Release Date: 10/16/07

The Show

This whole Adult Swim thing has gotten out of control over the years. What started off a nice alternative to safe, kiddie cartoons for the adults who grew up and developed more sophisticated animated tastes, has now spun into a realm of rebellion for the sake of rebellion. We’ve now crossed into this murky area where adult cartoons are just over the top ridiculousness without any real cleverness. Squidbillies – Volume One is a prime example of this new era of mature cartoons that are completely irreverent and vulgar to a fault. (I must have grown up over the last few years or so because who would have thought I’d be saying those words.)

Unlike The Simpsons, South Park, or Family Guy, Squidbillies lacks the layers of satire and irony that make the aforementioned series popular, witty, and entertaining. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Beavis and Butthead, and in comparison, Squidbillies make the MTV duo look like clever satirists. You see, Squidbillies is just offensive for the shock of it all. Following the daily doings of Early, a hillbilly squid living in a redneck town, the show finds Early and his son in various ludicrous situations that can only happen on an Adult Swim series. Really, there are a few moments of laughter, but for the most part, it’s just a handful of really uncomfortable “the writers are trying too hard” moments.

The 2-set disc includes the final 13 episodes of the series with a Play All option available on each disc.
Disc 1
1. This Show is Called Squidbillies
2. Take This Job and Love It
3. School Days, Fool Days
4. Chalky Trouble
5. Family Trouble
6. Office Politics Trouble
7. Government Brain Voodoo Trouble
8. Butt Trouble
9. Double Truckin’ the Tricky Two
10. Swayze Crazy
Disc 2
1. Giant Foam Dickhat Trouble
2. The Tiniest Princess
3. Meth OD to my Madness
4. Bubba Trubba
5. Asses to Ashes, Sluts to Dust
6. Burned and Reburned Again
7. Terminus Trouble
8. Survival of the Dumbest
9. A Sober Sunday
10. Rebel with a Claus

The DVD

The main menu comes with some banjo music and a nice photograph of a rundown pick up truck. Submenus also contain static photographs with music. It all looks fitting and all, but my one beef with the menu is that the options are stylistically crossed out until you place your cursor over them. Again, it looks fitting, but it’s hardly functional and annoying at best.

The video transfer is offered in 1.33:1 Fullscreen Format and provides for a relatively clean picture. The picture is most certainly better than how they looked on original cable television, which is to be expected with a recent series such as this. The only downside to it all is the slight case of haloing that rears its ugly head now and again.

The audio is offered in English Dolby Digital 5.1. The sound comes thoroughly cleanly with the dialogue and voice work sounding distinguished and bold. Subtitles are available in English, French, and Spanish.

The Extras

The 2-disc set comes in a fold-out digipak enclosed within a cardboard box that looks like it was made of disgusting, wet, and dirty cardboard. The artwork for the packaging is just awesome and will be sure to please fans with its presentation.

There are 4 Audio Commentary tracks for the following episodes: Butt Trouble features Dave Willis (writer), Daniel McDevitt (Rusty), Jim Fortier (writer); Giant Foam Dickhat Trouble features Shawn Coleman (audio), Stuart (Early), David Powell (music); Survival of the Dumbest features Patty French (Aunt Lil), Bobby Ellerbee (Sheriff), Dana Snyder, Phil Samson (editor), Ned Hastings (editor), Dave Willis and Ben Prisk (backgrounds); and Rebel with a Claus features Ben Prisk, Phil Samson, David Powell, Dave Willis, Bobby Ellerbee, Sketch Quinn (animator), Harris Callahan (animation coordinator). As a note, Giant Foam Dickhat Trouble features a musical track.

The Five Pilots of the Apocalypse include: Hot Dog Fever, 20 Minutes to Disappointment, This One Almost Cost Me My Career, Back to Square One: The League of Pointless Characters, and Space Baby in the Morning starring Matt Harrigan as Countrysaurus. These fall in the same vein as the episodes, and the only quirk is that the back of the box lists 6, not the actual 5, pilots.

Anime Talk Show runs about 11-minutes and features a Space Ghost interview piece with Early among two other guests.

Back When They Were RV and Donny: Early Squid Sketches offers a 20-minute gallery reel of early sketches set to music.

Star Bar Squidbilly Circle-Jerk is a 12-minute piece that takes us behind the scenes with a nice little talk at the bar with backstage looks spliced into the feature.

Unknown Hinson: Animation Master, Cartoon Craftsman is an 11-minute spoof piece.

The bonus options round out with a trailer for the series from Comic Con 2004 and 12 Deleted Scenes with a Play All option.

Final Thoughts

While I didn’t enjoy Squidbillies – Volume One as much as I would have, say, when I was a teenager, I could see where some could derive from entertainment from it. With that said, this is a rental through and through unless you’re a hardcore fan, and in that case, you’ll love this set.

- Morris Tang