by Brian Tallerico

STUDIO: Warner Brothers
RELEASE DATE: October 16, 2007
STARRING: Dave Willis, Danny Baker, Todd Hanson, Bobby F. Ellerbee, Daniel McDevitt, and Patricia French
CREATED BY: Jim Fortier and Dave Willis
FEATURES: 5 Never Before Seen Pilot Episodes
Anime Talk Show
Comicon 2004
Deleted Scenes
Gallery of Art/Music
Star Bar/Behind the Scenes
Unknown Hinson, Animation Master, Cartoon Craftsman

 

What the Hell are Squidbillies? On a basic level, they’re cephalopods who live in the North Georgia mountains, drink cheap beer, wear trucker hats, and fall into every other Southern stereotype you and your stoned friends can possibly imagine. On a more understandable level, they’re animated creations sprung from the minds that gave the world The Brak Show and Aqua Teen Hunger Force and they feel like the weird offspring off both. Believe it or not, Squidbillies is arguably weirder than ATHF. It airs on Adult Swim at midnight on Wednesday nights for a reason. That’s a very specific audience tuning in to Squidbillies and, while the show will never crossover to the masses, those fans should be very happy with Warner Brothers special features-heavy treatment of season one.

The first season includes the aired pilot – “This Is a Show Called Squidbillies” and five unaired pilot episodes that the writers supposedly worked on and discarded before the show really got started or that the network didn’t like. We say “supposedly” because you can never tell how much of what people like the team behind Squidbillies say and do is genuine and how much is one big joke. Either way, fans will love The Five Pilots of the Apocalypse – “Hot Dog Fever,” “20 Minutes of 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.”

Several of the features on Squidbillies run ridiculously short, including a preview for the show that was brought to Comic-Con in 2004 (why anyone would be interested in a two-minute commercial for a show they like enough to have bought already is beyond us), but the video is the worst feature on Squidbillies. We know the animation style on Squidbillies isn’t exactly revolutionary, but there’s too much line degradation in the full frame transfer to excuse. Still, considering most fans of the show are used to watching it through a haze at midnight in the middle of the week, most people probably won’t notice.

Not quite as funny as The Brak Show and not nearly as clever as Aqua Teen Hunger Force in its prime, Squidbillies: Season One would not be a good starting point for your introduction to the world of late-night Adult Swim. But, if you’re already a hardcore fan of what the Cartoon Network offers, you’ll be impressed by the special features on Squidbillies: Season One.

-- Brian Tallerico

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