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Released by: Mondo Mini Shows/Ventura
Released on: February 11, 2003
Purchase From Amazon
The Series:
Good bless the Internet. If it weren't for the Internet you wouldn't be reading this review right now, you'd have to pay for your porn, and it would be much harder to piss off those fine, fine folks at the RIAA. We'd also live in a world without the Happy Tree Friends. These short cartoons came to some notoriety as a streaming video series on the web, and were also featured prominently in Spike & Mikes Twisted Animation Festival before they made a brief appearance in the Jennifer Aniston film, The Good Girl.
What on Earth is a Happy Tree Friend, I hear you all ask in unison? Well, sit right back and you'll hear a tale. Basically, the Happy Tree Friends are a cross between the Care Bears and Itchy and Scratchy, except they're pumped full of a hefty dose of the old ultraviolence.
Picture a group of loveable looking little kiddie entertainment characters, put them into settings where someone is bound to get really, really hurt, then pump those situations full of gore and black humor and you'll get the idea.
Do you wanna see a chipmunk named Giggles vomit with reckless abandon? Do you want to see Cuddles the rabbit meet an untimely demise as his fur is shed from his skin? Of course you do. How about taking a peek as Fippy the Vietnam Veteran bear freaks out when he hears a woodpecker go off on a tree? If this stuff sounds funny to you, not only do you need to seek mental help, but you also need to pick up this twisted little collection of politically incorrect cartoons with absolutely no redeeming social values whatsoever.
This first compilation contains fourteen episodes of the show, each of which run approximately a minute in length.
Video/Audio/Extras:
These shorts were originally broadcast over the Internet, where streaming video sometimes tends to break up and generally not look so hot. Here, the fullframe presentation is nice and colorful with no real compression problems, grain, or spotting to speak of.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 track is very active with all sorts of nasty sound effects that come through nice and clear. Dialogue, while kept to a minimum, is easy to follow. A word of warning, however, that theme song will drive you nuts after about 2 listens and it plays during every episode and gets really old, really fast.
First up is a pretty funny commentary with the creators of the series. It's a bit of a free for all but there are a lot of funny stories inside that are worth listening to. There are also some character profiles that are pretty funny, some storyboard comparisons and character designs, some never before seen episodes, and an interactive survival game called Smoochies that put the characters into different, twisted situations and let the viewer choose the outcome. There is also a pop up video style version of the 'Spin Fun Knowing You' episode included on the disc as well. It's to the creator's credit that they put so many extras on the disc, as it compensates for the short running time of the actual episodes.
The Final Word:
If shock value and cartoons mix well for you, check this one out. The theme song will drive you through the wall so it might be best to ingest it in smaller doses, but there is some hilarious material to be found on this release.