on the city and the Aqua Teens need to stomp it.
Following Brak Show repeats, we got to see a half-decent episode of Aqua Teenagers Team! So I mentioned that extended version that's on the DVD? Well, this version blows the extended version out of the water. The timing is so much better. The animation looks great. It ends a lot better. They aren't trying to jam "(blank) is forbidden!" into our subconscious as Shake's catchphrase. The backgrounds are kinda bad though. They are from the pilot and look computer-generated. They cut out everything that happens in the house except for what's in Meatwad's room basically, which is good because those early living room backgrounds were horrendous (which is probably why it got cut). This show won my heart with this episode, and it's still not that good compared to what came after it! I mentioned last time that I'd started taping episodes of Adult Swim to the end of my MST3K tapes, but kinda forgot to finish that thought. The point was that episode 2 didn't make the cut, but this is when I decided to start "collecting" this show. But instead I talked about the Young Ones.
Captain Murphy watches other adult swim shows in the beginning of this. I remember thinking that was really neat at the time! There are good gags in this, like when they flash back and everyone has a mustache. A monster kills everyone and then the two dudes at the end get fat! Fats are great for comedy, just ask the VHS box for the Blackadder Christmas Carol, which makes a point to mention that certain characters in the show are fat (LETS CUT TO THE CHASE HERE, PEOPLE LOVE FATTIES). No really, it does. I’d scan it if I still had it, but I don’t. Anyway, I guess this is a good episode. It falls into the category of being too familiar with it to properly judge it. So there you go.
Aquaman Dance Party #2: "Taj Mahal" (September 16, 2001)
Aquaman Dance Party #3: "Outdoor Cafe" (September 16, 2001)
SYNOPSIS: Brendon wants to buy a Fish Eye Lens for his camera, Paula needs to borrow money from her parents.
In this episode everyone's got money woes and money worries and money concerns and most of all, money PROBLEMS. Basically this episode is about how poor Brendan's family is and Paula having to ask for money from her mom. I like that this is a show about people who are basically fuck-ups but still happy with themselves and can find some sort of joy in their life with relative ease. Also, Paula's mom is voiced by the lady that also does Paula, so Home Movies pulled a Julie Kavner there. If I recall correctly she gets a different voice later on, so watch out dudes! Be careful!
SYNOPSIS: Harvey represents Superfriend Apache Chief in a suit against a popular chain of coffee houses when he spills their coffee on his lap, which scalds him and impedes his ability to "enlarge".
I used to like this episode. I guess it was just the idea of being so in love with Adult Swim that I was convinced everything on it was good. But now I watch it and can't even figure out where I USED to laugh. Maybe I never did? The scripts for Birdman scream the type of going-through-the-motions comedy writing that I know pretty well. I have written a lot of uninspired comedy scripts that I've abandoned because they stunk like this stinks. You can just see them going from point A to point B and agonizing over it moment-to-moment: "Something funny has to go here! Uhhh, I guess a gay dude can wonder aloud if Apache Chief's Indian clothing is a certain type of fabric. Hey, what's a gay-sounding fabric to say?" Anyway, if the idea of jokes about boners is new to you then maybe you will like this, but chances are you aren't old enough to read yet if that's the case so fuck your mouth I guess.
Aquaman Dance Party #4: "Cattle Ranch" (september 23, 2001)
SYNOPSIS: Jason falls in love with the School Nurse, who McGuirk goes out on a disasterous date with.
This episode is a hoot! Especially McGurk being a drunken jerk! I love how Jon Benjamin doesn't do anything different with his voice to play drunk McGurk. That was obviously the right choice to make. Next time you watch the scene where he gets toasted just close your eyes and listen for yourself. Other stuff: For some reason Paula describing her old roommates as being "loud idiots" really stuck with me, and I think I finally figured out why: Because she's a mom and she's saying it to her son, for some reason that makes it awesome. She's a good mom, maybe one of the best. Also, this might be the first time I've watched this episode knowing specifically who Jen Kirkman is and that she's funny and a person that I like and not just some no-name voice actress.
SYNOPSIS: Josie gets marbles stuck up her nose, prompting Brendon to make an educational video teaching kids not to do that. Erik helps McGuirk look for a new place.
