Saturday, June 04, 2005

Look Around You

It's been a while since I've done an update, so I figured I'd talk about something that so far hasn't really been on the Hell circuit aside from my panels. Look Around You is a BBC series, of which there have been two so far. The first, which was from about three years ago, consisted of nine 9-minute shorts, and much like how the Weird Al DVDs have those fake 50s B&W educational films, each episode was essentially a fake version of those 1970s "For Schools and Colleges" instructional science videos. The absolute best part of Look Around You is that there's no laugh track, watermark, or anything to suggest that it's fake or being done for laughs other than the sheer absurdity of what's being said and done on the screen. I like to just clip the experiment portions of the episodes (which run about one and a half to three minutes) and show those.

Here's the proper way to dispose of lab materials:

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This is what happens to people after they drink champagne with sulphur mixed into it (a concoction scientists call "sulphagne"):

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So far, I've used the brain experiments in my lineup, to great success. But I think my current favorite Anime Hell clip (I've sort of made it my key piece this year) comes from the second series, which utilized a different format. The second series was 6 30-minute episodes in length and aired earlier this year, and was done in the style of the very long-running BBC program "Tomorrow's World." Most people don't like the second series nearly as much as the first since the 30 minute format forces them to drag out the punchlines over an entire episode, but the buildup is what makes the particular clip I chose so great. It's for a diet shake called "Slimby" in which you're instructed to drink a glass worth before looking at the SPECIAL PICTURE which is SO TERRIFYING that your body just forces the fat out from under your skin in fright as per the diagram:

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So what exactly IS the special picture? Well that's the punchline, so I won't give it away here (and if you've seen it, don't ruin it for others!). This clip makes even my jaded self laugh uncontrollably, much like the Pranksters skit on SNL starring Christopher Walken which I ran last year. I don't plan to bring back Pranksters this year, since it loses its impact once you've seen it once and now it's out on DVD. Hopefully people will forget about it after a year or so.

So how'd A-Kon go? And nobody here would happen to have Beyond Reanimator on DVD, would they? I simply must have that music video.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

A-Kon was a good show. I'll post a full report as soon as possible...

Unknown said...

BEYOND REANIMATOR or BRIDE OF REANIMATOR?

Daryl Surat said...

Beyond Reanimator, the third movie. The DVD has this music video included on it as an extra, and it might just be the greatest music video ever, featuring a chorus that consists of the repeated line "move your dead BONES, BONES, BONES" as well as the good-enough-to-put-on-a-flyer line "Reanimate your FEET!"

All performed by this somewhat foppish Aryan ideal of a man who sings with a gusto about on the level as David Hasselhoff in that "Nightrocker" beauty that Dave found in his closet.

Unknown said...

I haven't seen BEYOND REANIMATOR. BRIDE left me alittle queazey...

I was looking for the DVD collection for the H.P.Lovecraft Film Festival just the other day...

Unknown said...

Hey Surat, where should I go looking for these BBS shows? ISOhunt turned up no results...

codeman38 said...

There are a few episodes of the first Look Around You on Google Video that I stumbled across yesterday. (Just search for, well, "Look Around You".) Of course, they'll probably end up being pulled off the site by the BBC before it's over...

I seriously need to import the Region 2 DVDs for this series, particularly now that the second series is out. It's just so absurdly hilarious.

Unknown said...

I found both seasons on Amazon UK. Not too pricey, either. I'll order them some day. When I get enough euros in a pile...
-d!