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King of the Hill - Season 1
Episodes
Disc One: Pilot”, “Square Peg”, “The Order Of The Straight Arrow”,
“Luanne’s Sage”, “Hank’s Got The Willies”
Episodes
Disc Two: “Westie Side Story”, “Hank’s Unmentionable Problem”,
“Shins Of The Father”, “Peggy Boggle Champ”
Episodes
Disc Three: “Keeping Up With Our Joneses”, “Plastic White Female”,
“The Company Man”, “King Of The Ant Hill”
Starring
The Voices Of: Mike Judge, Kathy Najimy, Pamela Segall, Brittany Murphy, Johnny
Hardwick, David Herman, Stephen Root, and Toby Huss
Guest
Starring Voices: Willie Nelson and Dennis Hopper
Writers:
Make Judge, Greg Daniels, Joe Stillman, Cheryl Holiday, 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, Pat Shinagawa, Monte Young, Brian Sheesley,
Adam Kuhlman, Martin Archer Jr., Chuck Sheetz, John Rice, and Jeff Myers
Executive
Producers: Mike Judge and Greg Daniels
Feature
length: 299 minutes
Extras:
Deleted and Extended Scenes, Select Episode Commentaries, Barenaked Ladies Music
Video, Animatics, Alternate Ending, Promo Spots, Behind-The-Scenes Featurette,
Meet The Hills Gallery
Languages:
English and Spanish Language Dolby Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Three Slim Cases Within A Cardboard Slipcase
Chapter
Stops: 5 Per Episode/65 Total
Sound:
Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Television Broadcast: 1997/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 and while 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. Now Twentieth Century Fox
Home Entertainment has finally released the complete first season on DVD in
Region One North America and I think this is a solid set that presents the show
very well with a combination of extras that take us behind-the-scenes and within
the world of “King Of The Hill” complete with character commentary tracks
and introductions.
Each
of the 13 season one episodes are presented in their original (1.33:1) broadcast
television aspect ratio and I think the picture looks much better than I was
initially expecting. 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?” Season one features the guest voices of Willie Nelson
and Dennis Hopper as there animated guest-starring counterparts. 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 three discs along with English Captions and Closed Captions for
the hearing impaired and Spanish Language Subtitles as options. Series
Co-Creator Greg Daniels provides optional episode commentary for the series
“Pilot” and the episode “Hank’s Unmentionable Problem.”
Director Klay Hall provides optional episode commentary for “The Order
Of The Straight Arrow” and “The Company Man.” Then there are optional
commentaries by the voice stars in character for the episodes “Westie Side
Story” and “King Of The Ant Hill” with Hank Hill’s good buddies Dale
Gribble and Bill Dauterive while Hank’s wife Peggy and their son Bobby provide
commentary for the episodes “Shins Of The Father” and “Plastic White
Female.” There are also character introductions for each disc featuring Hank
Hill, Bobby Hill, and Dale Gribble respectively. They’re funny in a cute sort
of way. I got a kick out of Dale’s warning that DVD Players enable the
government to spy on people. There is an Easter egg on the third disc too. Just
highlight the “Special Features” option and hit the right arrow button and
some schematics on Dale’s wall will be highlighted. Press the enter button on
your DVD player’s remote control and you will see Hank Hill thanking the
people behind-the-scenes for enabling him to drink beer because it takes a lot
of dedication to just pull off that seemingly simple animated action. Countless
names to the right of Hank crawl up while he silently stands there drinking his
beer in gratitude.
Other
extra features include a featurette with videotaped interviews with Mike Judge
and Greg Daniels as well as the voice cast discussing how the show got on the
air, much of which I have detailed above along with a behind-the-scenes look at
the voice cast in the studio recording their dialogue and character development.
It takes approximately 9 months to make a single episode of “King Of The
Hill.” Then there is a gallery detailing the 63 and climbing animator
“Do’s & Don’ts” that they follow sort of like a series bible and
there is a gallery of the characters of “King Of The Hill” complete
character stats, rough sketches, expressions, and for the character of
“Dale,” clips from the first season where he details his various conspiracy
theories. There are more than 50 deleted scenes for each episode on all three
discs respectively that can be viewed individually or as one reel. Some of the
scenes are animatics and there is even an alternate ending for the episode
“The Company Man.” The same holds true for the 13 TV promo spots included on
disc three. A music video by “Barenaked Ladies” wraps up the extra features
included in this DVD set.
The
interactive menus are well rendered and easy to navigate. The three discs come
housed within three slim keep cases within a glossy cardboard slipcase. I really
enjoyed “King Of The Hill: The Complete First Season On DVD Box Set” and
think it is well worth checking out. “King Of The Hill: The Complete First
Season On DVD Box Set” is available now at retailers on and offline from
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
Buy This DVD Now By Clicking On The Text Link Below!
King of the Hill - Season 1