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Frisky Dingo: Season One
R1 - America - Warner Home Video Review written by and copyright: James Teitelbaum (16th March 2008). |
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The Show
 The bad news for all of humanity is that Killface is a skull-faced, hooven monster who has a plan to send the Earth hurtling into the sun. He is also usually naked and appears to have been castrated, which may explain why he(?) is so pissed off. The good news is that he is not real, but is actually the lead character on Comedy Central's 2006 Adult Swim series "Frisky Dingo". Killface (voiced by series co-writer Adam Reed) is part enemy of mankind, part beleaguered father of a worthless son, and part ruthless if clueless corporate CEO-type. As the first episode of "Frisky Dingo" sets up Killface, the second installment sets up his foil, the superhero Awesome-X. From the hi-tech safety of his floating sky fortress (think Marvel Comics' S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters), Awesome-X has managed to defeat every one of his evil enemies. His alter-ego is Xander Crews, a moronic Bruce Wayne-type (complete with murdered parents, reporter girlfriend, and ubiquitous tux). Having vanquished all enemies of mankind as Awesome-X, Crews needs a plan to keep the residual superhero cash flow coming in. Thus, by episode three, the central conflict has hatched: Crews/Awesome-X needs Killface around as a marketable arch-enemy, but Killface can't seem to get taken quite seriously as the scourge of humanity (especially given his chronic financial problems). The thirteen episodes of the first season comprise a complete story arc with ongoing continuity between episodes. The bite-sized installments clock in at barely twelve minutes each, perfect for the attention span of the 18 to 24 year old target audience. The humor in the show is also tailored to this demographic, with plenty of the self-aware ironic vacuousness that is so currently popular in Adult Swim shows. However, there are other layers to the writing, and as the episodes progress, there is some genuine wit, some sly parody, and some astute social commentary present in "Frisky Dingo". By the end, some of the secondary characters get fleshed out a bit better than expected (such as Killface's robot servant, his kidnapped Yuppie assistant, the newscaster girlfriend, a lobster-boy, and Awesome-X helpers the X-ticles), while Killface and Crews end up spiraling downward from being broad parodies of comic book archetypes to end up as completely debased buffoons. Strange interludes and random digressions are fairly common, but don't detract from the story. In fact, these are where the best character moments tend to occur. The art direction (by Neal Holman) is appealing, with clean lines that recall the rotoscoping work done on recent films like Richard Linklater's "A Scanner Darkly" (2006). As good as the series looks from a design perspective, the animation itself is fairly simplistic, with a mostly static camera and minimal amounts of motion for the characters. This is especially odd given the detail present in the character designs and backgrounds. I suppose that lazy animation is seen as retro these days, or is viewed as being part of the intended campiness of most Adult Swim shows, but it would sort of be cool if Cartoon Network took a look at some of the best Anime and got inspired to up their game a little bit in the animation department.
Video
"Frisky Dingo" - Season One is presented in the original television aspect ratio of 4:3 (or 1.33:1). The recent vintage of the animation, which was probably rendered in a computer, means that the transfer is pristine. The colors pop nicely and there is no compression artifacting visible, even given the 144-minute total running time.
Audio
The audio is presented in the original English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo with optional English for the hearing impaired subtitles available. Dialogue is front and center and is universally quite clear. Music and sound effects are fairly minimal; the music (a faux-orchestral action score) definitely stays in the background of the mix.
Extras
There are no extras at all on this DVD.
Overall
Mainly due to lack of any extras, which is a shame considering a lot of Adult Swim titles have excellent 2-disc releases with a healthy dose of supplements.
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