Brak is fucking toast on Adult Swim’s schedule, so now we get two episodes of Home Movies! I guess all the Brak scripts were being kept in the world trade center or something they needed to make some new ones! Anyway, back to Home Movies: Sometimes a show’s plots will compete over which story is the "A" story. This one seems like both stories are campaigning strongly to be the "B" story. Not to say that Home Movies is known for super consequential plots, pretty much every story they do is kind of low-key. But pretty much every time they cut to McGurk's Mortgage crisis I was struggling to remember what Brendan's story was, and vice-versa. It's fine, though. It's still a perfectly enjoyable half-hour of television! No really, it's okay. Home Movies is good enough that it's allowed to not matter.
SYNOPSIS: A Moth-monster-man torments the Aqua Teens from a school bus parked outside of their house.
This is the first episode to truly resemble what we now know as Aqua Teen Hunger Force. The first two shows had them going out to confront strangeness, but in this one strangeness simply shows up and finds them. That really is more ideal, since they now HAVE to deal with it instead of them forcing themselves to go after it. And by it, I mean STRANGENESS. I gotta say, I'm really not happy with my word choice with the word "STRANGENESS." But I can't think of another way to put it. Antagonizers? Hey, that's better! It's too bad I'm writing this in pen, or else I'd go back and fix it. Anyway, this episode is funny and satisfying, and I think it probably brought a lot of people on board with the show. And Jon Benjamin is in it! You got an hour and 15 minutes of Benny Boy on this night! What a great night this must’ve been! I know we’re not supposed to “never forget” 9/11, but I’m gonna go ahead and never forget 9/30.
SYNOPSIS: Sealab explodes during a cable-pirating mishap, somehow causing Quinn and Stormy to travel back in time several minutes.
Yet another "I'm not sure if this stinks" episode. I used to love it. Anyway, the one thing I never really thought about with this episode was that there are only 4 people in it. FOUR PEOPLE! It's like Tremors 2! I guess that's kind of impressive. Well, actually not really. I mean it's not THAT hard to not include Debbie and Sparks. And also, I'm sure there are Aqua Teen Hunger Force episodes with only four people in them. Like an episode where a monster shows up and Carl stays at home.
There's a reference to terraforming Mars in this episode. This makes me wonder: Has the Sim City franchise ever made a game that includes terraforming? That would be awesome! I guess? Well, I guess it would basically be Sim City with a bunch of preamble. You'd probably wanna skip the parts where you introduce oxygen into the atmosphere and all that after you do it once. Kind of like how MTV would cut out the opening to Michael Jackson's "Bad" and just get to the song. Man, I’m really shutting myself down lately.
SYNOPSIS: Rich people hit Brendon with a car and press charges. Paula's old friend visits and is obnoxious.
This might be my favorite episode of Season One! I am just a sucker for enemy-making defiance. Like when Brendon makes sure the judge knows that he learned absolutely no lesson whatsoever I get pumped! It makes me want to go out and commit some crimes so I can mouth off to a judge. A great episode! LOVE IT!
SYNOPSIS: Brendon wins an award for child film-makers, and the local news does a piece on Brendon and company. This leads to Brendon asking Paula about his father.
Hey Season One is over! Now, am I right in thinking that they made these shows FOR Adult Swim? The dorks at toonzone would always talk as if these were left-over from UPN. So I guess it just so HAPPENS that they changed the mom's voice for episode six, right? And I guess it just so HAPPENS that they started building the show with ONE act break in the middle on episode six, right? Toonzone you need to get a clue!
Anyway, I don't have much to say about this episode, as "important" as it is. This is the episode where Brendon asks about his dad a bunch. I do remember everyone treated this like a cliff-hanger, as if they were going to resume the final scene in this episode in Season two and we'd see Brendon having an awkward conversation with his dad for a couple minutes and then hang up. People are stupid.
SYNOPSIS: Brak kidnaps the rival school's chicken mascot.
TV-PG??? WHAATTT!!!!! Haha just kidding, I just wanted to throw in a toonzone impression while I was doing this. You see, toonzone.net is this big cartoon site, and they got in on the ground floor when it came to Adult Swim. They had a sub-forum on their giant message board where all the Toonami-watching idiots could go in and spout their ill-informed opinions on Adult Swim shows. A recurring topic of conversation there would be them condemning a show for being rated anything below TV-14. Sometimes they’d even bitch about Space Ghost repeats because they came from before Adult Swim and were rated TV-G. They were a really bad representation of who watched Adult Swim, because it wasn’t JUST Adult Swim fans. There were thousands of other forums on the board that had to do with ANY cartoon in the book, and anybody from those forums who wanted to have an opinion could wander in and say their stupid shit.
