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Episodes Disc Two: “The
Man Who Shot Cane Skretteburg”, “The Son That Got Away”, “Bobby Slam”,
“The Unbearable Blindness Of Laying”, “Meet The Manger Babies”
Episodes Disc Three: “Snow Job”, “I Remember Mono”, “Three Days Of The Kahndo”, “Traffic Jam”, “Hank’s Dirty Laundry”
Episodes Disc Four: “The
Final Shinsult”, “Leanne’s Saga”, “Junkie Business”, “Life In The
Fast Lane, Bobby’s Saga”, “Peggy’s Turtle Song”, “Propane Boom –
Part I”
Starring The Voices Of: Mike Judge, Kathy Najimy,
Pamela Segall, Brittany Murphy, Johnny Hardwick, David Herman, Stephen Root, and
Toby Huss
Guest Starring Voice: Chris Rock
Writers: Make Judge, Greg Daniels, Joe Stillman,
Cheryl Holiday, Gina Fattore, John Altschuler, David Krinsky, Brent Forrester,
Norm Hiscock, Paul Lieberstein, Johnny Hardwick, Jonathan Aibel, Glen Berger,
Alan R. Cohen, Alan Freeland, Jonathan Collier, Joe Stillman, David Zuckerman,
and Jim Dauterive
Created By: Mike Judge and Greg Daniels
Directors: Wes Archer, Gary McGarver, Klay Hall,
Monte Young, Brian Sheesley, Adam Kuhlman, Martin Archer, Monte Young, Tricia
Garcia, Chris Moeller, Cyndi Tang, Lauren MacMullan, Klay Hall, Shaun Cashman,
Jack Dyer, John Rice, and Jeff Myers
Executive Producers: Mike Judge and Greg Daniels
Feature length: 506 minutes
Extras: Deleted And Extended Scenes, Select
Episode Commentaries, Music Videos, “The Arlene School Of Drawing” Tutorial,
“The Boy Ain’t Right” Book Excerpts, Directors Intros, and Animation
Evolution Featurette
Languages: English and Spanish Language Dolby
Surround Sound
Subtitles: English Captions and Closed Captions
and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging: Four Slim Keep Cases Within A
Cardboard Slipcase
Chapter Stops: 5 Per Episode
Sound: Dolby Surround Sound
Year of Television Broadcast: 1997-1998/DVD
Release: 2003
Home Video Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Home Entertainment
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
When I first watched “King Of The Hill” I was
disappointed because I was expecting something more akin to “The Simpsons.”
However over the years I have come to appreciate the subtle humor of the show
and I guess a whole lot of viewers have too because after seven seasons, I think
“King Of The Hill” might be the longest running primetime animated sitcom on
non-cable broadcast television after “The Simpsons.” Mike Judge developed
his interest in animation after attending a few animation festivals and parlayed
that interest into a career that began with the 1991 original animated short
“Office Space,” which would later be developed into a cult live action
feature comedy. “Beavis And Butthead” proved to be his first major animated
series success with the characters jumping from the MTV animated anthology
series “Liquid Television” to there own series and eventually there own
feature film. On “Beavis And Butthead” there was a character voiced by Mike
Judge that bared a striking visual similarity to the “Hank Hill” character
of “King Of The Hill” with the only major visual difference being the
fishing cap the character wore on “Beavis And Butthead.” That character
often would suffer misfortune as a result of some direct or indirect havoc
caused by the two boys. While producing the “Beavis And Butthead” feature
film, Mike Judge and “Simpsons” Writer and Producer Greg Daniels pitched a
short animated piece with the “King Of The Hill” characters literally
pitching their show in the cartoon to the Fox Television Network and by the
beginning of 1997, “King Of The Hill” hit the airwaves on Fox, where it
still runs usually before “The Simpsons” on Sunday nights.
“King Of The Hill” centers on the Hill family
and their friends and neighbors who they interact with. The show is not the kind
of laugh out loud style I usually associate with the multi-layered jokes that
makes “The Simpsons” a show that one can enjoy in reruns and catch things
missed the first time around. Instead “King Of The Hill” has a more subtle
style of humor and makes one smile and it has a genuine sense of heart too. The
show is distinctly different from other programs that have competed against it
and I think it has earned a place in animated TV history on it’s own merits.
