|
|
Techtite's DVD Reviews! |
"...another attempt at a videogame parody that just wasn't funny." --from the review ------------- Sidebar :: ------------- Well, at least the puppets are well made. It's worth saying in the sidebar that I feel slightly sorry for the puppet department of this series. In the hands of better writers maybe these puppets of Mario, Donkey Kong, Frogger, and Pac-Man could have been put to good use. In fact; maybe someone could buy the rights to this series, puppets and all, and give the concept the humor it deserves. Anyone...?
----------------- Feel free to contribute. As always, review submissions are accepted! ------------------
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Videogame Theater
Click photo to order this DVD. Review by TechtiteAs always, a review of The Show and the DVD extras. The Show: Imagine if a junior high schoolboy who loved video games had to entertain a friend of his, who hated video games. The game-hating friend looks on a shelf and notices toys from the most popular videogames: Mario, Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, and so forth. So to pass the time, the game-hater plays with the toys as best as he can, with no knowledge of video games: the guy with the mustache is "gay," the giant gorilla is stupid, and the girl with guns likes to run around naked, tee-hee. Sure, it might be amusing for a second or two, though as a parody of the actual videogames it wouldn't make as much sense.Such is the paradox of Videogame Theater; an R-rated alleged videogame "parody" series, which aired on overseas TV, then tried to air online via Escapist Magazine, only to be "cancelled" after just 5 episodes. Was it that bad...? Not necessarily, though as a diehard gamer; it just wasn't very videogame savvy. Sure, they put a female puppet in a brunette wig and named her "Lara Croft," put a mustache on a male puppet and named it "Mario," and gave a light brown wig to their puppet of "Pac-Man," for some arbitrary reason. Its jokes were rarely about videogames, however, alienating it's core intended audience. It's not like videogame jokes are rocket science. Zero Punctuation has made a name for himself as a critic of modern games. The Angry Video Game Nerd similarly pokes fun at classic games. Then there's online comics like Penny Arcade, and even online cartoons, via either YouTube or Newgrounds. Any fan of Nintendo should give the Newgrounds parody "Nin10doh" a look, while fans of Sonic the Hedgehog should check out any number of hilarious Sonic parodies. Sure, the animation isn't Disney quality; so what? The jokes are still funny. To be fair, Videogame Theater isn't a total burnout. The initial parody, "Donkey Kong: A Barrel of Hope," is slightly funny, in that "little to do with Donkey Kong though still fun" sort of way. Simple visual gags seal the deal, like the princess being a simple Barbie doll that's at least three sizes smaller than all the puppets around her. Other visual gags include a scene where Mario plays poker with his arcade buddies: Frogger and Pac-Man. Even some of the most simple lines are funny, like "Hey! It's me [Mario]...and this stupid monkey!" It has little to do with videogames, though it's still passably funny...for one episode. Unfortunately, things fall downhill from there. In Lara Croft: an Illicit Education, Lara Croft is chubby, short, ugly, and stupid. Even if you were to tell me this was a skit by someone who hated Tomb Raider; any decent parody (even a hateful, negative parody) has to look something like the actual game. I'd just as soon watch Cookie Monster on Sesame Street and have someone insist it was a "Lara Croft parody." That's how bad this was. Can things get any worse? Let's see. In a parody of the flying-ostrich arcade game, Joust, the knight has sex with his ostrich. In a parody of Frogger, the titular frog is a jungle commando who grows to the size of King Kong and falls dead onto a church (what does any of that have to do with Frogger? Anyone...?). In a Qbert parody , the main character joins forces with Pitfall Harry to defeat a mad scientist, even though neither game series ever had a mad scientist...or a villain, for that matter. Did the makers of this puppet show play any video games at all? That last question is not as obvious as you might think. To hear the game-centric cable network G4TV insist; one of their own crew members was behind the making of this series. I don't know how to react to that. Maybe he helped make the puppets, in which case (as long as he didn't make the Lara Croft puppet) he did a good job. Frogger looks like a frog, Mario has his trademark mustache, and Qbert still looks like a caricature this series unabashedly refers to as "the first retarded game character." Too bad this show's humor is seen so little...and the relevance to videogames is seen even less. The DVD Extras: With brutal honesty I have to say; it is actually pretty incredible how many extras are offered here, especially for a puppet show which barely lasted online for five episodes. This includes a slideshow of behind the scenes photos, a German interview of the people behind this show, a behind the scenes featurette and yes, even a "meet the puppets" featurette. Now; if only this theater was about videogames, there'd be reason to buy this...or at least rent it. Unless you're among the elite few who wants to see a male ostrich puppet have sex with a male human puppet, it's safe to say: skip this one.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Burnout
Near
Miss
Small
Crater
Large
Crater
Deep
Impact