Anyway, back to the review. This is basically a shorter version of the pilot with the regular series backgrounds. Things that are different: The fight song is changed so the whole family gets involved (The alternate version of the fight song is an easter egg on the DVD). It really came together when Mom joined in! They cut out the biscuit joke I loved so much. Honestly, that's the only difference I noticed as far as the script goes. That's really all I can say about that!
SYNOPSIS: Two two-dimensional moon monsters come down to earth and act like jerks.
Man! I remember a time when I thought this was the funniest thing I ever saw! It was easily the funniest thing on Adult Swim at the time, at least that's how I used to feel. This is another show that I pretty much committed to memory. I can still appreciate a lot about this episode. There are some good lines. The mooninites really caught on, and it's easy to see why. There's a lot to hook into: Their look, their voice, and their attitudes are all an easy thing to latch onto and imitate. I don't mean to say the creators went down an easy path when they came up with the mooninites. I think they are an honest-to-goodness brilliant creation. There's a reason they recur more than any other recurring character on the show. They are good, funny characters.
SYNOPSIS: A sick child comes to Sealab, who turns out to be a swindler.
I remember being kinda alone in liking this episode! A lotta people thought it stunk. I actually think this episode holds up better than most. One thing I find particularly charming about it is that it relies very little on new artwork/animation. There is a LOT of it that is simply footage from the old Sealab 2020 show very basically re-edited. One thing I miss about Sealab 2021 in the early days was their tasteful use of new animation. Like they knew it looked crappy and ugly and kept it down to a minimum. It was when they started going buck wild with it the show started to stink. PS: They eat pizza at the end of this.
SYNOPSIS: Space Ghost interviews Busta Rhymes during a dinner-theater murder mystery, then everybody gets high from a gas leak.
Man, I LOVE the night-time Space Ghost set! It makes me wish they'd do a second Space Ghost series called SPACE GHOST NIGHTS. It would basically be like OPRAH AFTER THE SHOW but with Space Ghost! Or, it could just be BAYWATCH NIGHTS with Space Ghost! GOOD IDEA, HUH? This episode is pretty goob, I especially love the part where Zorak is in the vent being a creep. Also, I haven't watched the uncut interview that's on the DVD, but is Busta talking about 9/11 during the forest scene? I would assume that the interview came from before 9/11 was even born yet. Also when they talk about "Space Ghost: Tribute to Freedom" I wonder if that was an intentional 9/11 reference? Other shows I wonder if they made before 9/11: Freaks and Geeks (it takes place in the 80s so theres no real good clues), Freakazoid (It seemed like a fucking tragedy at the time), Freakylinks (What even is this show?), Freak Show (I think this show CAUSED 9/11 somehow).
Aquaman Dance Party #5: "Grocery Store" (October 18, 2001)
At the end Aquaman goes to jail for being such a gross jerk, but is released back into society because he liked jail too much.
Hey, this episode isn't terrible! My memory told me this was the worst one of the bunch, but it isn't! I mean, maybe it doesn't hang together that well, but there's funny scenes! Mobab cries over his tiny pies, my favorite! I remember once on The Adult Swim Message Board, super-star poster douggonemad changed a reply subject line to "doug loves tiny pies," so all the replies after his said “re: doug loves tiny pies” on top of them. And it made me laugh and laugh and laugh.
Back to the episode: Mobab himself is painful to look at. Sometimes I get the feeling with this show that they don't spend an awful lot of time on character design, and in fact simply go with the first thing they think of or draw. I guess that's a way to give the show a distinct, semi-childish hand-drawn look, but I think it kind of hurts it more than anything.
SYNOPSIS: Stormy electrocutes Quinn and a bunch of bullshit happens.
Let's imagine there are two seperate Sealab 2021s: the original Sealab 2021 and BAD Sealab 2021. Unfortunately in reality they are same show. But if they weren't? This episode would basically be an in-series pilot for the BAD Sealab 2021. Kinda like how “Married dot dot dot With Children” aired those weird "one-off" episodes that were supposed to be pilots for other series? So yeah, this episode is total garbage. Not one amusing thing in it. It's like the non-funny version of Flipmode. It's the only true misstep in the first season of Sealab.
SYNOPSIS: Captain Murphy gets pinned under a vending machine while the rest of Sealab follows around MC Chris on tour.
