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What happens when a classic '60s Hanna-Barbera superhero gets
his own late-night talk show? Now you can find out as Space
Ghost humiliates celebrities before they realise what they've
let themselves in for...
The
quotes on the back of the DVD box says it all:
"Sadly
unsatisying" - Hollywood Reporter
"Only amuses itself" - USA Today
"Needs some work" - Phoenix Gazette
"Incomprehensible" - Cable World
"Tasteless, offensive, and a pain to watch... if this
is the most creative show the Cartoon Network has to offer,
the future looks very bleak" - Californian
Now,
while it's clear that all of the above quotes give a true
overall view of this series, there is something about the
show that is hypnotically appealing.
As
with Space
Ghost Coast to Coast: Volume One,
the majority of the stars interviewed will be unfamiliar to
British viewers. However, there are enough familiar faces
(Matt Groening, Penn & Teller, Elvira, and a blink and
you'll miss it appearance by Cameron Diaz) to keep you interested.
And even those interviews with unfamiliar guests are worth
watching.
If
the links, and what passes for a script, had been cut back
to let the interviews take centre stage, then this would have
been a lot more entertaining. Space Ghost Coast to Coast
is at its funniest when Space Ghost is ripping the proverbial
out of his unsuspecting guests.
The
episodes on the first disc are very hit and miss and are only
worth watching for the interviews - the linking animation
is poorly scripted. However, the episodes on the second disc
seem a lot more polished. The jokes are funny, the plot has
a beginning, middle and an end, and the interviews are a lot
funnier. The opening title sequence has also been jazzed up
considerably.
All
the material could easily have fitted onto one disc, so it's
a little surprising to see that Warner Bros has stretched
this over two discs.
Extras
include the raw interview footage of Matt Groening (16 mins);
audio commentaries for every episode; a live action re-enactment
of some of Space Ghost's "classic" interviews; the
original pilot; and the 1993 pencil animation tests. The live
action re-enactment is very funny and the Matt Groening interview
is interesting because it shows how crap the original interview
questions are, and how new questions are added later on to
make the show's creators appear a lot more cutting and witty.
The
audio commentaries are pretty dull. None of them actually
reveal much of interest. It would have been a lot better if
they had concentrated on what the guests were like - were
they game, or did they just not get it? Then
everything falls apart during the audio commentary for Freak
Show. The voice artist who played Space Ghost tries to
hog the microphone talking about himself, while one of the
other guys tries to explain some of the events that are appearing
on screen. And don't even bother listening to the audio commentary
for Surprise - it's just a bunch of drunk idiots talking
total rubbish.
You'll
either get what the producers were trying to do with this
show, or it will go whizzing over your head. It's bizarre,
it's offbeat and it is entertaining. But is it good television?
Um... the jury is still out on that one.
Darren
Rea
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