Season eight just premiered on the Fox network this past Sunday.
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment is
releasing all 22 second season episodes on four discs housed within slim keep
cases within a cardboard slipcase. The packaging for the discs is very cute with
Hank Hill and his buddies standing in the alley way with their profiles showing
during day, dusk, night, and dawn, complete with cute character lines within
each case to coincide with the scene.
Each of the 22 season two episodes is presented
in their original (1.33:1) broadcast television aspect ratio and I think the
picture looks great. While other series use multiple layers of animation cells
for each scene of a program, “King Of The Hill” uses a watercolor
backgrounds with only the characters animated on the cells, which gives the show
a unique look that is definitely far more refined than “Beavis And Butthead”
ever appeared on MTV. I wonder if the signature MTV duo ever made an appearance
on “King Of The Hill?” Mike Judge provides the voice for both “Hank
Hill” and “Boomhauer” while Kathy Najimy provides the voice for Hank’s
wife “Peggy” and Pamela Segall provides the voice of their son “Bobby”
and Brittany Murphy provides the voice talent for Hank and Peggy’s niece
“Luanne.”
Clear and well rounded English and Spanish
Language Dolby Surround Soundtracks are encoded onto all four discs along with
English Captions and Closed Captions for the hearing impaired and Spanish
Language Subtitles as options. Series Co-Creator Greg Daniels and Writer Paul
Lieberstein provide optional episode commentary for the second season premiere
episode “How To Fire A Rifle Without Really Trying.” The rest of audio
commentaries feature the voice talent in character for episodes that include
“The Man Who Shot Cane Skretteburg” and “Three Days Of The Kahndo” with
Hank Hill’s good buddies Dale Gribble and Bill Dauterive as well as Hank’s
father Cotton and his neighbor Kahn chiming in on one episode with the boys each
respectively while Hank’s wife Peggy, their son Bobby, and their niece Luanne
provide commentary for the episodes “Husky Bobby” and “Leanne’s Saga.”
Each disc features Hank and his buddies standing
around the barbecue, a car, the alley or a fishing boat saying “yup” and
sipping their beers respectively. The other interactive menus feature character
voices imploring the viewer to pick something and all of the interactive menus
are easy to navigate.
During
the second season the various episode directors had little animated
introductions made for each episode that were not intended for TV viewing. Some
of them are cute, one is gross with Hank Hill’s head literally exploding, and
some “just ain’t right!” There are approximately 19 of these
never-before-seen by the public animated introductions and while at times it can
get dull, it is still a nice thought to include them in this set. There are also
no less than 197 deleted and alternate scenes that include alternate endings for
the episodes “The Son That Got Away”, “Snow Job”, “Three Days Of The
Kahndo”, “Hank’s Dirty Laundry” and “Life In The Fast Lane, Bobby’s
Saga.” The scenes are a mix of pencil test animatics and color animated scenes
that for the most part are nearly equal in quality to the episodes as they
appear in the disc. Some of the color-deleted scenes do not include music or
sound effects. Episodes and deleted scenes as they pertain to their respective
episodes can be viewed individually or as one reel too.
On
disc one there is an “Animation Evolution Featurette” with optional
commentary by Co-Creator Greg Daniels. Basically this is a multi-angle and
multi-audio demonstration where the viewer with their remote control can toggle
between the animatics, completed scene, or a direct comparison while having the
choice to switch between the audio commentary, animatic voice track, music and
sound effects only track, and final soundtrack mix. “The Arlene School Of
Drawing” featurette provides a detailed demonstration on how to draw the
characters of Hank Hill, Bobby Hill, Cotton Hill, Peggy Hill, and Luanne Platter
from an initial model gesture through actual construction and character specific
details. A still gallery of excerpts from the book “That Boy Ain’t Right”
and eight static music cues as well as music videos for “Manger Babies” by
Luanne Platter and the “Turtle Song” by Peggy Hill wrap up the extra
features in this four disc set.
This
is a solid follow-up no fan of the series will want to do without. “King Of
The Hill: The Complete Second Season On DVD” box set will debut on Tuesday,
November 11, 2003 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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