So, I never liked this episode very much. A lot of people did. I hate comedy where the character becomes more and more grotesque, or destroyed physically. Like when Buster lost his hand on “Arrested Development” Season 2, or when Tobias got sicker and sicker in Season 3? I hate it! But “Arrested Development” gets my forgiveness since it's one of the best shows to ever be on television. Sealab, though, isn't. I mean this show does this a lot, and it kinda doesn't matter because everything goes back to normal the next episode. I mean, sometimes destroying a character is acceptable, but If it's just for shock-value laughs, I hate it for sure. Anyway, this episode has some fun stuff at the end with George Lowe's bald head making a cameo appearance, but even that seems like it should be better. This episode is basically a student not living up to its potential.
SYNOPSIS: Thundercleese's powers get shut off just as an asteroid comes hurtling towards Brak's planet.
A lot of times, Brak is like a not-that-great album by an artist you really like. An album that has 13 songs and 3 of them are really great, and the rest are just kinda "eh." Brak is like that, but with jokes. Actually, this episode contains the one SONG I truly like in the course of the series! It's the one that's all "There's an Asteroid coming in the dead of the night" or whatever! There's also the mustache/no mustache gag (wow, Adult Swim were real pioneers in the mustache humor department), and the line "You're fired Poppins! You're not a genius!" I enjoyed my time watching this, that is what matters as our time is precious on this Earth.
SYNOPSIS: Space Ghost interviews Tenacious D and Zorak gets his own Sitcom.
I don't really like Tenacious D that much! I was never particularly charmed by them. And the thing is, this episode is so guest-centric that it pretty much relies on you liking Tenacious D. I like their HBO show okay, and I actually loved movie (Which actual D fans hate!). It's kinda like the "Explode" of it's time. You got a sense of the creator's geeking out over the guest and getting into the spirit of that. It's like watching a little league game, you're glad the kids are having fun, but it's not your ideal form of entertainment. I'm kinda overstating my non-enjoyment of this episode. There's still plenty of stuff to like about this episode. It's Space Ghost, afterall. It's just, to me, undeniably weaker than the rest of the episodes this season. Oh well!
SYNOPSIS: Brak and Dad need to raise money to buy a lighter to rescue their favorite television host from a block of ice, so they put on a play that combines Phsycho and Oklahoma.
"I know what this play needs, a little more daddy!" boy he's not kiddin' in this high-flyin episode of "It's Brak Time!" Haha! I'm just jokin' around! I sort of remember a dude on some message board starting his or her ("her"? as if!) review that way I just wanted to pay tribute and respects to that person.
I think I appreciate Brak most when the plot is completely absurd. Here they put on a play to raise 20 dollars to buy a lighter to rescue a television scientist, and for no explainable reason it's a big deal and it attracts a huge crowd that loves it! Like that would be an easy source of conflict, to have the crowd be reasonable and think it stinks or not even show up, but just by not doing that is what makes it The Brak Show.
I watched this episode somewhat recently (meaning: August 2008) on the OLD SCHOOL NIGHT showing with my ex-roommate, still best friend Andrew and I remember sensing that maybe it would just be embarrassing to watch. But it wasn't, it was fine! We had a good time watching it! Speaking of Adult Swim Old School Nights, wouldn't it have been more awesome if they just reran everything in chronological order like these reviews? That's actually the thought I had that lead to me doing this. There'd be some bumpy stretches for sure - a few weeks would be dedicated to nothing but Home Movies Season 2 (unless you throw second-run stuff like Baby Blues and Mission Hill in there). Which wouldn't be bad or anything, just you know, not a thing a real grown-up network would ever want to have be a regular thing.
SYNOPSIS: Murphy hires a dude to Feng Shui Sealab up, who bilks Murphy for all he's worth.
Man I know it must be tiring reading the phrase "I used to love this episode" but I did used to love this episode! I think I thought it was the best episode around at the time! I actually remember putting this and Mooninites on a tape with Mr. Show episodes and me and my friend Jeremiah watched it during a mutual break between classes at Shasta College. I put them on specifically to get him into Adult Swim. I also loved the surprise ending with Bart and Homer playing Sealab as a video! But it has one joke in it that I ALWAYS hated: Marco brags about buying the haiku book, which is a bunch of lined paper stapled together and "HOW TO RITE HIKOO" is written on it childishly. "Only $99.95!" I hate it a lot, I guess because it's literally a joke a second grader would think of, and deliver with a big dumb smile on his face, just like Marco does in this episode. Now, I can imagine a scenario where a person in a writer's room pitches a joke that's so retarded that everyone gets some kind subversive thrill in actually using it in a show. If that's the case, I'm all for it. But man, does that joke blow.
