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Lil' Bush: Resident Of The United States: Season Two
R1 - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: James Teitelbaum (30th November 2008). |
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The Film
 When "Lil' Bush: Season One" was released earlier this year, the disastrous Bush regime seemed to be nothing less than an endless and endlessly depressing series of disasters that America might never recover from. The election (by an overwhelming margin) of Barack Obama last month seems to be a ray of hope, but there is no way that one man is going to lead the U. S. of A. out of the quagmire that George W. Bush has lead us into. Best case scenario, Obama will get America out of Iraq and out of the financial meltdown that we are currently dealing with, but the idea of restoring this country to its full (and former) potential is beyond the scope of what anyone could accomplish given the resources that Obama has to work with. Therefore, as we prepare to despair as we watch Obama spending the next four years desperately bailing out a sinking ship (I am also reminded of the hapless entomoligist bailing sand in Hiroshi Teshigahara's 1964 Japanese masterpiece "Sunna No Onna" AKA "Woman in the Dunes"), we musn't forget how worthy of our scorn George W. Bush still is. For the moment, Americans live in a society where we can still poke fun of, and express extreme fear and loathing of, our leaders. It seems to me that the only possible way for Americans to cope with the criminals who are running things right now are to line four of the worst perpetrators up in squat little bodies that look more or less like the kids on "South Park" (1997-Present) as animated by the creators of "Beavis and Butthead" (1993-1997), and to subject them to situations appropriate to either of those cartoons, or perhaps to situations deemed too extreme and vulgar even for "South Park". Casting George W. Bush, Condoleeza Rice, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld as submutant Peanuts-types who cluelessly wander around their neighborhood and schoolyard, haplessly finding all manner of trouble, is exactly what we need to either draw attention to our nation's problems, or to try to laugh at them. Or both. If possible. I say 'try' because although the writing on "Lil' Bush" is borderline genius, with jokes and sight gags aplenty, the things that are being made fun of are depressing and tragic. The complete idiocy of Bush, the six years, tens of thousands of lives, and three quarters of a trillion of dollars spent in Iraq and Afghanistan, the bogus war of terror, the bogus Patriot Act, the bogus no-bid contract that gives Cheney's company the right (and profit - at the taxpayer's expense) to rebuild Iraq as these same taxpayers also continue to pay for the bombing of Iraq, and the meltdown of the American economy (which seems to be dragging the rest of the world down with it) are all addressed in "Lil' Bush", mostly using schoolyard metaphor and thinly disguised kiddie situations to represent the real-life issues. Occasionally, Democrats will show up as the schoolyard nemeses of Bush and his cronies; lil' Hillary, lil' Obama, lil' Gore, and lil' Kerry (among others) show up, usually providing sharp contrast (and a clear bias on the part of the series creators) by speaking and acting rather sensibly. In season two, we even meet lil' Kucinich, an interesting addition given Kucinich's real-life status relative to the other players. The plot lines go beyond all reasonable limits of good taste and decency (just as Bush's policies have), and there is absolutely no limit to the depravity on display in "Lil' Bush". For example, lil' Condoleeza ends up diving into a toilet clogged up with Gore's turds, in order to retrieve some flushed drugs that she later becomes hooked on (yes, it is animated as a parody of "Trainspotting" (1996)). I am not sure how the people who created this series got away with it, and I am not sure how Comedy Central was persuaded to show something this relentlessly antagonistic towards our own leaders -- unless of course the people at the network realize what most of the American public now realizes, which is that there is no level of scorn that is too intense to be directed towards the Bush regime, and no level of hell too deep for these people. That our corrupt excuses for leaders are being lambasted in a mere cartoon is but the very beginning of the punishment that these people deserve. This second season includes all ten episodes of this animated series: - "St. Patrick’s Day" - "Big Pharma" - "Crony Break-Up" - "Katrina" - "Three Dates" - "Weekend at Saddamy’s" - "Afghanistan" - "Wedding" - "Pooty-Poot" - "Anthem/China"
Video
The episodes are presented in the 4:3 (1.33:1) television aspect ratio. The video is sharp, clean, and bright. The animation is fairly crude, with not a lot of motion, and reasonably basic character designs and backgrounds. The four main "lil'" characters are done in a slightly different style that the many guest stars, whom are usually rendered in a rather creepy manner that recalls what their likenesses might have looked like as rendered by Honore Daumier. The ten episodes on this two-DVD set average 21:30 in length,
Audio
Audio is presented in the original television English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. Dialogue is mostly clear but does get mumbly or buried sometimes (and not just the mumbling lil' Cheney's lines). There are no optional subtitles available on these episodes.
Extras
Paramount has released this first season along with extras that include an episodic audio commentary, some web clips, a music video, animatics, a series of quickies and bonus trailers. Below is a closer look at these supplements. DISC ONE: Extras on disc one consist of an audio commentary on the episode "Big Pharma" with Phil Lesh of the Greatful Dead, creator/executive producer/director Donick Cary, co-executive producer Jay Karas, animation director Alex Stancioff and writer Opus Moreschi. They provide the usual stream on conciousness conversation as the cartoons unfold. Donick seems to be the most active. Next, Donick Cary introduces a collection of web clips (short pieces of animation used to market the show; and runs for a total of 6 minutes 48 seconds. Finally, we get a music video, "Lil' Bush Girl Viral Video" which runs for 2 minutes 42 seconds, featuring a busty blonde lip-synching to a parody of a contemporary R and B tune. Four Comedy Central Quickies are up next (each is a short clip from a Comedy Central show): - "Daily Show with Jon Stewart: BaracKnophobia" which runs for 2 minutes 11 seconds. - "Steven Colbert: Cookie Monster" which runs for 2 minutes 12 seconds. - "South Park: Mr. Cartmanez" which runs for 2 minutes 10 seconds. - "Reno 911: Prostitution Sting" which runs for 2 minutes 8 seconds. Finally, a bonus trailer gallery includes: - "Comedy Central's TV Funhouse" which runs for 1 minute 26 seconds. - "South Park: The Complete Eleventh Season" which runs for 1 minute 18 seconds. - "Kenny vs. Spenny" which runs for 1 minute 22 seconds. DISC TWO: Extras on this disc include only a selection of animatics edited together from various episodes and runs for a total of 20 minutes 50 seconds.
Overall
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