Beavis and Butt-head - The Mike Judge Collection, Vol. 1 Review

Beavis is the one in the Metallica T-shirt. Butt-Head is the one in the AC/DC T-shirt. Hobbies include nose picking, head banging, and breaking stuff. Needless to say, they are very, very stupid. When not attending Highland High, (hardly) working at Burger World, or watching the boob (huh-huh) tube, they're harassing Mr. Anderson, who's often hiring them for some job or another. Emmy-winning creator Mike Judge ( Office Space ), who voices the characters, hand-picked the 40 shorts in this collection, including 23 director's cut editions. Throughout the shorts, which were created for MTV, Beavis and Butt-Head do their worst. Stunts they pull on the dim-bulb Anderson, a prototype for King of the Hill 's Hank Hill, include: Riding off with his mower ("Home Improvement"), chopping down his tree ("Lawn and Garden"), throwing his poodle in the washer ("Washing the Dog"), and destroying his golf clubs ("Pool Toys"). Fate has a funny way of catching up with the cretins, however, as when Beavis gets bit by a rabid dog ("Rabies Scare") and goes to hell ("The Final Judgement of Beavis") or when Butt-Head chokes on a piece of chicken ("Choke") and gets his mouth wired shut ("Patients, Patients"). Other characters include buddy Stewart, bully Todd, pinhead Principal McVicker, teachers Buzzcut and Van Driessen, and the Great Cornholio (Beavis's demonic alter-ego). Guest voices include David Spade ("Manners Suck"), David Letterman ("Late Night With Butt-Head"), and Gilbert Gottfried ("Right On"). As astute fans are sure to notice, this set omits the word "complete" from the title as Judge chose not to include those shorts he considers "really, really awful and embarrassing" (mostly those in which B&B set things on fire). Plus, there's more to come from seasons five through seven and the mini-documentary Taint of Greatness makes for a nice addition. --Kathleen C. Fennessy