SYNOPSIS: A dimensional rift gives Meatwad powers.
In this episode, Meatwad goes electric and causes a balloon monster to ruin everyone's life. There are some terrific moments in this one, like Meatwad's memo being a bad crayon drawing of a mystery rodent, and the retarded sock puppets on TV. One thing I've been meaning to talk about is the Schooly D narration. It's hilarious how off-base it is sometimes. It's narration that has only a really basic understanding of what's going on, but it's presented in this really "hip" way, as if it's cluing you in on something secret. In this episode D goes "Balloonism? Awww Frylock don't you know there's no such thing?" It has nothing to do with what's about to happen, and it doesn't even really accurately comment on what IS happening all that well. Hey, kinda like these write-ups! Right, asshole?
Captain Linger #4: "Smoke in the Stacks" (December 23, 2001)
Captain Linger #5: "Train On Our Parade" (December 23, 2001)
It's a Captain Linger DOUBLE FEATURE! In "Smoke in the Stacks" Captain Linger puts out a Library fire and then bores everyone to death. Everyone dies. In "Train On Our Parade" Captain Linger gets horny baby haha he stops a train and then plays around with a trumpet! BIG WHOOP!!!!
A great Brak episode! It's basically one long simple scene, and best of all there's no stupid songs! I have a very distinct memory of watching this episode with my cousin. I think we actually watched every Brak Show (at the time) because I taped all of them, but I remember watching this one with him most of all, because we were laughin' it up most at this one! See, my cousin lives one town over where the cable service used to be different, and he had Cartoon Network and I didn't. So the only time I ever got to watch Space Ghost was the very few times I was over at his house when it was on. So I took a special delight in introducing him to Adult Swim because years later the tables had turned and our cable system picked up Cartoon Network and his family axed cable all together. Anyway, this episode is good and it makes you wish there were more episodes as good as this is.
Man it sure is daunting writing about the most written-about episode of any Adult Swim show ever. If you hate this episode, fine. I understand that doesn't make you an idiot. I understand you very well might "get" it but just don't care for it. That's fair! But if you are MAD about it, go fuck yourself. I think it's a really sweet episode. It's sort of a tribute to their moms in a way, but it's also kind of a funny statement about the disconnect between them and the thing they made. It's adorable to listen to these old ladies be baffled by Space Ghost, but still sorta love it unconditionally because their kids made it. And isn't there something admirable about going for a concept like this, sink or swim? You knew they already knew this was going to air no matter what the commentary session sounded like. THEY WENT FOR IT! THEY LOVE THEIR MOTHERS! Going for it and loving your mom is basically what AMERICA is all about, so this is easily the most patriotic episode of Space Ghost around! At least we don't have to watch Jack Black be rude and fat for 11 minutes.
So that closes out Tape #1, and it coincidentally closes out 2000-2001. Funny how that worked out, huh? I'm glad to be over it, There was a LOT of stuff in 2001 that I've just seen way too many times. I'm looking forward to 2002 since I genuinely haven't seen much from those years in a really long time. Until next time, ALL KIDS OUTTA THE POOL!
SYNOPSIS: Captain Murphy starts a pirate radio station and the FCC fucking hate it
SYNOPSIS: Harvey defends Dr. Benton Quest for custody of his son Johnny.
SYNOPSIS: Dwayne writes a rock opera about Franz Kafka. Brendon selfishly favors his own script despite everyone else's enthusiasm about Dwayne's project.
SYNOPSIS: Brak takes care of Thundercleese's goldfish while he's gone, but kills it on accident.
SYNOPSIS: Leprechauns steal a rainbow tractor beam machine and use it to steal stuff.
I remember being kinda alone in liking this episode! A lotta people thought it stunk. I actually think this episode holds up better than most. One thing I find particularly charming about it is that it relies very little on new artwork/animation. There is a LOT of it that is simply footage from the old Sealab 2020 show very basically re-edited. One thing I miss about Sealab 2021 in the early days was their tasteful use of new animation. Like they knew it looked crappy and ugly and kept it down to a minimum. It was when they started going buck wild with it the show started to stink. PS: They eat pizza at the end of this.
